Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He reviews the harms of drunkenness and fornication. Then, from verse 4, he treats of the moderation of the tongue, of avoiding detraction, and of keeping secrets; thirdly, from verse 13, of fraternal correction; fourthly, from verse 22, of good cunning as well as bad, or hypocrisy. Yet according to his custom he inserts and intermingles certain doctrines about wisdom and the fear of God.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiasticus 19:1-28
1. A drunken worker will not grow rich: and he who despises small things will fall little by little. 2. Wine and women make wise men fall away, and will reprove the sensible: 3. and he who joins himself to prostitutes will become wicked: rottenness and worms will inherit him, and he will be held up as a greater example, and his soul will be taken from the number of the living. 4. He who believes quickly is light of heart, and will be diminished: and he who offends against his own soul will be held in disregard. 5. He who rejoices in iniquity will be marked out: and he who hates correction will have his life shortened: and he who hates talkativeness extinguishes malice. 6. He who sins against his own soul will repent: and he who takes pleasure in malice will be marked out. 7. Do not repeat a wicked and harsh word, and you will not be diminished. 8. Do not tell your mind to friend or enemy: and if you have a fault, do not expose it. 9. For he will listen to you, and watch you, and as if defending your sin he will hate you, and so he will be with you always. 10. Have you heard a word against your neighbor? Let it die within you, trusting that it will not burst you. 11. At the face of a word the fool is in labor, like the groaning of a woman giving birth. 12. An arrow stuck in the flesh of the thigh — so is a word in the heart of a fool. 13. Correct your friend, lest perhaps he did not understand, and he may say: I did not do it; or, if he did it, that he may not do it again. 14. Correct your neighbor, lest perhaps he did not say it: and if he said it, that he may not repeat it. 15. Correct your friend: for often an offense is committed. 16. And do not believe every word: there is one who slips with the tongue, but not from the heart. 17. For who is there who has not offended with his tongue? Correct your neighbor before you threaten him. 18. And give place to the fear of the Most High: because all wisdom is the fear of God, and in it is the fearing of God, and in all wisdom is the ordering of the law. 19. And the discipline of wickedness is not wisdom: and the thought of sinners is not prudence. 20. There is a wickedness, and in it abomination: and there is a fool who is diminished in wisdom. 21. Better is a man who is diminished in wisdom, and lacking in understanding but in the fear of God, than one who abounds in understanding and transgresses the law of the Most High. 22. There is a shrewdness that is sure, and it is unjust. 23. And there is one who utters a sure word declaring the truth. There is one who wickedly humbles himself, and his interior is full of deceit: 24. and there is one who submits himself excessively from great humility: and there is one who bows his face, and pretends not to see what is unknown: 25. and if he is prevented from sinning by weakness of strength, if he finds an opportunity to do evil, he will do evil. 26. A man is known by his appearance, and a sensible man is known by the look of his face. 27. The clothing of the body, and the laughter of the teeth, and the gait of a man declare things about him. 28. There is a correction that is false in the anger of an insolent man: and there is a judgment that is not proved to be good: and there is one who keeps silent, and he is prudent.
First Part of the Chapter
Verse 1: A drunken worker will not grow rich
1. A DRUNKEN WORKER WILL NOT GROW RICH (but will be impoverished; this is a meiosis, for less is said and more is meant); AND HE WHO DESPISES SMALL THINGS WILL FALL LITTLE BY LITTLE. — For "small things" St. Augustine and others read "the least things," because the least things are small things in the highest degree; and the interchange of degrees of comparison is frequent in Scripture, so that the positive or comparative is used in place of the superlative, because the Hebrews lack it, as: "The greater of these is charity" — greater, that is, the greatest, 1 Cor. 13:13. "But he who is lesser (that is, the least) in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he," Matt. 11:11.
The conjunction "and" is partly comparative, partly causal. Comparative, as if to say: Just as a drunken worker will not grow rich, and — that is, so likewise — anyone else who despises small things will not grow rich, but will gradually fall from his station, wealth, and substance. Causal, as if to say: A drunken worker will not grow rich, "and," that is because, "he who despises small things will fall little by little." For because the drunkard neglects the small tasks and profits of each day in order to devote himself to drinking bouts, by repeating this neglect of profit day after day and consuming his resources in banquets, he gradually falls and is impoverished: for the few things he has are quickly consumed by drinking, while he adds nothing to them by idling; whereas, on the contrary, if he lived soberly and labored strenuously, by adding small profits to his small means each day, he would eventually accumulate much and become rich. Hence the Zurich Bible translates: "a drunken worker will not grow rich, and he who despises small things will gradually slip away"; the Syriac: "a drunken worker will not grow rich; and he who loves the flesh (the gluttony and excess of the flesh) will inherit poverty." For, as St. Basil says To a Spiritual Son: "The drunkard, when he thinks he is drinking, is being drunk; just as a fish, when it swallows the bait, is swallowed by the hook." This verse rightly coheres with the Greek reading of the last and penultimate verse of the preceding chapter: "Do not delight in much feasting, lest you become needy from the expenditure." He continues to assign the harms of feasting and drinking bouts, which are frequent among crowds of common people, says Rabanus, and he enumerates three of them, namely poverty, lust, and apostasy.
He alludes to Prov. 23:21: "Those who linger over their cups and contribute to banquets will be consumed, and drowsiness will be clothed in rags" — that is, those who frequent drinking bouts and dinner parties squander their substance; and because sleep follows upon wine and excess, and idleness from sleep, they are thus reduced to such poverty that they are forced to clothe themselves in cheap and tattered rags like ragged beggars.
Symbolically: "A drunken worker" is one who squanders through the drunkenness of vainglory, or of some other evil intention, whatever he gathers through good works: the result being that through these he acquires no spiritual riches, but is gradually deprived of everything and impoverished.
Note: This maxim, "He who despises small things will fall little by little," is here applied to a drunken worker; but in itself it is universal, and can therefore be fitted to any matter: to the student, who neglects small things in school and studies — he will gradually fall, and will not acquire knowledge but lose it; to the sick person, who neglects minor illnesses — he will fall into greater ones; to the soldier and captain, who neglects small things in war — he will gradually fall and lose both himself and his army; to the head of a household, who neglects small losses in the family — he will fall into great ones; to the merchant, who despises small profits — he will lose greater ones. Hence this is the maxim of merchants eager to grow rich: "Neglect no profit, however small." Let the merchant of spiritual goods — that is, of virtues, merits, and heavenly crowns — set this same rule before himself, so that he may not miss even the smallest opportunity of increasing virtue, merit, and his crown. Therefore the Fathers everywhere apply this maxim to light sins, as if to say: He who despises light and venial sins will gradually drift away, and at last will fall into grave and mortal ones; hence they seriously admonish all the faithful to carefully guard against even the smallest venial faults: for this is the foundation of security of conscience and progress in virtue.
Hear St. Gregory, Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Admonition 34: "Those are to be admonished who, although they transgress only in the least things, yet do so frequently, so that they may consider not the nature but the quantity of what they commit. For if they disdain to fear their deeds when they weigh them, they ought to dread them when they count them. For small but innumerable drops of rain fill the deep channels of rivers. And the bilge water secretly rising does the same as the storm raging openly. And the wounds that break out on the limbs through scabies are small, but when a countless multitude of them takes hold, they destroy the life of the body just as one grave wound inflicted on the chest kills. Hence indeed it is written: He who despises small things will fall little by little. For he who neglects to bewail and avoid the least sins falls from the state of justice not indeed suddenly, but entirely, part by part."
St. Basil in his Ascetical Works, in the Rule translated by Rufinus, chapter 18, teaches that a Superior ought to punish even the small faults of his subjects, since the Lord affirmed that "not one iota, or one dot shall pass from the law, until all things are fulfilled"; and again declared that "for every idle word that men shall have spoken, they shall render an account of it on the day of judgment"; therefore nothing should be despised as small. "But he who despises small things gradually drifts away."
St. Chrysostom, in his sermon On the Dangers of Light Sins, having recounted the story of Lot's wife, who, because she looked back at burning Sodom, was turned into a pillar of salt, says: "Nor should it be called light, what kills a man by being despised, or deceived the one who despised it by being transgressed, since it is written: He who despises small things will fall little by little."
St. Cyprian (or, as others prefer, Origen), in his treatise On the Singularity of Clerics, teaches that clerics must avoid all companionship with women. "All crevices, then, not to say doors, must be closed, lest through one opening all the fortifications be penetrated; and all defenses must be put in order, lest through one small unfortified spot the entire city fall, as Solomon repeats, saying: He who despises small things will gradually fall."
The a priori reason is, first, because many small things repeated make something great: thus many units repeated make a thousand; many drops swell into a river and a sea; many grains of sand make up a heap. Thus many small acts of humility, besides their merit, produce a strong habit of humility; many acts of vainglory produce a robust habit of vanity. Therefore St. Basil says in his Ascetical Works: "Let no error be considered small, even if it is tinier than the tiniest little creature." St. Augustine, sermon 44 On Times: "Do not despise your sins because they are small; for even drops of rain fill rivers, and drag along masses, and uproot trees with their roots." Likewise, in his treatise On the Ten Strings, chapter 11: "Do not despise these things because they are smaller; but fear them, because they are more numerous. Pay attention, my brothers: they are tiny, they are not great. It is not a beast like a lion, to break the throat with one bite, but very often many tiny creatures kill. If someone were thrown into a place full of fleas, would he not die there? They are indeed not large, but human nature is weak, and can be destroyed even by the tiniest creatures. So too pay attention to small sins, because they are small; and beware, because they are more numerous. How tiny are grains of sand! If too much sand is put into a ship, it sinks it and it is lost. How tiny are drops of rain! Do they not fill rivers and tear down houses? Therefore do not despise these things." Gregory of Nazianzus in his Tetrastichs:
A small spark kindles great flames,
And viper's seed not seldom kills.
Therefore flee harm, however small:
For though it be small at first, yet it grows.
Second, because small things dispose toward great ones: he who has stolen a penny today will tomorrow steal two, the day after three, and at length a gold piece. Thus from talkativeness there is an easy slip into detraction, from excessive familiarity into lust, from petty ambition into pride. Hence Rabbi Ben Azai in the Pirke Avot, or Sayings of the Fathers, chapter 4: "Hasten to fulfill a commandment, however light; flee sin with all care. For just as one commandment is the sequel of another commandment, so too one sin soon drags another after it."
Third, because small things frequently give great scandal to many, and cause many to imitate the example of one person. "For the discipline itself, as St. Anselm says in On Likenesses, chapter 122, is like a dam, or the enclosure of a fish pond. For just as the fish of a pond die when the water runs out, if the enclosure cracks bit by bit and often and is not repaired: so all religious life of a monastic Order perishes utterly if its guardianship, through contempt of small faults, gradually grows tepid from its fervor."
Fourth, because small sins diminish and turn away the grace of God. For God, offended by venial sins, does not send as many or as great illuminations to the mind, nor as many pious affections to the will, as He was accustomed to do before; the result being that the man, abandoned by grace, is prone to follow his passions and concupiscences, and at last falls into grave sins. Let that saying of Christ in Matt. 25:21 spur us: "Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things; enter into the joy of your Lord."
Fifth, because the devil, through the neglect of lesser things, becomes bolder and stronger in tempting men to commit greater ones. He who is wise therefore keeps the devil occupied in smaller matters, and does not allow him to advance to greater ones.
Moreover, what St. Chrysostom says in homily 88 on Matthew seems paradoxical: "I venture to say something wonderful and unheard of. It sometimes seems to me that great sins are not to be avoided with as much effort as small and worthless ones; for that we should turn away from those, the very nature of the sin itself effects; but the latter, by the very fact that they are small, make us indolent; and while they are despised, the soul cannot rise nobly to expel them. Hence by our negligence, great sins quickly arise from small ones. So in Judas the greatest evil of betrayal arose; for unless he had thought it a small thing to steal the money of the poor, he would not have come to such audacity. The Jews likewise, unless they had thought the sin of vainglory to be the least thing, would not have fallen all the way to the slaying of Christ. You will see all crimes happen by this path; for no one suddenly leaps to the extreme of wickedness. For the soul has a certain ingrained and inborn sense of shame, which it cannot suddenly trample and cast aside, but which perishes gradually, little by little, through negligence."
Verse 2: Wine and women make wise men fall away
2. WINE AND WOMEN MAKE WISE MEN FALL AWAY (from wisdom, that is, from their prudence, dignity, office, virtue, and at last from faith, religion, and God), AND WILL REPROVE THE SENSIBLE — as if to say: And therefore wine and women make prudent and sensible men worthy of rebuke and reprehension, and so they make them imprudent and senseless. So Rabanus. He joins wine with women, because, as St. Jerome says Against Jovinian, the genitals are neighbors to the belly, and the belly seething with wine froths over into lusts. Behold here the gradation of vices, which shows how gradually he who despises small things falls into the abyss. For from wine one goes to excess, from excess to fornication, from fornication to apostasy. So Rabanus. Thus wine and women brought infamy upon Solomon, the wisest king, so that he fell away and became an idolater. The same things besotted Calvin, Luther, Bucer, and the other Innovators of our age, and made them apostates, indeed heretics and heresiarchs, as they still make many even now. He alludes to Hosea 4:11: "Fornication and wine and drunkenness take away the heart." Furthermore St. Ambrose, On Elijah and Fasting, chapter 18: "If wine and women cause men to depart from God, because either drunkenness or lust are the enticements of transgression; if these things do this separately and individually, what will they do when united?"
Verse 3: He who joins himself to prostitutes will become wicked
3. AND HE WHO JOINS HIMSELF TO PROSTITUTES WILL BECOME WICKED. — "To prostitutes," that is, to harlots: for thus the Greek clearly has it. For fornication takes from a man his modesty and sense of shame, which usually restrains men from crimes; and it makes him shameless and brazen, so that he dares to boldly attempt and carry out anything: such indeed is a wicked man, that is, a malicious and perverse man, who thinks and dreams of nothing but villainy. Hence the Zurich Bible: "and he who makes a habit of prostitutes will become more reckless"; the Syriac: "he who cleaves to a harlot will perish." For what can your harlot, whom you love to perdition, not command you? What can you refuse her whom you so insanely adore, and who thus commands you? Clearly you will be a glutton, a drunkard, and, if you lack money, a thief, in order to satisfy lust; quarrelsome, and then a murderer, a sorcerer, a poisoner, says Palacius, and at last a heretic and an atheist.
Some dispute, and among them Juan de Mariana in his book On Spectacles, chapter 16, whether it is expedient in a Christian city to permit prostitutes and brothels. St. Augustine, book On Order, chapter 4, says: "What can be said more sordid, what more full of disgrace and baseness than prostitutes, pimps, and other plagues of this kind? Yet remove prostitutes from human affairs, and you will have thrown everything into confusion with lusts." Following Augustine, St. Thomas, book 4 On the Government of Princes, chapter 14, says that prostitutes are tolerated so that, like a sewer, all filth may flow into them.
On the negative side, the argument is, first, that God formerly forbade prostitutes among the Jews, Deut. 23:17. Second, because through brothels every kind of lust, even that against nature, is not prevented but increased. Third, because St. Jerome To Oceanus says it is Caesar, not Christ, Papinian, not Paul, who loosens the reins of impurity for men and permits brothels. Indeed even St. Augustine, wiser with age and experience, seems to have retracted his opinion. Fourth, St. Louis prohibited public prostitutes and brothels throughout all of France. Likewise Philip IV, King of Spain, expelled prostitutes and brothels from all of Spain by public law. Fifth, brothels, just like Bacchanalia, are relics of paganism and a disgrace to Christianity.
Memorable is the example of Pius V, who ordered prostitutes to leave Rome and the entire Papal State within fifteen days. When the Conservator of the Roman People initially opposed the Pontiff, saying this would be to Rome's detriment, Pius replied: "If through this I am to be the ruin of Rome, I will leave it, and transfer the Apostolic See with me to another city, and leave the Romans their she-wolves." The Conservator yielded; and the Pontiff, rigidly carrying out his decree, freed Rome from this scandal and disgrace.
ROTTENNESS AND WORMS WILL INHERIT HIM, AND HE WILL BE HELD UP AS A GREATER EXAMPLE, AND HIS SOUL WILL BE TAKEN FROM THE NUMBER OF THE LIVING. — For lust corrupts the humors, spirits, blood, and the entire constitution of a man, and therefore causes the flesh to rot, so that worms bubble forth from it, and the fornicator rightly says: "I have said to corruption, You are my father; to the worms, my mother and my sister" (Job 17:14). Where now is the belly loaded with pheasants and fragrant Falernian wines? Where is the majesty of the brow, and the lamps of the eyes? All things have become a ghastly heap of filth, a den of toads, and a sewer of worms and serpents. Moreover, how many and how great are the diseases that flow from lust, as the wages of the most base pleasure: exhaustion of strength, indigestion, dullness of the senses, forgetfulness, trembling, pain in the joints, diseases of the kidneys and bladder, consumption. In short, all evils.
Second Part of the Chapter: On Avoiding Talkativeness and Detraction
Verse 4: He who believes quickly is light of heart
4. HE WHO BELIEVES QUICKLY IS LIGHT OF HEART — that is, he who believes anyone asserting anything without just reason or authority. Sirach speaks of believing by faith, both divine and, more especially, human faith, by which we believe another telling his own story, and especially one who detracts from his neighbor; for to believe such a one quickly is the mark of a light spirit, not of a calm, mature, and wise one. For such a man knows that people are often deceived and deceive, that detractors are driven by envy and passion, and therefore exaggerate matters, and make an elephant out of a fly, suspect many things wrongly, interpret many things badly, invent many things, and lie about many things; and therefore faith should not easily be given to them, but at the very least judgment should be suspended until the truth of the matter is examined and proved. Therefore "he who believes quickly will be diminished," both in wisdom and in reputation and name; for he will be regarded as light, imprudent, and then foolish. Hence Seneca in his Proverbs: "He hastens to repentance who judges quickly."
Examples are found in Joshua, chapter 9, who by believing too quickly was deceived by the Gibeonites. In Constantine the Great, who by believing too quickly his wife accusing his son Crispus of having solicited her to incest, killed him though he was innocent. Hippolytus was killed because his stepmother was believed, as Seneca attests.
AND HE WHO OFFENDS AGAINST HIS OWN SOUL WILL BE HELD IN DISREGARD. — He who sins and offends against his own soul — this one will be regarded as supernumerary, superfluous, pointless, idle, lazy, useless, indeed harmful, and a useless burden upon the earth. For a sinner is useless to himself, to others, and to the whole world; for he does nothing good for anyone, but by sinning creates a grievous evil for all. Such especially is the fickle person who quickly believes, speaks, and slanders. For this person is of no value, of no use. For who would trust a fickle person? Who would employ a worthless one?
Verse 5: He who rejoices in iniquity shall be noted
5. HE WHO REJOICES IN INIQUITY SHALL BE NOTED: AND HE WHO HATES CORRECTION SHALL HAVE HIS LIFE DIMINISHED: AND HE WHO HATES TALKATIVENESS EXTINGUISHES MALICE. — "He who rejoices in iniquity," and especially in wicked speech and detraction, "shall be noted," that is, censured and condemned; but he who hates talkativeness, and thereby prevents detraction, extinguishes malice, that is, suppresses many evils, namely quarrels, hatreds, brawls, and murders, which arise from talkativeness, sharp wit, and slander: for the tongue is a world of iniquity, says Saint James in chapter 3 of his epistle.
"And he who hates correction shall have his life diminished" signifies that he who so loves iniquity and talkativeness that he refuses to be corrected will be of short life, because God will punish him with premature and swift death.
Verse 6: He who sins against his own soul shall repent
6. HE WHO SINS AGAINST HIS OWN SOUL SHALL REPENT: AND HE WHO TAKES PLEASURE IN MALICE SHALL BE NOTED. — That is, he will undergo the mark of infamy and the censure of judgment, that is, he will be condemned. These then are the three worms of sin, which are born in it as in a forbidden fruit, namely: repentance, infamy, and condemnation. Note the words "rejoices" and "takes pleasure." For the just sometimes sin from frailty, but immediately grieve, groan, and sigh; but the wicked and reprobate sin from malice, and in it they wallow and take delight, like swine in mud, and therefore they shall be condemned.
Verse 7: Do not repeat a wicked and harsh word
7. DO NOT REPEAT A WICKED AND HARSH WORD, AND YOU SHALL NOT BE DIMINISHED. — First, simply: If you have spoken to your neighbor "a wicked and harsh word" — namely an angry, threatening, biting, slanderous, or calumnious one — do not repeat it, and by this you will not be diminished, neither in honor, nor in peace, nor in friendship, nor in other goods. For when you do not repeat the harsh word, you appear to repent of it, and to have said it not from intent but from a slip of the tongue. But if you repeat it, you will be judged to have said it from a malicious spirit.
Secondly, and more genuinely: If you have heard "a wicked and harsh word," that is, one injurious to your neighbor, do not repeat it by narrating it to others, that is, do not report it again, spread and divulge it, and by this you will not be diminished, but will grow through a reputation for prudence, discretion, and charity. Note: To "repeat a word" in Hebrew is the same as to slander, because he who slanders narrates to others again and again the faults of another that he has heard. For just as water, when it passes through veins of copper, vitriol, and iron, changes its color and taste: so likewise the same word, the same story and narrative, when it passes through various hearts and mouths, changes its form and appearance. For the Hebrew word shanah means to repeat, to change, to vary, to alter. Thus in Proverbs 17:9: "He who conceals a fault seeks friendships; he who repeats it in another speech separates confederates." It is therefore a mark of great wisdom not to repeat what one has heard, nor to narrate it to others — to hear much, speak little, and to bury in one's mind the reproaches one has heard.
Verse 8: Do not narrate your thoughts to friend and enemy
8. DO NOT NARRATE YOUR THOUGHTS TO FRIEND AND ENEMY: AND IF THERE IS A SIN ON YOU, DO NOT REVEAL IT. — Do not narrate indiscriminately and without distinction to just anyone the secret thoughts, conceptions, intentions, and plans of your mind: because if they are your enemies, they will abuse them by betraying them to others, and thus ruin you; if they are friends today, tomorrow they can become enemies, and among friends too, trust is rare, prudence rarer, and secrecy the rarest. A prudent man therefore should say with Isaiah chapter 24, verse 16: "My secret is mine." For if you yourself were unable to keep silent about your own personal and intimate secret, how can you hope that another will do the same? Seneca says brilliantly: "What you wish to be kept secret, tell no one, because you cannot demand silence from another if you do not provide it yourself."
Verse 9: For he will hear you and will watch you
9. FOR HE WILL HEAR YOU, AND WILL WATCH YOU, AND AS THOUGH DEFENDING YOUR SIN WILL HATE YOU, AND SO WILL BE WITH YOU ALWAYS. — The friend or enemy to whom you narrate your thoughts and sins will attentively hear you as if faithfully going to advise you, and will watch, that is, note and observe you, and will pretend to defend and excuse your thoughts and sins; but inwardly he will hate you, and so will be with you always, pretending to be a friend, but in reality an enemy, who, when the occasion arises, will do you the gravest harm. So Palacius says: "Daily experience is the gloss on this text: if you have someone who is conscious of your crime, you will always fear him and dread lest he betray you."
Verse 10: Have you heard a word against your neighbor?
10. HAVE YOU HEARD A WORD AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOR? LET IT DIE WITHIN YOU, TRUSTING THAT IT WILL NOT BURST YOU. — There are some who, when they have heard something bad, especially something secret, and carry it in their mind, as if they had swallowed poison, cannot keep it to themselves, as though they would burst; hence they vomit it out and pour it forth by narrating it to those they meet. Sirach rebukes these, saying: Have you heard something bad about your neighbor? Keep it, keep it and bury it in your heart. So act that it may die there; for there is no reason to fear that it will burst you. For an evil word is not a poison that will make you burst; or if it is a poison in you, by keeping silent and forgetting it will cease to be a poison. For just as the force and malignity of a poison is dissolved and dies in water, and thus, as if dead, loses its power to harm and harms no one: so exactly the evil you have heard, if you contain it in your mind, will die there.
Morally, learn here how depraved, how much to be avoided, and how execrable detraction is. "There shall be no accuser, nor whisperer among the people," says the Lord, Leviticus chapter 19:16. Saint Chrysostom, homily 3 to the People: "Let us flee, beloved, let us flee from detraction, taught that this occupation is the whole satanic pit of his snares." And: "If someone stirs up dung as you pass by, you heap abuse on the one who does it: do the same toward detractors; for stirred-up dung does not strike the cartilage with its stench as much as the sins of others, when revealed, are wont to sadden and disturb our souls." Saint Chrysostom further cites Sirach: "What does 'let it die within you' mean? Extinguish it, bury it, do not allow it to go forth, consign it to oblivion. But above all strive not even to tolerate others who say such things; and if you have received something, bury it, kill the saying, consign it to oblivion, so that you may become like those who never heard it, and may pass through this present life with much peace and security."
Verse 11: At the face of a word the fool is in labor
11. AT THE FACE OF A WORD THE FOOL IS IN LABOR, LIKE THE GROANING OF THE BIRTH OF AN INFANT. — The fool, as soon as he has heard something new and secretly bad about his neighbor, seems to be tormented and in labor to pour out the secret he has heard, like a fetus that weighs down his belly. He aptly compares the fool who speaks and reveals secrets to a woman in labor. First, because this secret and any thought is contained in the mind as in a womb: hence it is called a conception of the mind; but when it is brought forth by the mouth, it is as it were born as offspring and brought into the light. Secondly, because the fool forces himself to bring into the light this secret that he ought to have kept silent. Thirdly, because the fool inopportunely and before the proper time reveals and labors with these conceptions and secrets of his; but the wise person does so opportunely and at the fitting time.
Verse 12: An arrow fixed in the thigh of the flesh
12. AS AN ARROW FIXED IN THE THIGH OF THE FLESH, SO IS A WORD IN THE HEART OF A FOOL. — He compared the fool to a woman in labor; here he compares him to a wounded person: Just as one who has been wounded by an arrow in the thigh, whose flesh is tender and therefore very sensitive, immediately plucks out the arrow and does not rest until he shakes it off: so also the fool immediately plucks from his heart the word he has heard, as if it were an arrow that had wounded him, and blurts it out with his mouth, nor does he rest until he divulges it. Hence Apuleius, in his book On the Doctrine of Plato: "Those who are light, futile, and troublesome speakers, who flow with moist and slippery words — their speech is rightly considered to be born in the mouth, and not in the breast." He aptly compares detraction to the shooting of arrows, because, as Saint Bernard says: "Is not the tongue of a detractor a viper? Most ferocious indeed, namely one that lethally infects three with a single breath. Is not this tongue a lance? Certainly a most sharp one, which pierces three with a single blow."
Third Part of the Chapter: On Correction
Verse 13: Correct your friend, lest perhaps he did not understand
13. CORRECT YOUR FRIEND, LEST PERHAPS HE DID NOT UNDERSTAND, AND HE MAY SAY: I DID NOT DO IT; OR, IF HE DID IT, LEST HE DO IT AGAIN. — This is an anticipation of an objection. For lest anyone from the fact that he said one should keep silent about a neighbor's sin should infer that one should therefore allow a neighbor to sin unpunished, he anticipates, saying: Keep the secret in such a way that you do not announce it to others; yet correct the one who sinned in private — both to look after his salvation, and to repair and prevent the offense and injury to God. For the remedy for evil is not detraction, but correction.
From this it is clear what kind of correction ought to be given. First, it should proceed from love, not from hatred; from compassion, not from anger and indignation. The one who corrects should act as a physician, who fights against the disease, not against the sick person. Second, it should be gentle, and seasoned with sweetness of countenance and words, just as bitter pills are coated with sugar, according to that saying of Paul in Galatians 6:1: "Instruct such a one in the spirit of gentleness." Third, it should be done seasonably and opportunely, when the one to be corrected is properly disposed to receive correction in a friendly way. He who corrects an angry person is like a man holding a dog by the ears.
Moreover, correction is like a medicine that sobers up a person intoxicated and maddened by passion, and restores him to himself and to his right mind. The wise person who is corrected, recognizing that the fault is his own, will turn his anger upon himself, whereas the fool turns it upon the one correcting him. With a beautiful comparison of the harp, Ivo of Chartres illustrates this: "He who plays the harp, when he tunes each string by tightening it, is wont to hear an unpleasant sound from them; but afterward, when all are stretched and tuned to harmony, they render the sweetest concert to him."
Verse 14: Correct your neighbor, lest perhaps he did not say it
14. CORRECT YOUR NEIGHBOR, LEST PERHAPS HE DID NOT SAY IT: AND IF HE DID SAY IT, LEST PERHAPS HE REPEAT IT. — He admonished that a friend who has sinned by deed should be corrected; here he likewise admonishes that one who has offended by word and speech should be corrected, whether against God or against one's neighbor. Cicero, in his book On Friendship: "Friends must often be admonished and rebuked." And a little later: "To admonish and to be admonished is proper to true friendship." Saint Ambrose, Book III of On Duties, chapter 16: "A friend, if he has discovered any fault in a friend, ought to correct him in private; if he does not hear, correct him publicly." And Saint Chrysostom, homily On Bearing Reproofs: "I am grateful to those who reprove me, for they are friends: whether they reprove justly or unjustly, they do not wish to cast reproach, but to amend."
Verse 15: Correct your friend, for often a trespass is committed
15. CORRECT YOUR FRIEND: FOR OFTEN A TRESPASS IS COMMITTED — that is, both on the part of a friend, which should be corrected by another friend; and on the part of a detractor, who slanders a friend and attributes false things to him — often a commission of calumny takes place. Hence it follows: "And do not believe every word." For at banquets and other gatherings of men, the reputation of the absent is frequently attacked, and then each person, as if contributing his share to a common pot, puts forth his own judgment and barb; in which variety many calumnies are committed by many. For some fabricate charges for the sake of a joke; others through a slip of the tongue and talkativeness; others amplify out of malice; others add circumstances to make the matter seem probable.
Brilliantly, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, writing about his silence during the forty-day fast: "The tongue, neither man, nor snow, nor torrent, nor rock, nor indeed any thing can restrain: nothing is safe and immune from the arrow of the tongue; and whoever has tamed it, he indeed holds the citadel and primacy of wisdom."
Verses 16 and 17: There is one who slips with his tongue
16 and 17. THERE IS ONE WHO SLIPS WITH HIS TONGUE, BUT NOT FROM HIS HEART. FOR WHO IS THERE WHO HAS NOT OFFENDED WITH HIS TONGUE? — He says this partly to show how easily one sins through a slip of the tongue, both on the part of a friend — who for this reason should be corrected gently — and on the part of detractors, especially among companions at banquets, whom therefore one should not easily believe. For "not from his heart" means the same as "not from deliberation, not from purpose, not from the mind and intention of detracting, calumniating, or in any way harming." To which Saint James alluded, chapter 3:2: "If anyone does not offend in word, he is a perfect man."
Verses 17 and 18: Correct your neighbor before you threaten
17 and 18. CORRECT YOUR NEIGHBOR BEFORE YOU THREATEN. AND GIVE PLACE TO THE FEAR OF THE MOST HIGH. — There are those who, when a fault is charged, immediately fly into a rage, fume, threaten, and with headlong anger leap into harsh words and even blows, and thus invert the order of prudence and charity. Sirach admonishes these to first correct their neighbor gently (for thus the person will probably either clear himself or amend), and thus give "place to the fear" of God, who commands this gentleness in correcting a neighbor. Therefore out of fear, love, and reverence for Him, let us correct gently — both to exclude from ourselves the spirit of anger, impatience, and revenge; and to amend our neighbor by this gentleness; and to merit the gentleness and benevolence of God, according to Galatians 6:1: "Instruct such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted."
BECAUSE ALL WISDOM IS THE FEAR OF GOD, AND IN IT TO FEAR GOD, AND IN ALL WISDOM IS THE DISPOSITION OF THE LAW. — He gives the reason why place should be given to the fear and law of the Most High: because the fear of God is all, that is, the whole, full, and perfect wisdom, practically speaking. From which he concludes that one's neighbor ought to be corrected gently in the fear of God, because without it nothing is done wisely and rightly, and whatever is done wisely must be done in the fear of God, because wisdom and the fear of God are so connected that where there is wisdom, there is also the fear of God, and vice versa.
Verses 19 and 20: The discipline of wickedness is not wisdom
19. AND THE DISCIPLINE OF WICKEDNESS IS NOT WISDOM: AND THE THOUGHT OF SINNERS IS NOT PRUDENCE. — He proves that all wisdom is the fear of God and the disposition or execution of the law, from the contrary, because namely "the discipline of wickedness," that is, the knowledge and art of exercising wickedness astutely and maliciously, which worldly and political men know and practice, "is not" true "prudence." Whence he left it to be concluded that wisdom belongs only to the just, who fear God and execute His law.
20. THERE IS WICKEDNESS, AND IN IT EXECRATION: AND THERE IS A FOOLISH MAN WHO IS DIMINISHED IN WISDOM. — He proves that the discipline of wickedness, or its knowledge, is not true wisdom: There is wickedness, or cunning malice; but in it is execration, because wickedness is full of execrable things, and therefore all good men execrate it on account of its cunning joined to malice; but they do not equally execrate foolishness, that is, ignorance, and the lack of wisdom. For there is a foolish man who is diminished in wisdom, who namely lacks prudence: this man does not err from wickedness and malice, but from foolishness and ignorance, and therefore is considered worthy rather of compassion and instruction than of execration.
Verse 21: Better is a man diminished in wisdom with fear of God
21. BETTER IS THE MAN WHO IS DIMINISHED IN WISDOM, AND LACKING IN SENSE, WITH FEAR OF GOD, THAN HE WHO ABOUNDS IN SENSE AND TRANSGRESSES THE LAW OF THE MOST HIGH. — As if to say: Better is the unlearned but upright man, than the learned but wicked. He therefore calls "prudent" the one who is skilled and knowledgeable as regards the intellect, not as regards the affections, who clearly understands what is good and evil, but does not love it nor carry it out in practice. For this man will be punished the more severely, the more learned he was, because he did not use but abused his learning, according to that saying: "To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). Wherefore better and happier, and therefore practically wiser, is the unlettered rustic who keeps God's law, than Aristotle, Plato, or even a Doctor of Theology, who violates God's law: for to the former heavenly glory is prepared, to the latter hell and Gehenna.
Fourth Part of the Chapter: On Good and Evil Cleverness, or Hypocrisy
Verses 22 and 23: There is a certain cleverness, and it is unjust
22 and 23. THERE IS A CERTAIN CLEVERNESS, AND IT IS UNJUST. AND THERE IS ONE WHO UTTERS A SURE WORD DECLARING THE TRUTH. — As if to say: There is a twofold cleverness: one certain and exact, but unjust; the other upright and fair, declaring certain truth, and in good faith suggesting sure counsels. He therefore distinguishes here a twofold cleverness, that is, astuteness and prudence: one unjust, such as malicious deceit, fraud, hypocrisy, dissimulation, pretense, malice, which he called in verse 19 the discipline of wickedness. The other fair and just, which after a mature investigation of the matter declares the truth in a sure speech.
St. Gregory, painting the reasons, modes, and acts of each, in book X of the Morals, chapter XVI, thus distinguishes the wisdom of the Saints from worldly prudence: "This worldly prudence commands its followers to seek the heights of honors, to rejoice in the vanity of temporal glory obtained, to repay injuries with greater ones, when strength suffices to yield to no resistance. But on the contrary, the wisdom of the just is to pretend nothing through ostentation, to reveal one's meaning through words, to love truth as it is, to avoid falsehood, to bestow good things freely, to tolerate evil more willingly than to do it, to seek no revenge for injury, to consider insult endured for truth as gain." St. James likewise distinguishes both kinds of wisdom in chapter 3:15: "For this wisdom does not descend from above; but is earthly, sensual, diabolical. But the wisdom that is from above is first indeed chaste, then peaceable, modest, persuadable, agreeable to good things, full of mercy and good fruits, not judging, without dissimulation."
THERE IS ONE WHO WICKEDLY HUMBLES HIMSELF, AND HIS INTERIOR IS FULL OF DECEIT. — This is one, and a frequent and common, species of cunning and unjust prudence. St. Bernard says in book IV of On Consideration, to Pope Eugenius, chapter IV: "It is the characteristic of cunning and deceitful men to put forward humility precisely when they wish to obtain something, about whom Scripture says: There is one who humbles himself wickedly, and his interior is full of deceit. Take from yourselves a clear and familiar example of this saying. How many whom you admitted as suppliants did you afterward endure as burdensome, intolerable, obstinate, rebellious?"
Verses 24 and 25: There is one who submits himself too much
24 and 25. AND THERE IS ONE WHO SUBMITS HIMSELF TOO MUCH FROM GREAT HUMILITY: AND THERE IS ONE WHO INCLINES HIS FACE, AND PRETENDS NOT TO SEE WHAT IS UNKNOWN: AND IF HE IS PREVENTED FROM SINNING BY WEAKNESS OF STRENGTH, IF HE FINDS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR DOING EVIL, HE WILL DO EVIL. — All these things are to be understood of one and the same person, namely the hypocrite who wickedly humbles himself so that he may appear just and holy. There is one endowed with wickedness who walks with bowed head in dark garb, and his interior is full of deceit. He lowers his countenance and pretends to be deaf, and where he is least known, he will anticipate you by harming and injuring unexpectedly; and if through lack of strength he is prevented from sinning, he will do you evil when he finds an occasion.
Morally, note here how holy, pleasing, and lovable humility is, since its very adversaries strive with such zeal to put on and simulate it, so that they may be regarded as saints. St. Bernard says admirably, sermon 18 on the Song of Songs: "To seek the praise of humility from humility is not virtue, but subversion. What is more perverse, or more unworthy, than to wish to appear better from that by which you appear worse?" Furthermore, St. Jerome gives an indication of true humility in epistle 27: "Many pursue the shadow of humility, few the reality. Let all pretenses of words be removed, let simulated gestures cease; patience reveals the truly humble man."
Verse 26: From his appearance a man is known
26. FROM HIS APPEARANCE A MAN IS KNOWN, AND FROM THE MEETING OF THE FACE A SENSIBLE MAN IS KNOWN. — Thus physiognomists, physicians, and jurists not absurdly judge about the interior senses and affections of the soul from the features and temperament of the body. Sirach therefore gives here four signs, through which as through windows you may look into the mind of each person, and detect hidden virtue or vice, sincerity or hypocrisy. The first and most clear sign is the face and countenance, especially the eyes: for nature reveals and betrays itself through the eyes. For since the eye is the lamp of the body, what wonder if the lamp declares what kind of body it belongs to? St. Ambrose says admirably in the book On Elijah, chapter X: "The countenance is a kind of judge of thought, and the silent interpreter of the heart: the face is usually the indicator of the conscience, and the silent speech of the mind." St. Augustine in the Rule for the Servants of God: "Do not say that you have modest souls, if you have immodest eyes, because an immodest eye is the messenger of an immodest heart."
Verse 27: The clothing of the body, the laughter of the teeth, and the gait
27. THE CLOTHING OF THE BODY, AND THE LAUGHTER OF THE TEETH, AND THE GAIT OF A MAN DECLARE WHAT HE IS. — The second sign is clothing or dress: for proud clothing indicates interior pride, feigned clothing indicates pretense, dissolute clothing dissolution. Thus from the countenance, dress, and dissolute bearing of Julian the Apostate, St. Gregory of Nazianzus detected his hidden impiety: "Nothing good seemed to me to be signified by his unsteady neck, his twitching shoulders, his insolent and wandering eye gazing furiously, his unstable feet, his nose breathing insult and contempt, his wanton and unbridled laughter." And upon observing these things, he immediately declared: "What an evil the land of the Romans is nurturing!"
The third sign is laughter: for candid and open laughter signifies a candid, open, and frank heart; but contracted, twisted, sardonic, toothy laughter signifies a contracted, twisted, deceitful heart, full of hatred. St. Augustine: "Let reason precede your laughter: for nothing is more shameful than laughter most deserving of derision."
The fourth sign is gait: for a quick and headlong gait indicates rashness, a slow one slowness, a light one levity, a proud one pride. St. Ambrose, book I of On Duties, chapter XVIII: "Modesty must be maintained in movement itself, in gesture, in gait. For the condition of the mind is discerned in the posture of the body. You remember, my sons, a certain friend, who, although he seemed to recommend himself by diligent services, was nonetheless not admitted by me into the clergy for this sole reason, that his bearing was most unseemly. Another also I ordered never to walk before me, because with a kind of blow of an insolent gait he struck my eyes. Nor was the judgment wrong; for both departed from the Church."
Verse 28: There is a correction that is false in the anger of an insulter
28. THERE IS A CORRECTION THAT IS FALSE IN THE ANGER OF AN INSULTER: AND THERE IS A JUDGMENT THAT IS NOT PROVED TO BE GOOD: AND THERE IS ONE WHO IS SILENT, AND HE IS WISE. — He returns to the doctrine of correction given in verse 13. Since he had said that correction should be done wisely and sincerely, he made a digression concerning wisdom, sincerity, and hypocrisy: now he returns to the subject of correction. He adds the manner and time in which a rebuke is unseemly, namely when it proceeds from anger and a spirit of reviling. For anger perverts judgment, so that it rashly judges unfavorably from slight signs, and charges and condemns the action of one's neighbor as wicked, when in reality it is not such. This is what he adds: "And there is a judgment that is not proved to be good," because it is precipitate from anger, and therefore rash, and often false and mendacious. Wherefore in anger one must be silent, and correction must be omitted, until anger cools down and peace and serenity of mind return. Therefore he who keeps silent in anger is wise.
Furthermore, correction from anger is not only unseemly for the one who hears and receives it; but it is equally unseemly and shameful for the one who speaks and corrects: by which he shows that he is driven not by reason but by anger, and is a slave to anger. Well known is that saying of Plato to a servant who was at fault: "I would punish you, were I not angry." At another time he entrusted a servant's punishment to a friend, saying: "I cannot punish, because I am angry."
Finally, the silent man is wise, namely he who keeps silent when he thinks correction and speech will be useless and fruitless. Aeneas Sylvius wisely said: "It is wiser to act than to speak. For a wise man never speaks unless necessity demands, nor does he utter anything vain or unweighed: but for a fool no time is closed to speech." As the distichs of Cato say:
Consider silently with yourself what each person says.
The speech of men both conceals and reveals their character.
Here also is relevant that saying of Seneca: "Listen more willingly than you speak. He who does not know how to be silent does not know how to speak." And that of Pindar in the Nemean Odes: "Not every exact truth revealing its face is useful; but to know how to be silent is often the wisest thing."