Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
At the end of the preceding chapter he taught the selection of conversation partners and wives; now he teaches the selection of friends and advisors. Therefore, first, he teaches that false friends must be avoided and sincere ones loved; second, verses 7 through 23, he teaches what kind of counsel should be sought and with what sort of people; third, at verse 25, he treats of the wise man and his fruit and rewards; fourth, at verse 30, he treats of temperance, or the mortification of concupiscence and gluttony.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiasticus 37:1-34
1. Every friend will say: "I too have joined in friendship"; but there is a friend who is friend in name only. Is there not a sorrow that remains even unto death? 2. A companion and friend will turn to enmity. 3. O most wicked presumption! Whence were you created, to cover the dry land with his malice and deceit? 4. A companion shares in the friend's pleasures, but in the time of tribulation he will be an adversary. 5. A companion grieves with the friend for the sake of the belly, and against the enemy he will take up a shield. 6. Do not forget your friend in your heart, and be not unmindful of him in your wealth. 7. Do not take counsel with one who plots against you, and from those who are jealous of you hide your plans. 8. Every counselor puts forth advice, but there is a counselor for himself alone. 9. Guard your soul from a counselor. First learn what his need is: for he himself will have his own interest in mind. 10. Lest perhaps he drive a stake into the ground and say to you: 11. "Your way is good"; and then stand on the opposite side to see what happens to you. 12. With an irreligious man discuss sanctity, and with an unjust man discuss justice, and with a woman about her rival; with a timid man about war, with a merchant about trade, with a buyer about selling, with a grudging man about giving thanks; 13. with an impious man about piety, with a dishonorable man about honor, with a field laborer about every kind of work; 14. with a yearly hired worker about finishing the year, with a lazy servant about much work: pay no attention to these in any counsel. 15. But be constant with a holy man, whomever you have recognized as observing the fear of God, 16. whose soul is in accord with your soul, and who, when you stumble in darkness, will grieve with you. 17. Establish within yourself a heart of good counsel: for there is nothing of greater worth to you than it. 18. The soul of a holy man sometimes declares truths better than seven watchmen sitting on a high place to keep watch. 19. And in all these things pray to the Most High, that He may direct your way in truth. 20. Before all your works let a truthful word go before you, and before every action a firm plan. 21. A wicked word will change the heart, from which four things arise: good and evil, life and death; and the ruler of these is the ever-active tongue. There is a clever man who is teacher of many, yet to his own soul he is useless. 22. A skilled man has taught many, and to his own soul he is pleasing. 23. He who speaks sophistically is hateful: in everything he will be cheated. 24. Grace has not been given to him by the Lord: for he has been cheated of all wisdom. 25. There is a wise man who is wise for his own soul, and the fruit of his understanding is praiseworthy. 26. A wise man instructs his people, and the fruits of his understanding are trustworthy. 27. A wise man will be filled with blessings, and those who see him will praise him. 28. The life of a man is counted in days, but the days of Israel are innumerable. 29. The wise man among his people will inherit honor, and his name will live forever. 30. My son, in your life test your soul; and if it is wicked, do not give it power. 31. For not all things are expedient for everyone, and not every kind of thing pleases every soul. 32. Do not be greedy at every feast, and do not pour yourself out upon every food. 33. For in much food there will be sickness, and greediness will lead even to bile. 34. Because of excess many have died; but he who is temperate will add to his life.
First Part of the Chapter.
1. EVERY FRIEND WILL SAY: "I TOO HAVE JOINED IN FRIENDSHIP" (between me and you and your friends. In Greek, ἑτολίασα αὐτῷ, although the Complutensian omits τὸ αὐτῷ; κἀγώ, that is, as the Roman edition: "I have joined in friendship with him"; others: "I was a friend to him, I also"; the Complutensian: "I am a friend too") BUT THERE IS A FRIEND WHO IS FRIEND IN NAME ONLY — that is, every friend, both the false and the true, but especially the false, will boast of being a friend to you and to your friends; but see whom you trust: for there is a friend who is friend in name only, but in reality is an enemy. Learn therefore to distinguish a true friend from a false one, a real one from a merely verbal one. Hence the Zurich Bible: "Every friend says, 'I too am his friend'; but there are friends who are friends in name only." He is therefore properly rebuking those who want to be considered everyone's friend and boast of being such; so that if someone says, "He is my friend," they immediately add, "He is my friend too" —
as though they appeared to have the whole world as a friend, when in fact they have many enemies, or rivals, or strangers and unknowns. Moreover, the Syriac refers this to the vagabond discussed at the end of the preceding chapter. For it reads thus: "So a man who has no wife, in the place where he is found will die. And he says to his friend, 'I love you'; but he is a friend in name only who does not persevere unto death. A true friend should be to you as your own soul."
Aristotle distinguishes excellently in Magna Moralia, Book I, ch. 25, between a true friend, a flatterer, and an enemy: "Friendship," he says, "is the mean between flattery and enmity, and is exercised in action and speech. For the flatterer is one who attributes to someone more qualities than is fair and than are actually present. But the hostile enemy detracts even from qualities that are present — neither of whom is rightly to be praised. Between these the middle ground
is the friend, who neither attributes more qualities to someone than are actually present, nor praises things that are minimally fitting, nor on the contrary diminishes them, nor wholly opposes, except insofar as he thinks it right to do so. Of this kind, therefore, is a friend." So says Aristotle. But Pliny, Book VII, ch. 2: "The hyena," he says, "like the ichneumon, is now male, now female; so too certain people, inconsistent with themselves, now speak bravely, now softly; now they are philosophers, now prodigals; now friends, now enemies."
Plutarch, in the Moralia, says that κόλαξ (flatterer) is κόραξ (crow), that is, the flatterer is a crow: "Because just as crows swooping down dig out the eyes of corpses, so flatterers by their praises corrupt human reason and mind. The hare should regard the dog, and a man his flatterer, as a natural enemy. One should rejoice more in critics than in flatterers: for the former, like a spur, rouse the spirit; but the latter, by their ingratiating ways, weaken and overthrow." And Demosthenes said that a flatterer is worse than a crow, because the former devours the living, the latter only the dead. Phavorinus: "Just as Actaeon," he says, "was torn apart by the dogs he had raised, so flatterers devour those by whom they are fed." Epictetus: "Crows," he says, "destroy the eyes of the dead, but flatterers blind the eyes of souls."
IS THERE NOT A SORROW (the translator read ἔνι; the Complutensian reads μένει, that is, "remains") EVEN UNTO DEATH? 2. A COMPANION AND FRIEND WILL TURN TO ENMITY. — The Greek, omitting the word "and," and reading "turns" instead of "will turn," clearly has: "Is there not sorrow even unto death, when a companion and friend turns to enmity?" The Complutensian: "Does not sorrow remain even unto death, when a companion and friend turns himself to enmity?" The Zurich Bible: "Does not the companion or friend turned enemy bring grief that endures unto death?" This reading is full and clear. Hence two Latin manuscripts likewise read this way in the Latin Vulgate. Whence Rabanus also explains thus: "For it is the greatest evil," he says, "and one to be lamented with continual grief, that where faithfulness is hoped for, there malice is found; and where charity was modeled on friendship, there the perversity of enmity is discovered."
However, because the other Latin codices, even those corrected at Rome, consistently have the word "and" and "will turn," the sense here is more pathetic, meaning: Does not a friend in name only — that is, a false and hypocritical one — create in another so much grief as to bring about his death, or at least endure unto death? For when a man sees that he was deceived by one to whom he entrusted himself and his secrets — namely, that he had not entrusted them to a friend, as he thought, but to a hypocrite and enemy who was hiding under the name of friend — then indeed he grieves and groans inconsolably unto death. Meanwhile the companion and friend, nominal and false, leaving his friend with this grief, will openly and plainly turn to enmity, which will further increase the friend's sorrow and hasten his death; because,
as Lyra says: "No plague is more effective for causing harm than a familiar enemy and companion — that is, a table-mate. For the word is derived from 'seat' (sedes), as if 'sodalis' means one who sits with another at table; for it frequently happens that those sitting together at table quarrel and fight before they part from one another." So says Lyra. And the lexicographers say likewise: "Sodalis is used in lighter matters; and those at feasts are generally called 'sodales,' as if 'simul edales' (eating together); or, as some prefer, because they sit together and are at the same table." Hence Quintilian in the Gladiator: "And I would hold timely banquets and all-night revels, having summoned a crowd of companions, acting freely and lavishly." And Cicero in his speech For Plancius: "If you call them companions, you stain dutiful friendship with a criminal name." And Plautus in the Mercator: "I found six companions: life, friendship, citizenship, joy, play, and jest." Hence also "Sodality" is the name for a company of many, or a feast. Whence the jurist Gaius says: "Sodales are those who belong to the same association." From this it is clear that a companion (sodalis) is different from a friend; for companions are often enemies. So too the Greeks call societies for living and feasting together ἑταιρίαι, that is, sodalities. Hence Aristotle, Politics, Book II, calls the feasts of such associations ἑταιριῶν τὰ συσσίτια; and they even call courtesans — with whom dissolute men carouse and fornicate — ἑταιρίαι, that is, companions or female associates and friends.
Second, Jansen, taking the word "and" (autem) as "for" (enim), explains it thus, meaning: Does not grief persisting unto death sometimes arise from the occasion of friendship? For it happens that friends turn to enmity. In Hebrew, vav is a general conjunction signifying "and," "but," "for," etc. Hence Homer and the Greeks also use δέ ("but") for γάρ ("for"); and so did the ancient Latins. Hence Plautus in the Pseudolus uses "autem" for "enim": "by no means do you wish," meaning "indeed you do not wish." So here the word "autem" can be taken as "enimvero" ("indeed"). And "enimvero" placed after a response is suited to one expressing indignation: as "I deny, indeed!" or "I indeed am he." The sense therefore will be: Is there not in a friend in name only — that is, a false one — grief even unto death? Indeed such a companion and friend will turn to enmity. And this produces a grief that is heavy and fatal.
Third, Palacius explains it thus: Sadness, he says, is our enemy, and we are opposed to it; if therefore something so adverse to us remains with us unto death, why will friendship — a thing so dear to us — not endure likewise? Why will it turn to enmity? Jacob, when he lost his son Joseph, wished to retain his grief even unto death — a thing so harmful and contrary to nature; why then will Saul not retain the friendship of David — a thing so useful to himself? But this interpretation seems far-fetched and beside the point.
The a priori reason for this statement is the dignity, utility, and necessity of friendship, which when a fraudulent and faithless friend overturns it, is like removing the sun from the world. Hear Cicero, in his book On Friendship: "For whom
can life be a life worth living, as Ennius says, if it does not rest upon the mutual goodwill of a friend? What is sweeter than to have someone with whom you dare to discuss everything as freely as with yourself? What would be the great fruit of prosperity if you did not have someone who would rejoice in it as much as you yourself?" So says Cicero the Roman; and indeed Cicero the Attic orator.
St. Chrysostom, Homily 2 on 1 Thessalonians: "A true friend is in truth more pleasant than the light itself — I mean a genuine friend. And do not marvel. For it is more pleasant for us that this sun be extinguished than to be deprived of the company of friends; more pleasant to live in darkness than to be without friends. And how shall I say it? Because many who see this sun are in darkness, but those who have obtained an abundance of friends do not have sorrow even in afflictions." Here the saying of Bias is relevant: "Love as though you were going to hate, hate as though you were going to love" — although Cicero, in his book On Friendship, approves the latter but disapproves the former, and rightly: "For in what way," he says, "could anyone be the friend of someone whom he thinks he might become the enemy of? Indeed it will be necessary to desire and wish that your friend sin as often as possible, so that he might give you more handles, as it were, for reproach. Again, it will be necessary to be distressed, pained, and envious at the right actions and advantages of friends. Therefore this precept, whoever its author may be, tends to destroy friendship. Rather, this should have been the precept: that we exercise such care in forming friendships that we never begin to love someone whom we might someday hate." And Aristotle in his Rhetoric: "One should not love," he says, "as though one were going to hate, as they say, but rather practice hatred as though one were going to love someday."
3. O MOST WICKED PRESUMPTION! WHENCE WERE YOU CREATED TO COVER (by the pretense of friendship, says Lyra) THE DRY LAND WITH HIS MALICE AND DECEIT? — So the Roman edition and the Greek. Erroneously, therefore, Lyra, Dionysius, and others read: "to cover his dry malice and deceit." For what is "dry malice"? In Greek it is ὦ πονηρὸν ἐνθύμημα, that is, "O wicked thought!" — whence ἐκυλιάσθης or ἐνεκυλίσθης, that is, "you were rolled forth"; the Complutensian: "you were wrapped up, so as to cover the dry land, in deceit," that is, in fraud or treachery. The Zurich Bible: "O wicked thought! From where did you creep forth, to cover the earth with deceit?" The Syriac: "The enemy and the wicked — for what were they created, except to fill the earth with works of iniquity?"
The pronoun "his" is not in the Greek, but is understood: "his," namely of the false friend about whom the discourse has been. Sirach, indignant at the wickedness of the false and deceitful friend, exclaims and wonderingly asks whence so great a crime crept into the world, meaning: O most wicked thought of mortals! O execrable treachery, by which someone pretending to be a friend deceitfully undermines his friend and shows himself to be his greatest enemy! "O simulated and cloaked hypocrisy," says Hugo, "which feigns friendship where there is none! Whence did you finally come forth? How were you able to cover the earth with your malice and deceit?" — namely, you do not have your origin from heaven or from earth. For God created human nature upright, sincere, and faithful; but you crept forth from hell onto the earth. Your father, indeed, is Lucifer, who, being the friend of God and the angels, by his perversity became their enemy; and he began to stir up enmities among the friends of men, who are images of God, from the beginning of the world, when he caused Cain to kill his brother Abel, and he does not cease to stir them up daily in every place and among every people. For this evil of treachery not infrequently invades, seizes, and overturns all provinces, all nations, all cities, all marketplaces, all courts, all assemblies, all colleges — and even congregations of the saints and monasteries. Moreover, the origin and author of this treachery externally is the devil; but internally it is self-love — namely, the desire for honor, wealth, and pleasures. For on account of this a friend becomes an enemy. For in order to obtain these things through the ruin of his friend, he plots the friend's destruction. "Therefore the wise man marvels," says Rabanus, "at the origin of wickedness — which nevertheless is known to have issued from the evil will of a creature — and he greatly detests hypocrisy; because it is the worst vice for anyone to wish to pretend to be what he utterly is not: when the wicked man pretends to be good, the unjust to be just, the inequitable to be fair, the enemy to be a friend, covering over his deceit and barren treachery, where there is no richness of love and mercy. For he truly deceives himself when he thinks himself an honest deceiver of others."
The author, says Palacius, spoke these things from experience and with groaning; for Ptolemy son of Lagus, at first a friend to the Jews, soon showed himself their most savage enemy. David also spoke from the same experience in Psalm 54:14: "But you, a man of one mind with me, my guide and my close friend," etc. Indeed, when Christ was betrayed by Judas, He turned to him and said: "Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" (Luke 22:48). Bede rightly says in his commentary on Proverbs: "When a wicked man pretends to be good, then he is at his worst. Do not live one way in solitude and another in the marketplace. They may rightly be called scorpions—"
"—who do not oppose good people to their face, but as soon as they have departed, disparage them." Moreover, Cicero, On Duties, Book II: "Nothing feigned," he says, "can be lasting."
4. A COMPANION SHARES IN THE FRIEND'S PLEASURES, BUT IN THE TIME OF TRIBULATION HE WILL BE AN ADVERSARY. — He magnifies the unworthiness of the matter, meaning: O treacherous and wicked presumption, that a companion rejoices with a friend while he is delighted and pampered at his table feasts! Yet the same person opposes him in the time of tribulation. For why, if you enjoyed your friend in his prosperity, do you harm him in adversity? For when I am afflicted, I have enough trouble, and I do not deserve new tribulation. Why then do you add to the pain of my wounds? It is intolerable that, when I need your favor, you show me hatred instead of favor. So says Palacius. Hence for "shares in pleasures," the Greek has εὐφραίνεται ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ, that is, "rejoices in gladness"; the Roman edition has "in delight," that is, in a time of joy,
of joy and prosperity — for this he contrasts with the time of tribulation, which is sad and adverse. The Complutensian reads συνδιαιτᾶ ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ, that is, "lives together in gladness." The Zurich Bible: "A friend who in happy times enjoys familiar companionship with his friend, but in the time of calamity becomes an adversary — how great indeed is this indignity! What a wicked presumption! What a criminal thought!" The Syriac: "Bad is the friend who is close at the table, but in the time of distress rises from the banquet."
Here the Arabic proverb is relevant, Century I, no. 97: "When you hear a man speaking good of you that is not in you, do not believe him: for he will also speak evil of you that is not in you."
5. A COMPANION GRIEVES WITH HIS FRIEND FOR THE SAKE OF THE BELLY, AND AGAINST THE ENEMY HE WILL TAKE UP A SHIELD. — Here is another case, and as it were another kind of friendship that is not true but false, meaning: A companion, so long as he is a table-mate and dines with his friend and hopes for food, wealth, and honors from him, also grieves with him when he is in adversity; indeed, he will take up arms and a shield to defend him against the enemy. But he does this from gluttony and from confidence in gaining wealth and honors, not from true friendship. Hence, if there is no longer hope of gaining profit or honor from his friend, he will desert him and go over to his enemy's side. Therefore even such a one should not be trusted. If then you seek a true friend, examine whether he cultivates you for the sake of his belly and his own advantage, or truly from the impulse and guidance of friendship. Such companions are very numerous in military camps — I saw a great many of them in Belgium — who stood and fought for the prince as long as they received generous pay from him and there was hope of gain and plunder; but when that failed, or if the enemy offered more, they immediately deserted to him. Seneca says excellently: "Flies follow honey, wolves follow carcasses, ants follow grain; that crowd follows the plunder, not the man."
For "grieves with" the Greek has συμπονεῖ, that is, "labors with." Hence from the Greek you may translate it thus: "A comrade helps a laboring friend and works alongside him for the sake of the belly, and against the enemy takes up a shield." The Zurich Bible: "There is the friend who for the sake of the belly helps a friend, and against the enemy" (it reads, like our translator, πολεμίου; some read πολέμου, that is, "against war") "seizes a shield." So say Lyra, Jansen, and Rabanus, whom hear: "False friends rejoice together in the pleasure of delight, and in the time of adversity they withdraw. They take up arms against the enemy for the sake of the belly, but they will not be faithful defenders of their friend: because they love not their neighbor, but their own pleasures."
Otherwise Palacius: This seems to be a reproach, he says, meaning: If a companion hired for the sake of his belly — that is, for the sake of food — grieves with his employer and takes up a shield against his enemy, why will a friend disdain to do the same for the sake of friendship? And it is obvious that we customarily hire mercenaries against our enemies, who provide us their service in exchange for the food we give them.
Moreover the Syriac, omitting the phrase "for the sake of the belly," seems to take this in the opposite sense, of a true friend: "Good is the friend," he says, "who fights against the enemy and holds the shield. Do not praise your friend in the neighborhood, and do not give him power in your house."
6. DO NOT FORGET YOUR FRIEND IN YOUR HEART, AND BE NOT UNMINDFUL OF HIM IN YOUR WEALTH. — Correct with the Roman edition and the Greek ἐν χρήμασί σου, that is, "in your wealth." Here he notes and corrects a third kind of false friends, meaning: There are some friends who are indeed sincere, but fickle and inconstant, who, when they have risen from a modest and humble condition to great wealth and rank, forget their friends or are even ashamed of them. I warn you therefore, my son, my disciple, that if this happens to you, do not forget your former friend; but carry him in your mind and heart and love him, and share your wealth with him, according to the words of St. John, 1 John 3:18: "Little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." Hence the Zurich Bible translates: "Let not forgetfulness of your friend seize your mind, nor in your prosperity be unmindful of him." For often true is that saying of Ovid, Tristia, Book I, Elegy 8:
"As long as you are fortunate, you will count many friends;
if the skies become cloudy, you will be alone."
And this of the same author in the same place:
"Ants never head for empty granaries;
no friend will go to lost wealth."
Accordingly Plutarch, in his book On Having Many Friends, judges thus: "Therefore, as the painter Zeuxis, when people asked why he painted so slowly and over such a long time, replied: 'I paint for a long time without doubt — that is, for eternity'; so a lasting friendship cannot be established except through a long familiarity of life and tested judgment."
St. Augustine (or whoever is the author) says excellently in his book On Friendship, ch. 16: "Four things seem to belong especially to friendship: namely, love and affection, security and delight. To love belongs the showing of kindness with goodwill. To affection belongs a certain interior delight that proceeds from within. To security belongs the revelation without fear and suspicion of all plans and secrets. To delight belongs a certain sweet and friendly sharing of all things that happen, whether joyful or sad; of all things that are thought about, whether harmful or useful; of all things that are taught or learned. He who breaks friendship betrays all these." He then adds: "Four things must be tested in a friend: fidelity, intention, discretion, and patience. Fidelity, that you may safely entrust yourself to him; intention, that he expects nothing from the friendship except God and its natural good; discretion, that he not be ignorant of the measure, time, and place of what should be provided to a friend, what should be asked of him, in what matters one should grieve for him, in what one should congratulate him, and for what one should admonish him; and patience, so that when corrected he does not take offense, nor does he despise or hate the one who corrects, and so that he does not shrink from enduring any adversity for the sake of a friend."
Second Part of the Chapter. What Kind of Counsel Should Be Sought and with Whom.
in adversity than in prosperity. St. Cyprian presents a most striking parallel with eyes in his book On the Singular Conduct of Clerics; for he likens friends to eyes, since one cannot be turned in any direction without the other also being turned; and if this one looks straight or obliquely, that one will look in the same manner — either obliquely or straight. Friends ought to be no different; for they should always be carried in the same manner, by the same path, toward the same goal, in perfect accord. The analogy of stags is also relevant here — they take turns supporting each other as they swim across rivers, which I discussed in Galatians 6:2. Finally, St. Ambrose says in the passage cited above: "The consolation of this life is to have someone to whom you open your heart, with whom you share your secrets, to whom you entrust the hidden things of your soul — to find for yourself a faithful man who rejoices with you in prosperity, shares your grief in sorrow, and encourages you in persecution. The words 'I am entirely yours' come easily and commonly to the lips, but their fulfillment is rarer." So he says, and truly: few are those who live up to it.
And St. Ambrose, On Duties, Book III, ch. 16: "Often," he says, "enmities must be endured for the sake of a friend's innocence; often reproaches, if you resist or respond when a friend is accused and charged. Do not regret such an offense. For it is the voice of the just man: 'Even if evils come upon me on account of my friends, I will endure.'" The same thing about Basil doing this is taught by St. Chrysostom in On the Priesthood, Book II, where after much he introduces him speaking thus: "I have learned no other way to love," he says, "than to put even my own life in danger when it is necessary to save a friend who is in peril."
Likewise: "Christ the Lord taught His disciples" (John 15:13): "Greater love than this no one has, than that a man lay down his life for his friends." The reason is that friendship, "as Cicero most holily and truly said," says St. Augustine, Against the Academics, Book III, ch. 6, "is the highest harmony of human and divine things with goodwill and charity." Therefore just as much
7. DO NOT TAKE COUNSEL WITH YOUR FATHER-IN-LAW, AND FROM THOSE WHO ARE JEALOUS OF YOU HIDE YOUR PLANS. — So all Latin Bibles commonly read, along with Rabanus, Lyra, Hugo, Dionysius, Jansen, Francis Lucas, and Palacius, and they give this meaning: Do not enter into counsel with your father-in-law, that is, the father of your wife, lest either to gain his favor he flatter you too much and consent and applaud your disordered desires, or give you bad advice so as to look out for his daughter, or reveal your secrets to her who is your wife. Hence Lyra says: "Do not take counsel with your father-in-law," namely, he says, "about matters pertaining to the restraint of your wife: because he will always side with his daughter, turning from the truth out of carnal affection." Hence the saying:
"Neither is a son-in-law safe from his father-in-law, nor a guest from his host."
And Rabanus, mystically: "By the father-in-law," he says, "because he is joined to the family through the female side, he represents a womanish and changeable disposition. From such a one faithful loyalty should never be expected. So too jealousy, which prevails especially in the female sex, signifies instability of mind, which should never be trusted (for as someone has said): 'As a shore without a harbor is an unsafe anchorage for ships, so a mind without fidelity is dangerous in the fellowship of friends.'"
And Hugo says: "Morally speaking, your father-in-law is carnal affection, the father of your wife — that is, of your concupiscence. His counsel is not to be believed, nor should you discuss plans of penance or of doing any good with him. This Jacob clearly taught in Genesis 31, when, without the knowledge of Laban his father-in-law, he departed from Mesopotamia with his children, wives, and cattle into
the land of Canaan. It is recorded in Judges 19 that a certain Levite trusted his father-in-law, staying with him three days; on the road he lost his wife, who was violated by the men of Gibeah, from which a great slaughter of the people followed. Therefore the author says: 'Do not take counsel with your father-in-law' — that is, do not seek advice from him, nor reveal your plans to him."
But this should be corrected with the Roman edition and the manuscripts: "Do not take counsel with one who plots against you, and from those who are jealous of you hide your plans." So also the Greek reads: Μή βουλεύου μετά τοῦ ὑποβλεπομένου σε, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ζηλούντων σε κρύψον βουλήν; which the Complutensian translates: "Do not take counsel with one who reveres you" (for out of fear and deference to you he will advise and say not what he truly thinks, but what he knows will please you and be agreeable), "and from those who are jealous of you hide your plans." The Roman edition: "Do not take counsel with one who holds you suspect, and from those who are jealous of you hide your plans." For one who is suspected will give suspected advice to the suspected. The Zurich Bible: "Do not consult with one to whom you are suspect, nor reveal your plans to those who envy you." Others: "Do not take counsel with one who looks at you with sidelong glances, and from those who rival you conceal your plans." For ὑποβλέπειν literally means to look from below, to look with sidelong and downcast eyes, and to gaze in the manner of those who avert their eyes and show disdain — to look down upon, to despise, to turn away from, to scorn; likewise, to look at with suspicion, that is, to hold suspect, to be suspicious of. So Virgil says of Dido in Aeneid IV:
"Him speaking thus she has long been watching with hostile gaze,
rolling her eyes this way and that,"
that is, ὑποβλέπουσα or παραβλέψασα.
Most fittingly, therefore, our translator rendered: "Do not take counsel
with one who plots against you" — hence what follows, "and from those who are jealous of you," that is, who rival and envy you, "hide your plans." For a rival and envious person will lay traps for you, and will betray or overthrow your plans, and turn them to his own uses and advantage. The Syriac adds: "Do not take counsel," he says, "with your enemy, and conceal your secret from him." Here the Arabic proverb is relevant, Century I, no. 17: "When you ride a lion, beware of his claws" — that is, when you have become a leader or a governor, beware of evil counselors."
Finally, Palacius, and partly Jansen, reconcile this latter reading with the former as follows: The author, when he wrote this, seems to have had before his eyes the example of Jacob, who in Genesis 31, in the matter of his departure with his wives, did not take counsel from Laban his father-in-law — indeed, he hid his plan from him and from his sons, who were jealous of and envious toward Jacob. Hence the meaning of this passage is to be taken as follows: If you have a father-in-law who is suspicious of you and envious, or likewise relatives who envy you, and any others who are suspicious of you, do not take counsel from them: "For he who appears to wear the cloak of a counselor, but carries the poison of a destroyer, has a deceitful tongue," says St. Augustine, in the introduction to Psalm 119, at the end.
Tropologically: do not take counsel with those who plot against you — that is, with your own concupiscences, passions, and vices, such as anger, hatred, and envy. For these lay traps for you and strive to drag you into sin and into hell. These also are jealous, that is, they begrudge us peace of soul, grace, and glory; and although they pretend to be our friends, in reality they conspire and plot with the devil our enemy for our destruction. Therefore their counsel is not to be heeded: for anger counsels revenge, insults, beatings, and a thousand evils. But because it is difficult not to listen to them, since they suggest it to us against our will — indeed, they ceaselessly cry out — the safest course is to mortify them and root them out of the soul entirely, so that we no longer hear their voices and whispers.
8. EVERY COUNSELOR PUTS FORTH ADVICE, BUT THERE IS A COUNSELOR FOR HIMSELF ALONE. — That is, anyone who gives advice (for we are inclined to give counsel to others) puts forth, that is, produces, brings forward — in Greek ἐκφέρει, that is, raises up, extols, praises — his own counsel that he gives and suggests. Yet not all give counsel for the benefit of the one asking, but many for their own benefit; for they are "counselors for themselves," that is, looking out for themselves, not for the one seeking counsel. Therefore a prudent man should shrewdly investigate whether a counselor in giving advice is not looking to his own advantage rather than that of the one seeking counsel; and if he detects this, let him beware of such a counselor and his counsel. Hence the Complutensian translates: "Every counselor takes away (for ἐξαίρει means to take away, remove, raise up) counsel; but there is one who counsels for himself," namely, for his own advantage. The Roman edition: "Every counselor extols counsel; but there is one who advises for himself." The Zurich Bible: "Every counselor extols his own counsel; but there are those who advise for their own interest." "Extols," that is, praises and celebrates his own counsel, as though it should be preferred to the counsel of others and followed over theirs.
9. GUARD YOUR SOUL FROM A COUNSELOR. FIRST LEARN WHAT HIS NEED IS: FOR HE HIMSELF WILL HAVE HIS OWN INTEREST IN MIND. — So the Roman edition and the Greek. Less correctly, therefore, Rabanus, Jansen, and others read: "And what he himself may be thinking in his mind" — although the sense comes to nearly the same thing. The meaning is: Guard your soul and mind, that it not trust and confide in any counselor indiscriminately; but first investigate whether he is in some necessity that presses and almost compels him to look out for that person — namely, himself — rather than for you and your advantage. "For he himself will think in his mind," meaning: He will think about how to look out for his own mind, that is, for himself and his own intentions, or how to comply with and satisfy his mind, which wants to provide for his own need. Hence in Greek it reads: "for he himself will advise for himself." If you ask, then, by what means you will guard your soul from a counselor, lest you be caught by his harmful advice, take this rule: Before you consult him, look into what his need is and what he lacks. For the person you are consulting will have this before his eyes, so that while giving you counsel, he may look out for himself. Consider, therefore, whether any advantage from the business could rebound to him. For it is to be believed that his counsel will lean in that direction. Therefore beware of him. Hence the Zurich Bible translates: "Guard yourself from a counselor, and first consider what he himself may need: for he will advise for himself." Others: "First learn what thing he needs; for he is advising for himself." Accordingly, Alfonso, King of Aragon, when asked, according to Panormitanus in Book III of his Deeds, "which counselors pleased him most," replied: "Books — from which, without fear or favor, I could faithfully learn what I wished to know."
But Emperor Frederick, having summoned his counselors to court, said: "Would that my counselors would leave two things at the entrance of the palace! For then they would advise rightly, and for me also it would be very easy to judge among the coun-"
sels it would be very easy to judge." When asked "what those two things were," he replied: "Pretense and dissimulation." He taught that princes cannot rightly provide for the public good on account of the private interests of their counselors. So Aeneas Silvius, Book III of the Deeds of Alfonso. Indeed, how much harm and ruin counselors of princes who pursue their own rather than the commonwealth's interests have brought upon princes and provinces — we have seen this with groaning in many places in our age.
Therefore in a counselor great integrity, uprightness, prudence, and sagacity are required. Hear St. Ambrose, On Duties, Book II, ch. 12: "In seeking counsel," he says, "the moral probity of one's life, the prerogative of virtues, the habit of goodwill, and the grace of frugality are of the greatest importance. For who would seek a spring in the mud? Who would seek a drink from turbid water? And so where there is luxury, where intemperance, where a confusion of vices—"
who would think anything should be drawn from there? Who would judge useful for another's cause one whom he sees useless for his own life? For how could I judge him superior in counsel whom I see inferior in morals? Would I consider him fit to give me advice who has not given it to himself? And would I believe he has time for me who has no time for himself? — whose mind is occupied by pleasures, bound by lust, enslaved by greed, disturbed by desire." For Sallust rightly says in the Conspiracy of Catiline: "All men who deliberate on doubtful matters ought to be free from hatred, friendship, anger, and pity. The mind does not easily perceive the truth when those things stand in the way, and no one ever served his passions and his interests at the same time: when you apply your intelligence, it prevails; if passion takes hold, it dominates, and the mind is powerless."
10 and 11. LEST PERHAPS HE DRIVE A STAKE INTO THE GROUND AND SAY TO YOU: "YOUR WAY IS GOOD"; AND THEN STAND ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU — meaning, lest perhaps in giving you counsel he fix a "stake," that is, an obstacle, offense, and stumbling block for you to trip over, in the ground, saying: "Your way is good," smooth and level (when in fact a stake is in it, on which you would stumble), and meanwhile he stands back, watching to see if you fall on the stake he planted. For a "stake" (sudes) is a post, or a type of military weapon — that is, a fire-hardened stake that they would fix in the ground so that an unwary enemy would run into it and wound his foot by stepping on it. Hence Caesar, in Civil War, Book I: "He digs transverse ditches," he says, "across the roads, and there fixes stakes and sharpened posts." And Virgil, Aeneid VII:
"Fourfold-split stakes and palisades of sharpened oak."
Where Servius notes: "A vallus and a sudes are the same thing." The Greek manuscripts read κλῆρον (lot) instead of "stake." So they read: "Lest he cast a lot over you and say to you: 'Your plan is fine'; and stand on the opposite side to see what will happen to you." The Zurich Bible: "Lest he predict some outcome for you and say your plan is right, and meanwhile station himself across from you as a spectator of what befalls you." Vatablus: "Lest he commit you to lot and chance, or cast a lot over you," etc. The meaning is: Before you trust a counselor, first investigate whether he himself hopes for some advantage from the matter about which you consult him, lest perhaps for that reason he give you counsel that is dangerous to you but useful to himself, saying that your plan — which either you proposed to him or he suggested to you — is right; and meanwhile he stands on the opposite side, awaiting the outcome of his counsel: so that, if it goes well, he may lavish praise on it and demand a reward; but if poorly, he may mock you and cast the blame for the bad outcome on you or someone else. This kind of treachery, says Jansen, is all too common in the world, and one can see it in unskilled advocates and physicians who apply doubtful and dangerous remedies to the sick in order to test their efficacy, and learn from the experience of others' peril and death how to treat patients. Hence the saying—
that he did not want a physician unless he had first killed a hundred patients. Such are the counsels of bold and reckless men, about which there is the prophetic saying from Livy, Book 35: "Hot and bold counsels are pleasing at first glance, hard in the handling, and sad in their outcome."
Furthermore, the Syriac translates the three verses just explained as follows: "Guard your soul from an unjust counselor, and learn first what he seeks; because he also meditates within himself; lest he cast upon you an evil scheme and say, 'How good your way is!' and he will stand on the opposite side and see your disgrace, or rejoice in your shame." He will see, that is, and laugh at your humiliation.
A fitting fable for this maxim is the story of the crow and the fox, found in Gabriel Faernus: "A crow," he says, "had stolen a piece of cheese from somewhere and had flown with it into a tall tree. A little fox, who coveted the cheese, is said to have attacked him cleverly as follows, after first praising the beauty and splendor of his feathers and the glory of his augury: 'Indeed,' said the fox, 'I would call you the bird of supreme Jupiter, if I could also hear a voice and song worthy of your other virtues.' The crow, puffed up by the fox's praises, tried to produce the loudest cry he could. And so, when the cheese slipped from his open beak, the fox seized it, and mocking him said: 'You lack nothing, crow, except a brain.'" The moral:
"He who to your face gives flattering counsel is laying traps;
he who is led by feigned praise has no brain."
12. WITH AN IRRELIGIOUS MAN DISCUSS SANCTITY, AND WITH AN UNJUST MAN DISCUSS JUSTICE. (So the Roman edition, Lyra, Hugo, Dionysius, and the rest. Erroneously, therefore, some read "religious" instead of "irreligious" and "just" instead of "unjust." Some give this meaning: In the presence of an irreligious man, praise sanctity; in the presence of an unjust man, praise justice, so that he may learn to love and embrace sanctity and justice; so as to draw the irreligious man to sanctity and teach the unjust man justice.) AND WITH A WOMAN ABOUT HER RIVAL (so that, hearing you praise her rival's virtues, she may not hate her); WITH A TIMID MAN ABOUT WAR (so that he may be encouraged for it and not fear the dangers threatening); WITH A MERCHANT ABOUT TRADE (so that he may transport good and useful merchandise to buyers); WITH A BUYER ABOUT SELLING (lest he raise the price beyond what is fair); WITH A GRUDGING MAN ABOUT GIVING THANKS — lest he be saddened by the goods of others. "With an impious man about piety, and with a dishonorable man about honor" — so that they may flee these vices and embrace the contrary virtues. "With a field laborer about every kind of work" — lest, when dismissed by his master for different work, he be impatient and haughtily refuse the burden laid upon him. "With a yearly hired worker about finishing the year" — in which, since he is going to receive his wages, it is fair that he work diligently. "With a lazy servant about much work" — so that he may cast off his sluggishness and negligence.
But that this interpretation is forced is evident from what follows, especially when he says: "Pay no attention to these in any counsel."
Second, Rabanus and Jansen read: "With a religious man discuss sanctity, and with an unjust man do not take counsel about justice, and with a woman," etc. But this is incongruous; for, as Francis Lucas rightly observes, it does not fit for the first member to be dissimilar from those that follow — having "discuss" attached to the first but "do not take counsel" to the rest — since the Sage clearly intends first to teach with whom counsel should not be taken, and only afterward finally with whom it should be taken.
Third, the Greek manuscripts here repeat the statement from verse 7: "Do not take counsel with one to whom you are suspect, and from those who envy you, hide your plans." Then they add: "With a woman about her rival, with a timid man about war," etc. — repeat: "do not take counsel." And Francis Lucas thinks this should be repeated in the Latin Vulgate, so that all the following antitheses depend on the phrase "do not take counsel." So also the Zurich Bible: "Do not consult with one to whom you are suspect, nor share your plans with those who envy you — about religion with an irreligious man, about justice with an unjust man," etc.
But one must follow the authority of nearly all the manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate, which the Roman correctors in the Bibles published at Rome therefore decided to retain, and which reads: "With an irreligious man discuss sanctity, and with an unjust man discuss justice." It is a continuous irony through verse 14, meaning: If you discuss and deliberate about religion and sanctity with an irreligious man, about justice with an unjust man, etc., you act imprudently and foolishly; because the irreligious man will advise nothing but irreligious things, the unjust nothing but unjust things — which is what he relishes, savors, and continually practices. For everyone suggests what he grasps and savors, what delights him, and what he continually deals in and does.
Nor is it new or unworthy for irony to be used in Sacred Scripture, as Jansen and Francis Lucas object. For God speaks ironically to Adam, mocking his pride and fall, saying: "Behold, Adam has become like one of us, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:22). And Solomon ironically says to the youth following his own pleasures: "Rejoice therefore, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart be in what is good in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes." Then, unveiling the irony, he adds: "And know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment" (Ecclesiastes 11:9). And Isaiah, ch. 28, v. 10, ironically throws back in the Jews' faces their own refrain: "Command, command again; wait, wait again; a little here, a little there." Many similar examples exist in Sacred Scripture.
Finally, if anyone absolutely refuses to admit irony in this passage, let him supply with Palacius the phrase "and it will harm you," or something similar, meaning: If you discuss religion with an irreligious man, justice with an unjust man, you will harm yourself, or you will receive bad counsel; for he therefore adds: "Pay no attention to these in any counsel."
Moreover, Sirach here enumerates twelve categories of people with whom he teaches one should not take counsel — because they are held by some passionate and vehement attachment that prevents them from rendering a sincere, upright, and honest judgment on the matter proposed. For as each person is disposed, so he judges, and pronounces his verdict to the one seeking advice in the way he himself feels. Hence he leaves one to conclude that whoever is to be chosen as a counselor must be free from all vicious love, desire, anger, envy, and similar passions.
The first category is the irreligious — those who do not worship or reverence God as they ought, and who from time to time scorn and deny all divinity, such as atheists. For what prudent person would consult them about sanctity, that is, about the holy worship of God?
The second is the unjust — the rapacious, thieves, usurers, fraudsters, the violent, etc. For who would consult about justice those who know nothing but the arts of stealing, plundering, defrauding, etc.? For, as Sirach said in chapter 8, verse 20: "Do not take counsel with fools; for they will not be able to say anything except what pleases them."
Hence the ancient adage that Zenodotus cites from Epicharmus: σύμβουλος ἱερὸν χρῆμα, that is, "a counselor is a sacred thing" — meaning that a counselor can and should provide great benefit, and religiously and purely give advice to those who need it. Hence Plato, in the Theages: "Indeed," he says, "it is also said, Demodocus, that a counselor is a sacred thing." The same, in his letter to Perdiccas: "It is fitting that I should impart the hospitality and the sacred, as it is called, counsel." Among the Greek maxims this senarius verse stands:
"Consultation is truly a sacred thing."
Therefore it should be sought from sacred and religious men. For they truly possess wisdom; and from the wise man counsel should be sought, according to the saying of the Comic poet:
"Let that man be your counselor who has wisdom,
for one becomes wise by the counsel of the wise."
And that from Wisdom, Proverbs 8:12: "I, Wisdom, dwell in counsel, and I am present in learned thoughts." Famous is the saying: "Neither a blind man for a guide, nor a fool for a counselor" — supply: "should you employ." Learn, but from the learned; seek counsel, but from the experienced. And that of St. Basil, Oration 21, On Happiness and Prudence: "Counsel is truly something divine."
Against this precept of Sirach and of prudence, those sin who, called by God to His service — for example, to the Religious state — seek counsel about it from worldly people, parents, and relatives; both because "the natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:14) — "For many see our crosses, but do not see our anointings," says St. Bernard — and because (as St. Thomas says, Opusculum 17, ch. 9) he does an injury to Christ, in whom "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of God," who, after hearing His counsel, still seeks the counsel of a mortal man. For rightly the same St. Thomas, III, Question 68, art. 1, drawing from Aristotle, Eudemian Ethics, Book VII, ch. 18, inquiring what is the first and principal thing in the soul for
moving it to action — he says that reason is the governing faculty of the other parts, but that there is something superior to reason itself, not knowledge or learning (for these are not better) — but God. And shortly afterward he adds that those who are moved by God do not need consultation, since they are governed by a better principle than reason or counsel.
Most excellently and eloquently St. Bernard, in his sermon on "Behold, we have left everything," says: "How many does the accursed wisdom of the world overthrow, extinguishing the conceived spirit in them which the Lord wished to be vehemently kindled! 'Do not act hastily,' it says, 'consider at length, look more carefully. What you propose is great, and you need much deliberation. Test what you can do, consult friends, lest it happen that you repent after the deed.' Is this the wisdom of the world — earthly, animal, diabolical, an enemy of salvation, a strangler of life, a mother of lukewarmness? — which customarily provokes God to vomiting. 'Beware,' it says. For what purpose? When you do not doubt the word is from God, what need is there for deliberation? The Angel of great counsel calls — why do you await the counsels of others? For who is more faithful, who wiser than He? Lead me, O Lord, and I shall be led; be strong and take courage. I know what those things are that must be done quickly. I am snatched from the mouth of the pit of hell, and shall I ask for a delay, and be held back, and hesitate to depart, in case meanwhile something happens? I have hidden fire in my bosom, and now that my side is already burnt, my innards already laid bare, the pus already flowing — must I deliberate at length whether to shake it off, whether to cast it away?" And a little further on: "Let him consult friends, who has not read: 'A man's enemies are those of his own household.' Why does he frequent the Gospel who does not obey the Gospel? For in it indeed we read that to someone who promised to follow the Lord but first wanted to bury his dead father, the answer was given that he should let the dead bury their dead. And to another who wished only to bid farewell to those in his house: 'No one,' He said, 'who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'" So far Bernard.
"And with a woman about her rival." The third category of people unfit for counsel is a woman. She should not be consulted about her rival (less correctly Palacius and others read: "about those women" — namely, the women whom she envies and is jealous of) "who rivals her," namely, who is her rival — for example, a concubine who, in preference to her and indeed against her, courts the husband in order to draw him from her to herself, as Rachel and Leah courted Jacob (Genesis 30:15), and Hannah and Peninnah courted Elkanah (1 Samuel 1:6). For this is what the Greek περὶ ἀντιζήλου αὐτῆς signifies. Hence the Complutensian translates: "With a woman about her rival concubine." The Roman edition: "With a woman about her rival." Others: "With a woman about her female rival." For the wife, out of envy and hatred, will plainly defame and blacken the rival in the husband's eyes, in order to commend herself above the rival to her husband and, with the rival excluded (even though she may be adorned with more gifts and therefore would have been more useful to the husband), seize him for herself. Otherwise the Syriac: "Do not take counsel," he says, "with a woman, lest you commit adultery with her; for the secrets of the mind lead to the secrets of the belly."
The fourth is: "With a timid man about war," because a timid and fearful man, fearing for his family, fortune, and life, will in every way dissuade from war, even one otherwise useful or necessary; and will advise accepting peace even on unjust and ignominious terms. For this the Syriac has: "And with an enemy, so that you do not fight."
The fifth is: "With a merchant about trade" — that is, as the Greek has it, "with a trader about exchange"; the Syriac: "with a merchant about his merchandise." For a merchant will advise and say not what is useful for you to exchange, but what is useful for himself. Again, "trade" (trajectio) here can be taken not as an exchange of goods but of location or residence — for the Greek περαχωρία can also signify this — as if, for example, you were to consult a merchant whether it would be advantageous for you to transport your goods or your person for the purpose of trading to Spain or to the Indies. The merchant will advise not so much what is convenient for you as what suits himself; for he will fear lest you divert or diminish his profits, or else he will desire that you transfer yourself to where you will bring him more advantage and gain. To such a consultant apply the words of St. Augustine on Psalm 119: "Because he appears to wear the cloak of a counselor, but carries the poison of a destroyer, his tongue is called deceitful."
The sixth is: "With a buyer about selling." For a buyer will advise and say not what is advantageous for you the seller, but what is useful for himself to buy; and he will urge you to sell cheaply what he himself desires. He will also set the price of goods at the lowest. The Syriac substitutes "seller" for buyer: "With a seller," he says, "about the thing he himself sells." For he will urge you to buy his goods at a high price, even though they are cheap, and those which he himself wishes to get rid of. Now, the counsel of that paradoxical merchant was wise, and therefore worth following. As was told to me in Rome by a man of gravity, when asked by what art he had become wealthy, he replied: "By going the opposite way from everyone else. For others want to buy cheap and sell dear" (as the Mime said in St. Augustine, On the Trinity XIII, 3): "But I," he said, "buy dear and sell cheap. For by buying dear, I select and acquire the best merchandise; by selling cheap, I attract all buyers to me, who bring me far more profit than if I sold to a few at high prices."
The seventh is: "With a grudging man about giving thanks"; in Greek: "with an envious man about gratitude or giving thanks." The Zurich Bible: "About expressing gratitude, with an envious man." Because the envious man begrudges gratitude both to the one who received the benefit — lest through giving thanks he win the favor of the giver and obtain more from him, snatching it for himself — and to the one who gave the benefit, because he begrudges his honor and praise.
13 and 14. WITH AN IMPIOUS MAN ABOUT PIETY, WITH A DISHONORABLE MAN ABOUT HONOR, WITH A FIELD LABORER ABOUT EVERY KIND OF WORK, WITH A YEARLY HIRED WORKER ABOUT FINISHING THE YEAR, WITH A LAZY SERVANT ABOUT MUCH WORK: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THESE IN ANY COUNSEL. — The eighth is that one should not consult "with an impious man about piety"; in Greek, μετὰ ἀσπλάγχνου περὶ εὐποιΐας, that is, as the Complutensian and Roman editions have it: "With a merciless man about beneficence." The Syriac: "With one who is merciless, about performing mercy." The Zurich Bible: "With a savage man about humanity." Therefore "impious" here does not mean impious toward God — that is, irreligious (for he already dealt with that in verse 12) — but merciless toward neighbors, the poor, and the afflicted. For the Hebrews call mercy by the name חסד chesed, that is, piety, and consequently call mercilessness "impiety." Rabanus gives the reason for all these: "Because where hearts and deeds do not agree," he says, "their counsel is without doubt in peril. Therefore he who wishes to properly take counsel with anyone must first weigh the prudence, fidelity, will, and piety of his counselor, and only then make use of his counsel."
The ninth is: "With a dishonorable man about honor"; for a dishonorable man, ignorant of and devoid of honor, will advise nothing but things like himself — namely, dishonorable things. This clause is now absent from the Greek manuscripts. "Dishonorable" means base, infamous, uncivil, and shameful.
The tenth is: "With a field laborer about every kind of work," because a field laborer, hired to cultivate your field, will excuse himself from many tasks as if they were useless, in order to lighten his workload and withdraw. Hence the Greek has: "With a lazy person about any work." The master therefore will not ask the laborer whether the field should be dug, manured, or weeded, but will order it to be dug, manured, and weeded.
The eleventh is: "With a yearly hired worker about finishing the year" — meaning, with a laborer or hired man whom you have engaged for a year to cultivate a field or vineyard, or to complete some other work. You will not consult with him about the completion of the year — namely, whether anything remains to be done this year. For he himself will want to finish the year sooner, as if nothing remains to be done this year, but whatever is left should be carried over to the following years; or as if he has already satisfied the year's labor requirement by his work, saying that he has completed his year of labor for which he contracted, and therefore nothing more remains for him to work on, and the full annual wage is owed to him. For in Greek it simply says περὶ συντελείας, that is, "about the completion" — namely, of both the work and the year.
For "yearly" (annuali), as the Complutensian Greek also reads — namely ἐνιαύσιον — the Roman edition reads οἰκείῳ, that is, "domestic," one whom you feed at home. For such a one would least of all want the work to be finished, so that he might always have work in which to hire out his labor to you for pay. Hence the Syriac translates: "With a hired worker who deceives in his work."
The twelfth is: "With a lazy servant about much work"; for a lazy servant, out of sloth, in order to provide for his own idleness, will discourage many tasks that are truly useful or even necessary, dismissing them as useless, inopportune, or harmful. A master therefore will not consult a lazy servant about work, but will order him to work and sweat. The Syriac: "With a servant who seeks to defraud his masters, do not be his counselor."
15 and 16. BUT WITH A HOLY MAN (in Greek εὐσεβεῖ, that is, pious, religious) BE CONSTANT, WHOMEVER YOU HAVE RECOGNIZED AS OBSERVING THE FEAR OF GOD, WHOSE SOUL IS IN ACCORD WITH YOUR SOUL, AND WHO, WHEN YOU STUMBLE IN DARKNESS, WILL GRIEVE WITH YOU. — The Syriac: "Dwell with just men, because they themselves fear to sin before God; and their heart agrees with your heart, and if one does evil to you, he does evil to his own soul, and if he does good, he does good to his own soul (conscience); and his faithfulness itself will give him life, and he too will be faithful like you." Up to this point he has taught with whom one should not take counsel; now he teaches with whom one should — namely, with holy men who fear God. For they will advise nothing except what is in conformity with the fear and love of God, for they are most observant of this. Hence their "soul is in accord with your soul" — namely, devoted to the fear of God and to their own salvation, just as you are devoted to yours. Therefore, if through the darkness of ignorance, imprudence, desire, or tribulation you "stumble" — in Greek σφαλῇς, that is, if you trip or fall — namely, into some sin or loss — he will sincerely "grieve with you" and will strive to support and strengthen you with every counsel, help, and effort. Hence the Zurich Bible translates: "Frequent the company of a pious man whom you know to be an observer of the Lord's precepts, whose spirit approaches your own temperament; and who, if you have fallen, will have compassion on you."
So says Lyra, who also adds: "After the impediments to discernment have been removed, here subsequently its promoters are set forth; and they are four: namely, soundness of counsel (when he says, 'be constant with a holy man'), truthfulness of speech, clarity of wisdom, and repressed sensuality."
Note, first, the phrase "be constant" (assiduus esto); in Greek ἐνδελέχιζε, that is, be continuous, uninterrupted, constant, perpetual — for this is ἐνδελεχής; and ἐνδελέχεια is constancy, perpetuity, perenniality. For in a serious matter it is not enough to consult once; one must discuss it constantly with an upright man. Moreover, in order for a wise and holy man to rub off and breathe upon you his wisdom and holiness, a long stay and constant companionship with him is needed — just as one who is cold and wishes to be warmed by hot air must remain constantly in it.
Note, second, the phrase "whose soul is in accord with your soul" — that is, first, as the Zurich Bible has it: who is of the same disposition, inclination, temperament, judgment, and spirit as you; or at least who knows how to adapt and conform himself and his counsels to your temperament and disposition. For in counsel, as in prudence, the disposition and spirit of the one being counseled must be especially considered. For many give counsel that is good in itself, but not suited to the disposition and spirit of the one seeking counsel, and therefore he disdains it, or carries it out by force, and consequently does not persevere in it, according to the saying:
"You will do and say nothing against Minerva's will."
Therefore in counsel, sympathy is of the greatest value, so that the one giving counsel has, or takes on and assumes, feelings similar to those of the one asking.
Ben Sira in the Alphabetical collection, letter shin, agrees with Sirach: "If you have sixty counselors, still do not abandon the counsel of your own soul." Where the commentator says: "He who undertakes any business, even if he has many counselors to whom he reveals his secrets, should nevertheless never scorn or reject his own counsel. For, as Solomon says: 'The heart knows the bitterness of its own soul'; rather let him weigh his own opinion, even if it seems good, against the opinions of others. If his prevails, let him follow it; let him reject the rest. For it is foolish to depend so much on others that you leave no room for your own judgment. Seneca wisely says: 'Let your counsel be considered by others in such a way that it receives authority from you; but let it receive authority from you in such a way that you do not seem to be the only one approving it. For rashness in assenting is most pernicious.'"
Second, Lyra says: "Whose soul is in accord with your soul" — that is, he says, one who loves you as he loves himself, so that he is with you as though one heart and one soul. And Palacius says: One who is your friend, or whom your soul loves; for his soul in turn will love you. For the soul of one person is similar to the soul of another in affection, especially in love or hatred. Therefore, if you wish to know whether someone loves you or not, test and probe your own feelings, and see how you are disposed toward him. If you feel yourself moved by love toward him, know that he also pursues you with reciprocal love. But if you hate him, he will hate you too. For as a face reflected in water is like the face of the one looking directly into it, so one man's heart corresponds to another's. Hence Proverbs 27:19 says: "As faces shine in water when people look into it, so the hearts of men are revealed to the prudent." The Hebrews translate from the Hebrew: "As in water face corresponds to face, so the heart of man corresponds to the heart of man."
17. ESTABLISH WITHIN YOURSELF A HEART OF GOOD COUNSEL: FOR THERE IS NOTHING OF GREATER WORTH TO YOU THAN IT. — This is a hypallage: "A heart of good counsel" means: take up the good counsel of your heart and lean upon it; for this is most faithful to you. This is the second counselor, meaning: Not only from a wise and holy man, but also from yourself and your own heart, seek counsel. For, first, your heart will give you counsel more faithfully than anyone else. Second, your heart will give counsel that is most suited to your own disposition and feelings (for no one knows and senses these better than your own heart), or will temper counsel that is less suited. Finally, your heart, being supremely solicitous for you, will devise many things suited to itself that others would never have discovered. Hence the Syriac translates: "The heart of a man will rejoice in his way more than in the riches of the world."
Or, in a proper sense: Establish within yourself a heart as a tribunal, indeed an oracle of good counsel; so that when some doubt arises about what should be done, you consult your heart about what course of action is needed, and therefore in your heart, as in a tribunal, you thoroughly and prudently examine the case in every direction. For if you do this, your heart will surely be the dictator of the best counsel; for it will dictate what is most supremely fitting for you, most useful to you, and in your interest. For to this end God gave man a heart, that is, reason, mind, and prudence — that he might follow it, according to Psalm 4:7: "The light of Your countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us." For human reason is, as it were, a light derived from the eternal reason that is in the mind of God. For this reason God created man "in His image and likeness" (Genesis 1:26) — namely, so that he might have this domestic oracle to consult and follow in all his doubts.
Hence the Greek reads: "The counsel of the heart, establish" — that is, make firm and stable (others read: "it is firm; for there is nothing more faithful to you"). The Zurich Bible: "Establish counsel in your mind; for nothing is more faithful to you than it."
Moreover, how effective counsel is in accomplishing things, and how it surpasses bodily strength and force, Homer teaches with many examples in Iliad 4:
"By counsel far more, he says, than by strength one excels,
whoever prepares to cut down a bristling forest.
By counsel again the helmsman on the dark sea
steers his wave-wandering ship when the south winds snatch at it.
By counsel the charioteer conquers and outstrips his rival."
Accordingly, Aristotle, Politics, Book IV, ch. 4, asserts that counselors are a necessary part of the commonwealth. Antonius, in the Melissa, Part 1, Sermons 10, 11, and 12, cites these maxims of the wise about the power of counsel. Isocrates: "A good counselor is the most useful and powerful of all things." Diodorus: "Prudent counsel surpasses many hands. The wise man excels the strong." Choricius: "Without good counsel, strength accomplishes nothing; but prudence, even if it has not taken on strength, devises many things many times over. For prudent deliberation conquers the multitude of hands; but inexperience with a crowd of men is even worse. Just as a single wolf does not fear many sheep but slaughters them all, so too one wise man does not fear many imprudent men but overcomes them." St. Basil: "Strength when aided by prudence is helpful, but without it harms its possessors." St. Gregory Nazianzen: "Deliberate slowness is better than rash haste. Counsel, the lamp of life, should lead the way everywhere." St. Chrysostom: "In every matter, consider what comes before and what follows, and so undertake it." Finally, Solomon, Proverbs 11:14:
"Where there is no governor," he says, "the people will fall; but safety is where there is much counsel" (Proverbs 11:14). And chapter 24, verses 3 and 5: "By wisdom a house will be built, and by prudence it will be strengthened. A wise man is strong, and a learned man is robust and powerful."
Now, because the mind of the timid distrusts itself in its own affairs and trembles, let it strengthen itself — having first prayed — with this threefold rule and practice. First: What would a prudent man judge should be done in this case? Surely this and this. Therefore I myself will undertake it and apply it to myself. For by this reasoning I will not be following my own counsel, but the wise counsel of a prudent man. This is to be suggested to the scrupulous,
who do not dare to resist their own scruples — namely, that they should do boldly what a prudent man would speculatively judge ought to be done in such a case.
Second: If a friend of mine, placed in my situation and circumstances, were to ask me for advice, what would I give him? Surely this and this. Therefore I will give myself the same counsel. Conversely, Livius Salinator, an illustrious warrior, used to assert that "no one could give more faithful counsel than he who would recommend to another what he himself would have done if he were in the same situation," as Livy reports in Book 7, Decade 4. Third: What, in the hour of death, what, on the day of judgment, when I shall stand before the tribunal of Christ to give an account of this action — what will I wish I had done in this matter? Surely this and this. Therefore I will now choose and carry out that very thing. Thus I will be able to give a fitting account of my actions to Christ the Judge, and will securely await from Him a favorable sentence of praise and eternal happiness. Finally, because now ignorance, now self-love and desire often blind a person, it is safer, as far as possible, to employ the sincere counsel of other prudent people, according to Proverbs 3:5: "Do not lean on your own understanding." For, as Plutarch says in the Moralia: "As witches are blind at home but see everything abroad, so certain people, more than sufficiently sharp-sighted in others' affairs, see poorly in their own."
18. THE SOUL OF A HOLY MAN SOMETIMES DECLARES TRUTHS BETTER THAN SEVEN WATCHMEN SITTING ON A HIGH PLACE TO KEEP WATCH. — The word "holy" is no longer in the Greek, but should certainly be added. He proves what he said in the preceding verse. Hence the Greek adds γάρ, that is, "for" or "indeed." The sense therefore is: In doubtful matters, besides counselors, approach the counsel of your own heart; if it is wise and upright, consult it. For the soul of a wise and holy man not infrequently declares the truth — especially practical truth, namely what ought to be done — better "than seven," that is, many watchmen from a watchtower see and announce what is happening round about. Likewise, mystically: better than many teachers who sit in chairs of learning to survey, that is to speculate upon, the truth and announce it to their hearers. This is to say (as Jansen remarks), no one can generally give better counsel than each person to himself, provided he fears God. Here he explains "the heart of counsel" mentioned in the preceding verse, meaning: You will say, how shall I obtain a heart of good counsel? I answer: If you have a holy soul; for this customarily announces truths better than seven watchmen who from on high customarily survey and scan the earth. That this is the meaning is evident from the Greek, which reads thus: "For the mind of a man sometimes reports more than seven watchmen sitting on a high watchtower." The Zurich Bible: "For sometimes each person's own mind warns of more things than seven sentinels sitting on a high watchtower." Although our translator, by adding the word "holy," seems to have looked back to what he said in verse 15: "Be constant with a holy man" — because namely a holy soul declares truths, etc.
The reason is that God particularly illumines, governs, and directs holy souls. Indeed, Aristotle, Eudemian Ethics, Book VII, ch. 18, asserts that the principle of motion in the soul is God: "And so," he says, "of those who are prudent and wise, the divination is swift and lasting" — not that there is in the soul, especially of an epileptic or a dying person, something prophetic, or a power of divining secrets and the future, as Plato held; but that there is in it a shrewdness and power of wisely deliberating and conjecturing. For if (as the Philosophers say) brute animals are directed by a non-erring intelligence — as spiders, swallows, etc. — how much more will holy souls be directed by it! And if one is directed by God, will he not see the truth more clearly than seven watchmen?
Now it is commonly said that the heart is faithful, because it customarily counsels a person what is expedient. But note meanwhile, says Palacius: although a holy soul customarily speaks the truth and the heart customarily gives faithful counsel, nevertheless God wills that, beyond holiness, one also employ reading, experience, and observation in order to give good counsel. For this reason young people, however good, are less suited to giving counsel.
But God especially wills that inferiors consult their Superiors; for these, as vicars of God, illuminate and direct them — especially Religious, who have bound themselves to their Superiors by the vow of obedience. For obedience merits this direction: namely, that the obedient person, who out of love of God hands himself over to be governed by his Superior, may be directed by the Superior — with God guiding — through right counsels and precepts toward salvation and eternal life.
Mystically, Rabanus says: "The seven watchmen are the philosophers, handers-down of the liberal arts (which are comprised by them in the number seven); but it is more evident that the modest doctrine of the Catholic man, which consists in the divine books, is truer in all things than all the manifold skill of the philosophers in disputing and arguing. For in the former, irreproachable truth shines forth through all things in a few and pure words; but in the latter, wandering opinion about recondite matters appears in garrulous verbosity — indeed, manifest falsehood. But since all wisdom is from the Lord God, and no one can possess it without His gift, therefore he adds, saying: 'And in all these things, pray to the Most High, that He may direct your way in truth.'"
A famous example of this maxim was St. Francis, who, as Bonaventure says in his Life, being so illuminated by God that, although he was unversed in scholastic theology, when consulted about difficult theological questions he unraveled them better and more divinely than the greatest theologians. The same saint, when the Christians were besieging Damietta and preparing a battle with the Saracens, forbade them; and if they fought, he predicted their defeat — which indeed befell them, since they did not believe Francis (who was outwardly despised and poor), nor did they obey him. For the entire army was turned to flight—
on account of his oblique and tortuous responses, was so called. Thus the divine Ascetics were hearers and interpreters of God, because they were familiar with God and most closely united to Him. For truly St. Bernard, in his book On the Interior House, chapter 69, says: "Let this be a sure sign to you, whatever soul you are, that you love your beloved less, or are less loved by Him, if you have not yet been called to those theoretical ecstasies, or have not yet merited to follow Him who calls. Do you wish to know that the sublimity of divine revelations is a manifest sign of divine love? 'I will no longer call you servants,' He says, 'but friends; because all things that I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you.'" Strive therefore to love your God intimately and supremely, and at every hour to long with the greatest desire for the joy of divine contemplation. Gather, O soul, yourself to yourself, and rest in the sole desire for the divine.
of Christian prudence, and six thousand were slain or captured: "In which it became clearly known," says St. Bonaventure, chapter 12, "that the wisdom of the poor man was not to be despised; since the soul of a just man sometimes declares truths better than seven watchmen sitting on a height to observe." Similar things about St. Anthony are written by St. Athanasius in his Life, and about St. Hilarion by St. Jerome, and similar things are narrated about other Saints in the Lives of the Fathers; so much so that many of them, not only by wisely conjecturing, but also by truly divining and prophesying the future, foretold true things, and were true and properly called seers and Prophets.
The fountain and origin of this gift was that they continually, by day and night, were occupied in prayer with God, and there perceived His secrets and glory. For lifting their minds from all earthly things to heaven, they trod the earth beneath their feet, and higher than mortals, fixed in God, they heard His secrets as though they were His secretaries, and truly discerned them. St. Basil assigns this manner and way of attaining the gift of prophecy in his Prooemium on Isaiah: "They prophesied," he says, "pure and translucent souls, made as mirrors of divine operation, which represented the image whole and unconfused, and in no part disturbed by the affections of the flesh. For when the soul, devoted to every pursuit of virtue, preserves in itself the perpetual memory of God impressed upon it by vehement love toward God, and by this means first prepares itself to have God as an indweller, then from its most vehement intention toward God and secret love, inspired by the divine power, it is rendered worthy of the gift of prophecy, God imparting His divine power and opening the eyes of the mind to understand whatever contemplations He wills." And St. Maximus, Century I, On Charity, chapter 95: "Just as the sun," he says, "rising and illuminating the world, displays both itself and the things it illuminates: so also the Sun of Justice, rising in a purified soul, both exhibits Himself to be seen and demonstrates the reasons of things that have been made by Him and will hereafter be made." Therefore this illustrious gift of prophecy, just as those ancient Ascetics obtained it by purity and prayer, so in turn it was a proof of their extraordinary sanctity and union with God, namely that they were extraordinary and divine men, indeed earthly angels and heavenly men. For as Tertullian says, Apology, chapter 20: "The testimony of divinity is the truth of divination." Indeed God Himself, contending about His divinity with idols and idolaters, as though in a forensic trial, in Isaiah 41:23, in order to deny it to them and claim it for Himself, establishes the matter by no other demonstration than this, and pleads His cause: "Announce the things that are to come in the future, and we shall know that you are gods," as if to say: I foretell the future, and things happen exactly as I foretold: you, O idols, or rather demons, foretell the future, but your predictions do not come true; therefore I am the true and truthful God, you are lying and false gods; as was Apollo Pythius, who was therefore called Loxias,
For by this same method, in the centuries after Christ, many Religious, Anchorites, and Saints attained the prophetic spirit. Hear Rufinus, an eyewitness, in his Preface to the Lives of the Fathers, Book II: "We saw," he says, "among them many Fathers leading a heavenly life on earth, and certain new Prophets raised up, both by the virtues of the soul and by the office of prophesying, for whom, as a testimony to their merits, not even the power of signs and wonders was lacking. For so great is the faith in them that it is able to command even mountains to be moved. They are therefore adorned in character, quiet, gentle, tranquil, and bound together by the bond of charity as by a certain kinship." In this way St. Benedict, as St. Gregory reports in Book II of the Dialogues, chapter 35, was so elevated in mind toward God in prayer that beneath him he saw the whole world, as a small globe gathered together in the rays of the sun. When Peter asked how this could happen, St. Gregory responds and assigns the cause and manner, saying: "Because to one who sees God, every creature is narrow," and the mind of St. Benedict, expanded in God, saw the world beneath him as a tiny globe; namely, from that lofty watchtower of the divinity, he perceived from afar and through a glass darkly those things which now he beholds face to face up close. Thus Enoch, the parent of us all, seventh from Adam, prophesied; because he walked with God. Thus Moses became the incomparable Prophet; because on Sinai he conversed with God. Thus St. Martin drew the illustrious spirit of prophecy from his communion with God; with whom he continually dwelt, as Sulpitius testifies in his Life.
19. AND IN ALL THESE THINGS PRAY TO THE MOST HIGH, THAT HE MAY DIRECT YOUR WAY IN TRUTH. — This is the third and supreme counselor, the author and director of all others, namely God. For the first is the holy man, about whom verse 15 speaks; the second is the heart of each wise and just person, about which verse 17 speaks; the third, in this passage, is the Most High, who is therefore to be invoked, so that He may suggest sound counsels both to the holy man and to one's own heart, and may direct
them in truth, so that they may be free from error, imprudence, and vice, and so that they may be carried out in a holy manner and achieve a happy and holy result. For this reason Christ prayed to the Father in His agony, saying: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, yet not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39). Therefore, says Palacius, God is as it were bound to grant what we ask, if we seek not our own will but divine truth. So Tobias instructs his son, chapter 4, verse 20: "At all times bless God, and ask Him that He may direct your ways, and that all your counsels may abide in Him." Hence the Tigurina here translates: Moreover, above all these things invoke the Most High, that He may direct your undertakings faithfully; the Greek Complutensian text has: And in all these things pray to the Most High, that truth may direct your way: truth, both uncreated, namely God; and created and infused by God into the mind, namely wisdom and prudence. He alludes to the prayer of David, Psalm 24:5: "Direct me in Your truth, and teach me: for You are God my Savior, and I have waited for You all the day long." Hence the Syriac here translates: And with all these things be praying to the Lord, that He Himself may direct your way in truth before men and before every thing.
Sirach therefore teaches that all actions, and especially counsels, must begin with God. Thus Moses, governing Israel, in all doubtful matters, before resolving them, consulted the Lord. Joshua, the successor of Moses, did the same by God's command; and when he omitted to do so, he was deceived by the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:14). Wherefore Isaiah, chapter 30, verse 2, threatens the Jews fleeing to Egypt without consulting God with disgrace and ruin. Hence in ancient times in many places among Christians, senators about to go to the senate house first attended the sacrifice of the Mass; whence we still see in certain cities chapels near or attached to the senate house, and benefices with the duty of daily sacrifice imposed upon them. The Gentiles also saw and did the same. Hence Pliny, at the beginning of his Panegyric: "Wisely and well," he says, "our ancestors ordained that the beginning both of doing things and of speaking should be taken from prayers, because men could undertake nothing rightly or providently without the aid, counsel, and honor of the immortal gods." Horace, Book III, Ode 6:
Hence (from God, that is) every beginning, to Him He directs the outcome.
Gellius, Book 14, chapter 7, teaches from Varro: "That we ought to have sacrificed and taken the auspices first, whoever was about to hold a session of the senate; and that divine matters ought to have been referred to the senate before human matters." And concerning Scipio, Livy writes in Book 26: "Already from the very beginning, preparing in his mind, from the time he assumed the toga of manhood, on no day did he conduct any public or private business before going to the Capitol, entering the temple, and sitting there, and for the most part spending time there alone." St. Augustine refers to all these things in Book III of The City of God, chapter 21, when he said: "Scipio, who was the liberator of Rome and Italy, the conqueror of Hannibal, and the subduer of Carthage, is described as having his youth and life dedicated to the gods and nourished in the temples."
20. BEFORE ALL WORKS LET A TRUE WORD PRECEDE YOU, AND BEFORE EVERY ACTION A FIRM COUNSEL — that is, a counsel not futile, but firm and solid. For "true word," the Greek has only λόγος, that is, speech, word, or reason. Hence the Greek reads: "The beginning of every work is a word, and before every action, a counsel." Now first, Lyranus by "true word" understands truthfulness and fidelity in promises and responses: "And before every action" let "a firm counsel" precede you, namely one from the wise and from Sacred Scripture. Second, Vatablus translates: The sum (for ἀρχὴ signifies both "beginning" and "chief" and "highest") of every work is speech, or let there be speech, that is, a true word; which Palacius aptly explains thus, as if to say: Before you put your hand to a task, take care that you have before your eyes some true proverb, some approved maxim, some counsel confirmed by experience, which you may follow in the undertaking. Here then is the method of taking counsel: first, from a friend and holy man; second, from your own heart; third, from God; fourth, from some true word. Thus Christ, in Matthew 4:4 and following, when tempted by the devil, undertakes nothing at all without first putting forward a true word and firm counsel; for He said: "Man does not live by bread alone;" and: "You shall not tempt the Lord your God;" and finally: "You shall worship the Lord your God." Likewise you should undertake nothing except from the precept of similar maxims. For this purpose these Wisdom books wonderfully serve; as do the proverbs of philosophers and ancestors.
Third, the Tigurina translates: Let reason be the beginning of a work, and let counsel precede every undertaking. Likewise Rabanus and Jansenius understand by "word," both vocal and mental (which is reason); so that the same thing is said here as what he said in chapter 32: "My son, do nothing without counsel. A true word" is a right counsel and the practical judgment of prudence, or a prudent one. The sense therefore is: Before all your works and every action, let a true word precede you, by which through certain reasons you may learn, whether in yourself or from the counsel of others, the reason for your action. He calls it "a firm counsel," which rests on firm reasons and is to be carried out with a steadfast mind. For not every word and counsel is to be followed, but only that which is supported by truth and firm reasons.
Conformable to this maxim was the saying of St. Thomas Aquinas, who, when dying, was asked by the Cistercian monks of Fossa Nuova: "How can this life be spent without error and fall?" He answered: "If in any action one so acts that he can give a reason why he does it: for thus he will not allow himself to be led astray by desire, passion, chance, or anything else that might lead him into error." This accounting for individual actions,
and a strict accounting of it from every person, Christ will demand on that terrible and decisive day of the last judgment.
21. A WICKED WORD WILL CHANGE THE HEART: FROM WHICH FOUR THINGS ARISE, GOOD AND EVIL, LIFE AND DEATH: AND THE CONTINUAL RULER OF THEM IS THE TONGUE. — The Syriac has it somewhat differently: The Lord, he says, created all things, good and evil, life and death: and he who is master of his tongue will be freed from evil. For "a wicked word will change the heart," the Greek has entirely different readings, and they vary remarkably among themselves, so that there is no doubt they are corrupted. For the Complutensian text has: The trace of a change of χαρᾶς, that is, of joy of countenance, as if to say: The sign that the heart has changed from joy to sorrow, or conversely from sorrow to joy, appears on the face: for a cheerful and joyful countenance is the indicator of a cheerful and joyful mind; while a sad and gloomy countenance is the indicator of a sad and gloomy mind. But the Greek corrected at Rome has only: The trace of a change of heart; where it is clear that a word like "countenance" or something similar is missing, which would be the trace of the heart's change. The Tigurina, reading with the Roman text καρδίας (that is, "of the heart") instead of χαρᾶς, reads thus: The indication of a change of heart is the countenance: for anger, love, hatred, sadness, joy, and the other affections of the heart and soul, and their changes and vicissitudes, are most clearly seen in the eyes and face. Hence that saying of St. Bernard, On the Way of Living Well, to his sister, chapter 65: "The face of a person is the mirror of the heart." Wherefore, as they read more consistently, so also more aptly and certainly do all the Latin codices of the Vulgate read: "A wicked word will change the heart;" by "wicked word" he means a depraved counsel expressed in speech, which changes the heart of the listener and the person seeking counsel, that is, corrupts it and converts it from good to evil. For he opposes this to the true word and firm counsel which he advised in the preceding verse should be kept before one's eyes before any work. Furthermore, he shows how great an evil this is, and how great a care must be taken of the heart lest it be corrupted by a wicked word, when he adds: "From which (heart) four things arise, good and evil, life and death," as if to say: Guard your heart, so that it may hear and receive nothing except a true word and firm counsel, because from it, as from good seed, it will produce good works of virtue, which will bring it the reward of a happy life, both present and eternal: but if it has heard and received a wicked word and depraved counsel, from it, as from bad seed, it will produce the fruits of evil works, which will create punishment for it, namely present and eternal death. He alludes to Proverbs 4:23: "With all watchfulness guard your heart, because from it life proceeds. Remove from yourself a wicked mouth, and let detracting lips be far from you." Hence Sirach adds: "And the continual ruler of them is the tongue." The word "continual" goes with "ruler," not with "tongue" (although Hugo would have it so: "He says 'continual,'" he says, "because the tongue always inclines toward that side to which it has been accustomed"), as is clear from the Greek, which has: the ruler of them ἐνδελεχῶς, that is continually, constantly, and perpetually, is the tongue. The Tigurina: And four
kinds arise, good and evil, life and death, of which the tongue is the continual governor. For the tongue teaching and counseling good things instills good affections into the heart of the hearer, from which it produces good works, which bring him the life of grace and glory: but the tongue teaching and counseling evil things generates evil affections in the heart of the hearer, from which he produces evil works, which create for him the death of sin and of hell. See therefore how a wicked word changes the heart. For since from the heart these four things arise, namely good and evil, life and death, just as from paradise four rivers arose; and since the tongue governs the heart, it follows that from the tongue, as from a primary source, these four things arise, namely good and evil, life and death, and so the tongue is the governor and ruler of these four. So closely is reason joined to speech, and the heart to the mouth. Whence he leaves it to be concluded: Beware therefore lest you imbibe a wicked word, much less thrust it upon others and instill it in them, because its effect will be a wicked action, and its reward will be death: strive rather to imbibe a good word, and to declare it to others and instill it in them, because its effect and, as it were, its offspring will be a good action, and its reward will be life, both your own and that of those to whom you instilled the good word.
Note: Good and evil acts arise from the heart physically and effectively; but life and death arise from the same heart ethically or meritoriously. The heart therefore, just as in a person it is the first to live and the last to die, so likewise is it the fountain, origin, and cause of all vital actions, both natural, moral, and supernatural. By "heart" understand the soul. To this pertains that saying of Proverbs 18:21: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: those who love it will eat its fruits." And that Greek proverb, which is reported by Suidas and Zenodorus: "Tongue, where are you going? You are about to overthrow the same city you have built up." Hence Bias, when Amasis king of Egypt commanded him to send back what was the best and worst part of the victim he had sent to him, sent back the tongue cut out, signifying that the tongue is the cause of all good as well as of all evil. So Plutarch, in his treatise On Talkativeness.
There is a cunning man (in Greek πανοῦργος, that is, shrewd, crafty) who is the teacher of many, yet is useless to his own soul. — This verse is found in the Roman and Greek texts; but is missing in Jansenius, Lyranus, and others in various places. The sense is, as if to say: The cunning man, who teaches others to act well while he himself acts wickedly, is useful to others but useless to himself, and therefore foolish; for he who is not wise for himself is not truly wise. The Tigurina: There is one who, being prudent, teaches many, yet who is useless to his own soul. He is good to others, but wicked to himself. For true knowledge and prudence consist not in speculation and teaching, but in practice and action. And as St. Francis used to say: "A man has as much knowledge as he puts into practice; and a Religious is as good a speaker as he is a doer," as Waddingus reports in the Annals of the Friars Minor, year of Christ 1220, number 25. Furthermore, the Syriac for the verse just expound-
ed now has: Everyone who seems wise to himself is himself a fool.
22. A SKILLED MAN HAS INSTRUCTED MANY, AND IS SWEET TO HIS OWN SOUL. — This is the antithesis of the preceding verse. For he contrasts the skilled man, that is, the wise, experienced, and prudent man, with the cunning man, in that the cunning man teaches others but not himself; hence he is useful to others but useless to himself. But the skilled and wise man teaches others and instructs them to act well in such a way that he simultaneously teaches and directs himself, and equally refreshes, feeds, and delights himself with his wisdom; therefore he is useful to others, and both useful and sweet to himself. For it delights him that he is wise, and that he makes others wise and holy.
Note: Sirach, in verses 15 and 16 and following, required two conditions and qualities in a counselor: first, that he be a holy man; second, that he have sympathy with the one to whom he gives counsel; here, third, he requires that what he counsels by mouth he demonstrate by deed. For men trust deeds more than words; and because if he does otherwise, he counsels others but does not counsel himself, and so he is a counselor to others but not to himself, which is absurd and shows great imprudence. He adds a fourth requirement, that he not be a sophist. Hence he says:
23 and 24. He who speaks sophistically is hateful: IN EVERYTHING (the Complutensian text has, in all wisdom; the Roman, in all nourishment) HE SHALL BE DEFRAUDED; GRACE HAS NOT BEEN GIVEN HIM BY THE LORD: FOR HE HAS BEEN DEFRAUDED OF ALL WISDOM. — So the Roman text. St. Augustine also cites these words in Book II of On Christian Doctrine, chapter 31. For "he who speaks sophistically," the Greek has ὁ σοφιζόμενος ἐν λόγοις, which the Complutensian translates: One who uses sophistry in speeches; the Roman: He who displays wisdom in speeches, as Sophists are wont to do; the Tigurina: There is one who, acting the wise man in words, is hateful, who likewise lacks all wisdom; the Syriac: For there is one who is wise, and in his discourses is held in hatred; he impedes himself from all honor. For the truly wise man is he who is always wise.
Furthermore, St. Augustine, in the passage already cited, requiring that the student of Sacred Letters be a dialectician, not a sophist, says: "Only this much must be guarded against there: the desire for quarreling and a certain childish ostentation of deceiving the adversary. For there are many things called sophisms, false conclusions of reasoning, and for the most part imitating true ones so closely that they deceive not only the slow, but even the ingenious when they are less attentive. For someone proposed to the man he was speaking with (Diogenes the Cynic), saying: What I am, you are not. And Diogenes agreed. For it was true in a way, if only because the one was insidious, and the other was simple. Then the man added: But I am a man. When he had also accepted this from him, the man concluded, saying: You therefore are not a man. Scripture, as far as I judge, detests this kind of captious conclusions in that passage where it is said: He who speaks sophistically is hateful. Although even speech that is not captious, but still pursues ornaments of words more abundantly than gravity requires, may be called sophistical." So far St. Augustine.
To sophistry belong horned arguments and syllogisms, such as that of Chrysippus cited in Seneca, Epistle 49: "What you have not lost, you have: but you have not lost horns; therefore you have horns." And inextricable snares, such as those of the crocodile, who, they say, wishing to devour a girl he had captured, promised her mother under this condition that he would return her if the woman spoke the truth about whatever he himself had decided about returning the girl: an utterly insoluble trap. For if the woman had answered "You will return her," since he had not decided to return her, she would not have spoken truly: on the other hand, if she had said "You will not return her," he should not have returned her, otherwise the response would not have been true; whatever she might say, therefore, the crocodile would not have returned her. Quintilian, Book I, chapter 10, called this kind of ambiguities "Crocodile dilemmas"; some also note they are called πρίονα (the saw). Similar is that case of Protagoras about which Gellius writes in Book IV of the Attic Nights, chapter 10. Sextus Empiricus against the Mathematicians writes similar things about Corax, who was demanding payment from a young man. The devil uses such devices, who strives to deceive and ensnare Eve and all mankind with his sophisms. Hence St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 14, calls the devil "the primary sophist in constructing malice." And St. Basil, Homily 22: "The first and greatest and hateful sophist of human wisdom." And Rupert, Book III on Genesis: "The greatest of hateful sophists."
"Similar to this," says Lactantius, Book VI of On False Wisdom, chapter 6, "is that which is usually proposed in the schools as an example of the insoluble type: that someone dreamed that one should not believe dreams. For if he believed it, then it follows that it should not be believed. Likewise, if nothing can be known, it is necessary that this very thing be known, that nothing is known. But if it is known that nothing can be known, then what is said is false, that nothing can be known. Thus a doctrine is introduced that contradicts itself and dissolves itself." These are Gordian knots, captious and practically insoluble. Similar is that passage in Cicero, Book IV of the Academics: "If you say you are lying, and you speak the truth, you lie: but you say you are lying, and you speak the truth; therefore you lie." But by what reasoning can you speak the truth while lying, that is, lie and simultaneously speak the truth? To this pertains that saying of David, Psalm 115:11: "I said in my ecstasy: Every man is a liar." To which one can respond" (says St. Gregory, Book 22 of the Moralia, chapter 10, from the reasoning of the Sophists): "If every man, then you too; and the statement that you, a liar yourself, have uttered will already be false. But if you are not a liar, then the statement will not be true, because since you are truthful, not every man is recognized as a liar." And speaking of the Cretans, St. Paul writes in Titus 1:12: "One of them, their own prophet, said: Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies; this testimony is true." But this prophet was Epimenides, a Cretan poet; therefore he himself was a liar. If a liar, how is his testimony true? Scotus and the dialecticians review more examples in their treatise On Insolubles. Nevertheless, those from Sacred Scripture are soluble, as I have resolved them in their proper places.
to make progress." By a biting allegory, indeed, Socrates names one of the brother sophists a Hydra and the other a Crab, and himself Hercules. And hence the proverb: "Not even Hercules against two." The same Socrates said to Euclid, who was very studious of contentious questions: "You will be able to deal with sophists, O Euclid, but not with men," as if sophists were foxes or apes, not men.
The sense therefore is, as if to say: A counselor, teacher, or anyone else who speaks "sophistically," that is, captiously, ambiguously, insidiously, deceptively, this person "is hateful" to God, to angels, and to men who hold dear truth, simplicity, and fidelity, and consequently, rejected by them, he "shall be defrauded of everything," that is, of all honor and gain and even of nourishment, as the Roman Greek text has, which he sought through his sophistry. For the impostor and sophist, when his fraud, hypocrisy, and deception are recognized, receives disgrace instead of honor, and hissing instead of profit. "For grace has not been given him by the Lord," that is, God has not granted him to find favor in the eyes of men, or to be pleasing and gracious to them: because "he has been defrauded of all true wisdom," that is, he is deprived and devoid of it. He signifies that sophists, although at first they win the favor of men by displaying their wisdom and eloquence, soon, however, once their sophisms and sophistical frauds are detected, they lose it and incur the hatred of all instead of favor: while on the other hand the wise, at first, being less known, are little esteemed: but once their wisdom is perceived, they are held in great esteem by all: and as their wisdom is, so also their honor is solid and lasting. For they are like pepper, which the more it is ground, the greater the heat, aroma, and fire it exhales.
Morally, learn here that two things are necessary for a teacher and counselor to become honored and wealthy, namely true wisdom and the grace of God; and that wisdom wins the grace of God for him. For God advances the wise to honors and riches.
Finally, the greatest sophists are heretics, who through sophistical cavils strive to overturn the faith and to deceive and pervert the faithful: hence they themselves are deprived of all God's grace and wisdom, and therefore are hateful to God, to angels, and to men. So Rabanus.
THIRD PART OF THE CHAPTER. ON THE FRUITS AND REWARDS OF WISDOM.
25. THERE IS A WISE MAN WHO IS WISE FOR HIS OWN SOUL: AND THE FRUIT OF HIS UNDERSTANDING IS PRAISEWORTHY. — He contrasts the true wise man with the sophist, that is, the truly wise man, as if to say: The sophist is not wise, but merely appears wise to the unskilled: but the true sage not only appears, but truly is wise: because before all things he takes care of his own soul and is wise for himself, filling and adorning his soul with true wisdom and virtue, and then communicates his wisdom to others: therefore "the fruit of his understanding," that is, of his mind and intelligence, is "faithful," as the Roman text has, that is, sincere, firm, and solid; because he feeds the mind with truth and virtue, and therefore is pleasing
and praiseworthy to men, as well as to God and angels. Hence the Greek Complutensian text has: There is one wise for his own soul, and the fruits of his understanding are praiseworthy on his lips (when by speaking he communicates it to others); the Tigurina: There is one who is wise for his own soul, whose fruits of prudence are praiseworthy on his lips: it reads with our text and the Complutensians αἰνετοί, that is, praiseworthy, for which the Roman reads πιστοί, that is, faithful; others: There is one wise in his own mind, and the fruits of his understanding are praiseworthy on his lips. "Because," says Rabanus, "he treats in his mind the things that are pleasing to God, brings them forth with his tongue, and practices them in useful action." The Syriac: The fruit of the wise is for their souls, and there is a wise man who is wise for his own soul (or for himself), and the fruit of his works is seen from the appearance of his face.
26. A WISE MAN INSTRUCTS HIS PEOPLE, AND THE FRUITS OF HIS UNDERSTANDING ARE FAITHFUL. — This is the second antithesis of the sophist and the sage, or wise man: for the sophist deceives and deludes both his own soul and the people; but the wise man is wise not only for his own soul, that is, for himself, but also instructs the people, whether entrusted to him or among whom he lives and dwells, and teaches them by word and example to live honestly, justly, and piously: and "the fruits of his understanding," in Greek συνέσεως, that is, of his intelligence and teaching, are not fleeting, so as to vanish immediately like the teaching of sophists; but "they are faithful," that is, firm and stable: because truth is stable, and therefore produces stable offspring and fruits; hence the Hebrews say אמת emeth, that is, that truth has stable feet and stands upon them firmly. The Tigurina: A wise man instructs his people, and the fruits of his intelligence are stable; others say, certain. Lyranus interprets differently: "Faithful," he says, "that is, worthy of trust, both because they proceed from the first truth, and because they ultimately direct toward it." And Palacius: "Faithful," he says, "that is, stained by no error or malice."
27. A WISE MAN WILL BE FILLED WITH BLESSINGS, AND THOSE WHO SEE HIM WILL PRAISE HIM. — This is the third antithesis of the sophist and the sage, that is, the wise man: namely, everyone curses the sophist and detests him; but everyone blesses the wise man, and everyone praises and celebrates him, and, as the Greek has it, μακαριοῦσιν, that is, they proclaim him blessed. Hence the Complutensian: A wise man will be filled with blessing, and all who see him will call him blessed. Blessing could also be taken as beneficence and every accumulation of goods. Hence the Tigurina translates: A wise man will be heaped with happiness, and all who see him will proclaim him blessed; and Dionysius: "A wise man will be filled with blessings, that is," he says, "with the goods and increase of graces, virtues, gifts, fruits, and beatitudes, in all of which he grows and is perfected, by making good use of his wisdom, namely by contemplating divine things and instructing his neighbors." And Hugo: "With blessings," he says, "both of the right hand and of the left:" of the right hand in the future, when it shall be said to him with others: "Come, you blessed of My Father," etc.; of the left hand in the present life, namely the grace of God and the praise of men. Hence also the Syriac trans-
lates: He who is wise for his own soul will be saturated with delights, and all who see him will praise him.
28. THE LIFE OF A MAN IS IN A NUMBER OF DAYS: BUT THE DAYS OF ISRAEL ARE INNUMERABLE. — "Of a man," that is, of any person: for in Hebrew איש isch, that is, "man," means anyone. "In a number," namely a defined, certain, and small one. "In a number of days" therefore means the same as that they consist of defined and few days. It is a hypallage: the life of a man is in a number of days, that is, the life of a man is in days of number, that is, in counted and few days. For the Hebrews call ימי מספר ieme mispar, that is, "days of number," few and easily counted. The sense therefore is, as if to say: The life of every man is numbered and defined, and circumscribed by certain and few days by nature and by God, according to Psalm 89:10: "The days of our years in them are seventy years, and if in the powerful, eighty." But the days of Israel are indefinite and innumerable. The Tigurina: The life of each person consists of a number of days, but the days of the Israelites are innumerable.
You may ask who this Israel is. It is certain that by Israel here is not meant the patriarch Jacob, who wrestling with the angel and overcoming him, was named by the same Israel, that is, ruling over God, that is, over the angel who represented God (Genesis 32:28). For Jacob's days were "few" and "evil," that is, full of hardship, as he himself says in Genesis 47:9. For Jacob lived only 147 years (Genesis 47:28).
First, therefore, properly by Israel you may understand the people of Israel, descended from Jacob, who by another name was called Israel: so that the sense would be, as if to say: Each man lives few days of life, but the wise man lives innumerable days: for although he dies in body, his fame will live perpetually among the people of Israel, that is, among the faithful: for a people endures perpetually, even though this or that individual in the people dies. He names the people of Israel above others because they alone in Sirach's age possessed true wisdom, that is, the faith, worship, and religion of God, according to that saying of Moses in Deuteronomy 4:6: "This is your wisdom and understanding before the peoples, so that hearing all these precepts (of God's law), they may say: Behold a wise and understanding people." So Dionysius, Palacius, and Lyranus: "The days," he says, "of the people of Israel are innumerable, that is, long-lasting: for although individual persons die and others are born to succeed them, the unity of the people remains. Just as in a river the waters are in continual flow, yet the identity of the river remains: the praise of the wise man not only endures in his own time, but passes on to posterity: on account of which it is long-lasting, and especially among his own people, who know his works better: therefore he adds: The wise man among the people will inherit honor."
Second, Jansenius and Hugo understand by Israel an Israelite, that is, any wise person, meaning any faithful and holy person, as if to say: "The days of Israel," that is, of the Israelite, are innumerable: because they are infinite and enduring forever, that is, the Israelite's days endure forever because of
their works in this present life, the Lord always... his wisdom and the true knowledge of God by which he worshipped, after the end of the present labor, with a pure mind, those who were gifted above others, will live forever, not perpetually contemplating the serene face of God in the heavenly kingdom. Of this good there is no blemish, only among men through the memory of the name, but also with God through eternal glory. And of this joy there is no end." To this pertains the Arabic proverb, Century II, number 42: "The world... The Syriac translates: The wise man of the people will inherit glory, and his name will endure unto eternal life. With this agrees that passage of Ecclesiastes 7:13: "This advantage learning and wisdom have, that they give life to their possessor." Thus every holy person is called Israel by the Apostle, Galatians 6:16: "Whoever shall have followed this rule, peace upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." See what I have said about Israel in that place, and in Genesis chapter 32:28 and 35:10. He alludes to the patriarch Jacob, who, as Jacob, lived few days and years; but having been made and called Israel, he lives both personally in heaven the eternal life, and in his descendants, namely in the people of Israel through many ages. Jacob therefore, that is, the wrestler and supplanter of vices for a short time, merited to become Israel, that is, ruling over God, or, as St. Augustine and others say, a man seeing God, forever, as if to say, as Hugo puts it: "The days of Jacob wrestling have an end, but the days of Israel contemplating face to face will be without end."
passes away like erasable writing, but wisdom is enduring like a carving."
29. THE WISE MAN AMONG THE PEOPLE (of Israel, that is, the faithful, as he said in the preceding verse) WILL INHERIT HONOR (in Greek δόξαν, that is, glory; the Roman text reads πίστιν, that is, faith, so that all may have faith in him as in a heavenly oracle), AND HIS NAME WILL BE LIVING FOREVER. — He gives the reason why he said: "But the days of Israel are innumerable;" because, namely, the wise man among the people of Israel, as lasting perpetually, will obtain perpetual honor, and a "name," that is, a lasting memory, fame, and glory forever. Thus Solomon, celebrating his pursuit of wisdom, says in Wisdom 8:10: "On account of this I shall have," he says, "fame among the multitudes, and honor among the elders in the Church," both heavenly and earthly, both triumphant and militant, according to chapter 44:14: "The bodies of the saints are buried in peace, and their name lives from generation to generation." And Proverbs 10: "The memory of the just is with praises: and the name of the wicked will rot." To this pertains the Arabic proverb, Century II, number 21: "Learn knowledge, O boy, that you may be an emperor; and do not be ignorant, lest you become despicable." And number 22: "Knowledge is a diadem for a boy, and understanding a golden necklace." Hence also when scholars are created, they are crowned with a cap, as with a diadem, and girded with a golden chain. And number 25: "There is no glory in wealth and lineage, but glory is in knowledge and learning." And number 29: "Acquire gold for yourself in measure, and knowledge without measure." And number 34: "Knowledge is another light, and has bright eyes."
Anagogically, Hugo says: The name of the wise man, that is, of the just man, will live forever; because it is written in the book of life, according to that saying of Christ: "Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10).
Allegorically, Israel is the Church, or the assembly of the faithful, and the people of God, which will also endure in this world until the consummation of the ages: so that by this statement, says Jansenius, what he said may be confirmed, that the fruit of wisdom is stable and firm. For on account of God's word, which follows, His Church will be perpetual.
Anagogically, Israel is the blessed: for he lives in heaven innumerable days, namely happy and eternal ones. Thus Rabanus: "What is it," he says, "that when speaking of the life of a man as comprehended in a number of days, he added that the days of Israel are innumerable, except that he shows the life of the Saints in heavenly beatitude to be eternal and infinite? But that the present life of men is established in a definite number in the foreknowledge and disposition of God, Job shows, saying in chapter 14: The days of man are short; the number of his months is with You: You have established his boundaries, which cannot be passed. But the days of Israel, that is, of the holy man, who by right faith and good
FOURTH PART OF THE CHAPTER. ON CONTINENCE AND THE RESTRAINING OF CONCUPISCENCE AND GLUTTONY.
30. MY SON, IN YOUR LIFETIME TEST YOUR SOUL: AND IF IT IS WICKED, DO NOT GIVE IT POWER. — This pertains to verse 24: "There is a wise man who is wise for his own soul." For he explains the same thing here, and teaches that the chief office of true and practical wisdom consists in the wise man purging his soul of vices and concupiscences, and implanting in it every kind of virtue. He says therefore: My son, in your life attend to this above all, namely "test," that is, search and examine the affections and desires of your soul, and if you see them to be "wicked," that is, inclined to evil; "do not give them power," and do not loosen the reins for them to follow and execute evil, or the wickedness toward which they incline; but restrain and bridle them, not only from illicit things, but also from licit things that provide the occasion and pave the way to illicit ones. For the fall is easy for the desirous from licit things greatly coveted to illicit ones, for example, he who loves wine easily slips, if not into drunkenness, certainly into excessive drinking of it. Have therefore all the recesses of your soul explored, so that you may know toward which vices it inclines, and restrain it from them so completely that you turn it entirely in the contrary
direction and compel it, for example, if you see it inclined to pride, bend it with all your strength toward humility, and occupy it with lowly and humble thoughts and duties; if you see it inclined to avarice, bend it toward generosity: if toward gluttony, bend it toward abstinence and fasting; if toward anger, bend it toward meekness. For just as a curved tree must be bent in the entirely opposite direction in order to become straight. So Rabanus, Lyranus, Palacius, and others: "Wisdom commands," says Rabanus, "a man to guard his life carefully, lest by carelessness he dissipate himself in various desires and fall into the death of sin: therefore it says that he should test his soul, that is, that he should examine the will of his soul, and if it is perverse, not give it the power to fulfill it." To this pertains the Arabic proverb, Century I, number 22: "Prune your vine with your own hand, not another's," that is, reprove yourself for your own vice before another reproves you for the same." And number 14: "File down the thorns:" file, that is, conquer the affection of the flesh and evil desires, and cut them away with the file of reason. For desires, like thorns, prick a person, incite him to crime, and drive him to destruction. Therefore it is necessary that we blunt their sharpness with the file of reason as with something harder, if our salvation is dear to our hearts.
The Greek reads differently, namely: My son, in your life test your soul, and see what is evil for it, and do not give it to it; the Tigurina: My son, test your soul in your life, examine what is harmful to it, and do not indulge it in that; the Syriac: My son, in your life test your soul, and see what is evil for it, do not give it to it, as if to say: Investigate and explore diligently the inclinations, affections, and powers of your soul, so that you may know what is fitting and good for it, and what is unfitting and evil: and having done so, grant it what is fitting and good, but deny what you have found to be unfitting and evil for it. Hence there follows: "For not all things are expedient for all, and not every kind pleases every soul;" for example, the soul of some inclines to theological studies, of others to mathematics, of others to mechanical arts, of others to warfare: let each person therefore give to his soul what suits and fits its inclination and powers. For if one forces it to something else, for example, if one compels a lover of studies to warfare, he will do it great violence, and so the soul, violently detained in war, will groan continually, and will not be able to persevere in it, since it is leading a life that is troublesome, ungrateful, and wretched to it. This is more clearly seen in choosing a state of life. For some are suited to and pleased by the state of marriage, others by the priesthood, others by Religious life: therefore if parents, as often happens, compel their younger children to Religious life when they themselves abhor it and desire to lead a life in the world, surely the children in Religious life will lead a sad and dangerous life, and at the first opportunity will throw off the yoke of Religious life; for which reason we have seen and continue to see so many apostates. Indeed many are damned because they take up a state of life unsuited to them, and so many are con-
demned in the world who would have been saved in Religious life: and vice versa.
Our version can be adapted to this exposition, as Jansenius adapts it, in this way: In your life test your soul, that is, search and investigate what is most fitting for your soul, and if something is "wicked," that is, harmful and unsuitable for it, do not give it the power over that thing, nor allow it to take it up, or to use and enjoy it: so that all these things pertain to discernment in the things to be employed, about which he said many things at the beginning of the chapter; but the former sense, as it is simpler and clearer, so it is also truer and more fitting.
31. FOR NOT ALL THINGS ARE EXPEDIENT FOR ALL, AND NOT EVERY KIND PLEASES EVERY SOUL. — He gives the reason why a wicked soul must be restrained not only from illicit things, but also from licit ones; because not all things are expedient for all; but what is useful for one person, for example, a sober and chaste one, is dangerous and harmful for another, for example, a gluttonous and lustful one, and is a cause of sin and eternal damnation. Again, even if something is good, useful, and suitable for someone, yet his soul does not like it: therefore he must seek something else that pleases it, according to the saying:
You will do or say nothing against Minerva's will.
Hence in Greek the same thing is said more clearly: For not all things are beneficial for all, and not every soul is pleased with itself in every matter; the Tigurina: For not all things suit all people, nor is every mind happy with any matter. For what one does unwillingly and reluctantly, in that he is wretched and unhappy. The Syriac: Because not every food is good, and every soul delights in few things. Wisely the poet Juvenal, Satire 14:
No divine power is absent, if prudence is present.
And:
Nature and wisdom never dictate different things.
And Persius:
A thousand kinds of men, and varied use of things.
Each has his own desire, nor is life lived by one wish.
According to the Greek reading of the preceding verse, the connection of this verse with that one is clear, as is evident from what was said there.
32. DO NOT BE GREEDY IN EVERY FEASTING, AND DO NOT POUR YOURSELF OUT UPON EVERY FOOD. — From the thesis he descends to the particular case: he said in verse 30: "Test your soul: and if it is wicked, do not give it power;" now he gives a specific and common and frequent example of this. For most men are inclined toward gluttony, especially for banquets and delicacies. For the first sin of Eve and Adam was gluttony and the eating of the forbidden fruit, which they transmitted to all their descendants along with the transmission of sin, as well as of generation and nature. Gluttony therefore must be restrained and mortified by everyone. The Greek has more clearly, μὴ ἄπληστος ἴσθι, that is, do not be insatiable in any delicacies, nor be profuse in foods; the Complutensian: Do not be insatiable in all delicacies, and do not pour yourself out
(the Roman text: do not pour yourself out) upon banquets; the Syriac: Do not multiply for it (your soul) the food of delicacies, and let not your eye become evil (greedy and envious) over abundant food; the Tigurina: Do not gorge yourself with any delicacies, nor pour yourself out upon foods, as if to say: When the delicacies of various courses are offered to you, and many dishes are set before you, as happens at banquets; do not pour yourself out upon them with excessive eating and greedy gluttony, so that you seem to want to devour everything and to be insatiable like a wolf: but restrain this greediness and master your appetite, and use food soberly, both that you may care for your honor, your health, and your conscience. Hence the precept of physicians: "Eat short of satiety: rise from the table not with disgust, but with hunger. All satiety is harmful." Let St. Augustine be your example, who in Book X of the Confessions, chapter 31, addressing God says: "You have taught me this, that I should approach food just as I would medicine." See further in St. Ambrose, Epistle 25: "Let us use," he says, "the natural food of temperance sparingly as a remedy, not abundantly as a delicacy, on account of weakness, not for pleasure." Hence God, granting Noah the eating of flesh: "As green herbs," He says, "I have given you all things" (Genesis 9:3), because we eat herbs sparingly for necessity. Wherefore St. Ambrose, in his book On Noah, chapter 25: "Let those who eat," he says, "use flesh as they would herbs, not for stretching the belly, nor for the fatness of body, which banquets are accustomed to produce." And shortly after: "Perhaps in this also is commended the temperance of eating meats as one would herbs, not so much for the sake of capturing pleasure as for the health of life."
Furthermore, Sirach repeatedly recommends to the Jews the restraining of gluttony, because they were inclined to it from the very beginning of their nation. Hear Tertullian, in his book On Fasting, chapter 5: "The first people had engraved the crime of the first man upon itself, found to be more inclined to the belly than to God, when, snatched from the harshness of Egyptian servitude by the strong hand of God and destined for a land flowing with milk and honey, it immediately sighed for the losses of Egyptian satiety: 'When we sat over the pots of flesh,' it said, etc. (Exodus 16), preferring to smell garlic and onions rather than heaven."
Because of this danger of gluttony, God, in Genesis 9, when granting Noah the use of meats, commanded that they first be sacrificed to Him: so that safely, says St. Chrysostom there, man could use them, since they had now been offered, sacrificed, and sanctified to God. Hence also prayer and blessing are offered before meals, so that the food may be sanctified and gluttony in eating may be restrained. See what was said on I Timothy 4:4 and 5.
Mystically, apply these things to study, meditation, and prayer, which are the delights of the soul, as if to say: Do not indulge too much in the desire for studying, meditating, and praying: because this excess enervates the body, dulls the head, blunts the sharpness of the mind, and suffocates the spirit. Hence the saying: "Satiety of bread is bad, but of studies is the worst."
33. FOR IN MUCH FOOD THERE WILL BE SICKNESS, AND GREEDINESS WILL APPROACH EVEN TO CHOLERA. — The Syriac: Because from the abundance of food one becomes sickly; and he who is immoderate in eating falls ill. For "greediness" the Greek has ἀπληστία, that is, insatiability, greediness, voracity. Rabanus retained the Greek ἀπληστία, for which some manuscripts corruptly read ἀποπλεξία (apoplexy). It signifies therefore that gluttony and excessive feasting cause diseases, especially cholera: for excessive foods inflame the natural heat and blood, which once inflamed turns into bile and cholera. Hence cholera is called by physicians a disease in which bile is stirred up, sharpened, inflamed, and pours itself into the stomach and intestines, and infects, corrupts, gnaws, and torments them with its acidity; to such a degree that the legs and hands contract, and the soul faints, and sometimes one even dies suddenly. So Celsus, Book IV, chapter 11, and Fernelius, Book VI On Particular Diseases, chapter 3: The remedy is "horsemint, most efficacious for calming choleric gripes," says Pliny, Book 20, chapter 14; and enemas, as the same teaches in Book 31, chapter 6.
For "sickness" our translator reads with the Complutensians νόσος, for which the Roman text reads πόνος, that is, labor. Hence they read thus: For in much food there will be labor (of the stomach to digest them, and its torment and sleeplessness, as he said in chapter 31, verse 23) and ἀπληστία, that is, insatiability, will approach even to cholera; the Tigurina: For disease will accompany the gorging of foods, and insatiable voracity will turn into bile.
34. ON ACCOUNT OF SURFEITING (in Greek ἀπληστίαν, that is, insatiable voracity) MANY HAVE DIED: BUT HE WHO IS ABSTINENT WILL ADD TO HIS LIFE. — Sobriety therefore is the mother of health, wisdom, chastity, holiness, and long life: but surfeiting and drunkenness are the mother of sickness, dullness, lust, vices, and a short life: "For surfeiting kills more than the sword." See what was said on chapter 31, verse 23. Palacius says truly: Even if, he says, nature has allotted a man years and days of life, the sober man can nevertheless extend them through abstinence from food; but the drunkard and glutton can shorten and kill them through gluttony and surfeiting.
Finally, it is an axiom of a wise man, although to some it may seem paradoxical: "Nearly all men die of gluttony." For almost all frequently exceed in food and drink, especially at banquets, feasts, and recreations; and by this excess they shorten their lives and hasten their death, some more, others less, according to the quantity and quality of the excess. Gluttony therefore and gorging burdens the body, creates diseases, and shortens life.
The Greek has, on account of ἀπληστίαν, that is, as the Complutensian, insatiability; the Roman: On account of voracity many have died; and he who is attentive (careful not to exceed in food and drink) will add to his life; the Tigurina: Many perish through intemperance: but he who is temperate extends his life; the Syriac: For many have died through much food: and he who guards himself extends his life. See what I said about abstinence on Daniel 1:15 and following.
Wisely St. Athanasius, in the work attributed to Antonius
Melissa, Part I, chapter 57: "Sick bodies," he says, "are restored by the benefit of treatment and abstinence: but once restored, through negligence and overeating they gradually relapse and fall back into the same diseases." St. Ambrose says excellently, in his work On Elijah and Fasting, chapter 8: "Fasting," he says, "is the school of continence, the training of modesty, the humility of the mind, the chastisement of the flesh, the form of sobriety, the norm of virtue, the purification of the soul, the expenditure of mercy (that is, what you take away from yourself by fasting, spend on the wretched), the instruction of gentleness, the allurement of charity, the grace of old age, the guard of youth. Fasting is the relief of infirmity, the nourishment of health. No one falls into indigestion by fasting, no one has suffered a stroke through continence, indeed no one has not suppressed and repelled it. It is good provision for the journey, good for the whole of life." See St. Basil, Homily On Fasting. With Sirach agrees Rabbi Hillel, that ancient and most celebrated sage, whose elegant and manifold saying is found in Pirke Avoth, that is, in the Apothegms of the Fathers, chapter 2: "He who multiplies flesh,
multiplies worms: he who multiplies riches, multiplies sorrows: he who multiplies wives, multiplies witchcraft: he who multiplies maidservants, multiplies fornication: he who multiplies servants, multiplies thieves: he who multiplies the law, multiplies life: he who multiplies study, likewise multiplies wisdom: he who multiplies counsel, multiplies prudence: he who multiplies justice, multiplies peace: he who acquires a good name, acquires it for himself: he who acquires the word of the law, gains for himself eternal life in the world to come."
Furthermore, ἀπληστία, that is, excessive greediness and insatiability, has its place not only in food and drink, but also in any other things whatsoever. And in whatever matter it is engaged, it is harmful both to the soul and to the body. Hence a certain wise man said: "Nearly all men are worn out and die from ἀπληστία, the excessive greediness for some thing," whether it be for honors, wealth, knowledge, or other things.