Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues to teach what is fitting at tables and banquets for directors and guests, both elders and young people: namely, that directors should show humility and attentiveness; elders, verse 4, should speak sensibly, but so as not to impede the music; young people, verse 10, should listen and speak sparingly, and return home from the banquet in a timely manner, and give thanks to God. Second, verse 18, he commends the law and the fear of God, and counsel, so that we do nothing without it; for thus after the deed no one will repent.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiasticus 32:1-28
1. Have they made you master of a feast? Do not be lifted up: be among them as one of themselves. 2. Take care of them, and so sit down, and when you have fulfilled all your duty, take your place, 3. that you may rejoice on their account, and receive a crown as an ornament of grace, and obtain the honor of the contribution. 4. Speak, you who are elder: for it becomes you 5. to speak the first word with careful knowledge, and do not hinder the music. 6. Where there is no hearing, do not pour out speech, and do not inopportunely exalt yourself in your wisdom. 7. A ruby set in gold, and the arrangement of musicians at a wine banquet. 8. As a signet of emerald in a work of gold, so is the harmony of musicians with pleasant and moderate wine. 9. Listen in silence, and for your reverence good grace shall come to you. 10. Young man, speak in your own cause only with difficulty. 11. If you are asked twice, let your answer have a head. 12. In many things be as if unknowing, and listen in silence while also inquiring. 13. In the midst of great men do not presume: and where there are elders, do not speak much. 14. Before hail comes the lightning flash: and before modesty goes grace, and for your reverence good grace shall come to you. 15. And at the hour of rising do not delay: but hasten first to your home, and there amuse yourself, and there play, 16. and pursue your thoughts, and not in offenses and proud speech. 17. And for all these things bless the Lord who made you, and who fills you to overflowing with all His good things. 18. He who fears the Lord will receive His teaching: and those who watch for Him will find blessing. 19. He who seeks the law will be filled by it: and he who acts deceitfully will be scandalized by it. 20. Those who fear the Lord will find just judgment, and will kindle justice like a light. 21. The sinful man will avoid reproof, and will find a comparison according to his own will. 22. A man of counsel will not lose understanding; the stranger and the proud man will not dread fear:
23. even after he has acted without counsel, he will be convicted by his own reproaches. 24. My son, do nothing without counsel, and after the deed you will not repent. 25. Do not go in the way of ruin, and you will not stumble on stones: do not trust yourself to a laborious way, lest you set a stumbling block for your soul: 26. and beware of your children, and take heed of your household. 27. In all your work trust from the faith of your soul: for this is the keeping of the commandments. 28. He who believes God attends to the commandments: and he who trusts in Him will not be diminished.
FIRST PART OF THE CHAPTER.
1. HAVE THEY MADE YOU MASTER? DO NOT BE LIFTED UP: BE AMONG THEM AS ONE OF THEMSELVES.
St. Jerome, on chapter XIV of Ezekiel, reads it thus: They have made you leader (others read king); do not be exalted, but be among them as one of themselves. The Tigurine: If you have been appointed director, do not be puffed up, but show yourself equable to the rest. The Arabic: If you have been put forward, do not thrust yourself forward, nor recline on the breast above the wealthy; be as one of them — that is, if others display and prefer you, so that you are conspicuous and honored, do not increase the display, nor show elation, so as to sit at the front or at the head of the table.
For 'master' the Greek is hegoumenon, that is, president, leader, guide, master, prince, king, commander — namely of the banquet (for it is clear from what precedes and follows that this is precisely the subject here), the one who presided over the banquet and governed and directed it. Hence he was called symposiarches, that is, the prince of the symposium and master of the banquet. For which one should know that the ancient Easterners, especially the Hebrews, Syrians, Egyptians, and Greeks, formerly celebrated magnificent banquets, as is evident from the banquet of Abraham for the weaning of Isaac, Genesis chapter XXI, and Job chapter I; that of Ahasuerus, Esther I; and that of Joseph, Genesis XLIII, 42. Therefore they would appoint over the banquet an energetic and industrious man, both so that everything would be done in order without confusion, and so that no one would lack anything, and so that he would be the arbiter of modesty and temperance. His duty, therefore, was to prescribe the manner of the supper and the rules for drinking. Hence by Varro, book XX, and Macrobius, book I of the Saturnalia, chapter I, he is called the lord of the banquet and modimperator, as one who sets the measure in all things and commands; by Cornelius Tacitus, the king of the banquet, to which in some way corresponds the king whom the Germans create at table on the feast of the Three Kings; by Plautus in the Stichus, dictator and strategist; by Horace, book II, satire 8, the arbiter, father, and host of the supper; by others, the tricliniarcha. In Sacred Scripture, by St. John, chapter II, he is called the architriclinus, as prince of the triclinium and table; by Moses he is called the chief of the cupbearers, Genesis chapter XL, 2; by the Apostles, the deacon: for the Apostles chose seven deacons as prefects who would preside over the tables of the faithful, Acts VI; by the Greeks he is called clinomenos, symposiarchos, trapezopoios, basileus, paranymphios and hestiator.
Therefore Sirach says: "They have made you master" of the banquet, namely the remaining guests. For they, before reclining at table, would select this master either by lot or by votes, especially when the banquet was furnished not by any one person, but by the guests themselves with contributions pooled together, about which more shortly. Otherwise, if some prince or anyone else gave a feast, he himself was the master, or he would appoint a master, and this was generally the one who was more honored among the guests, who was also called proclites, because he occupied the first place at the couches. A similar custom prevails today in France and Germany on the feast of the Epiphany. For a cake, in which a bean is hidden (or a similar lot), is divided into as many portions as there are guests, and these are distributed one to each; and he to whose portion the bean falls is chosen king of the coming feast. The lot by which this master was formerly chosen was the casting of dice. For, as Lipsius teaches, book III of the Antique Readings, chapter I, whoever among the guests first threw Venus was the master. So Horace:
Whom Venus shall declare the arbiter of drinking.
And Plautus in the Curculio calls this the 'royal throw,' that is, the kingly one, because it properly belonged to the creation of the king of the banquet. For there were various throws of the dice, such as Venus, the Dog, the Six, and the Chian. Furthermore, Lipsius above gives examples of the laws that the master would prescribe for the guests, namely these:
Let ten cups be the maximum drink, Let them pour a libation of the ninth to the Muses, the tenth to Apollo. Let them employ witticisms and jests: But let both remain within the bounds of license and reproach. Let quarrels, clamor, and contention be banished to the Thracians; In their place let them produce a song, or something else musical. Let the table be sacred to Angerona. Let what was said be unsaid, what was done undone — let this be inscribed in wine.
Thus King Ahasuerus prescribed for his banquet a truly royal law, that no one should compel the unwilling to drink, but each should take what he wished, Esther I, 8.
Furthermore, the duty of this master was: first, to receive all the guests, to address them, to greet them, and to place each one in his proper seat, to arrange and govern them. Hence Tacitus: "The king of the banquet," he says, "having obtained his kingship by the cast of the lot, commanded this one to drink, that one to mix the wine, another to leave, and yet another to be present." This custom is observed today in royal courts. The same master, like a musician, by proposing toasts to make the spirits of the abstemious more eager, and by restraining the wine-lovers to make them more relaxed, should produce equality and harmony out of diversity, says Plutarch, book I of the Symposiacs, chapter IV. He adds the reason, that the end and purpose of the banquet is: "To produce either the confirmation or the beginning of friendship through a certain pleasure among the guests. For the banquet is a delight among cups, on account of
the grace that ends in friendship." For which reason Lamprias, in the same place, Question II: "Thus," he says, "I shall arrange the guests, not so as to join rich to rich, young to young, prince to prince, friend to friend — which arrangement is idle and contributes nothing to creating or increasing goodwill; but accommodating what each person lacks, I shall place next to the studious learner a man who gladly discusses matters pertaining to humanity; next to the morose, a gentle one; next to the talkative old man, a young person eager to listen; next to the boastful, a mocker; next to the irascible, a quiet one; next to the quarrelsome, a peaceful one; next to the generous, a poor man — so that as from a full cup to an empty one, something may flow from the one to the other. But I do not want a sophist to sit next to a sophist, or a poet next to a poet. For a singer envies a singer, and a beggar a beggar." Wherefore the same Plutarch, book IV, chapter I: "We know," he says, "that Polybius instructed Africanus never to leave the forum while dealing with the affairs of citizens, until he had first made some friend for himself, etc. But see whether this precept, besides being suited to the forum, does not also pertain to banquets; so that one should not depart from them until one has obtained the goodwill and friendship of one of the fellow diners. For those who are wise come to a banquet no less for the purpose of making friends than of delighting those present. To leave enriched by a friend is pleasant and honorable; and on the contrary, he who neglects to do this makes his company ungrateful and useless to himself, and thus departs as one who was a guest with his belly, not with his mind."
from the hand of the Lord the cup of His wrath." For the symposiarch mixed and served each guest his own cup. And so often elsewhere.
Therefore there was absent from the banquets of the ancients that insane modern custom of toasting and drinking in equal draughts. For Horace, book II, satire 6, says:
The guest drains unequal cups, freed From insane laws
of drinking in equal measures. Although among the jesting laws of the Greeks this was one: 'Either drink or depart,' as Cicero testifies, Tusculan Disputations V. More licentious was that rule of the symposiarch Empedocles, as Laërtius reports, prescribing that one must either drink or have wine poured on his head; for which reason Empedocles, having convened a council, prosecuted him as a criminal and had him condemned. To this also pertains that convivial law in Plutarch, book III of the Symposiacs, Question IX: "Let the mixture of wine with water be diapente, diatrion, or diatessaron; for thus they sing: One must drink five or three or four. For five has the sesquialter ratio, three cups of water being mixed with two of wine; three the double ratio, two to one; four the sesquitertian, three cups of water poured into one of wine."
Finally Pollux: "Let the symposiarch be," he says, "splendid, magnificent, hospitable, a lover of guests, popular, receiving lavishly at table, delighting in cleanliness, careful, of good diet, magnanimous, full of courtesy, agreeable, affable, of elegant and refined food, and equally of life."
Therefore Sirach gives this first precept to the master of the banquet: that he should not exalt himself above the rest, but make himself equal to each one and show himself equable. Imitating Sirach, Plutarch in the Symposiacs, book I, Question IV, thus decreed concerning him: "Let the symposiarch be disposed in a familiar, friendly, and benevolent manner toward all the guests, hostile and inimical to no one. For otherwise he will be neither tolerable in commanding, nor observant of equality in distributing, nor blameless in jesting." And Epictetus: "See that you are not driven by anger to be injurious to the guests, but rather cheer them with gentleness and simplicity." Wherefore Plato, just as he wants the prefect of the watch to be the most vigilant, so also wants the symposiarch to be moderately sober, one who is not easily overcome by wine. For a wine-lover will be insolent and unseemly, while one completely sober will be disagreeable. Plutarch adds: Just as Pericles, when created general, would address and admonish himself: 'Pay attention, Pericles — you command free men, you command Greeks, you command Athenians': so the moderator of the banquet will reflect with himself that he presides over friends, so that he neither permits them to act shamefully, nor entirely prohibits pleasures; but let him be well tempered toward both: yet so that, like good wine, he inclines somewhat toward austerity; for thus he will be softened by the wine and brought to moderation. So says Plutarch.
Morally, apply these things to all rulers and superiors whatsoever. For if the master of a banquet ought to make himself equal to the guests, with equal right it is fitting for any other ruler to make himself equal to the subjects committed to his care.
Second, to ensure that the foods and drinks were properly prepared and brought to the table in their order. Wherefore Aristotle, book II of the Politics, says that symposiarchs should be sober. And Theophylact, on John chapter II: "He entrusts," he says, "the tasting of wine to the architriclinus, who is sober. For at such festivities, those to whom such a duty is committed study sobriety above all, so that by their command and order everything may be done properly and fittingly."
Third, to moderate both serious matters and jests, and to direct the table conversation so that it would be suited to the guests and would cheer them, yet without anything shameful or unseemly. He therefore would order musicians to sing, orators to speak, philosophers to solve some obscure question, and poets to compose verse.
Fourth, to prescribe the laws of dining and drinking, which are called by Horace 'the realms of wine,' and by Cicero 'masterships'; indeed, to dilute and measure out for each person that quality and quantity of wine, in such a measure mixed with water, as would be agreeable and suited to health, stomach, and brain, as well as to the palate. And from this are taken those metaphors of the cup in Scripture, that is, of one's lot, whether adverse or prosperous, which God as the symposiarch of the world measures out to each one, as in Psalm XV: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup." Psalm LXXIV, 9: "In the hand of the Lord is a cup of unmixed wine, full of mixture." Isaiah LI, 17: "Arise, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk
it is fitting for a ruler to make himself equal to the subjects committed to his care. Hence the Syriac translates: They have made you master (or great), do not be exalted, and do not recline at the head of the wealthy: be to yourself as one of them. Hugh says: "They have made you a ruler, he says, not a tyrant; a shepherd, not a hireling; not an executioner, but a guardian; not a tyrant, but a steward; not a lord, but a minister — you, not your riches, not your nobility, not your lineage, but you, that is, your person. Today, however, when one man is made bishop, the whole family is bishoped. Hence the whole family line loses its name, and he who was formerly called the son of a blacksmith or of Robert is now called the nephew of the Bishop. Isaiah LXVI: Will the earth bring forth in one day, or will a nation be born at once? These are the words of Christ or of the Church marveling at so many little nephews born at one birth." And St. Bernardine, volume III, Sermon on the Ruler: "They have made you a ruler, he says, not a plunderer; a ruler, not a destroyer; as a minister, not a tyrant; as a steward, not a squanderer or usurper; as a guardian, not a devourer."
St. Jerome, book VI on chapter XVIII of Ezekiel: "The princes of the Churches," he says, "are accustomed to oppress the people through pride. Of whom it is written, Ecclesiasticus XXXIII: They have made you prince, do not be exalted; be among them as one of themselves. And the Savior commands, Matthew XX: Whoever wishes to be first among you, let him be the least of all." He explains it similarly in book XIII on chapter XLV of Ezekiel, where for 'prince' he reads 'leader.' St. Ephrem, treatise On the Fear of God: "Have they made you a leader? he says; do not be exalted in spirit; but be among them as one of themselves, and in your mind revolve your former labors, and understand that those who now obey you are engaged in the same things; and do not neglect them, but diligently care for them." St. Bernard, letter 9 to the Archbishop of Cologne: "Let us take care," he says, "that being placed on high we do not think lofty thoughts, but fear, but agree with the humble. They have made you prince, he says; be among them as one of them. And again: The greater you are, humble yourself in all things. Wise is the one who gives this counsel; for he thinks no differently from Wisdom Herself, who says: Let the greatest among you become as the least, Luke XXII. Otherwise let power fear the severe judgment upon those who rule," Wisdom VI.
Let the prince and prelate therefore take care that his subjects do not justly suspect him, puffed up with the vanity of power, of despising or turning away from others; but rather let him act so that he lowers even the height of royal eminence by gentleness of conduct — so that the people, as much as they reverence the prince's majesty, may equally admire and embrace his placid and equable manners. Therefore in governing them let him employ more benevolence than severity, more exhortation than agitation, more charity than power, as far as can be done while preserving authority, according to chapter III, 19: "My son, perform your works in meekness, and you will be loved above the glory of men." See what I noted there, and especially the sayings of St. Ambrose, book II of the Offices, chapter VII. See also St. Gregory, part II of the Pastoral Rule, chapter VI, whose title is this: "That the ruler should be a companion to those who do well through humility, and raised up against the vices of delinquents through zeal for justice." He gives the reason: "that nature has begotten all men equal. Hence all who are in authority should not weigh the power of their rank, but the equality of their condition; nor should they rejoice in ruling over men, but in being useful to them. For our ancient fathers are recorded to have been not kings of men, but shepherds of flocks." He gives the examples of St. Peter, who forbade Cornelius when he wished to worship him, saying: "Rise, do not do this, for I myself am also a man," Acts X. And St. Paul, he says, "did not know himself to be set over his brethren who were doing well, when he said: Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are helpers of your joy," II Corinthians I. And: "We became little ones in the midst of you," I Thessalonians II. And: "Ourselves your servants through Jesus," II Corinthians IV, 5.
Note: There were seventy-two interpreters summoned to Alexandria by Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, to translate the books of Sacred Scripture from Hebrew into the Greek language, of whom Jansen and others think our Sirach was one: I think he was their disciple and son, or grandson. These Seventy Interpreters Ptolemy received at a royal banquet, and at the table proposed to each one some ethical or political question to resolve. Moreover, because he himself was king and ruler of Egypt, he proposed mostly political questions about the king and kingdom, and the manner of ruling rightly. I have selected these and thought they should be written here, because they fit this passage and are proper to it, so that from such wise men any rulers may learn to rule properly. I have copied them from the treatise of Aristeas On the Seventy-two Interpreters. Ptolemy therefore proposed this question to the first interpreter: "In what manner may a kingdom be preserved safe to the end?" He, after a brief pause, said: "In this manner above all you will best order your kingdom: if, imitating the gentleness of God in all things, you employ patience and longsuffering; and you exalt the worthy, but through affability lead the haughty from evil to repentance."
Third, he proposed this question: "How should he keep friends like himself?" The one who answered said: "If they understand that you meditate much on the welfare of your subject peoples; and you should do this, considering how God also benefits the human race, providing them with health and increases of life, and all other things at opportune times."
Eleventh, he proposed this question: "In what ways should he preserve his wealth?" While he was revolving the question, after a brief pause he said: "If you do nothing unworthy of your kingdom, nor act disgracefully, nor make expenditures on vain and harmful things, and show yourself beneficent and kind toward your people. For God, whom we ought to follow, is the giver of all good things."
Twelfth, he proposed this question: "How should he cultivate truth?" To this the interpreter replied: "If you recognize how great a disgrace lies bring upon all mortals, and how much greater a mark of shame they burn upon kings. For when they have such power that they can easily accomplish whatever they wish, for what reason would they lie? You should also consider, O king, that God is a lover of truth."
Twenty-first, he proposed this question: "What is the most difficult thing in ruling?" He replied: "To rule oneself and not be carried away by appetites; for it is in the nature of mortals that their mind always inclines toward something, and most are drawn to tables, cups, and pleasures, in which the multitude especially pours itself out. But kings are troubled by the care of subduing peoples because of the greatness of glory. But it is a fine thing to measure oneself in every matter, and to contain with diligence what God has given. Do not covet things that are neither granted nor to be sought."
Twenty-fourth, he proposed this question: "How might he endure in glory?" To which he answered: "If, excelling in kindness and grace, you have been magnificent toward others, glory will never desert you; and that it may attend you, God must always be implored."
Fifty-first, he proposed this question: "In what way might one not be lifted up in pride?" He replied: "If he maintains equality and remembers himself in each thing; revolving in his mind that a man rules over men, and that God destroys the proud and exalts the meek and humble."
Fifty-third, he proposed this question: "What is most necessary for a king?" He answered: "The love and affection of his subjects; for through this an inseparable bond of goodwill is woven. For God brings to completion those things which are rightly chosen."
Fifty-fifth, he proposed this question: "How should he accommodate himself to many peoples in his kingdom?" He answered: "If you distribute fittingly to each one, and follow justice as your guide (as you do), with God granting you to discern what is right."
Fifty-ninth, he proposed this question: "What preserves a kingdom?" He replied: "Care and reflection, lest anything be badly done or committed against the people by those placed in charge of affairs; as you will do, since God provides you with an excellent understanding."
Sixty-fourth, he proposed this question: "What ought kings especially to follow?" He answered: "Laws, so that by just works he may govern the life of mortals; just as you also, by doing this, have made a perpetual memory of yourself, having followed the divine precepts."
Sixty-fifth, he proposed this question: "Who should be placed over magistracies?" He answered: "Whoever hate iniquity, and imitate your dispositions, and drawn by the sweetness of praises, always work justly to attain glory. Which you also do indeed, O king, since God bestows the crown of justice."
Sixty-sixth, he proposed this question: "Who should be chosen as generals?" He answered: "Those who excel in courage and justice, and who prefer the safety of men to bloody victory. For God also works good things for all; and following Him, you bestow benefits on your subjects."
Sixty-eighth, he proposed this question: "In what affairs should kings spend the most time?" He answered: "In the knowledge of past deeds, and in reading the writings of those who are engaged in current affairs, one must devote the greatest portion of time, and search out whatever has been written for the preservation of kingdoms and the correction of human morals. Because you diligently carry this out, and God favors your counsels, you therefore obtain a glory excelling that of others."
Sixty-ninth, he proposed this question: "What should one perpetually do so as not to grow torpid with idleness?" He continued: "One must consider with great diligence," he said, "whatever comes to mind, and a certain form and image of life must be set before the eyes, and one must consider what has been accomplished by effort; for there is in these things both their own honor and a certain learning. For often even in the smallest things something remarkable shines forth, which you may choose. And since God supplies you with goodness, you embrace all elegance for the sake of the pursuit of philosophy."
Morally therefore learn here how much in a community and society singularity is to be avoided, and the common life is to be followed, even by a Superior; for through the common life charity and humility are fostered. Memorable is what we read in the Acts of St. Francis: when he was preaching at Perugia, a certain Perugian, eager for a more perfect life, was thinking about changing his state of life. Christ appeared to him and said: "Man of desires, if you wish to attain your vows and be saved, follow Me in the religious habit of Francis of Assisi." He asked further: "What rule, Lord, shall I observe in this Order, so as to please You more?" Christ answered: "Follow the common life of the Order, and avoid the intimate circles of the brethren, and neither scrutinize nor judge the faults of others." Having been received therefore by St. Francis, and called Brother Humilis by him on account of his remarkable humility, he followed the counsels of Christ and lived a holy life, and became so distinguished for miracles. So the Annals of the Minors, by Luke Wadding, year of Christ 1211, number 6.
Memorable is the letter of the same St. Francis (it is found among his little works as number eight) to Peter Catanio, the Vicar General of his Order, who was complaining about the dissoluteness of some of the brethren: "May the Lord guard you," he says, "and preserve you in His holy charity. I commend patience to you in all your works, my brother, to such an extent that, whoever causes you hindrance, whether brethren or others, even if they beat you, you ought to regard all things as a grace, and so will it, and nothing else. And love those who do these things to you, and do not wish anything else from them except what the Lord shall have given you; and in this love them, that you may wish them to be better Christians. And by this I wish to know whether you love the Lord and me, His servant and yours — if you do this: namely, that there be no brother in the world who has sinned, however much he may have been able to sin, who, after he has seen your eyes,
may never depart without your mercy. And if he would not seek it, you should ask him whether he wishes mercy. And if he should appear a thousand times afterward before your eyes, love him more than me, in order to draw him to good, and always have mercy on such ones. And announce this to the Guardians, whenever you can, that through you he is resolved to do this: and let all the brethren who know that he has sinned not cause him shame nor detraction; but rather let them have mercy toward him, and keep secret the private sin of their brother, because it is not the healthy who need a physician, but those who are ill." These words in a humble style, but with a sublime spirit, are from St. Francis.
This is what Christ sharply rebukes in the Scribes and Pharisees, Matthew XXIII, 3: "They say and do not do: for they bind heavy and unbearable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger." And for this reason Pope Innocent said: "Whatever law one establishes against another, he himself ought to submit to it." And this also according to the maxim of Cato who said: "Submit to the law which you yourself have enacted" — which when you have enacted for all to observe, be you the first to observe it. Do not grant dispensation to yourself at your own pleasure, unless you wish to dispense with others in the same way, or for them to transgress the law without dispensation. Show the justice of your law in this: that through it you direct yourself; and show its sweetness in this: that you yourself willingly observe it. Lead the way as a good shepherd by your example, so that your subjects may glory in following you.
Wherefore the good Emperor Theodosius was accustomed to say: "Although he was not himself subject to his own laws, he nevertheless wished to bind himself to them and to observe them." And that great sage left in writing: "The happiness of the republic consists in this, that the law be truly the mistress of the princes, and the princes the servants and attendants of the law; but on the contrary, it is the ruin of the same republic if the law is the handmaid of kings and they its masters, bending it to their own will."
Wherefore St. Ephrem, treatise On the Fear of God, partly reads and partly explains this maxim thus: "They have made you a ruler; do not be exalted: be one of them, and in your mind revolve your former labors, and understand that those who now obey you are engaged in the same things, and do not neglect them, but diligently care for them." For rulers who have been subjects and have experienced the labors of subjects know how to sympathize with their subjects, and command them modestly; but those who have never experienced the burdens of subjects command them despotically as though they were slaves, and "lord it over the clergy," as St. Peter says. St. Ephrem adds: "The drowsiness of shepherds is the joy of wolves."
Among the pagans, Julius Caesar was famous, who showed himself a companion to his soldiers in hunger, toil, and danger — indeed a standard-bearer at the front — and therefore bound them to himself so that they were obedient to his word in every difficult undertaking: and hence his great victories, success, and glory. Similar was Cato, whom Lucan, book IX of the Pharsalia, thus portrays generously leading his soldiers with arms and words through the impassable deserts of Africa:
I shall be the first to enter the sands; and first set foot upon the dust. Let the heavenly heat strike me, let the serpent full of venom meet me; test your dangers by my fate, and let it be noted without distinction whether I go as general or as soldier.
"For it is fitting," as Paulus says, book IV of the Sentences, title VI, "that he who makes laws should obey the laws with equal majesty." And St. Ambrose, to Emperor Valentinian, letter 32: "What you have prescribed for others, you have prescribed also for yourself. For the Emperor enacts laws which he himself should first observe." Tacitus says excellently, book II of the Annals, chapters XX and XXX: "The general assigns lesser tasks to others, and takes upon himself the most arduous;" and he asserts that Germanicus did this, just as Nazarius asserts that Constantine the Great did, in his Panegyric of the same, chapter XXIX.
2. TAKE CARE OF THEM, AND SO SIT DOWN (so the Greek: therefore the Complutensian, Palacius, Jansen, and others wrongly read 'consider'), AND WHEN ALL YOUR CARE HAS BEEN DISCHARGED, RECLINE.
This is the second precept that Sirach gives to the master of the banquet, and consequently to any other ruler: namely, that he should take care of each individual guest, lest anyone lack anything, so that no one can justly complain that he was passed over, neglected, or forgotten. Let him therefore go around the table and survey everyone, and provide for each one concerning necessary or opportune things. Having done this, then at last let him sit down, so that, after he has discharged all his care for them, having as it were completed his duty, then at last he may recline at table with them, to cheer both himself and the guests. Hence the Syriac translates: Take care of them, and afterwards recline: in every need of theirs provide and then recline. The Tigurine: Take care of them, and only then sit down: discharge all your duty, and rest with praise. For the Greek reads: kai pasan ten chreian sou poieson, kai eukosmesas anapausai. Which the Complutensian translates: Perform your full service, and having been approved, rest — when, namely, the guests have approved your care and diligence and have said that they are satisfied. Others read: kai pasan ten chreian sou poiesas anapaue, that is, and when you have done everything that is needed, recline.
Morally, St. Bernard, book IV of On Consideration, to Pope Eugene, chapter II, treating of the care that pastors ought to have for the people committed to them: "Do not put off," he says, "demanding care, not cure. After all, you heard: 'Take care of him,' and not: 'Cure or heal him.' Someone has rightly said:
It does not always lie within the physician's power that the sick should be relieved.
But I propose better things from your own people. Paul says: I have labored more than all of them. He does not say: I have profited more than all, or I have borne more fruit than all — most piously avoiding the presumptuous word. But that man whom God taught knew well that each one will receive according to his own labor, not according to his results. And for this reason he thought one should glory rather in labors than in successes, just as elsewhere
you also have him saying: in labors most abundant. So, I ask, do what is yours to do; for God will take care of what is His well enough without your solicitude and anxiety. Plant, water, take care, and you have discharged your part. The increase, where He wills, God will give, not you. Where perhaps He does not will it, nothing is lost to you, since Scripture says: God will repay the reward of the labors of His saints. Secure is the labor that no failure can make void." Similar should be the care of a king and prince. Hence Seneca gives him this tribute: "His vigilance defends the homes of all; his occupation is everyone else's leisure — from the moment Caesar dedicated himself to the world, he took himself away from himself."
I began to fear; now I almost despair of it. For who can bear the weight of the whole Church, who can sustain the burden of so many souls without evident danger to his own salvation?" And yet, if anyone else discharged his office here with distinction, he was a truly pious and devout Pontiff. Hence 'bishop' in Greek is the same as 'superintendent' and 'one who watches over the people'; 'pastor,' one who feeds his sheep; hence "opilio is said as if from 'ovilio' (sheepfold); presul, one who presides with solicitude; sollicitus, as if skilled and quick and restless," says St. Isidore, book X of the Etymologies.
3. THAT YOU MAY REJOICE ON THEIR ACCOUNT, AND RECEIVE A CROWN AS AN ORNAMENT OF GRACE, AND OBTAIN THE HONOR OF THE CONTRIBUTION
that is, if you have taken care of them, and having discharged and completed your duties, recline with the guests, you will rejoice with them and likewise cheer them. Whence from them "you will receive a crown," which will be for you "an ornament of grace," that is, a gracious adornment, winning for you grace, that is, honor and beauty; and moreover "the honor" — that is, as some manuscripts read, the dignity and honor — "of the contribution," that is, of the pooled contribution, about which more shortly. The Greek briefly reads thus: That you may be affected with joy through them, and for the sake of adornment receive a crown. The Tigurine: That you may rejoice in their name, and receive a crown as the grace of honor. The Syriac: On this account also at the end of their feast you will rejoice, and at table you will receive honor.
Note first: For 'ornament of grace,' the Greek is eukuosmias charin; where, if you take charin as an adverb, you translate: for the sake of ornament, that is, on account of it; but if as a noun, you translate: the grace of ornament; and so our translator seems to have understood it. Hence by a hypallage he translated "ornament of grace"; for the grace of ornament is the ornament of grace — that is, a gracious and becoming ornament. Moreover, this ornament is a crown; hence some think the crown is so called because it co-honors those upon whom it is placed. For it alludes to the crowns with which masters, that is doctors, were and still are distinguished. Hence some title this chapter 'On Masters.' Or rather it alludes to the convivial crowns, which the guests would offer to the prefect of the banquet as to their king and master, on account of the care and governance he had provided them. Indeed, that masters of the banquet, or dictators, were created by the mere placing of a crown is clear from Plautus, in the Persa: "I give," he says, "this blooming wreath to you who are blooming: thus you will be our dictatrix." And from Plutarch, book IV of the Symposiacs, Question IV; this custom is still preserved among some in Germany, especially when at the feast of the Three Kings they create their king by adorning him with a crown.
Indeed, the guests themselves formerly reclined at table wearing crowns, as is still done in Thuringia; for they wore on their heads garlands of herbs such as ivy, nard, laurel, etc., or of flowers, especially roses — both to prevent drunkenness, and so as not to burden the head with a cap, and so that the sweet and pleasant color and fragrance of the flowers would cool, soothe, and refresh the head. For warm flowers, by gently opening the pores of the head, allow the wine to evaporate; and things that are slightly cool repel vapors by moderate contact, like violet and especially rose garlands. So Athenaeus, Plutarch, Pliny, book XXI, chapter III, and others. For this was the custom of the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and Indians. Of the Hebrews, as is clear from this passage, and Wisdom II, 8: "Let us crown ourselves with roses;" and Ezekiel, chapter XXIII, 42, signifies that mistresses placed crowns on their lovers. Of the Greeks, as is clear from Athenaeus, book XV; Plutarch, book III of the Symposiacs, Question I. Indeed Aristotle, as cited by Caelius, book XXVII, chapter XXVI, says the ancients used crowns at banquets to signify obscurely and to augur the fertility of the harvest and the abundance of things. Of the Romans, as is clear from Ovid, book V of the Fasti:
The drunken guest dances with hair bound (entwined) in linden-bark, etc. No serious matters are transacted with a crowned brow, Nor are clear waters drunk with a flower attached. Bacchus loves flowers; a crown pleased Bacchus ...
By a crown they signified that the banquet was full and complete, and hence the joy of the guests was full, because nothing arranged for merriment was lacking; for the crown is a symbol of perfection, on account of its round shape that returns into itself. Hence Propertius, book IV, elegy 3:
It delights me to bind my mind fast with much Lyaeus, And always to have my head in the spring rose.
And Anacreon, ode 4:
Binding the lovely rose with leaves Upon our heads, Let us jest among the cups.
Of the Indians, as is clear from Philostratus, who in book II of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana asserts that the Indians, whenever they dined with the king, came to the banquets wearing crowns.
Hence Antiochus, as we read in II Maccabees chapter VI, 7, compelled the Jews, having rejected their ancestral laws, to worship Bacchus as the god of the symposium and to celebrate orgies crowned with ivy in the manner of revelers. Those who refused to do this were punished with death; for, as Pliny says, book XVI, I, they report that Father Liber (Bacchus) was the first of all to place a crown of ivy on his head; which Festus says is so called either because it clings (haereat), or because it seeks heights (edita petat), or because it consumes (edat) that to which it clings. And Plutarch, book III of the Symposiacs, Question I: Bacchus, he says, taught that ivy also, which by its property most resists wine (drunkenness), should be held in honor, and crowned revelers with it, so that they might be less harmed by wine, since ivy by its coolness quenches drunkenness. Hence ivy is also the sign of taverns and wine for sale. Finally Ovid, in the passage already cited:
Brows are painted with woven crowns, And the splendid table lies hidden beneath scattered roses.
We read that Cleopatra at that lavish banquet spent a talent on roses, when throughout all the dining couches heaps of petals stood everywhere on the floors to the measure of a cubit. Indeed they even crowned the bowls and cups, as Tertullian teaches, in his book On the Soldier's Crown, and Virgil, Aeneid III:
Then father Anchises invested a great bowl with a crown, And filled it with unmixed wine.
And book VII:
Joyfully they set out the bowls and crown the wines.
To this belongs that saying of the bride intoxicated with the wine of love: "He brought me (the king) into the wine cellar, He set love in order within me. Support me with flowers, surround me with apples, for I am languishing with love (the intoxication of love)," Song of Songs II, 4.
Note second: By 'the honor,' or dignity, 'of the contribution,' some understand, and indeed with Rabanus read 'the dignity of the congregation,' for which, namely, as prefect you have gathered together a joyful feast either of food, or of doctrine, or of prudence and discipline; for this reason you will obtain dignity and honor from the congregation of the guests. So Rabanus, Lyranus, Palacius.
Second, Jansen says: the corrogation is a gathering convoked which simultaneously contributes its shared portions.
Third, others say: corrogation is the name for a banquet which is established from the collection and contribution of the guests; for formerly it was the custom to solicit expenses, or even foods, for preparing banquets, and these collections they called convivial contributions (symbola), the kind of which the Council of Laodicea prohibited for the faithful, chapter LV: "It is not fitting," it says, "for ministers of the altar, or any clerics, or even Christian laypersons, to celebrate banquets from contributions, which the common people call 'comessalia' (feasting parties)." Thus the meaning will be: if you have done these things, you will obtain from the guests the praise that you have properly arranged the banquet.
Fourth, properly and genuinely, by 'contribution' understand the collection of tokens which the guests would make, in order to offer it as a tribute to their king and prefect. Hence the Syriac translates: and at the table you will receive honor. For the ancient guests were accustomed, as a matter of duty, to honor the symposiarch with better courses from their collected contributions (which they called symbola), just as they now honor bridegrooms, to whom also individuals customarily toast, and so surround and crown them with cups full of wine. By this contribution of courses and cups and similar convivial things, therefore, he signifies that the prefect of the banquet should be honored, if he duly performs his office.
Our Salazar adds, on Proverbs chapter VIII, 21: that guests used to collect a symbolic tribute for the symposiarch from mystical little gifts. For example, someone, to commend the symposiarch's strength and arms, would present him with a shoulder; another, to mark his eloquence, would assign him a tongue; another, to indicate his vigilance, would send an eye; another, to testify to his love, would give a heart or breast; others with other such symbolic little gifts, as each one pleased, would honor the king of the banquet. But Fulvius in his appendix to the Triclinium of Ciacconi teaches that this was customary only at the most splendid suppers. The meaning therefore is: "That you may obtain the honor of the contribution" — that is, that the guests, by their destined mystical gifts, may celebrate your praises and proclaim the virtues in which you excel. Thus Samuel sent to King Saul a shoulder, to commend to the future king fortitude (of which the shoulder is a symbol): "Behold, eat," he said, "because it was purposely kept for you," I Kings IX, 23 and 24. And Philo, in his work on Joseph, records that Joseph sent his brother Benjamin a breast at the table, to signify that he held him in his heart and in his affections. For the same reason, from the sacrificial victim the shoulder and breast fell to the priest, Leviticus VII, 34. Hence those sayings of the ancients: "Do not eat the heart, set the tongue aside, put salt on the table," etc.
Mystically, apply all these things to the prefects of the spiritual table — namely bishops, pastors, preachers, and doctors. For upon them falls the duty of furnishing the table of doctrine, exhortation, and the Eucharist, by which they instruct and feed each one unto eternal life. And if they do this rightly, they will rejoice with them in heaven, and will receive the crown promised to doctors; and the faithful themselves, brought to heaven by them, will each honor him as a parent, and attribute to him their gifts and glory, according to that saying of St. Peter, first letter, chapter V, 2: "Feed the flock of God which is among you, overseeing not by compulsion, but willingly according to God; nor for the sake of shameful gain, but voluntarily; neither as lording it over the clergy, but being made a pattern of the flock from the heart. And when the Prince of Shepherds shall appear, you shall receive the unfading crown of glory." For this reason St. Paul calls the Thessalonians and Philippians his "joy" and his "crown," I Thessalonians II, 19, and Philippians IV, 1. See what I said there, where I reviewed an illustrious example of St. Amandus on this matter.
From the Hebrews and Sirach, the philosophers of the gentiles learned the same thing. Hence Isocrates, in his oration to Nicocles: "Love," he says, "those whom you command, and bring it about that you are loved by them in return. The love of the people is the foundation of lasting rule." Pliny, in the Panegyric of Trajan: "A good prince," he says, "should deal with his citizens as with his own children. Affability is the greatest virtue of a prince. A prince cannot be loved unless he loves."
4 and 5. SPEAK, YOU WHO ARE ELDER; FOR IT BECOMES YOU TO SPEAK THE FIRST WORD (understand: to speak) WITH CAREFUL KNOWLEDGE, AND DO NOT HINDER THE MUSIC.
So the Roman edition reads. Therefore Jansen, Palacius, and others everywhere wrongly read 'to those who love knowledge,' and explain it thus: Since it becomes you, who are older, to speak before others, speak you the first word; but speak it not to those averse to the Muses, but to those loving knowledge, lest you cast pearls before swine; yet so that you "do not hinder the music." Or, punctuating differently: Speak, elder; for it becomes you to speak: the first word suits the diligent lover of knowledge — that is, it is fitting that the one who shows himself to be a philosopher and lover of knowledge should speak before the others, and such are the elders.
But with the Roman editions, both Latin and Greek, one should read: en akribestati epistemi, that is, with exact and diligent knowledge. From the directors of the banquet he descends to the guests, both elders and youths. To the elders he gives this precept here: namely, that they should speak first (for this is fitting), but with exact, sensible, and wise words: "Speak," he says, "you who are elder" — in Greek, presbyter — "for it becomes you to speak," who by reason of your dignity and age have been appointed master not only of dining but also of speaking and teaching among the rest. For "a multitude of years gives knowledge," as the old proverb has it. This was formerly the custom among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Latins, both the faithful and the unfaithful. For our Salazar learnedly shows, in his Prolegomena to Proverbs, page 2, that the Hebrews were accustomed to season their banquets not only with courses but also with proposed problems and questions. Of the Greeks and Romans the same is attested by Plutarch, book I of the Symposiacs, Question I, and Macrobius, book VII of the Saturnalia, chapter I; Quintilian, book I of the Institutes; Cicero, Tusculan Disputations I; Plato, in his Symposium Discourses; Athenaeus, in the Deipnosophists, that is, the Banquets of the Wise. For it is fitting that at a banquet not only the body be fed with food, but also the mind with learned and good discourse; therefore at tables were proposed problems, parables, riddles, etc., and for this reason drinking was moderate, so that wise answers could be given to them. So the cited authors teach. In place of these, among religious persons and serious men at table, Sacred Scripture, the Fathers, histories, etc., are customarily read; which reading accordingly St. Augustine commends, letter 109, and St. Basil, in the Shorter Rules, rule 130. Xenophon writes, book IV, that Cyrus and the Persians did the same. Above all, the first Christians did the same at the Eucharist and the agape, that is, the banquet after the sacred Synaxis, as I showed at I Corinthians XIV, 26; and following the example of Christ, who at the Last Supper delivered a long and ardent discourse on charity,
John XIII and following. And of the Essenes the same is attested by Philo, book On the Contemplative Life, Josephus, Eusebius, and others. For a banquet is a heap of delights, inasmuch as in it the throat is fed with food, the ears with song, the eyes with spectacles, the nostrils with perfumes and flowers. But the best and most generous of all is the delight of sensible and pleasant conversation, by which alone the mind is most delighted and nourished. After conversation, however, music seems to hold the first place, and therefore it is joined by Sirach with conversation. Moreover, among the Seventy Interpreters, the seventieth in order, when asked by Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, at the royal banquet what should be spoken about, replied that the lives of illustrious princes should be narrated; for nothing sweeter or more pleasant than these could be found. So Aristeas in the History of the Seventy Interpreters.
The latter point is that after the teaching of the elders, a musical concert should follow, so that serious matters may be tempered with pleasant ones, and the guests may be cheered, and the quarrels and fights that tend to arise among guests while they are heated with wine may be calmed and lulled by the sweetness of song — for song and music have this power. Finally, so that the mind, intent on the music, may neither speak nor hear scurrilous, detractory, or lascivious words, which tend to be spoken at tables. Some, such as Emmanuel Sa, understand by 'music' the harmony and order in discoursing — namely, that the elders should speak and discourse in such a composed and harmonious manner that they seem to produce a harmony. But this is mystical music; for literally, music signifies the concert of musicians. For it is clear from this passage and verse 7, and from Psalm LXIX, 13; Isaiah XXIV, 8; Amos VI, 5; Luke XV, 25, that the ancient Hebrews employed music at their tables. Indeed Christ the Lord Himself concluded the Last Supper with a hymn and song; for "when the hymn was said" — in Greek hymnesantes, that is, when they had sung the hymn — He and the Apostles "went out to the Mount of Olives," Mark XIV, 26. Finally, in the heavenly banquet the Blessed sing a perpetual Alleluia to God and the Lamb, Revelation chapter IV, 8, and chapter V, 9 and 12, and chapter VII, 12.
Of the Greeks and Latins it is clear from Cicero, Tusculan Disputations I, and Quintilian, book I: "This was the custom," he says, "that at banquets after supper a lyre was passed around, which the guests would play in turn; and because Themistocles professed himself unskilled at it, he was regarded as less educated." Hence Horace, book II, ode 11:
The lyre, friend of the tables of the rich and of temples.
And Varro: "At banquets," he says, "modest boys would sing ancient songs in which were the praises of their ancestors, and this both with the voice and with the flute-player." Cicero, in the Brutus: "Cato left it written in his Origins," he says, "that songs were sung at feasts by individual guests in praise of famous men." Virgil, Aeneid I:
Long-haired Iopas plays Upon his golden lyre.
Now this was the order of singing: First, all the guests would sing with a common voice a paean or some hymn in honor of Bacchus and other gods, and this both at the beginning and at the end of the meal, when they poured libations; then each one, having received a branch of myrtle or laurel, was compelled to sing his own song, and also to play the lyre that was passed around. So Plutarch, book I On Music, and Symposiacs I, Question I, and Clement of Alexandria, book II of the Pedagogue, chapter IV, where he condemns the immoderate and lascivious use of music, and calls such a banquet a "theater of drunkenness." That banquets were formerly accustomed to be seasoned with music is also taught by Athenaeus, books I and XIV, Plato in the Protagoras, Suetonius in his Galba, Livy, third decade, Valerius Maximus, book II, and others.
In like manner, the first Christians employed singing at the agape, that is, the Eucharistic banquet. This is clear from St. Paul, Colossians III, 16: "Let the word of Christ," he says, "dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God;" and I Corinthians chapter XIV, 26: "Each one of you," he says, "has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation." In the place of these there have succeeded the reading of the Epistle and Gospel, and the singing and organs at Mass, as I said in the same place.
But hear Tertullian graphically depicting the agape and the first banquets and songs of the Christians, Apologeticum, chapter XXXIX: "Our supper," he says, "shows by its name the reason for itself. For it is called agape, that is, love. At whatever cost it is held, it is gain to make expenditure in the name of piety; since we also help the needy with this refreshment — not as among you parasites aspire, to the glory of servile freedom, under the contract of fattening their belly amid insults; but as with God there is greater regard for the lowly. If the occasion of the banquet is honorable, judge the rest of its order of discipline from that occasion — what it is that pertains to the duty of religion. It admits nothing of buffoonery, nothing of immodesty. No one reclines before a prayer to God is first tasted. They eat as much as the hungry require; they drink as much as is useful for the modest. They are satisfied as those who remember that they must worship God even through the night; they converse as those who know that the Lord is listening. After the hand-washing water and the lights, each one is invited to sing publicly to God, as he is able, from the Holy Scriptures or from his own talent: hence it is tested how he has drunk. Prayer likewise dismisses the banquet. From there they depart, not into bands of ruffians, nor into squads of roamers, nor into outbursts of licentiousness, but to the same care of modesty and chastity, as those who have dined not so much on a supper as on a discipline."
Hence it is clear that music and organs are rightly employed in churches, even at Mass — both so that God may be praised through them, and so that the people may be stirred to devotion and spiritual joy. But care must be taken that the singing not be too frivolous or lascivious, which provokes petulance rather than devotion, and tickles the ears rather than lifting the mind to God.
Finally, Clement of Alexandria, as cited above: "Modest and chaste harmonies," he says, "are to be admitted; but from our strong and vigorous thought, soft and enervated harmonies are to be banished as far as possible — those which, employing the dishonest artifice of vocal inflections, lead to a delicate and idle way of living. But grave melodies that pertain to temperance bid farewell to the insolence of drunkenness. Therefore chromatic harmonies, crowned with the shameless insolence of wine and flowers, and meretricious music, are to be abandoned."
Furthermore, how great is the power of music in cheering, calming, and taming, not only wild and drunken men, but also beasts, is shown by Martianus Capella, book IX On Music: "Deer," he says, "are captured with flutes; fish in the pool of Alexandria are held fast by a clatter; the song of the lyre draws the hyperborean swans; it has been discovered that Indian elephants are detained, soothed by the sound of an organ; it has been proven that birds are lured by flutes; that rattles cut short the wailing of infants; that lyres persuade dolphins of the friendship of men; and indeed that serpents are lured and burst asunder by songs." Indeed he adds shortly before: "The ancients cured fever and wounds with song; Asclepiades likewise treated the extremely deaf with a trumpet; Theophrastus employed flutes for affections of the soul. Who does not know that sciatica is driven away by the sweetness of court music? Xenocrates freed the insane with organ melodies; it has been found that Thales of Crete drove away diseases and pestilence with the sweetness of the lyre; Hierephilus assessed the pulses of the sick by comparing rhythms." So he says; but physicians and doctors will hardly believe these things. No less wonderful, if true, is what Polyhistor, chapter XLI, narrates: that in the Halesine region there is a spring otherwise quiet and tranquil when there is silence; but if flutes sound, it rises up joyfully at the song, and as if marveling at the sweetness of the voice, swells beyond its banks.
6. WHERE THERE IS NO HEARING, DO NOT POUR OUT SPEECH, AND DO NOT INOPPORTUNELY EXALT YOURSELF IN YOUR WISDOM.
He admonished the elders to speak sensibly at the banquet; here he adds the measure and condition: namely, if there is a hearing, that is, an audience — that is, if there are listeners prepared to hear. Otherwise, where this is not the case, speech is poured out in vain and imprudently, as happens with some who are loquacious and wordy, who everywhere are eager to display their wisdom; against whom he says: "And do not inopportunely exalt yourself in your wisdom" — so as to bring forth and vaunt your wisdom at an inopportune time, when there are no listeners who wish to hear, and to thrust it upon the willing and unwilling alike.
The Greek manuscripts remove the first negation 'not'; hence they read thus: Where there is a performance, do not pour forth speech, nor play the wise man unseasonably. Acroama for the Greeks is a narration or fable that is gladly heard by the common people. Properly, acroama means 'a hearing,' 'a listening' — that is, where others are being heard, do not pour out your speech. Hence the Tigurine: Where there is occasion for listening, do not pour forth words, nor play the wise man unseasonably. Hence Aristotle's commentaries are called Acroamatic, in which subtler and more abstruse philosophy is discussed, which therefore require the diligent listening and attention of the student. Here, however, acroama signifies narrations, histories, songs, and fables that were customarily recited at table to entertain the guests, and also the singing of the musicians, which was eagerly listened to by the guests. So Macrobius takes acroama to mean song: "Caesar, delighted by the symphonists during dinner, gave them only grain, when for other performances he had been generous with money." It can also be understood here as explaining what preceded: "And do not hinder the music." Hence he adds: "Where there is a performance, do not talk" — that is, when songs are being sung, do not noisily chatter and play the wise man unseasonably.
But our translator reads better with the negation: "Where there is no hearing," that is, no audience, "do not pour out speech." The Syriac supports this when it translates: In the place where wine is drunk (where drinking prevails), do not mix in conversation, nor always play the wise man. The meaning is what I assigned at the beginning, and it fittingly corresponds to the reading of verse 5: "For it becomes you to speak the first word with diligent knowledge;" for "where there is no hearing," where, namely, knowledge is not valued, "do not pour out speech." Similar to this maxim is that saying of the Syrians: "Do not send out a dog where there is no hunting" — that is, do not reprove or teach where there is no hope of progress and fruit.
7. A RUBY IN A SETTING OF GOLD, AND THE ARRANGEMENT OF MUSICIANS AT A WINE BANQUET.
He continues what he said in verse 5: "And do not hinder the music." The word 'and' here is comparative, and therefore means 'so' or 'thus.' 'Arrangement' (comparatio) here is not a similitude, but a composition and concert; for in Greek it is synkrima, that is, composition and joining together — namely, of voices and musical sounds. For just as from small and large stones a distinguished edifice is put together, and from various patches painted or woven with a needle a Phrygian work is produced, and from diverse tiles a tessellated or mosaic work is aptly fashioned, whose beauty consists in the fitting proportion and joining of the individual parts to one another: so likewise from thin, middle, and deeper voices fittingly composed and blended together, a musical concert results, whose elegance consists in the harmonic proportion and comparison of all the voices among themselves. The meaning therefore is: Just as a ruby, although precious and beautiful in itself, yet appears more precious and shines more beautifully in a golden ring (for by the gleam of gold its splendor is reflected and sharpened): so likewise a musical concert, although elegant and delightful in itself, yet becomes more beautiful and more delightful when mixed with a banquet; for there is the proper place for music, where cheerful guests listen to music more cheerfully, and therefore the delight of food and
drink is sharpened, indeed doubled, by the delight of music; because "just as food refreshes the body, so melody refreshes the senses," says Lyranus. Hence the Greek reads: A seal of ruby in a golden ornament (in the bezel of a golden ring) is the concert of musicians at a wine banquet. The Tigurine: As a badge of ruby in a golden ornament is the concert of musicians to wine at a banquet. For there is a great sympathy between wine and the voice and song, especially because all these things are perceived and carried out by one and the same organ, namely the mouth and tongue. Hence we see boys who are otherwise taciturn, as soon as they have drunk wine, beginning to chatter and hum, or to listen to singers.
The antistrophe to this saying of Sirach is that of Solomon, Proverbs XXV, 11: "Golden apples on silver couches — he who speaks a word in its time." For that passage too is about the couches of dining rooms on which guests reclined, and about table conversation with which music was interspersed, as our Salazar teaches in the same place.
Mystically, the musical concert is the giving of thanks, which wonderfully adorns a banquet, especially a sacred one, such as the Eucharist and sacred reading or preaching. Hence the Syriac translates: As a seal upon a purse of gold, so is the praise of God at a wine banquet. This is what the Apostle says, Ephesians V, 18: "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God the Father." This was done at the agapes, as I showed at I Corinthians XIV, 26.
Again, the mystical sense of this verse is: Just as the ruby adorns the ring, and in turn is adorned by the golden ring, so the musical concert — that is, a holy life (whose actions all harmonize with one another and with the law of God, and produce a mystical harmony of virtues) — adorns the sound doctrine of the teacher, and in turn is adorned by it. So the Gloss. Hear Rabanus: "Among all burning gems," he says, "the ruby holds the primacy; and the ruby (carbunculus) is so called because it is fiery like a coal (carbo), whose brilliance is not conquered even by night; for it shines in the darkness, so much so that it flashes flames to the eyes. He compares therefore the ruby to the splendor of gold, and the musical melody to the wine banquet. For just as a precious gem, joined to the metal of gold, doubles the beauty of its splendor, so a sweet melody, added to a wine banquet, multiplies the delight. But mystically, gold signifies divine wisdom, the ruby the glory of sacred virtues, wine spiritual grace, and music the preaching of the Gospel; for just as the splendor of virtues befits divine wisdom, so true preaching of the word is worthy of spiritual grace." But Hugh says: "The little gem of the ruby is the humility of charity." The ruby (carbunculus), so called as if a burning coal, surpasses all gems in splendor; so charity by its ardor surpasses the other virtues. "In the ornament of gold" — gold is wisdom. That is: just as charity and humility adorn wisdom, so the harmony of heart, mouth, and deed adorns and beautifies the preaching of the word of God. And just as charity is preferred to wisdom, so a good life to doctrine. For as St. Gregory says: "When a man's life is despised, it follows that his preaching is also held in contempt." The same Hugh, by the emerald that follows, which is green, understands faith working through love, which adorns wisdom and doctrine just as charity and humility do. In the emerald, therefore, is signified the faith of Confessors; in the ruby, the charity of Martyrs. But more on the emerald shortly from Rabanus.
8. AS IN A WORK OF GOLD THE SIGNET (IN GREEK sphragis, that is, a seal) IS OF EMERALD: SO IS THE HARMONY OF MUSICIANS WITH PLEASANT AND MODERATE (Rabanus reads 'fragrant') WINE.
He says the same of the emerald as he said of the ruby. Therefore 'harmony' (numerus) here is not understood arithmetically, but musically — namely, the number of voices or the rhythmic harmony; for in Greek it is melos, that is, harmonious melody. The meaning is: Just as a golden ring is adorned by a bezel of emerald, or an emerald seal, so likewise a banquet is adorned by the concert of musicians; indeed the splendor of the banquet, like an emerald seal, is sealed and stamped — that is, perfected and consummated — so that a banquet is not considered complete until it is seasoned and adorned with music. Hence the Greek reads: A seal of emerald in a work wrought of gold is a musical song at sweet, pleasant, and delightful wine. The Tigurine: The melody of singers at a pleasant drinking-party is a seal of emerald in a golden setting. The Syriac: As a golden necklace of ring and emerald, so are good words (sung) at a wine banquet. Therefore, just as there is scarcely a gem more precious than the ruby and emerald, and more beautiful in gold, so there is nothing more fitting and pleasant at a banquet than musical harmony. The Arabic: As a ring upon a purse of gold, so is the glory of God upon the drinking of wine — if, that is, one glorifies God at the symposium with good conversation and hymns. Hear Rabanus: "The emerald is a stone of exceeding greenness, so much so that it surpasses all green plants, leaves, and gems, tinting the air around it with reflected greenness — which benefits from pure and green oil, although it is naturally imbued. Its kinds are very many, but the noblest are the Scythian; in second place are the Bactrian; in third, the Egyptian. It signifies souls ever green with faith, who the more they are tested by the adversity of the world (which Scythia figuratively designates), the more they strive both to conceive in mind by hoping for the imperishable and eternal inheritance preserved in heaven, and to spread it to their neighbors by preaching. These also advance in contempt of the world through the chalice of the Lord's passion and the richness of interior charity, which is given through the Holy Spirit. For just as in a work of gold the splendor of the emerald increases the beauty, so the charity of right faith, which works through love, amplifies a man's learning.
Finally, the mystical music most pleasing to God and men is the concord of spouses, of household members, of religious, of citizens, etc., according to chapter XL, verse 20: "Wine and music gladden the heart, and above both is the love of wisdom" — that is, of charity and concord, about which more in that place. For it follows: "The flute and the psaltery make a sweet melody, and above both is a sweet tongue" — such as belongs to charity and concord.
9. LISTEN IN SILENCE (both to the music and the musicians — for they wish to be heard in silence — and to the discourses of the elders already mentioned), AND FOR YOUR REVERENCE GOOD GRACE SHALL COME TO YOU.
That is, by being silent and listening you will pay honor and reverence both to the music and musicians, and to the elders and the wisdom they proclaim, and to the other guests who eagerly listen to them. Therefore you will win the favor of all of them, so that they will venerate and commend you as modest, reverent, and a lover of the Muses, and will thank you for the favor of your attentive listening. If you do otherwise, and disturb them with your talkativeness, you will offend everyone, and will be regarded as immodest, irreverent, bold, and talkative. If this reverence of silence is owed to secular music at banquets, much more is it owed to sacred song in churches, for instance at Mass and Vespers; for this is demanded by the honor and majesty of God, to whom these praises are sung, and who is invoked and adored in them. Wherefore Christ drove out the buyers and sellers from the temple, and with equal reason would have driven out the chatterers and gossips, had He found them there, saying: "My house is a house of prayer," not of idle talk, "but you have made it a den of thieves," Luke XIX, 46.
This verse is now missing in the Greek and Syriac texts.
10. YOUNG MAN, SPEAK IN YOUR OWN CAUSE ONLY WITH DIFFICULTY
that is, rarely, sparingly, slowly, reluctantly. Hence Jansen and others add: when it is necessary — that is, you should not speak unless it is necessary to speak; but the Roman manuscripts delete this.
11. IF YOU ARE ASKED TWICE, LET YOUR ANSWER HAVE A HEAD. — From the elders he passes to the young, and prescribes for them silence and few words; for just as it is fitting for elders to speak, so it is fitting for the young to be silent and to listen. This is the first and chief instruction for young people: namely, that at table they should be taciturn and sparing of words. Therefore let them not speak unless their situation demands it — for instance, when it is necessary to speak — and even then only 'vix,' that is, reluctantly and sparingly, which he explains by adding: "If you are asked twice" — that is, do not answer, and do not speak unless you have been asked twice; for then you cannot honorably remain silent. Yet even then take care that "your answer have a head" — in Greek kephalaiōson, that is, reduce your speech to brief headings, so that you may encompass much in few words. Hence the Roman-corrected Greek reads: Young man, speak, when necessity requires, only barely; if you are asked twice, reduce your speech to a summary, encompassing much in few words. The Tigurine: Speak, young man, if
you must speak before the banqueters, barely; yet even when invited twice, speak in summary, encompassing much in few words. Others: Bring your speech into main points, explaining much in few words. For this is what humility, modesty, restraint, and the reverence that young people owe to their elders demands; for if they do otherwise, they will appear to be know-it-alls and arrogant, and to be claiming for themselves the authority to speak and wanting to show off their wisdom. To the same end belongs what follows:
12. IN MANY THINGS BE AS IF UNKNOWING, AND LISTEN IN SILENCE WHILE ALSO INQUIRING.
In Greek: genou hōs ginōskōn kai hama siōpōn, which first the Tigurine, connecting it with what precedes, translates: Make sure you understand what you are asked and what you ought to answer, and meanwhile be silent — that is, when asked, be silent until you have prudently considered what you ought to answer. Second, the Roman and Complutensian editions translate: Be as one who knows and at the same time is silent — that is, make sure you understand, know, and recognize what is said at the table by the elders; but in such a way that you are silent at the same time, and do not show that you know these things. Our translator, instead of hōs, that is 'as,' read ou, that is 'not,' and adds certain other things. Hence he translates: in many things be as one not knowing, that is, unknowing. The meaning is: although you understand and know many things, yet by keeping silent, disguise that you know them, and conduct yourself as if you did not know them; for thus by humility you will conceal your knowledge, and will provoke the elders to continue speaking and teaching. Therefore listen to them, silent and at the same time inquiring, as one eager to hear and learn; yet do this modestly and at the right time — just as Christ at age twelve concealed His knowledge among the doctors, and did not teach but asked questions, Luke II, 46. Finally, as St. Bernard says in his treatise On the Order of Life: "Silence is the greatest act of modesty;" and this is the first endowment of the young. See St. Bonaventure, On the Training of Novices, part I, chapter XX. This is the second instruction for young people; the third follows:
13. IN THE MIDST OF GREAT MEN DO NOT PRESUME (to speak): AND WHERE THERE ARE ELDERS, DO NOT SPEAK MUCH.
So reads Jansen and others everywhere; but the word 'to speak' (loqui) must be deleted with the Roman and Greek editions. For the Complutensian Greek reads thus: In the midst of great men mē exisazou, that is, do not make yourself their equal; and where there are elders, do not chatter much. The Roman edition: and when another is speaking, do not chatter much. The Tigurine: Do not make yourself equal to the great men among whom you find yourself; and where elders are present, do not chatter much. For the Roman edition reads heterou legontos, that is, 'when another is speaking,' in place of which the Complutensian and Tigurine editions read hopou gerontes, that is, 'where there are elders.' The Syriac: Among princes do not exalt yourself, and do not wish to insult those who are older, by contradicting them and speaking much in their presence; for this is an insult to the elders. Therefore, to reconcile the Latin with the Greek and Syriac, explain it thus: In the midst of great men, do not make yourself equal (as some manuscripts read) to them, so as to presume to use the same freedom with them, so as to dare to act with them as an equal with an equal, so as to wish freely to do and say the same things that they do and say; for this is a sign of arrogance, boldness, and impudence. Therefore, offended by this,
the great men, indignant that you wish to make yourself their equal when you are of an inferior station, will rise up against you and put you down by words and deeds as far as they can; so that you who wished to be equal to the highest may become the equal of, indeed inferior to, the lowest. For the same reason do not presume to speak much among the elders, because by doing so you seem to make yourself their equal, and to arrogate their gravity, authority, and prudence to yourself. Therefore you will offend them, and they will criticize and rebuff your arrogance. Akin to this is St. Bonaventure's warning: "Among many do not speak much" — both to show reverence to the multitude, and to avoid the confusion, tumult, contradiction, and reproof that may come from any one of the many.
Hence by the custom of all nations, the young honor the old and defer to them the honor of sitting and speaking. Whence Macrobius, book III of the Saturnalia: "Old age," he says, "if we are wise, is to be venerated." And Valerius Maximus, book II, chapter I, writes that the young formerly so honored their elders as if they were the common parents of all; whence senators were called Conscript Fathers, and from the word for old men (senes) the Senate was named, because no one was admitted to it unless he was old, as I noted at chapter XXV, verse 7. For this reason gerontes, that is, elders, among the Spartans were the senators and nobles — twenty-eight in number — who held the highest magistracy, as Aristotle testifies in the Politics. Moreover, Plutarch, book VII of the Symposiacs, thinks that gerontas are so called not so much from ges (earth) — that is, from earthly dryness, and because they flow back to the earth — as from geraskō, that is, from veneration, honor, and reverence; therefore among all nations they were held in the highest honor. Hear Juvenal, satire 13:
They believed it a great crime, to be atoned for by death, If a young man did not rise for an old man, or A boy for anyone with a beard, even though he himself saw More grain at home and greater heaps of acorns. So venerable was it to be four years older, And the first down was equal to sacred old age.
And Ovid, book V of the Fasti:
Great once was the reverence for a white head, And the wrinkle of old age had its own value.
How the Essenes honored the elderly, see in Philo, book On the Essenes; how much the Egyptians did, see in Herodotus in the Euterpe. For more on honoring the elderly, see Cicero, book I of the Offices; Plato, dialogue 9 On the Laws; Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics IX, 11; Aelian, book I On the Nature of Animals, where he gives the example of elephants as a stimulus to this: "This kind of animal," he says, "from the beginning, by the guidance of nature alone, without the precept of Lycurgus, or Solon, or Zaleucus, most sacredly observes this: the younger ones yield their lawful food to the aged, and tend them with the highest respect and protect them from dangers; when they have fallen into a pit, they pull them out by throwing in bundles of branches, by which, as by ladders, the elderly burdened by age ascend and are freed." These things about elephants are also reported by Pliny, book VIII, chapter V, and Solinus, chapter XXXVIII. Similar things about ants are reported by the same Aelian, book VIII.
With this wise, keen, and learned fable of the ostrich and the hen, Cyril sets it before the eyes, as if for viewing, in book II of the Moral Apologies, chapter IV, entitled: Against the Presumptuous. "An ostrich named Alathus," he says, "having climbed a mountain on foot, and seeing the birds spreading themselves through the clear air with the agility of their wings, took presumption from his own feathers and wished to attempt the same. And when with the force of his panting he was preparing to commit himself to the air, a hen seeing this is said to have spoken to him thus: Keep your place, dearest, and beware lest through the feather of your presumption you lose the leg of your virtue. But spurning this saving counsel, he quickly replied: Be silent, most wretched creature, who, when you could enjoy the high and bright abodes by the power of your wings, cultivate the mud with the heaviness of your poor beast's body. Having said this, with the vigor of a presumptuous heart he flung himself with great force, and with the lying balance of his deceptive feathers, he fell by his own weight, and in the rapid descent of his own mass he shattered himself entirely. Then at the wailing of the wounded bird, the hen, knowing the situation, descended and came to him on sure foot, and said: I do not wonder at your imprudence, because upon your great body you have placed a head that is far too small; and therefore by a useless wing you have lost so serviceable a foot, and the vanity of flight has taken from you the step of truth. For you did not consider that presumption, when it stretches too far, disjoins; and when it raises up, casts down; and when it puts forward, puts behind."
He then strengthens the fable with other parables of the stomach, the heart, weight, and wine, saying: "Thus when the stomach has drawn in beyond its capacity, it is confounded; and the heart immoderately expanded, having lost the vital spirit, extinguishes itself. A weight snatched up higher falls with greater force, and a sail raised without measure is submerged. But every virtue acts with moderation, and nature, fighting against disease, shows its power only in the utmost necessity. Therefore take the measure of your strength, and do not stretch yourself beyond the limit of your length. Take up a burden that you can bear, and drink what you can digest. For he who strives to lift a weight disproportionate to his strength, bursts. And if wine is drunk immoderately, it intoxicates the head. Having said these things, she departed, leaving the presumptuous one in his pain."
14. BEFORE HAIL COMES THE LIGHTNING FLASH: AND BEFORE MODESTY GOES GRACE, AND FOR YOUR REVERENCE GOOD GRACE SHALL COME TO YOU.
So read the Roman edition, Rabanus, Lyranus, and others. But the Greek, Jansen, Palacius, and others read 'thunder' instead of 'hail'; for the Greek reads thus: Before thunder the lightning hastens, and grace precedes the modest man. The Tigurine: As lightning precedes thunder, so grace goes before the bashful man, that you may obtain goodwill for your reverence. Palacius explains this thus: Just as lightning is perceived before thunder, although in reality the thunder comes before the lightning, so although in reality modesty comes before grace, yet modesty is so pleasing that it seems to our eyes that grace precedes and goes before modesty — not
that it follows, but that it precedes. Thus modesty magnetically, as it were, draws to itself the favor of men, and therefore before modesty — that is, as soon as and the very moment people discover modesty — immediately its grace and benevolence attracts and charms them, so that one who a little before was unknown begins to be loved and esteemed by them. Thus does modesty commend, thus does it win favor, thus does it draw benevolence to itself. St. Ambrose, book I of the Offices, chapter XVIII: "In the very entrance," he says, "the action of the body is tested and commended. And so the disposition of the mind is what is discerned in the bearing of the body. The body is, as it were, an image of the soul, in which morals and the tenor of life shine forth, so that one is praised from its adornment. And hence it is that toward some people, even those we have not previously known, the mind is well disposed, while toward certain others it is alienated from the first meeting. Therefore modesty contributes not a little." St. Ambrose beautifully describes modesty thus, book I of the Offices, chapter III: "Modesty is a good companion, which does not dare to advance beyond the limit of humanity; which, always moderate, chaste, and pious, dares to do nothing injurious, nothing petulant, nothing insolent; it renders to each his due and abstains from what belongs to others. Even for the sake of virtue, if you can, do not exceed it: lest while you vindicate what belongs to another, you impute a sin. Good therefore is this modesty, which is the companion of all virtues."
The mystical and moral maxim is this: Just as lightning and the flash, which gleams suddenly and in an instant, precedes thunder (or hail), so grace, which suddenly shows itself visible and, as it were, flashing, precedes modesty and humility. For when we behold someone modest and bashful, we are immediately affected with grace toward him by that very fact, and we love him — and this on account of the reverence that his modesty and humility show us. So St. Bonaventure, On the Training of Novices, part I, chapter XX: "Young man," he says, "whoever you are who at table desires to hear and be taught, I advise you to answer briefly and in a low voice, and to speak humbly and modestly; for it is a rule observed among secular people and commended by the Wise Man (in this passage), that you should not contradict or oppose anyone in a doubtful matter."
to follow. Therefore from the reverence which you have shown to elders, good grace will come to you; for you will appear and be regarded as gracious.
Jansenius more fully explains: Grace, he says, precedes modesty, or (as the Greek has it) the modest person; because it is always present to him, and ready to receive her or him, just as one who precedes another for the sake of honor is always at hand, prepared to assist if need be. Or, because modesty immediately diffuses grace from itself, just as thunder emits lightning from itself. A similar expression is found in the Psalms, when it is said of God, Psalm 88: 'Mercy and truth shall precede Your face,' namely because God has those virtues as inseparable companions always, and in all His deeds He immediately displays them and makes them shine forth. And so the phrase which is in what is said, 'Before modesty grace will go before,' is well expressed by the part added by the Translator, which is not in the Greek: 'And for reverence,' that is modesty, 'good grace will come to you,' that is graciousness, meaning: On account of modesty you will be pleasing, because modesty greatly commends young people. And rightly grace is compared to lightning, modesty to thunder; because just as lightning and the flash shine with their light and gladden, so also grace has its own gladdening light: and just as thunder makes people astonished, so also does modesty. It is therefore signified that just as to thunder, a thing not pleasant in itself, there is joined lightning, pleasant in itself, which thunder diffuses from itself: so modesty, a thing which torments and makes a person astonished, always has grace joined to it, which it diffuses from itself, gleaming and refreshing like light. So Jansenius aptly explains.
The Roman reading comes to the same thing, which instead of 'thunder' reads 'hail,' that is thundering hail, or hailing thunder. For, as Lyranus says, at the beginning of spring and autumn, and often at other times, when the seasons of the year or weather change, with thunder, or rather immediately after thunder and lightning, hail follows. And so it is more manifest and clear that hail follows lightning rather than thunder. For thunder in reality precedes lightning, indeed is the cause of lightning; although on account of the slowness of sound and hearing it is heard later, and lightning is seen first on account of the swiftness both of it and of sight. For thunder, by striking clouds together, elicits lightning; but lightning dissolves the cloud into rain and hail. For Pliny relates, book II, chapter 60: 'Hail is produced from frozen rain, and snow from the same moisture more softly congealed; but frost from frozen dew.' Aristotle teaches the same, book I of Meteorology, chapter 12. Whence Rabanus explains it thus, meaning: The flash of lightning will precede the weight of hail: so also the brightness of grace precedes the grace of modesty, and increases the gift of heavenly glory in proportion to reverence.
He aptly joins to the silence of young people the commendation of modesty; because silence and the other precepts which he has already given to young people flow from modesty, and so prescribe nothing other than modesty in words and deeds to young people. And rightly grace is compared to lightning, and modesty to hail; because grace illuminates the gracious and makes them splendid and brilliant: while modesty strikes, beats down and prostrates the mind, just as hail prostrates the harvest. Again, just as hail is frozen rain, so modesty, like fear (for it is itself a part and species of fear), constricts the soul, chills it and as it were freezes it, and from this not rarely induces pallor of the face, stammering of the tongue, palpitation of the heart, and trembling of the limbs. Therefore fear always accompanies shame, and so the bashful are timid, and vice versa.
Morally, learn here how great is the grace of modesty in young people, inasmuch as it is compared to lightning and the flash; for it, like modesty, is as it were a splendor, flower, and beauty of life and conduct, as St. Ambrose teaches, book I of the Offices, chapters 15 and 17: 'It is therefore fitting,' he says, 'for good young people to have the fear of God, to show honor to parents, to have reverence for elders, to guard chastity, not to scorn humility, to love clemency and modesty: these are ornaments of the younger age. For as in the old there is gravity, in the young there is liveliness: so in adolescents modesty is commended as if by a certain dowry of nature,' etc.; and chapter 18: 'Silence itself, in which there is the leisure of certain virtues, is the greatest act of modesty.' And he gives the example of the Blessed Virgin, who, although greeted by the Angel, nevertheless out of modesty did not greet Him in return. And further: 'Modesty must also be maintained in movement itself, in gesture, and in gait.' St. Bernard, Sermon 86 on the Song of Songs: 'What is more lovable,' he says, 'than a modest youth? How beautiful, and how splendid a gem of character in the life and countenance of a young person! How true and by no means doubtful a messenger of good hope, an indicator of good character! It is a rod of discipline for him who, confronting shameful passions, restrains and suppresses the unruly movements and frivolous actions of a slippery age. How it flees foul speech and every subsequent baseness! It is the sister of continence. No equally manifest sign of dove-like simplicity, and therefore also a witness of innocence. It is a lamp of a chaste mind, perpetually shining, so that nothing base or unseemly dare lurk in it that it would not immediately expose. It is the eraser of evils, and the defender of innate purity, the special glory of conscience, and the guardian of reputation, the ornament of life, the seat of virtue, the first-fruits of virtues, the praise of nature, and the mark of all that is honorable. The very blush of the cheeks, which perhaps shame has brought on, how much grace and beauty it usually brings to a suffused face!'
See the same treatise On the Order of Life, or On the Instruction of Boys, where much is transcribed from the Offices of St. Ambrose, and the style varies somewhat. For this reason, Bellarmine, in the book On Ecclesiastical Writers, and others doubt whether this treatise is by St. Bernard.
Again, you may rather understand these things of the reverence which is owed to God when we pray to Him, meaning: Just as li-
lightning, gladdening the eyes, precedes hail and thunder: hail indeed in reality, because it is elicited by the very bursting of the cloud; but thunder in perception, because the flash is felt and presented to the eyes before the thunder is heard: so likewise the grace or favor of God, like lightning gladdening the mind, precedes the modesty and reverence that constricts us like thunder or hail; because it is a sign of God's prevenient grace if we honor and revere Him. And not only this, but also for the reverence shown, good grace will come to us; for whatever we have asked from God, we shall certainly obtain.
15 and 16. AND AT THE HOUR OF RISING DO NOT DELAY; BUT RUN AHEAD FIRST TO YOUR HOUSE, AND THERE DIVERT YOURSELF, AND THERE PLAY, AND PURSUE YOUR IDEAS, AND NOT IN SINS, AND PROUD SPEECH.
So the Roman edition, Rabanus and others read. Less correctly therefore, instead of 'do not delay,' Jansenius reads 'do not be morose'; that is, he says, do not be morose, that is sad, grave and slow. Others read even worse, 'do not sadden yourself,' or 'let it not sadden you'; namely, the hour of rising and departing. The Complutensian reads 'do not rub yourself,' as gluttons, drunkards, idlers and sluggards rub themselves when they are called and torn away from a sumptuous banquet. The Greek has, 'do not be last'; so they express the whole sentence thus: 'At the hour of rising, do not be last; run back to your house, and do not loiter: there play and pursue your thoughts, and not in sins and proud speech.' The Zurich version: 'Rise early, do not be among the last to take yourself home, and do not sit idle; there play, and indulge your own judgment, as long as you do not sin or act proudly.' For the Hebrew word דבר dabar, that is 'word' or 'speech,' is often taken by metonymy for the thing signified by the word or speech: therefore 'proud speech' is a proud thing, action and deed. The Arabic, adding some things and removing others, has: 'Do not insult with words one greater than yourself, nor multiply words over the table, and go to your house while you are stable in mind, and go to your bed in the fear of the Lord, and not in weakness.' The Syriac also, skipping over much here and summarizing other things briefly, has only this: 'At the time of the meal do not be much given to speaking, and while you still have your wits, go to your house, and do your will in the fear of God, and not with harm.'
This is the fourth admonition for young people at a banquet, namely that when the meal is finished, or at least when the time to rise has come, they should rise at once and go home: for there are those who after the meal stand chatting, drink, and get drunk, and remain until late at night. He says therefore, 'do not delay,' that is, do not entangle yourself in others' delays, do not seek trifles, do not weave delays, as those do who allow themselves to be detained by the fellow-guests or the host, indeed who seek to be detained until they become drunk; and from there fall into quarrels, blows and killings: but be the first to leave the banquet for home, and there among your own people divert your mind from serious matters, freely relax and refresh yourself, and exercise with some game, if
you wish: and pursue your ideas, which you have conceived and planned in your mind, that is, indulge your own judgment and desire, do what you have in mind and what pleases and appeals to you, provided you do not go astray, or say or do anything proudly. For in your own home you are free and can express your mind, whereas in another's house propriety and dignity must be maintained. He therefore permits, indeed advises, that immediately after the meal serious matters not be taken up, but the mind be diverted from cares, which usually impede the digestion of food: for this is aided by play and honest recreation without fault. For this reason also in monasteries and religious houses, after lunch and dinner an hour of conversation is granted, for honest relaxation of the mind and digestion of food, and so that through mutual conversation about virtues, histories, and other pious or learned matters, they may promote and kindle one another in learning, piety and spirit.
17. AND ABOVE ALL THESE THINGS BLESS THE LORD WHO MADE YOU, AND WHO INEBRIATES YOU WITH ALL HIS GOOD THINGS.
This is the fifth admonition, that banqueters should give thanks for so lavish a feast, and for the other gifts and benefits of God, to Him who, just as He originally created them from nothing, so now has refreshed them with so many delights, and continually overwhelms and inebriates them with all good things. The Greek has: 'And for all these things bless Him who made you, and who inebriates you with His good things.' The Zurich version: 'For these things celebrate your Creator, who enriches you with His good things most lavishly.' The Syriac: 'And above all these things bless the name of God, who has satisfied you with His good things.' For God inebriates us with the goods of earth, sea, air, and heaven: He inebriates us with the protection of Angels, with gifts of grace in this life, with gifts of eternity in the next: He inebriates us not only with necessary and useful goods, but with those that overflow, and which serve only abundance and pleasure; but especially He inebriates us with the chalice of the Eucharist, of which
the Psalmist says, Psalm 22:5: 'And Your inebriating chalice, how excellent it is!' Finally, He inebriates us with that love of His, by which He gives what He gives most lovingly.
Moreover, God far more inebriates us with spiritual goods than with temporal ones, both because the former are far greater, and because they more simply affect and delight. St. Thomas gives the a priori reason, III, Question 31, article 5: 'This,' he says, 'appears from the three things required for delight, namely the good that is joined, that to which it is joined, and the joining itself. For the spiritual good itself is both greater than corporeal good, and is more loved, the sign of which is that people abstain even from the greatest corporeal pleasures so as not to lose honor, which is an intelligible good. Likewise also the intellective part itself is much nobler and more knowing than the sensitive part. The joining also of both is more intimate, more perfect, and more firm. More intimate indeed, because sense stops at the external accidents of a thing; but the intellect penetrates to the very essence of the thing. For the object of the intellect is the essence of a thing. More perfect, because to the sensible joining to the sense there is added mo-
tion, which is an imperfect act; whence sensible pleasures too are not all at once, but in them something passes by and something is awaited to be completed, as is evident in the pleasure of food and sexual pleasures, but intelligible things are without motion; whence such pleasures are complete all at once. It is also more firm, because corporeal pleasurable things are corruptible and quickly fail; but spiritual goods are incorruptible.' He then adds that in a qualified sense corporeal pleasures are greater than spiritual ones: 'But as regards us,' he says, 'corporeal pleasures are more vehement for three reasons: first, because sensible things are more known to us than intelligible things; second, because sensible pleasures, since they are passions of the sensitive appetite, involve some corporeal change, which does not happen in spiritual pleasures, except through a certain overflow from the higher appetite to the lower; third, because corporeal pleasures are sought as certain medicines against corporeal defects or troubles, from which certain sorrows follow. Whence corporeal pleasures, coming upon such sorrows, are more keenly felt, and consequently more readily accepted than spiritual pleasures, which have no contrary sorrows.'
Morally, learn here that, just as a blessing must be said before the meal, as I showed from the ancient custom at 1 Timothy 4:5; so also a thanksgiving must be added afterward, by which we give thanks for so generous and lavish a repast, according to what Paul says, 1 Timothy 4:3: 'Foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving'; indeed according to what Moses prescribed for the Hebrews, Deuteronomy 8:10, saying: 'That when you have eaten and are satisfied, you may bless the Lord your God for the excellent land which He has given you.' For this reason the Jews at festive and solemn banquets, even now when they are finished, give thanks to God with this rite, as is found in the Siddur ha-Berachot, that is, the Order of Blessings. The father of the family, or the more honored guest, holding a cup full of wine in both hands, says: 'Let us bless, or let us give thanks to our God, because we eat from what is His.' When this is said, the guests respond: 'Praised be our God, from whose good things we have eaten, and by whose kindness we have lived.' After this the one who leads in prayer prays again thus: 'Blessed be He, and blessed be His name.' And he then adds more in the same form. When these are finished, all the guests say the following prayer quietly to themselves: 'Fear the Lord, all His saints; for there is no want to those who fear Him: the rich have been in need and have hungered; but those who seek the Lord shall not be diminished of any good,' Psalm 33:10. After this again the one who leads in prayer concludes the thanksgiving with this prayer: 'Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the world, who create the fruit of the vine.' When this is said, from the blessed cup which he holds in his hand, he drinks a little, and then gives it to all the guests to taste,
and so distributes it. Christ preserved this rite of the Hebrews at the Last Supper, as is clear from Luke 22:17. And when it was finished, He said a hymn with the Apostles. Paul of Burgos, a convert from Judaism to Christianity, writes that there was an ancient Jewish tradition that after eating the paschal lamb they would sing Psalm 112: 'Praise the Lord, O children,' and the following ones up to Psalm 118: 'Blessed are the undefiled in the way'; and that this was the hymn which Christ sang with His disciples.
From Christ and the Hebrews this custom of giving thanks to God after the meal passed to the Christians. Whence St. Justin, Apology 2, teaches that the early Christians did the same; St. Augustine, Epistle 59 to Paulinus; Irenaeus, book IV; Tertullian, Apologeticum, chapter 39: 'Prayer,' he says, 'begins and closes the meal.' To this pertains the passage from the Council of Nantes, distinction 44, chapter Nullus: 'But when priests come together for any banquet, let one of them begin a verse before the meal, and bless the food; and then let them sit in order, each showing honor to the other, and let them bless the food and drink in turns, and let one of them read something from Holy Scripture. After the meal let them likewise say a hymn after the example of the Lord, as He is read to have done at the Supper,' etc.
St. Jerome, writing to Eustochium, in chapter 1 On the Consecration of the Table, writes thus: 'Whence we must more carefully provide that we celebrate the solemn day not so much by abundance of food as by exultation of spirit. For it is very absurd to want to honor by excessive satiety a martyr (he means Peter, on whose feast day he had written this) whom you know pleased God by fasting. You must always eat in such a way that both prayer and reading follow the food.' Shortly before this, in Epistle 18 to Marcella, he confirms this by the example of Ambrose; because he says in a certain epistle that Ambrose wrote that he never took food, when Origen was present, without reading; and never went to sleep unless one of the brothers was reading aloud from the Sacred Scriptures. St. Chrysostom, having said that Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel, prayed to God intently after feasting, that He might remove her sterility, adds this: 'This then we have gained from a woman, that we may know to pray also after a banquet. For whoever is prepared for this will never fall into drunkenness or excessive drinking, will never be distended by gluttony; but because he has the expectation of prayer, with a rein placed upon his spirit, he will partake in due measure of all that has been set before him, and will fill both soul and body with much blessing. For a banquet which began with prayer and ends in prayer will never fail, but will bring us all good things more abundantly than any fountain. Let us therefore not neglect so great a gain.' He proves it by an example: 'For it would be absurd if, when our servants, if ever they have received some portion of those things which have been set before us, give us thanks and depart with good wishes for us; we, when we enjoy so many and so great
good things, should not pay even this honor to God, especially since from this we shall gain much security. For where there is prayer and thanksgiving, there the grace of the Holy Spirit comes, demons are driven away, and every hostile power flees and departs. He who is about to turn to prayer does not dare to say anything absurd, not even in the middle of a banquet: or if he has spoken, he quickly comes to his senses. Therefore it is fitting both at the beginning and at the end of a banquet to give thanks to God, for this reason especially, that, as I began to say, we will not easily fall into drunkenness if we establish this custom for ourselves. Indeed, even if you should arise heavy with excess food and drink, not even so should you abandon the custom,' etc.
Of the Greek Church (as is clear from its Horologion) this formula of table blessing and thanksgiving exists: first, before the foods are set out, the entire Psalm 144 is read: 'I will exalt You, O God my King, and I will bless Your name forever,' etc. Then, when the foods have been set out, the blessing of the table is recited by the priest, and what has been set out is blessed thus: 'Christ our God, bless the food and drink of Your servants; for You are holy, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.' Afterward, when they have tasted the food, they rise at the table, and all together recite that blessing which both Clement and Chrysostom mention: 'Blessed are You, O Lord God, who have mercy on us, and feed us from our youth, who give food to all flesh; fill our hearts with joy and gladness, that always having every sufficiency
(self-sufficiency), or having in all things a mind content with what is present, we may abound in every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom be to You glory, honor, power (kratos), adoration; with the Holy Spirit. Amen.' After the food is taken, first this thanksgiving is recited: 'Glory to You, O Holy One, glory to You, O King; for You have given us food for joy: fill us also with the Holy Spirit, that we may be found acceptable in Your sight, and not confounded or ashamed, when You shall render to each one
according to his works.' Then Psalm 122 is read: 'I was glad at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.' Afterward this verse is added: 'As You were present in the midst of Your disciples (dining), O Savior, giving them peace, so come also to us, and save us.' Finally there is read from Psalm 21:27: 'The poor shall eat, and shall be filled: they shall praise the Lord who seek Him,' to the end: 'Lord, have mercy.' It is concluded at last with this short prayer: 'Blessed are You, O God, who have had mercy on us and fed us from Your rich gifts. By His grace and kindness (philanthropy) may it be given to us to enjoy them, both now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.'
The rite of the Latin Church for blessing the table and giving thanks, we all hear and know, and it is expressed at the end of the Roman Breviary. Indeed even the Gentiles blessed the table, and when it was finished they gave thanks, indeed they poured libations and sacrificed to their gods, as Sozomen teaches that Julian the Apostate did, book III, chapter 14. So also the Turks and Saracens bless the table.
SECOND PART OF THE CHAPTER. HE COMMENDS THE LAW AND THE FEAR OF GOD, AND COUNSEL.
18. HE WHO FEARS THE LORD WILL RECEIVE HIS TEACHING: AND THOSE WHO WATCH FOR HIM WILL FIND BLESSING.
He returns as usual from the particular to the general; that is, from the particular teachings of modesty, sobriety, and propriety, he springs back to the general praise of the law and fear of God, and reviews the fruits of keeping it and the penalties and losses of not keeping it. The meaning is: Up to now I have commended many particular commandments of God: now, lest I be too lengthy in reviewing them, I commend all the rest in general with equal zeal and devotion. And because the cause and root of keeping the commandments is the fear of God, I instill it again and again upon each person. For he who fears the Lord will reverently receive His teaching, in Greek paideia, that is discipline, namely the law which restrains, rebukes and chastises all illicit movements of concupiscence and all vices. This law therefore, although contrary to the flesh, he will promptly receive so as to obey his God. Again, 'he will receive His teaching,' that is, he will be inwardly illumi-
nated and taught by God, and will be imbued with His wisdom and spirit. Whence he adds: 'And those who watch for Him (the Lord) will find blessing': in Greek, 'those who rise early will find good pleasure,' that is, as the Complutensian has it, 'those who rise at dawn will find favor'; others translate 'benevolence'; others 'favor'; our translator with others reads 'blessing,' that is beneficence, meaning: Those who seek God in the morning, to raise their minds to Him, to adore Him, invoke Him and meditate upon Him; these will be showered with abundant gifts and benefits both of soul and body from Him; these will obtain His benevolence, and thence His beneficence. Whence the Zurich version translates: 'he who reveres the Lord will embrace His discipline, and those who seek Him in the morning will render Him benevolent to themselves.' The Syriac clearly: 'he who seeks the worship of God will receive teaching, and when he prays before Him in the morning, He will hear him.' He alludes to Wisdom 16:28, where the Wise Man, speaking of the manna which had to be gathered before sunrise (for when the sun
rose its rays melted it), he gives the reason, saying: 'That it might be known to all, that one ought to anticipate the sun to bless You, and to adore You at the rising of the light,' meaning: Therefore the manna had to be gathered before sunrise (for after sunrise it melted in the sun's rays), so that the Hebrews might learn not to snore, but to rise in the morning for prayer and to prepare food: for the food was manna. And God imparts a similar spiritual manna to those who awake early to Him in the morning, and say with the Psalmist: 'O God, my God, to You I watch from the light,' Psalm 62:1. And with Isaiah, chapter 26: 'My soul has desired You in the night: but also with my spirit in my inmost heart I will watch for You from the morning.' This manna is savored by religious men, who in the morning meditate on divine things, chant psalms, pray, hear or celebrate Mass, etc.
19. HE WHO SEEKS THE LAW WILL BE FILLED BY IT: AND HE WHO ACTS TREACHEROUSLY WILL BE SCANDALIZED IN IT.
In Greek, 'and the hypocrite will be scandalized in it,' that is, the hypocrite or pretender, who hypocritically pretends, will be scandalized in it. The Zurich version: 'he who pursues the law will be enriched by it: but the pretender will receive offense from it.' Others: 'he who seeks the law will be filled by it: and he who acts in pretense will stumble in it.' The meaning is: He who sincerely seeks to know the law of God and to carry out what he knows in practice; this person will be filled with its good things and fruits, namely God's favor, help, grace and glory, and so with every good, according to the saying: 'Fear the Lord, all His saints, for there is no want to those who fear Him. The rich have been in need and have hungered, but those who seek the Lord shall not be diminished of any good,' Psalm 33:10. And conversely, he who acts not sincerely, but treacherously, that is fraudulently, hypocritically and in pretense, who namely before men pretends to be zealous for the divine law while in his heart he neglects and despises it, and secretly when no one sees him violates and transgresses it; this person will stumble in it: because on account of his hypocrisy and violated law he will be sharply punished by God, and will fall into serious losses both present and eternal. Just as therefore Christ is for faithful Christians a rock of refuge and salvation, but for unbelieving Jews a stone of stumbling and rock of scandal; because by their faithlessness toward Christ they fall from God's grace and salvation and plunge into hell: so likewise the law of God for the zealous and sincere is the cause of salvation and every good: but for hypocrites and transgressors it is the cause of perdition and every evil. For the law promises and bestows reward and happiness on those who observe it; but threatens and inflicts punishment and damnation on transgressors. See what was said at chapter 1, verses 14 and following. For he alludes to those passages, and especially to what he said at chapter 1, verse 37: 'Do not be a hypocrite in the sight of men, and you will not be scandalized by your own lips'; and to what he said at chapter 2, verse 19: 'Those who love the Lord will be filled with His law.'
20. THOSE WHO FEAR THE LORD WILL FIND JUST JUDGMENT, AND WILL KINDLE ACTS OF JUSTICE LIKE A LIGHT.
The word 'just' is not in the Greek, but is a proper epithet of judgment. For 'acts of justice' the Greek has dikaiomata, that is justifications. Therefore by 'judgment,' in Greek krima, understand what is just, what the right judgment of reason dictates, what both law and virtue prescribe, what the holy mind and will of God commands: but by 'acts of justice' understand just works, by which that just judgment, namely the precept of law and virtue, is actually accomplished and fulfilled. The meaning therefore is: Those who fear the Lord will easily, from the natural light of reason, or the supernatural light of faith, or from the instruction of teachers and preachers, know what is just and prescribed by God and His law: and when they carry this out in practice, by this their justification, that is their justice and virtue, like a light growing day by day, they will shine forth both for themselves and for others, illuminating others by their life and conduct, and showing them the way of justice, salvation and happiness. For the fear of God impels them to do what is just and prescribed by law, and at the same time shows it to them, so that they may see what they ought to do, to live justly and piously in this world, awaiting the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God, Titus 2:12. Whence the Zurich version translates: 'those who revere the Lord will discover what is just, and will kindle justice like a light.' The Syriac: 'those who fear God will become wise in His judgments, and much wisdom will go forth from their hearts.' He alludes to Proverbs 4:18: 'The path of the just, like a shining light, proceeds and grows to the perfect day,' meaning: Just as the light of the sun grows, so that from its small beginning at dawn it gradually increases until it becomes full and perfect at midday: so likewise the just person grows daily in wisdom and holiness until he reaches its fullness and perfection, that is, until he becomes perfect here in grace, and after this life in eternal glory, so that he who was holy in childhood, holier in youth, may become holiest in mature age, according to the Apostle's saying: 'Until we all meet in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ,' Ephesians 4:13.
21. THE SINFUL MAN WILL AVOID CORRECTION, AND ACCORDING TO HIS OWN WILL HE WILL FIND A COMPARISON.
In Greek synkrima, that is combination, agreement, namely a patched-together apology and a contrived excuse. It is an antithesis; for he contrasts the character of the hypocrite and sinner with the character of the sincere and just man, meaning: The just man sincerely devotes himself to the law of God, and rejoices to be instructed, directed and corrected according to it: but the sinner, even though he pretends to love the law, in truth hates it, because he loves his own lusts, which are contrary to the law. Therefore
he likewise hates correction and those who correct him, who strive to draw him away from his lusts and bring him back to the law of God and conform him to it. Therefore when he is corrected by them, he finds a comparison according to his own will, that is, he finds examples of others, pretexts, and many reasons, by which, comparing himself and his conduct and deeds with the conduct and deeds of others, he defends and excuses himself, for example saying: Such and such persons want this, they do that: why can I not want and do the same? These things are permitted to commoners, why should reins be placed on me, a rich and noble person? These were the rights and dominion of my ancestors, why should I, their heir, not be permitted to use the same right? etc. He will therefore 'find a comparison,' that is, he will bring forward the similar deeds of others for his own excuse, or he will compare himself with a group of people like himself. Whence the Zurich version translates: 'The wicked man shuns chastisement, and according to his will invents a pretext.' Others: 'and according to his own judgment he contrives a clever apology.' The Syriac: 'the crafty man hides instruction, and after his own will he makes his way.'
Note here: The wise and just differ from the foolish and unjust in two things. The first is that the wise, if they fall or err, allow themselves to be corrected for their fall or error, but the foolish do not allow it. The second is that the wise acknowledge their fault, while the foolish conceal and excuse it, according to Psalm 140: 'Do not incline my heart to words of malice, to make excuses in sins.'
22 and 23. A MAN OF COUNSEL WILL NOT LOSE HIS UNDERSTANDING, THE STRANGER AND THE PROUD WILL NOT FEAR: EVEN AFTER HE HAS ACTED WITH IT WITHOUT COUNSEL, AND HE WILL BE CONVICTED BY HIS OWN PURSUITS.
It is a second antithesis between the wise and the fearful, and the foolish and the bold: namely that the wise man is 'a man of counsel,' who undertakes nothing without first taking mature counsel, both his own and that of prudent persons, and therefore 'will not lose his understanding'; in Greek, 'he will not overlook consideration,' that is, he will not despise deliberation; but will first attentively consider and understand all the circumstances and outcomes, lest he stumble somewhere. But the one who is 'a stranger' to counsel, namely the rash and proud person, 'will not fear,' that is, will not fear the thing that deserves to be feared. It is a metonymy: for 'fear' is put for the object of fear, namely for what ought to be feared: for otherwise no one fears fear, but it is fear that fears the things to be feared. Or more plainly, meaning: He does not fear, that is, he does not admit fear, but excludes it, and assumes boldness and impudence, and boldly throws himself into dangers which the wise fear and avoid. Whence some translate: 'he does not tremble with dread.' Indeed even after he has done something 'without counsel,' that is rashly and recklessly, 'with it,' namely with fear, 'he will not fear,' meaning: The fear and scruple arising in him from the deed, he swallows down and despises after the deed. In Greek, instead of 'with it' there is 'with himself,' which the Complutensian and Roman editions translate as 'according to his own will,' meaning: After someone has acted according to his own will without counsel, boldly and imprudently, he will not fear the damages that will befall him from it. Therefore 'he will be convicted by his own pursuits,' meaning: In the things which he so eagerly pursues, he will be convicted of rashness when he falls into straits and
the dangers attached to them. Or those things which he has pursued with such ardor will convict him of rashness and madness, when instead of pleasure they present him with troubles, anguish and pain. Whence the Zurich version clearly translates: 'A prudent man does not scorn deliberation; but the foolish and proud is not affected by fear, even if he has done something without premeditation.' Others: 'without consultation'; for the Greek is 'without counsel,' which our translator renders 'without counsel.' The Syriac: 'The wise man does not abandon hidden wisdom, and the wicked does not guard his tongue.'
Note: The companion, indeed the cause, of counsel and prudence is fear: for fear of a hidden or impending evil urges a person to deliberate prudently and consult about what should be done or omitted, lest he imprudently incur some loss. Therefore natural philosophers teach that prudence consists in cold, which is the cause of fear: but fortitude and rashness consist in heat, which is the cause of boldness. So we see that the timid are cautious and avoid dangers beforehand, and do not easily fall into any peril: but the bold incur a thousand harms.
24. MY SON, DO NOTHING WITHOUT COUNSEL, AND AFTER THE DEED YOU WILL NOT REPENT.
even if the outcome of the matter is unfavorable; because sound counsels often lack a happy outcome, as I shall shortly show at greater length. In Greek: 'Do nothing without counsel, and in doing do not repent.' Which, first, the Complutensian translates as though it were a double precept: 'Do nothing without counsel, and in doing do not repent,' meaning: Before you do anything, take counsel; after the consultation, proceed boldly, and do not change your purpose or plan.
Second, others translate: 'Do nothing without counsel, and when you have done it, do not repent.' For there are some who grieve and repent after the fact, when they hear that they could have acted more prudently and better, and could have obtained a better lot, such as others have obtained. This often happens to the pusillanimous and melancholic, to whom it must be said: Be content with your lot, which God has given you: We cannot all do everything: Repose in a moderate good is better than restlessness in the highest.
Third, our translator translates best: 'And after the deed you will not repent'; so also the Syriac, 'and after you have done it, you will not be sorry'; and the Zurich version, 'do nothing without deliberation, so that you may not repent of the deed.' He speaks, says Jansenius, of matters of some importance and difficulty, for undertaking which, especially younger people, the counsel of the wise is needed, according to the admonition of Tobias who says: 'Always seek counsel from a wise man,' Tobit 4. And altogether in all things to be done one must use the counsel of Sacred Scripture and the word of God; for thus it happens that we do not ever repent of what we have done, because what is done with sound and right counsel is done well, and one need not grieve over such a deed. Or if human counsel does not succeed rightly, this nevertheless consoles the one who acted, that he did not follow his own judgment, nor rashly undertake the matter, but followed the counsel of those whom it was fitting for him to approach and hear. The saying of Sallust agrees well enough with this maxim: 'Before
'you do anything, take counsel: but when you have taken counsel, the deed must be done promptly.' Moreover, in what follows he suggests that counsel should especially be taken from the word of God and His will, as David did, saying, Psalm 118:24: 'For Your testimonies are my meditation, and Your justifications are my counsel.' Gregory of Nazianzus echoes Sirach in his Tetrastichs: 'Do nothing rashly; but do not abandon what you have begun; It is better to advance than to cut short something good.' Meaning: Nothing should be rashly begun, nor rashly abandoned. Deliberate at length: when you have deliberated, carry it out steadfastly. And St. Basil on Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 26: 'Counsel,' he says, 'is a sacred thing, a union of wills, a fruit of love, a mark of humility. On the contrary, it is an intolerable proof of pride to think that one needs no one's counsel, but that one alone is sufficient for oneself, as though one alone could determine by counsel what is best.' He gives the reason shortly before: 'Truly it is a benefit of no small moment, that counsel should come from a prudent and well-disposed counselor; since by his coming he supplies what is lacking in prudence to those who are seeking counsel about some matter.' And St. Benedict in his Rule, chapter 3: 'If any lesser matters,' he says, 'are to be done for the benefit of the monastery, let him use the counsel of the elders only, as it is written: Do all things with counsel, and after the deed you will not repent.' Eadmer, in the Life of St. Anselm, book I, writes of him thus: 'Knowing,' he says, 'that it is written: Do all things with counsel, and after the deed you will not repent, he did not want to commit himself rashly to any one of the ways of life which he was turning over in his mind, lest in anything he should seem not to obey the precepts of Scripture.'
Those who sin against this precept are the rash and hasty, says Rabanus, who anticipate the time for good deeds, pervert their merit, and often fall into evils, since they do not at all discern good things, who never examine what and when they should act; but usually recognize after the fact that they should not have acted in that way. Whence Solomon says: 'Let your eyelids precede your steps.' Indeed our eyelids precede our steps when right counsels precede our actions. For he who neglects to foresee by consideration what he does, stretches out his steps, closes his eyes, and covers his journey by moving forward; but does not attend to himself by foreseeing; and therefore falls more quickly, because he does not attend by the eyelid of counsel to where he should place the foot of his action.' And further: 'But it must be known that there are many who take counsel, but will not find the stability of truth and peace. As we read in the Gospel, that the Scribes and Pharisees went away and took counsel against Jesus, to catch Him in His speech, Matthew chapter 22. Likewise chapter 26: The chief priests took counsel on how to seize Jesus by guile and kill Him. Whence in the Psalter he says that blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, and in the way of sinners
has not stood, and in the chair of pestilence has not sat: but his will is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he will meditate day and night.' Therefore only that counsel is salutary which is brought forth by the gift of the Holy Spirit according to divine law, through the teaching of the faithful and God-fearing.
For this reason God, when about to create man, took counsel among the three Persons of the Holy Trinity; for He said: 'Let Us make man in Our image and likeness,' meaning: Let Us create man, capable of counsel, with counsel, so that he himself may learn from Us, indeed from his very creation, to do all things with counsel. So St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man, chapters 3 and 4. Whence the eternal Wisdom of God professes the same about Himself, Proverbs 8:12: 'I, Wisdom,' He says, 'dwell in counsel, and I am present among learned thoughts,' meaning: In counsel wisdom dwells, in rashness folly and madness. And chapter 13, verse 10: 'Among the proud there are always quarrels: but those who do all things with counsel are governed by wisdom.' In counsel therefore wisdom is present, indeed presides. And chapter 12, verse 15: 'The way of the fool is right in his own eyes: but he who is wise listens to counsel.' Plato too saw this through a glass darkly, when he said that counsel is a sacred thing. And Aristotle, who asserts that to take counsel is the most divine of the things that exist among men. Among the Symbols of Pythagoras there is this: 'One should not walk in solitude without a staff,' that is, one should confer and consult with friends in times of need. And this: 'When leaving home, scratch the front of your head; when returning, the back,' that is, forethought and diligence should be aroused for things to be done, and when these are completed, they should be examined by memory: for the forehead is a symbol of counsel and forethought, the back of the head of memory. For after the deed, the matter must be reviewed by memory, so that if anything was done wrong, it may be corrected; if anything is lacking, it may be supplied. And this: 'The greatest care must be taken of two times, morning and evening,' that is, of things we are about to do, and of things we have done: the former must be provided for by counsel, the latter must be corrected.
Moreover, among the Seventy Interpreters, the one who was fifty-second in order, when asked by Ptolemy Philadelphus: 'What sort of counselors should one use?' replied: 'Those who have been experienced in many affairs, who maintain the greatest goodwill toward you; and whose character is similar to your own.' So Aristeas, On the Seventy Interpreters.
Morally, learn here that the acts of men are to be measured and evaluated not by their outcomes but by their counsel. Therefore the stupid crowd errs, which looks not to the prudence of counsel but to the outcome of fortune, and judges those things alone to have been done providently which success has commended; according to the words of Phyllis to Demophoon, in Ovid: 'The outcome proves the deeds: may he lack success, I pray, Whoever thinks deeds should be judged by their outcome.'
This was the view of all the wise, even the Gen-
tiles. Whence Artabanus in Herodotus's Polymnia: 'I find,' he says, 'that good deliberation is the greatest gain: for even if something contrary is going to happen, the deliberation was nonetheless good, and fortune has overcome counsel. But he who deliberated basely, even if fortune favored him, is indeed master of his wish, but nonetheless took bad counsel.' Isocrates, in the speech he composed in praise of Helen, criticizes those who can perceive nothing before the event, but consider only the outcomes of affairs. Cicero also in his speech For Rabirius reproaches those who weigh counsels by outcomes, and who think that he foresaw much for whom things went well: but for whom otherwise, they say he perceived nothing, so that it seems there is nothing for a wise man but to divine the future. The same author, Philippics 11: 'In a right opinion,' he says, 'not even a defeated cause is to be blamed.' And in the Paradoxes: 'For sins must not be measured by the outcome of events, but by the vices of men.' Demosthenes, the other eye of eloquence, in the speech in which he defended Ctesiphon against Aeschines: 'See,' he says, 'what counsel I judged should be taken; and do not twist the events that intervened; for the end of all things is imposed as fortune pleases; but the choice shows the mind of the one deliberating.' Livy, decade 3, book 7: 'It was apparent,' he says, 'than which nothing is more unfair, that he would have his reputation from the outcome.' And decade 4, book 8, he relates that among the Carthaginians commanders were crucified if they conducted affairs with a successful outcome but with bad counsel. Quintilian, declamation 281: 'The mind,' he says, 'must never be judged by the outcome.' Pliny, book 5, epistle to Rufus: 'It is altogether wrong,' he says, 'but accepted in practice, that honorable or base counsels, as they turn out prosperously or badly, are accordingly either praised or blamed.' Tacitus, book 1, on Suetonius Paulinus: 'A man of cautious nature,' he says, 'and one for whom safe counsels rather than prosperity from chance were pleasing.' Seneca, book 4 of the Declamations: 'The will begins all honorable works, occasion completes them. Often virtue has been honored, even where the outcome has betrayed it. Crimes too, although they have halted short of their intended result, are punished; nor does unhappy virtue lose the title of glory; nor does fortuitous success interrupt the glory of virtue.' Plutarch, in the comparison of Nicias and Crassus: 'Nor do they,' he says, 'seem to judge rightly enough, who, while they praise the expedition of Alexander, dare to censure the attempts of Crassus. For it is not fitting to make judgments from the outcome of the affair.' Finally, it is the pronouncement of the jurists: 'The interpretation of fraud in civil law is derived not merely from the outcome, but also from the counsel.'
25. DO NOT GO IN THE WAY OF RUIN, AND YOU WILL NOT STUMBLE UPON STONES (Greek: in stony places): NOR ENTRUST YOURSELF TO A LABORIOUS WAY, LEST YOU SET A STUMBLING-BLOCK FOR YOUR SOUL.
For 'laborious' our translator seems to have read proskopo; for kopos means labor. The Roman codices read aproskopos, that is 'unexplored'; others read aproskoptos, that is smooth, without stumbling, lacking stumbling-blocks and other inconveniences and impediments. Whence the Zurich version
translates: 'Do not enter upon an obstructed way, lest you stumble upon rocky places; but again, do not trust a smooth way,' meaning: Beware of two extremes, namely: first, do not undertake things too difficult, dangerous and hard, because in them you will easily stumble and fall; second, do not be too secure in things that seem easy and smooth, because just as in a smooth road there can lurk ditches, rocks, and thorns, upon which, unless you watch, you will stumble: so in things that seem smooth, many difficulties can lurk, and many dangers and losses can be hidden.
Moreover the Syriac translates: 'In the way of roughness do not walk, lest perhaps you stumble upon a rock twice. Do not trust in the way of the wicked, and in your ways be cautious.' The Arabic: 'Do not walk in the way of a rock (that is, rocky, filled with stones), lest perhaps you stumble upon a rock twice.' According to the Vulgate reading the meaning is: Do not walk in a way exposed to ruin; so it will happen that you will not strike against its stones and stumbling-blocks, nor stumble. Again, do not enter upon a very laborious way; lest you set a stumbling-block, that is an obstacle, for your soul, so that through excessive labor and weariness you stumble and fall somewhere. It is a proverb, signifying that perilous or very laborious enterprises should not be undertaken; because in the former there is the danger of ruin, in the latter of trouble, weariness and a miserable life. For example, one should not easily sail to the Indies for the sake of riches; because this journey is long, dangerous and very laborious: for it is better to gain a little at home securely than much in the Indies with such danger and labor, according to Ben Sira, alphabet 1, letter Qoph: 'A nearby business is consumed by its master: a distant one consumes its master.' Among the sayings of St. Lawrence Justinian is this: 'Beware of a life that is obstructed by many obstacles; because the works of the Holy Spirit are easy and even, but those of the devil are rough and full of thorns.' So his Life has it, chapter 9. Among the Symbols of Pythagoras is this: 'The cuttlefish should not be eaten,' that is, complicated matters should not be undertaken. And this: 'When your foot strikes the threshold, go back,' that is, things that are harmful from the very beginning should not be pursued. And this: 'Do not stain your seat with oil,' that is, do nothing that disturbs your own or others' peace.
Again, do not undertake a state, office or work that is too dangerous or burdensome and exceeds your strength; for by it you will weigh down your body and oppress your spirit, and you will live wretchedly and miserably. Hence the ancient ascetics and hermits also prescribed for themselves great labors, prayers and penances, but ones proportioned to their strength and to the grace they had received from God. And the martyrs offered themselves eagerly to every kind of torment, because on the one hand the necessity of professing the faith at the risk of their lives compelled them, and on the other the grace of God animated them and made them superior to all torments. For it belongs to a great and excellent soul to despise and overcome dangers and torments when they press upon one. For, as
Elias of Crete says in oration 4 of Gregory of Nazianzus: 'It belongs to fortitude to show a confident spirit in those matters in which boldness must be employed and which do not exceed one's strength, and not to dread wars, but to face grave matters steadfastly: but it belongs to timidity and cowardice to shrink from things that must be undertaken, and to be broken in spirit. But to throw oneself against impossible things and things that should by no means be undertaken, and in which there is more danger than advantage, is rashness; just as on the contrary to yield and retreat is caution and prudence. For it is foolish to risk the sum total of all your affairs in order to gain something of what you hope for,' as Julian the Apostate did, attacking the Persians with rash boldness; whence he lost his life and nearly the entire Roman Empire. For, as Gregory of Nazianzus himself says in the same place: 'In those matters which it is fitting to undertake boldly, to show a great and confident spirit is magnanimity; just as on the contrary to be languid and to shrink from danger is timidity and cowardice. But where greater danger threatens, to go forth to meet it and to thrust oneself into peril, rather than to restrain and hold back, must be attributed to rashness; just as on the contrary, to yield must be attributed to caution and prudence.'
A brilliant example of this maxim is found in the Life of Blessed Peter Celestine, who from being a hermit and founder of the Order of the Celestines was made Pope and called Celestine V. For when he had given himself over to excessive austerity, so that he barely ate food every third day, and then only bread and water, kept six Lents per year, slept on the bare ground, bound by a hair-shirt and an iron chain, and exposed himself to the cold in winter so that he was found half-dead and frozen, he heard a divine voice admonishing him to use discretion, saying: 'Do not, Peter, place so heavy a burden on your donkey, because if you destroy it with an indiscriminate burden, you will have to give an account to God for it. It owes you reasonable service, and you owe it necessary sustenance: if you wish to be carried, carry it.' Obeying, he tempered the rigor of his life. The same man, elected Pope, having felt the burdens and dangers of the papacy for half a year, voluntarily abdicated the papacy and withdrew to the cell he had loved from childhood, in the year of the Lord 1294, and after a year and a half departed from the same cell to heaven, now truly a heavenly Celestine. Whence Alvarus Pelagius, book 2 of the Lament of the Church, article 11: 'Considering,' he says, 'St. Peter de Murrhone, canonized by the Church, who was Pope Celestine V, the great burdens and dangers of the papacy, he perfectly renounced the papacy. Which I believe was a greater miracle, and a greater and more true example of humility and perfection, than anything he did (for he was renowned for many miracles), and than anything that has happened in our days and for many ages before: because there is no one who rejects that entire Papal burden, which is greater than can be said, but rather who throws himself into it, considering the glory and not the burden.' Therefore Gregory XIII cultivated Pope Celestine with great honor, and had him in the hall of
the Vatican's ambulatory magnificently depicted so that he might always have him before his eyes and mind.
26. AND BEWARE OF YOUR CHILDREN, AND BE ON GUARD AGAINST YOUR HOUSEHOLD.
The Zurich version: 'And also beware of your children, and take care that your household members do not harm you.' In the preceding verse he warned that dangerous and excessively laborious things should not be undertaken: here he warns that no one should trust too much in things that seem safe and easy, namely, that one should not trust too much in children and household members; because both are often unfaithful and ungrateful, more often imprudent, so that they suggest harmful things; most often greedy, so that they seek their own advantage, not that of their father or master, indeed they repeatedly steal and consume his goods: for all seek their own, says the Apostle, that is, what Micah says, chapter 7, verse 5: 'Do not trust a friend, and do not confide in a leader: from her who sleeps in your bosom, guard the doors of your mouth. Because a son dishonors his father, and a daughter rises against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: and the enemies of a man are those of his own household.'
27. IN ALL YOUR WORK TRUST FROM THE FAITH OF YOUR SOUL: FOR THIS IS THE KEEPING OF THE COMMANDMENTS.
meaning: I said that children and household members are not to be trusted. You will say: Whom then shall I trust? I answer: Trust your soul, that is, your conscience, so that what your conscience tells you should or should not be done, that you do or do not do. For conscience has been given to each person by God as a kind of tutor, law and rule of actions. But see to it that you trust your soul 'from faith,' that is, follow the conviction and dictate of conscience, but not an erroneous one: rather one that is according to the faith and law of God, which, namely, the conscience dictates should be done while looking to the faith and law of God. So Rabanus: for the phrase 'from faith' must be referred to 'trust,' not to 'soul,' as is clear from the Greek pistosai, that is trust, be faithful, confide, be loyal, show yourself trustworthy. For all these things are signified by the Hebrew hemin, to which corresponds the Greek pistoo and the Latin credo. Whence some translate: 'In every work confide in your soul.' The Zurich version: 'In every good work show a faithful spirit: for this is to keep the commandments.' The Syriac: 'In all works guard your soul; because everyone who does so keeps the commandment.' The Arabic: 'Guard your soul from all your works; whoever has accomplished all these things has already kept the commandments of the Lord.' So the Apostle says, Romans 14:23: 'Everything that is not from faith,' that is from the conviction of conscience, 'is sin'; because if anyone does what the conviction of his conscience tells him should not be done, he sins, even if the thing in itself is not evil but good and lawful. He therefore commands that in every work conscience must be consulted, so that nothing is done against its dictate. See what was said there, and Ecclesiasticus 32:15: 'For this is the keeping of the commandments,' because he who follows the dictate of conscience based on the faith and law of God cannot err or sin, but walks according to the commandments of God and fulfills them. For the goad of conscience perpetually stimulates and directs him to this. Palacius puts it somewhat differently: Moses, he says, in
doubtful matters used to enter the tabernacle of God to consult God, David used to enter the sanctuary of God: therefore enter into your soul, if you are about to undertake some doubtful work, there consult the Lord, and faithfully trust your soul advising you. But because this was obscure, the Author explains it, saying that this is to keep the commandments: that is, to faithfully trust the soul is to keep the commandments; namely, the soul is to be trusted when it commands that the commandments be kept. Which the Author again explains, saying: 'He who trusts God attends to His commandments: and he who confides in Him will not be diminished'; so that the order of this matter is as follows: In doubtful matters enter into your soul: there God will give oracles. And He will give oracles of His commandments. Therefore faithfully trust your soul when it advises the commandments of God: for thus you truly trust God.
28. HE WHO TRUSTS GOD ATTENDS TO THE COMMANDMENTS: AND HE WHO CONFIDES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DIMINISHED.
The Greek codices corrected at Rome, instead of Kyrio, that is 'the Lord,' namely God, read nomo, that is 'the law.' Whence they translate: 'He who trusts the law attends to the commandments.' But the Vulgate reading is better. He proves what he said in the preceding verse, that to trust the soul, that is one's conscience, is to keep the commandments, by this syllogism: He who trusts God keeps the commandments of God: but he who trusts his conscience trusts God (for conscience dictates what is pleasing to God, and stimulates man to carry it out); therefore he who trusts his conscience keeps the commandments of God.
Moreover, he trusts God with a faith that is not empty and dead, but active and living, who believes in God and hopes in Him, who entrusts himself and all his affairs to Him, who loves Him, worships Him, who obeys Him in all things, who is trustworthy and faithful to Him in all things, solicitous to fulfill His will and commands exactly. Whence it follows: 'And he who confides in Him will not be diminished,' but rather will be increased and grow both in wisdom, and in grace and merits, and in glory and all other goods. Hence the Zurich version translates: 'He who is faithful to the Lord keeps the commandments: and he who relies on Him will not receive harm.' Others: 'And he who relies on the Lord will not be diminished.' The Syriac: 'He who guards his way keeps the precept of God: and he who trusts in God will not perish eternally.' Therefore among the Seventy Interpreters, the one who was thirty-seventh in order, when asked by Ptolemy Philadelphus by what means a person may be fearless, replied: 'If a mind conscious of no evil follows God, who directs all counsels to good.' So Aristeas, On the Seventy Interpreters.