Ecclesiastes 7

The teachings of wisdom are set forth, through which a remedy is applied against the vanity of foolishness. And since, as is said in Wisdom 8, "wisdom teaches sobriety, prudence, justice, and virtue" or fortitude: in the first he sets forth teachings for having modesty: in the second, for having constancy; in the third, for having prudence; in the fourth, for having justice. For having modesty he provides five teachings. In the first he teaches to prefer the honorable to the pleasant: in the second, future life to the present: in the third, affliction to pleasure: in the fourth, sorrow to merriment: in the fifth, severity to softness or flattery.

He therefore sets forth the teaching in which he teaches to prefer the honorable, such as a good name, to the pleasant, such as ointment: therefore he says: "A good name is better," that is, a good reputation displayed by good men, concerning which Sirach 41: "Have care for a good name, for this shall remain with you more than a thousand precious and great treasures." "Than precious ointments," which indeed are very fragrant, according to what is said in John 12: "Mary took a pound of ointment of precious spikenard and anointed the feet of Jesus: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment"; and although ointments are fragrant, nevertheless a good name is more so, therefore it is better: 2 Corinthians 2: "We are the good odor of Christ unto God in every place," namely as regards good reputation.

Here the second teaching is noted, in which he prefers future life to the present, and thus entrance into another life to entrance into this one. And therefore he says: "And the day of death," supply: is better "than the day of birth," because one dies to rest; Revelation 14: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord: henceforth, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors." But here one is born to labor: Job 5: "Man is born to labor, and a bird to flight"; and therefore death is better: whence Sirach 30: "Death is better than a bitter life, and eternal rest than persevering illness."

It is asked concerning what is said: "The day of death is better than the day of birth." On the contrary: Death is a privation, life is a possession; but a possession always has more of entity and goodness than a privation; therefore life is better than death; therefore the day of birth is better. Furthermore, it is a rule that "that whose corruption is good, its generation is bad." But death is the corruption of life; therefore that whose death is good, its life is bad. But the life of none is bad except a sinner's; therefore the death of none is better than life except a sinner's. But this is false, because a sinner by dying tends toward hell.

I respond: it must be said that something is preferred to another sometimes by reason of itself, sometimes by reason of what follows upon it. That is to be preferred to another by reason of itself which of itself bespeaks more of good, just as a man is better than a horse. In another way, by reason of what follows, and thus death is preferred to life, and that dissolution, namely death, upon which follows rest and being with Christ. And of this death he speaks here, because in life man is in danger, in labor and sorrow; after death he is immediately in joy, security, and tranquility. And the response to the first objection is clear, because death is not preferred by reason of itself. What is objected in the second place can be solved similarly. For death is said to be bad in two ways: either because it takes away a great good, namely the good life, as a good both true and useful; or because it leads to a bad end. In the first way the death of the just is bad, that is, harmful; but in the second way it is exceedingly good, and in this respect it is preferred.

The good name consists in a virtuous life. It is acquired with labor, effort and sweat. What, however, is pleasant in the moment oftentimes is gained without labor and one's own effort.…Those who really make progress regarding their inner person and who lead a spotless life, they have a good name. This is better than ointment, better than pleasantness.

Whoever does not focus attention on perishable goods and does not think highly of them but knows that "it is better to be with Christ after death" thinks that the day of death is better than the day of birth. The latter is the beginning of many evils; the former, however, the end and termination of evil.

If the death by which the righteous die with Christ is praiseworthy because it separates the soul from evil and ignorance, then such a death is the opposite of the birth that unites the soul with evil and ignorance. Therefore, such a death is much more honorable than such a birth.

For though a man should be by no means greatly advantaged by knowing all in this life that is destined to befall him according to his mind (let us suppose such a case), nevertheless with the officious activity of men he devises means for prying into and gaining an apparent acquaintance with the things that are to happen after a person's death. Moreover, a good name is more pleasant to the mind Proverbs 22:1 than oil to the body; and the end of life is better than the birth, and to mourn is more desirable than to revel, and to be with the sorrowing is better than to be with the drunken. For this is the fact, that he who comes to the end of life has no further care about alight around him. And discreet anger is to be preferred to laughter; for by the severe disposition of countenance the soul is kept upright The souls of the wise, indeed, are sad and downcast, but those of fools are elated, and given loose to merriment. And yet it is far more desirable to receive blame from one wise man, than to become a hearer of a whole chorus of worthless and miserable men in their songs. For the laughter of fools is like the crackling of many thorns burning in a fierce fire. This, too, is misery, yea the greatest of evils, namely oppression; for it intrigues against the souls of the wise, and attempts to ruin the noble way of life which the good pursue. Moreover, it is right to commend not the man who begins, but the man who finishes a speech; and what s moderate ought to approve itself to the mind, and not what is swollen and inflated. Again, one ought certainly to keep wrath in check, and not suffer himself to be carried rashly into anger, the slaves of which are fools. More over, they are in error who assert that a better manner of life was given to those before us, and they fail to see that wisdom is widely different from mere abundance of possessions, and that it is as much more lustrous than these, as silver shines more brightly than its shadow. For the life of man has its excellence not in the acquisition of perishable riches, but in wisdom. And who shall be able, tell me, to declare the providence of God, which is so great and so beneficent? Or who shall be able to recall the things which seem to have been passed by of God? And in the former days of my vanity I considered all things, and saw a righteous man continuing in his righteousness, and ceasing not from it until death, but even suffering injury by reason thereof, and a wicked man perishing with his wickedness. Moreover, it is proper that the righteous man should not seem to be so overmuch, nor exceedingly and above measure wise, that he may not, as in making some slip, seem to sin many times over. And be not audacious and precipitate, lest an untimely death surprise you. It is the greatest of all good to take hold of God, and by abiding in Him to sin in nothing. For to touch things undefiled with an impure hand is abomination. But he who in the fear of God submits himself, escapes all that is contrary. Wisdom avails more in the way of help than a band of the most powerful men in a city, and it often also pardons righteously those who fail in duty. For there is not one that stumbles not. Also it becomes you in no way to attend upon the words of the impious, that you may not become an ear-witness of words spoken against yourself, such as the foolish talk of a wicked servant, and being thus stung in heart, have recourse afterwards yourself to cursing in turn in many actions. And all these things have I known, having received wisdom from God, which afterwards I lost, and was no longer able to be the same. For wisdom fled from me to an infinite distance, and into a measureless deep, so that I could no longer get hold of it. Wherefore afterwards I abstained altogether from seeking it; and I no longer thought of considering the follies and the vain counsels of the impious, and their weary, distracted life. And being thus disposed, I was borne on to the things themselves; and being seized with a fatal passion, I knew woman— that she is like a snare or some such other object. For her heart ensnares those who pass her; and if she but join hand to hand, she holds one as securely as though she dragged him on bound with chains. And from her you can secure your deliverance only by finding a propitious and watchful superintendent in God; for he who is enslaved by sin cannot (otherwise) escape its grasp. Moreover, among all women I sought for the chastity proper to them, and I found it in none. And verily a person may find one man chaste among a thousand, but a woman never. And this above all things I observed, that men being made by God simple in mind, contract for themselves manifold reasonings and infinite questionings, and while professing to seek wisdom, waste their life in vain words.

"How does it benefit man? For who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life, which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun? "When he says" "that man is ignorant of his condition, and does not actually know whatever he seems to know and discern, as if the truth of the matter is not seen, he does see however the shadow and image as if through a mirror, and he cannot know what will come, or escape his sin by talkativeness. He should silence his mouth and believe that He who is written has come, and not ask by what means, how much, or what kind of man he is that has come.

"A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. "Consider, he says, man, your short days since you will cease to be quickly when your body gives out; fast longer, so that however perfume delights your nostrils with its smell, in the same way posterity will delight in all things to your name. Symmachus interpreted this very clearly, saying, "a good name is better than a perfume that smells pleasant". We must remember that it is the custom of the Hebrews to call good perfume 'oil'. He also says, "and the day of death than the day of one's birth", this shows that it is better to die, and no longer be troubled, or be in an unsteady condition of life, than sustain all these things while being born into the world. For in our death we know what we have been like, but when we are born we cannot know what we will be like or do in life. Since birth is also linked to the freedom of the spirit in the body, it abolishes moral customs.

If anyone wants to ascend, let him seek not the joys of the world or the pleasant things or the delights but whatever is filled with pain and weeping; for it is better to go into a house of sorrow than into a house of rejoicing. Indeed, Adam would not have come down from paradise unless he had been beguiled by pleasure.

"It is better to go to the house of mourning," where sins are mourned, because Matthew 5: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be consoled"; "than to the house of feasting," where delights are found: Proverbs 23: "Do not be among the banquets of drunkards." And the reason for this is: because in banquets man forgets himself, in the house of mourning he remembers his judgment: and therefore he adds: "For in that," namely in the house of mourning, "the end of all men is brought to mind": Sirach 38: "Remember my judgment: for yours also shall be so. For me it is today, for you it shall be tomorrow." "And the living considers what shall come to pass." And this is most useful: whence Sirach 7: "Remember your last things, and you shall never sin"; and therefore it is said in Sirach 38: "Remember the last things and forget malice," because, as Jerome says, "he easily despises all things who always considers that he is going to die."

Where there is mourning, there is no moral superficiality. Happiness and laughter are avoided; the calamity prohibits it. Sometimes we refrain from appearing happy out of regard for those who mourn and for those who experience harm. In the house of feasting, however, the opposite happens: Dances and songs bring reproof, since they indicate a disorderly life.…The "house," however, signifies a condition or an attitude, not a location.… The one who goes to the house of mourning knows that everyone dies in the end. Once he knows that he has to die, he will not think about and dedicate his effort to owning something, if it is a possession that is lost in death such as wealth, reputation and honor.… One can understand "the living" in the following way: one who lives according to God's will. Those people were Abraham and his descendents.

The final end of human beings is a state of blessedness. If the Lord in the Gospel calls those who mourn "blessed"—"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted"—then Solomon quite rightly calls mourning the end of every human being, because those who live in that state of mourning are filled with an abundance of spiritual blessings.

"It is better," we read, "to go into the house of mourning than into the house of laughter." But, likely enough, you do not like the saying and want to evade it. Let us however see what sort of man Adam was in paradise, and what he was afterwards; what sort of man Cain was before, and what he was afterwards.

Here he prefers sadness to merriment: because the former, namely sadness, corrects, and merriment deceives. And therefore he says: "Anger is better than laughter," anger namely, by which one is angered at the sins of others: Hebrews 12: "He scourges every son whom he receives"; and Revelation 3: "Those whom I love, I rebuke and chastise." This anger is better than the laughter of dissimulation: Sirach 30: "Play with your son, and he will bring you sorrow": and therefore: "Anger is better." And the reason is given: "Because by the sadness of the countenance the mind of the offender is corrected": Proverbs 25: "The north wind drives away rain, and a sad countenance a backbiting tongue."

It is asked concerning what he says: "Anger is better than laughter." On the contrary: Matthew 5: "Whoever is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment": but whoever derides is not liable to any punishment: therefore it is worse to be angry than to laugh. Likewise, to laugh can be without fault: but to be angry, since it implies a disturbance of reason, is scarcely without venial fault, and is never without punishment: therefore it is far worse than laughter.

I respond: it must be said that there is to be angry at vice and to be angry by nature: the first is of virtue and good, the second of vice and evil. Similarly, there is to smile at the good and to deride sin: the first is good; the second, evil. And he speaks of anger and laughter insofar as evil is in view. But then similarly he could give another rule with respect to the good: laughter is better than anger. And it must be said that in the present life there are more evils than goods: therefore more people ought to grieve than to rejoice; therefore he prefers anger to laughter.

Take the case that someone has subjects, for example, children or slaves. If he is angry with them and in a fury so that he limits the evil, then his anger is good, not anger as such, but the anger of a father over his child, of a guardian's anger over his charge.…He calls that kind of anger good that prevents sins from becoming so big that punishment has to follow.

"It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to his heart. "It is more useful to go to the rites of a funeral than to the house where there is a party, since at the house of mourning we are warned of our creator and of our mortality on account of seeing the dead body. But in the happiness of a party, even if we seem to have any fear, we lose it. Symmachus interpreted the last verse by saying, "and he who lives, will look back in his mind". There is proof in these verses, in that God is seen to approve food and drink, but not seen to prefer desire to all these things, with the result that many men value them wrongly. But in comparison with avarice and too much sparing, feasting is allowed in a small way, or allowed to him, who enjoys his work completely every moment. For he had never preferred the sadness of mourning to the enjoyment of a party, if he had thought at any moment to drink and eat.

Is it better to go where there is weeping, lamentation, and groans, and anguish, and so much sadness, than where there is the dance, the cymbals, and laughter, and luxury, and full eating and drinking? Yes, truly, [Solomon] replies. And tell me why it is so, and for what reason? Because, at the former place, insolence is bred; at the latter, sobriety. And when a person goes to the banquet of one who is more opulent, he will no longer behold his own house with the same pleasure, but he comes back to his wife in a discontented mood. In discontent he partakes of his own table and is peevish toward his own servants, and his own children, and everybody in his house, perceiving his own poverty the more forcibly by the wealth of others. And this is not the only evil. But he also often envies him who has invited him to the feast and returns home having received no benefit at all. But with regard to the house of mourning, nothing of this sort can be said. On the contrary, much spiritual wisdom is to be gained there, as well as sobriety. For when once a person has passed the threshold of a house which contains a corpse and has seen the departed one lying speechless, and the wife tearing her hair, mangling her cheeks, and wounding her arms, he is subdued; his countenance becomes sad. And every one of those who sit down together can say to his neighbor but this: "We are nothing, and our wickedness is inexpressible!" What can be more full of wisdom than these words, when we both acknowledge the insignificance of our nature and accuse our own wickedness and account present things as nothing? Giving utterance, though, in different words, to that very sentiment of Solomon—that sentiment which is so marvelous and pregnant with divine wisdom—"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." He who enters the house of mourning indeed weeps for the departed, even though he is an enemy. Do you not see how much better that house is than the other? For there, though he is a friend, he envies; but here, though he is an enemy, he weeps.

And he confirms this lesson by the judgment of the wise: whence he says: "The heart of the wise is where sadness is": but on the contrary: "The heart of fools is where merriment is": the former seek sorrowful things in the present, the latter pleasant things: John 16: "You shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice." And that the former act wisely, and the latter foolishly, is clear from the outcome, because it is said to the sorrowful in Luke 6: "Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh"; and on the contrary to those who rejoice: "Woe to you who laugh, for you shall weep."

"Anger is better than laughter, for through a sad face the heart is improved. "Laughter weakens the mind, anger reproves and corrects it. Both let us become angry with ourselves when we sin, and let us get angry with others. Through the sadness of the face, even the spirit becomes better, as Symmachus saw it. And therefore "woe now to those who laugh, since they will mourn." [Luc. 6, 25.]

"It is better to be corrected by a wise man than to be deceived by the flattery of fools." A fool, when he is corrected, does not withdraw from evil nor is he led to good. He who recognizes his faults, and they displease him, is wise. He who rebukes a person and calls him back from evil renders him a greater service than if he gave him the whole world.

Here is noted the fifth lesson, by which severity is preferred to softness, as for example harsh rebuke to flattery. On account of which he says: "It is better to be rebuked by a wise man than to be deceived by the flattery of fools." Proverbs 27: "Open rebuke is better than hidden love," because rebuke directs, but flattery deceives. Proverbs 16: "A wicked man entices his friend and leads him by a way that is not good." And Isaiah 3: "O my people, those who call you blessed, they themselves deceive you."

For most people it seems to be right to avoid the critique of a wise man, especially if they like to sin. Whoever desires amusement and sin avoids the person who wants to hinder it. Whoever has no insight is pleased with flatterers, preferring flattery to critique. It is the characteristic of the wise man that he criticizes the one he loves.… The flatterers sing in a certain way. Even when they give ethical speeches, they want to make their audience happy instead of looking out for their best interests. Such song is a speech that gives joy, but a rebuke helps one to find the right way.

"The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of enjoyment. ""Blessed", says the Saviour, "are the mourning, since they will be consoled". [Matth. 5, 5.] And Samuel mourned King Saul all the days of his life [Cfr I Reg. 16.] and Paul said he had mourned over those who did not want to repent their many sins [Cfr II Cor. 12, 21.]. Therefore the heart of a wise man goes to the house of such a man, who reproves himself when he is doing wrong, so that he brings forth tears and causes himself to weep for his own sins; and he does not go to the house of joy, where the learned man flatters and deceives, not changing the listeners so they are together as one, but asking for praise and applause from them. Such a teacher, who is rich in speeches and words, is mourned, and being filled by his knowledge, receives his consolation. Then the following verses agree with this explanation too, because he says:

And he gives the reason by a similitude: because the flattery of a fool lasts but a short time and makes much noise, like thorns kindled under a pot. Therefore he says: "For as the crackling of thorns under a pot," it sounds loudly, "so is the laughter of a fool." Literally, a fool laughs loudly. Ecclesiasticus 21: "A fool lifts up his voice in laughter, but a wise man will scarcely laugh quietly." Or: loud laughter is when flattery is clamorous. Proverbs 27: "He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, shall be like one who curses." "But this also is vanity," namely such flattery. In the Psalm: "Vain are the sons of men, liars are the sons of men."

Thorns that burn under a pot make loud crackling noises. This is like the laughing of the foolish. It makes noise and is crackling, but not because it educates the soul.… As the thorns produce noise when they as plants are burned under a pot, in the same way the laughter of the foolish comes out of a bad soul that is burning.… Thorns are earthly worries, shameful desires and uncurbed joys.

"It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this too is vanity. "For it is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived by flattering praise. Similar to this is the passage which says, "better are the wounds of a friend, than the free kisses of an enemy" [Prov. 27, 6.]. Just as the sound of sharp thorns under the pot gives out a harsh sound, so the words of a flattering teacher are not of any use, or the worries of the world, which are interpreted as 'thorns', or the sound of one who encourages his listeners, or of one who prepares them for the fire which is to come. Let us look at what Symmachus has to say about the passage that we have as "since just as the sound…fool." Understanding the meaning which we have already explained above, he says, 'for a man is bound in chains by the voice of the ignorant". This means that one listener is tied up to the word of such teachers, while the chains of his sins restrain another.

Instructions are set forth for having constancy: and since constancy is lost through oppression and through wrath, and is preserved through patience and through perseverance: therefore four instructions are set forth here. In the first is shown that oppression is to be avoided: in the second, that perseverance is to be loved: in the third, that patience is to be preserved: in the fourth, that wrath is to be fled.

In the first instruction, therefore, he shows that oppression is to be avoided, because by disturbing a man it renders him inconstant. For this reason he says: "Oppression disturbs the wise man." Oppression is a litigious accusation, and therefore one must withdraw from it; Isaiah 54: "Withdraw far from oppression, for you shall not fear." "And it shall destroy the strength of his heart," that is, the fortitude of charity: Matthew 24: "Because iniquity shall abound, the charity of many shall grow cold."

But there is a doubt about what he says: "Oppression disturbs the wise man." To the contrary: "Whatever happens shall not grieve the just man," as is held in Proverbs 12: therefore if the wise man is just, he is not disturbed by oppression. To this it is answered in one way, that there is a disturbance of impatience, and by this the just man is not disturbed: and of compassion, and by this he is disturbed, just as the Apostle said in 2 Corinthians 11: "Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?" as if to say: no one. But the following text removes this exposition and adds: "And it will destroy the strength of his heart." Therefore it must be resolved, as is said in the Gloss, that there is a wise and just man who is perfect, and of him that passage in Proverbs is understood: and one who is imperfect, and of him this passage here is understood.

The third middle way is fortitude, which is concerned with fears and acts of valor. A man needs it in order to be neither fainthearted nor rash, but that he be able to bear frightful trials and even death. For some men do fall into cowardice and faintheartedness. Hence, in Job: "Have I the strength of stones, or is my flesh of bronze?" And so, fortitude is in the soul, not in the flesh. Better is the patient spirit than the lofty spirit. And Proverbs say: A patient man is better than a warrior, and he that rules his temper, than he who takes a city. Hence a spiritual man must take great care to avoid dejection.

Here the second instruction is noted, in which perseverance is preferred to justice merely begun. On account of this he says: "Better is the end of a speech than its beginning": it is better to persevere in good than merely to begin: Matthew 10: "He who shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved"; whence Bernard says: "Perseverance is the consummation of all virtues."

Here the third lesson is noted, in which patience is commended, because without it there cannot be constancy; therefore he says: "Better is the patient one than the arrogant": the comparison is improper, because the patient one is good, but the arrogant one is evil: Proverbs 16: "Better is the patient man than the mighty."

The end of words is more likely to be good than their beginning.… A speech is given in order to actualize something.… Oftentimes someone who teaches has with patience led someone who is not highly intelligent to learning. He does not give up after the first or second admonition but tries to heal him in every case. Such a patient teacher is better than an arrogant one, or someone proud in spirit.

"Surely oppression makes a wise man mad; and a gift destroys the heart. "Now see the wise man as if regarding profit, according to that passage which says, "accuse the wise and he will love you" [Prov. 9, 8.]. Wise, or even having completed his training, he knows no accusation, and is perturbed by no disaster. We should use this verse if we see disaster befall a righteous and wise man, and he is perturbed by the unlawfulness of the judgement, and in that case when God does not come to his mind readily. Instead of this though the Septuagint, and Aquila and Theodotion interpret the phrase "destroys the heart" as "eutonias" "autou "that is 'his strength', or 'his vigour'. Symmachus says, "and "matthana" destroys his heart' (that is 'a gift'), using the Hebrew word in his interpretation, and making the same meaning as is written elsewhere: "gifts, too, blind the eyes of the wise". [Deut. 16, 19.]

Here the fourth lesson is touched upon, in which it is taught that anger is to be fled, because it does not stand well with constancy; therefore he says: "Be not swift to anger": James 1: "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath." And the reason is added: "Because anger rests in the bosom of a fool"; Job 5: "Wrath kills the foolish man, and envy slays the little one." He well says "rests," on account of its duration: for the wise man, even if he grows angry, ought not to preserve it long: Ephesians 4: "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath": but not so the fool: Proverbs 27: "Heavy is the sand" in the bosom of the fool.

Likewise, what is it that he says here: "Be not swift to anger?" To the contrary: In the Psalm: "Be angry, and do not sin." I respond: it must be said that anger is manifold.

Further, through this vice of impatience for the most part the sin of arrogance pierces the mind; since, when any one is impatient of being looked down upon in this world, he endeavours to shew off any hidden good, that he may have, and so through impatience is drawn on to arrogance; and, while he cannot bear contempt, he glories ostentatiously in self-display. Whence it is written, Better is the patient than the arrogant; because, in truth, one that is patient chooses to suffer any evils whatever rather than that his hidden good should come to be known through the vice of ostentation. But the arrogant, on the contrary, chooses that even pretended good should be vaunted of him, lest he should possibly suffer even the least evil.

We must above all things know, that as often as we restrain the turbulent motions of the mind under the virtue of mildness, we are essaying to return to the likeness of our Creator. For when the peace of the mind is lashed with Anger, torn and rent, as it were, it is thrown into confusion, so that it is not in harmony with itself, and loses the force of the inward likeness. Let us consider then how great the sin of Anger is, by which, while we part with mildness, the likeness of the image of the Most High is spoilt. By Anger wisdom is parted with, so that we are left wholly in ignorance what to do, and in what order to do it; as it is written, Anger resteth in the bosom of a fool.

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning; "Perorations are better in speaking, than just the introductory section. For worry comes to and end in the former, and commences in the latter. Or it could even mean this: he who begins to hear a speech, and goes to the teacher, is in first place. For indeed he who listens until the last is consumed and complete in learning. But this can also be understood in this way: while we are in this world, all that we know is as a beginning; but when that age is completed, we will understand everything as newest and completed. My Hebrew tutor explained this passage together with the following verse as follows: it is better for you to ponder the end of your business, than the beginning, and be patient, rather than being seized by the frenzy of impatience. We learn too from this reading that there is no wisdom in men, although it is better to do than to only say that you will do. And since, when the talk had finished, the listener thinks over for himself what has been said, and though he begins to speak, he has not yet understood what he can learn from it. "And the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. "Since the heavenly one conceded to anger, saying, "anger is better than laughter", lest we think anger is to be praised in suffering, now he says that anger must be removed from deep down inside us. For there he assigns anger instead of correction in sinners, and learning in children. But here he checks impatience. But patience is not only necessary in difficult times, but also in happier times, in case we rejoice more than we should. It seems to me that he who is now called high in the spirit of the Gospel, is in contrast poor in spirit, and is even blessed.

The deadly poison of anger has to be utterly rooted out from the inmost corners of our soul. For as long as this remains in our hearts and blinds with its hurtful darkness the eye of the soul, we can neither acquire right judgment and discretion nor gain the insight which springs from an honest gaze, or ripeness of counsel. Nor can we be partakers of life, or retentive of righteousness, or even have the capacity for spiritual and true light, "for," says one, "mine eye is disturbed by reason of anger." Nor can we become partakers of wisdom, even though we are considered wise by universal consent, for "anger rests in the bosom of fools."

Having set down the lessons for modesty and constancy, here he sets down lessons for having prudence. And because it belongs to the prudent man to discern where one may err: therefore he sets down four lessons for having discretion. The first is for the discernment of useful things: the second, for the discernment of the divine works: the third, for the discernment of times: the fourth, for the discernment of the merits of men.

The first instruction, therefore, was given for the discernment of useful things: for in different times there are different advantages arising from different causes. Therefore he says: "Do not say: What do you think is the reason that former times," that is, of the ancients, "were better?" because, namely, in them there was want: "than they now are," when, namely, there is already an abundance of things: because this question arises from thoughtlessness: whence he adds: "For such an inquiry is foolish."

"Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry: for anger rests in the lap of fools. "He does not grant here that anger should be tempered, therefore he now says, "Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry"; but that when anger is mad and new, it is more easily tempered because it is dispersed easily and can be removed. And since anger is linked to pride, and the desire for vengeance, he says it is better and above suffering, than he who is exalted in his spirit, and now shows the sign of foolishness, since however powerful or wise someone is esteemed, if he is made angry he will seem foolish in his words: "for anger lies in the lap of fools".

And the reason for this is: because he does not consider the usefulness of wealth, therefore he teaches how to discern it, saying: "Wisdom is more useful with riches," because Proverbs 13: "The riches of a man are the redemption of his soul." "And it profits more those who see the sun," that is, those who have a right intention: because Sirach 13: "Good is substance where there is no sin on the conscience, and most wicked is poverty in the mouth of the ungodly."

It is asked concerning what he says: "Wisdom is more useful with riches." Therefore it is better to be a rich wise man than a poor wise man: therefore to be poor is not a more perfect state. Furthermore, "art and virtue concern difficult things"; but it is more difficult for a rich man to be saved than a poor man: therefore it is of greater virtue: therefore a more praiseworthy state. Against this is: because the Lord set the state of the poor man above both by deed and by word, Matthew 19.

I respond: it must be said that poverty is threefold: one from delight, another from endurance, another with impatience. The first is good and perfect, the second is imperfect, the third is blameworthy: Ecclesiasticus 13: "Most wretched is poverty in the mouth of the ungodly." When it is said that wisdom is better with riches than without, this is understood concerning poverty that is with endurance or impatience. To the objection about difficulty, it must be said that there is difficulty by reason of the kind of work, and this contributes to greater virtue; and there is difficulty by reason of the disorder of the will, just as the miser gives a gift with more difficulty than the generous person, and this counts for nothing; and so the rich person is saved with more difficulty. It is solved otherwise: because it is understood concerning superfluity and excessive want.

Furthermore, Ecclesiastes seven: Wisdom is more useful with riches: Gloss: "than alone"; but riches do not make a man perfect: therefore much less do poverty and want.

"Do not ask,' what is the cause that the former days were better than these?' For you do not enquire wisely about this. "Do not prefer the previous age to this one, since God created both one and the other. Virtues create good days for man, and vices make bad days. Do not say therefore that the days were better in the time of Moses and Christ, than now they are. For even in that time there were more disbelievers and their days were made wicked by this; now there are more believers, about whom the Saviour said, "more blessed are they, who did not see or believe" [Ioh. 20, 29.]. Or differently: thus you ought to live so that the days that you live in are always better than those passed, lest you begin to decrease little by little, it should then be said to you, "you did run well, who hindered you that you should not have obeyed the truth?" [Gal. 5. 7.]; and again: "you who began in spirit are now consumed by flesh" [Gal. 3. 3.]. Or another meaning of this: do not say that the times of old are better than now, those of Moses better than Christ, that they were more lawful than full of grace. For if you were to ask this, you would do it unwisely, not seeing how much the Gospel differs from the Old Testament.

And that money is useful, he shows through its effect: "For as wisdom protects," namely from fault: Proverbs 2: "If wisdom shall enter your heart, and knowledge shall please your soul, counsel shall keep you, and prudence shall preserve you"; "so also does money protect," namely when well spent: Sirach 29: "The alms of a man is as a purse with him, and shall preserve the grace of a man as the apple of the eye." And although both are useful, yet wisdom is more useful: therefore he adds: "But wisdom and learning have this advantage besides, that they give life to their possessor": whence Proverbs 4: "Hear, my son, and receive my words, that the years of life may be multiplied to you": and Proverbs 3: "Wisdom is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her." But money without wisdom bestows death: James 5: "Come now, you rich, weep and howl in your miseries." And therefore wisdom is to be preferred to money: Proverbs 8: "Receive wisdom and not money; choose instruction rather than gold."

"Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the advantage of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to those that have it. "A wise man with riches has more glory than just a wise man alone. For some men need wisdom, some wealth, but he who is both wise and not rich is able to teach what is good, but meanwhile he can't show what is to be sought. Therefore he says, since the protection of wisdom is the protection of money, then just as wisdom protects, so too money also protects. And lest he seem to detract from wisdom, while he adds to it by good fortune, (for it is not in our power to obtain riches, which often the unrighteous own in greater quantity), he therefore shows wisdom to be greater, saying "but the advantage of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to those that have it." In that respect, he says, wisdom is greater than riches, because without any wealth it preserves those who think themselves rich. Certain scholars see this passage in a different way: they say that he places heredity in place of good association, by which we are the heirs of God, and co-heirs of Christ. Therefore Ecclesiastes wants to teach how much of a difference there is between those who merit seeing the sun (of justice), and have wisdom by their good association, and those in contrast, who without wisdom have only enthusiasm for vice and association. Since even David shows this, saying "the intelligent shine out by their speech, as the shining bodies of the sky" [Dan. 12. 3.], or as Theodotion interpreted this, "just as the brightness of the firmament. Indeed those who wrote my speeches are as the stars of the sky". But we ought to take that protection of silver (or money) according to "anagoge [See footnote 50.] "from which talents and coins are collected in the parables of the Gospels [Cfr Matth. 25, 14-23; Luc. 19. 12-25.], just as when we were under the protection of wisdom and under the protection of such money: "the sun does not burn us by day, nor the moon by night". [Ps. 120, 6.] But this can even be said to be true since protection is our life on the earth: "the breath of our nostrils, the anointed Christ our Lord of whom we said: under His shadow we should live among the heathen". [Thren. 4, 20.] All of our protection in this life is like a shade, or like wisdom, or as is said about money, until the day moves on and the shadows move away. Symmachus interprets this more clearly in his usual manner, saying, "just as wisdom protects, so too money protects in a similar fashion". But the following verse openly encourages the enthusiasm for knowledge.

This is the second instruction, in which he teaches the discreet consideration of the divine works or judgments, because him whom He despises by the sign of reprobation, no one can bring back. Therefore he says: "Consider the works of God," that is, the divine judgments, "that no one can correct him whom He has despised," that is, whom He Himself has willed to visit by His own judgment. Whence it is said in 1 Kings 2 concerning the sons of Eli: "And they did not hear the voice of their father, because the Lord willed to slay them." These works and judgments are to be considered unto fear: Habakkuk 3: "I considered your works and was afraid."

It is asked concerning what he says: "That no one can correct him whom God has despised." But God despises every sinner, because "the Most High hates sinners," Ecclesiasticus 12; and: "Likewise the ungodly and his ungodliness are abominable to God." Likewise, if he cannot be corrected, then neither can he be saved: therefore it ought not to be imputed to him.

I respond: it must be said that just as love is twofold, namely eternal and according to present justice, so the despising of men is twofold: and he speaks here not of just any man, but of the reprobate, nor of just any despising, but of despising according to eternal reprobation, the sign of which is hardening in the present; and thus it does not apply to every sinner, but to the reprobate. To the objection that it ought not be imputed to him: it must be said that on the contrary it should, because God despises no one without cause. Whence also, although he cannot rise unless God extends His hand, nevertheless he is not excused, because it is his own fault that the hand is not extended to him. Whence Augustine says in the book On Correction and Grace that no one is corrected except willingly.

Even among the Greeks there were many opponents to those who claimed that the cosmos came into being by itself.… Since providence of necessity is concerned with the details and God is providence, his providence concerns the cosmos that he himself has created. Now admit even something else: God watches over the cosmos that he himself has created out of providence, so that it might go well.… God knows the reasons for everything that came into being, and he knows why they are hidden.… In no way do you have sufficient knowledge of God's creations, if you take offence at them, because you are not reasonable. Watch God's creatures! What for others is a reason for offence will be for you knowledge of the Creator and of the created.

God does not make crooked by causing destruction but by showing that someone is crooked.… It is written, "Those who turn to crooked ways, the Lord will lead away together with those who have committed injustice." It is not God himself who leads them away against their will together with those who have committed injustice, but he has shown that those who turn from the way after their own moral decision are such people.

This is the third instruction, in which he teaches that discretion must be exercised regarding times: because God did not make all times uniformly, but diversely, and man ought to dispose himself according to the diverse times. Therefore he says: "In the good day, enjoy good things," that is, work good with joy: Ecclesiasticus 14: "Do not defraud yourself of a good day, and let not a portion of a good day pass you by," because in this day there is place and time for working. Whence John 9: "I must work while it is day"; similarly also we, whence the Apostle to the Galatians, last chapter: "Let us work good toward all, while we have time." "And guard against the evil day," namely that one of which Zephaniah 1 speaks: "A day of wrath, that day, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery." Whoever wishes to guard against this day must needs reflect upon that saying of Ecclesiasticus 11: "In the day of good things, be not unmindful of evil things." These days the Lord made and ordained in a just manner: therefore he says: "For as He made this one," that is the good, "so also that one," namely the evil, "God made": and this by just judgment: "So that man may not find just complaints against Him." Therefore He makes good things for the good, evil things against the evil, because in the Psalm: "The Lord is just in all His ways."

"Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked? "Symmachus translates this passage in this way: "learn the word of God, because no one can correct what He has ruined". That is he supplies from the Holy Scriptures, or from thinking of the elements, to know and understand those things, which are done; but not to ask the causes and reasons why one thing is done in this way, or why it ought to have been done differently from the way in which it has been done. For the sake of this passage, if anyone should ask why God spoke to Moses in this way: "who makes the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind, am I not the Lord God?" [Ex. 4, 11.], and if he should say, why are the blind, the deaf, the mute created in this way, and others similar to these? This passage must be seen in reference to Psalm 17, in which it is said to the Lord: "You will be Holy with the holy man, and with the wicked You will err" [Ps. 17, 26-27.]. And it must be added that the Holy Lord is with him, who is holy; and the wicked are with him, who was previously wicked by his own will. This is similar also to that which is written in Leviticus: "if the wicked came to me I will go to them, wicked in my madness". [Lev. 26-27.] Even this can explain why God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. For just as one and the same quality of the sun melts wax and dries clay, and on account of each one's constitution, both wax melts and clay dries; [Cfr. Lucr. De Rerum Natura VI 962/965; Verg. Ecl. VIII 80.; Hier. Epist. 120,10 -12. CSEL 55, p504,10.] so too the one quality of the portents of God in Egypt softened the heart of those who believed, and hardened that of the incredulous, who just as their hardness and impatient heart, began to store up for themselves anger for the day of anger from those portents, which they didn't believe, though yet they saw them happen.

Here is noted the fourth instruction, by which he teaches that diligent discretion must be exercised regarding merits, because they are very hidden. Therefore he says: "These things also I saw in the day of my birth," that is, after I was born, "I saw" this happen: "The just man perishes in his justice," because he is regarded as though he were impious: Isaiah 57: "The just man perishes, and no one considers it." "And the impious man lives a long time in his impiety," as if he were just: at which Jeremiah was indignant, chapter 12: "Why does the way of the impious prosper, it is well with all who transgress and act unjustly?" And below in chapter 8: "There are just men to whom evil things happen, as if they had done the works of the impious; and there are impious men who are so secure, as if they had the deeds of the just."

It is asked concerning what he says: "The just man perishes in his justice, and the wicked man lives a long time in his wickedness." But to the contrary: in the Psalm: "Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days." Likewise, concerning the good, Exodus 20: "Honor your father, that you may be long-lived upon the earth," and live a long time: therefore life is prolonged for one who observes the commandments.

I respond: it must be said that just as it is said in Wisdom 4 concerning the just man: "Being made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled a long time," and few days are reckoned as many; so conversely among the wicked, and likewise concerning the number of those to be saved and those to be damned: and the days of the good are longer because they are better, not because they live longer.

It should be noted, however, that the years of men are sometimes shortened lest they become evil: Wisdom 4: "He was taken away, lest wickedness should change his understanding"; sometimes lest they become worse: in the Psalm: "Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days." They are prolonged, however, for the purgation of the good: Sirach 2: "For gold is tested in fire"; for the wicked, for their correction: Romans 2: "Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"

There is an absolute righteousness and a righteousness that is only righteous for one.… A righteous person can get lost in what is only righteous for him. Those, however, who are really righteous … do not remain in what is righteous for them alone and do not trust in this as their own right. This is why he does not perish in absolute righteousness, as the psalmist says: "In your righteousness I will live." Paul, for example, who was a great man who lived in Christ and for whom truth was revealed, said, "I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted."

"In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. "I have heard from a certain man in the Church, who was thought to have a knowledge of the Scriptures, that these verses are to be explained in this way: while you remain in the present world, and while you are able to do good work, work hard so that afterwards you may be without worry in the day of wickedness, that is the day of judgement, when you will see others to be tormented. For just as God made the present world, in which we can obtain for ourselves the benefits of good work; so too he made the future age, in which no opportunity will be given for us to do good work. This man of the Church even seemed to convince those he was preaching to, but to me there seems a different meaning to this, which Symmachus has translated, saying, 'in the good day, be good; but be wary of the day of wickedness'. All the same, God made this world similar to the next, so that man should not be able to find that which he complains against Him. Suffer both the good things, he says, and the bad, as they happen to you in your life. And do not think that there is only the nature of good or bad alone in the world, especially when the world itself consists of opposites: hot and cold, dry and wet, hard and soft, dark and light, bad and good. [Cfr Ovid, Meta. I.19-20.] But God made this ambivalence so that wisdom might have a place, and it is found by choosing good and avoiding bad: man is given free will, lest he argue that he has been made unfeeling, and stupid by God. But God has made man so diverse that man is unable to complain of his manner of being. At the same time this argument is to be taken with the previous verses, in which he says 'who is able to correct what God has done?'.

Above he set forth instructions for possessing modesty, constancy, and prudence; here in the fourth place he sets forth instructions for possessing justice: and because that is not true justice which exceeds in rigor and cruelty, but rather is to be scorned by piety: therefore he sets forth here four instructions. In the first he forbids the rigor of severity or the excess of justice: in the second, the headlong rush of impiety: in the third he commends the display of mercy: in the fourth, the overlooking of personal injury.

In the first instruction, therefore, he dissuades from excess of justice in punishing, when he says: "Be not just overmuch," that is, do not exceed in the rigor of justice, because it is a fault to prosecute every fault to its fullest: whence James 2: "Judgment without mercy shall be done to him who does not show mercy." Neither should you exceed in scrutinizing fault: therefore he says: "Neither be more wise than is necessary," because it is said in Proverbs 30: "He who blows the nose violently draws forth blood," therefore Romans 12: "Not to be wise beyond what is fitting to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety."

It is asked concerning what he says: "Do not be excessively just." On the contrary: This is true per se: the just man is good, therefore the more just, the more good, therefore the most just, the most good: therefore in justice there is no excess. Likewise, whatever is said of God is said in the highest degree: but "just" is said of God: therefore God is supremely just. And it is evident that this is not evil: therefore if the summit of justice is not evil, therefore there is no excess therein.

I respond: it must be said that "just" in one way is the same as having such a virtue: and thus the increase of justice is measured by approach to the mean, and so there cannot be excess therein, because no one can be too virtuous nor approach the mean too closely. In another way "just" is said insofar as it names the act of that virtue, which is to punish: and thus its excess is not measured by approach to the mean, but rather to the extreme; then he is called "more just" who punishes more, and to punish in the highest degree is not good. And thus it is understood in the text. To the second objection, that whatever befits God is said in the highest degree: this is true of that which is said absolutely and which names after the manner of a habit: but that which denotes an effect is not said in the highest degree, just as God does not punish in the highest degree nor spare in the highest degree, but insofar as is fitting.

Likewise, there is a question about what is said: "Neither be more wise than is necessary." For he who loves more is more wise: but no one can love too much: therefore neither can one be too wise, insofar as love is referred to God. Furthermore, no one is too wise, therefore neither can anyone be so: therefore no one can be more wise than is necessary. But on the contrary: Virtue consists in the mean and is corrupted by excess just as by deficiency: therefore just as there can be sin in remitting too much, so also in punishing too much.

To the question about wisdom, it must be said that the habit of wisdom can in no way be excessive: but regarding the act, it should be noted that it is threefold, namely to taste, to know, and to investigate: to taste and to know no one can do too much, but to investigate thoroughly one certainly can do too much. And the reason for this is that excessive investigation leads to foolishness, but love cannot be excessive toward God, because He is to be loved in the highest degree.

She also said, 'The devil sometimes sends a severe fast which is too prolonged; the devil's disciples do this as well as holy men. How do we distinguish the fasting of our God and King from the fasting of that tyrant the devil? Clearly by its moderation. Throughout your life, then, you ought to keep an unvarying rule of fasting. Do you fast four or five days on end and then lose your spiritual strength by eating a feast? That really pleases the devil! Everything which is extreme is destructive. So do not suddenly throw away your armour, or you may be found unarmed in the battle and easily captured. Our body is the armour, our soul is the warrior. Take care of both, and you will be ready for whatever comes.'

No one can say that he has strayed from ignorance into some silly fancy of separating, locally, the supreme from that which is below, and assigning to the Father as it were the peak of some hill, while he seats the Son lower down in the hollows. No one is so childish as to conceive of differences in space, when the intellectual and spiritual is under discussion. Local position is a property of the material, but the intellectual and immaterial is confessedly removed from the idea of locality. What, then, is the reason why he says that the Father alone has supreme being? For one can hardly think it is from ignorance that he wanders off into these conceptions, being one who, in the many displays he makes, claims to be wise, even "making himself overwise," as the Holy Scripture forbids us to do.

"I have seen all things in the days of my vanity: there is a just man, that dies in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that remains alive in his wickedness. "Similar to this is what the Saviour says in the Gospel: "he who finds his soul will lose it, and he who loses it on account of me, will find it" [Matth. 10. 39.]. The Maccabees are seen to die on account of their justice by the law and justice of God, and martyrs too, who shed their blood for Christ. On the other hand, those who at that time ate the flesh of pigs and sacrificed to idols after the arrival of the Lord, they are seen to live in this world and to live long lives on account of their wickedness. But it is the endurance of God in secret which causes suffering in those who are not holy, so that they have wickedness in their life, and not to visit sinners for their crimes, and it is as if he saves for the sacrifice so that he can give to the former eternal goodness, and to the latter eternal wickedness. The Hebrews suspect the righteous, who die for their righteousness, the sons of Aaron, since while they think they live righteously, they worship a foreign fire. And they say Manasseh was impious and lived a long life on account of his wickedness, for he then lived a long time in a long reign after having been corrected in prison.

Neither those who love too much nor those who hate, abide by the rule of truth. The former lie through love; the latter lie through hatred. It is right to place a bridle even on charity and to permit it freedom to roam only insofar as it does not rush headlong over a cliff. Scripture says, in Ecclesiastes, "Do not be righteous in excess, nor think yourself more than you are, lest perhaps you should be struck dumb." Following this, I can say something similar. Do not love a man "with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with all your strength." Do not love an angel "with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with all your strength." In accord with the Savior's words, keep this command in respect to God alone. For, he says, "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with all your strength."

One is victorious who hopes for the grace of God, not he who presumes upon his own strength. For why do you not rely upon grace, since you have a merciful Judge in the contest? "For the Lord is merciful and just, and our God shows mercy." Mercy is mentioned twice, but justice once. Justice is in the middle, enclosed by a double wall of mercy. Sins superabound. Therefore let mercy superabound. With the Lord there is an abundance of all powers, for he is the Lord of hosts. Yet there is neither justice without mercy, nor without the exercise of mercy is there justice, for it is written, "Be not overjust." What is above measure, you cannot endure, even if it is good. Preserve measure, that you may receive according to the measure.

He who endeavors to amend the faults of human weakness ought to bear this very weakness on his own shoulders, let it weigh upon himself, not cast it off. For we read that the Shepherd in the Gospel carried the weary sheep and did not cast it off. And Solomon says, "Be not overmuch righteous," for restraint should temper righteousness. For how shall he offer himself to you for healing whom you despise, who thinks that he will be an object of contempt, not of compassion, to his physician?

And as God promises to them that serve him truly, "I will fulfill the number of your days," Abraham dies "full of days," and David called on God, saying, "Take me not away in the midst of my days." And Eliphaz, one of the friends of Job, being assured of this truth, said, "You shall come to your grave … like as a shock of corn comes in its season." And Solomon confirming his words, says, "The souls of the unrighteous are taken away untimely." And therefore he exhorts in the book of Ecclesiastes, saying, "Be not overmuch wicked, neither be hard: why should you die before your time?"

Here is noted the second instruction in which he forbids the headlong rush of impiety: for impiety renders a man stupefied in feeling and hardened. Therefore he says: "Be not stupefied": Jeremiah 31: "Everyone who eats a sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge." It renders one cruel in deed: therefore he says: "Do not act impiously overmuch," that is, cruelly: Psalm: "I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly": and Sirach 7: "Do not sow evil in the furrows of injustice, and you shall not reap it sevenfold." It also renders the intellect blind: therefore he says: "Be not foolish": Proverbs 24: "He who thinks to do evil shall be called a fool. The thought of the fool is sin." And because sin and folly hasten death: therefore the reason follows: "Lest you die before your time," that is, lest your death be hastened, because in the Psalm: "Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days": and again Luke 12: "Fool, this night they shall require your soul of you." The example of Dathan and Abiram, who went down alive into hell.

There is a question about what he says: "Do not be foolish, lest you die before your time." On the contrary: Job 14: "You have appointed his limits, which cannot be passed": therefore it seems that on account of goodness they cannot be increased: therefore neither on account of wickedness can they be diminished. If this is true, how does God promise long years in Scripture? Likewise, concerning Hezekiah, in 4 Kings 20, how did God add fifteen years to him? Likewise, He also shortens; in the Psalm: "Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days."

I respond: it must be said that to die in one's time is threefold: in one way, in the time of one's salvation, to which each person is ordained: thus all the good die in their time, and no wicked persons do, because they never arrive at this—I speak of those who are finally wicked. In the second way, to die in one's time, that is, by natural death, which indeed occurs through the consumption of the radical moisture, and thus the aged and decrepit die in their time. In the third way, to die in one's time is to die at the time predetermined for one by God, according to divine foreknowledge, which is never deceived. No one anticipates this, no one passes beyond it. In the first way, the wicked die in a time not their own; in the second way, both good and wicked who die by accidental death; in the third way, no one.

Therefore Ecclesiastes and Scripture speak here with regard to the first mode, but Job understands it with regard to the third. Similarly, concerning Hezekiah it is said that the Lord changed his counsel.

"Do not be too righteous, do not make yourself too wise: why destroy yourself? "If you should see a man who is harsh and wild to the extent of sinning against his brothers, so that he pardons neither the sinner in his speaking, or he who is slow on account of natural slowness, know that this man is more righteous than is good. For when the Saviour teaches, saying "Do not judge, so that you are not judged" [Luc. 6, 37.], and let none be without sin, even if it was not his life at any given day, the judgement of God is not ignorant of the weak state of man. Therefore do not be too righteous, since accursed conduct in the presence of God carries both a great and a minor burden. Philosophers have placed virtues therefore in the middle, and everything which is either too much either above or below, is thought to be at fault. [Cfr. Apuleius. Plat. 2, 5.] But he also says, "and do not ask too much, lest you become confused", or "lest you be amazed". For he knows that our mind cannot understand complete wisdom, (or that which is to be measured), and he says that we ought to know the wisdom which must be measured in our mortality. Then even Paul asked of him that was able to know more than man, saying, "why does he yet complain? For who has resisted his will?" [Rom. 9, 19.] He replies, "O man, who are you that reply to God?" [Ibid. 9, 20.], and so on. If he had heard the causes of the complaint from the apostle, he who is introduced while he is questioning, by chance he would have been stupefied by numbness and would have felt useful gratitude. Since it is a gift according to that same apostle, which is of no use to him that receives it. The command "do not be too righteous" [Cfr I Reg. 15.] is interpreted by the Hebrew as being about Saul, who felt pity for Agag, whom the Lord had commanded to be killed. But even that servant from the Gospel whom the Lord had pardoned [Cfr. Matth. 18. 23-34.], the Lord himself didn't want to pardon the servant, yet he can be used in this verse because he was too righteous.

"Let the fear of the Lord be with you, and do all things with diligence": as if to say: do not be sluggish or negligent, because it is written in Ecclesiastes: "He who fears God neglects nothing." If I believed that a thief was going to enter my chamber and carry off my treasure, I would not leave the window open. You must always fear God, because he who "keeps the whole law but offends in one point has become guilty of all."

Here is noted the third instruction, in which he counsels the display of mercy: and he sets forth first the exhortation and then adds the reason. He exhorts, when he says: "It is good for you to support the just one," namely in justice: Proverbs 24: "Do not lie in wait nor seek wickedness in the house of the just, and do not lay waste to his rest"; because it is said in Proverbs 17: "It is not good to inflict harm upon the just, nor to strike the prince who judges rightly." Not only is the just one to be supported in a just cause, but also a hand is to be extended to him through almsgiving: whence he adds: "But also from him do not withdraw your hand": Sirach 12: "Do good to the just, and you will find great recompense: and if not from him, certainly from God." Having thus set forth the exhortation, he adds a threefold reason: and the first is the divine will, on account of which he says: "He who fears God neglects nothing," namely of those things which God wills to be done; Sirach 7: "Fear God with your whole soul, and purge yourself of your negligence with few."

Likewise, there is a question about what he says: "He who fears God neglects nothing." But whoever sins neglects something; therefore no one who sins fears God. But "there is no just person who does not sin"; therefore there is no just person who fears God. I respond: it must be said that negligence in one way implies contempt, and thus it is a mortal sin, and thus it is understood here; in another way, it implies any omission of circumstance whatsoever, and thus it is venial, and no one is without it.

"Do not be too wicked, and do not be foolish: why should you die before your time? "When God says, "I do not want the death of the dying, only let him return and live" [Ezek. 18, 32.], it suffices to have sinned only once. We ought to raise ourselves up after a catastrophe. For just like those who argue about worldly matters, the swallow knows how to protect its young from poppy seeds, and wounded roes seek wild marjoram to cure themselves. Then why are we ignorant that the cure of repentance is proposed for sinners? But he says, "do not delay in an world that is not yours". We know that Chore, Dathan, and Habiron, on account of their uprising against Moses and Aaron, were suddenly eaten up by a gap in the earth, and in emendation of others, many were judged before the day of judgement even in their lifetime. [Cfr. Num. 16.] Therefore he says, "do not add sins to sins, lest you cause God to punish you"

Wisdom descends from above as a light to strengthen our operative power. "Wisdom has strengthened the wise man more than ten princes of the city." No sub-celestial power, neither earthly nor human, nor celestial or angelic, strengthens the soul as much as super-celestial wisdom. Whence in the book of Wisdom: "Wisdom entered into the soul of the servant of God and stood against kings. She gave him a strong contest, that he might overcome and know that wisdom is mightier than all things."

Likewise, the fruit of wisdom is born of the last four by contrast. Corresponding to this fruit, there are four acts, for wisdom is comforting, struggling, contemplating, and extolling. It comforts the good: "Wisdom is a better defense for the wise man than would be ten princes in the city." It is also struggling, against evil: "Better is wisdom than weapons of war." Again, Wisdom "gave him a strong conflict, that he might overcome and know that wisdom is mightier than all." It is also contemplating the Supreme Good: "For she is fairer than the sun." Wisdom makes the soul taste the Supreme Good and be united to it. It is also extolling God on account of all things. This fruit is united with glory: this is the work, this is the reward, this is the fruit, that we shall see, love, and praise.

The second reason is the dignity of the just, on account of which he says: "Wisdom has strengthened the wise man above ten princes of the city"; and so, Wisdom 6, "wisdom is better than strength, and a prudent man is better than a strong one."

Perhaps a person possesses no bread to extend as an alms to the needy, but still greater is what a person who has a tongue is able to give. It is more important to refresh a mind that will live forever with the food of the word than to satisfy with earthly food the stomach of a body that is going to die. Therefore, brethren, do not take from your neighbors the alms of the word. Paul says, "If we have sown for you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we reap from you carnal things?" "Do good to the just, and you shall find great recompense: and if not of him, assuredly of God." "It is good that you should hold up the just, and from him withdraw not your hand, for he that fears God neglects nothing."

Look for the might of a general in his wisdom rather than in the size of his troops.… If a city has many mighty men but lacks wisdom, these cannot help the city. In a spiritual exegesis the world is called city, that is, the earthly realm around us. No one can live without harm, if he is not given divine wisdom. If wisdom does not help, the mighty ones cannot do anything, whether you mean angels or holy men. If wisdom does not help, the city will not be saved. One can also see the soul of every human being as a city. Even if one had a thousand earthly thoughts that could help a city, it cannot be helped if God's wisdom is not sent down to help and to create and sustain order.

"It is good that you should take hold of this, and do not withdraw your hand; for he that fears God shall come forth of them all. "It is good to do good to righteous men, but also being kind to sinners is not wicked. It is good to keep slaves faithful to you, but it is advised to do this only with those who seek your employment. Even he who fears God and copies his maker, who causes rain to fall over both the righteous and the wicked, enjoys doing good to all without distinction. Another meaning of this is, because this life changes daily with many wretched occurrences, as fortunate as unfortunate, the spirit should be prepared for righteousness and should ask for the pity of God, so that whatever happens, he suffers with a free conscience. For he who fears God is neither raised to fortune, nor crushed by misfortune.

The inhabited world arises in no other way than in the wisdom of God. For "wisdom gives strength to the wise beyond ten rulers who live in the city." "And the one who despises wisdom and instruction is miserable, and his hope empty, and his labors unprofitable, and his works useless," says the Book of Wisdom ascribed to Solomon. Hence insofar as possible, since the inhabited world is set aright in the wisdom of God, let us ourselves desire that our inhabited world, which perhaps has fallen, be set aright. For this inhabited world has fallen whenever we went to the place of affliction. This inhabited world has fallen whenever "we sinned, did wrong, acted wickedly," and it has need of being set aright.

The following is one of the many arguments that Pelagius uses in treating this subject: "Once more I repeat: I say that it is possible for a person to be without sin. And what do you say? That it is impossible for a person to be without sin? But I do not say," he adds, "that there is a person without sin, nor do you say that there is not a person without sin. We are disputing about what is possible and impossible, not about what is and is not." Next he notes that a number of the passages of Scripture which are usually invoked against them do not bear upon the question in dispute, namely, whether or not a person can be without sin: "For there is no one who is free from pollution," and, "There is no one that does not sin," and, "There is no just person on the earth," and, "There is no one that does good." "These and other similar texts," he says, "apply to nonexistence, not to impossibility. By examples of this kind it is shown how some persons were at a given time, not that they could not have been something else. For this reason they are justly found to be guilty. For if they were as they were because they could not have been otherwise, then they are free from blame."

There are less serious sins about which it has been written that "there is not a righteous person on earth who does what is good and does not sin," and, "No living person will be made righteous in your sight."

The Lord himself gives us sure confidence of obtaining what we properly ask when he adds, "Therefore if you, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give his good Spirit to those who ask him?" His disciples were good, as far as human judgment can see. He calls them "evil" because there is surely no one in this life who is capable of being free from moral faults, as Solomon states when he says, "There is not a just person on earth, who does good and does not sin."

The third reason is human frailty, on account of which he says: "There is no just man on earth who does good and does not sin": and therefore one must have mercy on the sinner: Proverbs 24: "The just man falls seven times a day and rises again"; indeed, however perfect one may be, he sometimes sins: 1 John 1: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

Likewise, it is asked whether any just person can be without sin. That he cannot seems evident from what is said here and in 1 John 1: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." That he can, however, seems evident from Job 17: "I have not sinned, and my eye dwells in bitterness." Likewise, if he cannot, and no one sins in that which he cannot avoid, therefore etc.

It must be said concerning sin that many are without mortal sin, but no one exercising free will is without venial sin except Christ, and this we also believe of the most blessed Virgin. To what is objected from Job, I respond: he does not deny that he sinned, but that he sinned so as to be punished in this way. Similarly, the heart reproves when sin has given pleasure; but when one does what one did not will, even if one sinned, the heart does not reprove. As to what is said about the impossibility of avoiding sin, it must be said that man has been brought to this by vice, and therefore he is not excused from sinning in some way. Furthermore, even if he cannot avoid it universally, he can nevertheless avoid any particular sin.

Because the prophet says, "Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and in sin did my mother bring me forth," no one coming into the world with sin can be sinless. That is why the same prophet says, "No one living shall be considered righteous in your sight," and Solomon, "There is no righteous man on earth, who does good, and does not sin."

"Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city. For there is not a just man on the earth, that does good and does not sin. "Therefore wisdom strengthens the righteous, and not even the aid of all the citizens of the city can help him, for although someone may be righteous, yet while he is alive he is subject to vices and sins, and he therefore needs greater protection. Another reading of this is: the ten who hold power and are in the city are angels, who have arrived at the complete number of 'denarii' and are here to help mankind. But if anyone should consider different types of help, the aid of wisdom is better, because that is the aid of our Lord Jesus Christ. For after the angels said, "we would have protected Babylon yet it is not now protected, so let us leave it, and let each one of us go out unto his own land" [Ier. 51, 9.]. Then the teacher of doctors himself came down and healed us with a touch of His finger, we who were spattered with blood, and wet with the blood of sinners, we who weigh out all our possessions against healing. But He healed in that city which is in that world, and 'strengthened in wisdom' or as the Septuagint says 'helped'. For it is given and added to everyone who possesses it. But the man who sins greatly is stuck in deep and needs more help: therefore Wisdom herself came to his aid. Another meaning of this verse is: above he had said that one should be kind to both the good and the wicked: therefore someone was able to reply: though I want to be kind to all men, I have not the power with which to do this. And a righteous man does not have such riches, which normally come more abundantly to sinners. Therefore he now says, those whom you can't help with money, help with advice and comfort them with solace. For one is more able to excel in these ways than any of the greatest of potentates. And you would be wise to do this, for the scale of justice is great, and must decide for whom, how much, how long, and of what sort, help is given, either with monetary support or with advice.

And it is likely also that in countless other things demons delude us and influence us to act according to their will. And it is possible that, just as no one among us is "clean from defilement," and there is no "just person on the earth who will do good and will not sin," so also there is no one who has always been free of demons and has never fallen victim to their influence.

If you wish to recall some other of the saints, the word of Scripture replies to you, saying, "There is no one upon the earth who does good and sins not." Therefore only Jesus rightly "has perfect hands"; who alone "does not sin," that is, who has perfect and whole works of his hands.

Here the fourth instruction is touched upon, in which he exhorts to the overlooking of one's own injury: whence one ought not to inquire nor believe every one who reports. Therefore he says: "But also to all the words that are spoken, do not apply your heart," that is, do not give credence, because little trust is to be placed in words, since many speak much: because, Sirach 19, "he who believes quickly is light of heart"; and because it is difficult to hear and not believe: Sirach 28: "Hedge your ears with thorns, and do not listen to a wicked tongue"; whence one ought not to be anxious to hear what is said about oneself. And the reason is given: "Lest perhaps you hear your servant cursing you": just as Shimei cursed David, 2 Kings 16: whence Abishai says: "Why does this most wretched dog curse my lord the king? I will go and cut off his head."

And this indeed often happens, as a man can know from himself: "For your conscience knows that you have frequently cursed others," and so you ought not diligently heed nor punish: Sirach 31: "Know the things of your neighbor from yourself." And again, forgive: for as it is said in Matthew 18: "Ought you not then also to have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I also had mercy on you?"

"And do not heed all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you. For often your own heart knows that you likewise have cursed others. "Make sure to do only those things which have been taught, and strengthened by the help of wisdom, prepare yourself for either good or bad outcomes, and don't worry about what your enemies might say about you, or what kind of reputation you have. For just as a cautious man should not hear his servant complain about him, so he should not want to hear what is said about him in his absence, (for if he did this he would always be troubled and incensed to anger by the muttering of the servant). Therefore it is befitting for a wise man to walk with wisdom following him, and not to dwell upon unfounded rumours. But he teaches by another example that the righteous man ought not to worry what men say, saying, 'just as your conscience knows what you have said about others, and that you have often maligned others, so you ought to pardon others when they think badly of you.' At the same time he teaches that it is difficult to judge for one who has a rod in his eye, not to speak about the rod of another.

This wisdom is spread out among all things. For everything possesses a rule of wisdom and displays divine wisdom by reason of some characteristic; and the man who would know all characteristics would clearly see this wisdom. And it is to this study that the philosophers gave themselves, and Solomon himself. And so he speaks to himself, saying: "I will acquire wisdom"; but it was "beyond me." For when anyone, out of idle curiosity over creatures, gives himself to the search for this wisdom, it eludes him more than ever.

Above he treated the vanity of mutability and iniquity; in this part he intends to treat the vanity of penality. And because punishment is twofold: one kind, which is the occasion of sin, such as concupiscence; another kind, which is pure affliction, such as death and bodily infirmity: therefore he first treats the first penality, which is the occasion of sin. And because the vanity of the proneness of concupiscence is perilous, nor is anyone freed except by the aid of divine wisdom: therefore first the discovery of concupiscence is noted; second, the remedy of wisdom is subjoined.

The diligent inquiry into concupiscence, which was so diligent that it degenerated into curiosity, is described according to three aspects: the curiosity of his presumption, the loftiness of his inquiry, and the studiousness of his consideration. Therefore, as regards the curiosity of his presumption, he says: "I have tried all things in wisdom," that is, in inquiry—behold, the inquiry of curiosity: Ecclesiasticus 3: "Be not curious in many of his works." "I said: I shall become wise," behold, the elation of presumption: Isaiah 5: "Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes"; and 1 Corinthians 3: "If any of you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise."

One may raise a doubt concerning what he says here: "I tried all things in wisdom": whether in this he was blameworthy. That he was, it seems from the text itself: "I said: I shall become wise, and it withdrew further from me." Likewise, from what is said in Ecclesiasticus 3: "Do not be curious about his many works." To the contrary: "The spiritual man judges all things, and he himself is judged by no one": therefore if Solomon had the spirit of wisdom, then it was his to judge concerning all things. Furthermore, in the last chapter of 1 Thessalonians the Apostle says: "Test all things: hold fast what is good": therefore it is good to test all things.

I respond: it must be said that to test something is twofold: in one way, to know through experience, as one knows and tests wine that one tastes; in another way, through examination and approval and disapproval. In the first way, only useful things are to be tested; but if one wishes to test more things, it is curiosity. But insofar as to test is the same as to examine, so Paul takes to prove, and thus all things are to be examined, not only good and useful things, but also useless things. Thus it is said that "the spiritual man judges all things": thus also it is said: "test all things," that is: examine all things, whether good or bad in our works, concerning which we can doubt; but in the works of God, concerning which we ought to suppose that they are well made, it is curiosity to prove or examine. Since therefore Solomon extended his examination beyond those things which pertain to salvation, therefore it was curiosity, and this must be conceded. Those two authorities are understood concerning those things which pertain to salvation and belong to oneself, but Solomon went beyond.

Now the subject of God is harder to come at, in proportion as it is more perfect than any other, and is open to more objections, and the solutions of them are more laborious. For every objection, however small, stops and hinders the course of our argument and cuts off its further advance, just like people who suddenly check with the rein the horses in full gallop and turn them right around by the unexpected shock. Thus Solomon, who was the wisest of all whether before him or in his own time, to whom God gave breadth of heart, and a flood of contemplation, more abundant than the sand, even he, the more he entered into profundities, the more dizzy he became. And he declared the furthest point of wisdom to be the discovery of how very far away wisdom was from him.

Consider therefore how it is written in the book of Ecclesiastes, "I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me. That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who shall find it out?" [Consider] what is said in the Psalms, "The knowledge of you is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." And Solomon says, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing." [Therefore] I frequently designed to stop and to cease writing; believe me, I did. But lest I should be found to disappoint you, or by my silence to lead into impiety those who have made enquiry of you and are given to disputation, I constrained myself to write briefly, what I have now sent to your piety.

Even if all minds, in fact, should combine their researches and all tongues would concur in their utterance, never, as I have said, could anyone achieve a worthy result in this matter. Solomon, the wisest of all, presents this thought clearly to us when he says, "I have said: I will be wise; and it departed farther from me"; not that it really fled but because wisdom appears unattainable particularly to those to whom knowledge has been given in an exceptionally high degree by the grace of God.

Concerning the depth of faith, there is in Ecclesiastes: "What exists is far-reaching: it is deep, very deep: who can find it out?" That is, by means of reason. For it goes beyond our powers of investigation.

The man goes down to the sea in ships who approaches the Scriptures in a spirit of extreme reverence in order to explain them. He goes down with ships who takes as support the wood of the cross: for anyone who seeks to enter the sea of Scriptures without this wood is submerged, for he sinks into the greatest errors. Unless he is Peter himself, he founders. Hence, "it is very deep: who can find it out?" Wisdom is glorified, which penetrated the profound abyss and saw God's marvels in the deep.

As to the sublimity of the inquiry he says: "And she withdrew farther from me than she was before," because the question seemed to him more difficult the more he inquired, and this by the divine severity of judgment: Romans 1: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" — and by the loftiness of the question: therefore he says: "And a deep profundity, who shall find it?" Deep is the profundity of the inquiry of wisdom: Sirach 24: "I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud." And therefore who can find it? Few sufficiently, but none perfectly: Sirach 43: "Labor not, for you shall not comprehend": and Romans 11: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God."

Who is it, who made all things by his Word, and formed man by his Wisdom, and gathered into one things scattered abroad, and mingled dust with spirit, and compounded an animal visible and invisible, temporal and immortal, earthly and heavenly, able to attain to God but not to comprehend him, drawing near and yet far off? "I said, I will be wise," says Solomon, "but she was far from me beyond what is," and, "Verily, he that increases knowledge increases sorrow." For the joy of what we have discovered is no greater than the pain of what escapes us; a pain, I imagine, like that felt by those who are dragged, while yet thirsty, from the water, or are unable to retain what they think they hold, or are suddenly left in the dark by a flash of lightning.

What Ecclesiastes is saying is this: Before I turned my thoughts to ponder over God's work, I was not aware of God's magnificence. I said, I must have wisdom; that is, I must inquire into the nature of every cause; and wisdom withdrew farther away from me than it ever was before. By that I mean, formerly I was not in quest of wisdom because I was unaware of it, and afterwards, when I began to seek it, I could not find it.

"I have proved all this by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me." "That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out? "Just as is attested in the Book of Kings [Cfr. III Reg. 3. 4.] he says that he sought wisdom more than other men, and tried to reach the pinnacle, but the more he sought, the less he found, and in the midst of his confusion, he was surrounded by the darkness if ignorance. But at another time, regarding him who was learned in the Scriptures- the more he wanted to know, the more a greater obscurity arose each day for him. Another meaning of this is: he seems to mean that contemplation of wisdom in this life is like looking in a mirror or at a picture; therefore if I look at my face in the mirror in the future I'll think back to the way it used to be, and then in the liquid pool I'll recognise that I differ greatly from the way I used to be.

As far in it as the breath of the divine Spirit may have brought us, yet the vastness that opens out before our eyes is ever more immeasurable. In the words of Solomon, "It will become much farther from us than it was, and a great depth. Who shall find it out?" Therefore let us beseech the Lord that the fear of him and the love that cannot fail may remain fixed in us, making us wise in all things and keeping us ever unharmed from the devil's missiles. For with these protections it is impossible for anyone to fall into the snares of death. -.

As the breath of the Divine Spirit drives us further in, so is there an ever-widening and immeasurable vastness opened to us, reaching beyond the sight of our eye. As Solomon says, "It will become much further from us than it was, and a great depth. Who shall find it out?" Therefore let us pray to the Lord that both his fear and his love, which cannot fail, may continue steadfast in us, make us wise in all things, and ever shield us unharmed from the darts of the devil. For with these guards it is impossible for anyone to fall into the snares of death.

Concerning the third part of philosophy, namely moral philosophy, Solomon also says that he attained it. Whence in Ecclesiastes: "I surveyed all things with my mind, that I might know and consider and seek wisdom and reason, and that I might know the wickedness of the fool and the error of the imprudent." He says that he considered many things and ordered all things to morals. The wickedness of the fool consists in thinking wrongly about the cause of causes; the error of the imprudent concerns the governance of the monastic life, or the domestic life, or the political life, that is, concerning the governance of oneself, or of the family, or of the city. Great prudence is required for the governance of oneself, greater for the governance of a family, but the greatest for the governance of a city. It is impossible that the sun should illuminate bodies far from itself and not illuminate those near to it. No one can have a well-ordered family unless he himself is well-ordered. If someone wishes to have chaste servants, and he himself is not chaste, this cannot be. Similarly, unless a man governs his family well, he will not be able to govern a city well, because "as is the ruler of a city, so also are its inhabitants."

As to the diligence of consideration he adds: "I surveyed all things in my mind," that is, I went about and diligently considered from every side: Sirach 6: "As one who plows and one who sows, draw near to her." And the moving reason is touched upon: "That I might know," in habit: "and consider," in act: "wisdom," in the appetites: "reason," in operations. And conversely: "That I might know the wickedness of the fool," in things to be done: "and the error of prudence," in things to be believed: above in chapter 1: "I gave my heart to know prudence and learning, and errors and folly."

"My heart took a circuit to know the joy of the impious man and to examine carefully and to seek wisdom and a mode of calculating and to know joy through the impious man and trouble and disquietude, and I find that it is bitterer than death"—not because death is bitter, but because it is bitter for the impious one. And yet life is bitterer than death. For it is a greater burden to live for sin than to die in sin, because the impious person increases his sin as long as he lives, but if he dies, he ceases to sin.

Although a perfect apprehension of the truth is at present far removed from us by reason of the infirmity of the flesh, yet it is possible, as the Preacher himself has said, to perceive the madness of the impious, and having found it, to say that it is "more bitter than death." Therefore for this reason, as perceiving this and able to find it out, I have written, knowing that to the faithful the detection of impiety is a sufficient information wherein piety consists. For although it is impossible to comprehend what God is, yet it is possible to say what he is not.

Solomon followed foolish women, therefore he laments and says in Ecclesiastes: "I found woman more bitter than death, who is the snare of hunters, and her heart is a net, her hands are bonds. He who pleases God shall escape from her, but he who is a sinner shall be captured by her." A snare to those who look upon her, a net to those who lust and consent, and bonds to those who touch her.

The vehement proneness of concupiscence itself is touched upon, because it leads to the greatest bitterness under the appearance of sweetness. Therefore he says: "I found a woman more bitter than death," and this after the perpetration of the wicked deed to which concupiscence drags one: whence Proverbs 5: "The lips of a harlot are as a dropping honeycomb, and her throat is smoother than oil." That concupiscence drags one to this, which had its origin from woman and has its fuel in woman, which by its beauty ensnares through desire: therefore he says: "It is the snare of hunters," that is, of demons, who hunt the souls of men. It ensnares by words and glances: Proverbs 7: "She entangled him with many words and drew him forth with the flatteries of her lips." It ensnares by the beauty of the face: Sirach 9: "On account of the beauty of a woman many have perished." It also ensnares by words: whence in the same place: "Her conversation burns like fire." Not only does it ensnare in desire, but it also swallows up in wicked deed: whence he says: "And her heart is a net," when according to her wish one consents to the wicked deed. This is the dragnet of the devil: Habakkuk 1: "He lifted up the whole with a hook; he drew it in his dragnet." But afterward it binds through affection: and therefore he says: "And her hands are bonds": Proverbs 7: "He follows her and does not know that the fool is drawn to bonds." From this inclination no one is delivered unless he is aided by the Lord, so great is it; therefore he says: "He who pleases God shall escape her," according to that passage in 1 Corinthians 6: "Flee fornication"; Wisdom 8: "I knew that I could not otherwise be continent unless God should grant it." "But he who is a sinner shall be captured by her": Proverbs 5: "His own iniquities capture the wicked man, and he is bound by the cords of his own sins."

Solomon seems to me very wise in bestowing upon an indecent woman the face of every heresy and then saying about her that it is necessary to repudiate and to flee such a woman, "who is a hunter's snare, and her heart is a net, and in her hands are bonds." The good man before the face of God will be rescued from her and the sinner will be ensnared by her.

In many passages of divine instruction, thoughts and mindsets are called "women" of those who have them, both in a positive and in a negative sense. So it is said, for example, "Sophia gives birth to a man's insight," and, "Your wife is like a good vine, your sons like offshoots of olive trees." Out of this woman male offshoots emerge, nourishment for fire and light, since the blessing from these plants gives nourishment for fire and light. In the negative sense again it is said, "Do not pay attention to a bad woman; honey runs from the lips of every prostitute who makes your throat sweet only for a brief time. Later you will find it more bitter than bile." … If you want to understand it in an allegorical sense the bad and frivolous thought is a temptation. It is sophistical and heretical; it is like an evil woman.

"I applied my heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness. And I find that woman is more bitter than death, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands are as bands: whoever pleases God shall escape her; but the sinner shall be taken by her. "The Septuagint here has: "I even applied my heart that I should know". Symmachus has interpreted this saying, 'I have looked into all things with my reasoning to know, to distinguish and to find out.' Since therefore Ecclesiastes had said above that he had tried to know all wisdom and the more he sought it the more it eluded him, now he says even that he sought out another thing in his wisdom, for wickedness precedes all things in human affairs, and that affair is first and foremost in impiety, stupidity, madness, and insanity. He also says that he found woman to be the cause of all evil, since through her, death came into the world and took the most prized spirits of men. And even for all adulterers, it is like there is a coat of mail on their heart, the heart that makes the souls of adolescents soar upwards. And when this happens to the mind of a wretched lover, it pushes him into first position, and he is not allowed to look back at his feet, but like a snare or noose it ensnares the heart of a youth. 'For he has chains around his wrists', which Aquila interpreted as being, 'for his hands are in chains'. For he can convince, but he doesn't have the strength and can't pull himself to those who are unwilling. Those things destroy him, who was righteous and good before God; but the sinner who has been captured will be led down to his death. Let us not think that Solomon held this opinion about women thoughtlessly, he speaks only those things that he has experienced. For this reason he fears God, since women have captured him. And these interpretations are very literal. But according to the spiritual understanding of this passage, either we should take every sin made in general, and call it 'woman' and 'wickedness', for example, she who sits behind the façade of woman in Zechariah above the talent of lead. [Cfr. Zech. 5, 7.] Or we can take woman to be the devil metaphorically on account of effeminate men; or indeed idolatry, and so that we might proceed more closely, the church or heretics, which calls the fool to itself by reasoning, so that he receives stolen bread, and stolen water, the false sacrament, and is led to be baptised in polluted water.

Here the second point is noted, namely the universality of concupiscence, the reason for which was difficult to discern; therefore he says: "Behold, this I have found, said Ecclesiastes, one thing," namely the inclination of concupiscence itself, "and another," namely its universality. "And I labored," supply, "to find the reason, which my soul still seeks"; this is the reason for the universality of concupiscence, why it is in all. "And I did not find it," namely by my own ingenuity; because the philosophers did not know how to discover this: but nevertheless by faith he knew the reason and by experience he knew the effect, namely its universality.

Therefore he says: "One man out of a thousand I have found, and a woman out of all I have not found": it is a hyperbole, and he means to say that he found very few men in whom concupiscence did not reign: but he himself found no women: nor is this surprising, because Sirach 25: "All wickedness is short compared to the wickedness of a woman." We could, however, expound this of Christ, who alone escaped from the corruption of original concupiscence, who alone was "free among the dead."

Likewise there is a doubt concerning what he says: "One man among a thousand I have found." According to this he seems to confirm that heresy that no woman is saved; and heretics strive to prove this: because, if only that which Christ assumed is saved, and he assumed only the male sex, therefore that alone will be saved. And they endeavor to prove this by what is said in the last chapter of Mark: "He who shall believe and shall be baptized": it does not say: "she who shall be baptized." And the same is said in John chapter 3.

The contrary of this is shown by what is said in Matthew 21: "The harlots shall go before you into the kingdom of God." Likewise, this is shown because the Lord received both sexes, healed both bodily, called both through the Apostles. Solomon himself also praised both, and concerning the valiant woman in the last chapter of Proverbs: "She shall laugh on the last day."

I respond: it must be said that he speaks of the universality of concupiscence, and of this one may speak in two ways: in one way with respect to carnal propagation, because it is transmitted; in another way with respect to the pursuit through actual sin. If in the first way, the statement is true and proper, because Christ alone was conceived without sin and did not contract original sin. If in the second way, the statement is hyperbolic: and this is evident, because there is not only one good man to be saved, but indeed many: and this is said with respect to the rarity of those who in that time were found free from the act of concupiscence.

As to what the heretics object, that he assumed the male sex: I respond that even though he assumed the male sex, it must be noted that he assumed it from a woman: which he would not have done if it did not pertain to salvation. Moreover, man and woman are of one nature and one body. As to what they object from the Gospel, that it is in the masculine: it must be said that this masculine is generic and stands there for the nature, not for the sex: and frequently the masculine gender includes the feminine according to the manner of Scripture.

"Behold, I have found this, says the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account. Which still my soul seeks, but I have not found it. I have found one man among a thousand, but one woman among all those I have not found. Only this have I found: that God has made man righteous, but he has sought out many inventions. "He says, "I found this", teaching all things diligently, that by sinning little by little, and adding one crime on top of another, we amass a great number of sins for ourselves. '"esebon"' even, which all translate as "logismon" in Greek, according to the ambiguity of the Hebrew language can be said by us to be 'number', 'sum', 'account', and 'consideration'. But, he says, my spirit sought even this question of whether woman is rightly found to be guilty. And although I found scarcely any men to be good, thus so that only one from a thousand can be found, I couldn't even find one woman to be completely good. For all of them have led me not to virtue but to self-indulgence. And because man's heart is predisposed towards wickedness from boyhood, and almost all of us offend God in some way, in this failing of mankind, women are more prone to this fate. The famous poet says about this: "inconstant and always changeable is woman" [Virg. Aen. 4. 569/70.]. And the apostle says, "always learning yet never arriving at the knowledge of the truth" [II Tim. 3.7.]. But he does not condemn this nature as being common to all mankind, or say that God the creator does evil things, because he is the creator of these things, but he warns subtly those who are not able to avoid evil, and says that we are created good by God; but he also says that because we are left with our own free-will to deteriorate into a worse and worse state through our own vices, while we seek greater things and contemplate many things beyond our strength. Differently: while I consider the reason behind each and every one of these verses, I have found no thought, which is not perturbed from outside by wicked thoughts. But in a thousand men I have found one man, who is made in the image of his creator; and not in a thousand of any kind, but of one thousand "men". There is not a like number of women corresponding to men. In the thousand, those who have not been close to a woman have therefore remained the most pure. But all this must be taken as a metaphor. In many though, who enthuse and every day sweat in their thinking, scarcely can there be found one pure thought, that is worthy of the name of man. We can take thoughts for men though, and women for work, and say that the thoughts of man can only be seen as pure with great difficulty. But since the body does work, it is always mixed up with some fault. But instead of that which we said above interpreting the Hebrew phrase, "one upon another, so that a great accumulation is made" we could either say 'account', or 'thought'; Symmachus interprets this more clearly, saying, "one upon another makes an amount". And we are accustomed to call this complete and neutral, which I sought and had wanted to find. The Hebrews name this in the case of females, just as in the phrase "I sought one from God, this I ask" [Ps. 26, 4.], in place of that which is one. [[lit. "pro eo quod est unum"]]

For [the soul] is made to see God and to be enlightened by him; but of its own accord in God's stead it has sought corruptible things and darkness, as the Spirit says somewhere in writing, "God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions." Thus it has been then that people from the first discovered and contrived and imagined evil for themselves. But it is now time to say how they came down to the madness of idolatry, that you may know that the invention of idols is wholly due not to good but to evil. But what has its origin in evil can never be pronounced good in any point—being evil altogether.

The reason that we, being bad, have a good Father is in order that we may not always remain bad. No bad person can make a good one. If no bad person can make a good one, how can a bad man make himself good? The only one who can make a good person out of a bad one is the one who is always good. "Heal me, Lord," he says, "and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved." Why do they say to me, silly people saying silly things, "You can save yourself if you want to"? "Heal me, Lord, and I shall be healed." We were created good by the good God, seeing that "God made man upright." But by our own decision we became bad. We were able to change from good to bad, and we shall be able to change from bad to good. But it is the one who is always good that can change bad to good, because man, by his own will, cannot heal himself. You don't look for a doctor to wound you; but when you have wounded yourself, you look for one to heal you.

Let us be displeased with ourselves when we sin, because sins displease God. And because we are not in fact without sin, let us at least be like God in this respect, that what displeases him displeases us. Now you are displeased with that in yourself which he also hates who made you. He designed and constructed you; but take a look at yourself and eliminate from yourself everything that does not come from his workshop. For God, as it says, "created man upright."

There is also a good world consisting of people, but made so out of a bad one. The whole world, you see, if you take the world as meaning people, leaving aside world in the sense of heaven and earth and all things that are in them; if you mean people by world, then the whole world was made bad by the one who first sinned. The whole mass is vitiated in its root. God made man good; that is what Scripture says: "God made man upright, and they themselves have sought out many devices."

The Manichaeans deny that to a good man the beginning of evil came from free will; the Pelagians say that even a bad man has free will sufficiently to perform the good commandment. The Catholic church condemns both, saying to the former, "God made man upright," and saying to the latter, "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed."

Our struggle against the vices has not been naturally implanted in us by God our Father and Creator but is proved to have befallen us from our love of this world, which we preferred to our Creator. For God made human beings upright, and they have involved themselves in endless questions, as Solomon bears witness. Hence James also says, "Let no one, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not the instigator of evil, for he himself tempts no one. Each one, in fact, is tempted, drawn on and lured by his own concupiscence."

The soul was made not only to the image, but also to the likeness. You ask in what it is like? Hear first concerning the image. The Word is truth, is wisdom, is justice: and this is the image. Of what? Of justice, of wisdom, and of truth. For this image is justice from justice, wisdom from wisdom, truth from truth, as it were light from light, God from God. The soul is none of these things, because it is not the image. Yet it is capable of them, and desirous of them, and perhaps on that account it is to the image. A lofty creature, bearing the mark of majesty indeed in its capacity, and of rectitude in its desire. We read that "God made man upright," which also its great capacity, as has been said, proves. For it is necessary that what is to the image agree with the image, and not participate in vain in the name of the image, just as the image itself is not called image by a mere or empty name.

Why does he not know, unless because, bending himself down to these lowest and earthly things, he heaps up earth for himself? Assuredly he does not know, concerning those things which he commits to the earth, for whom he gathers them: whether for the moth that destroys, or for the thief that digs through; for the enemy that plunders, or for the fire that devours. And thence that lamentable voice from the psalm belongs to the wretched man bending himself down and brooding over the things that are upon the earth: "I am made wretched and bowed down utterly; all the day long I went about in sadness." In himself indeed he experiences the truth of that sentence of the Wise Man: "God made man upright, but he has entangled himself in many sorrows." And immediately the voice of mockery comes to him: "Bow down, that we may pass over."

Here the third thing is noted, namely the causality of concupiscence, which indeed was not from God, but from the first sin. Therefore he says: "Only this I have found, that God made man upright": Ecclesiasticus 17: "God created man from the earth, and made him according to his own image." And the sign of this is the uprightness of stature, which still remains in the body. "And he himself," namely by his own freedom, "entangled himself in infinite questions": because by withdrawing from the One he became inclined toward many and infinite things, because in them his concupiscence is neither ended nor satisfied; Proverbs 30: "Three things are insatiable, and the fourth, which never says enough: hell, and the mouth of the womb, and the earth."

God has created human beings straightforward, that is, morally perfect without anything crooked or oblique. But they themselves found many thoughts.… They did not devise one thought but many. Evil, thus, is manifold.… There is only one single human form that makes a person like God, but there are many into which he can transform himself. If he is cunning, he has the face of a fox; if he shows a poisonous, dangerous face, he has the face of a snake; if he looks wild, he has the face of a lion; if his face is ungovernable, flattering and desiring pleasures, he has the face of a dog. Generally out of one human being and one form emerge a whole plurality of characters and forms. Thus it is the goal to get rid of all forms—even if some people do not share this opinion—in order to show that he has the face that God created.

But because [God] knows that some humans act according to his will and some do not, for that very reason he proclaims the virtue of the one part in order to incite the others to a zeal for the good from the womb. In the same way too, concerning those others, he proclaims their worthlessness. It is not as if he creates one worthless from the womb, and another useful. And if such were the case, why would it be necessary to praise the worthy and to blame the worthless if he himself is the creator of worthiness and worthlessness? Thus one ought not to be held blameable for that worthlessness if he had created him so from the womb.And now it is clear that God's saying before-hand, "Jacob I have loved and Esau have I hated" means that this one will become beloved by his conduct, and that one hateful.… As it also says elsewhere: "God made man upright, and they thought a thought of evil."