Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues to commend wisdom, and to enumerate its very many and very great endowments and advantages, on account of which Solomon declares that he chose it as his bride, and sought it with the utmost prayers.
Vulgate Text: Wisdom 8:1-21
1. She reaches therefore from end to end mightily, and orders all things sweetly. 2. Her I have loved, and have sought out from my youth, and have sought to take her for my bride, and I became a lover of her beauty. 3. She glorifies her noble birth, having fellowship with God: and the Lord of all things has loved her: 4. for she is the instructor of the discipline of God, and the chooser of His works. 5. And if riches are desired in life, what is richer than wisdom, which works all things? 6. And if understanding accomplishes things, who of all that exist is a greater artisan than she? 7. And if one loves justice, her labors have great virtues: for she teaches sobriety and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, than which nothing is more useful in life for human beings. 8. And if one desires a multitude of knowledge, she knows things past, and judges of things to come: she knows the subtleties
1. SHE REACHES THEREFORE FROM END TO END MIGHTILY, AND ORDERS ALL THINGS SWEETLY. — The Syriac has: for she extends her soul from the ends to the ends truly, and she is disposed with all things sweetly; the Arabic: and she extends from the end of the desert, and to its end happily, and governs all things with goodness. The word "therefore" indicates that these things depend on and are drawn from what precedes. The Greek has de, that is "but," for it continues the praises of wisdom already begun: these particles are often interchanged, for de, that is "but," is often taken for oun, that is "therefore"; and oun, or "therefore," is often not illative, but inchoative and continuative of the sentence; whence St. Bernard, Hugh, Pagninus and others begin this eighth chapter from the last words of chapter 7: "But wisdom is not overcome by malice"; Vatablus however and Cantacuzenus refer all these things to the end of chapter 7, and begin chapter 8 from verse 2: "Her I have loved," etc. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Wisdom, as I said in chapter 7, is an emanation of the brightness of almighty God, penetrates all things, comprehends all things, and is invincible; "she reaches therefore from end to end mightily," etc.: for "reaches" the Greek has diateinei, that is, she stretches herself forth, extends, reaches out; St. Augustine, book 4 On the Trinity, chapter 14, translates "extends through"; the Tigurina, "reaches through"; Budaeus in his Commentary on the Greek Language reads diapnei, that is, "breathes through"; whence Vatablus translates, she breathes through from one extreme to the other firmly, and administers all things suitably: for wisdom is like a spirit breathing through all things "from end to end," in Greek apo peratos eis peras, that is, from one extreme to the other. You will ask what these two extremes are?
The answer is, first, that they are the two extremes of the world, as if to say: Wisdom pervades all things from the highest of the heavens to the lowest of the earth, that is, from the periphery of the world to its center, or "from the convex of the heavens to the center of the earth," as Pope Hadrian says, book 3 On Images, and, as St. Bernard says, "from the height of heaven to the lower parts of the earth. She reaches mightily, not indeed by mobile coursing, or by local diffusion, or by the mere official administration of a subject creature; but by a certain substantial and everywhere present fortitude, by which indeed she most powerfully moves, orders, and administers all things. And all these things she is compelled to do by no necessity of her own, nor does she labor with any difficulty in them, but she orders all things sweetly, with a calm will." Thus far St. Bernard, in the treatise On Grace and Free Will, past the middle. Whence St. Augustine, epistle 57 to Dardanus, Question 1, from this passage proves that divine wisdom, that is God, is everywhere; and he adds: "But God is so diffused through all things, that He is not a quality of the world, but the creative substance of the world, ruling without labor, and sustaining the world without burden." Meditating deeply on this and marveling, St. Bernard, book 5 On Consideration, exclaims: "O powerful wisdom, reaching everywhere mightily! O wise power, ordering all things sweetly! One thing, manifold effect, diverse operations. And that one thing is length on account of eternity, breadth on account of charity, height on account of majesty, depth on account of wisdom."
Second, these two extremes are the noblest and the lowliest creature, as if to say: Wisdom reaches from the highest, that is, "the greatest angel down to the lowest little worm," says St. Bernard, On Grace and Free Will, preserving, vivifying, directing, governing all things; and St. Dionysius, chapter 7 On the Divine Names, discussing divine wisdom: "Reason also,
He says, God is called reason in the holy Scriptures, not only because He is the bestower of reason, and sense, and wisdom; but because He has uniformly embraced in Himself the causes of all things before they existed; and because He goes through all things penetrating, as it is written, reaching to the end of all things from the highest substances to the lowest, etc. Therefore God is recognized in all things, and apart from all things, and indeed from all things, as I said, divine wisdom itself is to be known: and it is, according to the faith of Scripture, the maker of all things and always fitting all things together, and the cause of the indissoluble harmony and order of all things, always joining the ends of prior things to the beginnings of subsequent things, and most fittingly fashioning the one harmony and congruence of the world."
Third, St. Bernard, On Grace and Free Will: "Wisdom reaches from end to end, that is," he says, "from the origin of the creature to the end which He Himself has destined for it, or to which nature urges, or grace accelerates, or cause brings about." Again, she reaches from the beginning of her work (and of each thing) to its end, as if to say: She leaves nothing she has begun imperfect, but whatever she begins she perfects, and constantly brings it to the end she has intended: for there are two extremes of a work, namely the beginning and the end. To St. Bernard's view, St. Augustine agrees, book 4 On the Trinity, chapter 14: "While the devil," he says, "lies in ambush and rages, the most excellent, or most exalted wisdom of God uses this for the salvation of His faithful, extending mightily from the higher end, which is the beginning of the spiritual creature, to the lower end, which is the death of the body, and ordering all things sweetly."
Allegorically, the wisdom of God reaches from end to end in Christ, for through the incarnation two extremes were joined, namely the highest and the lowest, that is, God and man coming together in the same hypostasis and person: so St. Augustine, in the passage already cited, and epistle 3 to Volusianus: for the work of the incarnation was a work of the highest wisdom, the highest fortitude and power, and also of the highest sweetness and mercy, as St. Thomas shows, Third Part, Question 1, article 1. Symbolically, St. Bonaventure takes the two ends to mean the Father and the Holy Spirit:
"The Second Person," he says, "who is called Wisdom, reaches from the Father to the Holy Spirit, by the identity of substance: mightily on account of the Father, to whom power is attributed; sweetly on account of the Holy Spirit, to whom goodness is attributed."
Tropologically, St. Bernard, On Grace and Free Will, adapts these words to free will: "So then," he says, "let free will strive to preside over its body, as wisdom presides over the world, reaching through it too from end to end, mightily, that is, commanding each sense and limb, so powerfully that it does not allow sin to reign in its mortal body, Romans 6; and so let it reclaim its ancient dignity and freedom, having shaken off the servitude of sin; and let it take care to do these things no less sweetly than mightily, that is, not from sadness or necessity, but with a ready and willing will: for God loves a cheerful giver, and so in all things one will imitate wisdom, while one resists vices mightily, and rests sweetly in conscience. But we need the help of Him by whose example we are urged to such things."
Again the same St. Bernard adapts these words to charity: for thus he writes, sermon 50 on the Song of Songs, verse 2: He ordered charity in me: "O wisdom," he says, "who reach from end to end mightily, in establishing and sustaining things; and who order all things sweetly, in blessing and ordering our affections, direct our actions, as our temporal necessity demands; and dispose them, as Your eternal truth requires."
Moreover the same St. Bernard, in the sermon On the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, applies these words to them, for thus he says: "Wisdom overcomes malice, when the power of God and the wisdom of God, Christ, crushes Satan; she reaches therefore from end to end mightily, in heaven indeed, by casting down the proud; in the world, by overcoming the wicked; in hell, by despoiling the greedy. And she orders all things sweetly: in heaven, by confirming the standing angels; in the world, by redeeming those sold into bondage; in hell, by liberating captives. Or if you prefer, let us understand it this way: In ordered battle array the sevenfold Spirit proceeds against the seven degrees of sin; and the first, fear, rises up against negligence, for it is fear by which the soul is shaken, the conscience is examined, the deadly slumber is cast off, solicitude is instilled; in short, one fears God, neglects nothing, but reveres all one's works." And with many things interjected: "Wisdom, the conqueror, reaches therefore from end to end mightily, uprooting individual vices and grafting in individual virtues; for negligence is cast off, that the spirit of fear may fill the mind; curiosity is rejected, that piety may succeed; experience of evil is put to flight, and knowledge is applied. So also fortitude prevails over concupiscence, and counsel cuts off habit, and vigorous understanding removes contempt, and when malice utterly despairs, wisdom reigns. When wisdom indeed triumphs, thereafter that wretched soul, which negligence had perniciously lulled to sleep, curiosity had dangerously aroused, experience had drawn in, concupis-
cence had held, habit had bound, contempt had dragged into prison, malice had slain: fear rouses, piety gently soothes, knowledge indicating what has been done brings sorrow, fortitude raises up what is its own, counsel loosens, understanding leads out of prison, wisdom sets the table, refreshes the hungry, and restores with healthful nourishment.
Finally the same St. Bernard, in On Grace and Free Will, adapts these words to Christ and His grace, which reforms all the ends and powers of the soul that had been deformed by sin, by conforming them to itself: "And truly," he says, "to whom was this work more fitting than to the Son of God, who, being the splendor of glory and the figure of the substance of the Father, bearing all things by His word, appeared easily equipped from both, both to reform the deformed and to strengthen the weak, since from the splendor of His image, driving away the darkness of vices, He would make one wise, and from the power of His word, against the tyranny of demons, He would make one mighty? Therefore the very form came, to which free will was to be conformed, because in order to recover its original form, it had to be reformed from that form from which it had also been formed. The form, moreover, is wisdom; the conformation is that the image may do in the body what the form does in the world."
MIGHTILY. — In Greek, eurostos, that is, strongly, robustly, powerfully, firmly, courageously, constantly; Vatablus translates thoroughly, for rhoo, or rhonnymi, means the same as to strengthen, to make strong, to confirm; whence rhome means strength, force, power, health, vigor. Hence also the name of the city of Rome, which Solinus at the beginning of the Polyhistor relates was previously called Valentia in Latin, although others derive Rome from ruma, that is, the teat of the she-wolf, which Remus, who is also called Romus, and his brother Romulus suckled. Our Antonius Fernandius, in Vision, vision 6, considers it to be a metaphor from common measurers of things, who by applying the rule to determine the magnitudes of things, know beforehand which things are suitable for which places, so that there may be no disturbance in the disposition of things: God therefore reaches from end to end mightily, that is, with exact foreknowledge He measures all things, what they can do, what they require, from where and to what extent they suffice. From this it follows that He disposes all things sweetly, with things and their places perfectly corresponding to one another.
She also reaches mightily, because where the powers of creatures fail, He Himself suffices, that He may reach whatever He wills. Again, the fortitude of the wisdom, providence and grace of God is seen in this, that He most certainly fulfills His will and obtains the intended end; while the sweetness is seen in this, that He does not injure our freedom, nor overturn the condition of nature: for He does not compel free will, but by sweetly attracting and soothing, He counsels and persuades it to good: so Nyssen, or rather Nemesius, book 7 of Philosophy, chapter 1; Theodoret, Epitome of the Divine Decrees, chapter On Providence; Damascene, book 2 On the Faith, chapter 29. The same sweetness is seen in natural things, for God does no violence to anything, does nothing against the nature of anything, but only as the nature of each thing demands: for divine providence is (as St. Dionysius writes, chapter 4 On the Divine Names, part 4) "the preserver of the nature of each thing, suitably providing for those things that move of themselves and act by free will, and imparting to all and to each individually, as the nature of all individuals can receive, the most provident kindnesses according to the measure of each." Furthermore, the sweetness of divine providence shows itself in this, that it leads things to their ends through nearer and easier means, as is evident to anyone who considers all the elements and elementary things: so St. Chrysostom on Matthew, chapter 3. Thus Paul took the unknown God of the Athenians as the starting point for discoursing about the true and known God, Acts 17:23, as St. Chrysostom notes in the same place. Moreover, the insuperable fortitude of the wisdom and divine providence that governs all things is seen in this
it is apparent that He even uses things that are supremely contrary to one another for the destined ends of His providence, such as the selling of Joseph for his princedom, the passion and cross of Christ for His glory and the salvation of mankind, the persecution of tyrants for the crowns and triumphs of martyrs, the sins of men for displaying either His clemency in pardoning, or His justice in punishing: for, as Boethius wisely and elegantly says, book 4 On the Consolation of Philosophy, prose 6: "The divine power alone is that for which even evil things are good, since by using them fittingly it draws forth some good effect: for a certain order embraces all things, so that what has departed from the appointed reason of order, falls back, though into a different one, nevertheless into order, lest anything in the kingdom of providence be allowed to chance."
Thus when God leads a sinner from his concupiscences to repentance, or calls a person to religious life, to the apostolate, to martyrdom, etc., He does not do it violently, but sweetly: for He first sends into the mind pious affections, vague desires, longings for repentance, for religious life, for the apostolate, for martyrdom, by which a person eagerly desires and seeks those things, and asks God, saying with Saul in the very act of persecution, Acts 9:6: "Lord, what do You wish me to do?" Having experienced this in himself, St. Augustine thus exults in thanksgiving, book 9 of the Confessions, chapter 1: "Lord, I am Your servant, and the son of Your handmaid. You have broken my bonds; to You will I sacrifice a sacrifice of praise, Psalm 116:16: let my heart and my tongue praise You, and let all my bones say, Psalm 35:10: Lord, who is like You? Let them say it, and answer me, and say to my soul: I am your salvation." And shortly after: "How sweet it suddenly became to me to be without the sweetnesses of trifles, and what I had feared to lose, it was now joy to dismiss: for You were casting them out from me, O true and supreme sweetness, You were casting them out and entering in their place, sweeter than all pleasure, but not to flesh and blood; brighter than all light, but more inward than every secret; more sublime than every honor, but not to those who are sublime in their own eyes. Now my mind was free from the gnawing cares of ambition, and of gaining, and of wallowing, and of scratching the scab of lusts, and I was chattering to You, my brightness, and my riches, and my salvation, the Lord my God."
AND ORDERS ALL THINGS (in Greek, dioikei, that is, she governs, administers, dispenses, protects, orders the whole world, as a father of a family does his house: for oikos means house; and the world is the small house of the great God, which He manages economically as a householder) SWEETLY, — in Greek chrestos, that is, as Pagninus translates, usefully; Vatablus, suitably; also kindly, sweetly, gently; whence Christians were called by the pagans "chrestians," as if agreeable, useful, pleasant: alluding to this, St. Justin, Apology 2 for the Christians: "We are accused of being Christians," he says; "yet to hate what is useful and advantageous is unjust;" Therefore the wisdom of God orders all things usefully, suitably, sweetly: because, as St. Augustine says, book 7 of the City of God, chapter 30: "He so administers all things that He created, that He even allows them to exercise and perform their own proper motions (according to the form given to them)," indeed He commands and effects it; so that nothing in the universe can be found that does not usefully perform its office in it and is useful to the whole, since each thing, however small, strives to attain the ends appointed for it by nature. Therefore the first cause, that is God, is efficacious, but He adapts Himself to secondary causes. Whence St. Dionysius, On the Divine Names, chapter 5, part 4, arguing against those who said that we ought to be compelled by God to virtue: yet, he says, "it is not the part of divine providence to violate nature, but providence is the preserver of each thing's nature, suitably providing for those things that move of themselves and act by free will, and imparting to all and to each individually, as the nature of all individuals can receive, the most provident goodness according to the measure of each," etc.; and in chapter 7 he says, "God is called in Scripture a calling, not only because He is the author of reason and mind and wisdom, but also because He uniformly anticipates in Himself the causes of all things, and because He pervades each thing passing through it to the end of all things, as the Scriptures teach."
Equally, indeed more sweetly, the wisdom of God, namely Christ, orders and dispenses supernatural things, as is evident in His incarnation, passion and death, about which St. Bernard rightly says, sermon 1 On Easter Day: "Wisdom has clearly conquered malice, reaching from end to end mightily, and ordering all things sweetly, but for me mightily, sweetly to me." And in the Eucharist: for this is "the food of the strong and the sweetness of minds;" whence its type was the manna having every sweetness of taste, according to that of Psalm 23:5: "You have prepared a table before me, against those who afflict me. You have anointed my head with oil: and my overflowing cup, how excellent it is;" and that of Zechariah 9:17: "For what is His good thing, and what is His beautiful thing, but the wheat of the elect, and wine that makes virgins fruitful?" see what was said there. The same is evident in the created gifts and habits of grace, for God infuses these into man, so that through them he may easily and sweetly perform supernatural acts, which are in themselves difficult for man, indeed impossible by the powers of nature. Hear St. Thomas, First Part of the Second Part, Question 110, article 2: God "so provides for natural creatures, that He not only moves them to natural acts, but also bestows upon them forms, and certain virtues, which are principles of acts, so that according to themselves they are inclined to such motions; and thus the motions by which they are moved by God become connatural and easy for creatures, according to that saying, Wisdom 8:1: And He orders all things sweetly. Much more therefore to those whom He moves to attain the eternal supernatural good, does He infuse certain supernatural forms or qualities, according to which they are sweetly and readily moved by Him to attain the eternal good; and thus the gift of grace is a certain quality." By the same reasoning he proves that the habit of charity must be given, Second Part of the Second Part, Question 23, article 2: for the habits of grace and virtues make their acts easy, sweet, and pleasant for man, and therefore God infuses them into man.
Tropologically, let kings, princes, prelates, governors, etc., imitate this idea and model of divine wisdom in governing the universe, so as to season fortitude with sweetness; whence some have taken this as their motto: sweetly and mightily, for fortitude gives efficacy to governance, and sweetness gives ease and duration: for nothing forced and violent is perpetual. Therefore in ruling, love must be mixed with fear, for if there is fear alone, it will drive men not as men, but as beasts of burden and brutes. For men are led more by love than by fear, and love is not only sweeter but also stronger than fear: for love conquers all things. Pertinent here is the saying: a gentle command is commanding, because whatever it gently commands, it mightily obtains. Again, governance that is sweet as well as strong and lasting requires that rulers accommodate themselves to the talents, abilities, gifts and inclinations of their subjects as far as possible: for
You will say and do nothing against Minerva's will.
Thus the wisdom of God accommodates itself to the condition of secondary causes, for with necessary things it operates necessarily, with contingent things contingently, with free things freely, with the bold boldly, with the timid timidly, with the weak weakly, with the strong strongly. Therefore a superior should imitate Christ, who was a lion to the wicked and obstinate, but a lamb to the upright and obedient. Our St. Ignatius impressed this lesson upon his followers. Pertinent here is chapter 12, verse 18: "But You, O Lord, judge with tranquility, and with great reverence You dispose us;" and Psalm 25:10: "All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth;" whence St. Basil, epistle 165 to Eustathius, professes that by the experience of many tribulations he has learned that God by His sweet providence disposes our affairs far better than we could wish: St. Ephrem says the same of himself, treatise On Self-Reproach, whose remarkable example of divine providence I recounted at length in Genesis, chapter 42, verse 18.
2. HER I HAVE LOVED AND HAVE SOUGHT OUT FROM MY YOUTH, AND I SOUGHT TO TAKE HER FOR MY BRIDE, AND I BECAME A LOVER OF HER BEAUTY, — in Greek kallous, that is, of her form and beauty; St. Jerome on Ezekiel, chapter 42, reads: I sought to take a bride for myself, and I was a lover of her comeliness; St. Ambrose, in the book On Widows, I purposed to bring her to myself in marriage; St. Hilary on Psalm 127, I sought to receive wisdom as a bride for myself: pertinent here is Isaiah 61:10: "The Lord has clothed me with the garments of salvation, and has wrapped me in the robe of justice, like a bride adorned with her jewels."
FROM MY YOUTH. — For from boyhood the mother of Solomon instilled in him the desire for wisdom, that is
for an upright and holy life, as is evident from Proverbs 21:1; especially since, after his father David died, he succeeded him in the kingdom at about the age of 18: for then, seeing that great wisdom was required to rule so great a people, he asked for it from God and obtained it, 3 Kings 3:10. He signifies an old love of wisdom, and therefore a deep, rooted and strong one: for women who grow old with their husbands as brides from tender years are accustomed to be tenderly loved; and those husbands are held by a more tender love for them, the more tenderly young they were when they began married life together, love growing with age, and the older the love, the greater, nobler, stronger and more excellent it tends to be, like a tree and wine, to which age confers dignity and a kind of luster of lineage, the flame growing day by day from mutual familiarity, as if from added kindling. Hence Proverbs 5:18: "Rejoice with the wife of your youth, a most dear hind, and a most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate you at all times, delight continually in her love."
AND I SOUGHT HER AS A BRIDE. — Hence Pineda, book 2 On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 1, near the end, supposes that Solomon pursued wisdom as a bride, and obtained her from God, before he courted the daughter of Pharaoh and betrothed her to himself; but this is very uncertain, especially because in 3 Kings 3:1, it is first narrated that he married the daughter of Pharaoh, and then in verse 10 his prayer and the obtaining of wisdom is added. Moreover, Solomon entered into marriage with Naama before his reign, and from her begot Rehoboam: for Rehoboam, being 41 years old, succeeded his father Solomon in the kingdom when Solomon died in the 40th year of his reign, 3 Kings 11:43, and 14:21. Therefore Solomon begot him one year before his own reign. Wisdom therefore offers herself as a bride, not only to virgins, but also to the married, and she is more necessary for them in governing wives, children and family: for she is a bride of another and higher order, namely the spiritual, not the carnal.
BRIDE. — In Greek nymphen, that is, nymph: for thus in Greek a bride is called, as if neo or nyn phainomene, that is, newly or now appearing, that is, a new bride, who, though previously as a virgin she hid herself, now as a bride comes forth in public and openly shows herself, so Rhodiginus, book 21, chapter 26, from Eustathius: thus wisdom shone upon and appeared to Solomon, new from heaven, like a divine star. Furthermore, the ancients thought nymphs were the goddesses of waters, as it were the divinities of streams: for the ancients used to say nympha, which we, by changing one letter, call lympha, that is, water. Sometimes nymphs are called muses, because running water produces musical sounds; these nymphs are said to have been the purest virgins: such a nymph and muse above all, indeed alone among all, is wisdom. Nymphs are also what bees are called when they have first taken on form, as Pliny attests, book 11, chapter 6: wisdom is a heavenly bee, pouring forth divine honey.
In Hebrew a bride is called kallah, that is, perfect, consummated in all beauty and adornment, by which brides are adorned, excel and are loved above all others, so much so that they are adorned and crowned like queens with crowns: hence the Greek kallos, that is, beauty, which likewise calls, that is invites, attracts and ravishes all to love of itself, as St. Dionysius says, On the Divine Names, chapter 4. What is more beautiful than wisdom, which is kallah, that is, perfect, complete, and finished in all its parts, so that you would desire nothing wanting, whether you consider the gifts of mind or body in a bride. Ten endowments above all others are customarily praised and sought in a bride, which Solomon in this verse and the following ones attributes in order to wisdom: the first is, that she be an object of both love and veneration; the second, that she flourish with loveliness; the third, that she shine with nobility of birth; the fourth, that she thrive with the dignity of wisdom; the fifth, that she abound with the wealth of riches; the sixth, that she excel in holiness; the seventh, that she be distinguished by a variety of virtues; the eighth, that she be ennobled by a singular majesty of prudence; the ninth, that she be sweetened by the gentle pleasantness of temperament and character; the tenth, that she delight the philosopher, or the wise man desirous of her, with every kind of variety of things.
And all these endowments, of which he gave some taste in the preceding passages, the Sage now attributes to the bride, teaching that she is equally lovable and venerable, beautiful, noble, wise, rich, holy, most excellent, endowed with fourfold virtue, eminently and singularly prudent, and one with whom, when taken into partnership, life can be spent entirely suffused with sweetness and delight; which are contained in their order in the first nine verses (except for the fifth and sixth, which are given to riches), each one corresponding to each. By these endowments of so great a bride, and by all kinds of goods proceeding from them, which he soon describes, he declares that he, as a youth and almost a boy, was inflamed as if by added sparks with desire for her, so that he sought and obtained her from God with the most intimate prayers. So Cervantes.
The word "bride" signifies Solomon's supreme love, tenderness, desire and delight toward wisdom: furthermore, the supreme, most intimate and secret conjunction, conversation, familiarity and union with her, so that with her he might become not one flesh, but one spirit, according to 1 Corinthians 6:17: "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit;" and Jeremiah 3:4: "From now on call me: My Father, You are the guide of my virginity;" and 2 Corinthians 11:2: "I have betrothed you to present you as a chaste virgin to one husband, to Christ;" see what was said there. Hence St. Dionysius, chapter 4 On the Divine Names, near the end, says: "The name of love is more divine than that of charity; and St. Ignatius also writes: My love is crucified; and in the primary teachings of holy Scripture you will find someone saying these things about divine Wisdom: I became a lover of her beauty:" thus Dionysius; and further on he says that love unites and produces ecstasy: "And this word of love," he says, "has the power of
making one, and of binding and mixing things together in an excellent way, which in the beautiful and the good, on account of the beautiful and good, first stands, and from the good and beautiful, for the sake of the beautiful and good, flows, and holds equals together by a common union, and impels superiors to care for inferiors, and strengthens inferiors by a more divine turning toward superiors. Divine love also moves one from one's state, and does not allow its lovers to belong to themselves, but to those whom they love: which the higher things declare, which become those of the lower by caring for them, and equals clinging to each other mutually, and the lower by a more divine turning toward the higher. So that great Paul, already captivated by divine love, and endowed with its force, which moves a person from his state, with divine mouth says, Galatians 2:20: I live, now not I: but Christ lives in me, as a true lover, and moved from the state of his mind, as he himself says: he lives for God, not his own life, but the life of the one loving, as one who must be greatly loved."
Mystically, apply all these things to the Blessed Virgin, who is the kallah, that is the most perfect muse of muses, and nymph of nymphs, especially for those who venerate, love and invoke her, whom therefore, to omit others, St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, betrothed to himself with a ring: hear the author of his Life, chapter 6: "In order that greater care for preserving his chastity might be in him, on the advice of a certain priest, before the image of the perpetual Virgin, the most holy Mother of God, he made a vow of chastity, and commending himself to that singular and incomparable Virgin, he chose her as his bride; and to declare that the covenant entered into with her would be entirely firm and stable, he in a certain new way betrothed her to himself with his ring as a pledge, placing that ring, which he had made for that purpose, on the finger of her image, on which was also inscribed the angelic salutation." He adds the outstanding fruit: "And from that time, as he himself confessed at his death, whenever he implored the help of that most clement Virgin, she swiftly obtained for him a way out in temptation, comfort in persecution, remedy in affliction, joy in sorrow. He also had a ring on his finger, with which after death, as is customary for bishops, he was buried, on which likewise, to the admiration of all, the angelic salutation was engraved, that the most blessed Virgin might deign to have and acknowledge him as her bridegroom." This Life is found in Surius, on the 20th of November.
AND I BECAME A LOVER OF HER BEAUTY. — This is the second endowment of Solomon's bride, namely Wisdom, that is, beauty and loveliness, which is a great enticement to love: of this it was said in chapter 7, verse 29, "for she is more beautiful than the sun." He speaks of the essential wisdom common to the three Persons, but concomitantly also of the notional wisdom, namely of Christ, who as God is the image, that is, the beauty of the Father, and as man, the beauty of the creature, according to Psalm 45:3: "Beautiful in form
above the sons of men." Plato and the philosophers learned the same from Solomon: for Plato in the Phaedrus says: The first beautiful makes all things beautiful; and beauty has this dignity, that it is the most illustrious of all things, and therefore supremely lovable. Indeed the form of wisdom, like a face, if it could be seen with the eyes, would excite wonderful loves of itself, indeed ardors. Cicero says the same of virtue, book 1 On Duties; Aristotle, whom Eugubinus cites on Psalm 45: "God," he says, "is the mightiest power, immortal life, best in virtue, most beautiful in beauty:" see St. Dionysius, chapter 4 On the Divine Names, page 1, and St. Augustine, book 2 Against the Academics, chapter 3, and Retractations 1, where he says that philosophia is philokalia, that is, the love of wisdom is the love of beauty. Beautifully and piously on these words Theophilus of Alexandria writes, Paschal epistle 1: "In the sacred volumes of Scripture," he says, "pressing our kisses upon the snow-white limbs of wisdom, we cling to her embraces, and if the Lord has granted us to live with her, persevering in love of her we sing, Wisdom 8:2: I was a lover of her beauty: for all who read the holy Scriptures more diligently, and range through the painted meadows of heavenly discourses, shall enjoy this blessedness," etc. Do you want examples? Here they are.
St. Agnes, spurning the son of a Roman prefect who was courting her, said she was betrothed to Him whose beauty the sun and moon admire: the same, if not in words, certainly in fact, all the other holy virgins and martyrs said; hence that saying of St. Ignatius: "My love is crucified," which St. Dionysius mentions, chapter 4 On the Divine Names, as I said shortly before. Attracted by this beauty of wisdom, St. Lawrence Justinian, the first patriarch of Venice, received wisdom as his bride at the age of nineteen: for thus he himself writes of himself in the Little Bundle of Love: "I was like you, seeking peace with burning desire in outward things, and I was not finding it; at last a certain virgin more splendid than the sun appeared to me, whose name I did not know. She, approaching nearer, with a beautiful face and a pleasant address, said: O beloved youth, why do you pour out your heart, and vary in many ways while pursuing peace? What you seek is with me; what you have desired, I promise you, if indeed you will have me as your bride. When I most eagerly desired to know her name, and lineage, and dignity, she said she was the wisdom of God, who for the reformation of mankind had assumed human form. I consented therefore, and with a kiss of peace given, she departed joyfully." So also Blessed Henry Suso, who around the year of the Lord 1350 was renowned for learning, holiness and miracles, and was a wonderful lover of wisdom, whence he was also surnamed the servant of eternal wisdom; when he heard these words of the Sage read at table: "I sought to take her as my bride, and I became a lover of her beauty," he burned with such love for her that he contracted a spiritual marriage with her: hear the author of his Life, chapter 4: "While he burned with these desires, wisdom presented herself to his sight in this manner:
she presented herself: she was borne far above him, sitting on a cloud pillar upon an ivory throne, shining like the morning star, and like the sun shining in its strength; her crown was eternity, her garment felicity, her speech sweetness, her embrace the fullness of every good. She was near and far away, sublime and humble, present and hidden; she showed herself familiar, yet she could not be grasped; she was higher than the lofty pinnacles of heaven, and deeper than the abyss; she reached from end to end mightily, and ordered all things sweetly. While she seemed to be held in the form of an elegant maiden, she soon bore the likeness of a most beautiful youth. Sometimes she presented herself as a friend most skilled in all arts, lovable to all. And so turning most sweetly toward him, and smiling at him courteously yet not without a certain divine majesty, she kindly addressed him with these words, Proverbs 23:26: Give me your heart, my son. Then indeed, throwing himself at her feet, he gave her thanks from the very marrow of his being and with the utmost humility." And with some things interjected: "Meanwhile from time to time there communicated itself to his soul that which was virtually the font and flood of all good, in which he at once found whatever was beautiful, lovable or desirable; for it existed there in an ineffable manner. Hence he contracted a certain habit, that whenever he heard love songs spoken or sung, he would immediately retire within himself, or rather be carried inward, with heart and soul turned to his most sweet friend, from whom whatever is lovable proceeds, by a certain abstract gaze. Nor indeed can it be said how many times with weeping eyes and heart expanded immensely he embraced that most welcome friend and sweetly pressed her to his breast."
Now understand "lover" in the eminent sense: for love of beauty is ardent and violent, as can be seen in the suitors of women, who from love of them say and do amazing things, so that they seem to become foolish and insane, and they endure any hardships to possess them: much more ardent in Solomon and the saints is the love of divine wisdom and holiness, according to Song of Songs 8:6: "Love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as hell:" hence eros, that is love, alludes to Ares, that is Mars, because love is warlike, and prevails with martial fortitude, tames all things like iron, does not shrink from any battles but enters them, bravely endures whatever hardships there may be, both inflicts and receives wounds, according to Song of Songs 2:5: "I am sick with love;" Symmachus translates: I am wounded with love. The student of wisdom therefore should undertake all difficulties for her sake, and generously endure all hardships.
3. SHE GLORIFIES HER NOBLE BIRTH (St. Hilary on Psalm 127 translates it as "dignity," that is honor, distinction, excellence, nobility), HAVING FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD: AND THE LORD OF ALL THINGS HAS LOVED HER. — The third, after lovableness and beauty, is this endowment of wisdom, namely nobility and high birth. The word "her" is not in the Greek; whence some explain it thus, as if to say: Wisdom is noble, and therefore commends nobility to her disciples, indeed glorifies it, that is, extols it with wonderful praises and encomiums, and commands all to have a spirit that is not abject, lowly and depressed, but lofty, noble and generous, and to undertake great things with great spirit, so that from heroic works they may be and be called generous and heroes. The reason is, that she herself has fellowship with God, that is, she is familiar with God, and constantly converses with Him: therefore from the generous God she learns generosity, so as to meditate and undertake generous and divine things; hence she also commands her followers to constantly dwell and walk with God through prayer and meditation, like Enoch and Noah, so that from Him they may learn to trample upon all earthly things, and seek heavenly things, and think, desire, and do nothing but divine things: as all the apostles, martyrs, holy doctors, holy virgins, etc. did. Whence St. Jerome: "Virtue," he says, "requires Socratic strength of soul," indeed Herculean; and Christ Himself: "The kingdom of heaven," He says, "suffers violence, and the violent take it by force," Matthew 11:12. Pertinent here is that passage of Seneca, epistle 111: "But he who has exercised philosophy as a remedy for himself becomes great in spirit, full of confidence, unconquerable and greater the more one approaches. What happens with great mountains, whose height appears less to those viewing from afar: when you have drawn near, then it becomes clear how high the summits are. Such, my dear Lucilius, is the true philosopher, one of deeds, not of artifices. He stands on high, admirable, lofty, of true greatness. He does not rise on tiptoe, nor walk on the tips of his toes, in the manner of those who help their stature with falsehood, and wish to appear taller than they are: he is content with his own greatness. And why should he not be content, having grown to where fortune does not reach its hand? Therefore it is both above human things, and equal to itself in every state of affairs, whether life proceeds with a favorable course, or is tossed about through adversities and difficulties."
The Greek literally has eugeneian doxazei symbiosin echousa Theou, which first, Jansenius translates and explains thus: wisdom considers it nobility to have fellowship with God: for doxazei means both to consider and to glorify: whence doxa signifies both opinion and glory; and the participle echousa, that is "having," in Greek usage stands for the infinitive "to have." Second, others say, as if to say: Wisdom glorifies nobility, that is, it illumines nobility, that is, it renders a noble and generous family more illustrious and glorious, as is evident in Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, whom human wisdom made famous and glorious: much more is this evident in Saints Augustine, Jerome, Chrysostom, Basil, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the other Doctors of the Church, whom divine wisdom has ennobled among all peoples through all ages. For the nobility of birth is external, as being derived from grandfathers and great-grandfathers; but the nobility of wisdom and virtue is internal and proper, as being acquired by one's own labor and effort; whence Cicero boasts: "I, he says, by my own virtue outshone my ancestors." But the word "her," which our translator added, and which he astutely inferred from
the Greek, he subtly understood. Whence third, some refer "her" to the student of wisdom, as if to say: Wisdom glorifies, that is renders illustrious and glorious, her students who have fellowship and conversation with God, as noble and generous, just as she rendered Moses, who from his association with God received rays, and as it were horns of light fixed upon his face, Exodus 34:30. But in Greek the word is the feminine echousa, that is "having," which therefore cannot be referred to a man who studies wisdom: for then it would have to be the masculine echon. Fourth, others refer "her" to the word "beauty" which preceded, as if to say: The fellowship of God illumines and glorifies the beauty or loveliness of wisdom, which is its own ornament, decoration, nobility and high birth: for the beauty of wisdom is greatly adorned by the fact that she has companionship and familiarity with God; whence the Arabic translates: her beauty ennobles, granting union or marriage with God; conversely the Syriac translates: and joy, and praise, and the glory of God in her participation: for spouses love and glorify each other. Fifth and most properly, refer "her" to wisdom, about which this whole discourse is, as if to say: From this it is clear how great is the nobility and high birth of wisdom, that she has fellowship, or as the Greek has it, symbiosin, that is companionship, that is, the highest intimacy and familiarity with God, and dwells with Him, converses, feasts, and takes delight with Him, and that God intimately loves and cherishes her; therefore her nobility, that is, her high birth, is illumined and glorified by this very companionship with God. Or, as others say, as if to say: Wisdom, having fellowship or companionship with God, celebrates and glorifies Him as the highest nobility and high birth. Or rather, as if to say: The noble lineage and high-born ancestry of wisdom — that she was born from God — is illumined and glorified by the fact that she, as a companion and bride of God, intimately converses, lives, and dwells in the same chamber and at the same table with Him, as His equal and peer. For the Greek word symbiosis, that is companionship, is customarily attributed to spouses, whose companionship is constant, and whose intimacy, love and equality are supreme. Wisdom therefore is introduced here as being at once and simultaneously the bride of God, and therefore by this double title most noble and most illustrious.
Thus mystically the Blessed Virgin is glorified, because she is the mother, daughter, and bride of God: the mother of God the Son, the daughter of God the Father, the bride of the Holy Spirit: for the Greek eugenia, that is, nobility, high birth, from genos, just as the Latin "generosity" (generositas) takes its name from lineage (genus) and the nobility of lineage, as Tiraquellus teaches, On Nobility, chapter 2, numbers 47 and following: for a person is called noble (nobilis), as if knowable (noscibilis), or known from lineage, that is from noble grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and from those known for virtue: thus St. Hilary on Psalm 127, from this passage calls wisdom a noble bride. She therefore is eugenia, that is, nobility, just as symbiosis, that is, co-dweller and spouse of God: for wisdom is the fullness of nobility.
Therefore wisdom herself has such great intimacy with God, that she not only arose from Him, but also lives most closely united with Him, and enjoys Him familiarly, as a bride her bridegroom; and God in turn loves her intimately: for from both of these true and supreme nobility arises, since there are many sons and daughters of kings who are not nourished at the table of their parents, but by nurses; whence they scarcely see, scarcely know their parents, and have no influence with them. But wisdom is so much a daughter of God, that she is at the same time His companion and fellow-guest, and continually sits at His table and in His chamber; therefore she has the greatest influence with Him. This is a great incentive to the study of wisdom, that through it we become noble, high-born, companions and intimates of God, and are intimately loved by God. It is the opinion of the canonists that nobles, if they become religious, lose their nobility, as being already dead to the world and the age; whence book 5 of the Decretals, title 34 On Canonical Purgation, chapter 1 Nobilis, the Gloss says: "On account of a crime the name of dignity is lost, just as through the monastic state one loses nobility." But rightly Tiraquellus, in the book On Nobility, chapter 26, explains that by nobility are understood noble honors, titles and domains, such as kingdoms, duchies, counties, baronies: for a religious is incapable of these, by the vow of poverty; yet the same person retains his original nobility, which consists in the right of blood, that is, that he is descended from noble parents, counts, dukes, kings: for this is indelible, being received together with nature at birth. Therefore a religious does not lose his nobility, but increases and doubles it with another more divine one, since, despising the possessions and kingdoms of the earth, and devoting himself solely to God, he becomes His familiar and intimate, as the Sage here teaches.
Mystically, St. Bonaventure, the Gloss and Hugh say: The Son of God, they say, who is the Wisdom of the Father, has nobility and high birth from His own lineage and generation, namely that He was begotten by God the Father; whence He has the same fellowship, that is, equality and most intimate union with the Father: for He is consubstantial with Him and homoousios; whence He glorifies both His own and the Father's lineage, and so in all things seeks the Father's glory and strives to spread it, and therefore became man, and underwent the cross and death. Wherefore God the Father loves the Son as God with a love that is simply infinite; as man, with a love so great that it surpasses the love for all creatures taken together: for He assumed the humanity of Christ to hypostatic union with the Word, which is a dignity and grace so great that it far transcends all the dignities and graces communicated to all creatures, even united and taken together. Following Christ was Paul, a great lover and companion of God and Christ: "I live," he says, "now not I: but Christ lives in me," Galatians 2:20: wherefore God loved him above others, and made him the herald of His glory and the teacher of the nations.
Symbolically, you may easily apply these things to the Blessed Virgin, whose nobility and high birth were so great that from her the very Son of God drew His lineage and took His flesh,
with whom she bodily had a continual symbiosis, that is companionship, and merited to continually see and hear the very wisdom of God incarnate from her, and to be enkindled by His fiery words, as by rays of love: concerning which St. Bernard, homily 1 on the Missus est, says: "Mary," he says, "recognizing herself as mother, with confidence calls that majesty, whom angels serve with reverence, her son, saying: Son, why have You done this to us?" And immediately: "And He was subject to them. Who? To whom? God, to whom angels are subject, whom principalities and powers obey, was subject to Mary, and not only to Mary, but also to Joseph for Mary's sake. Marvel either at the most kindly condescension of the Son, or at the most excellent dignity of the Mother; on both sides there is amazement, on both sides a miracle: both that God obeys a woman — humility without precedent; and that a woman commands God — sublimity without peer." To this St. Ildefonsus also seems to have looked, in sermon 1 On the Assumption, where, having enumerated the many services which the Mother of God rendered to Christ, he adds: "Therefore He who feeds all things, who rules heavenly and earthly things together — this most sacred Virgin nourished and fed Him with the milk of her flesh; at whose nod thereafter the universe is governed, under her care and guidance the infant God lived;" and shortly after: "The Blessed Virgin was wounded in her soul by the sword of Christ's passion. O most holy of all women, who had such and so great fellowship with God on earth; and behold today she is exalted with Him whom she bore, that she may remain glorious in heaven without end." And St. Epiphanius, heresy 78: "Mary," he says, "was devoted to Jesus, always being with Him." St. Augustine likewise, in the book On the Assumption (or whoever the author is), chapter 7, volume 9: "Without doubt," he says, "she was a minister in every work, who bore Him in her womb, and nourished and cherished Him when brought forth in birth, laid Him in a manger, and fleeing from the face of Herod hid Him in Egypt, and with a mother's affection so accompanied His entire infancy, that up to the cross, on which she saw her son, now a perfect man, hanging, she undoubtedly did not withdraw from His service: following not only with the steps of her feet, as out of love for her son; but also by the imitation of His ways, as out of reverence for God. Mary therefore, as she was a most devoted minister of the spiritual works of Christ in their qualities, so without doubt she was a follower in the faith of religion, and in the charity of true belief." St. Bernard, in the sermon entitled The Great Sign: "So many times Mary heard her son speaking, not only to the crowds in parables, but also to the disciples apart, revealing the mysteries of the kingdom of God; she saw Him working miracles, she then saw Him hanging on the cross; she saw Him expiring, she saw Him rising, she saw Him ascending."
4. FOR SHE IS THE INSTRUCTOR OF THE DISCIPLINE OF GOD, AND THE CHOOSER OF HIS WORKS. — For "instructor" the Greek has mystis, that is, one initiated into the mysteries, that is, one conscious of the secrets of God and as it were His secretary, and the revealer and teacher of those same secrets, who knows the hidden things of God, and reveals them to whom she wills: furthermore, mystis means priestess and initiator, who initiates others into sacred things, and appoints priests and prophets (for she is herself both prophet and mystic), as was said in chapter 7:27: for secret things, especially sacred ones, are entrusted and committed only to priests. Whence Vatablus translates: the knowledge of God is a priest, and the overseer of His works; Nannius: for she is a priestess of God, that is, one conscious of and devoted to God's mysteries; Jansenius: for she is skilled in the secrets of God; Budaeus: initiator, guide, interpreter; Cantacuzenus: sitting in the council of God, and thoroughly knowing the things that pertain to Him, according to Proverbs 8:12: "I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and I am present among learned thoughts." For mystes is the name given to one conscious of mysteries, who conceals them as secrets, and reveals them only to the worthy, so named from myo to stoma, that is, from sealing the mouth, because one has the mouth closed and as it were barred. Therefore, just as a priest and mystic conceals mysteries, and treats divine things with due dignity, so also wisdom, and the wise person initiated by the benefit of wisdom, worthily worships God and treats holy things holily; indeed, she teaches the same to others fit for it, and teaches them to worship God worthily and holily. In a similar expression, Celsus the jurist says: "Law is the art of the good and the fair, by the merit of which one may rightly call us priests: for we cultivate justice, we profess the knowledge of the good and the fair;" and these things are sacred; therefore its professors are, as it were, priests.
He gives the reason for what he said: "And the Lord of all things loved her," because wisdom is, as it were, a certain priestess, and the mystical teacher of the holy discipline and knowledge of God; she declares and manifests God to mankind: for if, as is said in Daniel 12:3: "Those who are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and those who instruct many to justice, as stars for perpetual eternities," how much more she who instructs all, and makes them friends of God? So says Castro. Again, as if to say: God loves wisdom: for from the fact that He loves her, He made her His mystic, that is, one conscious of all His mysteries and secrets, according to those words of Christ, John 15:15: "I will not now call you servants, etc., but friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you:" for the supreme sign of love and friendship is to share one's secrets with another. Furthermore, He made her His mystic, or mystic teacher, that is, the instructor of His mysteries, and the high priestess of His sacred rites, and the chooser of His works; He therefore placed her over both His teaching and sacred things, as well as His works, so that whatever she chooses, God does; what she neglects, God likewise neglects and does not do; both of which are signs of the greatest love. This is the fourth endowment of our bride, namely wisdom: that she is a priestess and mystic, that is, an instructor of discipline, in Greek epistemes, that is of the knowledge of God, who instructs and teaches us the knowledge of the saints, by which we may know, worship, and love God with that faith, religion and piety which befits so great a majesty. This Christ accomplished, who is incarnate wisdom,
and the supreme mystic, priest, and pontiff forever according to the order of Melchisedech; whence St. John says of Him, chapter 1:18: "No man has seen God at any time: the only-begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him;" who therefore, in Isaiah 9:6, is called the angel, that is the messenger, of great counsel, according to the Septuagint; whence also Christ says, John 7:16: "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me;" finally He Himself established, instructed, consecrated new mystics, new priests, new teachers of the evangelical law, namely the apostles and disciples, and sent them throughout the whole world and continues to send them daily.
Symbolically, our Pineda, book 3 On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 26, number 3, taking wisdom to mean theology, applies these things to theology in the same way: Theology, he says, ennobles the theologian and makes him illustrious: first, because it possesses the supreme nobility among all sciences; second, it constantly converses with God, about whom it discourses; third, it is conscious of the mysteries of God; fourth, it teaches divine things; fifth, it surpasses the natural sciences as much as a priest surpasses laypeople; sixth, it is as familiar to God as a priest is; seventh, because Cantacuzenus, on the text Her I have loved, affirms that "from the inner sanctuaries and depths of theology, Solomon's soul strove toward this breath of love."
AND THE CHOOSER OF HIS WORKS. — In Greek hairetis, that is, chooser; for which Anastasius of Nicæa in his Questions on Sacred Scripture, question 78 (found in volume 6 of the Library of the Holy Fathers), Cantacuzenus and Budaeus in his Commentary on the Greek Language, read horitsis, that is, the discoverer of His works: for just as a hunting dog scents, and by scent finds and catches the hare, so wisdom keenly tracks and finds a thousand ways and methods of acting and working; whence Vatablus translates: the overseer of His works, as if to say: The wisdom of God, both essential and notional, by which the eternal Father produced the Son, skillfully devised all the works of God: for to its marvelous invention belongs the adornment, variety, and supreme beauty of God's works. She therefore, first, with a certain admirable sagacity detected in nothingness and found the works of God, which she produced with Him out of nothing; second, she devised so great and so wonderful a variety of things by meditation and thought; third, she did this as if by chance, that is without labor and fatigue — God, that is, and divine wisdom; fourth, as regards the works of grace, she did this by the invention of the cross, John 4; and of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, John 6 and 13; and of the sanctification of souls, like beautiful and precious pearls; likewise the resurrection and exaltation of His true and mystical body, not without labor, sweat, blood, etc. But others commonly read hairetis, that is, chooser, as if to say: Wisdom presides over all the works of God, and therefore from the various things that present themselves, she selects the better ones: for although the double function of wisdom insofar as it touches prudence is, first, through eubulia, that is deliberation and counsel, to inquire and discover; second, through synesis, that is judgment, to select from them the more suitable and better,
as Aristotle attests, Ethics 6, chapter 5; yet this latter is more important and excellent than the former, whence St. Hilary on Psalm 127 translates: mighty in the labor of useful works, as if to say: Wisdom among means useful to the end chooses the more powerful and effective; our Pineda, book 3 On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 3, number 6, translates it as "weigher," as if to say: Wisdom treats God's creatures according to their dignity, chooses the best, disregards the lesser: again, with the most just balance of reason, she weighs and examines the merits and dignity of each, and assigns to each what it requires or deserves: thus Christ, from so many millions of men, out of sheer grace chose twelve apostles, who would convert the whole world, and so also today He chooses apostolic men for the conversion of unbelievers and heretics, and liberally attributes and assigns to them the graces and gifts necessary or opportune for so great a work.
5. AND IF RICHES ARE DESIRED IN LIFE, WHAT IS RICHER THAN WISDOM, WHICH WORKS ALL THINGS? — The Greek has: and if wealth is a desirable possession in life, etc.: for riches are desired by all for food and clothing, and for living life honorably and splendidly; they are therefore the props and sinews of life, the staffs and provision for the journey: riches are therefore loved insofar as life flourishes when their aid is present and thrives when it prevails, but when absent, life languishes, withers and falls. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Wisdom herself produces riches, and is like a spring of gold, silver and gems; whoever possesses her will possess all riches. He compares wisdom with all things, and teaches that all, even the most excellent, are surpassed by her, because she alone has the use of them all: so says Castro. This is the fifth endowment of the bride, namely wisdom, that she is wealthy, and brings wealth to the wise, because she "works all things," that is, first, because she is industrious, not idle and lazy, and she spurs her followers to labor, and does not allow them to be idle; for labor produces wealth, and idleness poverty, according to Proverbs 10:4: "The slack hand has wrought poverty, but the hand of the strong prepares riches." Second, she "works all things," that is, she is prudent, skillful, industrious, effective in working: for she knows how to select all those works which bring greater profit, and she does not cease until she attains the profit she desires. Third, she "works all things" that are in the world, namely God and divine wisdom; therefore also riches, first spiritual, then temporal, according to Christ's words, Matthew 6:33: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you;" and Isaiah 33:6: "The riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge:" see what was said at chapter 7, verse 8 and following, and Proverbs 8:18. Let Solomon be an example, to whom, when he asked for wisdom, God gave with it such great wealth as no king ever possessed, 2 Chronicles 1:12.
Hence alchemists consider that Solomon was skilled in the chemical art, which transmutes other metals into gold, and from this amassed such great wealth for himself; they infer that this art was in use in Solomon's age from Psalm 119:119: "I counted all the sinners of the earth as transgressors;" where for "transgressors" the Hebrew has sigim, which St. Jerome translates as "dross"; but Augustine, Bishop of Nebbio, translates it as "alchemies." But they are wrong, both because there is no art that can transmute metals into gold, whose form is the noblest; and because even if art could accomplish this, it requires such great expenses that all who use it are impoverished, and from wealthy become destitute, as experience proves; whence John XXII, in the chapter Spondent, in the Extravagantes, book 5 On the Crime of Falsehood: "They promise," he says, "riches which they do not deliver, these poor alchemists; likewise those who consider themselves wise fall into the pit which they have made." And with some things interjected: "Alchemists conceal falsehood with words, but in the end they fabricate by sophistical transmutation what does not exist in nature as true gold or silver." Hence some call the chemical art the "Chamic" art, that is, invented by Ham, the impious son of Noah, whom they think was the same as Zoroaster the magician: for more on this subject see our Delrio, book 1 of Disquisitions on Magic, chapter 5; Pererius, On Magic; the Conimbricenses, book 2 of the Physics, chapter 7; Pineda, book 4 On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 21. Wisdom therefore taught Solomon other true arts and ways of growing rich, namely by sending fleets to Ophir, by mining gold and silver from the gold-bearing veins of the earth, which he himself discovered by his wisdom, by imposing greater taxes, by more skillfully cultivating the fields and vineyards of his entire kingdom, by establishing profitable commerce, and by sagaciously seizing profit from all things.
6. AND IF UNDERSTANDING WORKS, WHO OF ALL THINGS THAT EXIST IS A GREATER ARTISAN THAN SHE? — In Greek technitis, that is, craftsman, smith, artisan, who devises and produces artistic things. For "understanding" the Greek is phronesis, that is prudence, intelligence, industry. Now first, by phronesis, or understanding, some take wisdom itself; whence Vatablus translates: and if the artisan of all things is wisdom, what in nature is more artful than she? Second and preferably, others by phronesis, that is prudence, or understanding, take art and the industry of working; thus prudence is taken for art in Exodus 28:3: so Jansenius: He speaks, he says, of the prudence of artisans and workers, with which he compares the wisdom of God, teaching that it is more industry than the prudence of art, as if to say: If through the mechanical arts many things are made artfully, how much more artful is wisdom, which invented all the arts, and can invent more? For every art, and every industry flows from wisdom, and is, as it were, a part or species of it, as I said in chapter 7:21. Wisdom is here introduced as a bride: and he wonderfully adorns the bride by saying that she is artistic, and with her hands fashions works of great art and industry, such as embroideries and Phrygian work, and from these she produces the most beautiful and most precious ornaments for men and women, according to what is said of the wise and industrious woman, Proverbs 31:13:
"She has worked with the counsel of her hands. She has put out her hand to strong things, and her fingers have grasped the spindle. She has made herself a spread garment: fine linen and purple is her clothing," etc.: so says Castro. Lorinus, Jansenius, Cervantes and Pineda, book 3 On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 3, number 5, and others agree. The sixth endowment of the bride, namely of wisdom, is that she is a wonderful artisan, for all crafts and all artistic works are to be ascribed to divine wisdom, from which human wisdom flows: therefore she is the inventor and origin of all arts. He speaks throughout this entire chapter, as also in the preceding one, of wisdom abstractly and generically, insofar as she is the idea and maker of all things, both natural, artificial and moral, and therefore she embraces all arts as well as all virtues, as I noted above, and this very passage demonstrates the same.
7. AND IF ONE LOVES JUSTICE, HER LABORS HAVE GREAT VIRTUES: FOR SHE TEACHES SOBRIETY AND PRUDENCE, AND JUSTICE, AND FORTITUDE, THAN WHICH NOTHING IS MORE USEFUL IN LIFE FOR HUMAN BEINGS. — The Greek has: the labors of this one are virtues; and so Clement of Alexandria reads, book 5 of the Stromata; however, what Clement adds — for temperance and prudence teach justice and the virtue of a great and lofty spirit, than which nothing is more useful in the life of human beings — as to the first part, disagrees with the Greek and with the Vulgate, as is evident to anyone who looks, and therefore he seems to have used a defective manuscript of Sacred Scripture. The sense is, as if to say: The labor of wisdom consists in what is arduous, namely in exercising, acquiring and increasing any virtue, and especially in doing and enduring hard and arduous things, according to the saying: "To do brave deeds is Roman, to endure brave deeds is Christian;" hence arete, that is virtue, alludes to Ares, that is Mars, because virtue is martial, and requires brave and heroic spirits. From art he passes to prudence and virtue, that is, from the productive to the active, and teaches that wisdom is the mother of all virtues, as well as of all arts, which is the seventh endowment of wisdom. He names only the four principal virtues, which first, as far as I know, by St. Ambrose, book 5 on Luke, were called cardinal, as being the hinges (cardines) of all the others: for all others are referred back to these four, as to their fountains and heads, and upon these, as upon hinges, all our moral excellence turns. Understand justice, therefore, which is placed here in the first position, as general, which is the ensemble of all virtues, whose primary parts or species are sobriety, prudence, special justice, and virtue, in Greek andreia, that is fortitude. Wherefore from this passage theologians conclude that there are four cardinal virtues, namely prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, which are sometimes natural and acquired through natural acts, as they were in the philosophers; but sometimes supernatural, and infused by God during justification together with faith, hope and charity into the faithful, inasmuch as they are directed to a supernatural end, as St. Thomas teaches, First Part of the Second Part, Question 63, article 3; indeed the Council of Trent, session 6, chapter 7.
SOBRIETY; — in Greek sophrosynen, which word properly signifies temperance in the use of both food and sexual pleasure, and of other pleasures perceived by some bodily sense, and thence it signifies wisdom and prudence (whence the translator of Anastasius of Nicæa, Question 78 on Scripture, translates here: she teaches wisdom and prudence; but not very aptly, as is clear): for temperance produces this, and therefore temperance was called sophrosyne, as it were sosousa ten phronesin, that is, preserving prudence or wisdom; whence also sophron is called the temperate person, as if saophron, that is, saos or sos ten phrena, that is, sound in mind: for temperance is the health of the mind. On the contrary, Euripides in the Hecuba, as Aristotle attests, Rhetoric 2, chapter 24, aptly said that Venus is called Aphrodite because she is the parent of aphrosyne, that is, of foolishness and madness. St. Augustine, book 1 On the Morals of the Church, chapter 16, reading "sobriety wisdom teaches," takes sobriety as the truth of contemplation; but he rightly retracts this, book 1 of the Retractations, chapter 7, where he teaches that it should be read: she teaches sobriety and prudence, as the Greek text and our Vulgate have.
PRUDENCE, — phronesis, a little earlier he called art, but here he calls prudence, which is the overseer and charioteer of virtues, as St. Antony used to say, as St. Athanasius attests in his Life; indeed Socrates called all virtues prudences: see Aristotle, Ethics 6, chapter 5 and following; and St. Thomas, First Part of the Second Part, Question 57, and Second Part of the Second Part, Question 47 and following.
FORTITUDE, — in Greek andreian, that is, fortitude, or manliness, from andros, that is, from man: for fortitude belongs to men, not to women, and requires manly strength, such as among women was also displayed by heroines. Fortitude, moreover, is partly active, such as that of soldiers, who undertake arduous things in war; partly and especially passive, such as that of the patient and of martyrs, who endure hard and atrocious things with a brave and unconquered spirit; whence its potential or integral parts are confidence, magnanimity, security, magnificence, patience, longanimity, perseverance, constancy, as St. Thomas says, Second Part of the Second Part, Question 123 and following, which see. The Sage here omits the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity, of which wisdom is likewise the mother; whence by allusion to her, St. Sophia, that is Wisdom, mother and martyr, gave to her three daughters the names of these three virtues and called them Faith, Hope, and Charity, and together with them underwent a noble martyrdom, as can be seen in their Life, which is found in Surius, August 1. The Sage omits them because he is here treating only of the moral virtues, which consist in external works and labors: for these are the labors of wisdom, which, as he himself says in this verse, "have great virtues: and the fruit of good labors is glorious," as I said in chapter 3, verse 15.
8. AND IF ONE DESIRES A MULTITUDE (Hugo and Idacius, book 3 Against Varimadus, erroneously read "similitude") OF KNOWLEDGE, SHE KNOWS THINGS PAST, AND JUDGES OF THINGS TO COME: SHE KNOWS THE SUBTLETIES OF SPEECHES, AND THE SOLUTIONS OF ARGUMENTS: SHE KNOWS SIGNS AND WONDERS BEFORE THEY HAPPEN, AND THE OUTCOMES OF TIMES AND AGES. — Vatablus clearly translates from the Greek: if anyone likewise desires the knowledge of many things, she knows ancient things, and conjectures future things: she understands the turns of speeches, and the explanations of riddles: she foretells signs and prodigies, and the outcomes of seasons and times. He compared wisdom with arts and virtues, and preferred her to all of them; now he compares and prefers her to all branches of knowledge, indeed he asserts that all of them are eminently contained in wisdom, and that excessive curiosity for knowing is tempered by her. This is therefore the ninth endowment of wisdom.
Whence Clement of Alexandria, book 6 of the Stromata, having quoted this entire verse, concludes: "You see the fountain of disciplines flowing from wisdom." For "multitude of knowledge," the Greek has polypirian, that is, the experience of many things; Vatablus translates, great skill, for experience begets this; whence Plato, book 7 of the Laws, associated polypeiran and polymathian as mother and daughter; and Sallust in the Jugurtha asserts that nothing is wiser than experience: wherefore philosophers began to philosophize from the experience of things, and to investigate the causes of things.
SHE KNOWS THINGS PAST. — In Greek, ta archaia, that is, ancient things, as if to say: Wisdom knows histories that are ancient and long past: "for history is the witness of times, the light of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity," says Cicero, book 2 On the Orator; and St. Gregory of Nazianzus to Nicobulus: "History," he says, "is a certain condensed and, as it were, heaped-up wisdom, and the minds of many men collected into one. It is pleasant and safe to learn from the experiences of others, whether happy or sad, what you ought to do in a similar situation." Livy at the beginning of book 1: "It is beneficial," he says, "to contemplate the lessons of every kind of example set forth in a distinguished monument, that from there you may take for yourself and for your state what to imitate. And from there what is shameful in its beginning and shameful in its outcome, you may avoid." Wherefore the Emperor Basil prescribes thus to his son Leo, chapter 56: "Do not refuse," he says, "to go through the ancient histories: for there you will find without labor what others collected with labor; and from there you may draw both the virtues of the good and the vices of the wicked, the various changes of human life and the revolutions of affairs in it, the instability of this world, and the headlong falls of the impious; and, to sum up in a word, the punishments of evil deeds and the rewards of good, the former of which you will flee, lest you fall into the hands of divine justice, and the latter you will embrace, that you may obtain the rewards that accompany them."
SHE JUDGES OF THINGS TO COME. — In Greek, eikazei, that is, she compares, likens, conjectures, presents a living form, represents: for from the experience of things past, or from historical knowledge, a prudent conjecture is made about the outcome of future things: so Cantacuzenus. For prudent people, by comparing similar past things with future ones, easily conjecture about their outcome: for past events represent the form and living image of future ones; whence Idacius, book 3 Against
gia) knows things before they happen — that is to say, Wisdom foretells future eclipses, heat waves, cold spells, rains, winds, storms, barrenness, fertility, pestilence, diseases, etc., from mathematics and meteorological signs and prognostics: so Cantacuzenus. Prodigies are called "monstra" (portents) because they show forth (praemonstrant) future things: hear Cicero, book II of On the Nature of the Gods: "Predestinations, predictions, and presentiments of future events — what else do they declare to men, except that things which happen are shown, demonstrated, portended, predicted, etc., from which those things are called ostenta, monstra, portenta, and prodigia." A prodigium, moreover, says Servius on Aeneid III, is that which directs its signification over a long time — so called "as if to be driven forward" (porro adigendum), says Nonius Marcellinus.
Varimadum translates it as "she is prescient of future things"; Clement, in Stromata VI, renders it "she conjectures future things"; Anastasius of Nicaea, Question LXXVIII, "she investigates future things"; Pagninus, "she imagines future things"; therefore, apart from the utterances of the wise (who by the anticipation of wisdom sagaciously foresee and wholesomely foretell future things), the remaining fata (prophecies) are fatuous pronouncements of the deranged.
She knows the cunning turns of words. — In Greek, strophas, from strepho (that is, I turn, I twist, I act cunningly, I torment, I revolve), just as "cunning turns" (versutiae) are derived from verto or verso, because through them a plain matter is turned into an obscure and foreign mode of speech — whether through sharp and subtle sayings, such as parables, as is evident from Sirach 39:9 and 2 Samuel 14:20; or through words deceitfully and fraudulently composed to deceive, such as were the captious questions proposed by the Pharisees to Christ to trap Him in His speech, but detected and dissolved by Christ through wisdom, Matthew 22:15 and following. Such also are the sophisms of sophists, especially of heretics, which dialectic dissolves and resolves; whence St. Augustine, book I Against Cresconius, chapter 10 and following, commends the knowledge of dialectic to the wise man by the authority and example of Christ and Paul. Hear Clement of Rome, book I of the Constitutions, chapter 6, where he leads the reader from the reading of pagan works to the reading of Holy Scripture: "For what do you seek in the law of God? If you desire to read histories, you have the books of Kings; if sophistical matters, that is, things that are cleverly directed toward wisdom, and poetical works, you have the Prophets, Job, and Proverbs, in which you will find more acuteness than in all the poetry and wisdom of the sophists, because He who alone is wise uttered those things." Here by "sophistical" he means dialectical, which the sophists abused for weaving together sophisms.
The solutions of arguments — that is, of ingenious, hidden, and clever ones; whence the Greek reads "of enigmas," that is, solutions of questions that are obscure and difficult to explain. For an enigma is a riddle (gryphus), or a knot (scirpus), that is, a speech that is knotted and wrapped up; or, as Valla interprets it, an allegory so obscure that one must divine rather than interpret it — such as Samson's riddle about the honeycomb found in the lion's mouth, Judges 14:14: "Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." See the comments on Proverbs 1:6. Hence, 3 Kings 10: "The Queen of Sheba, having heard the fame of Solomon, came to test him with enigmas; and Solomon taught her all the things she had proposed; there was no word that could be hidden from the king, to which he did not respond." And Josephus narrates a contest of enigmas begun by Solomon with Hiram, king of Tyre, in book VIII, chapter 2: "The Tyrian king sent enigmatic questions to Solomon. But he, skilled and most prudent in such matters, left nothing unexplained, but conquering all things by reason, declared them most plainly." And Sirach 47:16: "Your soul covered the earth, and you filled it with parables and enigmas."
She knows signs and portents (in Greek, terata, that is, prodigies) before they happen.
The outcomes of times and ages. — In Greek, kairon kai chronon, that is, of opportunities and times, meaning: Wisdom skillfully foresees and provides for the future opportunities of events and the advantageous times from preceding signs, especially the meteorological ones already mentioned; whence she uses them prudently and fruitfully for her own good and that of the commonwealth.
9. I resolved therefore to take her to myself to live with: knowing that she would communicate with me about good things, and would be a comfort to my thought and weariness. — Lyranus, Dionysius, and the Gloss incorrectly read "ad convivandum" (for banqueting), for it should be read "ad convivendum" (for living together): for in Greek it is pros symbiosis, that is, for companionship, that is, for familiar fellowship and conversation. St. Ambrose, in his book On Widows, reads "I resolved therefore to take her to myself in marriage": for a spouse is the perpetual companion of his or her consort, since St. Ambrose in that passage seems rather to be referring to this verse than to verse 2.
She will communicate about good things. — In Greek, estai symboulos agathon, that is, she will be a counselor of good things, who will give me good advice, says Vatablus; or rather, she will be a communicator of good things: for symbola are called contributions, for example, banquets in which each of the guests contributes his own dish to the common pool, about which see Proverbs 23:21.
And she will be a comfort to my thought (in Greek, phrontidon, that is, of cares — for cogitatio, thought, from its etymology is an agitation, gathering, and forcing together of the mind, says St. Augustine, Confessions XI; hence cogitatio in Scripture often denotes the anxious deliberation of a mind fluctuating within itself, as is evident from Matthew 21:25, and 15:19; Luke 1:29, and elsewhere) and of my weariness. — Allocutio, that is, consolation; for a gentle address is the consolation of the afflicted. In Greek, parainesis, that is, exhortation, consolation, admonition, as Jansenius translates; moderation, as Clarius; soothing, as Vatablus; alleviation, as the Gloss. This is the tenth dowry of the bride, namely of wisdom: that she communicates her good things to her bridegroom, and soothes and consoles his anxieties, labors, pains, and sorrows by her prudent address and counsel. For to this end a wife was given to a man, that she might be a help to him in so miserable and calamitous a life, Genesis 2.
Hence that saying, Hosea 2:14: "I will lead her into the wilderness and speak to her heart," that is, I will gently console her. Add from Agrestius the Grammarian: "As loqui (to speak) belongs to a man, eloqui (to speak eloquently) to an orator, obloqui (to speak against) to a detractor, so alloqui (to address) belongs to one who persuades, or exhorts, or speaks soothingly." This is that famous saying: "The visit of the laboring (and even more, the address) is the alleviation of labor." This can be seen in fields and among farmers. Hear St. Gregory, book V of the Moralia, chapter 5: "To console one who labors is to persevere equally in the labor: because the alleviation of labor is the visit of a fellow-laborer, just as when a companion joins one on a journey, the road indeed is not shortened, but nevertheless the labor of the journey is lightened by the companionship of the companion," according to the saying: "An eloquent companion on the road serves as a vehicle." Such is wisdom.
Of my weariness. — In Greek, lypes, that is, of sadness, pain, sorrow: Severinus Boethius confesses that he experienced this very thing in prison, writing his books On the Consolation of Philosophy, as did Thomas More in his English prison, meditating on the Passion of Christ. All devotees of wisdom experience the same. If St. Augustine, book III of the Confessions, chapter 4, confesses that he drew such great sweetness of delight from Cicero's Hortensius out of love for wisdom — as Cervantius says — that the disgust and weariness arising from the study of other matters was relieved by the love of philosophy alone (which Cicero, in On Duties II, calls the delight of the soul, the rest from cares that not only leads away from anxiety but strenuously arms against all the assaults of fortune, and in book XII of his Familiar Letters, letter 23, and Tusculan Disputations V, grants tranquility of life) — how much more excellently, I ask, does not the study of a shadowy wisdom, which is philosophy, but Wisdom Herself provide all this to Her companion and bridegroom, by Herself and Her address? And how beautifully all these things apply to that same uncreated, incarnate Wisdom, who in the Eucharist invites us to Her companionship, fellowship, marriage, banquet, communion, counsel, gifts, communication of all good things, and address, and admits those who desire Her?
10. On account of her I shall have renown among the multitudes, and honor among the elders though I am young. — For "renown" (claritatem) the Greek has doxan, that is, glory, splendor, majesty; for "honor" the Greek has timen, that is, honor, esteem, illustrious reputation. Having thus far enumerated ten dowries of the bride, he now adds four more. The eleventh dowry of wisdom is this: that she procures glory among the people and honor among the elders for her bridegroom, even though he is young. Let Solomon serve as an example, celebrated and glorious throughout the whole world, through all ages, on account of his fame for wisdom. Thus Plato in the Sophist says that the wise man is divine and most like the gods, and therefore should be adorned with the highest honors.
Young. — Many refer this to what follows: "and I shall be found acute"; but the word "et" (and) stands against this. Therefore the Roman and other more correct editions refer it to "seniores" (elders), which preceded, meaning: Wisdom causes the wise man, though young in age, to be honored not only by youths of his own age, but also by elders — whom, although he is surpassed by them in age, he nevertheless surpasses in wisdom, as happened to Solomon, Job, Daniel, John the Baptist, Christ, and the Apostles. So Cantacuzenus, Vatablus, Osorius, Clarius, Jansenius, a Castro, and others. Mystically, the wise man — that is, one who excels in virtue — calls himself young, even if he is old, because in virtue he never grows feeble, in fervor he never grows lukewarm, in good works he never becomes weaker, but while he strives daily to make progress and become stronger in goodness, he retains and preserves the flourishing youth of wisdom, according to Psalm 83:8: "They shall go from virtue to virtue; the God of gods shall be seen in Zion."
11. And I shall be found acute in judgment, and in the sight of the powerful (in Greek, dynaston, that is, of rulers) I shall be admirable, and the faces of princes shall marvel (Arias renders: shall be astonished) at me. — This last part is absent from the Greek. For wisdom makes men acute, so that they rightly judge any matter in a trial, whether public or private, and sagaciously touch upon the very point of difficulty and acutely resolve it, as Solomon did in the judgment of the harlots, about which St. Ambrose aptly says, On Duties II, chapter 8: "Therefore it is written, 3 Kings 3:28: All Israel heard the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, seeing that the wisdom of God was in him to render judgment. And not undeservedly, he says, was the understanding of God considered to be in him, in whom the hidden things of God reside; and what is more hidden than the testimony of the inner womb, into which the understanding of the wise man descended as a kind of arbiter of natural affection, and drew forth, as it were, a voice from the generative womb, by which maternal feeling was revealed?" And chapter 10: "He calls Solomon just and wise in this judgment, full of just censure and clever invention." And book III of On the Holy Spirit, chapter 7: "He says that only by the gift of the Holy Spirit could Solomon penetrate the hidden conscience of the women, and that by the most acute sword of the spirit." Josephus adds: "From that day the people obeyed him as one endowed with a divine mind."
I shall be admirable. — That is, they will marvel at me and my wisdom and be astonished, and therefore the powerful and rulers will receive and venerate me with gaping mouths. "The highest glory, says Cicero in On Duties II, consists of these three things: if the multitude loves you, if it trusts you, if with a certain admiration it considers you worthy of honor." In Greek it is thaumasthesomai, that is, I shall be an object of admiration, I shall excite admiration for myself, I shall be a wonder, like the heavenly Rainbow, which was called by the Greeks Thaumantias (as if "admirable") from the admiration of men marveling at such a variety and beauty of its colors. For just as the rainbow draws its admirable form from the reflection of the sun's rays, so I shall draw all the splendor of my judgment and intellect from the irradiation of divine wisdom, which all shall admire. Therefore Severus Sulpitius, book I of his Sacred History, says of Solomon: "So great was the admiration of his genius and prudence that the kings of neighboring nations sought friendship and alliance from him, prepared to do whatever he commanded." Far more truly do these things apply to Christ, who is incarnate Wisdom, at whose wisdom the crowds were astonished, according to Luke 19:48: "For all the people hung upon Him, listening to Him" — in Greek, they were hanging in suspense of mind; the Syriac, they were hanging on Him to hear Him; and the officers sent to arrest Him, when asked by the Scribes why they had not brought Him, answered, John 7:46: "Never has a man spoken like this man."
In this gift of genius and acuteness, St. Augustine excelled among all the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, like an eagle; to him therefore St. Prosper rightly and deservedly assigns these praises, book III of On the Contemplative Life, chapter 31: "The holy bishop Augustine — keen in genius, sweet in eloquence, skilled in secular literature, industrious in ecclesiastical labors, distinguished in daily disputations, composed in all his actions, catholic in his exposition of our faith, acute in solving questions, circumspect in refuting heretics, and cautious in explaining the Canonical Scriptures." And the Eighth Council of Toledo, chapter 2, in the year of our Lord 653: "The most holy Augustine, he says, was cautious by the acuteness of his investigation, outstanding in the art of discovery, flowing in the abundance of his assertions, graced by the flower of eloquence, fruitful with the fruit of wisdom."
in his fourth Catilinarian oration: "I see, he says, that the faces and eyes of all of you are turned upon me." For a wise orator must strive to hold the minds of his hearers suspended and intent upon himself, whether by the novelty and unusualness of his subject matter, and by grace and energy of speech, or by the gravity, pleasantness, and weight of his material — for thus he will make them well-disposed and attentive to himself. Such was Job, who says of himself while speaking, chapter 29:9: "The princes ceased to speak and placed their finger upon their mouth, etc. The ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave testimony for me," by nodding and applauding. And Paul, at whose eloquence and energy of speech the astonished Lycaonians called him Mercury, as if a god fallen from heaven, Acts 14:14. And St. Maurilius, who, designated bishop of Angers by the sign of a dove and consecrated by St. Martin, illustrious for holiness and frequent miracles, drew all faces and ears to himself; whence he was "silent in speech, yet speaking in silence, and nothing was more severe than his pleasantness, nor more pleasant than his severity," says Fortunatus in his Life.
12. When I am silent, they will wait for me (they will wait for me to speak), and when I speak, they will look upon me (in Greek, they will attend to the speaker, that is, with mouth and eyes intent they will attend to me speaking), and when I discourse at greater length (when I speak on at length), they will place their hands upon their mouths — imposing silence on themselves, they will listen to me attentively, out of pleasure and admiration for my sayings. Hear Cantacuzenus explaining this in paraphrase: "I shall be in admiration before the rulers, while they look to my skill and industry, the ingenious interpretation of matters, and the ready and easy elucidation of questions. When I am silent they will wait, and when I speak they will attend, nor will they make an uproar — whether while I collect my thoughts, or silently recall to memory what I must say, or while I proceed to speak and offer them things most pleasing and delightful. And should it happen that I am rather lengthy even in these things, they will nevertheless attend diligently to what is being said, and will not so much as open their mouths — nay, even if we are carried on still longer by a certain momentum, they will stop their own mouths with their hands." Thus when Aeneas was speaking, Dido and her attendants, marveling, All fell silent, and held their faces intent, says Virgil, Aeneid II. For there is great power in the mouth, eyes, and countenance of a speaker, says Plutarch in his short work On Listening, and in the very action and delivery, which is perceived more by the eyes than by the ears; whence it draws the gazes of the hearers intent upon the speaker. Therefore, as Cicero says in the Orator, the first part and praise of an orator is delivery; whence the same author in his fourth Catilinarian: "I see, he says, that the faces and eyes of all of you are turned upon me."
13. Moreover, through her I shall have immortality, and I shall leave an eternal memory to those who come after me — as in fact Solomon did leave. By immortality — in Greek, athanasian — understand both that of name and fame, and that of eternal life, meaning: Through wisdom I shall obtain immortal life with God and eternal memory among men, according to Psalm 111:7: "The just shall be in eternal memory." Thus concerning King Josiah, Sirach says, chapter 49, verse 1: "The memory of Josiah is like a composition of perfume made by the art of the perfumer. In every mouth it shall be sweet as honey, and as music at a banquet of wine." For it wonderfully refreshes and animates the wise man that his memory will serve as praise and example for posterity. For the immortality of one's name is a great solace for the mortality of life. Indeed, Cicero in the Tusculan Disputations I draws from this an argument for the immortality of the soul. For the soul would not desire eternal memory unless it were itself eternal, so that it might perceive what posterity would say about it. For what would the praises of men matter to it, if there were no awareness of them in it? This is the twelfth dowry of the bride, that is, of wisdom — namely, the immortality of life as well as of fame.
14. I shall govern peoples, and nations shall be subject to me. — This is the thirteenth dowry of wisdom: that she teaches how to wisely rule peoples and all kinds of subjects. By "peoples" understand the Israelites; by "nations" — in Greek, ethne, that is, Gentiles — understand the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and the other neighboring nations subject to Solomon, 3 Kings 4:24. "I shall govern" — in Greek, dioikeso, that is, I shall administer, I shall rule as a household manager, I shall direct, I shall arrange, I shall set in due order, I shall distribute into ranks, I shall assign to each one his proper place, function, duty, and rank. For the best method of governing is when all are placed in their proper order and everything is managed in its proper sequence. St. Augustine, in his book On the Work of Monks, chapter 18, says: "The best governance is when all things are managed in order, distributed according to their proper times (under which he includes the other circumstances of persons, ages, abilities, and places) — an order which, as the same author says in book I, chapter 10, from the two books he wrote On Order: 'is that through which all things that God has established are carried out' — lest they disturb the human mind when wrapped in turbulent entanglements." See the comments on Proverbs 8:15, on those words: "By me kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things." See also Clement of Alexandria in his Exhortation, where he says that the incantations of Amphion and Orpheus were orations full of wisdom and eloquence, by whose power men — who previously bore under a human form the appearance of wild beasts with bestial habits — were brought to the harmony of political discipline. To these he prefers, as light to shadows, as truth to falsehood, Christ the Lord, whom he calls the holy and heavenly enchanter of souls. Anastasius of Sinai, moreover, in book IV of the Hexaemeron, calls the same Lord the heavenly lyre. Finally, from this verse 14, Pineda in book III of On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 34, concludes that Solomon, as king of kings by the benefit of wisdom, dispensed justice not only to foreigners but also to his own people, by judging, deciding disputes, and assigning to each one his right — and this in person, not only through judges appointed by him.
15. Terrible kings hearing of me shall be afraid; among the multitude I shall appear good, and in war brave. — For wisdom is gentle toward subjects, but to rebels and enemies, especially to terrible and formidable tyrants, she is terrifying and dreadful, according to Virgil, Aeneid VI, on the art of ruling: These shall be your arts, etc. To spare the conquered and to war down the proud. Thus Moses struck fear and dread into Pharaoh, Exodus 8:28 and following; Joshua into the Canaanites, chapter 2:10; Daniel, chapter 2, verse 26, into Nebuchadnezzar; John the Baptist into Herod, Mark 6:20. Hence also the bride, namely the Church, is called in Song of Songs 6:9 "beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun, terrible as an army set in array." For, as Nyssen says in his 13th homily on the Song of Songs: "The building of the Church is like the building of the world." And Song of Songs 7:1: "What shall you see in the Shulamite but the choirs of the camps?"
Good — that is, benevolent, beneficent, merciful, liberal. These therefore are the two principal endowments of a prince, namely beneficence and fortitude, according to Homer: "He is both — a good king and a brave soldier." Alexander the Great constantly had this on his lips, as Plutarch attests in the Moralia. For a king should be good and peaceful in peace, but brave in war. Here applies what Plutarch says in his book To an Uneducated Prince, and in his book That a Philosopher Must Converse with Princes: "God hurls His thunders and lightnings and the shots of His rays at the threatening; but those who are endowed with right reason and strive to emulate Him with honesty and humanity, He, delighted by their zeal, increases and bestows upon them His equity, justice, truth, and gentleness, than which nothing is more lasting." See Dio Chrysostom, oration 2 On Kingship, and oration 49, which begins: "For men who are humane and learned, it is neither unpleasant to hold office nor difficult." And Aristotle in his Political Questions, where he says: "A prince is formidable to his enemies if he is equipped with arms and an army and much preparation as for war; yet he should hold all these things in readiness longer, as though useless, before he uses them. For God Himself, before He strikes the terror of His majesty, grants a kind of truce." If that does not avail, then at last He hurls javelins and thunderbolts at the guilty. Hear from the Laws of the Visigoths, book I, title 2, chapter 6, this decree: "From the establishment of morals, from the gentleness of princes, and from the arrangement of laws, there arises both the concord of citizens and the triumph over enemies; and thus the good prince, governing internal affairs and acquiring external ones, while he possesses his own peace and breaks off the strife of others, is celebrated as a ruler among citizens and a conqueror among enemies." Hear also Seneca the tragedian in the Octavia, conversing with Nero:
Nero: The sword protects the prince. Seneca: Better, loyalty. N: It is fitting that Caesar be feared. S: But more, that he be loved. N: They must fear. S: Whatever is extorted is burdensome. N: And let them obey our commands. S: Command just things.
And Isocrates, oration 2 to Nicocles: "Let him be warlike in military knowledge and preparation, but peaceful, so that he does not covet or claim anything beyond right and equity." And Musonius in Stobaeus, sermon 48: "It is advantageous for a prince, he says, that he be loved rather than feared by his subjects."
16. Entering my house, I shall find rest with her; for her conversation has no bitterness, nor her company any weariness, but joy and gladness. — Vatablus renders: for her association has nothing of bitterness, nor her company anything of pain, but joy and gladness. By contrast, the company and excessive familiarity of men, even the most friendly, often breeds weariness, and indeed brings a sting and provokes anger or sadness. This is the fourteenth dowry of wisdom: that to the wise man who withdraws his mind from public and private affairs to devote it to wisdom, she brings peace and joy, and soothes or wipes away the weariness and sorrows contracted from business. Thus St. Anthony, St. Romuald, St. Francis, St. Dominic, St. Ignatius, and the ancient Essenes, hermits, and religious, devoted to wisdom and contemplation, always appeared with a cheerful spirit and countenance. See St. Basil, On the Constitution of Monasteries, chapters 13 and 14.
The first cause of this peace and joy is the serenity and holiness of a good conscience: "For a secure mind is like a perpetual feast," Proverbs 15:15. The second is love of and confidence in God. The third is the hope of future glory, which absorbs all the labors and pains of a holy life, however harsh it may be.
Here applies that saying, Sirach 15:6: "He shall heap joy and exultation upon him." And that saying of Wisdom about herself, Sirach 24:27: "For my spirit is sweeter than honey, and my inheritance surpasses honey and the honeycomb." Let wise men learn from wisdom not to be gloomy, austere, withdrawn, or harsh in their dealings, but pleasant, cheerful, joyful, obliging, and accommodating, so that they willingly lend their ears to all and kindly satisfy their requests as far as they can. Finally, from the words "her conversation has no bitterness, nor her company any weariness," St. Thomas, I-II, Question 35, article 5, proves that the delight of contemplation is pure and unmixed, having no sadness opposed to it. Ascetics who continually dwell with God, with Christ, with the Blessed Virgin, with the angels and saints, experience this: for they live as in an earthly paradise, and as earthly angels, they taste in advance the delights of heaven while still in the flesh, according to Psalm 30:20: "How great is the multitude of Your sweetness, O Lord, which You have hidden for those who fear You!" And Psalm 35:9: "They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Your house, and You shall give them to drink of the torrent of Your pleasure."
17. Thinking these things within myself, and pondering (in Greek, phronesas, that is, caring, meaning carefully, studiously, and anxiously considering) in my heart: that immortality is in the kinship of wisdom. — So it should be read with the Greek and Roman editions. Therefore Hugo and Dionysius incorrectly read "immortality is in the thought of wisdom," and indeed St. Fulgentius, book III to Monimus, chapter 16, reads the same. Others read "in the knowledge of wisdom" — a reading followed by Idacius Clarius, book III Against Varimadum, to prove that the Son is equal to and coeternal with the Father: "This is more clearly affirmed, he says, by Solomon in these words, Wisdom 8:17: Immortality is in the knowledge of wisdom, and in her friendship is good delight; likewise, in the works of wisdom's hands is honor without failing, and in the contest of her words is immortality and eternal life, in the communication of her words is perpetual glory." Here he likewise adds the word "perpetual" and the word "immortality," neither of which is in the Greek; but he judged that the word "immortality" placed in this verse 17 should be repeated in what follows in verse 18. The meaning is, as if to say: I, Solomon, studiously considering that wisdom is immortal and communicates the same immortality to her kinsmen — that is, to her children and bridegrooms — who strive to closely associate and, as it were, betroth her to themselves, and to make those who are related to her, that is, joined, allied, and bound to her, immortal: for this reason I ardently desired to take her to myself as a mother, indeed as a sister and bride, according to Proverbs 7:4: "Say to wisdom: You are my sister, and call prudence your friend." In Greek these are aorists logismenos kai phrontisas, that is, when I had reckoned and anxiously considered that wisdom makes those immortal who have kinship or affi-
18. And in her friendship is good delight, and in the works of her hands is unfailing honor, and in the contest of her speech is wisdom, and renown in the communication of her words: I went about seeking that I might take her to myself. — He has already enumerated these things above, but here he repeats them by way of accumulation, so as to impress the dowries of wisdom more deeply, and to kindle all the more ardently the pursuit of her.
Good delight — that is, honest, not base; likewise good, meaning pleasant, as Vatablus translates, according to Psalm 132:1: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"
Honor without failing — that is, inexhaustible wealth, unfailing riches, or perennial ones, as Vatablus translates. See the comments on verses 11 and 14, and Proverbs 3:16, on those words: "Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and glory."
In the contest of her speech is wisdom. — In Greek, en syngymnasia homilias autes phronesis, that is, in the co-exercise of her conversation is prudence. Vatablus renders: in the practice of her discourse (for homilia, that is, discourse, is derived from homou lalein, that is, from speaking together) is prudence, meaning, as Jansenius says: Through the fact that one exercises oneself by conversing, discussing, and interacting with her, wisdom and prudence are acquired — just as those who converse and dispute with learned men in academies ferret out and absorb their learning; and just as in scholastic disputations, where the one arguing contends with reasons against the defender, the intellect is sharpened and truth becomes evident. Hence it is said, Sirach 51:25: "My soul wrestled with her." From this arose the Conferences of the Fathers, about which Cassian, Climacus, and others in the Lives of the Fathers tell, in which by mutual conversation and, as it were, discussion about virtues, the ascetics more powerfully and ardently impressed those virtues upon themselves and their disciples. Although here the teaching is not so much about how wisdom is acquired, but rather what fruit and advantage wisdom, once acquired, provides — namely, that she causes our discourses, reasonings, dialogues, and disputations to be wise, to breathe wisdom everywhere, and to inspire all — as the Fathers did in their Conferences.
Renown (in Greek, eukleia, that is, celebrity, reputation, praise, fame's glory, splendor; whence klytos means illustrious, celebrated, famous, splendid) in the communication of her words — meaning, as our Lorinus says: The wise man is well spoken of everywhere, and his words are heard, circulated, and praised as axioms, apothegms, and maxims; while he shares his discourses, he is thereby illustriously celebrated.
or also honor and praise is had in conversing and speaking with him. Anagogically, this will be far more true among the blessed in heaven. Here applies Daniel 12:3: "But those who are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and those who instruct many unto justice, as the stars for all eternity." Less correctly, Lyranus, Dionysius, and Hugo explain "renown" as clarity and elegance of speech, as if to say: The wise man speaks his words clearly and elegantly.
I went about seeking. — This expression denotes the intense and unceasing desire of Solomon for wisdom: for thus does a bridegroom go about in order to obtain the bride he courts, ... who contract kinship with her, namely those who strive to bind her to themselves and to betroth her, according to chapter 15, verse 3: "To know Your justice and Your virtue is the root of immortality." He repeats what he said in verse 13: "Moreover, through her I shall have immortality and eternal memory," etc. Alluding to this, Thalassius, Century IV, number 56, says: "The tree of life is the knowledge of God, of which whoever is a pure partaker remains immortal."
19. Now I was a clever child, and had received a good soul. — The Syriac has: I was a bright or illustrious child; the Arabic: I was a subtle, skillful, acute child. ... Solomon's desire for wisdom: for thus the bridegroom goes about, seeking to obtain the bride he courts. The splendors of wisdom, power, and magnificence could not be gilded — yet the society of women companions gilded them, says Cervantius. "But renown is in the communication of the words of wisdom," the purest spouse of all, whom Solomon therefore strives to take to himself as a bride. All these things may mystically be fittingly applied to the Blessed Virgin, who was the spouse of St. Joseph, and is even now, as it were, the bride of all the faithful and the devout.
equipped with a dexterity of natural talent for all things. For physis is natural disposition, namely the natural goodness of intellect and soul — for phyo means I beget, I produce, I plant, I bring to light; whence phye is nature, the innate power of a thing, genius, disposition, native force, the habit and character of one's nature. For "ingenium" (genius/talent) is properly called by the Latins the nature innate in each person, from gignendo (begetting). In children this is called "indoles" (natural disposition), and is an indicator not only of probity but also of industry and judgment. Hence St. Isidore, book X of the Etymologies, chapter 11, near the end, derives "genius" from the fact that it has the power of managing all things, or from begetting children — whence "genial beds" were said to be those that were spread for a new husband. And Festus says: They called the genial gods water, earth, fire, and air, for these are the seeds of things. They called "genius" the god who held the power of managing all things. Augustine says: Genius is the son of gods and the parent of men, from whom men are begotten, and therefore he is called "my genius" because he begot me. Others thought genius was the god of each particular place. And Nonius Marcellus, chapter 4: "Ingenium, he says, is natural wisdom. Sallust, in the Catiline War: No one exercised his talent without his body. The ancients used 'ingenium' to mean what is spontaneous, or natural. Naevius in his Lycurgus: You who guard the royal person, go immediately to the leafy groves — talent is the orchards and vineyards, not obscurity. Sallust, Histories book III: Though the camps were joined, battle was prevented by the nature of the place. Virgil, Georgics book II:
Now is the place for the talents of fields, what strength each has, What color."
Following this meaning, Peter Nannius translates this passage as: I was a child of good natural disposition; Vatablus renders: endowed with a skillful genius. Thirdly, euphuia, according to Hesychius, is a tree, or a nature or genius that flourishes, germinates well, and grows abundantly. This indeed fits this passage, as if to say: Solomon's nature, like good soil, warmed by the rays of the heavenly sun — namely, of God's grace — duly received the seeds of probity and wisdom, nourished what was received, unfolded what was nourished, and daily promoted what was growing. Therefore he daily produced greater proofs of his good disposition and genius, like Christ, who advanced in age, wisdom, and grace before God and men, Luke 2:52. So a Castro and Pineda, book I of On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 18. "As the immortal gods, says Seneca, Epistle 96, have learned no virtue, since they were born with everything, and it is part of their nature to be good: so certain men, having received an excellent natural disposition, arrive at those things that are usually taught without long training, and embrace honorable things as soon as they hear them." Finally, Aristotle, Ethics III, chapter 9: He, he says, is euphueis who has something innately good, who is well formed and inclined by nature — for just as a tree that flourishes and grows abundantly and germinates, and
what grows together is called euphueis, so a pleasant and keen genius, which flourishes, germinates, and grows together in virtue, and in those things that are conjoined with virtue and wisdom, is said to be well established by nature and inclined toward the good.
I had received (that is, says Pineda in the passage already cited, not by my will, not by my merit, but by the nod of God, who, like a lot, is not in our hand; I received) a good soul. — "Things that are given by lot, says St. Augustine, book X of On Genesis Literally, chapter 18, are customarily given by divine providence." And below: "To remove the suspicion of preceding merits, the word 'lot' was added." All this is true if the word "lot" is taken in its strict sense. But if taken according to the usage of sacred language, "lot" does not denote something fortuitous, but something proper and, as it were, hereditary. God, the supreme arbiter of all things, he says, assigned to me the best portion of body and soul, as a splendid inheritance and lot of my possession.
A good soul — that is, of good disposition, inclined to every good, endowed with natural goodness, moderation of affections, and purity of character. So Dionysius, Pineda, Jansenius, Lorinus, a Castro, and others. Less correctly Hugo attributes the genius to nature and the good soul to grace; so also Bonaventure, who proves this from the word "lot"; and Lyranus, who assigns the good soul to purity of affection, which Solomon drew from the instruction of Nathan, who therefore gave him the surname "beloved of the Lord," 2 Samuel 12:23; and Holcot, who thinks that the word "child" (for puer is derived from purity) denotes cleanliness of body; the word "clever" denotes skill of intellect; and "I received a good soul" implies supernatural grace. And Hugo Aetherianus, in his book On the Return of Souls, chapter 32, says Solomon received a good soul through the abundance of wisdom given to him, by which he became more good.
Worse still, others who hold that the soul is from propagation — that is, that the soul of a child is sown and transmitted from the soul of the parent, just as the light of one candle is transmitted and lit from another candle — explain it thus, as if to say: "I was a clever child," in Greek euphueis, that is, of good nature and disposition, because from the nature and good disposition of my parent's soul I received and obtained likewise a good soul, according to Lucan, book V:
If vigor worthy of Latin stock, if of ancient blood, Dwells in their spirits.
Recounting the opinion of these men, and following it with some doubt, St. Augustine, book X of On Genesis Literally, chapter 17, says: "'Now I was a clever child,' he says, explaining the very reasons why he was clever, and immediately adds: 'And I received a good soul,' namely from paternal genius or bodily temperament. Finally, he says, 'when I was more good, I came to an undefiled body.' But if 'maternal' is understood, not even what was said — 'I came to a body' — will contradict this opinion,"
since, when the soul is understood to have come from the soul and body of the father to the maternal body, it would be seen as undefiled — either from menstrual blood (for natural talents are said to be burdened by this), or from adulterous contamination, which often harms the character of children and transmits its itching to them. But the transmission of souls has now been condemned by the Church as an error; for the Church teaches that all human souls are created by God by infusing, and infused by creating. And this error is sufficiently refuted here from what follows: "And when I was more good, I came to an undefiled body." These words indicate that the soul was prior to the body, not in time but in nature, and first possessed its own goodness, about which he said: "I received a good soul." And then it came to an undefiled body. Therefore the father's soul was not transmitted from bodily seed, nor through the seed of the parent into the body of the child. Seneca says excellently, book IV of On Benefits, chapter 6: The seeds of all ages and all arts are implanted in us, he says, and God the hidden teacher produces our talents.
Mystically, St. Augustine, in the same work, chapter 18, applies all these things to Christ, who was the true Solomon, that is, the peaceful one and our peace: "What child was more talented, he says, than He at whose wisdom the elders marveled when He was twelve years old?" And below: "And what was more undefiled than that womb of the Virgin, whose flesh, although it came from the propagation of sin, nevertheless did not conceive from the propagation of sin?" And after many intervening words: "And perhaps for this reason he says: 'I received a good soul' — if indeed this must be understood of Him — because things that are given by lot are customarily given by divine providence; or, what must be said faithfully, lest that soul be thought to have been raised to so great a summit by some preceding works, so that the Word would become flesh with it and dwell among us, the word 'lot' was added to remove the suspicion of preceding merits." And St. Cyprian, in his book of Testimonies against the Jews, in the chapter On the Nativity of Christ: "Who, he says, was good before his birth? And who came to an undefiled and unpolluted body?" — none but Christ alone, who, like dew, descended into the Virgin and was conceived in her by the Holy Spirit.
20. And when I was more good, I came to an undefiled body. — The Syriac reads: and on account of my grace I came into a pure body; the Arabic: when I was good, I entered the body of that one, namely of wisdom. Hence the Origenists taught that the soul existed before the body, and according to its merits or demerits was thrust down and came into a pure or defiled body — but this is an error long since condemned by the Church. Orthodox interpreters struggle here and explain it variously. St. Bonaventure says: "When I was more good," that is, through supernatural grace, than I had previously been by natural industry. Holcot: "When I was more good," namely, more than I was clever, and moral goodness was more eminent in me than the natural goodness of talent; "I came to an undefiled body," that is, by progressing I attained the perfection of moral virtues so that I kept my body undefiled from the passions of vices. The Carthusian: "When I was more good," progressing in virtues, "I came to an undefiled body," preserving myself from impurity. But none of these explanations satisfies; none of them is genuine and fitting for this passage.
In Greek it is mallon de, that is, "more truly," or "rather," "when I was good" — as if it were a correction. Whence Vatablus translates: rather, since I myself was good, I obtained an uncontaminated body. Osorius: or, to speak more correctly, since I was by nature good — namely according to the soul — I obtained an immaculate body. Or mallon de means "further" or "moreover," as if to say: Since I was good, namely as to the soul, which I received good from God, moreover I came to an undefiled body. For a good bodily temperament proportionally corresponds to a good soul, and therefore is naturally, as it were, owed to it, and is in fact given by God. So Nannius, Vatablus, and Jansenius, whom hear: "mallon de seems to be placed here, as often elsewhere, for 'or rather,' as if correcting what he had said, and the sense would be: Or rather, since I was good, I came — that is, I arrived — at an undefiled body. He had said: 'I was a clever child, and I received a good soul.' Since from these words it could be understood that he meant he had obtained a good soul by his own genius, he therefore, as it were, corrects that speech, saying: 'Or rather, since I was good,' or 'because I was good, I came to an undefiled body.' Signifying that the goodness of the soul, which he had also by the gift of God, was the cause of the body's purity, not the reverse — that the goodness of the soul was produced by the endowments of the body — and that the goodness of the soul preceded, rather than followed." Others, whom St. Augustine favors in book X of On Genesis Literally, chapter 17, translate: "in order that I might be good, I came to an undefiled body." This interpretation corresponds well enough to the Greek text, but not to the Latin Vulgate, which reads: "and when I was more good, I came to an undefiled body." Some, to accommodate the sense already given, explain these words by transposing the word "magis" (more), as if to say: And moreover (that is, in addition), when I was good, I came to an undefiled body. They give the example of Proverbs 30:31: "Nor is there a king who can resist him" — that is, "and a king — nor is there one who resists him" — as Lyranus, Dionysius, and Jansenius explain these words by transposition. For the king is the fourth animal among those that walk well. However, this transposition seems harsh and forced.
Therefore a twofold meaning, more fitting and harmonious, can be given to the Vulgate version. The first is, as if to say: I received a good soul, and not only a good soul but also a good body. Therefore, "when I was more good" — that is, when I was destined by God for greater and complete goodness, so that I would be more and more good, that is, better, indeed completely good in all respects, both as to body and as to soul — "I came to an undefiled body." Hence in Greek it reads: "being more good, I came to an undefiled body" — that is, I became better, indeed perfectly good, when the soul, good in itself, came also to a good and undefiled body. For the good body added to and perfected the goodness of the soul, since the soul received the complement of its goodness from the good body; for the body is the workshop of the soul, since through it the soul performs all its operations. Therefore I, Solomon, being good as to my soul by God's creation and gift, obtained by His same bounty a body optimally tempered and marvelously suited to the soul — namely, moderate in affections and conformable and obedient to the soul. For this is what he here calls "undefiled": for passions disturb and defile the soul. Hence some translate: because I was attaining greater goodness, I came to an undefiled body.
The latter interpretation is as if to say: "When I was more good" — that is, when I was growing more and more in goodness, when I was making daily progress in goodness through acts of virtue, when I was producing daily greater proofs of probity and excellent natural disposition, when I was growing in mind and in the study of wisdom — "I came to an undefiled body," that is, I then obtained bodily purity and the gift of chastity, first virginal, then conjugal, and in it I continually progressed and grew. For since I knew this to be a gift of God, I earnestly sought it from God with my whole heart, as follows, and I obtained it. This meaning is fitting, and our a Castro proves and explains it at length, whose words, briefly summarized, give this sense, as if to say: I indeed, having been endowed from childhood with a good disposition, and with a good mind inclined to virtue — indeed, the better I was instructed, the more I grew into keeping my body immaculate, preserving it unpolluted. For that good natural disposition with which God in His mercy endowed me led me to preserve my body undefiled until the age of marriage, so that I might be more fit to seek and obtain wisdom, which does not dwell in a body subject to sins. This Solomon did as a young man, for in old age he defiled his body and soul with lusts.
Mystically, the Word in the Incarnation assumed a good soul — indeed, the best — and, so that it might be complete in goodness from every side, adapted to it the best body, that is, the purest and most perfect. For the Word, through the mediation of the soul, assumed the body. Therefore by nature (not in time) He assumed the soul before the body, as St. Thomas teaches, III, Question 6, article 3.
From this maxim many probably conclude that human souls, although they are all of the same species, are nevertheless not equal in the dignity of their nature, but one is essentially better and more perfect than another — yet within the range of the same species — and that the soul of Christ is the noblest of the souls of all men. This diversity of soul and disposition does not come from the body alone being better organized, as Durandus, D. Soto, Soncinas, Henry of Ghent, Toletus, and our Conimbricenses in book II of On the Soul, chapter 1, Question 5, would have it, as well as Philip the Solitary in the Dioptra, chapters 2 and following, where he teaches that the diversity of functions found in men arises not from the soul but from the varying constitution or temperament of the body — just as the same rain works differently in the olive tree and in the vine, and so with others; and just as the same sun now illuminates more, now less, depending on whether it is free from cloud or mist, or covered by them; and just as the same water through various channels is bitter here and sweet elsewhere. But Solomon seems here to signify the contrary: for he says that he received a good soul above others — that is, a better one given by God — and again says he was clever because of his good and talented soul. Hence from the Greek euphueis you may translate: I was a child of good disposition, and (that is, because) I received a good soul. Nor should you say that this goodness of the soul came to him from the body; for he adds: "And when I was more good, I came to an undefiled body," as if to say: First by nature the good disposition from a good soul was in me, and then it was perfected through the goodness and purity of the body, when the soul entered this body.
The first reason is that if in the human body one part is better and more perfect than another, then the same must be said far more of the soul. Whence St. Thomas, I, Question 85, article 7: "It is manifest, he says, that the better a body is disposed, the better the soul it receives, both because God adapts souls to bodies — therefore into a nobler body He infuses a nobler soul — and because the body thus has this range of degrees and beautiful variety; therefore much more does the soul have the same, since the soul is far more excellent and sublime than the body." The second reason is that among angels of the same choir and species, one — for example, the highest — angel is more excellent than another, for example, the lowest. This comes from the soul, so to speak, of the angel, and not from the body, since they lack one. Therefore the same must be said of the human soul, which is of an intellectual and angelic nature. For although St. Thomas holds that all angels differ from one another in species, nevertheless others commonly think otherwise and teach that there are many angels in the same species, distinguished only by individual difference. So hold Alexander of Hales, Albert, Bonaventure, Scotus, Gabriel, Durandus, Marsilius, Molina, Vasquez, and Suarez, book I of On Angels, chapter 15. The third reason is that in twins — for example, Esau and Jacob — where the seed is the same, the natural disposition is often very different; therefore it comes from a different soul. The fourth: no one would deny that the souls of women are different from the souls of men, and indeed that they were different from the beginning, in the creation of Adam and Eve; and who would dare say that Judas had a soul as noble as Christ had! The fifth: the same seems to be argued by such great variety and inclination of talents, dispositions, pursuits, and tendencies.
some are inclined and apt for philosophy and theology, others for medicine, others for eloquence, others for mathematics, but inept and even averse to other sciences; some are drawn to speculation, others to practice; some are inclined to mercy, others to severity and rigor; some to chastity, others to lust; some have an excellent memory but little acuteness and talent; others have great acuteness of talent but little judgment and memory. All these things do not seem to come from the body alone. Finally, if one gold surpasses another, one ox another, one water another, one earth another, one stone another, why should not one soul also be more excellent than another, especially since the soul is spiritual, and therefore more elevated and more illuminated? There is also an article of the Academy of Paris, which Henry of Ghent cites, Quodlibet III, Question 5, and Durandus in II, distinction 32, Question 5, which reads thus: "If anyone says that all souls are equal from their origin, he errs, since otherwise the soul of Christ would not be more perfect than the soul of Judas." So teach the Master of the Sentences in II, distinction 32, and in the same place St. Bonaventure, Albert, Richard, John Major, Capreolus, Giles Ferrarius, book I Against the Gentiles, chapter 3, Cajetan, I, Question, distinction 85, article 7, Abulensis on Matthew chapter 15, Question 656, and Peter Nannius, Jansenius, and Vatablus here; and St. Augustine favors this view, book IV Against Julian, chapter 3, when he says: "By the hidden judgment of God, which is not unjust, some are born stupid, others very slow of intellect and, as it were, leaden in understanding, others forgetful, others acute and retentive, others endowed with both gifts," etc.
An undefiled body — that is, first, chaste and pure; second, lacking any blemish, defect, or imperfection that might harm the talent or natural disposition, but perfect, well-constituted, of good bearing, suitable for the fruits of wisdom and virtue according to a fitting symmetry and proportion, so that it might be easily governed and adapted by the soul; third, by catachresis and metalepsis, an "undefiled body" is one that is whole, perfect, beautiful, elegant, handsome, and at the same time vigorous, strong, sinewy, robust, and therefore worthy of a beautiful and strong bride — namely, wisdom. For:
Virtue coming in a beautiful body is more pleasing.
For chastity, which is the sister of wisdom, greatly promotes the beauty, dignity, and form, as well as the strength of the body. Hence it is similar to the amiantus (which word is here in the Greek), a stone that is not harmed by fire, resists it, and endures whole in the fire, as Pliny attests, book 36, chapter 19. Here applies what Boethius says, book IV of the Consolation of Philosophy, prose 6: "Virtues have built up the body of the holy man." And after some intervening words: "There is another man, perfect in all virtues, holy and close to God: providence judges it impious that he be touched by any adversities — so much so that it does not even allow him to be troubled by bodily diseases." Hence also Plato, Dialogue 6,
at the beginning, and more fully at the end of Dialogue 3, calls heroes children of the gods, and assigns to the fashioning of their bodies a material not our own but nobler than human, and as if fallen from heaven; and breathes into them a mind not contaminated with the common dregs of mortals, but formed from the purest gold of divinity. For as the same author philosophizes in On the Making of the World: From the choicest soul together with the most excellent body — equal in the excellence of their rarity — there arises in man first that admirable harmony and concert of a health excellently tempered, and of an august beauty, which cannot be separated; then an exquisite keenness of the senses, and a moderate tranquility of the affections; then also, for understanding divine things and handling human affairs, a genius of marvelous speed and capacity; and from these, a noble and chaste love of philosophy and the Muses, without which no one can be either beautiful or good. If to these a sound education and the light of learning are added, he says the pinnacle is raised higher than human dignity, and man, sharing in the divine music, establishes on earth the choirs of the liberal arts and the dances of all the virtues for the common good of the human race. So says Plato. Therefore the most perfectly whole body is a living temple of God, pouring forth divine oracles.
21. And as I knew (from the inspiration of Wisdom, as follows — namely, of God) that I could not otherwise be (in Greek, I will not otherwise be) continent unless God grants it, and this itself was of wisdom, to know whose gift this was: I went to the Lord and besought Him with my whole heart. — For "continent" the Greek is enkrates, which signifies three things: first, one who has obtained his wish; second, one who is chaste; third, one who is continent. All three meanings fit this passage.
Therefore in the first and genuine sense, the meaning is, as if to say: When I recognized that I could not be continent — that is, in possession of my wish, powerful, and having wisdom in my power, so as to obtain it, which I so greatly desired — unless God gave it to me, I went to Him and besought Him for it. For Solomon's entire prayer was about obtaining wisdom, as is clear from what has been said. Hence also in the following chapter, praying and explaining this prayer of his, he asks God for nothing but wisdom. So Nannius, Vatablus, Jansenius, Cantacuzenus, Osorius, a Castro, Emmanuel Sa, Lorinus, and the rest. For "continent" (continens) is the same as "holding," "in possession of," "possessing" — as if to say: When I knew that by my own powers I could not obtain wisdom, nor retain it once obtained, nor make good use of it once retained, except through God's grace, I implored this grace. Thus Sirach 6:28 says: "And having become continent of it" — that is, holding or possessing wisdom — "do not abandon it." And chapter 15, verse 1: "And he who is continent of justice" (that is, in possession of justice, or who has obtained justice) "shall lay hold of it" — namely, wisdom. And chapter 27, verse 33: "Anger and fury, both are abominable, and the sinful man shall be continent of them" — that is, he shall be in possession of or participant in them, or subject to them. Hence the Arabic here translates: and when I knew that I could not
hold her in any other way, if God had not given her to me.
Secondly, "continent" is the same as chaste — one who contains and restrains himself from lust, whose urgings are most vehement. For Solomon seems to be asking for chastity as the inseparable companion of wisdom, fearing that through lust, to which his nature inclined, he would lose wisdom, as in old age he did lose it — which he seems here to foresee. Therefore the word "continent" pertains to what preceded: "I came to an undefiled body"; for he was striving to contain and preserve that body in its purity. "Continent" therefore means the same as holding in one's power, bridling and restraining the venereal pleasures of the body, and being their tamer, conqueror, and master (for this is what enkrates means), which is achieved by the virtue of chastity. So the Gloss, Dionysius, Holcot, Hugo Aetherianus in On the Return of Souls, chapter 32, and Tertullian, On the Veiling of Virgins, chapter 13, and St. Augustine, book VI of the Confessions, chapter 11, and Epistle 89, Question 2, where from this passage he teaches that continence is not a power of free will but of God's grace: "When I knew, he says, that no one can be continent unless God grants it. Therefore God commands continence and gives continence; He commands through the law and gives through grace; He commands through the letter and gives through the spirit." And Epistle 143 to Juliana, the mother of Demetrias, to whom he congratulates her on her resolution of virginity, but warns that this is an outstanding gift of God, and therefore must be sought from Him with the most humble prayers and tears. Prosper teaches the same, Against the Collator, chapter 36.
Continence here therefore signifies chastity — not only virginal but also widowed and conjugal. For this threefold chastity is a gift of God; indeed, conjugal chastity is often a greater gift than virginal, since the experience of lust in marriage is a vehement stimulus and temptation to seek it outside of marriage from more attractive bodies. For when Solomon sought this continence and wisdom, he was already married and had already begotten Rehoboam, as I showed above. So Bellarmine, book II of On Monks, chapter 31, and book V of On Grace and Free Will, chapter 7. Furthermore, Solomon speaks here not only of the act of continence or chastity, but also of the habit, whether acquired or infused; for all habits, even acquired ones, are gifts of God, who is the author of all natural goods. Therefore some scholastics less correctly prove from this passage that besides acquired virtues, there are moral virtues infused by God; for although that is the truer view, it is not solidly enough proved from this passage and similar ones. So Gabriel Vasquez, I-II, disputation 86, number 12. Nevertheless, the Wise Man here speaks more about the act of continence, which a man must exercise daily amid so many and such grave occasions and temptations of lust. To overcome these, nature does not suffice, nor a natural habit, but a special grace of God is needed — frequent and powerful — as St. Augustine teaches in the passages already cited, proving this very point from this passage.
Morally, learn here that the reward of humility and humble prayer is chastity, just as the fitting punishment of pride is lust, as St. Gregory teaches, Moralia XXVI, 13: "For in many, he says, pride was often the seedbed of lust: because while the spirit, as it were, raised them on high, the flesh plunged them into the depths. For they are first secretly elevated, but afterward publicly fall; because while they swell with the hidden impulses of the heart, they fall with the open lapses of the body." Humility therefore is the guardian of chastity. Hence St. Ignatius, Epistle to the Philippians: "Let the one who is chaste or continent not be puffed up, lest he lose his reward." St. Jerome, Epistle to Demetrias: "Do not think that what is yours alone is your own, but consider that your mother and grandmother have expressed their chastity in you, and from honorable nuptials and an undefiled bed they brought forth you, a most precious flower, who will bear perfect fruits if you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God." St. Augustine, Sermon 53 On the Words of the Lord: "I dare to say: It is expedient for the proud who are continent to fall, so that they may be humbled in that very thing in which they exalt themselves." St. Fulgentius, Epistle 3 to Proba, On Virginity, chapter 18: "That virginity consecrated to God may remain intact, just as the integrity of the body is guarded, much more must the humility of the heart be guarded; for whoever is truly a virgin of Christ cannot be joined to Christ except through humility," etc. St. Bernard, Homily 1 on the Missus est: "A beautiful mixture of virginity and humility! God is not moderately pleased with that soul in which humility commends virginity and virginity adorns humility." And shortly after: "That virginity might please, humility without doubt accomplished it. What do you say, proud virgin? Mary, forgetting her virginity, glories in her humility, and you, neglecting humility, flatter yourself on your virginity. He has regarded the humility of His handmaid, etc., Luke 1:48. It would be better for you not to be a virgin than to grow insolent about your virginity." Again, Cassian, book II of the Institutes on Renunciation, chapter 18: "Just as, he says, chastity cannot be obtained without humility, so knowledge cannot be obtained without chastity." Therefore the center of both — indeed, of every virtue and every good — is humility and humble prayer. Hence St. Chrysostom, cited by Antonius in the Melissa, Part I, chapter 46: "By prayer, he says, fellowship with God is acquired; but he who has not joined himself to God through prayer is separated from God; and whoever is separated from God, it is altogether necessary that the ad-
versary be joined to him. Prayer is the guardian of temperance, the seal of virginity, the chastisement of anger, the moderating of pride, the expiation of a soul that remembers injuries, the demolition of envy, the confirmation of peace." Do you want examples? Receive them.
Abbot Serenus, as recorded by Cassian, Conference VII, chapter 2, when he "persisted tirelessly in constant supplication and tears to obtain perfect chastity, an angel came to him in a nocturnal vision, and opening, as it were, his belly, tore out a certain fiery tumor of the flesh from his innards, cast it away, and restored all his intestines to their places as they had been: 'Behold,' he said, 'the incentives of your flesh have been cut away, and know that on this day you have obtained the perpetual purity of body which you faithfully requested.'" St. Thomas Aquinas as a young man, when tempted by a prostitute sent by his brothers, drove her away with a firebrand, and immediately praying for the gift of chastity, saw an angel girding his loins with a belt, saying: "Receive the girdle of chastity," and thenceforth for his entire life he was free from the sensation of lust, as his Life records. St. Cecilia, armed with a hairshirt, praying with groans along with the Psalmist, Psalm 118:80: "Let my heart, O Lord, be immaculate in Your statutes, that I may not be confounded," merited to obtain angelic chastity and an angel as its guardian. Moreover, she inspired the same in her bridegroom Valerian, in Tiburtius his brother, and in many others, and like a busy bee she wove together the honey and honeycombs of virgins. Palladius records a similar example of Abbot Moses in the Lausiac History, chapter 22; and of Pacon, chapter 29. See St. Augustine, On Holy Virginity, chapter 44. A famous and recent example is found in the Life of St. Elzear, Count of Ariano, chapter 36: for together with his bride Delphina in the flower of their youth, on the very feast of St. Mary Magdalene, after Communion, on bended knees with hands joined over the Missal, he vowed perpetual virginity to God in this form: "Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every good and gift proceeds, I, a sinner, frail and weak, cannot live chastely and continently without Your special gift; but trusting in Your singular assistance, I vow and promise to You, and to Your most holy Mother, and to all the saints, that for the whole time of my life I will live chastely, and will preserve the virginity which Your kindness has thus far guarded in me; and for the fulfillment of this promise, I am prepared to endure whatever afflictions and punishments, and even death itself." Finally, the holy virgin Delphina in a similar manner publicly repeated the vow of virginity which she had already made secretly before. Lady Garsenda, her nurse, added that prayer of the holy Pope Urban concerning St. Cecilia: "Lord Jesus Christ, sower of chaste counsel, receive the fruits of the seeds which You have sown in the virgin Delphina." Furthermore, it wonderfully assists chastity to implore the help of the Blessed Virgin, for she has been established as the queen of virgins and the patroness of chastity; whence the Church, invoking her, prays:
Free us from guilt, Make us gentle and chaste: Grant us a pure life.
Thirdly, "continent" here signifies not only chaste but also restrained and abstinent from every other vice. Hence the Syriac translates: I recognized that I could not tame my soul. For continence is a general virtue which, as Aristotle teaches throughout the whole of Ethics VII, restrains and bridles anger, gluttony, pride, avarice, sloth, and every other depraved affection or concupiscence of the mind, and causes a man to be moderate in his actions and to maintain due measure in all things. Such moderation is true wisdom, which he seeks in the following prayer; hence he says of Wisdom: "She will lead me soberly in my works" — that is, temperately and moderately, so that in all things I may keep the due measure. Hence Lyranus rightly explains: "I could not be continent from vices." And St. Augustine, book X of the Confessions, chapter 29, treating this passage, interprets continence as abstinence from all vices; for thus he addresses and beseeches God: "And my whole hope is only in Your very great mercy. Give what You command, and command what You will. You command us continence. 'And when I knew,' says a certain one, 'that no one can be continent unless God grants it, and this very thing was of wisdom, to know whose gift this was,' Wisdom 8:21. For through continence we are gathered and brought back into one, from which we flowed out into many; for he loves You less who loves with You something that he does not love on account of You. O love, who always burns and is never extinguished, O charity, my God, set me afire! You command continence — give what You command, and command what You will. You certainly command that I contain myself from the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the ambition of the world; You commanded abstinence from fornication, and You advised something better even than what You permitted regarding marriage itself." He has similar passages in book IV Against Julian, chapter 3, and the book On the Merit of Sins, chapter 5, and the book On Continence, chapter 1. Moreover, Aristotle, Ethics VII, distinguishes continence from temperance, in that the latter is a full and perfect virtue, while the former is merely incipient, because it still engages in the struggle and combat against the opposing vice, and contends with the rebellion and, as it were, sedition of the passions. But Solomon does not distinguish these two, and calls the continent man temperate and moderate in all things.
And this very thing was of wisdom, to know whose gift this was. — So read with the Roman and Greek editions; therefore others less correctly read "and this very thing was the highest wisdom"; others simply "wisdom." For "wisdom" the Greek has phronesis, that is, prudence, understanding. For "gift" the Greek has charis, that is, grace. For chastity is a gift of God's grace, and indeed one of the greatest, on account of its difficulty and the constant and most dangerous temptations of the flesh. How true this is, St. Augustine teaches — he who, while living in concubinage and heresy, thought that continence from intercourse was impossible for him, because he sought it in the powers of free will. For thus he says, book VI of the Confessions, chapter 11: "I believed that continence was a matter of my own powers, of which I was not conscious, since I was so foolish as not to know, as it is written, that no one can be continent unless You grant it. Surely You would have granted it, if with an inward groan I had knocked at Your ears, and with solid faith cast my care upon You." Hence the same man, now converted and made wiser, in Epistle 143: "God does not only help us by His grace in this, so that by loving
Such was St. Augustine before his conversion. Hear him, book VIII of the Confessions, chapter 7: "But I, a most wretched young man, wretched at the very beginning of my youth, had even asked You for chastity, and had said: 'Give me chastity and continence, but not yet' (behold an undivided heart, a double mind, inconstant in its ways, not directed by God). For I feared lest You should hear me too quickly and too quickly heal me of the disease of concupiscence, which I preferred to have satisfied rather than extinguished."
This prayer of Solomon is the one referred to in 3 Kings 3:12. From this passage we learn that for many days beforehand he had desired wisdom in his heart and prayers, and had asked God for it. Hence, when he was sleeping at night in Gibeon, God, wishing to satisfy his prayers, commanded him to ask whatever he wanted, and he asked for wisdom — as he had often asked before — and it was given to him in such an extraordinary measure that he surpassed the entire human race, as St. Jerome says, on Ecclesiastes 12 (although in chapter 2 of the same book he says that Solomon was not wiser than Abraham, Moses, and the other saints, but only than those who had been before him in Jerusalem), because "he asked in faith, nothing wavering, and he asked of God, who gives to all abundantly and does not reproach, as St. James says, Catholic Epistle 1:5." So a Castro.
"Knowing," he says, "that he would immediately be stained by the sprinkling of the most impure filth, if the divine protection were to withdraw from him even a little, and therefore for the perpetuity of that protection one must keep watch with untiring prayers, with all contrition and humility of heart." Hence also St. Augustine, in the same Epistle 143, teaches that not only among the faithful but also among the pagans, continence is a gift of God's grace, and he offers the example of Polemon, who, hearing Xenocrates discoursing on abstinence, was changed from a drunkard into a sober man.
With my whole heart. — In Greek, from my whole heart, that is, with the entire affection, groaning, desire, and sighing of heart and mind, with the addition also of fasting, vigils, and sleeping on the ground (for these things mortify the flesh, sharpen prayer, and dispose one to chastity), says Cantacuzenus. Those who thus seriously, ardently, and with their whole heart, as it were, seek from God the gift of chastity, obtain it; but those who ask tepidly, doubtfully, and with only half a heart do not obtain it, because they do not wish to obtain it.
we should do what we already know from learning, but so that we may know what must be done. So that no one can be continent unless God grants it, and not even knowing this very thing." Moreover, Cassian, Conference XII, chapter 4: "Knowing, he says, that he would immediately be stained by the sprinkling of the most impure filth, if the divine protection were to withdraw from him even a little, and therefore for the perpetuity of that protection one must keep watch with untiring prayers, with all contrition and humility of heart."