Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He passes from the tongue to the hand, that is, from speech to generosity and beneficence, of which he assigns four kinds: namely, lending, almsgiving, surety, and the reception of strangers, and he treats each of them in order one by one. First, therefore, from verse 1 to 11, he treats of lending and giving a loan to one's neighbor, and censures the difficulty, incivility, and ingratitude of some in repaying after receiving a loan. Then, from verse 11 to 19, he gives seven incentives to lend, as well as to give alms, which he accordingly calls a purse, a shield, and a lance against enemies, and a propitiation for all evil. Second, from verse 19 to 28, he treats of giving surety for one's neighbor, and its danger and caution. Third, from verse 28 to the end, he treats of not wandering, because great is the misery of strangers and guests, who are compelled to be received under another's roof and to endure the reproaches of masters.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiasticus 29:1-35
1. He who shows mercy lends to his neighbor: and he who prevails by hand keeps the commandments. 2. Lend to your neighbor in the time of his necessity, and again repay your neighbor in his time. 3. Confirm your word, and deal faithfully with him: and at all times you will find what is necessary for you. 4. Many have regarded a loan as something found, and have caused trouble to those who helped them. 5. Until they receive, they kiss the hands of the giver, and in their promises they humble their voice: 6. and at the time of repayment he will ask for more time, and will speak words of weariness and murmuring, and will make excuses about the time: 7. but if he is able to repay, he will resist; he will scarcely repay half the full amount, and will reckon it as something found: 8. but if not, he will defraud him of his money, and will make him an enemy without cause: 9. and he will repay him with insults and curses, and for honor and kindness he will repay him with contempt. 10. Many have not lent, not from wickedness, but they feared being cheated without cause. 11. Nevertheless, be stronger in spirit toward the humble, and do not make him wait for your alms. 12. For the sake of the commandment, take up the poor man: and because of his need do not send him away empty. 13. Lose your money for the sake of a brother and friend: and do not hide it under a stone to your ruin. 14. Place your treasure in the precepts of the Most High, and it will profit you more than gold. 15. Store up alms in the heart of the poor, and this will intercede for you against every evil. 16. 17. 18. More than a mighty shield and more than a lance, it will fight against your enemy. 19. A good man gives surety for his neighbor: and he who has lost shame will abandon him. 20. Do not forget the kindness of your guarantor: for he has given his life for you. 21. The sinner and the unclean flee from the guarantor. 22. The sinner ascribes to himself the goods of his guarantor: and the ungrateful in mind will abandon his deliverer. 23. A man stands surety for his neighbor: and when he has lost respect, he will be abandoned by him. 24. Wicked surety has ruined many who were prospering, and has tossed them like the waves of the sea. 25. It has caused powerful men to wander about, and they have roamed among foreign nations. 26. The sinner transgressing the commandment of the Lord will fall into evil surety: and he who attempts to do many things will fall into judgment. 27. Help your neighbor according to your ability, and take heed that you yourself do not fall. 28. The beginning of man's life is water and bread, and clothing, and a house to cover his nakedness. 29. Better is the life of the poor under a shelter of boards, than splendid feasts abroad without a home. 30. Let the least thing be pleasing to you as something great, and you will not hear the reproach of wandering. 31. It is a wretched life to go from house to house as a guest: and where he lodges, he will not act with confidence, nor open his mouth. 32. He will lodge and feed and give drink to ungrateful people, and to these he will hear bitter words. 33. Pass on, stranger, and set the table: and whatever you have in hand, feed the others. 34. Depart from the presence of my honored friends: by the necessity of my house, hospitality has made you a brother to me. 35. These things are grievous to a man of understanding: the reproach of the household, and the insult of the creditor.
First Part of the Chapter
1. HE WHO SHOWS MERCY LENDS TO HIS NEIGHBOR. — First, the Jews and other usurers use this passage to defend or conceal their usury, and give the meaning as if to say: The usurer who lends at interest to a needy neighbor does him a mercy, because he relieves his want, and the interest he charges beyond the principal does not seem injurious or burdensome to him, because the borrower willingly undertakes this burden, and indeed requests it, since he can obtain a loan from no one without charge. But this interpretation is erroneous, for it is established that usury is unjust and forbidden by natural, divine, and human law. For usury is a turning, indeed a scraping and gnawing of the poor, and interest is their funeral, because by gradually scraping and gnawing the resources of the poor, it secretly overthrows, consumes, and kills them by starvation. "I believe usury," says St. Ambrose, in the book On Tobias, chapter 13, "was named from use, because just as garments are worn out by use, so by usury patrimonies are torn apart." And in chapter 14, from Cato: "What is lending at interest? It is to kill a man."
Second, therefore Jansenius, taking the word "lends" properly as "gives at interest," explains it thus, as if to say: He who shows mercy by relieving another's necessity lends to him, because whatever kindness he bestows upon him, he will receive back from God, the rewarder of all virtue and beneficence, with great interest. Hence the Syriac translates: He lends great loans who gives a loan to his neighbor. This alludes to Proverbs 19:17: "He who has mercy on the poor lends to the Lord." And to that saying: "If you wish to earn interest, lend to God." For God does not allow Himself to be surpassed in beneficence, but is far more beneficent to the beneficent. This is the most holy interest; this is divine usury, and therefore far greater than what usurers exact: for God repays not a hundredfold, but immeasurably, namely heavenly and eternal riches, says St. Chrysostom, Homily 5 On Penance.
Third and genuinely, as if to say: The merciful man not only gives alms, but also "lends," that is, gives a loan to his neighbor who is in need, as if to say: He is easy and ready to lend. For the discussion here is about lending, and to "lend at interest" in this book and elsewhere is taken to mean "to lend." For the Hebrew word nasa, and the Greek daneidzein, means to lend, whether it be done with interest or without it and freely. The Tigurina translates: he who is devoted to kindness gives (or should give) a loan to another; for the second part and species of almsgiving and beneficence is lending, just as the first is giving generously and donating; for the favor of a loan is no less than that of a gift; and often what we refuse as a gift, we accept as a loan, says Palacius. Again, if you lend to the poor, you lend to Christ, to whom we owe much, not indeed money, but sins. Let us therefore lend money, that we may receive pardon for sins; for He is the one who judges, says St. Chrysostom, Homily 24 on St. John, chapter 3.
AND HE WHO PREVAILS BY HAND KEEPS THE COMMANDMENTS. — First, in general you may explain it thus, as if to say: He who prevails by hand, that is, by action, keeps the commandments; for these are kept and fulfilled not by being idle, but by doing what they command; therefore he who works vigorously according to the commandments keeps them. See St. Augustine, in the book On Faith and Works, where against the heretics he teaches that faith does not suffice for righteousness and salvation, but that works are required for it. Thus David, whose name in Hebrew sounds the same as "strong of hand," as some hold (for David properly means "beloved"), with his strong hand and sling hurling a stone at Goliath's forehead, struck him down, and thus fulfilled the law of defending and preserving the commonwealth and fatherland. Judith did the same with her strong hand by beheading the tyrant Holofernes.
Second, you may properly refer "hand" to almsgiving, which is the subject here; for the instrument and symbol of almsgiving is the hand, as is clear from Matthew 6:3, as if to say: "He who prevails by hand," that is, he who generously gives and distributes as if with a strong and firm hand, who vigorously extends his hand to give his goods to the needy, keeps the commandments, both those that command giving alms and the rest; for he who gives abundant alms has great charity both toward his neighbor and toward God, and merits and receives from God great grace, by which he may fulfill the entire law of God. So Jansenius. He prevails by hand, he says, who is ready and willing to give. For he who is tight-fisted does not seem strong and powerful, but weak and impotent, as one who does not use his hand for giving, or uses it feebly and slackly, as if to say: He who wishes to be considered a man strong of hand is diligent to do those things that are commanded him regarding helping his neighbors. The counterpart to this maxim is that of Ben Sira, alphabet 1, letter He: Be good, and do not withhold your hand from good. A good man, says Cicero, is one who benefits whom he can, and harms no one. He ought to devote himself to virtue." And letter Zain: "Scatter your bread upon the surface of the waters and on dry land; and at the end of days you will find it." Which he took from Solomon, Ecclesiastes 11:1: "Cast your bread upon the passing waters (that is, upon the poor, who in this life live and flow past like waters): because after many times you will find it," as if to say: Even though the poor may be, or may seem likely to be, ungrateful, so that the kindness seems to have been cast into the waters and destined to perish, nevertheless do them good, because it will be repaid to you either by them or by God. So Olympiodorus and Gregory of Neocaesarea, on Ecclesiastes 11.
Note: For "who prevails by his hand," the Greek has ho epischyon te cheiri autou, which the Tigurina translates as "he who has much in his hand"; Vatablus, "he who commands his hand"; others, "he who strengthens or makes strong his hand"; or, "he who adds strength and vigor to his hand"; our Translator and others, "who prevails by his hand," namely for doing good, great, and powerful works, especially of almsgiving and beneficence; for the hand is the instrument and sign of these, says St. Jerome, on Matthew chapter 15, verse 2, because alms are distributed by the ministry of the hand. By which it is signified that great and powerful almsgiving requires a great and powerful hand of the almsgiver, and this first and properly, because powerful almsgiving is the proper act of great and powerful generosity and beneficence; for this extends a powerful and great hand to help many and great poor people, according to what is said of the valiant woman, Proverbs 31:20: "She opened her hand to the needy, and stretched out her palms to the poor." Therefore explain it clearly thus: "who prevails by hand," that is, who prevails in beneficence, who powerfully extends his hand to do good to anyone.
Second, because great and powerful beneficence requires a strong and heroic spirit in the giver to overcome self-love, stinginess, and avarice, by which everyone naturally inclines to keep his own possessions and not strip himself of them by giving them to others. Hence Sirach warned, chapter 4, last verse: "Let not your hand be stretched out to receive, and drawn back when it is time to give." Hence also Artaxerxes, surnamed Longimanus, king of the Persians, wisely said that nature and God had given him as a future king a right hand longer than his left, because it is fitting for a king to give rather than to receive benefits: for gifts are given with the right hand, and received with the left.
Properly, however, Sirach speaks here of lending, which, because it is often a large amount, requires a strong and great spirit in the lender. For those who are weighed down by heavy debt do not dare to ask for its forgiveness or as a gift, but ask for a loan to pay it off, promising to repay it at a set time; in which matter they often deceive the lenders, either through poverty or through faithlessness. Therefore the lender must be of a generous and liberal spirit, to swallow this risk, and accordingly must strengthen and confirm his hand for lending.
Third, because great almsgiving requires a strong hand of the giver, by which he procures and prepares what he is going to give; hence of the valiant and industrious woman it is said in Proverbs chapter 31, verse 13: "She has sought wool and flax, and has worked with the counsel of her hands." And verse 17: "She has girded her loins with strength, and strengthened her arm," etc. Finally, Palacius says: Christ left a double commandment of almsgiving: the first, "Give to everyone who asks of you" (Luke 6:30); the second, "Do not turn away from him who wishes to borrow from you" (Matthew 5:42). Therefore if you give but do not lend, you are strong in one hand, not both; you keep one, not two commandments. Therefore the miser, who neither gives nor lends, has both hands paralyzed; but he who gives but does not lend has one hand healthy and the other paralyzed; but he who both gives and lends has both hands healthy and strong.
Morally, learn here that beneficence is strength and power, and therefore that the beneficent are strong, vigorous, and powerful, and indeed become such through their beneficence, both for the reasons already stated, and first, because almsgiving does not impoverish but enriches. See St. Chrysostom, Homily 33 to the People: "That almsgiving is the most profitable of all arts." Hence St. John the Almsgiver, the more he distributed to the poor, the more he experienced being supplied by God. Second, because almsgiving wins for the almsgiver the goodwill of God, of angels, and of men, so that all love him, help him, protect him, defend him, and advance him; just as St. Gregory, on account of alms given a third time to an angel who asked for them in the guise of a shipwrecked man, merited the Pontificate, as his Life records. Third, because clemency and beneficence are qualities that properly befit the powerful and princes. Hence God, because He is the richest and most powerful, is also the most clement and supremely beneficent. So also kings, according to that word of Christ, Luke 22:25: "The kings of the nations lord it over them: and those who have power over them are called benefactors." And that passage cited by Paul, Acts 20:35: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." See the commentary there. Fourth, because almsgiving extinguishes sins, puts demons to flight, and indeed binds, as it were, God Almighty Himself. Concerning which there exists a memorable example in John Moschus, in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 175, about the Emperor Zeno, "who had treated a certain woman unjustly in the matter of her daughter. She spent her time in the temple of Our Lady, the Holy Mother of God, praying and beseeching, and saying with tears: Avenge me of the Emperor Zeno. When she had done this for many days, the Holy Mother of God appeared to her saying: Believe me, woman, I have often wished to take your vengeance; but his hands prevent me. For he was very merciful and charitable." See the 21 powers and virtues of almsgiving, which I listed at Deuteronomy 26:12.
The sum of what has been said is this: A strong hand is a beneficent, generous, and liberal hand, which is never weak, slack, or contracted when it comes to giving, but robust, vigorous, and outstretched; which allows itself to be conquered by no multitude, importunity, boorishness, or ingratitude of the poor; which permits itself to be constricted by no greatness of gifts; which is wearied by no labor, but always bestows many and great things, and thus generously shares all its goods with all; which always strives to give; which labors untiringly to gather what it may give. Such a hand imitates the hand of God, which is most liberal, both in pardoning the most numerous and gravest sins and injuries, and in bestowing innumerable and greatest benefits. Such a hand did St. John the Almsgiver have, and St. Francis Xavier for baptizing and helping the people of India.
2. LEND TO YOUR NEIGHBOR IN THE TIME OF HIS NECESSITY, AND AGAIN REPAY YOUR NEIGHBOR IN HIS TIME.
This is like a dialogue: for Sirach in the first part addresses those who give loans; in the latter part he turns to those who request and receive them. "Lend therefore," that is, as the Syriac translates, lend to your neighbor when he is in need, that is, when he is pressed or oppressed by creditors, you who are able and have something to lend; and you who ask for and receive a loan, faithfully repay the lender at the agreed time appointed by him. For this is what fidelity, justice, equity, and gratitude demand. Hence the Tigurina translates: Give your neighbor a loan (others: a commodity) in the time of his necessity, and again restore it to your neighbor in his time. For just as it is a mortal sin not to give alms in necessity, so also it is mortal to refuse a loan in necessity, says Palacius. For he calls a loan "interest" not only with respect to God, who will repay the lender with interest, but also with respect to the borrower; for the borrower is bound and obligated to the lender by the title of gratitude, to repay him a similar or greater benefit; this is interest not exacted but owed, by the right not of justice but of gratitude. Hence Solomon, Proverbs 22:7: "The rich rules over the poor: and he who receives a loan is the servant of the lender." Hence the lender and creditor is called in Hebrew nose, from the root nasa, that is, "he raised up, exalted"; because he who asks for and receives a loan from him is compelled, on account of the benefit received, to humble himself before this exalted person, to become a suppliant, to venerate and honor him. The same is called in Chaldaic raschia, from the root rascha, that is, "he was able"; for the lender and creditor has a right, power, and quasi-authority over him to whom he gave the loan, and the latter is plainly subject to him, and exists as it were as his servant. Hence that widow said to Elisha: "Behold, the creditor comes to take my two sons to serve him" (2 Kings 4:1). For it was formerly lawful for a creditor to do this.
For this reason St. John the Almsgiver was most ready not only to give, but also to lend; and God repaid this readiness with a hundredfold return, as Leontius narrates in his Life, chapter 29, that it was revealed through a vision to a certain Duke. In the Lives of the Fathers, Book V, booklet 6, number 7, John the Persian Abbot is praised, who gave to anyone who asked for a loan, saying: "Go, take for yourself what you need." And when the person returned what he had borrowed, he said to him: "Put it back again where you took it from; but if he did not return it, the old man said nothing to him." The same John the Abbot is celebrated in the Spiritual Meadow of John Moschus, chapter 184. For when asked for a loan and having nothing, he would borrow from another, and when the one who had received it could not pay, he himself marvelously paid it back. And in the following chapter he narrates the example of a faithful wife, who persuaded her unbelieving husband, who wanted to give money to a usurer for profit from interest, and said: "If it pleases you to lend at interest, let us give it under interest to the God of the Christians." She therefore distributed fifty coins to the poor, and shortly afterwards, by the marvelous providence of God, received them back sixfold, for God restored to her three hundred for the fifty.
3. CONFIRM YOUR WORD, AND DEAL FAITHFULLY WITH HIM: AND AT ALL TIMES YOU WILL FIND WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR YOU.
As if to say: See to it that you confirm your words by deeds, and faithfully keep your promises, so that you repay the lender the loan at the agreed time. For thus it will come about that he himself and others will willingly lend to you at any other time when you are in need, and will help you with every resource and effort. Hence the Tigurina translates: See that you make good your words, and show yourself faithful to him, so that at all times you may find what is necessary for you; others: Hold your word firm, and cultivate good faith with him, and at all times you will find those things which you need; for this is what the Greek ten chreian sou signifies, that is, your necessity or your want, namely those things that are necessary for you and that you need for sustenance and life. The Syriac translates: Confirm your word, and your neighbor will be confirmed with you, and at all times you will find your desire from him, as if to say: He will do whatever you wish, because he is obligated to you and bound by the loan.
4. MANY HAVE REGARDED A LOAN AS SOMETHING FOUND, AND HAVE CAUSED TROUBLE TO THOSE WHO HELPED THEM.
By "something found" he means a thing discovered; by "interest" he means a loan, as if to say: Many regard a loan not as a loan, which must be repaid at the agreed time, but as a thing found, which the crude and avaricious common people consider falls to the right of the finder, and that there is no need to seek out its owner who lost it, so that it might be restored to him (indeed Dominic Soto, Book V On Justice, Question 3, article 3, reply 2, thinks that found things, if after diligent inquiry the owner is not found, can be lawfully retained by the finder as ownerless property. But the common opinion of the doctors is that they should be spent on the poor or other pious works. See Father Lessius, Book II On Justice, chapter 14, doubt 7). Therefore they cause trouble to those who helped them by giving them a loan in their poverty, while they resolve to pay it back only slowly, reluctantly, and when compelled by a judge, as he explains more fully in what follows. Hence the Tigurina: Many regarded what they had received as a loan as something found (others: as a discovered profit), and caused troubles to their helpers.
This is an enormous indignity and ingratitude. For if the lender, says Palacius, helped you, why do you retain the loan as if it were not his but yours? The lender was a god to you in your distress; why are you troublesome to this god of yours, indeed barbarous and more savage than a wild beast? Wisely Symmachus, Book III, epistle 64: "He who demands services from another, promises his own." Therefore Sirach here tacitly warns that one must beware of such faithless and ungrateful people, as does also Ben Sira, alphabet 1, letter Ain: "Wages, he says, if you have dealings with someone, from a good man you will demand a hundred times in vain, from a bad man a thousand times." And letter Sade: "If it is necessary that you enter into transactions of receiving and giving, let your lot be with a good man," as if to say: Deal with and lend to an upright man, who will faithfully perform what he has promised, and will restore the loan. This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm 36:21: "The sinner will borrow and not repay: but the just man shows mercy and gives." An anonymous author cited by Suidas said that the most wretched of men are those who have now red, now pale teeth. He was noting those who borrow from others, who blush when the loan is demanded back; but when they see their creditor, they turn pale, lest they be compelled to pay.
5 and 6. UNTIL THEY RECEIVE, THEY KISS THE HANDS OF THE GIVER, AND IN THEIR PROMISES THEY HUMBLE THEIR VOICE: AND AT THE TIME OF REPAYMENT HE WILL ASK FOR MORE TIME, AND WILL SPEAK WORDS OF WEARINESS AND MURMURING, AND WILL MAKE EXCUSES ABOUT THE TIME.
Some translate: There is one who, while receiving, kisses his own hand (for instead of autou, that is, "his," namely the giver's, they read with a rough breathing hautou, that is, "his own"), that is: there is one who adores him from whom he receives a loan; for kissing the hand was properly an ancient sign of adoration, as is clear from Job chapter 31:27, about which custom I said more at Ezekiel chapter 8:17. But the Vulgate reading should be retained: for the Greek Complutensian, Roman, and other codices read autou, not hautou. Hence they read thus: Until he receives, he will kiss his hand, and regarding the money of his neighbor he will humble his voice, and at the time of repayment he will delay the time, and will return words of sloth (or laziness), and will make excuses about the time. The Tigurina translates clearly: There are those who, while they receive, kiss someone's hand, and on account of another's money use a suppliant voice; who then at the time of restitution drag things out, and contemptuously give words (others: return sad words) and make excuses about the time; the Syriac: At the time when he receives the loan, he kisses the hand of the lender, and over the riches of his neighbor he raises his voice (praising them), and at the time when he should repay the loan, he will spread himself out, and defers it for a long time.
This is a mimesis: for he graphically imitates and depicts the behavior of those who are faithless and slow to repay a loan; in the latter verse, through an enallage common in Sacred Scripture, he changes the plural number to the singular, saying: "He will ask, he will speak, he will make excuses," to signify that each one of them does the very same thing. Hence in the Greek the singular number is the same in both the first and second verse. The meaning is, as if to say: Many, when they ask for a loan from their neighbor, humble themselves greatly before him and become suppliants, and with extraordinary reverence seize and kiss his hands; and in order to receive and obtain money on loan from him, they most humbly promise to repay the loan at the time agreed upon by the lender, and to be mindful and grateful for their entire life. But when the time for repaying and settling comes, they weave delays and ask for the time to be extended; and in place of the humble words they spoke before, they return words of weariness and murmuring, grumbling with bitter, sad, and gloomy speeches at the lender who demands his loan back, as if he were too strict and rigid an exactor of his debt, and throwing the blame on the times, namely that they have been barren, rainy, impeded by wars and other troubles, and therefore they are unable to pay.
These things need no explanation, because we see them happening daily. Hence Sirach continues them thus:
7. BUT IF HE IS ABLE TO REPAY, HE WILL RESIST (Jansenius and others incorrectly read adversabitur), HE WILL SCARCELY REPAY HALF THE FULL AMOUNT, AND WILL RECKON IT AS SOMETHING FOUND: — 8. BUT IF NOT, HE WILL DEFRAUD HIM OF HIS MONEY, AND WILL MAKE HIM AN ENEMY WITHOUT CAUSE: — 9. AND HE WILL REPAY HIM WITH INSULTS AND CURSES, AND FOR HONOR AND KINDNESS HE WILL REPAY HIM WITH CONTEMPT. — The word "solidi" (of the full amount) is not in the Greek, but is understood. For "solidus" here by synecdoche signifies the full price and the entire debt, which the Romans called an "as." Therefore Palacius incorrectly reads "adversabitur solida," and explains it as if to say: He will resist full and complete repayment, saying he cannot pay the whole amount, but only half. Hence he will rejoice that the other half remains with him, just as if he had found it.
Again, "without cause," that is, without reason, without fault, undeservedly, as the Tigurina translates; because against the merit of the lender he repays him with this fraud, indeed with curses, as follows. Hence some codices read the opposite, ou dorean, that is, "not without cause"; because he repays and settles the benefit with an injury. Hence Vatablus translates: Even if they are able to pay, they carefully prevaricate (or show themselves extremely difficult), they scarcely bring half, and they regard the debt as something found (others: and he reckons it as discovered profit); but if not, they take up enmity with the one whose money they have defrauded, and voluntarily (or undeservedly) repay him with execrations, and for honor and kindness they return contempt.
The meaning is easy, as if to say: If he is able to pay, first "he will resist," that is, he will deny the very thing and prevaricate; then when he sees himself overcome, he will pay only half of the "full amount," that is, of the complete loan and entire debt, and will reckon it to the creditor not as a debt, but as a thing found and a fortuitous gift, as if the creditor had stumbled upon it by chance, speaking or behaving, says Jansenius, as if the creditor ought to consider himself fortunate, or owe gratitude to his debtor, for having obtained even half from him. But if he is unable to pay, as often happens through men's negligence and extravagance, first indeed he will defraud him of the money owed to him, and thus "without cause," that is, beyond the merit and fault of his creditor, he will make him and treat him as his enemy, whom he had previously found to be a friend. Then indeed, breaking out into more unworthy behavior and returning evil for good, he will repay him with insults and curses, so that these take the place of restitution and thanksgiving. But what evil consequence this has in the morals of men, he reveals when he adds: "Many have not lent, not from wickedness," etc. Thus St. Ambrose explains this passage, in the book On Tobias, chapter 21, and adds: "How shameful it is that you repay with trouble the one who helped you, instead of with a benefit! When you have defrauded the one to whom you owe, afterwards in the time of your necessity you will not find a creditor." Hence he finally concludes, and gives this counsel: "Therefore while you are free, recall yourself from the chains, from the yoke and burden of servitude. Are you rich? Do not take out a loan. Poor? Do not take out a loan. Are you rich? You suffer no necessity of asking. Are you poor? Consider the difficulty of paying. Wealth is diminished by usury, poverty is not relieved by usury. For evil is never corrected by evil, nor is a wound healed by a wound, but made worse."
10. MANY HAVE NOT LENT, NOT FROM WICKEDNESS, BUT THEY FEARED BEING CHEATED WITHOUT CAUSE.
Some delete the first "not"; others, the second. Hence Rabanus reads: Many did not lend because of wickedness: and gives the sense as if to say: Many did not want to give a loan because of avarice. But both "not"s should be read with the Roman text; for the meaning is, as if to say: Many have not lent, that is, did not want to give a loan, not because of wickedness, that is, avarice, hatred, or any other malice; but because, having been deceived and defrauded in the past by those who received loans "without cause," that is, undeservedly, they feared being similarly deceived again and "being cheated." Hence the Greek reads: Many therefore because of wickedness have turned away from a person (who prevaricates and cheats on a loan), fearing to be defrauded without cause: fearing, namely, that they would not recover their loan, and would receive insults instead of gratitude.
But instead of "eo," that is "therefore," one should read with our Translator "eo," that is "not." Hence the Tigurina translates: Many do not turn away from a person out of malice, but they fear being cheated undeservedly (that is, beyond their own merit); St. Ambrose, in the book On Tobias, chapter 3, reads: "Many do not lend out of fear of loss, while they are wary of fraud." See him citing this entire passage, and rebuking the avaricious who refuse to lend unless with usury and profit. The Syriac translates: There are many who are absolutely not held back by malice from giving a loan, but because they fear an empty lawsuit, lest they be compelled to demand repayment of the loan through litigation. To this belongs the action of Perseus, who when giving money to a certain acquaintance, made a bond in the forum before a banker. When his friend, marveling at this diligence, said: "So formally, Perseus?" he replied: "Indeed, so that I may receive it back in a friendly manner, and not demand it legally." The wit lies in the Greek words nomikos (legally) and philikos (in a friendly manner). Let those who wish to protect themselves imitate this, lest they fall into lawsuits and lose money lent with litigation.
11. NEVERTHELESS, BE STRONGER IN SPIRIT TOWARD THE HUMBLE, AND DO NOT MAKE HIM WAIT FOR YOUR ALMS.
This is a correction, as if to say: I did not say these things about the fraud and faithlessness of those who ask for and receive loans for the purpose of wishing to deter everyone from lending; on the contrary, I urge that they have mercy on the humble, that is, the poor and suppliant. Therefore toward such people "be stronger in spirit," that is, act strongly and generously (for generosity requires fortitude, as I said at verse 1), in Greek makrothymeson, that is, be long-suffering, as the Syriac translates, that is, be magnanimous, namely magnificent and munificent: "And for" — that is, for the sake of giving alms whether through lending or through donation — "do not make him wait," in Greek me parelkuses, that is, do not drag it out, as Rabanus reads, do not defer from day to day, do not delay, do not make a fool of him. Hence the Complutensians translate and read: Nevertheless in humility be of great spirit, and in almsgiving do not drag him along; the Tigurina: Nevertheless toward the suppliant use clemency, and do not make him wait in expectation of your kindness. Where Jansenius rightly notes: From the Greek, he says, it is clear that the word "in spirit" should be joined not with "humble" but with "stronger." For they have epi tapeino makrothymeson, that is, toward the humble be long-suffering.
He therefore warns that the creditor should not act impatiently toward one who is truly poor, or who speaks from the heart humbly and submissively, if he cannot repay what he borrowed at the prescribed time, rebuking him and rigidly demanding the debt; but rather he should command and master his own spirit, either by forgiving him the debt or by granting him more time for payment. Likewise, that on account of the injuries and frauds of many who render themselves unworthy of kindness, no one should with an impatient spirit deny assistance to the truly poor who humbly ask for help, whether through a loan or through a gift. For this is what is signified by the word makrothymein, namely, to show the greatest patience and humanity toward the needy who are not unworthy of kindness, even amid the greatest faithlessness and injury of men. For thus in Matthew 18:26, the servant who could not render an account to his master and was unable to pay, prayed using this word: Kyrie, makrothymeson ep' emoi — Lord, have patience with me. For this disposition, which the Greeks call makrothymia, that is, patience or gentleness of spirit, is opposed to the harshness that most people are accustomed to use in either demanding or refusing a kindness.
Note: Sirach here gives various incentives for lending, even with the risk of not recovering but losing the loan. The first is in this verse: that the virtue of mercy and magnanimity requires it, which should be valued more than wealth and money; for the magnanimity of the faithful should be so great that they despise gold in comparison with the virtue of mercy.
12. FOR THE SAKE OF THE COMMANDMENT, TAKE UP (that is, help, and receive him into your care and assistance, and embrace him with your beneficence) THE POOR MAN: AND BECAUSE OF HIS NEED DO NOT SEND HIM AWAY EMPTY. — In Greek: by the grace, or for the sake of the commandment, lift up the needy, and in his poverty do not dismiss him empty; the Tigurina: for the sake of the precept, assist the poor man, and do not send him away from you empty because he is needy; the Syriac: as if to observe the precept, help the needy; and if there is poverty, do not set your heart against it, as if to say: Do not worry about whether there is a public famine or shortage of money, so as to refuse to lend on that account, but generously give a loan. This is the second incentive for lending, as if to say: It is a precept of natural and divine law that you help the poor in necessity through a loan; therefore you absolutely must lend. If therefore you are unwilling to lend to the poor because he is poor, lend to him at least because the law commands it; lend for the sake of the divine law; do this favor for the law and for God, if you are unwilling to do it for the person.
Moreover, Christ expressed this precept, saying in Luke 6:30: "Give to everyone who asks of you." And in Matthew 5:42: "Give to him who asks of you; and do not turn away from him who wishes to borrow from you." And Moses in Deuteronomy 15:18 and Exodus 22:14.
The third incentive is the poverty of the needy person: for that demands that you not send him away empty; for the misery of your neighbor calls for your mercy; therefore have mercy on him, so that God and men may also have mercy on you.
13. LOSE YOUR MONEY FOR THE SAKE OF A BROTHER AND FRIEND: AND DO NOT HIDE IT UNDER A STONE TO YOUR RUIN.
The Syriac: do not place it under a rock or a wall. So also the Complutensians read: me katakrypte, that is, "do not hide," and St. Ambrose, in the book On Tobias, chapter 3. But the Greek texts corrected at Rome and others read ut me iothe, that is, "lest it contract rust." Hence they translate: lose your silver for the sake of a brother and friend, and let it not be covered with rust under a rock to your ruin. For, as St. Augustine says, in the book On Friendship, chapter 25: "When you and your friend ought to have one heart and one soul, it is unjust if the money is not also one." Therefore lose gold for the sake of a friend, because by losing you will gain. For here applies the paradox of St. Giles, the companion of St. Francis: "In order to gain, lose." For, as Hugo says, you will lose temporally in order to find eternally, according to that saying in Ecclesiastes 11: "Cast your bread upon the passing waters, because after many times you will find it." Therefore lose money, just as the farmer loses the seed he sows, in order to receive it back a hundredfold. Concerning which loss Christ says: "He who loves his life will lose it," etc. (John 12). Therefore that saying of Seneca is not quite fair: "If a friend asks me to lend him money, if I give it, I lose both the friend and the money." Sirach corrects this here, saying: "Lose money for the sake of a brother and friend." For a true friend will repay the money if he can; if he cannot, this should be given to friendship. For it is better to lose money than charity and friendship.
The fourth incentive for lending is this, as if to say: He who asks for a loan is your brother and friend; therefore grant it to him. For what would you deny to a friend and brother? For this kinship is so great and so close that on account of it one should not only lend but also give and lose gold. He is a brother, I say, both as to common nature, because he is a son of Adam and Eve just as you are; both as to common religion and faith, because he is a son of God and of the Church just as you are; both as to neighborhood, office, and other bonds of union. Therefore even if the brother will not repay the loan, lend to him nevertheless, and if he cannot repay, give and forgive: thus you will provide a double beneficence. Therefore when you lend, consider that you have given to a brother, in case he does not repay. So St. Ambrose, in the book On Tobias, chapter 2: "Give, he says, money, if you have it: let what is idle for you benefit another; give as if you were not going to receive it back, so that it may count as profit if it is returned. He who does not return money returns gratitude; if you are cheated of money, you acquire justice. For he is just who shows mercy and lends" (Psalm 111): "If money is lost, mercy is gained." For it is written: "He who shows mercy lends to his neighbor." See the same author, Book II of On Duties, chapter 18: "Goodwill, he says, helps greatly, which strives to embrace all with kindnesses, to bind them with services, to pledge them with favor."
The fifth incentive is that it is better to give it to friendship and brotherhood than to rust and corrosion, indeed, to corrupt and lose it by hiding it under a stone, both because under a stone it contracts rust, and because hidden there it is consigned to oblivion, and when the master who hid it dies, often there is no one who knows it is hidden there; and finally because there is no use of it there. Hence it is just as if it were lost, indeed annihilated. St. Ambrose adds, in the book On Naboth, chapter 5 and following, that riches destroy the souls of the avaricious, who hide them and allow them to decay, and do not distribute them to the poor.
Regarding which, note: In Greek it is eis apoleian, which first, our Translator properly renders "unto ruin," as if to say: Money hidden under a stone is lost there and perishes without fruit; second, the Tigurina and others translate "unto destruction"; third, others translate "unto death," as if to say: Hidden riches bring spiritual death to the soul and eternal destruction in hell to the miser who hides them, because he does not spend them for the use of others, for which purpose they were given and created by God. But the first sense is more genuine. Hence some, as I said, instead of "do not hide," read in the Greek, "do not allow them to be covered with rust." So that Christ seems to have alluded to this when He says in Matthew 6:19: "Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where rust and moth destroy." And St. James, chapter 5:2: "Your riches have rotted, and your garments have been eaten by moths: your gold and silver have rusted: and their rust will be testimony against you, and will consume your flesh like fire," as if to say: Hidden riches consume and destroy both themselves and those who hide them. See what was said there. Therefore hidden money perishes: first, in itself, because it consumes itself with rust; second, for one's neighbors, whose necessities (although it was destined by God to relieve them) it does not help; third, for its master, both because he derives no profit from it, and because on account of his avaricious guarding of it and his lack of mercy toward the poor, to whom he did not distribute it, he will be condemned to eternal death.
Note the phrase "do not hide under a stone": for in these words it is implied that the Jews of old were accustomed to bury their treasures under certain stones, lest they be exposed to the ambushes of thieves and robbers, and so that the buriers themselves would not forget the place of burial, but from the specific stone they had designated would know that they had buried their treasure under it, and would seek it there when they wished. So Palacius. Similarly, in a later age the Emperor Tiberius, who succeeded Justin II in the year of the Lord 578, while walking in his palace saw in the pavement a marble stone on which a cross was engraved; considering it unworthy that it be trampled by the feet of those walking, he ordered it to be removed from there and placed in an honorable location. When it was removed, he found a huge treasure buried beneath it, which he spent on the poor in his customary manner. So reports Paul the Deacon, History of the Lombards, Book III, chapter 6, and Gregory of Tours, Book V of the History of the Franks, chapter 19.
Cyril illustrates this maxim with a charming fable of the earth and the air, Book III of the Moral Apologues, chapter 19, titled "That the generous person gives freely": "When after the pouring of rain, he says, which the heated air had given to the dry and thirsty earth, it began to draw back vaporous moisture from the same; the earth soon spoke to it, saying: Why do you so quickly withdraw the moisture which you gave me, when I was thirsty, just a short time ago? But the air replied: Since you are so ancient, do you not know these things? For unless I took this back, I would by no means have given it. For I give the liquid precisely so that I may take back the vapor. Then the earth said: The poison of avarice is certainly more deadly when it is covered by the appearance of generosity. For a vice is all the more harmful the more it disguises itself under the cloak of apparent virtues. I say therefore, do not be troubled that you are not a generous giver, but a greedy merchant; not a donor, but by no means a generous seller. For the generous person is one who, liberally distributing his goods, does not exchange but gives. And to give is to bestow virtue freely. Hence the reason for a liberal gift, of what is possessed,
...is the goodness of virtue." Then he confirms the same point with the example of heaven, the sun, and nature: "Attend, I ask, to the most virtuous gifts of nature, how liberally they are poured out. For what does heaven receive from lower things, to which it provides the continuous life-giving benefit of all its gifts? What does the Sun receive from its emission of light, or what does the earth receive from man by distilling for him the sweetest juice of the vine? Or what does the bee receive by making its sweetest honeycomb? Nothing, certainly. Generous nature, in loving, bestows the good of virtue when it gives a gift. For there is no truer or greater reward of giving than the virtue of giving itself, which is a most grand thing. Having heard these words, the air blushed at the profit of its ungenerosity."
14. PLACE YOUR TREASURE IN THE PRECEPTS OF THE MOST HIGH, AND IT WILL PROFIT YOU MORE THAN GOLD.
First, the meaning may be, as if to say: Let your treasure be not in bronze, but in heaven; not in money, but in the law of God; for the love and observance of God's law will enrich and help you more than all gold. Hence the Syriac translates: Place for yourself a treasure in justice and charity, and it will be better for you than everything you have. To this applies that saying of Nazianzen in his Distichs: "Store up treasure for eternity. For the treasures of this life usually abandon us even before death. Have perpetual care for everlasting glory: for this present life daily deceives man." Second and more genuinely, as if to say: Do not avariciously hide your riches under a stone, but rather spend them according to the law of God for the support of the Church and the poor. For this will profit you more than gold: for it will win you God's grace, and the favor and love of men, which will profit you more than any price. Again, you entrust money to a chest so that it may be safe: entrust it to the precepts of the Most High, and it will be safer and more useful to you. So Palacius.
Hence the Greek reads: Store your treasure according to the precepts of the Most High, and it will profit you more than gold. Hence, explaining this very thing, he adds: "Store up alms in the heart of the poor, and this will intercede for you." This is what Christ says, Matthew 6:19: "Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where rust and moth destroy, and where thieves dig through and steal: but store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither rust nor moth destroys, and where thieves do not dig through or steal. For where your treasure is, there also is your heart."
This is the sixth incentive for lending: namely, that what is given according to the law and will of God cannot perish, but is preserved most safely in it as in a chest, so that it returns to the lender with great interest, and profits him more than all the gold he lent. Hence St. Ambrose, in the book On Tobias, chapter 16: "Moreover the Lord, he says, in the Gospel considers that one should rather lend to those from whom repayment is not expected. For He says thus: And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great in heaven, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." And shortly after: "Give loans to those from whom you do not hope to receive back what you have given. There is no loss here, but gain. You give little, you receive much: you give on earth, and it will be repaid to you in heaven. You lose the interest, you will have a great reward. You cease to be usurers, you will be sons of the Most High. You will be merciful, who prove yourselves heirs of the eternal Father." And further: "I will teach you how you can be good lenders, how you may seek good interest. Solomon says: He who has mercy on the poor lends to the Lord: and according to his gift He will repay him. Behold, good interest has been made from bad. Behold, a blameless lender, behold praiseworthy usury. Therefore do not now think that I begrudge you your advantages. Do you think I am taking away a human debtor from you? I provide God, I substitute Christ, I show you one who cannot cheat you. Therefore lend your money to the Lord through the hand of the poor. He is bound and held: He records whatever the needy person has received. His Gospel is His bond: He promises for all the poor: He pledges His faith. Why do you hesitate to give? If some rich man of this world were offered to you, who would pledge his faith for some debtor, you would immediately count out the money. Is the Lord of heaven, the Creator of this world, too poor for you? And do you still deliberate, seeking a richer guarantor?"
15. STORE UP ALMS IN THE HEART OF THE POOR, AND THIS WILL INTERCEDE FOR YOU AGAINST EVERY EVIL.
Optatus of Milevis, Book III Against the Donatists, reads: "Hide bread in the heart of the poor, and he himself will pray for you." Here he has explained how the treasure is placed and stored "in the precepts," or, as the Greek says, according to the precepts of the Most High, namely by storing it "in the heart of the poor." "In the heart" means, first, in the bosom, as Jansenius and many others read: for the bosom externally corresponds to the heart, which is internal. Second, "in the heart," that is, in the belly and stomach: for "heart" often signifies this by catachresis; for the ancients, both Greeks and Latins, called the mouth of the stomach "heart," and therefore what was pleasing to the stomach they said was pleasing to the heart, as many still say today. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: Do you wish to hide your treasure safely? Do not store it under a stone, but store it in the belly of the poor: for there it will remain safely stored for you. For even if the poor person cannot or will not repay you, the alms itself that you gave, by its own force and merit, will intercede for you before God, that you may be freed from every evil and granted every good.
Hence the Greek, instead of "in the heart of the poor," has en tois tameiois sou, that is, "in your storerooms, in your inner chambers." Our Translator, instead of sou, that is "your," seems to have read penetos, that is "of the poor"; for, as St. Basil says: "The granaries of the rich are the bellies of the poor; and the bellies and hands of the poor are the treasury of Christ." Hence the Syriac translates: Store up alms and place it in your treasury, and it will deliver you from every evil; and the Tigurina: Store up kindness in your storerooms, for it will free you from every affliction; others: Distribute stored alms from your storerooms, and it will rescue you from every trouble. Hence some explain it thus, as if to say: What you store in your storerooms, store it for this purpose, that it may be contributed to giving alms. Third, the phrase "in the heart" or "in the bosom" signifies that alms should be given not publicly for the vain display of men, but secretly, so as to please and serve God alone, as Christ commands, Matthew 6:3, according to Proverbs 21:14: "A hidden gift extinguishes anger, and a present in the bosom (that is, secretly slipped into the bosom) the greatest indignation." Hence our Delrio, in adage 125, explains it thus: The word "of the poor," he says, should be joined not with "heart" but with "alms," as if to say: Store the alms of the poor, that is, that which you give to the poor, in your heart, that is, give it so secretly that no one learns of it from you; let it remain secret in the depths of your heart. This is clear from the Greek: Store alms en tois tameiois sou, that is, in your hidden places, or in your inner chambers. So he says. But this interpretation seems somewhat obscure and forced. Fourth, "in the heart" signifies that alms should be given in such a way that it is pleasing to the heart of the poor person, that it satisfies his heart, that is, his deepest desire, hunger, and need, and that it truly refreshes and consoles the afflicted and desolate person. So Lyranus. For the things we hold most desired, most beloved, most intimate, and most precious, we hide in our bosom or heart. Fifth, "in the heart" signifies how much the poor are to the heart and care of almsgiving, inasmuch as their bellies are as it were the heart of almsgiving; so that, just as a person supremely loves his own heart, so almsgiving supremely loves to be stored in the belly of the poor, as in its most desired and proper place and chamber. Just as food, if it could speak, would wish and say that it desired to be placed in the stomach of a hungry person, as by whom it would be most eagerly received and best stored, digested, and distributed throughout the whole body: so also almsgiving, if asked, would say that it wished to be stored only in the belly of the poor; for there is its heart, soul, and life. Just as an emerald desires to be set in the bezel of a golden ring, so almsgiving desires to be stored in the belly of the poor. This is a personification signifying that almsgivers, who are devoted to almsgiving, should ardently love, help, and cherish the poor as their own heart and bowels. Hence St. Paul, commending to Philemon the fugitive slave Onesimus, who was poor, says in verse 12: "Receive him as my own heart." And verse 20: "Refresh my heart in the Lord."
The seventh incentive for lending and almsgiving is this: that it is preserved most firmly and most safely in the home and belly of the poor, as in a golden chest, and there, both through the mouths of the poor and by itself, it prays and intercedes for the almsgiver. Note here: for "will intercede" our Translator reads in the Greek exilasetai; now they read exeleitai, that is, "will deliver, will rescue you": but the sense amounts to the same thing, as if to say: Alms hidden and stored in the belly of the poor "will intercede" with God, that He may deliver you "from every evil" of body and soul, temporal and spiritual, present and eternal. This is a personification signifying the efficacy of almsgiving, namely that it stands before God as a courtier most pleasing and most familiar to God (as almsgiving itself, appearing in a dream, revealed to St. John the Almsgiver); and when it sees him who gave it being pressed by some evil, it immediately rushes forward and, as if throwing itself at God's knees, prays that He may rescue him from that evil. It prays, I say, and prevails; it asks and obtains, says Palacius.
Note here the disposition of our God and His most favorable affection toward almsgiving, and the most powerful force and value of almsgiving against every evil: there is therefore no evil, whether of guilt or of punishment, for the removal of which almsgiving is not powerful. See Tobit chapter 4, verse 7 and following. Therefore almsgiving itself, even when the poor person who received it is silent, or indeed murmuring and ungrateful, speaks to God with a mute but real voice, and prays for the giver to the bestower of all good things for an equal, indeed a much more abundant grace, and all the more so the more forgetful, powerless, or ungrateful the poor person has been. For then the whole burden of repaying seems to be transferred to God, who has offered Himself as guarantor for the poor person, as Christ teaches, Luke 14:13: "When you give a feast, He says, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind: and you will be blessed, because they have nothing to repay you: for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." And that verse of Psalm 41: "Blessed is he who considers the needy and the poor; in the evil day the Lord will deliver him." Hence St. Gaudentius, treatise 13, which is found in tome VII of the Library of the Holy Fathers, explains it thus: "Store up alms in the bosom of the poor, and it will intercede for you, as if to say: Sell your patrimony, and buy patronage, by whose intervention you may be certain of obtaining pardon and may deserve to look upon the coming Judge as a free man." Hence St. Augustine, Homily 29 among the 50: "The sacrifice of a Christian, he says, is almsgiving to the poor; for by this God becomes propitious to sins. For unless God becomes propitious to sins, who will remain except the guilty?" The bosom of the poor, therefore, is like an altar, on which almsgiving is offered as a victim for sin. And just as the souls of the Martyrs cry out for vengeance beneath the altar (Revelation 6:10), so almsgiving in the heart of the poor, hidden as it were beneath the altar, prays for pardon and mercy for the giver.
For this reason St. Chrysostom, Homily 7 On Penance, says: "Almsgiving is winged and light, having golden wings, delighting the angels beyond measure; it stands at the very royal throne when we are judged, hovering over us, and rescues us from torments, embracing and protecting us with its wings." The same author, Homily 9 On Penance: "Your trade and commerce, he says, is heaven; give bread and receive paradise; give small things and receive great things; give mortal things and receive immortal things." And Chrysologus, Sermon 8 On Fasting and Almsgiving: "The hand of the poor, he says, is the bosom of Abraham; whatever the poor person has received, he immediately stores there. The treasure of heaven is the hand of the poor; what it receives, lest it perish on earth, it stores in heaven. Give therefore, O man, to the poor person earth, so that you may receive heaven; give a coin, so that you may receive a kingdom; give a crumb, so that you may receive everything." And St. Jerome to Nepotian: "I never, he says, remember having read that anyone died a bad death who willingly performed works of charity; for he has many intercessors, and it is impossible that the prayers of many should not be heard."
Mystically, Rabanus understands by alms in the heart a spiritual almsgiving, such as teaching the ignorant, consoling the sorrowful, counseling the doubtful, etc.; for through this the heart is taught, and receives counsel and consolation; therefore this, as it is better and nobler than corporal almsgiving, is also stronger and delivers more from every evil. Finally, St. Cyprian, in the book On Work and Almsgiving, teaches from this passage that "God is satisfied by just works, and sins are purged by the merits of mercy." For in Solomon we read, he says: "Store up alms in the heart of the poor, and this will intercede for you against every evil. And again, Proverbs 21: He who stops his ears so as not to hear the weak, he himself will call upon God, and there will be no one to hear him. For he who has not been merciful himself will not be able to deserve the mercy of the Lord, nor will he who has not been humane to the prayer of the poor obtain anything from divine piety in his prayers." And further: "While thanksgiving to God for our almsgiving and works is directed by the prayer of the poor, the wealth of the worker is heaped up by God's repayment."
THE ALMSGIVING OF A MAN IS LIKE A PURSE WITH HIM, AND WILL PRESERVE THE GRACE OF A MAN AS THE APPLE OF HIS EYE. AND AFTERWARD HE WILL RISE UP AND REPAY THEM WITH RETRIBUTION, TO EACH ONE UPON THEIR HEAD. — Many codices read these two verses here, but the Latin, Roman, and all Greek texts delete them, as does St. Augustine in the Speculum. For they have been transferred here from chapter 17, verse 18, where I explained them. For in this place they interrupt the sense and connection of the following verse with what preceded: "This will intercede for you against every evil."
16 and 17. MORE THAN A MIGHTY SHIELD AND MORE THAN A LANCE, IT WILL FIGHT AGAINST YOUR ENEMY.
The Tigurina: More than a strong shield and a sturdy lance (others: spear) it will fight for you against the enemy (both visible and invisible, such as the devil); the Complutensians: More than a shield of strength, and more than a lance of ischyos, that is, of power or might (some read barous, that is, of weight, of force) it will fight against the enemy for you. So read the Greek codices corrected at Rome. The Syriac: A shield of strength and a lance and a wall for battle, and against many it will give you rest. He explains how almsgiving delivers from every evil, namely because it is as it were a shield receiving and repelling all the weapons of evils, and it is also as it were a lance striking down the enemy, as if to say: Almsgiving prevails and conquers in battle both defensive and offensive: in the defensive it is an impenetrable shield, in the offensive it is a most powerful lance striking and felling the enemy; for it fights before God, and practically does violence to the Almighty, and as it were compels Him to fight for the almsgiver. For it feeds God in the poor, it feeds Christ: "Therefore in almsgiving you have God as your debtor," says St. Chrysostom, Homily 36 to the People; and St. Gregory of Nyssa, in the treatise On Beatitude: "Blessed are the merciful: if the title of merciful, he says, befits God, to what else does the word of Christ exhort you, except that you become God, as it were marked with the proper note of divinity?" Thus we read of certain people who were generous toward the souls of the departed, to free them from the pains of Purgatory, who when attacked by enemies on all sides, departed unharmed, surrounded and defended as by an army, by the souls they had freed, who appeared visibly and armed.
Second Part of the Chapter
On Standing Surety, and Its Danger and Caution
18 and 19. A GOOD MAN GIVES SURETY FOR HIS NEIGHBOR. — After lending and almsgiving, he passes to the third species of mercy and beneficence, which is to stand surety or guarantee for one's neighbor and his debt, which accordingly is equivalent to, and indeed often surpasses, lending, whether you consider the usefulness and necessity of the neighbor for whom one stands surety, or the danger to which the guarantor exposes himself, lest, the debtor defaulting, he as his sponsor be compelled to pay the debt. He says therefore: "A good man gives surety"; in Greek engyleitai, that is, he will stand surety, he will guarantee, "for his neighbor," as if to say: It is the duty of a good man, and it pertains to him, to stand surety for his neighbor. Thus St. John the Almsgiver pledged all his possessions for the support of the poor to the Emperor Mauritius, who when John died having left very little, Mauritius accepted his wooden, humble bed and his woolen garment in place of the debt, and preferred these things to all other possessions; so much so that on fast days he would lie in the same bed, frequently saying that he derived a certain divine grace from it. So Nicephorus, Book XVIII, chapter 34. Therefore to stand surety for the debts of others is the mark of a generous, noble spirit, one that hopes well in God. Moreover, the ancient formula of suretyship was this, which Ulpian transmits in the law Ubi autem, On Verbal Obligations:
the dangers which Sirach sets forth in what follows. Hence great prudence and caution are needed in this matter; namely, first, that one should not stand surety except within the measure of one's means. For it is imprudent for someone who, in order to free another from necessity, throws himself into the same or greater difficulty, so that he cannot decently support himself, the other person, and his family. Second, that one should not stand surety except for a sincere and faithful person, whom one knows to be both able and willing to release him from the guarantee and keep him safe and unharmed. Third, that when there is doubt or danger of losing the principal, one should require a pledge or security, from which one may offset the burden assumed by standing surety: otherwise one should consider that what one guarantees one will pay from one's own resources, and that one is giving or forgiving this to one's neighbor as an act of charity. For this is an excellent form of almsgiving.
"How much money shall I entrust to Titius on your guarantee?" — that is, do you stand surety for Titius and take upon yourself every risk? The guarantor would answer: "I guarantee on my good faith." The same in the law Quæro, in the Digest, under Leases: "To whatever amount he ought to be condemned in good faith, do you guarantee that much on your faith?" Here note: Just as there is a twofold debt, namely of money and of person (when someone is charged with imprisonment or death), so too there is a twofold guarantor, namely the præs and the vas. A præs is one who pledges his faith for a monetary debt and offers himself as surety; a vas is one who stands bail for a defendant in court, as it were going to the tribunal on behalf of the accused. So says Varro, book V of On the Latin Language. And Ausonius:
Who undergoes the penalty in a capital trial? The vas. Who, when the law involves money, who will be given? The præs.
20. DO NOT FORGET THE KINDNESS (Greek χάριτας, that is, the thanks — for he renders many) OF YOUR SURETY: FOR HE HAS GIVEN HIS LIFE FOR YOU. — The Zurich Bible: For he laid down his life for you. St. Ambrose from the following verse adds "good," which word is there in the Greek. Whence in his book On Tobias, chapter 23, he reads thus: "Do not forget the kindness of your guarantor: for he gave his good life for you," as if to say: Be mindful of the benefit your surety rendered you by standing guarantee for you, so that you may release him from his bond and show yourself grateful. For he exposed his wealth and fortunes to danger for your sake, which is the same as if he had exposed his life; indeed, he sometimes does expose his very life, as when he stands surety for a captive or one condemned to death and becomes a hostage: for then he takes upon himself the burden and danger of captivity or death, so that if the captive or condemned man flees, he himself is punished with imprisonment or executed in his place, according to that passage in 3 Kings 20:39: "Guard this man, for if he escapes, your life shall be for his life." And that passage where Reuben stands surety for Benjamin, Genesis 43:9: "I take the boy into my charge; require him at my hand. If I do not bring him back and restore him to you, I will be guilty of sin against you forever."
This is most true of pastors and prelates, who undergo the danger of damnation when, by undertaking the pastoral office, they bind themselves to care manfully for the salvation of their subjects, according to that saying of St. Paul: "Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they keep watch as those who will render an account for your souls," Hebrews 13:17. On which St. Chrysostom, homily 34, says: "I wonder whether any of those who govern will be saved." The leader of these was Christ the Lord, who as the guarantor of the New Testament, as Paul says in Hebrews 7:22, stood surety before the Father for all the debts of our sins; and since we were unable to pay, He transferred every debt onto Himself, and He paid and discharged it, not in coin but in His own flesh, by undergoing the cruel and shameful death of the cross. Therefore do not forget this grace of Christ your guarantor, O Christian; but just as He laid down His life for you, so too lay down and spend your entire life for Him and for His sheep. So says Rabanus, and our
Francis Suarez, Part III, Question I, article 2, disputation 4, section II: Do not forget, he says, the kindness of the surety forever, especially the grace of Christ, who as our surety bound Himself to God the Father even unto death; and because He became a surety, He was therefore obliged to make satisfaction according to strict justice and equality.
Strabo, book V, relates a memorable example, and from him our Causinus, book VII of Historical Parables, chapter 75: They say, he writes, that a man, famous for his readiness to stand surety and therefore subject to people's jests, came upon hunters who had a wolf in their nets; when they said jokingly that they would release the wolf if he would guarantee to pay for any damage it caused, the man accepted this upon himself. The wolf, thus released, drove off a fairly large herd of mares that bore no brand and brought them to the stable of this guarantor, who, having received the reward for his good deed, branded the mares with the mark of the wolf and called them "wolf-gotten." Thus gratitude is sometimes shown by those from whom it was least expected. Now if a wolf proved so grateful to its guarantor, how much more grateful ought a man to be! So too St. Francis stood surety for the wolf to the people of Gubbio, promising that it would not harm them if they fed it; and when this was done, the wolf honored the Saint's guarantee, as his Acts record, in the Annals of Wadding, year of the Lord 1222, number 18. And in the year of the Lord 1217, number 13, he narrates how St. Francis similarly stood surety for wolves to the people of Greccio, if they would placate God by repentance; and when this was done, the wolves fully honored the pledge given by the Saint. So great is the word of the Saints even among wolves — and will the word of Christ be of less account among the faithful for whom He stood surety, so that they do not release Him from His guarantee?
21 and 22. THE SINNER AND THE UNCLEAN MAN FLEE FROM THE GUARANTOR. THE SINNER CLAIMS FOR HIMSELF THE GOODS OF THE GUARANTOR; AND HE WHO IS UNGRATEFUL IN MIND WILL ABANDON HIM WHO DELIVERED HIM.
Jansenius reads "the guarantor" instead of "the guarantee" and explains it thus: He censures, he says, two marks of a depraved and dishonest soul; the first is of a thoroughly illiberal soul, namely of one who is unwilling to help anyone by pledging his faith and standing surety, even when there is need and reason demands it; the second is of an ungrateful soul, namely of one who, having been helped by another's guarantee, defrauds his surety and behaves as though that person's goods were his own. He says therefore, first, that the sinful and unclean man — that is, the profane person moved by no sense of duty — flees from every guarantee by which he might bind himself for another. Then he adds that the sinner also suffers from another vice, namely that he claims for himself the goods of the guarantor, that is, of the one who stood surety for him; and since he is not concerned to free him from his obligation, he behaves as if that person's goods were his own; and such a man, being ungrateful in mind and spirit, will abandon the one who was bound and who had freed him by his guarantee. The Complutensian editors support this interpretation, reading ἀγαθὴν ἐγγύην, that is, "the good guarantee the sinner flees"; and the Zurich Bible: The villainous man,
and nearly all other editions, likewise Rabanus, Lyranus, and others read not "the guarantee" but "the guarantor." Therefore Sirach censures only one thing here — namely the latter, which Jansenius touched upon — that is, the wickedness of the faithless and ungrateful sinner who abandons his guarantor, indeed deceives and defrauds him. For he attacks this vice equally in the preceding verse and the following one. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: The sinner and the unclean man — that is, the profane, ungrateful, and faithless person — when he sees his guarantor coming, flees from his sight and turns aside elsewhere, lest he be compelled by him to release him from his guarantee and to pay the debt for which the guarantor stood surety. He intensifies the indignity of this matter and this flight, adding:
22. THE SINNER CLAIMS FOR HIMSELF THE GOODS OF THE GUARANTOR — as if to say: The sinner appropriates for himself the goods of the guarantor, when by his faithlessness he compels him to pay the debt for which he stood surety; thus in reality he claims the guarantor's goods for himself, since he pays his own debts from them. Hence the Greek has: the sinner ἀνατρέψει, that is, will overturn the goods of the guarantor; the Zurich Bible: the sinner basely repays the kindness of the guarantor; the Syriac: the wicked man will abandon the gratitude owed to the guarantor; and he who abandons his Creator will abandon his deliverer, as if to say: The ungrateful man wrongs God just as much as man; and just as he scorns man, so too he scorns God.
AND HE WHO IS UNGRATEFUL IN MIND (Greek διανοίᾳ, that is, in thought, in spirit) WILL ABANDON (his guarantor) HIM WHO DELIVERED HIM — as if you were in prison and I stood surety for you, yet now that you are free you abandon me. He reads ἀχάριστος, that is, ungrateful. So too read the Greek codices corrected at Rome; and the Zurich Bible: And he who is ungrateful in spirit, it says, deserts his deliverer; others: And with ungrateful mind he deserts him who delivered him. The Complutensian editors read ἄχρηστος, that is, useless; whence they translate: Useless in thought or mind — that is, one who is not frugal but useless, indeed harmful to others as much as to himself — will abandon him who freed him.
Tropologically, Rabanus says: "The wicked man flees from the guarantor, that is, from his teacher, who promises him eternal life from the Lord in return for good works — not by changing his place, but by scorning and abandoning the commandment; and therefore he does not obtain the heavenly reward, which is promised only to those who do good and keep God's commandments." Allegorically, the same author says: "The sinner claims for himself the goods of the guarantor, and he who is ungrateful in mind abandons him who delivered him. By this testimony, he says, Pelagius is struck down, who sets free will above grace, since it is through Christ's grace alone that the elect are freed from every scandal (offense, sin, and ruin)." Whence the Apostle says: "By grace you have been saved," Ephesians 2.
23. A MAN GIVES A GUARANTEE FOR HIS NEIGHBOR, AND WHEN HE HAS LOST ALL SENSE OF SHAME, HE WILL BE ABANDONED BY HIM.
He repeats and emphasizes the same point, as if to say: A good man stands surety for his neighbor; but the neighbor, when he has lost all sense of shame, ungratefully abandons the guarantor still bound on his behalf, so that the guarantor must pay the debts for which he stood surety. This verse is now missing from the Greek. Whence Jansenius con-
AND HE WHO HAS LOST ALL SHAME WILL ABANDON HIM TO HIMSELF. — First, Rabanus joins "kindness" from the following verse and gives this meaning: He who has lost his rustic bashfulness, so that he is not ashamed to serve the ways of the weak, will leave kindness to himself and will receive the fitting reward for his labor. Second, Dionysius, repeating "faith" from the preceding verse, punctuates and explains it thus: He who has lost faith will leave confusion to himself. Third, Palacius refers this to the neighbor for whom the good man stood surety, as if to say: A good man stands surety for his neighbor; but it often happens that the neighbor, because he is shameless and is not ashamed to betray the faith pledged to his guarantor, abandons him to himself — that is, not releasing him but letting him pay the debt for which he stood surety. This meaning is supported by the admonition that follows: "Do not forget the kindness of the surety"; and by the Syriac, which translates: That good man who stands surety for his neighbor — and the one who loses his sense of shame flees from his guarantor. This interpretation is very probable. Fourth, plainly and genuinely, this latter part is set in antithesis to the former, as if to say: A good man, because he is ashamed to abandon his neighbor in his hour of need, therefore stands surety for him; but a bold and shameless man, who has lost all sense of shame, does not help his needy neighbor by standing surety, but abandons him to himself and to his own need. Hence the Greek has: A good man stands surety for his neighbor, and he who has lost shame will abandon him — that is, as the Zurich Bible says, will desert his friend. For plainly, when I am asked to stand surety for a friend and refuse, I lose my honor before my friend. In order to keep my goods safe, I strip off modesty and clothe myself in shamelessness.
Furthermore, in what cases one is obliged to stand surety for another, especially a friend, must be judged by the rules of almsgiving (for suretyship is a part and species of almsgiving) and of friendship. Therefore, just as I am bound to give alms to a neighbor not only in extreme but also in grave necessity (as the more common opinion of the theologians holds), so too am I bound to stand surety for him; much more so if he is my friend. However, since many contingencies arise in the course of suretyship and
siders it to have crept in from verse 19 in the Latin. But this is not plausible; for the Roman codices and all the others consistently read it.
24. A MOST WICKED GUARANTEE HAS RUINED MANY WHO WERE PROSPERING, AND TOSSED THEM ABOUT LIKE THE WAVES OF THE SEA.
The word "most wicked" is not in the Greek, and signifies not fault — that is, wickedness and crime — but punishment, namely trouble and affliction. "Most wicked" therefore means imprudent and most troublesome, bringing a thousand entanglements, a thousand troubles and afflictions. Such is the guarantee by which one stands surety for some worthless person, that is, a dishonest and faithless deceiver, says Palacius. In place of "prospering" (dirigentes), some commonly read "loving" (diligentes), meaning those who loved their friends and stood surety for them; others read "offending" (delinquentes). But both are wrong, for the Roman editions read "prospering" (dirigentes). So too Rabanus. For the Greek κατευθύνοντας means "directing," that is, walking uprightly, acting prosperously and successfully, as if to say: A "most wicked" guarantee — that is, one imprudently and rashly made to an unfaithful person, and therefore entangled and harmful — "has ruined many who were prospering," that is, who were being successfully directed in their affairs and who were prosperously managing their merchandise, trades, workshops, houses, and contracts. "And tossed them about like the waves of the sea," because it forced them to go bankrupt, to go into exile and migrate to foreign lands, and to become wanderers and fugitives, lest — since they were unable to pay — they be thrown into prison and there lead a wretched life. Hence the Zurich Bible translates: A guarantee has ruined many who were doing well and tossed them about like a wave of the sea; the Syriac: A guarantee has ruined many, so that they lose and squander their riches like waves of the sea, which, clashing together, dissolve into foam and vanish. Thus "to direct" is used for "to prosper" in Genesis 24:40, 42, 56: "The Lord directed" — that is, prospered — "my way." Likewise in chapter 39, verses 3 and 23; Joshua 1:8; 2 Chronicles 26:3; Tobit 4:20; Psalm 89:16-17: "Direct the work of our hands"; Wisdom 11:1; Isaiah 45:13, and often elsewhere.
25. WHIRLING MIGHTY MEN ABOUT, IT HAS MADE THEM MIGRATE AND WANDER AMONG FOREIGN NATIONS.
He repeats and emphasizes the same point, as if to say: Just as waves of the sea roll straw and shells around in circles until they swallow or scatter them, so too an incautious guarantee overwhelms its sureties with so many lawsuits and troubles that it forces them to migrate and wander throughout the world. The Zurich Bible: Turning mighty men about, it has driven them from their homes and made them wanderers among foreign peoples; the Syriac: It has even exhausted the rich, and they have gone away to a foreign people.
26. THE SINNER WHO TRANSGRESSES THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD WILL FALL INTO A WICKED GUARANTEE; AND HE WHO ATTEMPTS MANY THINGS WILL FALL INTO JUDGMENT.
Greek εἰς ἀγωγάς, that is, into lawsuits — namely, legal proceedings and litigation. He shows that the origin and cause of a reckless guarantee, which entangles a man in a thousand evils, is sin, on account of which God justly permits the sinner to fall into an entangled guarantee, in order to chastise and punish him — just as, on account of the same sins, by His just judgment He causes the sinner to fall into calumny, as he said in the preceding chapter, verse 27, and into a perverse wife, as Ecclesiastes says, chapter 7, verse 27. For the sinner, when he gapes too eagerly after his cupidity and greed, pursues every enticement and occasion of profit; and so he incautiously falls into some contract and guarantee which becomes the cause of every lawsuit and evil for him — just as fish and birds, when they gape after bait, entangle themselves in hook and snare and are caught.
Furthermore, the Zurich Bible translates: The villainous violator of the Lord's commandments falls back into guarantees (Vatablus: and it will come about that he needs a guarantor), and he who takes upon himself the conduct of others' affairs will be entangled in lawsuits. Here note: For "who attempts many things," the Greek is διώκων ἐργολαβίας; which the Complutensian editors translate: he who pursues wages will fall into lawsuits; the Roman edition: he who chases contracts (that is, by hiring and taking upon himself works to be done, tax collections, etc., as contractors and tax-collectors do) will fall into lawsuits. Others render it literally: he who pursues many works will fall into litigation; for ἐργολαβία means the same as "I contract for a work to be done, I hire out my labor" — as contractors do (whom Cicero calls "intermediaries") — "I undertake a building project, I make a profit"; ἐργολαβία is a wage from labor, manual work, the contracting and hiring of a job; ἐργολάβος is a workman, contractor, hirer of laborers, intermediary, undertaker. Our translator aptly renders it: "Who attempts many things." For he censures the greedy and reckless busybodies who entangle themselves in every kind of business, contract, guarantee, tax-farming, etc., and so enmesh themselves in lawsuits that they cannot extricate themselves. I have known some who bought up every difficult and desperate legal case and forensic lawsuit at a cheap price, in order to enrich themselves from them — troublesome to others, more troublesome still to themselves; whence they threw themselves into such straits that they were compelled to escape danger to their persons by shameful flight. Finally, the Syriac translates: The sinner who transgresses God's commandments will fall into a guarantee, and he who pursues taking sins upon himself will fall into His judgments. A guarantee brings many sins.
27. ASSIST YOUR NEIGHBOR ACCORDING TO YOUR MEANS, AND TAKE HEED THAT YOU DO NOT FALL YOURSELF.
This is the conclusion, in which, from what has been said about the dangers of suretyship, he concludes that this duty of charity must be undertaken moderately and cautiously, as if to say: Assist — that is, restore, help, support — your neighbor who is falling; but do not burden yourself beyond your strength; rather, do so according to your ability, Greek δύναμιν, that is, your power, strength, resources, and means; and at the same time take heed and beware lest, while you are striving to pull the needy man out of a pit, you yourself fall into it — namely, into lawsuits, losses, imprisonment, etc. Hence the Syriac translates: Stand surety for your neighbor as much as you can, and free your own soul; the Zurich Bible: Help your neighbor with all your might; but take care that you are not ensnared; others: Support your neighbor according to your strength, and take heed that you yourself do not fall. St. Ambrose, in his book On Tobias, chapter 23: "Receive your neighbor according to your ability, and take heed that you do not fall —
that is, he says, do not bind yourself for a greater sum of money than your stock of resources can bear and pay. For if you surrender what you have, you have lost your wealth but not your good faith. You feel no damage to your reputation; you have redeemed your friend without fraud to yourself." And a little earlier: "Intervene in this way, so that if the debtor is unable to pay, you know that it must be paid from your own funds. Approach it prepared for this. For you have read Sirach 8:16: Do not stand surety beyond your means; for if you do stand surety, think of it as something you must repay."
Solomon admonishes and impresses the same lesson often in Proverbs, as in chapter 6:1: "My son, if you have stood surety for your friend, you have pledged your hand to a stranger. You are ensnared by the words of your mouth and caught by your own words. Therefore do what I say, my son, and free yourself: for you have fallen into your neighbor's power. Go, hasten, rouse your friend: do not give sleep to your eyes, nor let your eyelids slumber. Free yourself like a gazelle from the hand, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler." These words are splendidly explained of pastors and prelates — who, when they undertake the pastoral office or a prelature, stand surety for their subjects, pledging that they will take care of their souls — by St. Gregory, Part III of the Pastoral Rule, chapter 5. And chapter 22:26: "Do not be among those who pledge their hands and who offer themselves as sureties for debts. For if you do not have the means to repay, what reason is there for him to take the covering from your bed?" And chapter 11, verse 15: "He will be afflicted with evil (in Hebrew, he will be utterly crushed) who gives his pledge for a stranger; but he who avoids snares will be safe."
Accordingly, Diogenes Laertius places among the three oracles of Apollo this third one: "Stand surety, and ruin is at hand." Pliny, attributing these three precepts to Chilon, lists them in book VII, chapter 32: "Again," he says, "mortals gave a share in oracular wisdom to Chilon of Lacedæmon by consecrating his three precepts at Delphi in golden letters, which are these: That each person should know himself; and: Desire nothing to excess; and: That debt and litigation bring only misery." Pliny explained what it means to stand surety — namely, as if to say: To stand surety is to bring debt and litigation, that is, misery, upon oneself voluntarily. Finally, a surety, for as long as he holds his word bound, is like a slave. For just as slaves claim nothing as their own, but all their goods belong to their masters, so too a surety does not seem to be the master of his own goods, because he has pledged them to a creditor.
Third Part of the Chapter
28. THE CHIEF THINGS FOR THE LIFE OF MAN ARE WATER, AND BREAD, AND CLOTHING, AND A HOUSE TO COVER ONE'S NAKEDNESS.
So too has the Syriac. First, Rabanus, taking "the beginning" in its proper sense, explains it thus, as if to say: "In the beginning of the world there was not among men such luxury of food and drink as there is now, nor such ambition in the adornment of clothing and in the construction of towers and palaces; but each person was content with what the earth provided from its simple fruits and what the nature of the place offered in the way of shelter. Hence we read that the ancients fed on the fruits of trees and the produce of vegetables; and that because of Adam's sin the Lord made coats of skin for him and his wife and clothed them. But now, the more zeal there is for providing variety in foods and drinks and for the refinement of clothing and houses, the less care there is for the observance of good discipline, and the greater the wickedness in transgressing the divine commandments, according to that passage in Ezekiel 16: Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom — pride, fullness of bread, and abundance, and idleness." So says Rabanus. Sirach therefore admonishes men to be frugal after the example of the first fathers, who, partly from the instinct of nature and partly led by humility and penance on account of their lost innocence, lived on bread and water. For as St. Chrysostom says in On the Compunction of the Heart: "Just as it is impossible for fire to be kindled by water, so it is impossible for the compunction of the heart —
to flourish amid luxuries. For these things are contrary to each other and mutually destructive. The former is the mother of weeping, the latter the mother of laughter: the former constricts the heart, the latter dissolves it."
Second, more aptly and genuinely, "the beginning," Greek ἀρχή, means the chief thing, the head, the sum, as if to say: The head and sum of what is needed for life is this — namely, nature is content with these few things: two for nourishment, namely bread and water, and two more for clothing and shelter, namely a garment and a house — and these not luxurious and elegant, but simple and frugal. Hence the Zurich Bible translates: The sum of human life is water, food (for the Hebrew לחם, that is, bread, signifies any food, just as water signifies any drink), and clothing, and a house as a covering of nakedness. Hence "bread" (panis) is derived from the Greek πᾶν, meaning "all," or rather, as Nonius says, from "feeding" (pascere). Whence Varro, in On the Life of the Roman People, book I: "The words pastillos and panes come from pastus, because they used to say 'to be' meant 'to feed.'" Hence some consider that the most easy and readily available food, and also the most wholesome and natural, is bread cooked in water, commonly called panatella, and that Sirach means to signify this by these words, as our Lessius thinks in his book On Diet. Hence too the ancient Romans lived on porridge (puls), which is flour boiled in water. In many places farmers live on the same fare, vigorous and strong for the labors of agriculture. These
are therefore porridge-eaters and bread-eaters. Famous is that oft-repeated saying from Scripture: "And bread strengthens man's heart."
Accordingly, Galen, in book I of On Simple Medicines, chapter 4, at the beginning says: "Water is the most suitable thing for all people, both healthy and sick, and most necessary for life." And in his book On the Properties of Things: "This is one of the universal and simple remedies from which the entire constitution of our body is composed." Lucian also in his Long-Lived Men asserts that "life is prolonged through water, and that for this reason the Syrians lived three hundred years." Likewise, the Suideas encyclopedia attests under the word Brachmani that the Brahmans live the longest of all, since they drink nothing but water. Water moreover makes the senses keen, the mind serene, and the intellect clear. For this reason Eubulus held that only the abstemious are fit for study and the invention of things, and Athenaeus wrote in book II of the Deipnosophistae, chapter 2, that our wisdom is dulled by wine.
Hence Pliny too, in book 23, chapter 1, lists heroes and illustrious men who drank nothing but water. And we read that Demosthenes, whenever he was about to compose something, would jest in these words: "Others speak in water, but Demosthenes writes in water, and he consumes more oil than wine." Philostratus relates that Apollonius of Tyana drank only water and used to say that those who drink water never suffer from dizziness and sleep very lightly. Finally, Vitruvius, book VIII, chapter 4: "No thing among all things," he says, "seems to have such great necessities for the use of life as water; and therefore the nature of all animals, if deprived of the fruit of grain, can sustain life by using shrubs or meat, or by fishing, or indeed by using any other kind of food; but without water, neither the body of animals nor any virtue of food can come into being, be sustained, or be prepared." For this reason Pindar, Olympian Ode 1, and from him Aristotle, book III of the Rhetoric, says: Ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ, that is, water is the best, because it ἀριστεύει, that is, is beneficial and does good to all things — plants, animals, and men alike — as the same poet says in Olympian Ode 3. Indeed, that the air and all the heavens were formed from water is the opinion of many weighty Fathers and Doctors, as I showed at the beginning of Genesis. For this reason Thales asserted that water is the first principle of all things. These and more can be found in M. Antonius Marsilius, in his Hydragiology, section I, chapter 3. Therefore, "the chief thing for the life of man is water."
The reason is that water, being supremely moist, simple, clear, and fine, most easily pervades the entire body through the veins, moistens it, moderates the heat, quenches thirst, carries food by diluting it to each member, and serves as the vehicle for food. For just as by food we restore whatever of the drier substance flows out of the body, so by the drink of water we repair whatever of the moister substance has been lost, as Galen attests in book I of On the Preservation of Health. And this is the principal utility of drinking water, namely the removal of dryness and the restoration — as it were, the renewal — of the moist substance in us that is perishing and wasting away.
Mystically, Hugh says: The beginning of the spiritual life is the water of Baptism, and the bread of the Eucharist, and the clothing of virtue, and the house that shields one's shame in holy living. By "shame" understand not only the conjugal act, as Lyranus holds, but any kind of disgrace whatsoever. For the human body, corrupted by sin, is full of filth, worms, and every kind of shame, and to cover this shame — just as to defend itself from heat, cold, and other injuries of the weather — it needs a house; just as to cover its nakedness and ward off cold it needs clothing. Therefore, just as clothing is a covering for nakedness, so too a house is a covering for shame; and both are a mark and stigma of sin, since from sin proceeded the shame of nakedness and every disgrace. Therefore men are ridiculous who procure for themselves golden garments and magnificent palaces and take pride in them; for they are taking pride in the stigma of sin. It would be just as ridiculous as a thief who wanted to be hanged with a linen noose rather than a woolen one, or a nobleman convicted of a crime who wanted to be bound with a golden chain rather than an iron one. See what was said on Genesis 3:21.
He teaches therefore, as Jansenius rightly notes, by this maxim frugality and αὐτάρκειαν, that is, self-sufficiency, by which each person, content with what is his own, rests satisfied in his present fortune, even if it be moderate or slender, because human life is easily content with very few and easily procurable things, according to that saying of Paul: "Having food and clothing, let us be content with these," 1 Timothy 6. And he rightly infers this teaching from what precedes, both because a little earlier he censured the love of contracting and the eagerness to do many things for the sake of profit, and also to show how it is possible that we may not greatly need the help of others through loans or surety, namely if we are content with the few things that suffice to sustain nature; and also to pave the way for what he is about to say regarding the misery of traveling abroad, as if to say: Since each person can find bread and water at home, which suffice for nourishment, let him quietly remain at home and not wander abroad to chase after foreign merchandise and riches at such great cost to his life.
Third, "beginning," Greek ἀρχή, can be translated as "sovereignty, holding first place," according to that passage in chapter 11, verse 3: "The beginning" — that is, first place — "of sweetness his fruit holds," namely the honey of the bee, as if to say: In sustaining human life, water, bread, clothing, and a house hold sovereignty and first place. For the drink of water, no less than the eating of bread, is most beneficial, healthful, and wholesome for man, as physicians teach, and Caelius Rhodiginus in book III of Ancient Readings, chapter 24. Hence Adam, Seth, Enosh, and the other patriarchs down to Noah, who discovered wine (Genesis 9:20), drank nothing but water and lived nine hundred years in health and vigor. Indeed, all other animals drink only water, and therefore from colds, inflammations, fevers, and other
diseases to which man is subject they are not troubled, but live healthy and strong.
Although the affliction of hunger is severe, thirst afflicts and torments more gravely; for it dries out and, being fiery, as it were parches and burns the body; hence it must be checked by the cool moistness of water. Thus we see that animals suffering from thirst are driven more violently and insistently — they grow hot, pant, and rush to quench it. To this applies that saying of David, Psalm 41 [42]:2: "As the deer longs for springs of water, so my soul longs for You, O God." Second, we drink so that food may be more easily mixed, digested, refined, and carried from the stomach to the whole body; and water does this most excellently, for the reasons already stated. Here physicians note that drink is most appropriate near the end of a meal, both because then the true thirst from the heat of hot and dry food presses upon us most, and because then the drink washes through all the food, dilutes it, and carries it to each part of the body. Physicians therefore teach that water is drunk for three purposes: to quench thirst, to extinguish heat, and to dissolve and distribute nourishment. Hence Athenaeus asserts that water aids digestion more than wine. Water also renders bodies supple. The water most suitable for drinking is simple and devoid of every quality — neither sweet, nor salty, nor sour, nor sharp. There are five kinds of it: the lightest is rainwater, then spring water, then well water, next river water, and finally marsh water.
Moreover, although Galen, in book III of On the Regimen of Health, commentary 39, and elsewhere, denies that water nourishes — if indeed it is perfectly pure and simple — yet others generally teach the contrary, especially when it is mixed, as it almost always is. So teaches Aristotle, Problems XIII, section I. Athenaeus proves this, first, from the fact that certain animals are nourished by water alone, such as cicadas and fish; Rondelet too attests that he has found this by experience. Second, because in hungry people, if they drink, we find that thirst is not the only thing relieved by the drink, but hunger too. Third, because if animals drink water, they die of hunger later than if they drank nothing at all. Fourth, because we see that herbs, trees, and all plants, when watered by rain and other waters, grow, put forth leaves, flower, and bear fruit; but when these fail, they diminish, shrivel, wilt, dry out, and die. Accordingly, Cardanus, in his book On Water, says: "It is surprising that Galen conceded that air nourishes and denies the same of water, which is far more substantial. Solid members therefore seem to be nourished by earthy elements, liquid parts by drinks — wine and water — and the spirits by air." Moreover, Athenaeus, book III, and Seneca, book III of Natural Questions, chapter 24, teach that the ancients at banquets used to drink warm water, as the Chinese still do. Whence Varro, book IV: "A calix (cup)," he says, "comes from calidus (warm), because warm porridge was served in it and they drank warm water from it."
Finally, there are very many other uses of water: for healing, washing, cleansing, cooking, extinguishing fires, irrigating fields and gardens, sailing, etc., so that Pindar rightly begins thus: "Water is indeed the best." See the praise of water in Pliny, book 31, chapter 1, where in his conclusion he says that "all the powers of the earth are a benefit of water."
29. BETTER IS THE LIFE OF THE POOR UNDER A ROOF OF BOARDS THAN SPLENDID FEASTS ABROAD (among foreigners) WITHOUT A HOME.
Greek: Better is the life of the poor under a roof of beams than splendid feasts in others' houses; the Zurich Bible: the sustenance of the poor under a paneled roof is better than a feast of foods in the houses of others; the Syriac: better is the life of the poor under the shade of their own beams than many riches while traveling abroad, as if to say: It is more profitable to live frugally at home than sumptuously abroad. The first reason is that at home a man is free and his own master — he eats, drinks, and does what he pleases; but he loses this freedom when he dines and lodges with others. Freedom, moreover, surpasses all luxuries and riches; for which reason St. Chrysostom would attend no banquets, even when invited. St. Augustine did and counseled the same.
The second reason: at home a man is the master, abroad he is forced to be subject to others and accommodate himself to them like a servant. If you eat in your own house, you are beholden to yourself; if in mine, to me. If you feast at my house, you serve my palate; if at yours, your own.
The third reason: my house is my own, while others' houses are foreign; therefore, as much as one's own surpasses what is another's, so much does it profit to stay at home rather than to dwell abroad. Hence that well-worn saying of the Flemish: Doet West t'hups Best [East or West, home is best].
The fourth reason: at home you have a cell in which, separated from the gossip and ways of men, you may devote yourself to wisdom and be free for yourself and for God. Accordingly, the cell seemed to St. Bernard to be heaven, and so it seems to all dwellers of cells — indeed, to dwellers of heaven.
The fifth reason: abroad at banquets one easily falls into excess in delicate foods, talkativeness, detraction, anger, envy, sadness, etc.; all of which are avoided by one who stays at home.
The sixth reason: travelers abroad are forced to endure many hardships and many insults and reproaches (which he explains in what follows), from which the guardian of his own home is immune. Indeed, Seneca in his Proverbs did not hesitate to say: "He who has a home nowhere is dead without a tomb." And: "He suffers exile who denies himself to his homeland."
Hence there was that ancient maxim of one of the seventy interpreters, number 42, as Aristeas reports in their history: "The lover of his homeland will flee from traveling abroad." For it brings great weariness on journeys, embarrassment and fear in lodgings, and anxiety and distress in dangers. Indeed, Diogenes the Cynic, when invited by Craterus, the general of Alexander the Great, said: "I would rather lick salt in Athens than enjoy a sumptuous table at the house of Craterus." Plutarch, in his Lacedaemonian Sayings, relates that the Lacedaemonians were not allowed to travel abroad, lest they contract the contagion of foreign customs and a corrupted way of life. Indeed, they even expelled foreigners from the city, lest, gradually flooding in, they become teachers of some evil to the citizens. And every citizen who did not raise his sons
needs to be well-favored by fortune. At home one has everything; at home one is born. At home one takes counsel. At home is judgment. At home one examines. At home they are lions; abroad, deer or little foxes. At home one is noble. At home one fights like a rooster. 'They change their sky but not their soul, who rush across the sea.' A friendly house is the best house. He should stay at home whose fortunes are favorable." For nowhere does it happen that a man lives more comfortably, more freely, more securely, more happily than at home; just as a tortoise, when it has drawn itself inside its shell, is safe from all blows, but when it puts out some part, whatever it has exposed is vulnerable and subject to harm. For this reason the jurist Gaius, in the Pandects, book IV, title On Summoning to Court, says: "Most jurists have held that no one may be summoned from his own house to court; because a house is the safest refuge and shelter for each person; and he who would summon someone from it seems to be using force." Therefore, whoever is self-sufficient should stay at home; but he who is in need should seek his fortune by traveling abroad and try the dice of fortune — as we see many needy people traveling to Rome, yet out of a hundred scarcely one makes his fortune; about the rest we daily observe that common saying come true: "A master of arts in the Roman court becomes a cook, and by special grace will die in a hospital." Accordingly, Seneca, in the Medea, Act 1, speaking in her person, utters this as the supreme curse:
"May he live, wandering through unknown cities, destitute, An exile, fearful, hated, of uncertain dwelling." And Ovid in the Ibis: "An exile, destitute, may you wander and haunt the thresholds of strangers." And Euripides in the Phoenissae: "And what? Is it a great evil to lack one's homeland?" "The greatest; and in reality it is worse than words can express." Hence this was the punishment inflicted by God on the wicked Cain, Genesis 4:12: "You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer upon the earth"; and on the Christ-killing Jews, Psalm 108 [109]:10: "May his children be driven about and beg; and may they be cast out of their dwellings." Hence a guest (hospes), says St. Isidore, book X of the Origins, is so called as one who thrusts his feet through others' doors, as a person in need and a stranger. Expressively and vigorously Menander says: "At home, one should remain, and remain free; Or he who is truly blessed should live no longer." And Sophocles in the Tereus: "The truly blessed man will stay at home." More divinely, Solomon, Proverbs 27:8: "As a bird that wanders from its nest, so is a man who leaves his place." Where I shall speak of this matter again. Well known is the saying: "If you sit in any seat, let this be your comfortable seat: Sit in that seat, and do not leave that seat." Understand these things of those who, on account of poverty or some other misery or necessity, are compelled to change their lodgings and move from house to house. For those who do this voluntarily out of a choice of poverty, or
30. LET A LITTLE PLEASE YOU IN PLACE OF MUCH; AND YOU WILL NOT HEAR THE REPROACH OF BEING A STRANGER.
So the Roman edition. Therefore Jansenius and others less correctly read: Over little and much be pleased. For this reading is more obscure, even though it comes to the same thing; the meaning is, as if to say: Whether you have little or much at home, whether the house is small or large, be content with it, take delight in it. The Complutensian editors: Have satisfaction over small things and great (that is, over small things equally as over great), and you will not hear the reproach of your house; the Zurich Bible: Be content with small things as well as great, so that you may not have to hear your dwelling reproached — because, that is, you go chasing after what belongs to another, abandoning your own; so that the master of the house reproaches you that he is doing you a favor by receiving you under his roof and at his table. To this applies the saying: "He will serve forever who does not know how to use a little." Our Latin Vulgate means the same thing, as if to say: "Let a little please you in place of much" — that is, be content with the little in your own home rather than with the much you would have as a traveler abroad, but accompanied by reproach. For the natives often reproach their guests for being foreigners, barbarians, uncultured, uncivil, rude, outcasts,
poor, beggars, etc. Hence, explaining this very point, he adds: A wretched life is that of lodging from place to place, etc. The Syriac puts it differently: With much or with little, no one knows (no one knows whether the lodger has much or little at home); and what he does within his own house, no one sees.
31. A WRETCHED LIFE IS THAT OF LODGING FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE; AND WHERE HE LODGES, HE WILL NOT ACT BOLDLY NOR OPEN HIS MOUTH.
There is a hyperbaton here, which should be arranged and explained thus, as if to say: The "life of lodging" now in this house, now in that, and of migrating from house to house, is "wretched," that is, miserable and calamitous; because in it the foreigner, wherever he lodges, does "not" dare to act and speak freely and "boldly," lest he be laughed at, harassed, robbed, beaten, or imprisoned by the natives. Therefore, "if freedom is not rightly sold for all the gold in the world," neither should it be sold for feasts however splendid. This was especially true among the Jews, who, when traveling to other provinces for trade or business, often could not lodge with people of their own nation and religion — that is, with fellow Jews — (even though they desired and strove to do so, as is clear from Acts 10:6); and so they were compelled to turn aside to Gentiles who were hostile to Jews, from whom they necessarily had to hear and endure many jeers and taunts; for the Gentiles called Jews by insulting names such as verpi [circumcised], recutiti [skinned-back], spellae [bark-stripped], etc. Hence the Zurich Bible translates: A miserable life is the migration from one house to another; for where you are a lodger, you will not dare —
to utter a word; the Syriac: A wretched life from house to house, and against great judgments he will not be able to open his mouth. Hence those ancient maxims: "One should stay at home —
according to their ancestral customs, they would deprive of citizens' rights. The Chinese still do the same today. Finally: "They change their sky but not their soul, who rush across the sea."
of the apostolate and of preaching the Gospel, and for the sake of pursuing perfection — in order to tear their minds away from earth and fix them on heaven — these are not wretched, but holy, exalted, and blessed. For these, as citizens of the world, say with the Apostle: "Our citizenship is in heaven." And: "Brethren, you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God," Ephesians 2:19. For these are guests on earth, but citizens of heaven. So the Apostles went from house to house, from city to city, from province to province, in order to spread the Gospel and the faith and worship of Christ throughout the whole world. So St. Hilarion migrated from place to place in order to flee the visits and praises of men, as St. Jerome attests in his Life. Indeed: "Every land is a homeland to the brave, as the sea is to fish." And: "For the faithful, the whole world is an inn." Accordingly, when the first Franciscans were driven from their monasteries by the Emperor Frederick II, persecutor of the Church, and they complained about this to Blessed Giles, one of the first companions of St. Francis, he gently rebuked them, or rather consoled them, saying that they were wrong to complain about Frederick, for Frederick could not have driven them from their own land since they possessed no land on earth. "True Friars Minor," he said, "are made for life outside the world; they do not care where they live in the world, nor can they call any place their own. Everywhere is a homeland for the Friar Minor, who has no homeland of his own in the world. Therefore, brothers, you have sinned by lying about the great sinner Frederick; for he has given you more than he took from you: he added a cause for merit, he did not take away your homeland." So record his Acts and the Annals of the Friars Minor, authored by Luke Wadding, year of the Lord 1238. See the homily of St. Bernard, On the Dead and Crucified Pilgrim, if you are eager for this kind of perfection. The leader and director of these was St. Alexius, who out of love for God and heaven, having left behind his bride, mother, father, home, nobility, and wealth, traveled for seventeen years begging; and for just as many years he lay hidden in his father's house like a stranger and a pauper, known to God alone, and, mocking the world, triumphed over it by a marvelous example of virtue.
Symbolically, Hugh applies these words to those who devote themselves to no particular field of knowledge, but wander through all of them, sampling a little from each. For these are everywhere strangers and nowhere at home, because they are versed in no single field of learning; from each individual part they grasp something, but from the whole, nothing — always learning and never arriving at the knowledge of truth, as the Apostle says. "A wretched life," he says, "is that of lodging from house to house" — that is, from discipline to discipline, from book to book; for each discipline is a single house, and each book of theology is a single house. Hence this author ridicules those many people who study imperfectly, insufficiently, and badly, now going to the house of Aristotle, now to the house of Hippocrates, now to the house of Justinian, now to the house of Gratian, now to the house of Moses, now to the house of Paul and Peter,
or of Christ — and dwelling in none of them. Similarly, you may apply this to those who devote themselves to no definite occupation, state, or virtue, but wander through all things.
32, 33, 34. HE WILL LODGE, AND FEED, AND GIVE DRINK TO UNGRATEFUL PEOPLE, AND ON TOP OF THIS HE WILL HEAR BITTER WORDS: "COME, STRANGER, AND SET THE TABLE: AND WHATEVER YOU HAVE IN YOUR HAND, FEED THE OTHERS. LEAVE THE PRESENCE OF MY HONORABLE FRIENDS: BY THE NECESSITY OF MY HOUSE, A GUEST HAS BECOME A BROTHER TO ME."
This is a mimesis: for he imitates and portrays the manners, attitudes, and insults that a guest and traveler abroad is forced to hear, endure, and swallow from the native and the master of the house, as if to say: The foreigner will be lodged and received with hospitality by the native and master of the house; but as a remedy he will be compelled to feed him and his wife as though obligated to do so; and therefore he will find them ungrateful, and from them he will hear "bitter" things — Greek αὐστηρά, that is, harsh and hard words. For they will say to him as to a servant: "Come, stranger" — that is, rise up, O guest, from the seat or bed where you are resting, weary from the journey — rise up, I say, so that you may not only serve us but also set the table. From those things "which you have in your hand" — that is, from the provisions you carry with you in your bag or pack for the journey — "feed the others," the members of my household, so that you may repay this hospitality not with gratitude but with payment, indeed with a price. And when he has distributed all the provisions he was carrying to the household members and has nothing more to give, the master will send him away — indeed, shamelessly thrust him out of his house — and will say to him: "Leave the presence of my honorable friends," as if to say: My honored friends have arrived as unexpected guests, and they need ample room for proper hospitality; therefore, out of respect for their persons, yield the lodging to them and go — depart elsewhere. Hence the Zurich Bible translates: Yield to this present splendor, "and this because of the necessity of my house," as if to say: The necessity of receiving friends who have arrived forces me to tell you: Leave, because my house is needed for hosting such important friends. For this is what the Greek χρεία τοῦ οἰκίας means, that is, I have need of the house. For "a guest has become a brother to me," as if to say: A brother, whom I must receive with friendship and splendor as a brother, has become my guest and needs the entire lodging — for he has brought with him many attendants, friends, and servants. Hence from the Greek you may clearly translate: You will lodge and provide drink εἰς ἀχαρίστα, that is, to no thanks, or for ungrateful ones (our translator rendered it "ungrateful people"); and beyond this you will hear harsh words: Come, stranger, set the table, and if you have anything in your hand, feed me. Depart, stranger, from the honorable person (for πρόσωπον means both "person" and "face"): I need the house; a guest has become a brother to me.
Here note: For the passive "he will be lodged" (hospitabitur), the Greek has the active ξενίσει, that is, "you will receive as a guest." Hence Rabanus reads hospitabit; the Zurich Bible: You will receive with lodging, food, and drink ungrateful people. But our translator more correctly rendered it "he will be lodged" (hospitabitur), for the subject is the foreigner who is being lodged abroad, not one who receives others as guests. Hence Rabanus too, although he reads hos-
pitabit, he nevertheless explains it passively as hospitabitur. For he says: "he will lodge, namely having been ungraciously received in another's house, he eats and drinks, yet always dreads adversity, and often, provoked by another's tongue, he hears insults." To this applies the adage of Theopompus: "Let the guest come who will be useful." And that saying of Ovid: "Even if you come accompanied by the Muses, Homer, If you bring nothing, out you go, Homer." Furthermore, the Syriac translates thus: You are a stranger, and you drink reproach, and after this you will hear bitter words: You are a stranger — come, set the table, and eat what is before you; leave, for a more honored guest — for a traveler has arrived.
Symbolically, here is given a vivid image and likeness of worldly people and of the world: for we are all strangers and sojourners in the world, and the world, as the faithless and deceitful master of its house — that is, of the earth — receives us at first kindly, then gradually strips us of everything, and plainly at death plunders us completely, thrusting us out naked into another region where an eternal dwelling awaits us, either in heaven or in hell. Therefore the world says to us in life: "Come, stranger; set the table" — because it consumes all our wealth, resources, and strength. But in death it says: "Leave the presence of my honorable friends" — because it expels us from the world and transfers everything that was ours to others who are born after us, to whom it will do the same in life and in death. All of this Barlaam the hermit represents to King Josaphat in two remarkable parables, as found in Damascenus in his History, chapters 13 and 14. For this reason Nazianzen rightly says in his Monostichs: "Show every honor to the stranger, since you yourself are a stranger."
Tropologically, St. Gregory, book 32 of the Moralia, chapter 10, applies these words to hypocrites who feign holiness in order to be shielded by the favor of sanctity: "Come, stranger, and set the table." For the stranger, he says, is said to adorn the table in passing, because if someone placed at the altar of God seeks his own glory through good works, and through the display of his holiness the praise of the altar is extended, yet he himself is not counted by God among the number of citizens. His reputation benefits others, yet he himself passes through as a stranger before God. He has therefore adorned the table while passing through, because he did not wish to stand at the sacred things — he who, through everything he strove to do, rushed in his mind toward human praise."
Again tropologically, our Alvarez de Paz, in On the Spiritual Life, book V, part III, rightly applies all these things to those who, because of unnecessary conversation or occupation, put off from their appointed time their prayer, psalmody, or reading, to the detriment and injury of their spiritual life. For such people in effect dismiss or eject God from the lodging of their mind, in order to admit the world — and not infrequently the devil.
35. THESE THINGS ARE HEAVY FOR A MAN OF SENSE: THE REBUKE OF A HOST, AND THE REPROACH OF A MONEY-LENDER.
As if to say: These insults that I have mentioned are heavy and bitter for "a man of sense," that is, for a sensible and prudent person. Namely, first, heavy for him is "the rebuke of the house" — when the guest hears harsh words from the master of the house where he is lodging: "Come, stranger, and set the table, etc.; leave the presence of my honorable friends." Second, heavy is "the reproach of the money-lender," by which the money-lender — that is, the one who lends to the person to whom he gives a loan — reproaches him for his poverty, ingratitude, negligence, etc., on account of the money lent to him. Lyranus less correctly interprets "money-lender" here as the master of the house, saying the master is called a money-lender because he sells his goods to guests at the standard rate charged to guests, beyond the just price. For in the first part of the chapter, Sirach understood by "money-lender" no one other than he who lends his own goods. Hence the Zurich Bible clearly translates: These things are heavy for a man of understanding: the reproach of the house and the importunity of a creditor; the Syriac: These things are heavy for a wise man: scolding, and interest and the usury of money-lenders. The Syriac adds a beautiful and pious maxim, which reads thus: Give very generously to the poor, and from what is in your hand feed him. If he is naked, clothe him: for the poor man is your own flesh, and you lend to God Himself, and He will repay you sevenfold. Hence that great St. Euthymius, as he lay dying, said to his disciples: "This last commandment I add for you: Never let the door be shut to those who come; but let it always be open to every traveler and most ready to receive them. Indeed, let the very roof be shared with guests and passersby, and let what you have be set out as common goods for the needy. For in this way you will obtain abundant provision from on high." This was his swan song; for shortly after, after long struggles, he peacefully fell asleep in the Lord in the year of Christ 472, at the age of 99, in the 16th year of the Emperor Leo, on the 20th of January. So writes Cyril in his Life, and from him Baronius. I have said more about guests and hospitality at Hebrews chapter 13, verse 2 and elsewhere.