Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues to treat of women; wherefore through many antitheses he shows how great is the goodness of a virtuous and sensible woman, and how great the malice of a wicked and foolish one.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiasticus 26:1-28
1. Happy is the husband of a good wife: for the number of his years is double. 2. A strong wife delights her husband, and will fill the years of his life with peace. 3. A good portion is a good wife, in the portion of those who fear God she will be given to a man for his good deeds; 4. whether rich or poor, if his heart is good, his countenance will be cheerful at all times. 5. Of three things my heart was afraid, and at the fourth my face grew fearful: 6. The betrayal of a city, and the gathering of a mob, 7. a false accusation — all these are heavier than death. 8. Grief of heart and mourning — a jealous wife. 9. In a jealous wife is a scourge of the tongue, communicating with all. 10. As a yoke of oxen that is shaken, so also is a wicked wife: he who holds her is as one who grasps a scorpion. 11. A drunken wife is a great provocation: and her disgrace and shame will not be hidden. 12. The fornication of a wife is known by the haughtiness of her eyes, and by her eyelids it will be recognized. 13. Over a daughter who does not turn away, keep strict watch, lest finding opportunity she abuse herself. 14. Beware of all irreverence of her eyes, and do not wonder if she neglects you. 15. As a thirsty traveler will open his mouth at a fountain, and drink from every nearby water, and will sit by every post, and open her quiver to every arrow, until she fails. 16. The grace of a diligent wife will delight her husband, and will fatten his bones. 17. Her discipline is the gift of God. 18. A sensible and silent wife is beyond all exchange for an educated soul. 19. Grace upon grace is a holy and modest wife. 20. No weight is worthy of a continent soul. 21. As the sun rising upon the world in the highest places of God, so is the beauty of a good wife an ornament of her house. 22. A shining lamp upon a holy candlestick, and beauty of face upon a firm age. 23. Golden pillars upon silver bases, and firm feet upon the soles of a steadfast wife. 24. Everlasting foundations upon solid rock, and the commandments of God in the heart of a holy wife. 25. At two things my heart is grieved, and at the third anger comes upon me. 26. A warrior failing through want, and a man of understanding held in contempt. 27. And he who passes from justice to sin — God has prepared him for the sword. 28. Two kinds of business appeared to me difficult and dangerous: a merchant is hard to free from negligence, and an innkeeper will not be justified from the sins of his lips.
Verse 1: HAPPY IS THE HUSBAND OF A GOOD WIFE: FOR THE NUMBER OF HIS YEARS IS DOUBLE.
"His," that is, of the husband. So the Greek, the Roman edition, and the Syriac. Some read "their," that is, of the husband and wife. So Palacius. For the years of a husband with a good wife are double, both because he will live longer, and twice as long on account of the goodness of his wife — so that he might live 70 or 80 years, who otherwise would have lived only thirty or forty; for a wicked wife produces so many troubles and sorrows for her husband that he is quickly consumed and wastes away by them; and also because he will live more happily and pleasantly; for a sad life is rather death than life, and so it is half death and half life. For the sorrowful and grieving man lives a natural life through breathing, sensation, and movement; but he dies a moral life through hardships, sorrows, anxieties, and griefs. For as Martial says: "To live is not merely to be alive, but to be well and vigorous." So the Zurich Bible says: Happy is the husband of a virtuous wife; for the number of his days will be doubled; the Syriac: A good wife (that is, "of a good wife" — it is a Syrianism and Hebraism), happy is her husband; because his days are doubled. These double years of the husband who has a good wife are to be understood in comparison with the man who has a bad wife; for his years are single, because they are halved and few. Palacius, however, takes "double" in relation to nature and natural constitution. For the years that nature has prescribed for each person, just as art can increase and double, so much more can God. For just as "men of blood shall not live out half their days" (Psalm 54), God diminishing the number of years that nature had assigned to the bloodthirsty: so for good spouses the years are double, God doubling those years that nature had decreed to be halved: for just as He halves those years because He abhors them, so He doubles these because He delights in them. This is sometimes true, but rare. It happened more frequently for the good and pious in the Old Testament, to whom earthly happiness was promised by God; in the New Testament, however, that is compensated by the greater spiritual and heavenly happiness.
Tropologically, a good wife bestows a double life upon her husband; because she is the cause for him, both by word and example, and by her harmony and piety, to live here the life of grace, and in the future the life of glory; but a bad wife, giving her husband a bad example, and provoking him to impatience, quarrels, desperation, and other sins, is the cause for him to die here in his soul by the death of sin, and in the future by the death of hell and eternity. Thus St. Cecilia made her husband Valerian a saint and martyr, and Clotilda made Clovis so, and St. Elizabeth her Landgrave. Whence Hugo takes the good wife to mean the Blessed Virgin, who was the best, because supremely pious, chaste, kind, and modest. Pious in work, kind in heart, modest in speech, chaste in body and in mind, firm in the endurance of labors and tribulations. Of her Proverbs 11 says: "A gracious woman shall find glory." She without doubt both blessed and gladdened her husband Joseph. Proverbs 12: "A wise wife is a crown to her husband." Again, he says, a good and strong wife is your parish, or your religious community. Proverbs 5: "Rejoice, O young man, with the wife of your youth." But Solomon says against those who change churches or desert them for richer benefices: "He who drives away a good wife, drives away what is good" (Proverbs 18:22).
Mystically, Rabanus says: "A good wife is either specifically the soul of a just and good man, or generally the whole Church of the elect, whose husband is described as blessed; because Christ (who is her husband) is proclaimed as blessedness and exaltation throughout the whole world; for the number of their years is double, because here the Church lives under the guardianship of God's commandments with the honor of virtues, and in the future she will truly rejoice in the reception of heavenly rewards."
Verse 2: A STRONG WIFE DELIGHTS HER HUSBAND, AND WILL FILL THE YEARS OF HIS LIFE WITH PEACE.
"A strong wife," in Greek eschet chail, that is, a wife of virtue, or a heroic woman, is called a diligent, industrious, zealous wife, who excels in judgment and counsel, and like a bee is constantly solicitous, so that by her industry and labor she may properly manage the household, properly educate the children, provide for the servants and maidservants regarding food, clothing, and all necessities, increase the family estate; and finally secure wealth, honor, and glory for her husband, children, and herself — such as Solomon describes throughout the whole of Proverbs chapter 31. She indeed by her industry, labor, and resources delights her husband, and therefore fills his years not with sorrow and toil, but with peace and joy; for she causes him to reach a full and long age with quietness and happiness, and to die like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in a good old age. Again, "in peace," that is, in the abundance of all things, which she produces by her diligence; for this is what the Hebrew schalom means, that is, peace. Whence the Zurich Bible translates: a diligent wife cheers her husband and causes him to spend the years of his life in tranquility; Vatablus: she fills the years of his life with tranquility; the Syriac: a strong wife will delight her husband, and will fill the years of her life with joy — that is, the husband himself.
A good wife is therefore different from a strong one; for a good wife is kind, easy-going, compliant, loving to her husband and children, and also pious toward God; but a strong wife is prudent, manly, industrious, diligent. She who has both qualities is perfect and heroic. For women, partly from their phlegmatic constitution, partly from habit and idleness, are lazy, sluggish, and slothful. Whence Hippocrates, in his book On the Nature or Diseases of Virgins, writes that the female nature is more slothful, and therefore more women than men fall into those panicky and imaginary terrors which so violently frighten people that they lose their minds and seem to see ghosts and demons, by which many tormented women hang or kill themselves. And Galen, in book 2 of On Temperaments, writes that women are plumper than men, because they lead more idle lives; and since slowness is the companion of sloth, we see that women are slow and dilatory. Whence Plautus, in The Braggart Soldier: "A woman," he says, "is born from delay itself; for whatever other delay there is equally, the delay that is on account of a woman seems less." And that saying: "While they are getting ready, while they are dressing their hair, a year passes." Those women therefore who overcome this laziness by diligence are heroines.
Verse 3: A GOOD PORTION IS A GOOD WIFE, IN THE PORTION OF THOSE WHO FEAR GOD SHE WILL BE GIVEN TO A MAN FOR HIS GOOD DEEDS.
"Portion" is the same as lot, meaning: A good lot is a good wife, wherefore God, who as the ruler of the world is accustomed to measure out and bestow upon each person his or her lot according to His good pleasure and human merit, will give a good wife to a good man as the reward of his good works. She therefore will be given to the upright "in the portion," that is, as a share and lot due and proper to those who fear God. For in Hebrew, beth, that is "in," is often taken for caph of likeness, or rather of measure, that is, as, like, as if a measure of reward proportionate to merit. Whence the Greek reads concisely thus: a good wife is a good portion, she is given in the portion of those who fear the Lord; the Zurich Bible: a good wife is a good acquisition, she will fall to those who reverence the Lord as a reward; the Syriac: a good wife will be given to the man who fears the Lord because of his good works. He alludes to Proverbs 19:14: "House and riches are the inheritance of fathers; but a prudent wife is properly from the Lord." Note the word "properly," meaning: Although house and riches are given by God, yet these are often left to children by parents as an inheritance, and come by hereditary right; but a suitable wife is the proper, that is, the particular and singular gift of God; for although such a wife must be diligently and carefully sought by one wishing to enter marriage, nevertheless she is specially procured by God Himself not so much by human care as by divine providence, and therefore must be requested from Him by prayers. This is evident in Rebecca, Rachel, and Sarah, whom God properly provided as wives for Isaac, Jacob, and Tobias. For God, although by His providence He cares for all things, yet He more greatly cares for and procures the greater and more necessary things: and such is a prudent wife, of suitable character and congenial to the disposition of her husband; because upon this depends the peace, tranquility, holiness, salvation, and predestination of the husband, the children, and the whole family. It is similar in a vocation to religious life, in which this religious order rather than that one is suited to this particular person, and is prepared by God, if he is willing to consult, hear, and follow God who calls. The meaning therefore is: He who is called by God to marriage, in choosing a wife, should not rely and trust so much on his own or his parents' imagination or industry, as on God, and should constantly beseech Him to direct a suitable wife to him. In a similar sense, the guarding and directing of the tongue is attributed to God rather than to man, Proverbs 16:1: "It is for man to prepare his soul, and for the Lord to govern his tongue." And the distribution of lots in the same chapter, verse 33: "Lots are cast into the lap, but they are governed by the Lord."
Whence Palacius judges that a good wife is a sign of the predestination of the husband and children, and therefore that she is given by God to the predestined; but other goods are given equally to the reprobate and to the predestined.
Jansenius explains it somewhat differently: "A good wife," he says, "is a good portion and a good lot, which will be given to a man in the lot and portion of those who fear God; because in that lot which God has promised and is accustomed to give to those who fear Him, a good wife is also included." I will say more about this maxim in my Salomonide, which, God willing, will be my next work, at Proverbs 16:14; for from there Sirach borrowed it.
Verse 4: WHETHER RICH OR POOR, IF HIS HEART IS GOOD, HIS COUNTENANCE WILL BE CHEERFUL AT ALL TIMES.
Meaning: When a man's, whether rich or poor, "heart is good," that is, tranquil, serene, pleasant, and happy — on account, that is, of a good and diligent wife — then equally at all times his countenance will be cheerful, serene, and happy; because the gladness of the heart manifests itself in the gladness of the mouth and face. This saying refers to verse 2. Whence the Syriac, transposing the second verse to the third, connects it with this fourth verse immediately thus: a strong wife will delight her husband, and will fill the years of her life with joy (the husband), whether he be rich or poor, his heart is always good, and his face cheerful; the Zurich Bible: a good wife, etc.; gladdens the heart both of the rich toward the Lord (for it reads pros Kyrion, for which our text and others read en panti kairo, that is, at all times) and of the poor, so that at all times they are cheerful. The meaning is: Neither riches, nor honors, nor feasts, nor anything else makes a husband happy, just as neither poverty, nor obscurity, nor hunger, nor thirst makes him unhappy; but rather the joy or sadness of heart and countenance, which a good or bad wife brings; for a good wife makes the heart and face of her husband serene and cheerful, while a bad one confuses, saddens, and wastes him away. Thus "good" is taken for joyful and pleasant, Psalm 132:1: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Conversely, in Matthew 6, Christ says: "Sufficient for the day is its own malice (that is, its own sadness and affliction)."
Verse 5: OF THREE THINGS MY HEART WAS AFRAID, AND AT THE FOURTH MY FACE GREW FEARFUL.
The translator reads with the Complutensian edition, equilibrio, that is, "was afraid," for which the Roman edition reads edeēthen, whence they translate: And at the fourth I besought with my face, or I prayed; to show how great an evil, and how disturbing to a man, and how changing his heart and face, a bad wife is; he compares and sets her above three very harmful things, which wonderfully afflict a man, and therefore are carefully avoided by all. The meaning therefore is: Three things as very bitter my heart feared (in Greek kolathēlē, that is, "was awed"): but at the fourth, that is, the fourth thing (for the Hebrew beth is one of contact), I was so afraid in my heart that my face also trembled and grew pale. It is a Hebraism, such as is found in Amos chapter 1, verses 3, 9, and 11: "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for the fourth, I will not turn away its punishment," meaning: The Damascenes committed three crimes; but the fourth is so enormous that it wrests vengeance from Me. See what was said there. Whence the Zurich Bible translates: three things my heart shudders at, and at the fourth my face shudders; the Syriac: at three things my heart was moved, and at four (that is, at the fourth; for the cardinal number is put for the ordinal) I was greatly afraid. Now he enumerates these four, saying:
Verses 6 and 7: THE BETRAYAL OF A CITY, AND THE GATHERING OF A MOB, A FALSE ACCUSATION — ALL THESE ARE HEAVIER THAN DEATH.
Meaning: The three things of which my heart was afraid are: first, "betrayal," that is, the treachery, "of a city," as the Zurich Bible translates, meaning: To be in a city that is betrayed to the enemy, and to be exposed to its plundering, destruction, slaughter, and fury, is a grave evil. So Lyranus. But Palacius translates delatura as "hostility," by which a whole city becomes hostile and opposed to someone. But in Greek it is diabolē, that is, calumny, accusation, by which the city, that is, most of the citizens, from an evil rumor accuse someone and impute some crime to him. For this is a grave evil, both because through it the accused incurs public infamy and the hatred of all citizens; and because through it he must fear and guard himself not from one person, but from all citizens, lest he be condemned to death, exile, or prison. Whence the Syriac translates: the slander of a congregation in a multitude of people; for diabolē means calumny, suspicion, envy, detraction, indignation, ignominy, infamy, crime, accusation: whence diabolos means calumniator, accuser, devil. For the root diaballō means to accuse, to brand with infamy, to condemn, to wrong, to render suspected, to accuse one who is hated, to defame, to slander, to deceive, to disgrace, to detract, to bring a charge. This is what Ecclesiastes says, chapter 7:8: "Calumny troubles the wise man, and destroys the strength of his heart" — where I will say more on this matter.
The second is the gathering of a mob, in Greek ekklēsia ochlou, that is, the assembly of a crowd, namely of a disturbed and tumultuous people, that is, a sedition, as the Zurich Bible translates, by which the people rise up against someone and demand his death — such as St. Paul suffered at Ephesus, stirred up by Demetrius and the silversmiths of Diana (Acts 19).
The third is a false accusation, by which someone is falsely accused by an accuser and witnesses, and is put on trial for his life or a similar evil. Among these three there is a gradation: first, it is bad to suffer an evil reputation in a city and to be suspected by the citizens; second, it is worse when this reputation and suspicion grows so much that the people band together against him and seek his life; third, it is worst of all when from the assembly of the raging people a legal process is set up, by which through calumny and false witnesses he is legally and certainly condemned to death — as happened to Susanna (Daniel 13) and Naboth (3 Kings chapter 21). Therefore the Psalmist urgently begs to be delivered from this, Psalm 118: "I have done judgment and justice," he says, "do not hand me over to those who slander me. Receive your servant for good; let not the proud slander me." The saying of Pythagoras is relevant here: "If a weasel crosses your path, turn back, that is, flee from slanderers" — for they say the weasel gives birth through its mouth.
Moreover, he says these three things are heavier than death, that is, more grievous and more bitter than death, both because a violent death, inflicted unjustly by a judge on account of the calumny of false accusers and witnesses, is more grievous and bitter than natural death; and because they torment more and for a longer time over many years, and sometimes throughout an entire life, than death itself, which is felt only in a moment, and immediately passes, and frees a man from all pain and torment. Whence the saying: "Better is death than a bitter life."
Note: These three things are very grievous and troublesome even to upright men; yet those who are very patient, and advanced and perfected in virtue, easily overcome them, just as they also overcome death itself — especially if they suffer these things for God, for justice, for holiness, for chastity, or for another virtue; indeed in these things they exult and triumph, just as St. Paul exults in his persecutions, calumnies, seditions, imprisonments, blows, and beatings (2 Corinthians 11). Because God is accustomed to send great illuminations, strength, courage, and spiritual consolations to those who patiently endure calumnies and injustices, so that on account of these they wondrously rejoice in their calumnies and do not wish to be without them.
Climacus narrates, in Step 4 on Obedience, that an abbot in a monastery was accustomed to being received daily with harsh words and blows by the brothers, and endured everything humbly and steadfastly until death, persuading himself that these things were done to him not out of hatred, but from zeal for testing and increasing virtue; whence as he lay dying he said exultingly: "I give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ and to you, because through the fact that you tested me unto salvation, behold, for seventeen years I have remained free from the temptation of the devil." In the same place he narrates that Macedonius the deacon, without fault, was deposed from his Order by his Superior for the sake of testing and handed over to penance, and endured everything without sadness, as if it were not he but another who had been rebuked; indeed, when he had been restored to his Order by the Superior, he asked the same Superior to relegate him back to his former degradation and ignominy, and the Superior, knowing his virtue, granted it; and he then confessed to Climacus himself, who marveled at his humility and penance among the novices and asked the reason, saying: "Never as now have I perceived in myself the cessation of all warfare and the sweetness of divine light." Hence St. Francis used to say: "Perfect joy is when one willingly endures injuries and reproaches for the love of Christ." For such a one says with St. Paul: "Far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." And our St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, having suffered a thousand calumnies on account of his works of piety, and having been frequently cast into prison, rejoiced and exulted in spirit, constantly saying that this was the supreme good and joy of the faithful in this life, and that the way of the cross was the one and only shortcut to the summit of virtue and perfection. This is what St. James says, chapter 1: "Count it all joy, brethren, when you fall into various trials." Where I said more on this matter.
Verses 8 and 9: GRIEF OF HEART AND MOURNING — A JEALOUS WIFE. IN A JEALOUS WIFE IS A SCOURGE OF THE TONGUE, COMMUNICATING WITH ALL.
The fourth is this worst evil, far surpassing the three already mentioned, namely a jealous wife, who suspects that her husband loves another woman more than herself and prefers her, and therefore distrusts him. Whence Rabanus reads, an unfaithful wife, that is, distrustful; in Greek antizēlos, that is, a rival woman, an emulating woman's rival, jealous against the jealous — such as was Anna against Penennah (1 Samuel 1), Sarah against Hagar (Genesis 16), and Rachel against Leah (Genesis 30:1, 15). For of old, polygamy, that is, plurality of wives, was permitted among the Jews; in which jealousy easily arose, so that one wife would suspect, grieve, and complain that she was loved less by her husband, and that another was preferred to her, better clothed, treated, and honored, etc.; for the weaker sex is suspicious, and of lesser spirit and judgment. And for this cause among others, polygamy was abolished by Christ.
The meaning therefore is: A jealous wife, envious of her rival, brings to her husband and family not the consolation and joy that was hoped for, but grief of heart and mourning. He adds the reason: "In a jealous wife is a scourge of the tongue," meaning: Because a jealous wife constantly lashes her husband with her tongue through her complaints, sighs, indignations, remonstrances, quarrels, brawls, arguments, insults, and curses. Moreover, this "scourge of the tongue" is not merely domestic, that is, private, secret, and confined within the walls of the house; but "communicating with all," because a jealous woman cannot conceal her jealousy, indignation, and bitterness, but communicates and exposes it to all relatives, friends, neighbors, indeed to anyone she meets, complaining about her husband — that he loves another more, that he is unfaithful to her, that he treats her unworthily, etc. Palacius explains differently: "Communicating with all," he says, because from every matter she takes, indeed seeks and grasps, an occasion for complaining about her husband, lamenting, and remonstrating. Wherefore St. Chrysostom rightly says, homily 53 on Genesis: "Jealousy is a grave evil, and it ends in foolishness."
Moreover, women are especially afflicted by jealousy, the reason and origin of which is that they suffer from self-love, are more fond of themselves, and please themselves too much. So Philo, quoted by Eusebius, book 8 of the Preparation, chapter 4: "A woman," he says, "loves herself too much, etc., and is most stung by jealousy." And Plutarch, in his book On Tranquility, places jealousy among the passions proper to women. Hence also the Poet: "A woman's jealousy sets the whole house on fire."
Hear a remarkable and pitiable example. A woman had borne a son from her husband; when her husband died, she married another, from whom she likewise bore a son. This second husband together with his own son secretly killed the first son, that is, the stepson, whom she had borne from her first husband, so that they alone would be the woman's heirs. The woman, indeed the mother, learning of this, driven to jealousy and indeed to fury, killed both her husband and her son. Accused of husband-murder and son-murder, she was brought before the Areopagus on account of the novelty of the complicated case. They, seeing on the one hand the guilt of the crime, and on the other the just grief that had driven the accused to retaliatory vengeance, pronounced this sentence, leaving the case undecided: "Let the accused and the injured parties appear before our tribunal in a hundred years."
Hear another remarkable, but memorable and imitable example. Aesop, the prince of fabulists, gave these precepts of life to his son Eunus: "Son, above all things fear God. Honor the king. Show yourself terrible to your enemies, lest they despise you; easy and communicative with friends, that they may be far more benevolent to you. Always cleave well to your wife, lest she wish to try another man: for the female sex is fickle, and when flattered, thinks less evil. Be continent of tongue. Do not envy those who do well, but congratulate them; for by envying you will offend yourself more. Take care of your household members, so that they may fear you not only as a master, but also venerate you as a benefactor. Do not be ashamed always to learn better things. Never trust secrets to a wife: for she is always scheming how to dominate you. Greet readily those who meet you, knowing that even for a puppy a wagging tail earns bread. Do not regret being good. Send the whisperer out of your house. For whatever is said and done by you, he will communicate to others. Do things that do not make you sad. Do not be sorrowful at what happens. Never seek evil counsel, nor imitate the ways of the wicked." So Planudes in his Life of Aesop.
Verse 10: AS AN OX-YOKE THAT IS SHAKEN, SO ALSO IS A WICKED WIFE; HE WHO HOLDS HER IS AS ONE WHO GRASPS A SCORPION.
He represents the wickedness of a wife through two comparisons: one of a shaken yoke, the other of a scorpion. The first is appropriate to this passage: for from "yoke" comes the word "conjugal"; for spouses are like two yoked oxen, who coupled in the same yoke pull a cart or plow the earth with a plough. Just as therefore a yoke, if it is shaken — whether because it is too loose, or because one ox, impatient of the yoke, shakes it to throw it off, or because the driver or someone else shakes it and uses force upon it — if, I say, the yoke is shaken, it hinders the oxen so that they can scarcely pull the cart or plough; indeed it injures and hurts the oxen themselves: so likewise a wicked wife with her quarrels and wickedness shakes the whole marriage, and injures and hurts the husband and family. Here the old saying is true: He protests the yoke too late who has already submitted to it. First inquire into the character of a wife before you marry her: for once you have married her, you must bear her yoke and her ways, and you will not be able to shake them off.
Note: A wicked wife is compared to a scorpion; first, because "the scorpion alone among insects is armed with a long sting, and has five arms equipped with cleft pincers," says Aristotle, book 4 of the History of Animals, chapter 7. So a wicked wife is armed with the sting of a venomous tongue, and has armed limbs with which she seizes, provokes, and harasses her husband. Second, the scorpion is most pestilent and deadly; for, as Pliny says, book 11, chapter 25: "The scorpion is a pest bearing the poison of serpents, except that with a worse torment it kills slowly over three days." So a wicked wife constantly torments her husband, and wastes him away with a slow consumption. Third, the scorpion strikes treacherously with the arched blow of its tail the one it holds with its claws; because, says Pliny, "its tail is always striking, and it never ceases planning for a moment, lest it should ever be wanting when opportunity arises. It strikes both with a sideways and a curved blow." So a wicked wife, even when she flatters, treacherously puts forth her sting in the tail, that is, in the end, and watches and waits for every opportunity by which she may do harm. Fourth, the venom of scorpions, says Pliny, comes from the midday, when they have grown hot from the sun's heat; and likewise when they are thirsty, being insatiable in drinking. So also a wicked wife, when she has grown hot with wine and heat, shoots forth her poisons; she is likewise a heavy drinker and insatiable with wine. Fifth, scorpions do not harm those who have no blood, says Pliny: so a wicked wife does not harm mortified men, in whom there is no desire (for blood is the seat and symbol of desire); but rather she is for them the material of virtue and victory. But especially the scorpion, clasping with its claws but stinging with its tail, represents the wickedness and deceit of women, especially how they harm while pretending love. Whence Antonius in the Melissa, book 2, chapter 34, citing Socrates, says: "When a woman says she loves and desires you, you should fear her more than when she curses you." Hence Euripides calls women "a painted evil." And Josephus, book 5 of the Antiquities, chapter 17, writes that Samson, when he learned that his riddle about the lion and the bee had been betrayed to the Philistines by his Delilah, exclaimed: "Nothing is more deceitful than a woman."
Mystically, a wicked wife is one's own will, to which when a carnal man is joined as to a bad spouse, he is weighed down, agitated, and constantly tormented by the burden of innumerable sins and imperfections. For one's own will disturbs the whole interior household, opposes men and God, and contaminates with its poison the one who embraces it. This, which at first sight savors of liberty, and seems to make a man his own master, if examined more closely presses one down with an unbearable yoke, which whoever does not wish to perish must cast off. Most excellently does St. Bernard say, in his treatise On Loving God, near the end: "Then I would say that each person has made his own law for himself, when he has preferred his own will to the common and eternal law, perversely indeed wishing to imitate his Creator; so that, just as God is His own law and His own master, so this person also would rule himself, and make his own will his law: a heavy and unbearable yoke indeed upon all the children of Adam; alas! bending and curving our necks, so that our life approached hell."
Verse 11: A DRUNKEN WIFE IS A GREAT PROVOCATION; AND HER DISGRACE AND SHAME WILL NOT BE HIDDEN.
Meaning: A drunken wife is wrathful and abusive; for when she has grown hot with wine, she quarrels and pours out wagon-loads of insults upon her husband and the rest of the household; therefore she brings great anger and disgrace upon her husband. For the husband grows angry at her drunkenness and drunken ways, which are a reproach and a disgrace to him. For although she sometimes tries to cover and conceal her shame, namely her drunkenness and drunken ways, yet they betray themselves and her, according to the saying: "Wine, money, and love cannot be hidden."
Not without reason therefore did St. Paul command women to be sober (1 Timothy 3), and that elderly women not be enslaved to much wine (Titus chapter 2). Interpreting this passage, St. Chrysostom says: "The same vice belongs to women and to old age; for because they grow cold with age, they devote great zeal to drinking. Therefore he especially admonishes them to cut off the vice of drunkenness from every quarter, desiring them to be as far removed as possible from this disease, and to escape the ridicule that arises from it; knowing of course that they are addicted to this vice."
Wherefore St. Chrysostom, homily 71 to the People, gravely declared that nothing is more disgraceful than a drunken woman. And in his commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, homily 28: "Nothing," he says, "is more shameful than a drunken woman; her sight is dimmed, the serenity and purity of her eyes is disturbed, as if a cloud were blocking the sun's rays — a servile and ignoble work, full of every baseness. How unpleasant is a woman reeking of wine," etc. And St. Jerome, or whoever is the author of the Rule for Nuns addressed to Eustochium, chapter 36, asserts that drunkenness in a woman is a sacrilege. Finally, Clement of Alexandria, book 2 of the Pedagogue, chapter 2, citing this passage of Sirach, shows from it that drunkenness in a woman is exceedingly disgraceful. For this reason the ancients forbade wine to women. There exists a law of Romulus: "If a wife drinks wine at home, let her be punished as an adulteress." For from drunkenness the fall into adultery is easy. Pliny, book 14, chapter 13, writes that the wife of Mecennius, because she had drunk wine, was killed by her husband, and that he was absolved of the murder by Romulus. And St. Ambrose, in his book On Elijah and Fasting, chapter 18: "Wine," he says, "has inflicted upon us the loss of so many souls. For if wine and women cause men to depart from God, because either drunkenness or lust are the enticements of transgression; if each of these separately does this, what will they do when united? Hence not without reason does the Wise Man say: A drunken wife is a great provocation; she will not conceal her shame."
Verse 12: THE FORNICATION OF A WIFE IS KNOWN BY THE HAUGHTINESS OF HER EYES, AND BY HER EYELIDS IT WILL BE RECOGNIZED.
Meaning: The impurity of heart of a fornicating woman betrays itself through her eyes, eyelids, and face, if she raises them, and with them shamelessly looks around and wanders; both because uplifted eyes are the sign of an uplifted, and therefore shameless heart — for pride is the mother of unchastity, as humility is of chastity; and because wandering eyes signify wandering loves and desires of the mind; and because the nods and winks of the eyes are the messengers of inner lust, according to St. Augustine's saying: "An immodest eye is the messenger of an immodest heart."
Hear St. Basil on that text of Isaiah 3:16: "The daughters of Sion are lifted up, and have walked with stretched out necks, and with nods of their eyes they went and applauded. She who has determined in her heart to captivate many, and to hunt them in the snare of her elegant beauty, walks with her neck stretched up high; and in the nods of her eyes, proof is given of the fornicating and wanton woman, panting after the very deeds with her bewitching and noxious gaze. For by her very look she displays the obscene impurity of her soul. For when she smiles sweetly with her alluring eyes, she entices to the fulfillment of lust: for by the darting of her eyes she sends forth a plainly deadly arrow, of the kind that the rumor about the nature of the basilisk finally suggests — which they say corrupts its beholders by its gaze alone."
Verse 13: OVER A DAUGHTER WHO DOES NOT TURN AWAY, KEEP STRICT WATCH: LEST FINDING OPPORTUNITY SHE ABUSE HERSELF.
The meaning is: If you have a daughter who does not turn away from looking at and socializing with young men, but freely gazes at everyone, wantonly looks around at everything, and shamelessly surveys everything — watch and guard her; lest given an opportunity she abuse herself, that is, abuse her liberty, wantonness, incontinence, and give herself over to her lust.
Verse 14: BEWARE OF ALL IRREVERENCE OF HER EYES, AND DO NOT WONDER IF SHE NEGLECTS YOU.
Meaning: Restrain and curb the shameless glances of your daughter, and if she is shameless in these, do not wonder if she contemns your warnings, corrections, and discipline. Or, as Palacius says, meaning: Whatever shamelessness you find in your daughter, provide her with a guard; and do not be surprised if she neglects your corrections — your more indulgent education of her earning that result, and her burning lust driving her to it. For as a thirsty person drinks even muddy water, so she will love anyone, even a worthless man.
Verse 15: AS A THIRSTY TRAVELER WILL OPEN HIS MOUTH AT A FOUNTAIN, AND DRINK FROM EVERY NEARBY WATER, AND WILL SIT BY EVERY POST, AND OPEN HER QUIVER TO EVERY ARROW, UNTIL SHE FAILS.
With three comparisons he honestly and modestly represents the lustfulness of a shameless and unchaste daughter, and obscurely describes it through three circumlocutions, as it were, meaning: Just as a thirsty traveler pants for a fountain, and from the first water he finds, even if muddy and filthy, quenches his thirst: so also a shameless daughter quenches the thirst of her lust from whoever comes her way, even if base and foul. She will prostitute herself at every post and corner, to allure lovers, and will greedily receive them, as a quiver receives arrows — until she fails and is utterly exhausted, according to Ezekiel 16: "You spread your feet to every passerby, and multiplied all your fornications."
Verse 16: THE GRACE OF A DILIGENT WIFE WILL DELIGHT HER HUSBAND, AND WILL FATTEN HIS BONES.
So the Roman and Complutensian editions. "Grace" signifies not only courtesy, but also diligence and carefulness: for the grace of a diligent wife is her pleasing diligence and energy in working and managing the household, so that she provides for her husband, children, maidservants, and servants regarding all things necessary for food and clothing. For this delights the husband, and therefore fattens his bones, that is, irrigates them with marrow, and makes him strong, vigorous, and healthy; for the joy of the mind overflows into the body, and makes it fresh, lively, and strong. For bones are like the supports and pillars of our body and microcosm. Thus Proverbs 3:8 says: "Fear God, and depart from evil: for it will be health to your navel, and irrigation to your bones," meaning: Your whole body, whose principal parts are the navel and bones, will be healthy and vigorous: for a healthy mind makes a healthy body.
Do you want the reason from first principles? Take it. Graces are the delights, snares, arrows, and torches by which hearts and minds are intimately delighted, struck, fed, wounded, and inflamed. Whence Homer numbered them among the bonds by which beauty binds souls. Moreover, grace manifests itself most in the eyes and mouth, that is, in speech and song, which wonderfully binds listeners, and stirs and composes the passions of the soul. Sirach passes from a wicked wife to a good and holy one, so that by antithesis he may show the wickedness of the former and the goodness of the latter. For contraries placed side by side shine forth more clearly.
Tropologically, Rabanus says: "The grace of good devotion and obedience, which every holy soul possesses, or generally the whole Church of the elect, delights the soul of a good teacher, or rather of Christ our Lord, who is the true Bridegroom of the Church; whoever obeys Him with devout humility, by keeping His precepts, shows that he possesses the richness of His love in the marrow of his heart."
Verse 17: HER DISCIPLINE IS THE GIFT OF GOD.
So the Roman and Complutensian Bibles punctuate and combine it, meaning: A disciplined and wise wife, and therefore diligent, is a great gift of God. Even "a bad wife is a gift of God, says Menander, but of an angry God." The meaning is: The husband should attribute to God's grace and gift, not to his own industry or his own merits, if he has obtained a prudent and diligent wife.
Verse 18: A SENSIBLE AND SILENT WIFE IS BEYOND ALL EXCHANGE FOR AN EDUCATED SOUL.
Meaning: A wife who is mentally sensible and prudent, and therefore quiet in speech and of few words, is of such value that there is no "exchange," that is, no barter or trade, in Greek antallagma, that is, no price by which you could weigh her educated, that is disciplined, composed, and wise soul — meaning: She cannot be exchanged for any price or valued by any thing, because she surpasses all price and all estimation. So the Zurich Bible: a silent and sensible wife is a gift of God, and there is no price by which you could exchange an educated soul: for she teaches the mind to be wise and the tongue to be silent; just as conversely an uneducated, that is imprudent, soul makes the mind foolish, and consequently the tongue garrulous and silly. The Syriac: a good wife is a gift of God, and there is no price for sobriety. For "sensible" the Greek has ennous, that is, of a good mind, that is prudent; also benevolent, studious, well-wishing, giving good counsel: for ennoia means benevolence, favor, friendship. St. Chrysostom gathered much in praise of sensible women, in his homily On the Beheading of St. John, and St. Jerome in Psalm 44, to Principia, and in the Preface to Zephaniah, and in book 1 Against Jovinian.
Verse 19: GRACE UPON GRACE IS A HOLY AND MODEST WIFE.
For "holy" the Greek has pistē, that is, faithful — one who keeps faith with God as well as with her husband, that is, chaste and upright. "Grace," that is, a most pleasing and welcome thing, a supreme gift and benefit. Hence second, "grace," that is, happiness, meaning: Happy and blessed in this life is he to whom a holy wife has fallen. Third, "grace," that is, beauty, elegance, ornament, and as it were a golden and jeweled necklace for her husband, is a modest wife. Fourth, "grace," because a husband is heaped with every grace of God, virtue, and holiness through a holy wife.
Moreover, the phrase "grace upon grace" first means the same as if he were to say: Grace is double, indeed manifold, meaning: A single grace, beauty and elegance, is a beautiful and modest woman. But double, indeed manifold is the grace and beauty of a woman who adds the holiness of chastity and holy character. He alludes to Proverbs 18:22: "He who finds a good wife finds good"; the Septuagint: "finds graces and the Charites."
Now if all men are happy to whom a holy and modest wife has fallen, as grace upon grace, how happy was St. Joseph, to whom from God fell the holiest of brides, indeed the Queen of all Virgins and Saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was greeted by the Angel as "full of grace," and breathed this grace of hers upon Joseph through her countenance, voice, life, and continual companionship over so many years?
Note: "A holy wife" means generally a pious, religious woman, who worships and reverences God in a holy manner; but properly "holy" means pure, chaste; for there follows "and modest," that is, bashful, one who displays modesty and bashfulness — which is the companion and index of chastity — in her face, eyes, silence, modesty, and her entire bearing.
Morally, learn here that the proper ornament of women and virgins is modesty and bashfulness: for this is the index and guardian of chastity. For, as the Poet says: "Modesty and love do not come together." Wherefore St. Gregory Nazianzen praises his sister St. Gorgonia for this modesty. And St. Bernard, sermon 4 on the Song of Songs: "Understand bashfulness," he says, "as a color on the face; for this virtue especially both adds beauty and increases grace." And St. Ambrose, book 1 of On Duties, chapter 18: "Modesty," he says, "is the companion of chastity, by whose company chastity itself is safer; for shame is a good companion for governing chastity."
Verse 20: NO WEIGHT IS WORTHY OF A CONTINENT SOUL.
For "weight" the Greek has stathmos, that is, a weight, meaning: There is no weight of gold, silver, or anything else, however great, that is equivalent to a continent, that is, chaste, modest, and holy wife. A husband ought to value his wife's modesty and continence more than many talents of gold, because there is nothing in the riches and treasures of this world that can be compared with a chaste and pure soul; for abundant treasures do not fill the houses of the rich as much as the merits of chastity adorn the bodies and souls of the continent and their whole households; so that they may justly say: "All good things came to me together with her" (Wisdom 7:11). Rightly does Plutarch in his Moralia compare a wife to a mirror: we judge a mirror to be good not because it is covered with gold and gems, but because it is pure, polished, translucent, having nothing depressed or protruding: so likewise a wife who is not rich in gold but is continent, chaste, modest, and obedient is to be judged the best.
Verse 21: AS THE SUN RISING UPON THE WORLD IN THE HIGHEST PLACES OF GOD, SO IS THE BEAUTY OF A GOOD WIFE AN ORNAMENT OF HER HOUSE.
"Beauty" means the beauty both of body, and even more of soul, which is the beauty of virtue — namely of chastity, modesty, etc.; for he compares both to the sun, meaning: Just as the sun, when after the darkness of night it rises in the morning in the highest places, namely the heavens and dwelling places of the Lord God, illuminates, cheers, adorns, enlivens, and vivifies with its new, pleasing, and rosy light both the heavens and the elements and the whole world: so also the beauty of a good wife's body and still more of her soul, by the radiance of her virtue, drives away all the troubles and sorrows of her husband and household, and irradiates, gladdens, adorns, and vivifies the whole house, and kindles it to the knowledge, love, and worship of God.
Thus St. Pulcheria shone like a sun in the court of her father Theodosius and of her husband the Emperor Marcian; and Cunegund in the court of the Emperor Henry; St. Elizabeth in the court of the Landgrave. Three such suns of queens existed around the year of the Lord 600. The first was Ingundis, who converted her husband St. Hermenegild from Arianism to the orthodox faith, and consequently all of Spain. The second was Clotilda, who brought Clovis, and through him France, to Christ. The third was Theodelinda, the glory of Bavaria, who drew her husband King Agilulf and the other Lombards to the Catholic faith.
Verse 22: A SHINING LAMP UPON A HOLY CANDLESTICK, AND THE BEAUTY OF THE FACE UPON A FIRM AGE.
He compared the beauty of a wife to the sun illuminating the world: now by gradation he ascends further, and compares her to the lamp and holy candlestick that was placed in the temple, namely in the Holy Place, to illuminate it and to shine forth and bear a torch before God dwelling in the Holy of Holies, meaning: Just as a lamp placed on the holy candlestick in the temple illuminates it (as I showed at Exodus 25:31): so also the beauty of a wife's face — of her face, I say, both of soul and body — placed upon her firm age, in Greek stasimō, that is, constant and strong, by which she can educate her children, govern her servants, and manage her household — illuminates the whole house, and as a holy lamp shines before all, indeed makes the whole family holy, and consecrates the whole house as a holy church and temple to God.
Note: "Beauty" — that is, the comeliness "of the face" — is to be understood not only as physical beauty (for of that, if it be alone, Solomon says in Proverbs 11: "A golden ring in a swine's snout is a beautiful and foolish woman"); but also moral and spiritual beauty, namely the beauty of the soul through the adornment of virtues; for this makes a beautiful woman most beautiful. For modesty, bashfulness, gravity, and the other virtues adorning the soul shine in the face and in the whole bearing of the body, and color and adorn it more than cosmetics, and make it beautiful to God and men.
Mystically, just as the wicked wife of a man is concupiscence and self-will: so his good wife is a holy will, subject to God, imbued with the grace and charity of God, and thus it is wisdom itself, says Rabanus, grace and charity. For this, like a lamp and sun, illuminates the whole house of the soul, and makes it a holy temple to God.
Verse 23: GOLDEN PILLARS UPON SILVER BASES, AND FIRM FEET UPON THE SOLES OF A STEADFAST WIFE.
Meaning: Just as golden pillars resting on silver bases are precious and beautiful: so also the firm feet of a steadfast wife upon her firm soles — so that the gait of both her feet and soles is grave, infrequent, and necessary — are precious and beautiful. For this grave gait is the index of a grave, constant, and mature mind; just as conversely a wandering, light, hasty, inconstant gait is the index of a wandering, light, hasty, inconstant mind. He compares the feet of a stately wife (who does not run about through the streets, but keeps herself at home governing it) to golden pillars, and her soles to silver bases. This is what the bridegroom, gazing up at the bride, celebrates in Song of Songs 7:1: "How beautiful are your steps in your sandals, O prince's daughter! The joints of your thighs are like jewels fashioned by the hand of a craftsman." Relevant here is the Spanish proverb: "A wife and a hen are lost by going outdoors," says Palacius.
Mystically, Rabanus says: "Golden pillars are the holy teachers, resplendent with the light of wisdom, who are placed upon silver bases when they lean upon the words of Sacred Scripture in their preaching. For apostles and apostolic men are rightly compared to pillars, because they press earthly vices down to the lowest place and raise heavenly virtues to the grace of the heavenly King."
Verse 24: EVERLASTING FOUNDATIONS UPON SOLID ROCK, AND THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD IN THE HEART OF A HOLY WIFE.
Supply: "are everlasting and perpetual." This verse is no longer found in the Greek and Syriac; but the Zurich Bible expresses it thus: As everlasting is the foundation upon solid rock, so are the commandments of God in the soul of a holy woman. The meaning is: Just as the foundations of houses, pillars, etc., are most firm and as it were eternal, which are founded upon solid rock; because the rock firmly supports, protects, and preserves them, so that they cannot be shaken or uprooted by any force of winds or storms: so likewise the commandments of God, in the heart of a holy wife, are most firm and eternal; because they are firmly held and preserved by that heart, so that it allows itself to be torn from them by no force of temptations, persecutions, or adversities. Therefore it signifies that a holy heart, established in holiness, is immovable like a rock and crag, so as to say with Paul: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or hunger? or nakedness, etc.? I am certain that neither death, nor life," etc. Christ alluded to this in Matthew 7, saying: "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them shall be likened to a wise man who built his house upon rock, and the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded upon rock."
The Complutensian Greek, the Syriac, the Zurich Bible, and others here subjoin eleven weighty and apt maxims about women. They read thus: Son, keep the flower of your youth healthy, and do not give your strength to strangers. When you have found a fertile portion of the whole field, sow your own seed, trusting in your nobility. So your surviving offspring, having confidence in their nobility, will be magnified. A mercenary wife will be considered equal to a pig; but a married woman will be considered a tower of death to those who use her. An impious wife will be given as a portion to the wicked; but a pious one is given to him who fears the Lord. A shameful wife will crush her reputation with infamy; but an honorable daughter will also reverence her husband. A shameless wife will be regarded as a dog; but she who has modesty will fear the Lord. A wife who honors her own husband will appear wise to all; but one who dishonors him will be known to all as impious in her pride. Happy is the husband of a good wife; for the number of his years will be double. A clamorous and talkative wife will be looked upon as fit for routing the enemy. And the soul of every man, accustomed to similar character, will spend his life in the tumults of war.
But all these things are not Canonical Scripture, because the Latin Vulgate edition omits them, which the Council of Trent, Session 4, defined must be held as authentic Scripture. Indeed, the Greek edition corrected by the Romans likewise omits them. Add that many of these maxims have already been given in the preceding chapters, either in themselves or in something similar; therefore they appear to be additions here, as Jansenius rightly observes.
Verses 25, 26, and 27: AT TWO THINGS MY HEART IS GRIEVED, AND AT THE THIRD ANGER COMES UPON ME. A WARRIOR FAILING THROUGH WANT: AND A MAN OF UNDERSTANDING HELD IN CONTEMPT. AND HE WHO PASSES FROM JUSTICE TO SIN — GOD HAS PREPARED HIM FOR THE SWORD.
At this point Sirach passes from the subject of women to other precepts of wisdom. Therefore the Gloss begins a new chapter here, namely chapter 27. The meaning is: Two things are pitiable, but the third is unworthy — the two therefore move me to compassion, but the third to anger and indignation; because the supreme evil of all is what a man voluntarily brings upon himself, when he forsakes justice and sins.
The first is a warrior suffering from want; one who fought for his fatherland, risked his life for the good of the citizens, and for them endured heavy and continual labors, hardships, and dangers, and therefore deserves to be fed at public expense — as once old and retired soldiers were maintained at public stipends in Rome at the inn, which was from this called the meritoria, from which at the time of Christ's birth oil miraculously flowed; whence it was afterward converted by Pope Callixtus I into the church of the Blessed Virgin across the Tiber.
The second is a man of understanding and prudence, who by his prudence could govern a household, a college, a commonwealth, and therefore deserves to be advanced to any rank of honor in it — yet is despised and neglected because he has no friends to commend and promote him.
The third is a just man falling from justice into sin; for this is the supreme foolishness and stupidity, by which a holy person squanders the supreme good — namely justice, grace, God, and heaven — willingly for a base pleasure or honor, and precipitates himself into the deepest misery — namely into sin, God's wrath, the guilt of hell, and eternal damnation; therefore for this person I feel not so much pity as anger and indignation, because by his liberty, and by his free will and choice, he abandons so great a good and brings upon himself so great an evil, and willingly rushes headlong, as it were, from heaven into hell. Wherefore "God has prepared" and destined "him for the sword," that is, for the blade, meaning for punishment and death both present and eternal.
Mystically, Rabanus says: "A warrior fails through want when he who has sustained many labors in the struggle of this world for Christ, finally broken by some adversity, loses his labor through the inconstancy of his mind."
Verse 28: TWO KINDS OF BUSINESS APPEARED TO ME DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS: A MERCHANT IS HARD TO FREE FROM NEGLIGENCE, AND AN INNKEEPER WILL NOT BE JUSTIFIED FROM THE SINS OF HIS LIPS.
Meaning: Two types of occupations, although not bad in their nature, and indeed necessary for the commonwealth, nevertheless seem to me difficult for avoiding sins, and therefore dangerous to the soul.
The first is business and trade, for emporos, that is, a businessman and merchant, is hard to free from negligence; because for the sake of profit he easily neglects his pledged word, justice, piety, the worship of God — for example, Mass on feast days, sermons, confession, communion, etc. For trade claims the whole man for itself and occupies the whole mind; hence it leaves almost nothing of thought or time for cultivating the soul.
The second is the innkeeping or tavern business; for an innkeeper will not be justified, that is, will not be just, meaning innocent and free from the sins of his lips; because in order to attract guests to himself and gain profit from them, he lies about many things — for example, that his wine is Cretan or Rhenish, when it is Cyprian or Mosel; that his food is of such a kind, when it is of another; that his beds and linens are washed and clean, when they are unwashed and dirty, etc. One can see in Italy innkeepers going out to meet travelers and wonderfully extolling their lodgings; but when the travelers have entered, they not infrequently find they have been deceived.
He says this to teach that commerce and innkeeping are dangerous trades, and therefore not to be undertaken lightly, but cautiously and with great firmness of mind in piety, virtue, and truth; hence the Church also prohibited both for ecclesiastics.
Moreover, Palacius explains the negligence of the merchant differently: however diligent a merchant may be, he says, he nevertheless finds it hard to avoid some negligence in trading. For sometimes on account of the multitude and variety of goods, he does not remember at what price this or that merchandise cost, or at what price it should be sold. Sometimes he forgets the weight, sometimes the debtors, sometimes the creditors.