Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He treats of those things that must be avoided in women, and of the danger that lies in looking at them, conversing with them, and associating with them, up to verse 14. From there to the end he treats of those things that must be avoided in men, and teaches that one must avoid new friends, powerful men who have the right of life and death, the unjust, the talkative, and the reckless.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiasticus 9:1-25
1. Do not be jealous of the wife of your bosom, lest she display against you the malice of wicked teaching. 2. Do not give a woman power over your soul, lest she enter into your strength and you be confounded. 3. Do not look upon a woman of many desires, lest perhaps you fall into her snares. 4. Do not be constant with a dancing girl, nor listen to her, lest perhaps you perish through her effectiveness. 5. Do not gaze upon a virgin, lest perhaps you stumble over her beauty. 6. Do not give your soul to harlots in any matter, lest you destroy yourself and your inheritance. 7. Do not look around in the streets of the city, nor wander in its open places. 8. Turn your face from a well-adorned woman, and do not gaze upon the beauty of another. 9. Because of the beauty of a woman many have perished, and from this desire burns like fire. 10. Every woman who is a harlot shall be trampled as dung in the road. 11. Many have admired the beauty of another man's wife and become reprobate, for conversation with her burns like fire. 12. Do not sit at all with another man's wife, nor recline with her upon the elbow. 13. And do not quarrel with her over wine, lest perhaps your heart turn to her, and by your blood you slip into destruction. 14. Do not abandon an old friend, for a new one will not be like him. 15. New wine, a new friend: it will grow old, and you will drink it with sweetness. 16. Do not envy the glory and riches of a sinner, for you do not know what his overthrow will be. 17. Let not the wrongdoing of the unjust please you, knowing that even to the grave the impious shall not find favor. 18. Keep far from a man who has the power to kill, and you will not suspect the fear of death. 19. And if you approach him, do not commit any offense, lest perhaps he take your life. 20. Know the fellowship of death, because you will walk in the midst of snares and tread upon the weapons of the afflicted. 21. According to your ability, guard yourself from your neighbor, and deal with the wise and prudent. 22. Let just men be your dinner companions, and let your boasting be in the fear of God. 23. And let the thought of God be in your understanding, and let all your discourse be on the commandments of the Most High. 24. By the hand of artisans their works will be praised, and the prince of the people by the wisdom of his speech, and the word of the elders by their sense. 25. A talkative man is terrible in his city, and one who is rash in his speech will be hateful.
First Part of the Chapter: On Those Things That Must Be Avoided in Women
Verse 1: Do Not Be Jealous of the Wife of Your Bosom, Lest She Display Against You the Malice of Wicked Teaching
That is, do not be jealous of your wife, who rests in your bosom, suspecting evil of her, namely that she loves another man more than you, or that another rival of yours loves and pursues her. The Zurich Bible: Do not pursue the wife you embrace with jealousy. Jealousy is a great disease and evil of marriage. "Jealousy," says Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 4, "is a distress arising from the fact that another also possesses (or is thought to possess) what one has desired for oneself;" or (as Chrysippus says), "it is a distress of the soul arising from the fear that another possesses what one wishes to share with no one." This is the cause of suspicions, quarrels, murders, and all evils between spouses, as Tiraquellus teaches. Indeed St. Jerome, Book 1 Against Jovinian, says: "What good is even diligent guarding, when an unchaste wife cannot be kept, and a chaste one need not be? For compulsion is an unfaithful guardian of chastity; and she is truly modest who could have sinned if she wished."
Now, a "wife of the bosom" is so called because she lies and rests in the bosom of her husband, not only when she sleeps, whether by day or by night in the bridal chamber, but also when she dines and sups. In ancient times they reclined at table, that is, they lay on couches or dining beds, two or three to each: so that at the top reclined a brother or friend, in the middle the husband or parent, and at the bottom the wife and children, who therefore reclined in the bosom of the husband or parent.
"Lest she display against you the malice of wicked teaching" -- lest, that is, she deceive you, destroy you with poison, or harm you in some other way, or at least hate you, or love you less, and transfer her affection to other men. For the wicked or perverse teaching is that by which perverse old women, or even sorceresses, teach young wives wicked arts by which they may deceive or kill a jealous husband. Do not love and be jealous of your wife excessively, do not guard her too closely and anxiously, lest you teach her to commit adultery -- lest she do against you what she sees you fear or suspect of her: both because continual suspicion of adultery arouses continual imagination of it, and from that, desire; and because a woman who sees herself guarded too closely bursts out in impatience, to claim her freedom; and because the nature of women is curious and obstinate, and what she sees so strenuously forbidden, she most desires to see and experience, according to the saying:
We always strive for the forbidden, and desire what is denied us.
Truly Seneca says: "Some have taught others to deceive by fearing to be deceived, and by their suspicions have furnished the occasion for that very sin." And Ovid, Book 3 of the Art of Love:
Cease, believe me, to provoke vices by forbidding them:
You will conquer more aptly by your own compliance.
I saw recently a horse straining against its bridle,
Going like lightning with a resisting mouth.
It stopped as soon as it felt the reins were slackened,
And the bridle hung loose upon its flowing mane.
Aristotle gives a wise remedy for jealousy, Book 1 of the Economics, chapter 4: "First, let the husband's laws toward his wife be such that wrongdoing ceases: thus he himself will not suffer wrong." And Book 2, chapter 2: "The greatest honor for a virtuous woman is if she sees her husband keeping his chastity for her, and thinking of no other woman more, but esteeming her above all others as his own and faithful to him." And Lactantius, Book 6 of the True Religion: "A wife must be taught by the example of continence to conduct herself chastely. For it is unjust to demand what you yourself cannot provide."
Furthermore, learn from examples how harmful and deadly jealousy is: Clytemnestra was jealous of her husband King Agamemnon, suspecting him of loving Chryseis, and therefore she killed him. Arsinoe killed Demetrius, thinking Berenice was loved by him. Cleopatra killed Nicator out of jealousy over Rhodogyne. Apollonius Rhodius writes that the Lemnian women, inflamed by jealousy because their husbands loved captive women, slaughtered all their husbands while they slept, and moreover the entire male sex. Medea, suspecting her husband of loving other women, in order to avenge herself against him, killed her own children whom she had borne to him.
Verse 2: Do Not Give a Woman Power over Your Soul, Lest She Enter into Your Strength, and You Be Confounded
It is a metaphor from soldiers who scale walls and thus capture a city or fortress. The meaning is: do not allow your wife to exercise dominion, so that she may rule and command your will and yourself; lest she usurp for herself your right, authority, and marital command, and subject you to herself, to whom she ought to be subject by the law of nature, divine and human law; for this will be a shame to you, since you will be called effeminate, and equally a servitude and a loss; for a woman, since she is driven by passions and is of an intemperate mind, will rule you intemperately.
Cato the Elder, rebuking the extreme license and power of wives at Rome, said: "All men rule their wives; we rule all men, but our wives rule us" -- thus concluding that wives are the mistresses of all things. Again Cato, in Livy Book 34, warns husbands not to allow wives to become their equals: "For immediately, as soon as they begin to be equals, they will be superiors." Thus Solomon, allowing women to rule him, was drawn by them to worship idols. Thus Adam, subjecting himself to Eve, destroyed himself and all his descendants.
Verse 3: Do Not Look upon a Woman of Many Desires, Lest Perhaps You Fall into Her Snares
"Of many desires" (multivolam) means a harlot, who wants many lovers. In Greek she is called hetairozoumen, that is, one who loves many hetairoi, companions, suitors, and lovers. Solomon graphically depicts this woman and her snares in Proverbs 7:10: "There met him a woman in the attire of a harlot, prepared to catch souls, talkative and wandering, impatient of rest, unable to keep her feet at home, now outdoors, now in the streets, now lurking at corners, and she seizes and kisses the young man, and flatters him with a bold face."
Tropologically, the woman of many desires is concupiscence: for this, like a woman, has womanly desires, and wants and covets many things, and is therefore insatiable, and always says: "Give, give" (Proverbs 30:15).
Verse 4: Do Not Be Constant with a Dancing Girl, nor Listen to Her, Lest Perhaps You Perish through Her Effectiveness
For women skilled at dancing to rhythms greatly move men's souls and lure them into love by their dances, as the daughter of Herodias captivated Herod and all his guests, so much so that he offered her half his kingdom as a reward, and indeed the head of St. John the Baptist. For in ancient times the art of dancing was wonderfully alluring, so much so that dancing girls held their spectators suspended in admiration and love. Moreover, these dances are performed to the rhythm and song of the lyre, harpsichord, and other instruments, to which is added the delight of vocal music and song, so that by both song and dance, like Sirens, they may madden and captivate the souls of young men, according to Virgil, Aeneid 6:
Some beat the ground in dances with their feet and sing songs.
St. Cyprian says admirably, On the Singularity of Clerics: "A woman now uncovers her limbs, now tosses about as if weary, or sometimes dissolves into laughter, now displays her blandishments, and what is more poisonous than all else, delights in playing music or singing. It is more tolerable to hear a basilisk hissing than her song. Against which Solomon thus makes us cautious: Do not be constant with a dancing girl, nor listen to her, lest perhaps you perish through her effectiveness."
Verse 5: Do Not Gaze upon a Virgin, Lest Perhaps You Stumble over Her Beauty
For the beauty of a virgin is manifold: first, of her flourishing age; second, of the female sex; third, of virginity; fourth, of the elegance of her clothing and adornment. On this account Job wisely says, chapter 31:1: "I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think about a virgin." Indeed Alexander the Great refused to see the daughters of Darius, already captured by his men, saying: "I will not allow it that, having conquered men, I be conquered by women."
Nazianzen says admirably, in his Precepts to Virgins:
Be a virgin in your eyes, in your mouth, and in your very ears.
And:
Christ burns with love for you: let not a man's beauty
Oppress you, and fix its seat in the midst of your heart.
Furthermore, there is nothing that so kindles lust as beauty and comeliness. "Beauty," says Leucippus, "wounds more sharply, or if you prefer, more swiftly than an arrow, and flows through the eyes into the soul." And Socrates calls beauty "a tyranny of short duration." Therefore: just as fire burns wood, so does a glance burn hearts. The sun looks upon a polished mirror, and immediately a flame rises; a man looks upon a beautiful woman, and immediately the flame of love rises in the man.
St. Basil, in the book On Virginity, teaches that a virgin must guard her eyes with the utmost care, lest the image of any man or woman be impressed on her mind. Remarkable in this matter was St. Hugh, Bishop of Grenoble, for 52 years, who, although he frequently heard the confessions of prominent women, so turned his eyes away from them that he would not recognize any of them by face.
Verse 6: Do Not Give Your Soul to Harlots in Any Matter, Lest You Destroy Yourself and Your Inheritance
To "give one's soul" is to direct one's mind, to devote oneself, and as it were to surrender oneself entirely: for wherever the soul and will direct themselves, there the whole man directs himself. He says "in any matter," because he who in one matter, for example in looking, directs his mind to a prostitute, soon also directs his voice and tongue and mind, and his whole soul: just as a spark catching one straw soon creeps forward and consumes all the rest.
A harlot is a Charybdis and whirlpool of goods, which swallows riches, however vast, as is evident in the prodigal son, who consumed his wealth with harlots. St. Basil says admirably, Sermon 2 Against the Rich and Avaricious: "No treasure is enough for a woman's desire -- not even if you flowed like rivers." Daily we see that harlots are whirlpools of patrimony, Scyllas of wealth, Charybdises of fortune, and that the richest men are drained by them, and become the poorest, and are reduced to their undergarments.
Verse 7: Do Not Look Around in the Streets of the City, nor Wander in Its Open Places
Because this curiosity of roaming and looking around is a sign of a wandering heart and an incentive to lust; for one necessarily runs into the appearances of women, which hold one's eyes and captivate one's mind. For just as a wanton eye, says St. Augustine, is the messenger of a wanton heart, so an unguarded eye is the messenger of an unguarded heart. Sirach therefore teaches that one should walk not with wandering eyes but with eyes directed straight ahead, and proceed directly where one is going. For this reason Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was violated by Shechem, because she wandered too curiously through the streets of the city and looked around (Genesis 34:1).
Verse 8: Turn Your Face from a Well-Adorned Woman, and Do Not Gaze upon the Beauty of Another
In Greek, eumorphou, that is, beautiful, on account of beauty both natural and acquired through the adornment of hair and clothing. St. Nazianzen, in his oration Against Women Who Adorn Themselves Too Ambitiously, teaches that those who delight in cosmetics are for the most part immodest. "They say," he says, "that the insolent peacock, when with curved neck and jeweled feathers he makes a circle, invites the females to love with his cry. In the same way I would be quite astonished if you paint your face for any other reason than to turn the eyes of sleek and lustful men toward yourself."
Verse 9: Because of the Beauty of a Woman Many Have Perished, and from This Desire Burns Like Fire
For the object of love is the beautiful. Therefore, just as the good captivates the will and the true captivates the intellect, so the beautiful captivates love and affection. Ben Sira echoes Sirach in Alphabet 2: "By the beauty of a fair woman many have been destroyed, and all the strong have been slain by her." And: "Withdraw your flesh from a graceful woman, as from the flesh of burning coals." And: "Hide your eyes from a graceful woman, lest you be caught in her net." For the eyes are the go-betweens of sin: just as a broker is a mediator between buyer and seller to conclude a contract, so the eyes are mediators between the heart and a beautiful woman, and they reconcile and bind the one to the other.
Furthermore, lust and desire are rightly compared to blazing fire, both because through them the blood physically grows hot, along with the vital and animal spirits that serve generation; and because through them the mind burns with love of sensual pleasure. The same is taught by philosophers and poets. Virgil, concerning Dido loving Aeneas, in Book IV of the Aeneid:
"Dido burns with love, and is consumed by a hidden fire."
And Tibullus, Book II, Elegy 4:
"I burn! Oh remove your cruel torches, girl."
Thus Cupid, the god of lust, is depicted with a torch, with which he inflames the minds of men.
Verses 10-11: Every Harlot Shall Be Trampled Like Dung; Many Have Admired Another Man's Wife and Become Reprobate
This verse and the following are now absent from the Greek and Syriac. Hence Jansenius judges that they were added by the Translator or by someone else, as an explanation of the preceding verses. But this is scarcely plausible: for then they would not have the canonical authority of Sacred Scripture; and who would have been so rash as to dare insert his own verses into Sacred Scripture, which is the epistle of the Holy Spirit, as St. Gregory says? It must therefore be said that the ancient Latin Translator had a fuller and more copious Greek exemplar than what now survives.
Now "a fornicatress," or harlot, is rightly compared to dung: first, on account of the stench, both of body and of soul; second, on account of the equal foulness of both; third, on account of the vileness; fourth, on account of the abomination. For a harlot prostitutes herself to all indiscriminately, and allows herself to be trampled like dung: whence all honorable people despise her, abominate and abhor her. Finally, a harlot is a sewer of filth and excrement. Whence Ezekiel 16:25: "You made your beauty abominable, and you spread your feet to every passerby."
11. "For her conversation blazes like fire" -- in the perfect act, so that it not only burns in itself, but also sets on fire those who hear her with love of her, and makes them burn. This is what Solomon says in Proverbs 5:3: "The lips of a harlot are a dripping honeycomb: but her end is bitter as wormwood." Fittingly Hugh of St. Victor, in his book On Avoiding Carnal Marriages, says: "In the honeycomb there are two things, namely, honey and wax: in the face of a harlot there are two things, namely, beauty and grace, that is, the attractiveness of the face, and the sweetness of speech. The wax kindles fire, the honey provides sweetness. So the beauty of the harlot inflames the flesh with the fire of lust, and the enticement of her seductive speech overturns the mind. Honey drips from the wax, when the harlot softens her words and makes them sweet."
Verses 12-13: Do Not Sit with Another Man's Wife, nor Quarrel with Her over Wine
12. He has taught that the company of a virgin, a widow, and a harlot must be avoided; now he teaches that the company of a married woman must also be avoided, because there is a similar enticement in her, and the danger of a greater sin, namely adultery. For in ancient times those about to dine or lunch did not sit at the table on benches, but reclined lying on couches or dining beds, each of which held three guests, so that leaning on their elbows they would recline their backs into the lap of another. He therefore advises that a man should not sit next to another man's wife, especially at table reclining on the same couch in her lap, or vice versa, because this contact with another man's wife is indecent and alluring; for the body of a woman is like a fire burning the mind of a man. Indeed, the very touch of a woman, says St. Jerome in Book I Against Jovinian, is as contagious and poisonous to a man and must be fled, no less than the bite of a rabid dog.
St. Cyprian speaks admirably in his book On the Singularity of Clerics: "Never is a thief held securely shut in with a treasure, nor is a lamb safe dwelling in the same cage with a wolf. He chose to be overcome, who led his own enemy through his gates." For a man cohabiting with a woman -- each is to the other a thief, a wolf, a viper, a sword, and a plague. St. Cyprian adds: "He who trusts himself to associate with scandal, without reason says: 'I wish to be at peace with the devil,'" against the Apostle who says: "Do not give place to the devil" (Ephesians 4:27).
13. And do not quarrel with her over wine. The Roman edition translates: "nor hold banquets with her over wine." The meaning is: do not contend with her in drinking, that she may match your toasts with equal cups emptied in full draughts; or contending with her in witticisms, jests, touches, and laughter, all of which are fans of lust.
Lest your heart turn toward her -- because both sitting together and drinking together, namely wine, arouse lust. And by your blood you slide into destruction. The meaning is: Do not associate with another man's wife, lest you provoke her husband to quarrel and fight, in which your blood may be shed, or the husband's, or both, and so you slide into the destruction of your life or of another's, and into the eternal destruction of hell. Truly Apollonius teaches that all evils arise from the desire and love of an unchaste woman, when he sings:
"Desire is a cruel punishment and penalty for men,
From you come quarrels, contests, wars, complaints."
Second Part of the Chapter: On Those Things That Must Be Avoided in Men
Verses 14-15: Do Not Abandon an Old Friend; New Wine, a New Friend
14. A new friend will not be like an old one -- both because an old friend is better known and tested than a new one; and because you have grown accustomed to the old one and adapted yourself and your ways to him, whereas with a new friend you will have to change and modify many habits to accommodate yourself to him; and because the old friend has proven his faithfulness and constancy over a long time. There are some people greedy for novelty who, as they do with other things, frequently change and replace their friends. Others, fastidious and easily offended by a friend, immediately abandon him and seek a new one. But in such people neither stable nor prudent friendship is possible, because in a new friend they will find similar faults, indeed more numerous and greater ones. Therefore such people constantly change friends; and they do not realize that the fault lies not so much in the friend as in themselves. Truly, St. Jerome says on Micah chapter 7: "A friend is long sought, scarcely found, and preserved with difficulty." Cicero, in his book On Friendship, asking whether new friends should be preferred to old ones, just as we prefer younger horses to aged ones, answers: "A doubt unworthy of a man. For friendships should not be like other things where we grow weary: the oldest friendships, like those wines that endure with age, should be the sweetest."
Mystically, the old friend is God, who anticipated us by loving us, and loved us from eternity, and will love us for eternity. Whence St. Augustine in the Confessions: "Late have I loved You, O beauty ever ancient, beauty ever new."
15. Just as new wine, namely must, with age clarifies, exerts its strength, is fortified, warms, and becomes pleasant to drink: so it is with a new friend; therefore a new friend should not be rejected on the ground that an old one has been preferred to him, but rather he should be sustained, by showing him love and trust, until he grows old; for then you will experience from his friendship a sweetness, as well as no small usefulness. Wherefore Christ says in Luke 5:39: "No one drinking old wine immediately wants new; for He says: 'The old is better.'"
Verse 16: Do Not Envy the Glory and Riches of a Sinner; For You Do Not Know What His Overthrow Will Be
"Zeal" signifies many things: for to be zealous means, first, to envy; second, to grieve and be indignant; third, to love vehemently; fourth, to emulate and imitate. First, therefore, the meaning can be: Do not envy the sinner his riches and glory, because shortly they will collapse and be overturned along with him. Second: Do not be indignant that sinners are wealthy and glorious. So David says in Psalm 72:3: "I was jealous of the wicked, seeing the peace of sinners." Third: Do not love and desire the riches and glory of a sinner. Fourth, do not imitate the acts and methods of sinners for acquiring riches and glory, according to Psalm 36:1: "Do not rival the evildoers, nor be jealous of those who commit iniquity."
He adds the reason: For you do not know what his overthrow will be. The Greek has catastrophe, that is, end, outcome, overthrow, devastation, destruction, death. You do not know, or do not think about, nor consider, that this happiness of sinners will shortly be overturned and changed into great unhappiness, poverty, and ignominy, just as the cheerful beginning of a tragedy ends in a sad catastrophe. For this often happens in this life, and always in the next.
Verse 17: Do Not Let the Injury of the Unjust Please You, Knowing That Even to the Grave the Impious Shall Not Find Favor
The wicked are supremely pleased by prosperity, wealth, and glory, when everything flows according to their wishes, and they esteem this as the highest good, and therefore to acquire these things they frequently do injury to others, through plunder, false accusations, and other injustices: but you who are wise, do not emulate them, do not have such a disposition, do not value their praises highly, nor desire their prosperity.
Knowing that to the very depths of hell the wicked man shall not please. The wicked man so displeases God that He will shortly cast him down to hell, according to Psalm 48:15: "Like sheep they are placed in hell: death shall feed upon them." By understatement, "they will not be justified" means the same as "they will be condemned." The meaning therefore is: Let not the injury of the wicked please you, because their vengeance and the flame of hell, which was prepared and destined for them by God from eternity, will not please you; let not guilt please you, lest punishment also be forced to please; let not the wicked please you, lest hell also be forced to please.
Verse 18: Keep Far from a Man Who Has the Power to Kill, and You Will Not Suspect the Fear of Death
You will not be anxious with the fear of death, you will not fearfully suspect death. For those who suspect they are in danger of death torment themselves perpetually with this suspicion and fear; whence they are startled by the slightest rumors and noises, like hares they look about fearfully at everything, they regard everything as suspicious. These suspicions and continual fears of death are far worse than death itself, indeed worse than many deaths, according to the saying: "Worse than war is the very fear of war."
More comprehensively take "one having the power to kill" in a general sense to mean any prince who has the right of life and death, especially an infidel one. For whoever offends such a man incurs danger to his life, and this often on account of merely a slight offense. For princes, exalted by power, not infrequently use, indeed abuse, their power at will. So did Nero, whose maxim, as Suetonius attests, was: "No prince before me knew what and how much was permitted to him." Caligula, when his grandmother Antonia admonished him to act differently, replied: "Remember that everything against everyone is permitted to me." Wherefore a philosopher wisely used to say that one should approach a king as one approaches fire -- not too close, lest you be burned by him; nor too far, lest you not be warmed by him.
Verses 19-20: And If You Approach Him, Do Not Commit Any Offense; Know the Fellowship of Death
19. The Greek adds "immediately, forthwith, at once": be cautious, and carefully look around at everything, lest you commit even a slight offense for which he may condemn you and sentence you to death.
20. Know the fellowship of death. To dwell with a prince who has the power to kill, especially with a tyrant, is the same as dwelling with death, having fellowship with death, because he will easily communicate and inflict upon you the death that he carries in his mind and hand. "Behold a pale horse: and he who sat upon it, his name was Death, and hell followed him" (Apocalypse 6:8).
For you will walk in the midst of snares, and tread upon the weapons of the grieving -- if you dwell in the court of a prince and tyrant, you will continually walk among snares, that is, traps and dangers of death. Just as it is difficult, and almost impossible, for one walking everywhere among snares to walk so carefully that he avoids them all entirely -- for while he avoids one, he can scarcely avoid another; and if he avoids three or four, he falls into a fifth -- so if you please a prince in one thing or another, you can scarcely avoid displeasing him in some other matter, if you are pious and strive to serve God and satisfy your conscience.
Mystically, in this life we walk in the midst of snares, which the world, the flesh, and the devil -- most cunning, most powerful, and most ferocious -- set for us. Whence St. Anthony, as St. Athanasius attests, saw this whole world up to the heavens full of snares, and groaning and asking: "Lord, who will escape these snares?" He heard: "Humility."
St. Augustine on Psalm 141: "Do you not know that you walk in the midst of snares, as Scripture says? And here are snares, and there are snares; snares on the right, snares on the left; snares on the right: the prosperity of the world; snares on the left: the adversity of the world; snares on the right: promises; snares on the left: terrors. Walk in the midst of the snares, do not depart from the way, let no promise capture you, let no terror crush you."
St. Chrysostom, Homily 4 to the People: "Recognize that you pass through the midst of snares, and walk upon the battlements of cities. The snare is overshadowed, because death does not appear openly, nor is the calamity manifest; but on every side it lies covered and concealed: for just as children cover over with earth the snares they set for birds, so the devil wraps sins in the pleasures of life. And if a profit presents itself, do not look at the profit alone; but examine carefully, lest perhaps death and sin be hidden within the profit: and if you see it, flee."
Verse 21: According to Your Strength, Beware of Your Neighbor, and with the Wise and Prudent Take Counsel
That is: As much as you are able and can, beware of your neighbor, so that you cautiously examine him and his actions and plans, lest he plot some evil against you, and do not trust him nor commit yourself and your affairs to him until he has been well examined. Hence for "beware," the Greek is stochazai, which means to aim and to look most intently, as an archer does when he shoots at a target. Do not share your plans and secrets with anyone, nor deal with him, unless you have first well examined him and have found him to be wise, faithful, and prudent.
Verses 22-23: Let Just Men Be Your Table Companions, and in the Fear of God Let Your Glorying Be
22. So that your banquet may be honorable and sober, and seasoned with honest and pious conversation; for the unjust so devote themselves to filling the belly, so petulantly loose their tongue in scurrilous and obscene, detracting, slanderous words, that their banquets are most full of sins; and therefore Sirach wisely admonishes here that they should not be held except with the just and God-fearing. Wherefore St. Augustine had inscribed these verses on his table, so that they might be continually read by his guests:
Whoever loves to gnaw at the life of the absent with words,
Let him know that this table is forbidden to him.
And Possidius says in the Life of St. Augustine: "He admonished every guest that he ought to abstain from superfluous and harmful tales and from detraction. For he sometimes so sharply rebuked certain of his most intimate fellow bishops who had forgotten that inscription and were speaking against it, that he would say either those verses must be erased from the table, or he would rise from the middle of the meal to his own room."
And in the fear of God let your glorying be -- that is: Glory that you have just and God-fearing men as your intimates and table companions, rather than nobles and rich men, because true glory is the fear of God. Such were the banquets of the first Christians, which from charity and love, and the praise of God, were called Agapae, concerning which St. Paul ordains in Ephesians 5:18: "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury; but be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord."
23. And in your understanding let there be the thought of God, and let all your discourse be on the precepts of the Most High. Let your thought about God not be erroneous, discordant, absurd, and unworthy of God; but let your thought and inquiry about God be worthy, wise, and sensible: namely, that you think of God, and of God's attributes, as such as faith, the sacred Scriptures, and the Fathers depict them. Again, just as thought about God ought to be sensible in the heart and mind, so also in the mouth all your discourse and speech ought to be on the law of the Most High. When you are not occupied with other business, think about God, and speak of His law, especially at banquets. Thus we read of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Dominic, that all their speech was with God or about God.
Verse 24: By the Hand of Craftsmen Works Will Be Praised, and the Prince of the People in the Wisdom of His Speech
Just as the skill of the hand makes the work of the craftsman praiseworthy, so wise speech makes princes praiseworthy: for this is the work of a prince, namely, that by his wise speech he persuade the people of what is right, useful, and just, that he compose disputes, dispel tumults and seditions, and establish union, peace, and concord: which if he accomplishes, he will certainly be a great craftsman; a great ruler and governor of the people. Sirach passes from ethical precepts, which shape each person's life according to the norm of law and virtue, to political ones, which organize the commonwealth. Therefore from this point on, up to chapter 11, verse 7, he instructs princes and magistrates, and teaches what they should avoid and what they should pursue in administration.
Verse 25: A Talkative Man Is Terrible in His City, and He Who Is Rash in His Speech Will Be Hateful
This is an antithesis. For to the wise eloquence of a prince, by which he composes the whole city, he opposes the talkative and rash speaker, who confuses and disturbs the whole city, and therefore must be kept far away and banished from it. For he is terrible to all, who assails everyone with his jibes like a bull that gores, and stirs up quarrels and brawls, and is therefore hateful to all.