Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He taught in chapter 11, verse 31 and following, that one must beware of the deceitful; then in chapter 12 he warned that kindness should be shown to the pious, not the impious, and that one should not trust an enemy, even if he feigns reconciliation. Now he pursues the same argument and teaches that one must beware of the company of the powerful and wealthy, and therefore of the proud. Then, from verse 12, he gives instructions on how, if one is summoned by them, one should deal with them. Finally, from verse 18, he teaches that one should associate with equals, for friendship and familiarity ought to exist between equals and those who are alike, both in character and in wealth. But the rich and the poor are not such, and therefore he demonstrates their dissimilar lot and manners through various comparisons and antitheses. In sum, throughout the entire chapter he teaches how harmful are the dealings of the wealthy and powerful.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiasticus 13:1-32
1. He who touches pitch will be defiled by it; and he who associates with the proud will put on pride. 2. He takes a burden upon himself who associates with one more honorable than himself. And do not be a companion of one richer than you. 3. What will the kettle have in common with the pot? For when they strike against each other, it will be shattered. 4. The rich man acts unjustly, and he rages; but the poor man who is injured will be silent. 5. If you are generous, he will take you up; and if you have nothing, he will abandon you. 6. If you have anything, he will feast with you and will drain you, and he will not grieve over you. 7. If he has need of you, he will deceive you, and smiling will give you hope, telling you good things, and will say: What do you need? 8. And he will put you to shame with his feasts, until he has emptied you twice and thrice; and in the end he will mock you; and afterward seeing you, he will abandon you, and will shake his head at you. 9. Humble yourself before God, and await His hand. 10. Take heed lest, being seduced, you be humbled in folly. 11. Do not be humble in your wisdom, lest being humbled you be seduced into folly. 12. When called by a more powerful person, withdraw; for thereby he will call you all the more. 13. Do not be pushy, lest you be rebuffed; and do not be far from him, lest you fall into oblivion. 14. Do not presume to speak with him as an equal, and do not trust his many words; for by much talking he will test you, and smiling he will question you about your secrets. 15. His merciless mind will store up your words, and he will not spare you from malice and from chains. 16. Guard yourself, and attend diligently to what you hear, for you walk with your own ruin. 17. Hearing these things, see as though in a dream, and you will be watchful. 18. All your life love God, and call upon Him for your salvation. 19. Every animal loves its like; so also every man loves his neighbor. 20. All flesh joins itself to its like, and every man associates with his own kind. 21. Will the wolf ever have fellowship with the lamb? So it is with the sinner and the just. 22. What fellowship has a holy man with a dog? Or what part has a rich man with a poor man? 23. The hunting of the lion is the wild donkey in the desert; so also the pastures of the rich are the poor. 24. And as humility is an abomination to the proud, so also the poor man is the execration of the rich. 25. When a rich man is shaken, he is supported by his friends; but when a humble man falls, he is driven out even by acquaintances. 26. When a rich man is deceived, he has many who will restore him; he spoke proud things, and they justified him. 27. The humble man is deceived, and he is also reproved; he spoke sensibly, and no place was given to him. 28. The rich man spoke, and all were silent, and they exalt his word to the clouds. 29. The poor man spoke, and they say: Who is this? And if he stumbles, they will overthrow him. 30. Wealth is good when there is no sin on the conscience; and poverty is most wicked in the mouth of the ungodly. 31. The heart of a man changes his countenance, whether for good or for evil. 32. The sign of a good heart, and a good countenance, you will find with difficulty and with labor.
First Part of the Chapter: Beware of the Company of the Proud and Wealthy
Verse 1: He Who Touches Pitch Will Be Defiled by It; and He Who Associates with the Proud Will Put on Pride
"And" means "so" or "in a similar manner." For among the Hebrews "and" is a mark of comparison, which because it links similar things, has the same force as "so," as can be seen throughout Proverbs. Hence the Greek, instead of "will put on pride," has "he will be made like him," or "he will become similar to him" -- namely, he will become proud with the proud. And so reads St. Athanasius in his treatise On Virginity. The Syriac reads: "He who approaches pitch, it clings to his hand; and he who associates with the wicked puts on his ways." As if to say: Just as pitch, when touched, clings to the hand of the one touching it, and applies and glues a part of itself to him, so also iniquity -- of which the pride of the proud is the chief kind -- clings to the one who touches it and associates with it, and applies and glues a part of itself to him, and through it, as through pitch, stains and defiles him, both in reputation and in conscience. For infamy disgraces his reputation, and sin -- grievous and mortal sin -- pollutes his conscience. An example is found in Lucifer, who rubbed his pride onto all his angels; and in Adam, who poured the same into all his descendants. Hence the great ruin of angels as well as of men.
Moreover, vice -- especially pride -- is fittingly compared to pitch. First, because both are black and dark in color. Second, both are viscous, and glue and rub themselves onto others. Third, both are heavy in odor and foul-smelling. Fourth, burning pitch is smoky, and so is pride. Finally, the proud await the fire of Gehenna, burning with pitch and sulfur. Hence Isaiah, chapter 34, verse 6, says: "Its torrents shall be turned into pitch, and its soil into sulfur; and its land shall become burning pitch." See Revelation 21:8.
The reason why pride, above other vices, rubs itself off on one who associates with the proud is partly the inclination of corrupt nature toward it and the innate love of excellence in man, and partly because the proud man swells and is puffed up with the spirit of elation, and exhales it with his mouth, his gestures, and his whole body. Thus he effectively breathes the same spirit upon others, just as one suffering from plague, because he exhales a burning spirit, immediately infects his neighbors and breathes his pestilence upon others. Add that the proud man seems to be generous and magnanimous, and so he calls himself, and is called by his followers. Hence his arrogance is loved as a virtue, not a vice. But in gluttony, lust, anger, and so forth, vice manifestly betrays itself, and cannot cloak itself with the appearance of virtue; hence as soon as it appears, everyone abhors and flees it.
Corresponding to Sirach's sayings are the maxims of the Philosophers. Plutarch, in his book On the Education of Children, says: "If you dwell next to a lame man, you will learn to limp." Aristotle, in his Problems, asks why when one person's eyes are inflamed, the eyes of neighbors begin to become inflamed. He answers: "Because the eye is the most mobile part of our body and can most easily be made like the object presented to it." In a similar way, in man the most mobile faculty is the eye of loftiness and pride, so that if someone's example moves him, he is immediately moved of his own accord to pride. Just as diseases that arise from corrupted air, such as plague, immediately breathe their contagion upon neighbors, so likewise does it happen in the company of the proud. "Thus a companion rubs the scabies of his manners onto his companion," and: "Whoever constantly lives with a stammerer learns to stammer."
Plutarch, in his treatise On Distinguishing a Friend from a Flatterer, says: So great is the force of habit that we even unwittingly imitate the vices of those with whom we live. Thus the intimates of Plato imitated the breadth of his shoulders; the friends of Aristotle reproduced his stammering; the companions of Alexander the Great mimicked the tilt of his neck and the harshness of his voice in speaking. Plato gives the reason in book II of the Laws: "When someone is surrounded by the wicked customs of depraved men, he does not hate them but takes pleasure in them, approving all the more, although he reproves as if in jest, dreaming of his own wickedness -- then indeed it is inevitable that he becomes like them, rejoicing in whatever they rejoice in."
Seneca says excellently in book III of On Anger: "Habits are picked up from our associates. And just as certain bodily diseases leap onto those nearby, so the mind transmits its evils to its neighbors: the drunkard has drawn his companions into the love of wine; the company of the shameless has softened a brave and flinty man; avarice has transferred its poison to its neighbors. The same principle works in reverse with the virtues, so that everything associated with them becomes milder."
Morally, learn here how much the company of the wicked is to be avoided, because it makes people like itself -- that is, wicked. So one who lives in a monastery or community with the imperfect and the unruly incurs many imperfections. Therefore, if he is wise, let him flee detractors, lovers of license, the idle, and the lukewarm, as if they were plagues. "The imitation of the wicked comes easily, and you quickly imitate the vices of those whose virtues you cannot attain," says St. Jerome, Epistle 7. And St. Cyprian, in his book On Spectacles, says: "Our eyes and ears must be guarded; for we quickly become accustomed to the wickedness that we hear. For the examples of vices attack the mind, push it, change it, transform it."
St. Bernard, in Sermon 82 on the Song of Songs, applies this maxim to the soul, which, celestial in itself, has become earthly and carnal through the desire of earthly things: "Why does it not, since it was made immortal, desire things similar to itself -- immortal and eternal -- so that what it is might appear, and what it was made might live? 'He who touches pitch' (says the Wise Man) 'is defiled by it': by enjoying mortal things he clothes himself in mortality and has discolored -- though not stripped off -- the garment of immortality by the encroachment of the likeness of death."
Verse 2: He Takes a Burden upon Himself Who Associates with One More Honorable Than Himself; and Do Not Be a Companion of One Richer Than You
"More honorable" means wealthier; for riches are called "honor" because they make a man honorable in food and clothing -- this is a metalepsis and catachresis. The Greek adds "and stronger," and Jansenius thinks it should be read thus. Many seek out the courts and favor of the great and wealthy, so that they may be honored by their familiarity, and may seize dignities, benefices, offices, and profits. But Sirach here wisely dissuades from this very thing, as if it brought a burden -- that is, a manifold grievance -- which he sets forth in detail in what follows. For friendship and association, to be easy and pleasant, ought to be between equals. Hence the saying of the Poet: "If you wish to marry, marry an equal." Seneca says excellently in his Proverbs: "If you have entered the clientele of a fortunate and powerful man, either truth or friendship must be sacrificed." Martial, among those things "that make life happier," counts "equal friends." For where there are unequals, the superior wants to dominate the inferior and commands him many things that the inferior does not dare refuse out of fear and shame; wherefore he is more a slave than a friend.
To this point belongs that saying of Seneca in the Troades: "A heavy burden great nobility presses upon him." Thus Euclio, in Plautus, when Megadorus, a rich man, sought his daughter of slender fortune in marriage, replied that he did not want his daughter to play the part of an ox or a she-donkey in his household. Sisyphus, seeking the friendship of Jupiter and the gods, is imagined by the Poets to have been condemned by the angry gods to roll a stone perpetually. By this they symbolically signify that those who desire to be friends of the powerful take upon themselves heavy burdens of expenses, reproaches, servitude, and the like. Hence the saying: "Far from Jupiter, far from the thunderbolt." And that of Horace: "Sweet to the inexperienced is the cultivation of a powerful friend; the experienced man will be afraid."
Morally, Rabanus says: "These things instruct us, according to the moral sense, always to pursue what is humble and utterly to flee what is proud," and therefore to renounce the company of the rich and powerful, and not to admire their wealth or pomp. Lacydes of Cyrene, summoned by King Attalus, replied that "images should be viewed from a distance," implying that close familiarity with princes diminishes admiration for virtue -- and, one might add, not infrequently creates danger. The confessors of magnates, princes, and the wealthy experience this, who, besides the trouble of serving them, not infrequently expose their own consciences as well as those of their penitents to the danger of eternal salvation, when -- either from fear of displeasing them or from eagerness to please them -- they do not dare to admonish them, but overlook what should not be overlooked, and relax what should not be relaxed. How much happier are the confessors of the poor, who admonish them freely and easily promote them to all holiness! These are masters; those are slaves.
Verse 3: What Will the Kettle Have in Common with the Pot? For When They Strike against Each Other, It Will Be Shattered
As if to say: If a clay or earthen pot strikes against a bronze kettle, the kettle will certainly shatter the pot. So likewise if a rich man joins himself and clashes against a poor man, he will certainly crush him; for if they quarrel, the poor man will be overpowered by the rich man. The bronze kettle therefore represents the powerful and wealthy, the earthen pot the common man and the poor, or the less wealthy. Aesop used the same fable of the kettle and the pot nearly three hundred years before Sirach, for he tells the fable of two pots, one bronze and the other earthen, which, when they were swept along by the force of a river and the earthen one feared its ruin, the bronze one said: "Do not fear; for I will take care that you are not struck or crushed." To which the earthen one replied: "Whether the river dashes me against you or you against me, in either case it will happen without danger to you but with danger to me. Therefore I have resolved to separate from you."
Aesop himself experienced this very thing with Solon. For Solon, because he had spoken too freely to Croesus, king of the Lydians -- telling him that no one should be considered blessed before death -- was neglected and rejected by the angry Croesus. Aesop, who was then at Sardis in honor with Croesus, grieved for Solon's plight and advised him: "With kings, O Solon, one should deal either not at all, or as pleasantly as possible." To which Solon replied: "By no means; rather, either not at all, or as honestly as possible."
So things stand among men, but not so with God. To our God, therefore -- most kind, as well as most wealthy and most powerful -- be eternal glory and thanksgiving, who wants us poor mortals to be His familiars. Nor is the pot shattered, but rather the bronze cauldron: for on the cross it was not our frailty but Christ, the riches and power of the Father, who was broken, 1 Corinthians 1:23.
Verse 4: The Rich Man Acts Unjustly, and He Rages; but the Poor Man Who Is Injured Will Be Silent
This is the first way in which the pot is afflicted and shattered by the kettle -- that is, the poor man by the rich and powerful -- namely, that the rich man will injure the poor man and besides that rage against him; but the poor man, having suffered the injury, will not dare to complain but will be silent, lest he provoke a more severe anger and harm from the rich man against himself. The Greek has more forcefully, instead of "will be silent," "will pray, will supplicate," as if to say: Even though the poor man has been injured by the rich man, he will yet be a suppliant to the one who rages, in order to soften his indignation and preserve his goodwill. He alludes to Proverbs 18:23: "The poor man speaks with supplications, and the rich man answers harshly." So also the Syriac: "For the rich man sins, and it is overlooked; and the poor man sins, and he is punished," according to that saying of Juvenal: "The censor pardons crows, but vexes doves." The rich man, therefore, among the poor is like a lion among animals: just as a lion rampages against all, and none dares oppose him, but all -- even wild beasts -- submit and yield to him, so too the rich man rampages against the poor, and no one is able or dares to contradict him. Wherefore Diogenes declared that riches are nothing other than veils for wickedness, for the rich, though they are no better than others, think everything is permitted to them.
Verses 5-8: If You Are Generous, He Will Take You Up; and If You Have Nothing, He Will Abandon You
The second way in which the rich man afflicts the poor is by draining and exhausting him. The rich offer themselves and their goods to the poor in order to enslave, drain, and exhaust them. Hence that saying of Horace: "The leech will not let go of the skin until full of blood."
6. "If you have anything, he will feast with you and will drain you, and he will not grieve over you" -- he who has been drained, impoverished, and exhausted. The Syriac: "If you have anything, he will make his conversations pleasant with you, and will empty you, and he will not sympathize, until he does his will with you." This is the third way in which the rich man afflicts the poor: by devouring his labors, draining him, and that without his own labor; for the labor he leaves to the poor man, but the fruit of it he usurps for himself, idle and pampered. Wherefore Solon used to say that opulence is the mother of satiety, and satiety of ferocity and violence. Riches are accompanied by luxury, and luxury passes into tyranny.
7-8. "If he has need of you, he will deceive you, and smiling will give you hope, telling you good things, and will say: What do you need? And he will put you to shame with his feasts, until he has emptied you twice and thrice; and in the end he will mock you." This is the fourth way: the rich man uses the poor for his own purposes, then discards him. He invites him to feast in order to drain him, and when he has nothing left, he mocks and abandons him. Thus the rich man is like the crocodile, which weeps before devouring its prey.
Verses 9-11: Humble Yourself before God, and Await His Hand
9. "Humble yourself before God, and await His hand." Having warned against excessive humbling before the rich, he teaches the proper direction of humility: toward God. For humility is properly the virtue owed to the divine majesty, says St. Bernard. St. Peter says, 1 Peter 5:6: "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God." God, now incarnate, taught supreme humility by example more than by word, saying: "Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls," Matthew 11:29.
St. Anselm, in his book On Similitudes, chapter 100, enumerates seven degrees of humility: the first is not to conceal one's fault but to acknowledge it; the second is to grieve over it; the third, to confess it; the fourth, that we persuade ourselves that what we confess is truly so; the fifth, that one consent to be judged as such by others; the sixth, that when some injury is done to him, he receive it patiently as if a great benefit were being conferred upon him; the seventh, not only not to murmur then, but also to love the vengeance of God and give thanks to Him.
10-11. "Take heed lest, being seduced, you be humbled in folly. Do not be humble in your wisdom, lest being humbled you be seduced into folly." Just as there is an excessive justice, of which it is said in Ecclesiastes 7:17, "Do not be overly just," so also there is a misguided and excessive humility. Sirach does not deny that the poor man may humble himself before the rich and seek help from him; but he commands that he should not humble himself in such a way as to place all his hopes in the rich man, neglecting and setting aside God -- lest he trust so entirely in a human being that he hangs suspended on him, forgetful of his God. Rather, trusting in God, let him make little of human aid, according to the saying: "It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes," Psalm 117:9.
Second Part of the Chapter: How to Deal with the Powerful
Verses 12-13: When Called by a More Powerful Person, Withdraw; for Thereby He Will Call You All the More
The sense is: If a powerful man calls you to his table or friendship, do not rush eagerly, but withdraw modestly; for by this very modesty he will be drawn to call you all the more. 13. "Do not be pushy, lest you be rebuffed; and do not be far from him, lest you fall into oblivion." Keep a prudent middle course: neither too forward, lest you be pushed away and despised, nor too remote, lest you be forgotten altogether.
Verses 14-16: Do Not Presume to Speak with Him as an Equal
14. "Do not presume to speak with him as an equal, and do not trust his many words; for by much talking he will test you, and smiling he will question you about your secrets." The powerful man, under the guise of friendly conversation, will draw out your secrets and use them against you. 15. "His merciless mind will store up your words, and he will not spare you from malice and from chains." What you confide to him in trust, he will use as weapons against you when it suits his purposes. 16. "Guard yourself, and attend diligently to what you hear, for you walk with your own ruin."
Verse 17: Hearing These Things, See as in a Dream, and You Will Be Watchful
That is: When you hear the alluring words of the powerful, regard them as one regards a dream -- with detachment and discernment -- and you will remain alert and not be deceived.
Verse 18: All Your Life Love God, and Call upon Him for Your Salvation
Having warned against trusting in the powerful, he directs the reader to the true source of help: God. All your life love God, and call upon Him for your salvation. For God alone is the truly faithful friend who never abandons those who trust in Him, unlike the powerful of this world who use and discard the poor.
Third Part of the Chapter: Fellowship of Likes with Likes
Verses 19-20: Every Animal Loves Its Like; So Also Every Man Loves His Neighbor
From the general principle that like associates with like, Sirach draws the practical conclusion that friendship and familiarity ought to be between equals. Aristotle teaches that friendship consists in equality and likeness, for friends share the same will and the same aversions. Hence every creature naturally seeks out its own kind: doves associate with doves, crows with crows, wolves with wolves. So too among men: soldiers associate with soldiers, scholars with scholars, merchants with merchants. This is because likeness is the mother of love, and equality the nurse of friendship.
Tropologically, just as a creature delights in its like, so also does the Creator. Do you wish to please God? Strive daily more and more to be assimilated to Him, in His divine attributes: wisdom, goodness, justice, purity, integrity, holiness. Do you wish to please Christ? Emulate His humility, patience, cross, and charity. For He Himself says: "Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart," Matthew 11:29. And the Apostle, Ephesians 5:1: "Be therefore imitators of God, as most beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us."
Morally, likeness and equality of actions in communities wins the love and goodwill of others, while singularity begets hatred. Therefore whoever in a monastery or community wishes to be loved, and to live peaceably with edification, should follow the common table, the common dress, the common occupations, the common exercises. For those who wish to be singular and to appear so, and who separate themselves from others, are hateful to all.
Verses 21-24: Will the Wolf Ever Have Fellowship with the Lamb? So It Is with the Sinner and the Just
21. "Will the wolf ever have fellowship with the lamb? So it is with the sinner and the just." So great is the discord and hatred between the wolf and the sheep that it endures even after death: "For dead sheep fear a dead wolf," says Oppian. As proof, the strings of wolf-gut and sheep-gut on a lyre never harmonize, but always produce discord. Moreover, if a drum made from wolf skin is struck, a drum made from sheep skin will produce no sound even when struck. Hence the impious Zizka, leader of the heretics in Bohemia, ordered a drum to be made from his own skin after death, so that when it was struck, Catholics would flee in terror from battle. By this very act he imitated the wolf, and declared himself to be a wolf of the Lord's flock, that is, a heretic, according to Christ's words: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves," Matthew 7:15.
Similarly, you may compare the poor man to the timid deer, and the proud rich man to the wolf or lion, according to that verse of Martial: "The boar is feared for its tusk, antlers defend the stag: What are we helpless deer but prey?"
From what has been said, gather how great and how magnificent and powerful is the grace of God and of our Christ, which joins and unites in charity things so contrary to each other, according to Isaiah 11:6: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." St. Francis accomplished this literally at Gubbio, taming a remarkably harmful wolf so that it walked harmlessly through the city each day.
22. "What fellowship has a holy man with a dog? Or what part has a rich man with a poor man?" 23. "The hunting of the lion is the wild donkey in the desert; so also the pastures of the rich are the poor." 24. "And as humility is an abomination to the proud, so also the poor man is the execration of the rich."
Verses 25-29: A Rich Man Is Supported by His Friends; but When a Humble Man Falls, He Is Driven Out
25. "When a rich man is shaken, he is supported by his friends; but when a humble man falls, he is driven out even by acquaintances." 26. "When a rich man is deceived, he has many who will restore him; he spoke proud things, and they justified him." 27. "The humble man is deceived, and he is also reproved; he spoke sensibly, and no place was given to him." Here Sirach paints the sharp contrast between how the world treats the wealthy and how it treats the poor. When the rich man speaks, even foolishly, everyone applauds; when the poor man speaks wisely, no one listens.
28-29. "The rich man spoke, and all were silent, and they exalt his word to the clouds. The poor man spoke, and they say: Who is this? And if he stumbles, they will overthrow him."
Verse 30: Wealth Is Good When There Is No Sin on the Conscience; and Poverty Is Most Wicked in the Mouth of the Ungodly
Wealth in itself is not evil but good, provided it is accompanied by a clean conscience, free from sin. But poverty is called "most wicked in the mouth of the ungodly" because the impious man, being poor, blasphemes God and curses his lot, attributing his poverty to divine injustice rather than to his own sins or to the inscrutable providence of God.
Verses 31-32: The Heart of a Man Changes His Countenance, Whether for Good or for Evil
31. The heart, that is, the inner disposition and conscience of a man, changes his outward countenance. A good conscience produces a serene and cheerful face; a bad conscience produces a troubled, angry, or sad face. Hence Cicero says admirably: "Every movement of the soul has by nature its own countenance, sound, and gesture. The countenance is the image of the soul, the eyes its indicators." And: "The countenance and brow are the door of the soul, which reveals the hidden and concealed will."
32. "The sign of a good heart, and a good countenance, you will find with difficulty and with labor." Understand a "good face" as consistently and continually good, that is, serene and cheerful; for this is difficult to find. An example is in St. Anthony, who, as St. Athanasius writes, was continually of cheerful countenance, to such a degree that by this alone he could be recognized among so many thousands of monks by those who did not know him and had never seen him.