{"slug":"tmp436.tmp436.opp-lat1","id":"latin:ogl-pl:tmp436.tmp436.opp-lat1","title":"Commentarius in Ecclesiasten","title_source":"Commentarius in Ecclesiasten","author":"Anonymous","genre":"commentary","date":"","tradition":"latin","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash:floor","provider":"Baidu","generated":"2026-11-15T21:13:57Z","cost_usd":0.017202},"source":{"registry_id":"latin:ogl-pl:tmp436.tmp436.opp-lat1","work_id":"tmp436.tmp436.opp-lat1","edition":"ogl-pl","language":"","license":"Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/tmp436/tmp436/tmp436.tmp436.opp-lat1.xml"},"stats":{"passages":186,"english_words":47352,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":179131,"commentary_units":0,"commentary_kinds":0,"derived_notes":8,"ambiguities":0,"work_notes":0,"external_links":0,"timeline":0},"summary":{},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Open Greek and Latin Patrologia Latina","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/tmp436/tmp436/tmp436.tmp436.opp-lat1.xml"}],"checks":{"work":"tmp436.tmp436.opp-lat1","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":186,"translated":186,"commentary_passages":0,"commentary_units":0,"english_words":47352,"source_letters":179131,"commentary_kinds":0},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Latin; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: commentary in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 186 narrative."},{"kind":"caution","severity":"caution","text":"7 passage(s) are fragmentary in the source; the English bridges each break and says so in the note."},{"kind":"scripture","severity":"info","text":"1 scriptural phrase match(es) noted: John 4:10."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: ogl-pl."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":186},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"S. EUSEBII HIERONYMI STRIDONENSIS PRESBYTERI COMMENTARIUS IN ECCLESIASTEN AD PAULAM ET EOSTOCHIUM.\n\nPRAEFATIO.\n\n381-382 Memini me ante hoc ferme quinquennium, cum adhuc Romae essem, et Ecclesiasten sanctae Blesillae legerem, ut eam ad contemptum istius saeculi provocarem, et omne quod in mundo cerneret, putaret esse pro nihilo; rogatum ab ea, ut in morem Commentarioli obscura quaeque dissererem, ut absque me posset intelligere quae legebat. Itaque quoniam in procinctu nostri operis subita morte subtracta est, et non meruimus, o Paula et Eustochium, talem vitae nostrae habere consortem, tantoque vulnere tunc perculsus obmutui: nunc in Bethlehem positus, angustiori videlicet civitate, et illius memoriae et vobis r(??)ddo quod debeo: hoc breviter admonens, quod nullius auctoritatem seculus sum 3; sed de Hebraeo transferens, magis me Septuaginta Interpretum consuetudini coaptavi: in his duntaxat, quae non multum ab Hebraicis discrepabant 4. Interdum Aquitae quoque 5, et Symmachi, et Theodotionis recordatus sum, ut nec novitate nimia lectoris studium deterrerem, nec rursum contra conscientiam meam, fonte veritatis omisso, opinionum rivulos consoctaretur.","english":"THE COMMENTARY OF SAINT EUSEBIUS HIERONYMUS STRIDONENSIS, PRESBYTER, ON ECCLESIASTES, ADDRESSED TO PAULA AND EUSTOCHIUM.\n\nPREFACE.\n\nI remember that almost five years ago, when I was still at Rome, I was reading Ecclesiastes to the holy Blesilla, in order to stir her to contempt of this present age, and to make her count as nothing everything she saw in the world; and she asked me to discuss its obscure passages in the manner of a short commentary, so that without me she might understand what she was reading. And so, since she was taken from us by sudden death while our work was already underway, and we did not deserve, O Paula and Eustochium, to have such a companion of our life, and I was then struck by so great a wound that I fell silent: now, settled at Bethlehem, a rather small town, I pay my debt both to her memory and to you, briefly admonishing this much: that I have followed no one's authority, but translating from the Hebrew, I have rather conformed myself to the usage of the Seventy Interpreters—in those passages only which did not differ much from the Hebrew. Sometimes I also called to mind Aquila, and Symmachus, and Theodotion, so that I might neither deter the reader's zeal by excessive novelty, nor again, against my own conscience, having set aside the fountain of truth, gather together the little streams of opinions.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":2,"ref":"p2","source":"COMMENTARIUS.\n\n(Caput primum.) « Verba Ecclesiastae filii David Regis Jerusalem. » Tribus nominibus vocatum fuisse Salomonem, Scripturae manifestissime docent: pacificum, id est, SALOMONEM ( ); et IDIDIA ( ) 2, hoc est, dilectum Domini; et quod nunc dicitur COELETH ( ). id est, Ecclesiasten. Ecclesiastes autem Graeco sermone appellatur, qui coetum, id est Ecclesiam, congreget, quem nos nuncupare possumus concionatorem, eo quod loquatur ad populum, et sermo ejus non specialiter ad unum, sed ad universos generaliter dirigatur. Porro pacificus et dilectus Domini, ab eo quod in regno ejus pax fuerit, et eum Dominus dilexcrit, appellatus est. Nam et psalmi quadragesimus quartus et septuagesimus primus, dilecti et pacifici titulo praenotantur. Qui tametsi ad prophetiam Christi 3, et Ecclesiae pertinentes, felicitatem et vires Salomonis excedunt; tamen secundum historiam super Salomone conscripti sunt.","english":"COMMENTARY.\n\n(Chapter One.) \"The words of Ecclesiastes, son of David, king of Jerusalem.\" The Scriptures most clearly teach that Solomon was called by three names: the peaceful one, that is, SALOMON; and IDIDIA, that is, beloved of the Lord; and what is now said, COELETH, that is, Ecclesiastes. For Ecclesiastes is the name in the Greek language for one who gathers a company, that is, the Church, whom we may call a preacher, in that he speaks to the people, and his discourse is directed not specifically to one person but generally to all. Furthermore, he was called the peaceful one and beloved of the Lord from the fact that there was peace in his kingdom and the Lord loved him. For indeed the forty-fourth and seventy-first psalms are prefaced with the title of the beloved and peaceful one. Although these psalms pertain to the prophecy of Christ and the Church, and exceed the felicity and strength of Solomon, yet according to the historical sense they were written concerning Solomon.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":3,"ref":"p3","source":"Is itaque juxta numerum vocabulorum tria volumina edidit, Proverbia, Ecclesiasten, et Cantica canticorum: in Proverbiis parvulum docens, et qiasi de officiis per sententias erudiens. Unde, et ad lilium ci sermo crebro repetitur. In Ecclesiaste vero maturae virum aetatis instituens, nequidquam in mundi rebus putet esse perpetuum, sed caduca, et brevia universa quae cernimus. Ad extremum jam consummatum virum, et calcato saeculo, praeparatum, in Cantico canticorum sponsi jungit amplexibus. Nisi enim prius reliquerimus vitia, et pompis saeculi renuntiantes, expeditos nos ad adventum Christi paraverimus, non possumus dicere: Osculetur me ab osculo oris sui (Cant. I, 1). Haud procul ab hoc ordine doctrinarum et philosophi sectatores suos erudiunt: ut primum ethicam doceant, deinde physicam interpretentur; et quem in his profecisse perspexerint, ad logicam usque perducat 6.","english":"Thus he published three volumes according to the number of the words: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. In Proverbs he teaches the little one and, as it were, instructs him in his duties through maxims; hence his discourse is frequently repeated to the lily. In Ecclesiastes, however, he instructs the man of mature age, so that he may consider nothing in the things of the world to be perpetual, but that all things we see are fleeting and brief. Finally, in the Song of Songs he joins the fully perfected man, who has trodden the world underfoot and is prepared, to the embraces of the bridegroom. For unless we have first abandoned our vices and, renouncing the pomp of the world, have prepared ourselves free and unencumbered for the coming of Christ, we cannot say: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth (Song 1:1). Not far from this order of teachings do the followers of the philosophers instruct their own disciples: first they teach ethics, then they interpret physics; and the one whom they have seen to have advanced in these, they lead all the way to logic.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":4,"ref":"p4","source":"Necnon, et hoc diligentius attendendum, quod per tres libros auctoris, diversus est titulus. In Proverbiis enim notatur: Proverbia Salomonis filii David, regis Israel. In Ecclesiaste vero: Verba Ecclesiastae filii David, regis Jerusalem: superfluum quippe est hic Israel 7, quod male in Graecis et Latinis codicibus invenitur. In Cantico autem canticorum nec filius David, nec rex Israel, sive Jerusalem prraescribitur: sed tantum. Canticum canticorum Salomonis. Sicut enim Proverbia, et rudis institutio ad duodecim tribus, et ad totum pertinent Israel; et quomodo contemptus mundi non nisi metropolitis convenit, hoc est, habitatoribus Jerusalem; ita Canticum canticorum ad cos prop(??)ie facit 8, qui tantum superna desiderant. Ad incipientes, et proficientes, et paterna dignitas, et regni proprii merito vindicatur auctoritas 1. Ad perfectos vero, ubi non timore eruditur discipulus, sed amore, proprium nomen sufficit 2, et aqualis magister est, et nescit esse se regem. Haec interim juxta litteram.","english":"Also, this must be noted more carefully, that through the three books of the author the title is different. For in Proverbs it is written: The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. But in Ecclesiastes: The words of Ecclesiastes, son of David, king of Jerusalem; for \"Israel\" here is superfluous, which is wrongly found in Greek and Latin manuscripts. In the Song of Songs, however, neither \"son of David\" nor \"king of Israel\" or \"of Jerusalem\" is prefixed, but only: The Song of Songs of Solomon. For just as Proverbs and the rudimentary instruction pertain to the twelve tribes and to all Israel, and just as contempt of the world is fitting only for the metropolitans, that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so the Song of Songs properly applies to those who desire only heavenly things. To beginners and the advanced, both the paternal dignity and the authority of his own kingdom are rightly claimed as the author's. But to the perfect, where the disciple is instructed not by fear but by love, his own name suffices, and he is an equal teacher, and he does not know that he is a king. These things, for the time being, according to the letter.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":5,"ref":"p5","source":"Caeterum secundum intelligentiam spiritualem: pacificus et dilectus Dei Patris, et Ecclesiastes noster est Christus; qui medio pariete destructo, et inimicitias in carne evacuans, fecit utrumque unum, dicens: Pacem meam do vobis, pacem meam relinquo vobis (Joan. XIV, 27). De quo Pater ad discipulos: Hic est, inquit (Matth. III, 17), fiilus meus dilectus, in quo mihi complacui; hunc audite, qui est caput omnis Ecclesiae: nequaquam ad synagogam Judaeorum, sed ad gentium multitudinem loquens rex Jerusalem vivis lapidibus exstructae: non illius, de qua Ipse ait: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, quae occidis prophetas (Matth. XXIII, 37); et: Ecce relinquetur vobis domus vestra deserta (Ibid. 38): sed illius, per quam jurare vetat; quia sit civitas magni regis. Hic est filius David, ad quem caeci in Evangelio clamabant; Miserere nostri, fili David (Matth. IX, 27); et omnis turba consona voce resonabat: Osanna filio David (Matth. XXI, 9). Denique non ad eum tit verbum Dei, sicut et ad Jeremiam, et ad caeteros prophetas: sed quia dives est, et rex, et potens (ipse est siquidem Verbum et sapientia, caeteraeque virtutes), verba loquitur ad Ecclesiae viros: verba, insinuat apostolis, de quibus cantatur in Psalmo: In omnem terram exivit sonus eorum, et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum (Psal. XVIII, 5).","english":"But otherwise, according to the spiritual understanding: the peaceable one and beloved of God the Father, and our Ecclesiastes, is Christ, who, having destroyed the middle wall and abolishing hostilities in his flesh, made both one, saying: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you (John 14:27). Concerning whom the Father said to the disciples: This is (Matt. 3:17) my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him, who is the head of every Church: speaking not at all to the synagogue of the Jews, but to the multitude of the Gentiles, the king of Jerusalem built of living stones: not of that Jerusalem of which he himself says: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets (Matt. 23:37); and: Behold, your house is left to you desolate (ibid. 38): but of that one by which he forbids swearing; because it is the city of the great king. This is the son of David, to whom the blind men in the Gospel cried out: Have mercy on us, son of David (Matt. 9:27); and all the crowd resounded with harmonious voice: Hosanna to the son of David (Matt. 21:9). Finally, the word of God does not come to him as it did to Jeremiah and to the other prophets: but because he is rich, and king, and powerful (for he himself is the Word and Wisdom, and the other virtues), he speaks words to the men of the Church: words, he intimates to the apostles, of whom it is sung in the Psalm: Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world (Ps. 18:5).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":6,"ref":"p6","source":"Male igitur quidam opinantur 4, nos ex hoc libro ad voluptatem et luxuriam provocari: cum e contrario omnia, quae in mundo cernimus, vana doceantur: NEC DEBERE EA nos studiose appetere, quae, dum tenentur, intereant.\n\n« Vanitas vanitatum, dixit Ecclesiastes: Vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas. » Si cuncta quae fecit Deus, valde bona sunt, quomodo omnia vanitas, et non solum vanitas, verum etiam vanitas vanitatum? Ut sicut in Canticis canticorum inter omnia carmina, excellens carmen ostenditur: ita in vanitate vanitatum, vanitatis magnitudo monstretur. Tale quid et in Psalmo scriplum est: Ve· rumtamen universa vanitas omnis homo vivent (Psal. XXXVIII, 6). Si vivens homo vanitas est; ergo mortuus vanitas vanitatum. Legimus in Exodo, glorificatum vultum Moysi in tantum, ut filii Israel eum aspicere non possent. Quam gloriam Paulus apostolus ad comparationem evangelicae gloriae, dicit esse non gloriam: Nam nec glorificatum est 5, inquit, quod glorificatum fuit in hac parte propter excellentem gloriam (II Cor. III, 10). Possumus igitur et nos in hunc modum, coelum, terram, maria, et omnia quea in hoc circulo continentur, bona quidem per se dicere, sed ad Deum compa - rata, esse pro nihilo.","english":"Therefore some wrongly suppose that we are provoked by this book to pleasure and luxury, when on the contrary all the things we see in the world are taught to be vain, and that we ought not eagerly to desire those things which perish while they are held.\n\n“Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes: vanity of vanities, and all things are vanity.” If all things that God made are very good, how are all things vanity, and not only vanity, but even vanity of vanities? So that just as in the Song of Songs, among all songs, an excellent song is shown forth, so in the vanity of vanities the greatness of vanity is displayed. Something of this sort is also written in the Psalm: “Nevertheless, every man living is all vanity” (Ps. 38:6). If a living man is vanity, then a dead man is vanity of vanities. We read in Exodus that the face of Moses was glorified so much that the children of Israel could not look upon him. This glory the apostle Paul says, in comparison with the glory of the gospel, is not glory: “For that which was glorified,” he says, “was not glorified in this part, because of the exceeding glory” (2 Cor. 3:10). We can therefore also say in this manner that heaven, earth, the seas, and all things contained within this circle are indeed good in themselves, but compared with God, are as nothing.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":7,"ref":"p7","source":"Et quomodo, si igniculum lucerna videns, contentus essem ejus lumine, et postea, orto sole, non cernerem, quod lucebat, stellarum quoque lamina jubare viderem solis abscondi: ita aspiciens elementa et rerum multiplicem varietatem, admiror quidem operum magnitudinem; recogitans autem omnia pertransire, et mundum suo fine senescere, solumque Deum id semper esse quod fuerit, compellor dicere non semel, sed bis: Vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas. In Hebrao pro vanitate vanitatum, ABAL ABALIM ) scriptum est, quod, exceptis Septuaginta interpretibus, omnes similiter transtulerunt 6, sive, quod nos possumus vaporem fumi et auram tenuem, quae cito resolvitur, appellare. Caducum itaque et nihil universitatis ex hoc verbo ostenditur 7. Quae enim videntur 8, temporalia sunt 9; qua autem non videntur, aterna. Sive quia vanitati creatura subjecta est, et\" ingemiscit, parturit, et praestolalur revelationem filiorum Dei, et nunc ex parte cognoscimus, et ex parte prophetamus. Tandiu omnia vana sunt, donec veniat quod perfectum est.","english":"And just as, if I saw a tiny spark from a lamp, I would be content with its light, and afterward, when the sun had risen, I would not discern what had been shining, and I would see the brightness of the stars hidden by the radiance of the sun: so, looking upon the elements and the manifold variety of things, I indeed marvel at the greatness of the works; but reflecting that all things pass away, and that the world grows old and reaches its end, and that God alone is always what he has been, I am compelled to say not once but twice: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. In Hebrew, for \"vanity of vanities,\" ABAL ABALIM is written, which, apart from the Seventy translators, all have translated alike, or what we can call the vapor of smoke and a thin breeze, which is quickly dissolved. Thus from this word is shown the fleeting and nothingness of the universe. For the things that are seen are temporal; but the things that are not seen are eternal. Or because the creature has been subjected to vanity, and groans, and labors in childbirth, and awaits the revelation of the sons of God, and now we know in part, and we prophesy in part. For so long all things are vain, until that which is perfect comes.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":8,"ref":"p8","source":"« Quid superest homini in omni labore suo, quo laborat sub sole? » Post generalem sententiam: quod vana sint omnia, ab hominibus incipit; quo (??) frustra in mundi istius labore desudent; congregantes divitias 10, erudientes liberos, ambientes ad honorem, aedificia construentes, et in medio opere subita rnorte subtracti audiant: Insipiens, hac nocte auferetur anima tua a te; quae autem parasti, cujus erunt (Luc. XII, 20)? maxime cum ex omni labore nihil secum ferant, sed nudi iu terram redeant, unde sumpti sunt.\n\n« Generatio vadit, et generatio venit; et terra in saeculum stat. » Aliis morientibus, nascuntur alii; et quos videras, non videns, incipis videro quos non videras 2. Quid hac vanius vanitate, quam terram manere, quae hominum causa facta est: et ipsum hominem terra dominum, in pulve. rem repente dissolvi? Aliter, Prima recedit generatio Judaeorum, et succedit generatio de gentibus congregata: terra autem tandiu stat, quandiu, Synagoga reredente, Ecclesia omnis introeat. Cum enim praedicatum fuerit Evangeiium in toto orbe, tunc erit finis. Imminente vero consummatione, coelum et terra pertransibunt. Et signanter non ait: Terra in saeculis stat, sed in saeculum 3. Porro laudamus Dominum, non in uno saeculo, sed in saeculis saeculorum.","english":"What is left for a man in all his labor, in which he toils under the sun?” After the general statement that all things are vain, he begins with human beings—that they wear themselves out to no purpose in the labor of this world, gathering wealth, educating children, pursuing honor, constructing buildings, and, snatched away by sudden death in the midst of their work, they hear: “Fool, this night your soul will be taken from you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20)—especially since from all their labor they carry nothing with them, but return naked to the earth from which they were taken.\n\n“A generation goes, and a generation comes; and the earth stands forever.” As some die, others are born; and those you had seen, you cease to see, and you begin to see those you had not seen. What is vainer than this vanity—that the earth should remain, which was made for the sake of human beings, and that man himself, the earth’s lord, should suddenly dissolve into dust? Alternatively: the first generation of the Jews departs, and the generation gathered from the Gentiles succeeds it; but the earth stands as long as, with the Synagogue withdrawing, the whole Church may enter in. For when the Gospel has been preached throughout the whole world, then will be the end. But when the consummation is at hand, heaven and earth will pass away. And he says pointedly, not “The earth stands in ages,” but “forever.” Moreover, we praise the Lord, not in one age, but in ages of ages.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":9,"ref":"p9","source":"« Oritur sol, et occidit sol, et ad locum suum ducit, et oritur ipse ibi 4.» Sol ipse, qui in lucem mortalibus datus est, interitum ortu suo quotidie indicat et occasu. Qui postquam ardentem rotam Oceano tinxerit, per incognitas nobis vias ad locum, unde exierat, regreditur: expleloque noctis circulo, rursum de thalamo suo festinus erumpit. Pro eo autem, quod Vulgatam editionem sequentes posuimus, ad locum suum ducit, in Hebraeo habet SOEPH ( ): quod Aquila interpretatur ·5, id est, aspirat, Symmachus vero, et Theodotion, recurrit, quia videlicet sol revertatur ad locum suum, et ibi, unde prius egressus fuerat, aspiret. Hoc autem totum idcirco, ut doceat, mutationibus temporum, et ortu occasuque siderum, humanam aetatem labi et interire, dum nesciat. Aliter, Sol justitiae, in cujus alis est sanitas, timentibus Deum oritur, et pseudoprophetis occidit meridie. Cum autem ortus fuerit, in locum suum nos trahit. Quo? Videlicet ad Patrem. Ad hoc enim venit, ut nos de terris ad coelum levet, et dicat: Cum exaltatus fuerit Filius hominis, omnia trahet ad se (Joan. XII). Nec mirum, Filium ad se trahere credentes, cum et Pater ipse ad Filium trahat: Nemo enim, ait, venit ad me, nisi Pater, qui misit me,'adducat eum (Joan. VI, 44).","english":"The sun rises, and the sun sets, and draws to its place, and rises there again.” The sun itself, which has been given to mortals for light, daily indicates its own death by its rising and by its setting. After it has dipped its burning wheel in the Ocean, it returns by paths unknown to us to the place from which it had gone forth; and when the circle of night has been completed, it bursts forth again swiftly from its chamber. But in place of what we have set down following the Vulgate edition, “draws to its place,” the Hebrew has SOEPH, which Aquila translates as “breathes toward,” that is, aspires, while Symmachus and Theodotion render “runs back,” because, namely, the sun returns to its place and there, whence it had first gone out, breathes toward it. All this is said for this reason, that it may teach that, by the changes of the seasons and by the rising and setting of the stars, human life slips away and perishes, while it does not know it. In another sense, the Sun of justice, in whose wings is healing, rises for those who fear God, and sets at midday for the false prophets. But when it has risen, it draws us to its place. To what place? Clearly to the Father. For to this end it came, that it might lift us from the earth to heaven, and say: “When the Son of man has been lifted up, he will draw all things to himself” (John XII). Nor is it strange that the Son draws believers to himself, since the Father himself also draws them to the Son: for, he says, “No one comes to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John VI, 44).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":10,"ref":"p10","source":"Iste ergo sol, quem aliis occidere, aliis nasci diximus: et Jacob quondam patriarchae de Terra sancta egredienti occidit, rursumque cum de Syria terram repromissionis intraret, ortus est ei (Gen. XXVIII). Lot quoque quoniam egressus est de Sodomis, et venit ad civitatem, ad quam, ut festinaret, ei fuerat imperatum, ascendit in montem, et sol exivit super Segor (Gen. XIX).\n\n« Vadit ad austrum, et girat ad aquilonem: girans girando vadit spiritus, et in circulos suos revertitur spiritus. » Hinc possumus aestimare hiemis tempore solem ad meridianam plagam currere, et per aestatem septentrioni esse vicinum, et non per aequinoctium autumni habere principium: sed primum spirante favonio, quando tempore veris in fetum cuncta rumpuntur. Quod autem ait: « Girans girando vadit spiritus, et in circulos suos revertitur, » sive ipsum solem spiritum nominavit, qudd animet 8, et spiret, et vigeat, et annuos orbes suo cursu expleat, ut ait poeta (AEneid. II):","english":"That sun, then, which we have said sets for some and rises for others, once set for the patriarch Jacob as he was leaving the land of the holy land, and again, when he entered the land of promise from Syria, it rose for him (Gen. 28). For Lot too, since he departed from Sodom and came to the city to which he had been commanded to hurry, he went up into the mountain, and the sun rose over Segor (Gen. 19).\n\n“It goes toward the south, and turns toward the north: turning, turning goes the spirit, and to its circles the spirit returns.” From this we can judge that in the season of winter the sun runs toward the southern region, and through the summer is near the north, and does not have its beginning at the autumn equinox, but first when the west wind blows, when in the season of spring all things burst forth into offspring. But what he says, “Turning, turning goes the spirit, and to its circles it returns,” whether he named the sun itself “spirit,” because it animates and breathes and flourishes, and completes its yearly circuits by its course, as the poet says (Aeneid 2):","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":11,"ref":"p11","source":"Interea magnum sol circumvolvitur annum: et alibi (Georgic·n):\n\nAtque in se sua per vestigia volviler annus; sive quod et lunae lucentem globum et astra Titania:\n\nSpirtus intus alit: totamque infusa per artus Mens agilat molem, et magno se corpore miscet;\n\nnon de annuo solis cursu, sed de quotidianis semitis ejus loquitur. Obliqua enim et fracta linea per austrum pergit ad boream, et ita revertitur ad orientem. Aliter: Sol quando per austrum currit, vicinior terae est; quando per aquilonem, sublimis attollitur. Forsitan ergo his qui hiemis et tribulationum frigore coaretantur (ab aquilone enim (Jerem. I, 14), exardescunt mala super terram) vicinior sol iste justitiae est: his vero qui in borea; parte habitant, ct calore privantur aestivo, incedit procul, et per suos circlos, unde profectus est, revertitur. Cum enim traxerit omnia ad se, et universos suis radiis illuminaverit, fit restitutio principalis, et est Deus omnia in omnibus. Symmachus hunc locum ita interpretatus est: « Vadit ad meridiem, et circumit ad boream; perambulans vadit ventus, et per quae circumierat, revertitur ventus. ·","english":"Meanwhile the great sun is carried round the year, and elsewhere (in the Georgics):\n\nAnd the year rolls on through its own tracks within itself; whether it be that spirit nourishes within the shining orb of the moon and the stars of Titan:\n\nSpirit within feeds them: and mind, poured through the limbs, drives the whole mass, and mingles itself with the great body;\n\nhe speaks not of the sun's yearly course, but of its daily paths. For by a slanting and broken line it proceeds through the south to the north, and so returns to the east. Otherwise: when the sun runs through the south, it is nearer the earth; when through the north, it is lifted on high. Perhaps, therefore, to those who are hemmed in by the cold of winter and of tribulations (for from the north, as it is written, evils blaze up over the earth), this sun of justice is nearer; but to those who dwell in the north, in that part, and are deprived of summer's heat, it goes far off, and through its own circles returns whence it set out. For when it has drawn all things to itself and illumined all with its rays, there comes the restoration of the beginning, and God is all in all. Symmachus interpreted this passage thus: \"It goes to the south, and circles round to the north; passing on, the wind goes, and by the ways it had circled, the wind returns.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":12,"ref":"p12","source":"« Omnes torrentes vadunt in mare, et mare non impletur. Ad locum de quo torrentes exeunt, illic ipsi revertuntur, ut abeant 3. » Putant quidam, aquas dulces, quae in mare influunt, vel ardente desuper sole consumi, vel salsugini (Al. salsuginis] maris esse palmla. Ecce Ecclesiastes noster et ipsarum aquarum conditor, eas dicit per occultas venas ad capita fontum regredi, et de matrice abysso in sua semper ebullire principia. Melius autem Hebraei sub torrentium et maris nomine per metaphoram de hominibus significari arbitrantur, quod in terram, de qua sumpti sunt, redeant; et torrentes vocentur, non flumina, eo quod cito intercidant, nec tamen impleatur terra multitudine mortuorum. Porro, si ad altiora conscendimus [Al. conscendamus), recte turbidae aquae in mare, unde substiterant, revertuntur. E(??), ni fallor, absque additamento nusquam torrens in bonam partem legitur. Nam torrente roluptatis tuae potabis illos, cum additamento dicitur rola· ptatis(Psal. XXXV, 9). Et e contrario Salvator ad torrentem traditur Cedron (Joan. XVIII, 1). Et Elias persecutionis tempore ad torrentem Chorath latitat 5, qui et ipse siccatur (III Reg. XVII, 3). Non adimpletur autem mare·6 insatiabile, quomodo et in Proverbiis filiae sanguisugae (Prov. XXX, 15).","english":"All the torrents go into the sea, and the sea is not filled. To the place from which the torrents come out, there they return, so that they may go away. Some think that the fresh waters which flow into the sea are either consumed by the sun burning above, or are changed into the saltiness of the sea. But behold, our Ecclesiastes, himself the creator of those very waters, says that they return through hidden veins to the sources of the fountains, and always well up from the mother deep into their own beginnings. But the Hebrews think it is better that under the name of torrents and the sea, by metaphor, human beings are signified, because they return to the earth from which they were taken; and they are called torrents, not rivers, because they quickly perish, and yet the earth is not filled with the multitude of the dead. Further, if we ascend to higher things, rightly the troubled waters return into the sea from which they had settled. And, unless I am mistaken, without some addition a torrent is nowhere read in a good sense. For, \"in the torrent of your pleasure you will give them to drink,\" it is said with the addition \"of pleasure\" (Psalm 35:9). And on the contrary, the Savior is handed over to the torrent Cedron (John 18:1). And Elijah in the time of persecution hides at the torrent Chorath, which itself also dries up (3 Kings 17:3). But the sea is not filled—the insatiable sea, just as also in Proverbs the daughters of the bloodsucker (Prov 30:15).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":13,"ref":"p13","source":"« Omnes sermones graves non poterit vir loqui. Non satiabitur oculus videndo, et non Implebitur auris auditu. » Non solum de physicis, sed et de ethicis quoque scire difficile est. Non sermo valet explicare causas intrurasque rerum nec oculus, ut rei poscit·8 dignitas intueri, nec auris, instituente doclore, ad summam scientiam pervenire. Si enim nunc per speculum videmus in aenigmate, et ex parte cognoscimus et ex parte prophetamus, consequenter nec sermo potest explicare quod nescit; nec oculus, in quo caecutit, aspicere 9; nec auris, de quo dubitat, impleri. Simul et hoc notandum, quod omnia verba sint gravia, et magno labore discantur, contra eos, qui putant otiosis sibi, et vota facientibus venire notitiam Al. ad notitiam Scripturarum,\n\n« Quid esi quod fuit? ipsum quod erit. Et quid est quod factum est? ipsum quod fict. Et non est omne recens sub sole. » Videtur mihi de his quae supra enumeravit, generatione et generatione, mole terrarum, ortu solis et occatu, cursu fluminum, magnitudine Occani, oniuibusque quae aut cogitatione, aut visu, vel auribus discimus, nunc communiter loqui, quod nihil sit in natura rerum, quod non ante jam fuerit. Ab initio enim mundi et homines nati et mortui sunt, et terra super aquas librata constitit, et sol ortus occubuit.","english":"All grave words a man cannot utter. The eye will not be satisfied with seeing, and the ear will not be filled with hearing.\" It is difficult to know not only about physical matters but also about ethical ones. Speech cannot explain the causes and inner workings of things, nor can the eye gaze upon them as the dignity of the matter demands, nor can the ear, with a teacher instructing it, arrive at the highest knowledge. For if now we see through a mirror in an enigma, and we know in part and prophesy in part, then consequently neither can speech explain what it does not know, nor can the eye look upon that in which it is dim-sighted, nor can the ear be filled with that about which it doubts. At the same time this too must be noted, that all words are grave and are learned with great labor—against those who think that knowledge of the Scriptures comes to them while they are at leisure and making vows.\n\n\"What is it that has been? The very thing that will be. And what is it that has been made? The very thing that will be made. And there is nothing new under the sun.\" It seems to me that he is now speaking generally about the things he enumerated above—generation and generation, the mass of the lands, the rising and setting of the sun, the course of rivers, the magnitude of the Ocean—and about all things that we learn either by thought, or by sight, or by hearing: that there is nothing in the nature of things that has not already existed before. For from the beginning of the world both men have been born and have died, and the earth has stood poised above the waters, and the sun has risen and set.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":14,"ref":"p14","source":"Et ne plura percurram, et avibus volare, et nniare piscibus, et terrestribus ingredi, et serpentibus labi, Deo artifice concessum est. Huic quid simile sententiae et Comicus ait:\n\nNihil est dictem (??), quod non sit dictum prius.\n\n(TERENT. in Prolog. Eunuchi.)\n\nUnde praeceptor meus Donatus, cum istum versiculum exponeret: « Pereant, inquit, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt 2. » Quod si in sermonibus nihil novum dici potest, quanto magis in administratione mundi, quae ab initio sic perfecta est, ut requiesceret Deus ab operibus suis in die septima! Logi in quodam libro: Si omne, quod sub sole factum est fuit in praeteritis saeculis antequam fieret, et homo jam sole condito factus est: fuit ergo homo, antequam sub sole fieret 4. Sed excluditur 5, quod hac ratione, et jumenta, et culices, et minuta quaeque, et magna animalia ante dicerentur fuisse, quam coelum. Nisi forte illud respondeat, ex consequentibus ostendi, non de caeteris animalibus, sed de homine Ecclesiastae esse sermonem. Ait enim: « Non est omne recens sub sole, quod loquatur, et dicat: Ecce hoc novum est. » Animalia autem non loqui, sed tantum hominem: quod si loquantur animalia novum esse, et solvi sententiam, nihil novum esse sub sole.","english":"And, not to go through more examples, it has been granted by God the artificer that birds fly, fish swim, land animals walk, and serpents glide. The Comic poet says something similar to this sentence:\n\nThere is nothing said that has not been said before.\n\n(TERENCE, in the Prologue to the Eunuch.)\n\nHence my teacher Donatus, when he was expounding this little verse, said: \"May those perish who said our words before us.\" But if nothing new can be said in speech, how much more in the administration of the world, which from the beginning was so perfect that God rested from his works on the seventh day! Someone in a certain book: If everything that has been made under the sun existed in past ages before it was made, and man was made after the sun was already created, then man existed before he was made under the sun. But this is excluded, because by this reasoning both beasts of burden and gnats and every tiny thing and great animals would be said to have existed before heaven. Unless perhaps he should answer that it is shown from what follows that the Preacher's discourse is not about the other animals but about man. For he says: \"There is nothing fresh under the sun that can speak and say: Behold, this is new.\" But animals do not speak, only man; for if animals spoke, then something would be new, and the sentence that nothing is new under the sun would be dissolved.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":15,"ref":"p15","source":"« Estne verbum de quo dicatur, vide hoc novum est: jam fuit in saeculis, quae fuerunt anie nos. » Apertius hoc Symmachus transtulit: « Putasne est 3, qui possit dicere: Vide. hoc novum est, et jam factum est in saeculo, quod fuit ante nos. » Cum superioribus autem congruit, quod nihil novum in mundo fiat: nec sit aliquis 7, qui possit exsistere, et dicere, ecce hoc novum est: siquidem omne quod se putaverit novum ostendere, jam in prioribus saeculis fuit. Nec putemus signa, atque prodigia, et multa, quae arbitrio Dei nova in inundo fiunt, in prioribus saeculis esse jam facta; et locum invenire Epicurum, qui asserit per innumerabiles periodos eadem, et eisdem in locis, et per eosdem fieri. Alioquin et Judas crebro prodidit, et Christus passus est saepe pro nobis, et cartera quae facta sunt, et futura, in easdem similiter periodos revolventur. Sed dicendum, quod ex praescientia et praedestinatione Dei jam ea facta sint, quae futura sunt. Qui enim electi sunt in Christo ante constitutionem mundi, In prioribus saeculis jam fuerunt.","english":"Is there a word of which it is said, 'See, this is new'? It has already been in the ages that were before us.\" Symmachus translated this more plainly: \"Do you think there is one who can say, 'See, this is new,' and it has already been made in the age that was before us?\" This agrees with the preceding, that nothing new happens in the world, nor is there anyone who can arise and say, \"Behold, this is new,\" since whatever has thought itself to show something new was already in earlier ages. Nor should we think that signs and wonders, and the many things that by God's will are made new in the world, have already been done in earlier ages, and that Epicurus finds a place, who asserts that through innumerable cycles the same things happen, in the same places, and through the same persons. Otherwise Judas would often have betrayed, and Christ would often have suffered for us, and the other things that have been done and are to be done would likewise be rolled back in the same cycles. But it must be said that by God's foreknowledge and predestination those things have already been done which are to come. For those who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world were already in earlier ages.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":16,"ref":"p16","source":"« Non est memoria primis, et quidem novissimis quae futura sunt, non erit eis memoria apud eos qui futuri sunt in novissimo.» Quo modo praeterita apud nos abscondit oblivio, sic ea quae vel nunc fiunt, vel quae futura sunt, hi qui nasci habent, scire non poterunt, et cuncta silentio praeteribunt, et quasi non fuerint abscondentur; et complebitur illa sententia: « Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas. » Nam et Seraphim propterea faciem·8 suam et pedes velant, quia prima et extrema cooperta sunt. Juxta autem Septuaginta Interpretes, qui dixerunt: Non est memoria primis 9·, et quidem novissimis qui futuri sunt, non erit eis memoria cum his qui futuri sunt in novissimo (Matth. XX, 16): ille de Evangelio sensus est, quod qui in isto saeculo primi sunt, sint omnium novissimi. Et quia Deus, ut benignus et clemens, minimorum quoque, et omnium recordatur, his qui propter vitium suum novissimi esse meruerunt, non tantam dabit gloriam, quantam his qui se humiliantes novissimi in mundo esse voluerunt. Dicitur itaque et in consequentibus: Non est memoria sapientis cum stulto in aeternum.","english":"There is no memory of the first things, and indeed of the last things that are to come, there will be no memory of them among those who will exist at the very end.\" Just as oblivion hides past things from us, so those who are yet to be born will not be able to know either the things that are now happening or the things that are to come, and all things will pass by in silence and will be hidden as though they had never been; and that sentence will be fulfilled: \"Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.\" For the Seraphim too cover their face and their feet for this reason, because the first things and the last things are concealed. But according to the Septuagint translators, who said, \"There is no memory of the first things, and indeed of the last things that are to come, there will be no memory of them with those who will exist at the very end\" (Matthew 20:16): that meaning from the Gospel is that those who are first in this world are the last of all. And because God, as kind and merciful, remembers even the least and all people, to those who by their own fault have deserved to be last he will not give as great glory as to those who, humbling themselves, have wished to be last in the world. And so it is said also in what follows: \"There is no memory of the wise man with the fool forever.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":17,"ref":"p17","source":"« Ego Ecclesiastes fui rex super Israel in Jerusalem. » Hucusque praefatio generaliter de omnibus disputantis: nunc ad semelipsum redit, et quis fuerit, quomodo experimento universa cognoverit, docet. Aiunt Hebraei hunc librum Solomonis esse, poenitentiam agentis 1, quod in sapientia divitiisque confisus, per mulieres offenderit Deum.\n\n« Et dedi cor meum ad inquirendum et considerandum in sapientia de omnibus quae fiunt sub sole. Hanc occupationem malam dedit Deus filiis hominum, ut occuparentur in ea. » Verbum ANIAN ( ) Aquila, Septuaginta et Theodotio similiter transtulerunt, quod in distentionem Latinus interpres expressit, eo quod in varias sollicitudines mens hominis distenta lanietur. Symmachus vero, id est, occupationem transtulit. Quia igitur saepius in hoc volumine nominatur, sive occupationem, sive distentionem, sive quid aliud dixerimus, ad superiorem sensum cuncta referantur. Dedit ergo Ecclesiastes primo omnium mentem suam ad sapientiam requirendam, et ultra licitum se extendens, voluit causas rationesque cognoscere: quare parvuli corriperentur a daemone, cur naufragia et justos et impios pariter absorberent; utrum haec et his similia casu evenirent, an judicio Dei. Etsi casu, ubi providentia? si judicio, ubi justitia Dei?","english":"I, Ecclesiastes, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.\" Up to this point the preface has spoken generally of all things belonging to the disputant; now he returns to himself, and he teaches who he was and how he came to know all things by experience. The Hebrews say that this book is Solomon's, as he was doing penance, because, trusting in wisdom and riches, he offended God through women.\n\n\"And I gave my heart to inquire and to consider in wisdom concerning all things that are done under the sun. This evil occupation God has given to the sons of men, that they may be occupied in it.\" The word ANIAN Aquila, the Septuagint, and Theodotion translated similarly, which the Latin interpreter expressed as \"distention,\" because the mind of man, stretched out into various cares, is torn apart. Symmachus, however, translated it as \"occupation.\" Since, therefore, it is named rather often in this volume—whether we call it occupation, or distention, or anything else—let all these be referred to the earlier meaning. Ecclesiastes therefore first of all gave his mind to seeking wisdom, and extending himself beyond what is permitted, he wished to know the causes and reasons: why little children are seized by a demon, why shipwrecks swallow up both the just and the impious alike; whether these things and things like them happen by chance, or by the judgment of God. Even if by chance, where is providence? If by judgment, where is God's justice?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":18,"ref":"p18","source":"Haec, inquit, nosse desiderans, intellexi superfluam curam et sollicitudinem per diversa cruciantem a Deo hominibus datam, ut scire cupiant, quod scire non licitum est. Pulchre autem causa praemissa, a Deo data distentio est. Quomodo enim in Epistola ad Romanos scribitur: Propter quod tradidit eos Deus in pastiones ignominiae (Rom. I, 6)? Et iterum: Propter quod tradidit eos Deus in reprobum sensum, ut faciant qaue non oportet (Ibid.28).Ac deinde: Propterea tradidit eos Deus in desideria cordis sui in immunditiam (Ibid. 24). Et ad Thessalonicenses: Propterea mittet eis Deus operationem erroris ( II Thess. II, 10).Et prius causae ostenduntur 2, quare vel passionibus ignominiae, vel sensui reprobo, vel cordis sui desideriis concedantur, aut quid fecerint, ut operationem erroris accipiant. Ita et in praesentiarum idcirco Deus distentionem malam dedit hominibus, ut dislendantur in ca, quia prius sponte sua et propria voluntate haec vel illa fecerunt.","english":"Desiring to know these things, he says, I understood that the excessive care and anxiety that torments through various things was given by God to men, so that they desire to know what it is not permitted to know. And beautifully, with the cause first stated, the distraction is said to be given by God. For how is it written in the Epistle to the Romans: \"For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections\" (Rom. 1:6)? And again: \"For this cause God delivered them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting\" (ibid. 28). And then: \"For this cause God delivered them up to the desires of their own heart, unto uncleanness\" (ibid. 24). And to the Thessalonians: \"For this cause God shall send them the working of error\" (2 Thess. 2:10). And first the causes are shown, why they are yielded up either to shameful passions, or to a reprobate mind, or to the desires of their own heart, or what they have done to receive the working of error. So also in the present matter, for this reason God gave a bad distraction to men, that they might be distracted in it, because previously by their own will and their own choice they did this or that.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":19,"ref":"p19","source":"« Vidi universa opera, quae facta sunt sub sole, et eccce omnia vanitas, et praesumptio spiritus. » Necessitate compellimur, ut(??) crebrius quam volumus de verbis Hebraicis disseramus. Nec enim possumus scire sensum, nisi eum per verba discamus. ROOTH ( ) Aquila et Theodotio, Symmachus transtulerunt. Septuaginta autem interpretes non Hebraeum sermonem expressere, sed Syrum, dicentes. Sive ergo, sive a pastiono vocabulum est: [autem melius voluntatem, quam praesumptionem sonat. Dicitur autem, quod agat unusquisque quod velit, et sibi rectum esse videatur, atque in diversa libero homines ferantur arbitrio, et vana sint universa sub sole, dum invicem nobis in bonorum et malorum finibus displicemus. Dicebat mihi Hebraeus, quo Scripturas sanctas instituente perlegi, quod supra scriptum ROOTH verbum, magis in hoc loco afflictionem et malitiam, quam pastionem et voluntatem significaret: non a malo, quod est contrarium bono, sed ab eo, quod in Evangelio scribitur: Sufficit diei malitia sua (Matth. VI, 34). Quam Graeci significantius vocant 5, et esse sensum: Consideravi universa, quae in mundo fiunt, et nihil aliud deprehendi, quam vanitatem et malitias, id est miserias spiritus, quibus anima diversis cogitationibus afflictatur.","english":"I saw all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, and presumption of spirit.\" We are compelled by necessity to discuss the Hebrew words more often than we wish. For we cannot know the meaning unless we learn it through the words. Aquila and Theodotion, Symmachus translated ROOTH. But the Seventy interpreters did not express the Hebrew speech, but the Syriac, saying: Whether therefore, or whether the word is from passion: but better it sounds as will than as presumption. It is said, moreover, that each one does what he wishes, and what seems right to himself, and that men are carried in different directions by free will, and that all things under the sun are vain, while we in turn displease one another in the boundaries of good and evil. A Hebrew told me, under whose instruction I read through the holy Scriptures, that the word ROOTH written above signifies in this place affliction and malice rather than pasturing and will: not from the evil that is contrary to good, but from that which is written in the Gospel: Sufficient for the day is its own malice (Matthew 6:34). Which the Greeks call more expressively 5, and the meaning is: I considered all things that are done in the world, and I discovered nothing other than vanity and miseries, that is, miseries of the spirit, by which the soul is afflicted with various thoughts.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":20,"ref":"p20","source":"« Perversus non poterit adornari 6, et imminutio non poterit numerari. » Qui perversus est, nisi ante corrigatur, non poterit adornari. Recta ornatum recipiunt, curva correelionem. Perversus non dicitur, nisi qui depravatus a recto est. Hoc contra haereticos, qui quasdam naturas introducunt, quae non recipiunt sanitatem. Et quia imminutio, hoc est, quod decst, non potest numerari; propterea tantum primogenita Israel numerata sunt. Feminae vero, et servi, et parvuli, et vulgus ex AEgypto, nequaquam plenitudo, sed imminutio exercitus, absque numero praetermissi sunt. Potest et hic esse sensus: Tanta malitia in mundi hujus capacitate versatur, ut ad integrum boni statum mandus redire vix valeat, nec possit facile recipere ordinem et perfectionem suam, in quibus primum conditus est. Aliter, Omnibus per poenitentiam in integrum restitutis, solus diabolus in suo permanebit errore. Cuncta enim, quae sub sole facta sunt, illius arbitrio et spiritu malignitatis eversa sunt, dum ad ejus instinctum peccatis peccata cumulantur. Denique, Tantus est numerus seductorum et eorum qui de grege Domini ab eo rapti sunt, ut supputatione non queat comprehendi.","english":"The perverse man will not be able to be adorned, and the diminution will not be able to be numbered.\" He who is perverse, unless he is first corrected, will not be able to be adorned. Straight things receive ornament, crooked things receive correction. No one is called perverse except one who has been depraved from the straight. This is against the heretics, who introduce certain natures that do not receive healing. And because the diminution—that is, what is lacking—cannot be numbered, for this reason only the firstborn of Israel were numbered. But the women, and the servants, and the little ones, and the common people from Egypt, being not at all the fullness but the diminution of the army, were passed over without number. There can also be this meaning here: such great malice is engaged in the capacity of this world that the world can scarcely return to the whole state of good, nor can it easily receive its order and perfection, in which it was first established. Otherwise: when all things have been restored to wholeness through repentance, the devil alone will remain in his error. For all things that were made under the sun have been overturned by his judgment and spirit of malice, while at his instigation sins are heaped upon sins. Finally, so great is the number of seducers and of those who have been snatched by him from the flock of the Lord that it cannot be comprehended by reckoning.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":21,"ref":"p21","source":"« Locutus sum ego cum corde meo, dicens: Ecce ego magnificatus sum, et adjeci sapientiam super omnes, qui fuerunt ante me in Jerusalem, et cor meum vidit multam sapientiam et scientiam. » Sapientior fuit Salomon, non Abraham, et Moyse, et caeteris sanctis, sed his qui fuerunt ante se in Jerusalem. Legimus et in Regnorum libris, multae sapientiae fuisse Salomonem, et hoc a Deo donum prae caeteris postulasse. Mundi ego cordis oculus multam sapientiam et scientiam contuetur; quia non ait: multam sapientiam et scientiam sum locutus; sed, multam sapientiam et scientiam vidit cor meum. Non enim possumus eloqui omnia quae sentimus.\n\n« Et dedi cor meum, ut nossem sapientiam et scientiam, errores et stultitiam: cognovi quia et hoc est pastio, venti, sive praesumptio spiritus. » Contrariis contraria intelliguntur. Et sapientia prima est, stultitia caruisse. Stultitia autem carere non potest, nisi qui intellexerit eam. Unde et plurima in rebus noxia sunt creata, ut dum vitamus ea, ad sapientiam erudiamur. AEqualis ergo studii fuit Salomoni scire sapientiam et scientiam, et e regione errores et stultitiam: ut in aliis appetendis et aliis declinandis, vera ejus sapientia probaretur. Sed in hoc quoque, ut in caeteris, dicit pavisse se ventos, et non valuisse perfectam comprehendere veritatem.","english":"I spoke with my heart, saying: Behold, I have been magnified, and I have added wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.\" Solomon was wiser—not than Abraham, or Moses, and the other saints, but than those who were before him in Jerusalem. We also read in the books of Kings that Solomon possessed great wisdom, and that he asked this gift from God above all others. The eye of a clean heart beholds much wisdom and knowledge; for he did not say, \"I have spoken much wisdom and knowledge,\" but, \"my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.\" For we cannot express all that we perceive.\n\n\"And I gave my heart, that I might know wisdom and knowledge, errors and folly: I have learned that this also is a feeding on wind, or a presumption of spirit.\" Contrary things are understood by their contraries. And the first wisdom is to be free of folly. But no one can be free of folly unless he has understood it. Whence also very many harmful things have been created in the world, so that while we avoid them, we may be instructed unto wisdom. Equal, therefore, was Solomon's zeal to know wisdom and knowledge, and, on the other side, errors and folly: so that in pursuing some things and shunning others, his true wisdom might be proven. But in this too, as in the rest, he says that he fed on winds, and was not able to comprehend perfect truth.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":22,"ref":"p22","source":"De praesumptione spiritus, sive pastione venti, quae saepius in hoc libro dicitur, supra disseruisse sufficiat.\n\n« Quia in multitudine sapientiae, multitudo furoris: et qui apponit scientiam, apponit dolorem. » Quanto magis quis sapientiam fuerit consecutus, tanto plus indignatur subjacere vitiis, et procul esse a virtutibus, quas requirit (Sap. VI, 7). Quia autem potenter tormenta patientur, cuique plus creditur, plus exigitur ab eo, propterea apponit dolorem, qui apponit scientiam, et contristatur moerore secundum Deum, doletque super delictis suis. Unde et Apostolus ait: Et quis est, qui laetificat me, nisi qui contristatur ex me (II Cor. II, 2)? Nisi forte et hoc intelligendum, quod sapiens vir doleat tam in abdito et profundo latere sapien tiam, nec ita se praebere mentibus, ut lumen visui; sed per tormenta quaedam, et intolerandum laborem, jugi meditatione et studio provenire.","english":"Concerning the presumption of the spirit, or the pasturing of the wind, which is mentioned rather often in this book, it should suffice to have discussed it above.\n\n«Because in the multitude of wisdom there is a multitude of fury: and he who adds knowledge adds grief.» The more anyone has attained wisdom, the more he is indignant at being subject to vices and at being far from the virtues that he seeks (Wisdom 6:7). But because they will suffer torments mightily, and to whom more is entrusted, more is required of him, therefore he who adds knowledge adds grief, and is saddened with a sorrow according to God, and grieves over his own sins. Whence also the Apostle says: And who is it that gladdens me, except he who is saddened by me (2 Corinthians 2:2)? Unless perhaps this too is to be understood: that a wise man grieves that wisdom lies so hidden and deep, and does not present itself to minds as light does to sight, but comes forth through certain torments and intolerable labor, by continual meditation and study.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":23,"ref":"p23","source":"(Cap, II.) « Dixi ego in corde meo: Veni nunc, tentabo te in laetitia, et videbo in bono: et ecce etiam hoe vanitas. » Postquam in multitudine sapientiae et adjectione scientiae, laborem et dolorem esse deprehendi, et nihil aliud, nisi cassum et sine fine certamen, transtuli me ad laetitiam, ut luxu fluerem, congregarem opes, divitiis abundarem, et perituras voluptates caperem, antequam morerer. Sed et in hoc vanitatem meam ipse perspexi, dum praeterita voluptas praesentem non juvat, et exhausta non satiat. Non solum autem corporalis laetitia, sed etiam spiritualis est tentatio possidenti, ut indigeam corripiente me stimulo, et angelo Satanae, qui me colaphizet, ne elever (II Cor. XII, 7). Unde et Salomon: Divitias, inquit, et paupertatem ne dederis mihi (Prov. XXX, 8): statimque subdidit: Ne satiatus mendax fiam; et dicam, quis me conspicit (Ibid. 9)? Siquidem et diabolus per bonorum abundantiam concidit. Undo et in Apostolo scriptum est: Ne in superbiam elatus, in judicium incidat diaboli (I Tim. III, 6), id est, in tale judicium, in quo etiam diabolus incidit. Sed et hoc possumus dicere, propterea nunc laetitiam spiritualem, sicut et caetera, vanitatem pronuntiari, quod per speculum eam videamus et in aenigmate. Cum autem facie ad faciem fuerit revelata, tunc eam nequaquam vanitatem, sed veritatem vocari.","english":"(Cap. II.) «I said in my heart: Come now, I will test you with gladness, and I will see in good: and behold, even this is vanity.» After I perceived that in the multitude of wisdom and the addition of knowledge there is toil and grief, and nothing else but a vain and endless struggle, I turned myself to gladness, so that I might flow in luxury, gather wealth, abound in riches, and seize perishable pleasures before I died. But even in this I myself perceived my vanity, since past pleasure does not help the present, and when exhausted does not satisfy. Moreover, it is a temptation not only of bodily gladness but also of spiritual gladness to one who possesses it, so that I am in need of the goad that corrects me, and of an angel of Satan to buffet me, lest I be lifted up (II Cor. XII, 7). Hence also Solomon says: Riches and poverty do not give me (Prov. XXX, 8); and immediately he added: Lest being filled I become a liar; and say, who sees me (Ibid. 9)? For indeed the devil too fell through an abundance of goods. Hence also it is written concerning the Apostle: Lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the judgment of the devil (I Tim. III, 6), that is, into such a judgment as the devil also fell into. But we can also say this, that spiritual gladness, like the rest, is now pronounced vanity for this reason, that we see it through a mirror and in an enigma. But when it has been revealed face to face, then it is called not vanity at all, but truth.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":24,"ref":"p24","source":"« Risui dixi amentiam, et jucunditati, quid hoc facis? » Ubi nos amentiam legimus, in Hebraeo habet MOLAL ( ), quod Aquila, id est, errorem, Symmachus, hoc est, tumultum, interpretati sunt. Septuaginta vero et Theodotio, sicut in pluribus locis, ita et in hoc quoque concordant, et transtulerunt, quam nos, verbum de verbo exprimentes, circumlationem possumus dicere. Quomodo igitur hi, qui circumferuntur omni vento doctrinae, instabiles sum, et in diversa fluctuant (Ephes. IV, 14): sic qui illo risu cachinnant, quem Dominus in Evangelio (Luc. VI. 25) fletu dicit mutandum, errore saeculi raptantur et turbine, non intelligentes ruinam peccatorum suorum, neque praeterita vitia plangentes; sed putantes brevia bona esse perpetua, et in his exsultantes, quae magis digna sunt planctu. Potest hoc et de haereticis accipi, qui falsis dogmatibus acquiescentes, laeta sibi et prospera repromittunt.","english":"«To laughter I said: madness, and to gladness: what are you doing?» Where we read “madness,” the Hebrew has MOLAL, which Aquila translated as “error,” and Symmachus as “tumult.” But the Seventy and Theodotion, as in many places, so also here agree, and translated the word which we, rendering it word for word, can call “a whirling about.” Therefore, just as those who are carried about by every wind of doctrine are unstable and fluctuate in different directions (Eph. 4:14), so those who laugh with that laughter which the Lord in the Gospel (Luke 6:25) says must be changed to weeping are swept away by the error and whirlwind of the world, not understanding the ruin of their sins, nor lamenting their past vices; but thinking that brief goods are perpetual, and exulting in those things which are more worthy of lamentation. This can also be understood of heretics, who, acquiescing in false doctrines, promise themselves pleasant and prosperous things.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":25,"ref":"p25","source":"« Consideravi in cordo meo ut traherem in vino carnem meam, et cor meum deduxit me in sapientiam, et ut obtinerem in stultitiam, donec viderem quid esset bonum filiis hominum, quod facerent sub sole numero dierum vitae suae. » Volui vitam tradere deliciis, et carnem meam ab omnibus curis liberare, et quasi vino, sic voluptate sopire; sed cogitatio mea, et ratio naturalis, quam etiam peccatoribus Deus auctor inseruit, retraxerunt me, et deduxerunt ad sapientiam requirendam stultitiamque calcandam, ut viderem quidnam illud esset boni, quod homines in vitae suae possunt agere curriculo. Eleganter autem voluptatem ebrietati comparavit. Siquidem ebrietas evertit animi vigorem, quam qui potuerit sapientia commutare, et (ut in quibusdam codicibus habetur) obtinere laetitiam spiritualem 3; is poterit ad scientiam rei istius pervenire, quid in hac vita appetendum sit, quid vitandum.","english":"«I considered in my heart to draw my flesh into wine, and my heart led me into wisdom, and to obtain folly, until I might see what was good for the children of men, which they should do under the sun for the number of the days of their life.» I wished to give my life over to pleasures and to free my flesh from all cares, and, as it were with wine, so to lull it to sleep with pleasure; but my thought and natural reason, which God the author implanted even in sinners, drew me back and led me to seek wisdom and to trample folly underfoot, so that I might see what that good was which men can do in the course of their life. And elegantly did he compare pleasure to drunkenness. For drunkenness overturns the vigor of the mind; whoever can exchange this for wisdom and (as is found in certain manuscripts) obtain spiritual gladness, he will be able to arrive at the knowledge of this matter: what in this life is to be desired and what to be avoided.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":26,"ref":"p26","source":"« Magnificavi opera mea: aedificavi mihi domos: plantavi mihi vineas 4, » et caetera usque ad eum locum, in quo ait: « Sapientis oculi in capite ejus, et stultus in tenebris ambulat. » Antequam de singulis disseram, videtur mihi utile brevi cuncta sermone comprehendere, et quasi in unum corpus sensura redigere, ut possint facilius intelligi quae dicuntur. Omnia quae putantur in saeculo bona, quasi rex et potens habui. AEdificavi mibi in excelsum palatia, vitibus montes collesque consevi. Et ne quid deesset ad luxum, hortos mihi pomariaque plantavi, diversas arbores instituens, quas collectae in piscinas aquae desuper irrigarent, ut longius viror humore perpeti nutriretur. Servorum quoque sive emptorum sive vernaculorum fuit innumerabilis multitudo, et quadrupedum greges multi, bonum scilicet et ovium, quantum nullus, ante me rex habuit in Jerusalem. Sed et thesauri argenti et auri innumerabiles condebantur, quos mihi diversorum regum munera et gentium tributa contulerant. Unde et accidit, ut nimiis opibus ad majores delicias provocarer, et musicarum artium chori, mihi tibia, lyra, voce concinerent et uterque sexus in conviviis ministraret: sed quanto ista crescebant, tanto sapientia deerat. Nam in quamcunque voluptatem me cupido traxisset, infrenis ferebar et praeceps, putabamque hunc esse fructum laborum meorum, si ipse in libidine luxuriaque consumerer.","english":"«I magnified my works: I built myself houses: I planted myself vineyards,» and so on up to the place where he says: «The eyes of the wise man are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness.» Before I discuss each point individually, it seems useful to me to summarize everything in a brief discourse and, as it were, to gather the meaning into one body, so that what is said may be more easily understood. All the things that are thought to be good in the world, I possessed as a king and a powerful man. I built for myself palaces on high, I planted mountains and hills with vines. And so that nothing should be lacking for luxury, I planted gardens and orchards for myself, setting out various trees, which waters collected into pools should irrigate from above, so that the greenery might be nourished longer by the constant moisture. There was also a countless multitude of servants, whether bought or home-born, and many herds of four-footed animals, namely of cattle and sheep, as many as no king before me had in Jerusalem. But also countless treasures of silver and gold were being stored up, which the gifts of various kings and the tributes of nations had brought to me. Hence it also came about that I was provoked by excessive wealth to greater pleasures, and choirs of musical arts—pipe, lyre, and voice—sang together for me, and both sexes ministered at banquets; but the more these things increased, the more wisdom was lacking. For into whatever pleasure desire had drawn me, I was carried almost without bridle and headlong, and I thought this was the fruit of my labors, if I myself were consumed in lust and luxury.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":27,"ref":"p27","source":"Tandem in memet reversus, et quasi de gravi somno evigilans, aspexi ad manus meas, et opera mea plena vanitatis, plena sordium, plena spiritu erroris intuitus sum. Nihil enim, quod in mundo putabatur bonum, bonum potui reperire. Reputans igitur, quae essent sapientiae bona, et quae stultitiae mala, consequenter in laudem illius hominis erupi, qui post vitia se refrenans, virtutum possit esse sectator. Magna quippe distantia est inter sapientiam et stultitiam, et quantum dies distat a nocte, tantum virtutes a vitiis separantur. Videtur mihi itaque, qui sapientiam sequitur, oculos in coelum semper erigere, et in sublime os habere surrectum, eaque, quae supra suum verticem sunt, contemplari. Qui vero stultitiae et vitiis deditus sit, versari iu tenebris, et in rerum ignorantia volutari. Magnificavi opera mea 9, etc. Magnificat opera sua, qui juxta imaginem Conditoris in superna sustollitur. Et aedificat domos, ut veniant Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus sanctus, et habitent in eis. Et plantat vineas, ad quas Jesus liget asinam suam.","english":"At last, returning to myself and waking as if from a heavy sleep, I looked at my hands, and I perceived that my works were full of vanity, full of filth, full of the spirit of error. For I could find nothing good that was considered good in the world. Reckoning therefore what are the goods of wisdom and what are the evils of folly, I accordingly burst forth into praise of that man who, restraining himself after vices, can be a follower of the virtues. For great is the distance between wisdom and folly, and as far as the day is from the night, so far are the virtues separated from the vices. It seems to me, then, that he who follows wisdom always raises his eyes to heaven and holds his face lifted on high, and contemplates those things that are above his head. But he who is given over to folly and vices turns about in darkness and wallows in ignorance of things. «I magnified my works,» and so on. He magnifies his works who, according to the image of the Creator, is lifted up to things above. And he builds houses, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit may come and dwell in them. And he plants vineyards, to which Jesus may tie his ass.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":28,"ref":"p28","source":"« Feci mihi hortos et pomaria; plantavi in illis lignum omne fructiferum.» In domo divitis non solum aurea vasa sunt et argentea, sed et lignea et fictilia (II Tim. XX). Fiunt igitur et horti propter imbecilliores quosque et infirmos. Nam qui infirmusest, oleribus vescitur (Rom. XIV, 2). Plantantur arbores, non omnes fructiferae 10, ut in Latinis codicibus habemus; sed omnes fructus, hoc est, diversarum frugum atque pomorum, quia diversae suut gratiae in Ecclesia: et alius est oculus, alius manus, alius pes, et, quae verecundiora nostra sunt, his majorem honorem circumdamus (I Cor. XII). Inter quas frugiferas arbores aestimo tenere primatum lignum vitae, quod est sapientia. Nisi enim in medio illa plantetur, ligna caetera siccabuntur.\n\n« Feci mihi piscinas aquarum ad irrigandum ex cis saltum germinantem lignum. » Ligna saltuum 2, ligna silvarum, quae non sunt frugifera, quae poma non afferunt, non aluntur imbre coelesti, non supernis aquis sed his quae in piscinas de rivulis colliguntur. Nam AEgyptus humilis et jacens, quasi hortus olerum, terrenis et de AEthiopia venientibus aquis, irrigatur. Terra vero repromissionis, quae montuosa est et erecta, temporaneam et serotinam pluviam exspectat e coelo.","english":"I made for myself gardens and orchards; I planted in them every fruit-bearing tree.\" In the house of a rich man there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of clay (2 Tim 2:20). Gardens, then, are made also for the sake of the weaker and more infirm. For the one who is weak eats vegetables (Rom 14:2). Trees are planted, not all fruit-bearing, as we have it in the Latin manuscripts, but all of fruits, that is, of various crops and orchard fruits, because the graces in the Church are various: one is an eye, another a hand, another a foot, and to those parts of ours that are less honorable we give greater honor (1 Cor 12). Among these fruit-bearing trees I judge that the tree of life holds the first place, which is wisdom. For unless it is planted in the middle, the other trees will dry up.\n\n\"I made for myself pools of waters to irrigate from them the wooded glade sprouting with trees.\" The trees of the glades, the trees of the forests, which are not fruit-bearing, which bear no fruits, are not nourished by the heavenly rain, not by the waters from above, but by those gathered from the streams into pools. For Egypt, low and lying flat, like a garden of vegetables, is irrigated by earthly waters coming from Ethiopia. But the land of promise, which is mountainous and elevated, awaits the early and the late rain from heaven.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":29,"ref":"p29","source":"« Mercatus sum servos, et ancillas, et vernaculi fuerunt mihi, et quidem possessio armenti et ovium multa fuit mihi 3. » Si volumus Ecclesiasten, ut supra diximus, etiam nunc ad Christi referre personam, possumus servos ejus dicere, qui habeant spiritum timoris in servitute, et spiritualia magis desiderant, quam teneant: ancillas vero eas animas appellare, quae adhuc corpori terraeque sunt deditae. Vernaculos quoque illos qui sunt quidem de Ecclesia, et servos, et ancillas, de quibus diximus. antecedunt: necdum tamen libertate donati sunt, nec nobilitate a Domino. Sunt autem et alii in familia Ecclesiastae instar boum et ovium, propter opera et simplicitatem: qui absque ratione et scientia Scripturarum laborant quidem in Ecclesia, sed necdum ad id pervenere, ut homines esse mereantur, et redeant ad imaginem conditoris. Diligentius nota quod in servis, et ancillis, et vernaculis multitudo non additur, in bobus vero et ovibus dicitur, possessio armenti et ovium multi fuit mihi 4. Plura quippe in Ecclesia armenta, quam homines; plures oves, quam servi, ancillae atque vernaculi. Illud vero, quod in fine dicitur:","english":"I acquired male and female slaves, and I had home-born servants, and indeed I had a great possession of herds and flocks. If we wish, as we said above, to refer Ecclesiastes even now to the person of Christ, we can call his servants those who have the spirit of fear in servitude and desire spiritual things more than they possess them; but the female slaves we may call those souls that are still given over to the body and the earth. And the home-born servants are those who are indeed from the Church, both the male and female slaves of whom we have spoken, and they come first; yet they have not yet been granted freedom, nor nobility from the Lord. But there are also others in the household of Ecclesiastes, like oxen and sheep, on account of their works and simplicity: who, without reason and knowledge of the Scriptures, labor indeed in the Church, but have not yet reached the point of deserving to be men and of returning to the image of their Creator. Note more carefully that to the male slaves, female slaves, and home-born servants no multitude is added, but of the oxen and sheep it is said, I had a great possession of herds and flocks. For there are more herds in the Church than men; more sheep than male slaves, female slaves, and home-born servants. But that which is said at the end:","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":30,"ref":"p30","source":"« Super omnes, qui fuerunt ante-me in Jerusalem, » non ad grandem gloriam pertinet Salomonis, uno patre suo rego se ditiorem fuisse, quia sub Saule necdum regnabatur in Jerusalem, et a Jebusaeis qui ipsi urbi insederant, tenebatur. Altius itaque tractandum, quae sit Jerusalem: et quomodo Ecclesiastes, ante omnes, qui se praecesserunt reges in Jerusalem, ditior fuerit.\n\n« Congregati mihi argentum, et aurum, et substantias regum et provinciarum. Feci mihi cantores et cantatrices, et delicias filiorum hominum, ministros vini et ministras. » Argentum et aurum semper Scriptura divina super sermone ponit et sensu. Unde et in sexagesimo septimo psalmo columba quae interpretatur in spiritu, manifestiores et visui expositas alas deargentatas habet 5, occultiorem vero intrinsecus sensum in auri pallore operit. Regum autem substantias, et provinciarum, sive regionum, in credentium congregavit Ecclesiam; illorum regum, de quibus Psalmista canit: Astiterunt reges terrae, et principes convenerunt in unum (Psal. II, 2): illarumque regionum in quas oculos levari Salvator praecepit: quia Jam candeant ad metendum (Joan. IV). Possunt regum substantiae et philosophorum dici dogmata, et scientiae saeculares, quas Ecclesiasticus vir diligenter intelligens, apprehendit sapientes in astutia eorum, et perdit sapientiam sapientium, et prudentiam prudentium reprobat (I Cor. I).","english":"Above all who were before me in Jerusalem\" does not pertain to Solomon's great glory—that he was richer than his father, the king, since under Saul there was not yet a reign in Jerusalem, and it was held by the Jebusites who occupied that city itself. Therefore it must be treated more deeply: what Jerusalem is, and how Ecclesiastes was richer than all the kings who preceded him in Jerusalem.\n\n\"I gathered for myself silver and gold, and the substance of kings and provinces. I made for myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men, male and female cupbearers.\" Divine Scripture always places silver and gold above the word and the meaning. Hence also in the sixty-seventh psalm the dove—which is interpreted spiritually—has wings of silver that are more manifest and exposed to view, while it conceals a more hidden inner meaning in the pale gleam of gold. But the substance of kings and of provinces or regions, Ecclesiastes gathered in the Church of believers—of those kings of whom the Psalmist sings: The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes gathered together in one (Ps. 2:2); and of those regions toward which the Savior commanded the eyes to be lifted, because they are already white for harvest (John 4). The substance of kings can also be called the dogmas of the philosophers and secular sciences, which the ecclesiastical man, understanding diligently, seized the wise in their craftiness, and destroyed the wisdom of the wise, and rejected the prudence of the prudent (1 Cor. 1).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":31,"ref":"p31","source":"Cantores quoque et cantatrices, illi vel illae sunt, qui psallunt spiritu, psallunt et mente. Cantator quasi vir et robustus et spiritualis de altioribus canit. Cantatrix vero adhuc circa materiam volutatur, quam Graeci vocant; nec potest vocem suam in sublime tollere. Ubicunque ergo in Scripturit femina legitur et sexus fragilior, ad materiae intelligentiam transferamus. Unde et Pharao non vult masculos vivificari, sed tantum feminas, quae materiae sunt vicinae (Exod. I). Et e contrario nullus Sanctorum, nisi perraro feminas genuisse narratur. Solusque Salphaath, qui in peccatis mortuus est, omnes filias genuit (Num. XXV). Jacob inter duodecim patriarchas unius filiae pater est, et ob ipsam periclitatur (Gen. XXX). Deliciae quoque filiorum hominum super sapientia intelligendae, quae ad instar paradisi habet pomaria varia 7, et multiplices voluptates. Et de ipsa praecipitur: Delectare in Domino, et dabit tibi petitiones cordis tui (Psal. XXXVI, 4). Et in alio loco: Torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos (Psal. XXXVIII, 2). Nam de vini fusoribus, et vini fusitricibus (ad distinctionem quippe nunc masculini, feminino genere volui declinare, quod Latinus sermo non recipit) aliud multo, quam in promptu est, Aquila interpretatur.","english":"Also singers and songstresses: these are they, male or female, who sing psalms in the spirit and sing psalms with the mind as well. The male singer, as it were a man both strong and spiritual, sings of things more exalted. The songstress, however, is still rolled about around matter, which the Greeks call hyle, nor can she raise her voice on high. Wherever, then, in the Scriptures a woman and the frailer sex is read of, let us transfer it to the understanding of matter. Whence also Pharaoh does not wish the males to be kept alive, but only the females, who are close to matter (Exod. 1). And on the contrary, none of the saints, except very rarely, is narrated to have begotten females. And only Salphaath, who died in his sins, begot all daughters (Num. 25). Jacob among the twelve patriarchs is the father of one daughter, and on her account is in danger (Gen. 30). Also the delights of the children of men are to be understood as concerning wisdom, which after the likeness of paradise has various orchards and manifold pleasures. And concerning her it is commanded: Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart (Ps. 36:4). And in another place: From the torrent of your pleasure you will give them to drink (Ps. 38:2). For concerning the pourers of wine and the pourers-out of wine (for to mark the distinction I have now wished to decline it in the feminine gender, which the Latin tongue does not admit), Aquila translates something far other than what lies on the surface.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":32,"ref":"p32","source":"Non enim homines, viros videlicet, et feminas, sed vasculorum species nominavit, et vocans, quod Hebraice dicitur SADDA ( ) et SADDOTH ( )· Denique Symmachus, licet verbum nou potuerit exprimere de verbo, ab hac opinione non longe est, dicens: Mensarum species, et appositiones. Sive igitur urceos, sive scyphos, sive crateres, qui in ministeriis ordinantur, auro gemmisque distinctos Salomonem habuisse credendum est: et quod ex uno, id est cratere(??) aliis, minoribus scilicet vasculis, hauriretur: et per ministrorum manus potantium vinum turba susciperet. Quia igitur Ecclesiasten interpretamur in Christo: et sapientia in cratere misto in Proverbiis praetereuntes ad se convocat: corpus Domini nunc cra(??)erem magnum debemus accipere, in quo non meraca Divinitas, ut in coelestibus fuit, sed propter nos humanitate media temperata est, et per Apostolos, minora, scyphos parvulos et crateras, in toto orbe credentibus effusa sapientia est.","english":"For he did not name men—that is, males—and women, but the kinds of vessels, calling them what in Hebrew is called SADDA and SADDOTH. Finally Symmachus, although he could not express the word from the word, is not far from this opinion, saying: The kinds of tables, and the settings. Whether therefore cups, or bowls, or mixing-bowls, which are arranged for ministries, distinguished with gold and gems, it must be believed that Solomon had: and that from one, that is from the mixing-bowl, it was drawn for the others, namely the smaller vessels: and through the hands of ministers the crowd of drinkers received wine. Since therefore we interpret Ecclesiastes in Christ: and wisdom mixed in the mixing-bowl in Proverbs calls those passing by to herself: we ought now to understand the body of the Lord as a great mixing-bowl, in which not the undiluted Divinity, as it was in the heavens, but for our sake was tempered by the mediating humanity, and through the Apostles, the smaller ones—little bowls and mixing-bowls—wisdom was poured out to believers throughout the whole world.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":33,"ref":"p33","source":"« Et magnificatus sum, et adjeci sapientiam super omnes qui fuerunt ante me in Jerusalem: et quidem sapientia mea stetit mihi, » Magnificatum Ecclesiasten, minime videtur Domino convenire, nisi forte ei illud aptemus: Proficiebat sapientia, et aetate, et gratia (Luc. II, 52). Et: Propter quod illum Deus exaltavit (Philipp. II, 9). Quod autem ait: Qui fuerunt ante me in Jerusalem, de his dicit, qui ante adventum suum, congregationem sanctorum et Ecclesiam gubernarunt. Si spiritualiter intelligimus Scripturas, ditior est Christus omnibus: si tantum carnaliter melius intelligitur Synagoga, quam Ecclesia. Tulit ergo velamen, quod fuit positum super vultum Moysi (Exod. XXXIV), et pleno lumine faciem ejus videre nos fecit (II Cor. III). Porro stetisse sapientiam sibi 5, ille sensus est, quod etiam in carne posito sibi permanserit sapientia. Qui profectum habet in sapientia, non ei stat sapientia; qui autem non recipit profectum, nec per momenta succrescit, sed semper in plenitudine est, iste dicere potest: Et stetit mihi sapientia.","english":"And I was magnified, and I added wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem: and indeed my wisdom stood by me. That Ecclesiastes was magnified seems hardly to fit the Lord, unless perhaps we apply to him that saying: He advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace (Luke 2:52). And: Therefore God exalted him (Philippians 2:9). But what he says, Who were before me in Jerusalem, he says of those who before his coming governed the congregation of the saints and the Church. If we understand the Scriptures spiritually, Christ is richer than all; if only carnally, the Synagogue is understood better than the Church. He therefore took away the veil that was placed over the face of Moses (Exodus 34), and made us see his face in full light (2 Corinthians 3). Further, that wisdom stood by him has this meaning, that wisdom remained with him even when he was placed in the flesh. He who has advancement in wisdom—wisdom does not stand by him; but he who receives no advancement, nor grows up moment by moment, but is always in fullness—that one can say: And wisdom stood by me.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":34,"ref":"p34","source":"« Et omne quod postulaverunt oculi mei, non tuli ab eis: nec prohibui cor meum ab omni laetitia: quia cor meum laetatum est in omni labore meo. Et haec fuit portio mea ex omni labore meo. » Oculi animae et mentis intuitus contemplationem desiderant spiritualem, quam peccator ignorans, prohibet a vera jucunditate cor suum. Huic ergo se Ecclesiastes totum dedit, et leve tribulationis in saeculo, aeterna gloria compensavit. Haec enim portio nostra est, praemiumque perpetuum, si hic pro virtutibus laboremus.\n\n« Et respexi ego ad omnia opera mea, quae fecerant manus meae, et in labore quo laboraveram faciens. » Qui cum deligentia et cautione agit universa, haec potest dicere.\n\n« Et ecce omnia vanitas, et voluntas spiritus (??). Et non est abundantia sub sole. » Quomodo in caeteris vilia cuncta reputavit, quae sub sole sunt, et pro voluntatum varietate diversa. « Et non est abundantia sub sole (Psal. XVIII, 6). » Christus in sole posuit tabernaculum suum. Itaque qui necdum ad solis claritatem, ordinem, constantiamque pervenit, in hoc Christus nec habitare poterit, nec abundare.","english":"And all that my eyes desired, I did not withhold from them; nor did I restrain my heart from any pleasure, because my heart rejoiced in all my labor. And this was my portion from all my labor.\" The eyes of the soul and the gaze of the mind desire spiritual contemplation, which the sinner, not knowing it, restrains his heart from true delight. To this, then, Ecclesiastes gave himself wholly, and the light affliction of the world he compensated with eternal glory. For this is our portion and our perpetual reward, if here we labor for the virtues.\n\n\"And I looked back upon all my works, which my hands had made, and upon the labor in which I had labored, doing.\" He who acts in all things with diligence and caution can say this.\n\n\"And behold, all is vanity, and the will of the spirit (??). And there is no abundance under the sun.\" How in the rest he reckoned all things vile that are under the sun, and diverse according to the variety of wills. \"And there is no abundance under the sun (Ps. 18:6).\" Christ has set his tabernacle in the sun. Therefore he who has not yet come to the brightness, order, and constancy of the sun—in this Christ can neither dwell nor abound.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":35,"ref":"p35","source":"« Et respexi ego, ut viderem sapientiam, et errores et stultitiam: quia quis est hominum, qui possit ire post regem atque factorem suum? » Quia in superioribus usque ad eum locum in quo Scriptura ait: Sapientis oculi in capite ejus, uno cuncta sermone comprehenderam, volens sensum breviter indicare, et ob id rursum secundum, aliqua perstrinxeram, nunc juxta id quod coeperam, exponere debeo. Multum enim a Septuaginta interpretatione in hoc loco diversus est sensus. Dicit autem se, post delicias voluptatesque damnatas, revertisse ad sapientiam perquirendam, in qua plus erroris stultitiaeque repererit, quam verae certaeque prudentiae. Non enim posse hominem tam liquido et pure scire sapientiam creatoris et regis sui, quam scit ille, qui conditor est. Itaque et illa quae novimus, opinari nos potius quam tenere, et aestimare magis quam scire, quod verum est.","english":"And I looked back, to see wisdom, and errors, and folly: for who among men is there that can go after the king and his maker?\" For in the earlier passages, up to that place where the Scripture says, \"The eyes of a wise man are in his head,\" I had comprehended everything in one discourse, wishing briefly to indicate the meaning, and for that reason I had again, in a second place, touched on certain things; now, according to what I had begun, I must set them forth. For in this place the meaning is much different from the interpretation of the Seventy. He says, moreover, that after the pleasures and delights he had condemned, he returned to seeking wisdom, in which he found more of error and folly than of true and certain prudence. For man cannot know the wisdom of his creator and king as clearly and purely as he knows it who is the founder. And so even those things which we know, we rather opine than hold, and we rather estimate than know what is true.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":36,"ref":"p36","source":"« Et vidi ego, quia est abundantia sapientiae super stultitiam, sicut abundantia lucis super tenebras. » Licet, inquit, ipsam hominum sapientiam mistam errore perviderim, nec tam pure in nostros animos illabi posse, quam est in rege et conditore nostro; tamen magnam etiam in eo quod est, differentiam inter illam et stultitiam esse cognovi, quantum potest distare dies a nocte, lumen a tenebris.\n\n« Sapientis oculi in capite ejus, et stultus in tenebris ambulat. Et cognovi ego, quia eventus unus eveniet omnibus eis. » Qui in perfectum virum pervenerit, et meruerit ut caput ipsius Christus sit, oculos suos semper habebit ad Christum, et eos in sublime elevans, nunquam de inferioribus cogitabit. Cum haec se ita habeant, et inter sapientem et stultum tanta distantia sit, quod alter diei, alter tenebris comparetur, ille oculos ad coelum levet, iste in terram deprimat: repente mihi cogitatio ista subrepsit, quare sapiens et stultus communi finiantur interitu, cur eaedem plagae, idem eventus, eadem mors, pares utrumque angustiae premant.","english":"And I saw that there is an abundance of wisdom over folly, as the abundance of light over darkness.\" Although, he says, I have perceived that human wisdom itself is mixed with error, and cannot flow into our minds as purely as it is in our king and maker, nevertheless I have recognized that even in what it is, there is a great difference between it and folly, as much as day can differ from night, light from darkness.\n\n\"The eyes of a wise man are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And I knew that one event will befall them all.\" He who has arrived at perfect manhood and has merited that Christ be his head will always keep his eyes fixed on Christ, and raising them on high, will never think on things below. Since these things are so, and there is such a great distance between the wise man and the fool, that the one is compared to the day, the other to darkness—the one lifts his eyes to heaven, the other casts them down to earth—this thought suddenly crept into my mind: why are the wise man and the fool ended by a common destruction, why do the same blows, the same event, the same death press both alike with equal straits?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":37,"ref":"p37","source":"« Et dixi ego in corde meo, sicut eventus stulti, ita et mihi eveniet, et ut quid sapiens factus sum 1? Et loculus sum in corde meo, quoniam hoc quoque vanitas. Non enim erit memoria sapientis cum stulto in aeternum, eo quod ecce diebus qui supervenient, universa oblivio cooperiet; et quomodo morietur sapiens cum stulto? » Dixi, sapiens et stultus, justus et impius, aequali sorte morientur, et omnia in hoc saeculo mala eventu simili sustinebunt; quid ergo mihi prodest, quod secutus sum sapientiam et plus caeteris laboravi? Rursum cogitans et diligenter mecum mente pertractans, sententiam meam vanam esse deprehendi. Non enim similiter sapiens et insipiens habebunt in futuro memoriam, quando consummatio veniet universitatis: et nequaquam pari exitu tenebuntur, quia hic ad refrigeria, ille perget ad poenam. Apertius in hoc loco sensum Hebraicum Septuaginta interpretes transtulerunt, licet verborum ordinem non sint secuti: « Et ut quid sapiens factus sum ego? Tunc abundanter locutus sum in corde meo, quoniam insipiens ex abundantia loquitur: quoniam boc quoque vanitas, quia non est memoria sapientis eum stulto in aeternum, » et caetera. Quod videlicet priorem opinationem suam stultam esse convincens, insipienter se locutum esse testatus sit, et errasse, quia ante sic senserit.","english":"And I said in my heart, as is the outcome of the fool, so will it happen to me also, and why have I become wise? And I spoke in my heart, because this also is vanity. For there will be no memory of the wise man with the fool forever, since behold, in the days that come, oblivion will cover all things; and how will the wise man die with the fool?\" I said that the wise man and the fool, the just and the impious, die by an equal lot, and that all evils in this world they endure with a similar outcome; what then does it profit me that I have pursued wisdom and labored more than others? Thinking again and carefully examining it with myself in mind, I found that my opinion was vain. For the wise man and the unwise will not have memory alike in the future, when the consummation of the universe comes; and they will by no means be held in the same end, because the one will go to refreshment, the other to punishment. More clearly in this place the Seventy interpreters have rendered the Hebrew sense, although they have not followed the order of the words: \"And why have I become wise? Then I spoke abundantly in my heart, because the unwise speaks from abundance; because this also is vanity, because there is no memory of the wise man with the fool forever,\" and the rest. Namely, in that he convicts his former opinion of being foolish, he has testified that he spoke foolishly and erred, because he had previously thought so.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":38,"ref":"p38","source":"« Et odivi vitam, quia malum super me opus quod factum est sub sole, quia omnia vanitas et pastio venti. » Si mundus in maligno positus est, et in tabernaculo isto Apostolus ingemiscit dicens: Miser ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus (Rom. VII, 24)? recte odio hahet omne quod sub sole factum est. Ad comparationem quippe paradisi et illius vitae beatitudiuem, in qua spiritualibus pomis et virtutum deliciis fruebamur: nunc quasi in ergastulo et carcere sumus et valle lacrymarum, in sudore vultus nostri comedentes panem.\n\n« Et odivi ego omnem laborem meum, quem ego laboro sub sole, quia dimitto illum homini, qui futurus est post me. Et quis scit utrum sapiens sit, an stultus? et dominabitur in omni labore meo, quo laboravi, et in quo sapiens factus sum sub sole: sed et hoc vanitas. » Videtur quidem de divitiis et opibus retractare, quod secundum Evangelium repentina morte subtracti, quali moriamur haerede, nesciamus; utrum stultus an sapiens sit, qui nostro est labore fruiturus. Quod Salomoni quoque accidit: non enim similem sui habuit filium Roboam. Ex quo intelligimus, ne filium quidem patris haereditate dignum esse, si stultus sit.","english":"And I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was evil upon me, for all is vanity and a feeding on wind. If the world is set in wickedness, and in this tabernacle the Apostle groans, saying, \"Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?\" then rightly he hates everything that is made under the sun. For in comparison with paradise and the blessedness of that life in which we used to enjoy spiritual fruits and the delights of the virtues, we are now, as it were, in a prison and a jail and the valley of tears, eating our bread in the sweat of our face.\n\nAnd I hated all my labor, which I labor under the sun, because I leave it to the man who will be after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? And he will rule over all my labor, in which I have labored and in which I became wise under the sun: but this also is vanity. He does seem to be reconsidering riches and wealth, that, according to the Gospel, when we are taken away by sudden death, we do not know what kind of heir we die leaving; whether it is a fool or a wise man who will enjoy our labor. This happened to Solomon as well, for he did not have a son like himself in Rehoboam. From this we understand that not even a son is worthy of his father's inheritance, if he is a fool.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":39,"ref":"p39","source":"Sed mihi altius contemplanti, de labore videtur dicere spirituali, quod diebus ac noctibus vir sapiens in Scripturis laboret, et componat libros, ut memoriam sui posteris derelinquat, et nihilominus in manus stultorum veniant, qui frequenter secundum perversitatem cordis sui, semina inde haereseon capiant, et alienos labores calumnientur. Si enim de corporalibus divitiis nunc Ecclesiastae sermo est, quid necesse fuit de labore et opibus dicere: « Et dominabitur in omni labore, meo, in quo laboravi, et in quo sapiens factus sum sub sole? » Quae enim sapientia est, terrenas divitias congregare?\n\n« Et conversus sum ego, ut renuntiarem cordi meo in omni labore meo, quo laboravi sub sole, quia est homo cui labor ejus est in sapientia 2, et scientia, et virtute, et homini qui non laboravit, illi dabit partem suam. Et quidem hoc vanitas et nequitia multa 3. Quid enim fit homini in omni labore suo, et in voluntate cordis sui, qua ipse laborat sub sole? Quia omnes dies ejus dolorum et iracundiae curarumque, et quidem in nocte non dormit cor ejus; sed et hoc vanitas. » Supra de incerto loquitur haerede, quia utrum stultus, an sapiens laborum alterius futurus sit dominus, ignoretur.","english":"But to me, contemplating more deeply, he seems to speak of spiritual labor, that the wise man labors day and night in the Scriptures and composes books, so that he may leave the memory of himself to posterity, and nonetheless they come into the hands of fools, who frequently, according to the perversity of their heart, take from them the seeds of heresies, and slander the labors of others. For if Ecclesiastes' discourse here concerns bodily riches, what need was there to say of labor and wealth: \"And he shall rule over all my labor, in which I labored, and in which I became wise under the sun\"? For what wisdom is it to gather earthly riches?\n\n\"And I turned myself, to renounce to my heart in all my labor, in which I labored under the sun, because there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and knowledge, and virtue, and to a man who has not labored, he shall give his portion. And indeed this is vanity and much wickedness. For what is done to a man in all his labor, and in the will of his heart, in which he himself labors under the sun? Because all his days are of sorrows and wrath and cares, and indeed in the night his heart does not sleep; but even this is vanity.\" Above he speaks of the uncertain heir, because it is unknown whether a fool or a wise man will be the master of another's labors.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":40,"ref":"p40","source":"Nunc eadem quidem repetit, sed in illo diversus est sensus, quod etiam si filio, si propinquo, si noto alicui substantiam laboresque dimittat; nihilominus tamen in eumdem circulum res recurrat, ut alter labore alterius perfruatur, et sudor mortui 4, deliciae sint viventis. Se unusquisque consideret, et videbit, quanto libros labore componat, quomodo Saepe stylum vertat, iterum, quae digna legi sint, Scripturus; (Ex Horat. Sat. I. I, sat. 10). et homini qui non laboravit, det partem suam. Quid enim, ut ante jam dixi, ad opes terrae pertinent sapientia et scientia et virtus, in quibus se laborasse testatus est, cum sapientiae, scientiae atque virtutis sit, calcare terrena?\n\n« Non est bonum homini, nisi quod comedat, et bibat, et ostendat animae suae bonum in labore suo. Et quidem hoc vidi ego, quia de manu Dei est. Quis enim comedet, et quis parcet sine illo? quia homini bono coram se dedit sapientiam, et scientiam, et laetitiam, et peccanti dedit sollicitudinem, ut augeat et congreget quae dantur bono ante faciem Dei 3. Sed et hoc vanitas, et praesumptio spiritus. » Postquam universa tractavi, et nihil injustius esse perspexi, quam alterius labore alterum frui, tunc mihi visum est hoc in rebus esse justissimum 4, et quasi Dei donum, ut suo quis labore frueretur, bibens et comedens, et pro tempore parcens opibus congregatis.","english":"Now he repeats the same things indeed, but in that the meaning is different, because even if he leaves substance and labors to a son, to a relative, to some acquaintance, nevertheless the matter recurs into the same circle, so that one enjoys another's labor, and the sweat of the dead man is the delight of the living. Let each one consider himself, and he will see with how much labor he composes books, how often he turns the stylus, about to write again things worthy to be read; and he gives his portion to a man who has not labored. For what, as I have already said before, do wisdom and knowledge and virtue pertain to the riches of the earth, in which he testified that he had labored, when it belongs to wisdom, knowledge, and virtue to trample earthly things?\n\n«It is not good for a man except that he eat, and drink, and show his soul good in his labor. And indeed this I have seen, that it is from the hand of God. For who will eat, and who will spare without him? because to the good man before himself he gave wisdom, and knowledge, and joy, and to the sinner he gave solicitude, that he may increase and gather what is given to the good before the face of God. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit.» After I have treated all things, and have perceived that nothing is more unjust than that one enjoy another's labor, then it seemed to me that this is most just in things, and as it were a gift of God, that each one enjoy his own labor, drinking and eating, and in due time sparing from gathered riches.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":41,"ref":"p41","source":"Siquidem munus Dei est, talem viro justo dari mentem, ut ea quae curis vigiliisque quaesivit, ipse consumat. Sicut e contrario, irae Dei est in peccatorem, ut diebus ac noctibus opes congreget, et nequaquam eis utens, his relinquat, qui in conspectu Dei justi sunt. Sed hoc, inquit, diligenter inspiciens et videns omnia morte finiri, vanissimum Judicavi. Haec interim secundum litteram, ne videamur penitus simplicem praeterire sensum, et dum spirituales divitias sequimur, historiae contemnere paupertatem. Quid enim boni est, aut quale Dei munus, vel suis opibus inhiare, et quasi fugientem praecerpere voluptatem, vel alienum laborum in proprias delicias vertere: et hoc putare donum esse Dei, si alienis miseriis et laboribus perfruamur? Bonum est itaque veros cibos et veram sumere potionem, quos de Agni carne et sanguine in divinis voluminibus invenimus. Quis enim vel comedere, vel cum opus est, parcere potest absque Deo? qui praecepit sanctum canibus non esse mittendum (Matth. VII, 6), et docet, quomodo in tempore conservis sint danda cibaria (Matth. XXVI, 45); et juxta alium sensum, inventum mei tantum comedere 8, quantum sufficit (Prov. XXV, 16)? Pulchre autem homini bono Deus dat sapientiam, et scientiam, et laetitiam: nisi enim fuerit, et mores suos proprio arbitrio ante correxerit, sapientiam, et scientiam, et laetitiam non meretur.","english":"For indeed it is a gift of God that such a mind be given to a just man, that he himself should consume what he has sought with cares and vigils. Just as, on the contrary, it is [a matter] of God's wrath against the sinner, that he gather wealth by day and by night, and, in no way using it, leave it to those who are just in the sight of God. But this, he says, inspecting diligently and seeing that all things end in death, I judged most vain. These things for the meantime according to the letter, lest we seem to pass over the simple sense entirely, and while we pursue spiritual riches, to despise the poverty of the history. For what good is there, or what kind of gift of God is it, either to gape after one's own riches, and as it were to snatch at pleasure as it flees, or to turn the labors of another to one's own delights: and to think this is a gift of God, if we enjoy the miseries and labors of others? It is good therefore to take true foods and true drink, which we find in the divine volumes from the flesh and blood of the Lamb. For who can either eat, or, when there is need, spare, without God? who has commanded that what is holy is not to be thrown to dogs (Matt. 7:6), and teaches how in time food is to be given to fellow servants (Matt. 24:45); and according to another sense, to eat only of what is found, as much as suffices (Prov. 25:16)? Beautifully, moreover, God gives to the good man wisdom, and knowledge, and gladness: for unless he has been [such], and has first corrected his ways by his own judgment, he does not deserve wisdom, and knowledge, and gladness.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":42,"ref":"p42","source":"secundum illud quod alibi dicitur: Seminate vobis in justitia, vindemiate in fructu vitae, illuminate vobis lumen scientiae (Osee X, 12, juxta LXX), Seminanda quippe ante justitia, et vitae fructus est demetendus, et postea scientiae lumen poterit apparere. Ut ergo bono coram se dedit Deus sapientiam, et caetera: sic peccatorem suo arbitrio derelinquens, fecit congregare divitias, et hinc et inde perversorum dogmatum consuere cervicalia. Quae cum vir sanctus et placens Deo viderit, intelligit, quia vana sunt, et spiritus praesumptione composita. Nec mirandum, quod dixerit: Peccatori dedit sollicitudinem, et caetera. Ad illum enim sensum de quo saepe tractavi, hoc referendum est: Proptera datam ei esse sollicitudinem sive distentionem, quia peccator fuerit, de non esse causam distentionis in Deo, sed in illo qui sponte sua anto peccaverit.","english":"according to that which is said elsewhere: Sow for yourselves in righteousness, reap in the fruit of life, enlighten for yourselves the light of knowledge (Hosea 10:12, according to the LXX). For righteousness must indeed be sown first, and the fruit of life is to be reaped, and afterwards the light of knowledge can appear. Therefore, just as God gave wisdom and the rest to a good man in his sight, so, leaving the sinner to his own will, he caused him to gather riches, and on this side and that to sew together cushions of perverse doctrines. When the holy man and one pleasing to God has seen these things, he understands that they are vain and put together by the presumption of the spirit. Nor is it to be wondered at that he said: To the sinner he gave solicitude, and the rest. For this must be referred to that meaning which I have often discussed: that solicitude or distraction was given to him because he was a sinner; the cause of distraction is not in God, but in him who of his own will sinned beforehand.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":43,"ref":"p43","source":"(Cap. III). « Omnibus tempus est, et tempus omni rei sub coelo. » Incertum et fluctuantem statum conditionis humanae in superioribus docuit: nunc vult illud ostendere, omnia sibi in mundo esse contraria, et nihil stare perpetuum, eorum duntaxat, quae sub coelo sunt, et intra tempus, quia caeterae substantiae spirituales, nec coelo, nec tempore continentur.\n\n« Tempus pariendi, et tempus moriendi. Tempus plantandi, et tempus evellendi quod plantatum est. » Nulli dubium quod et onus et interitus hominum, Deo notus sit et praefinitus 1, et idipsum esse parere, quod plantare: mori, et quod plantatum est evellere. Sed quia in Isaia legimus; A timore tuo, Domine, concepimus, et parturivimus, et peperimus (Isa. XXVI, 18); hoc dicendum est, quod perfecto viro, partus iste, qui de timore natus est, cum Deum amare coeperit, moritur. Perfecta quippe dilectio foras mittit timorem (I Joan. IV, 18). Hebraei omne hoc, quod de contrarietate temporum scriptum est, usque ad illum locum, in quo ait: Tempus belli, et tempus pacis, super Israel intelligunt. Et quia non necesse est per singulos versus ponere, quid interpretentur et sentiant, perstringam breviter latiorem super hoc dissertationem lectoris ingenio derelinquens. Tempus fuit generandi et plantandi Israelem, tempus moriendi, et ducendi in captivitatem. Tempus occidendi eos in AEgypto, et tempus de AEgypto liberandi.","english":"(Cap. III). \"For all things there is a time, and a time for every matter under heaven.\" In the preceding passages he taught the uncertain and fluctuating state of the human condition; now he wishes to show that all things in the world are contrary to one another, and that nothing remains perpetual—at least of those things which are under heaven and within time, because the other spiritual substances are contained neither by heaven nor by time.\n\n\"A time to give birth, and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been planted.\" No one doubts that both the burden and the destruction of men are known to God and foreordained, and that to give birth is the same as to plant: to die, and to pluck up what has been planted. But because we read in Isaiah: From your fear, Lord, we conceived, and we travailed, and we gave birth (Isa. 26:18); it must be said that for the perfect man, this offspring, which is born of fear, dies when he begins to love God. For perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). The Hebrews understand all this that is written concerning the contrariety of times, up to that place where he says: A time of war, and a time of peace, as concerning Israel. And because it is not necessary to set out verse by verse what they interpret and understand, I shall briefly touch on the broader discussion concerning this, leaving it to the reader's intelligence. There was a time of begetting and planting Israel, a time of dying, and of being led into captivity. A time of killing them in Egypt, and a time of delivering them from Egypt.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":44,"ref":"p44","source":"Tempus destruendi templi sub Nabuchodonosor, et tempus aedificandi sub Dario. Tempus plangendi eversionem urbis, et tempus ridendi atque saltandi sub Zorobabel, Esdra, et Neemia. Tempus dispergendi Israel, et tempus in unum congregandi. Tempus quasi cingulum et baltheum circumdari Deo populum Judaeorum, et tempus ducendi eos in Babyloniam captivitatem, et ibi computrescere trans Euphraten. Lege (lumbare) Jeremiae (Jerem. XIII, seqq.). Tempus quaerendi illos et servandi, et tempus perdendi, et tempus projiciendi. Tempus scindendi Israel, et tempus iterum consuendi. Tempus tacendi prophetas, nunc in captivitate Romana, et tempus loquendi eos, tunc quando etiam in hostili te ira Dei consolatione et alloquio non carebant. Tempus dilectionis, qua eos sub patribus ante dilexit, et tempus odii, quia in Christum intulerunt manus. Tempus praelii, modo non agentibus eis poenitentiam, et tempus pacis in futuro, quando intrante plenitudine gentium, omnis Israel salvus erit.","english":"A time for destroying the temple under Nebuchadnezzar, and a time for building it under Darius. A time for lamenting the overthrow of the city, and a time for laughing and dancing under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. A time for scattering Israel, and a time for gathering them into one. A time for the people of the Jews to be girded about God like a belt and a sash, and a time for leading them away into captivity in Babylon, and for rotting there beyond the Euphrates. Read the (loincloth) of Jeremiah (Jer. XIII, and following). A time for seeking them and preserving them, and a time for losing, and a time for casting away. A time for tearing Israel apart, and a time for sewing them together again. A time for the prophets to be silent, now in the Roman captivity, and a time for them to speak, then when even in hostile captivity, by God's consolation and address, they were not without comfort. A time of love, with which he loved them under the fathers beforehand, and a time of hatred, because they laid hands on Christ. A time of battle, while they do not practice repentance, and a time of peace in the future, when, with the fullness of the Gentiles entering in, all Israel will be saved.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":45,"ref":"p45","source":"« Tempus occidendi, et tempus sanandi.» Et occidendi tempus est et sanandi, qui ait: Ego occidam, et ego vivificabo (Deut. XXXII, 19). Sanat ad poenitentiam provocans. Occidit, juxta illum sensum: In matutino interficiebam omnes peccatores terrae (Psal. c, 8).\n\n« Tempus destruendi, et tempus aedificandi. » Non possumus aedificare bona, nisi prius destruxerimus mala. Idcirco sic Jeremiae verbum a Deo datum est, ut ante eradicaret, et suffoderet, et perderet; et postea aedificaret atque plantaret (Jerem. I).\n\n« Tempus flendi, et tempus ridendi, » Nunc flendi tempus est, et in futuro ridendi: Beati enim flentes, quoniam ipsi ridebunt (Luc. VI, 21).\n\n« Tempus plangendi, et tempus saltandi. » Idcirco corripiuntur in Evangelio, quibas Dominus ait: Lamentavimus vobis, et non planxistis: cantavimus, et non saltastis (Luc. VII, 32). Plangendum est in praesentiarum, ut postea saltare valeamus illa saltatione, qua David saltavit ante arcam Testamenti: et Saulis filiae displicens, magis placuit Deo (II Reg. VI).","english":"A time for killing, and a time for healing.\" There is both a time for killing and a time for healing, as he says: I will kill, and I will make alive (Deut. 32:39). He heals by provoking to repentance. He kills in that sense: In the morning I was killing all the sinners of the land (Ps. 101:8).\n\n\"A time for destroying, and a time for building.\" We cannot build good things unless we have first destroyed evil things. For this reason the word was given by God to Jeremiah, so that he would first uproot, and dig up, and destroy; and afterward build and plant (Jer. 1).\n\n\"A time for weeping, and a time for laughing.\" Now is the time for weeping, and in the future the time for laughing: for blessed are those who weep, because they themselves shall laugh (Luke 6:21).\n\n\"A time for lamenting, and a time for dancing.\" For this reason they are rebuked in the Gospel, to whom the Lord says: We lamented for you, and you did not lament: we sang, and you did not dance (Luke 7:32). We must lament in the present, so that afterward we may be able to dance with that dancing with which David danced before the ark of the Testament: and, displeasing to the daughter of Saul, he pleased God all the more (2 Kings 6).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":46,"ref":"p46","source":"« Tempus spargendi lapidee, et tempus colligendi lapides, » Miror, quomodo vir disertus rem ridiculam in hoc loco dixerit: De destructione, inquietis, et aedificatione domorum Salomonis sermo est, quod homines nunc destruant, nunc aedificent: alii congregent lapides ad aedificia construenda, alii quae exstructa sunt, destruant, secundum illud Horatianum (Epist. lib. II, epist. 1): Diruit, aedificat, mutat quadrata rotundis. AEstuat 8, et vitae disconvenit ordine toto.\n\nHoc utrum recte, an perperam dixerit, lectoris arbitrio derelinquo. Nos prioris explanationis sequamur ordinem: Tempus spargendorum et congregandorum lapidum esse dicentes, juxta illud quod in Evangelio scriptum est: Potens est Deus de lapidibus istis suscitare filios Abrahae (Matth. III, 9). Quod tempus fuerit gentilis populi dispergendi, et tempus rursum in Ecclesiam congregandi. Legi in quodam libro (juxta Septuaginta tamen Interpretes, qui dixerunt: Tempus mittendi lapides, et tempus colligendi) severitatem legis antiquae. Evangelii gratia temperatam. Lex quippe rigida, inbenigna, non parcens, peccantem interficit Evangelii gratia miseretur, et ad poenitentiam provocat. Et hoc esse tempus mittendorum lapidum, sive congregandorum, quod lapides mittantur in lege, colligantur in Evangelio. Hoc utrum vere necne dictum sit, suo imputetur auctori.","english":"A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather stones.\" I wonder how an eloquent man could have said something ridiculous in this place: \"You are troubled,\" he says, \"about the destruction and building of houses—that men now destroy, now build; some gather stones to construct buildings, others destroy what has been built,\" according to that saying of Horace (Epistles, Book II, Epistle 1): \"He tears down, he builds, he changes square things into round. He seethes, and is out of harmony with the whole order of life.\"\n\nWhether he said this rightly or wrongly, I leave to the reader's judgment. Let us follow the order of the former explanation, saying that there is a time for scattering and a time for gathering stones, according to what is written in the Gospel: \"God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham\" (Matt. 3:9). That was a time for the Gentile people to be scattered, and again a time for them to be gathered into the Church. I have read in a certain book (according to the Seventy Translators, however, who said, \"A time to send stones, and a time to gather\") that the severity of the old law was tempered by the grace of the Gospel. For the law, rigid, unkind, sparing nothing, puts the sinner to death; the grace of the Gospel has mercy and provokes to repentance. And this is the time for sending stones, or gathering them, because stones are sent in the law and gathered in the Gospel. Whether this was said truly or not, let it be imputed to its author.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":47,"ref":"p47","source":"« Tempus amplexandi, et tempus longe fieri ab amplexu. » Juxta simplicem intelligentiam manifestus est sensus, Apostolo in eadem verba congruente: Nolite fraudare ad invicem, nisi forte ex consensu ad tempus ut vacetis orationi (I Cor. VII, 5), liberis dandam operam, et rursum continentia. Vel quod tempus fuerit amplexandi, quando vigebat illa sententia: Crescite, et multiplicamini, et replete terram (Gen. I, 28). Et tempus procul a complexu fieri, quando successit: Tempus in angusto est. Superest ut et qui habent uxores, sic sint quasi non habeant (I Cor. VII, 29). Si autem voluerimus ad altiora conscendere, videbimus sapientiam amplexari amatores suos: Honora, quippe ait, eam, et amplexabitur te (Prov. IV, 8), intraque ulnas suas et gremium strictiori tenebit complexu 2. Porro, quia non potest humanus animus semper in sublime tendi, et de divinis et altioribus cogitare, nec jugiter esse in contemplatione rerum coelestium, sed interdum necessitatibus corporis indulgere; propterea tempus est amplexandi sapientiam, et eam strictius continendi 3, et tempus relaxandi mentem ab intuitu complexuque sapientiae, ut curae corporis, et his quibus vita nostra absque peccato indiget, serviamus.","english":"A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embracing.\" According to the simple understanding, the meaning is clear, with the Apostle agreeing in the same words: \"Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to prayer\" (1 Cor. 7:5), that is, to give attention to children, and again to continence. Or that there was a time of embracing, when that saying flourished: \"Increase and multiply, and fill the earth\" (Gen. 1:28). And a time to be far from embracing, when there succeeded: \"The time is short. It remains that those who have wives be as though they had none\" (1 Cor. 7:29). But if we wish to ascend to higher things, we shall see wisdom embracing her lovers: \"Honor her,\" it says, \"and she will embrace you\" (Prov. 4:8), and within her arms and bosom she will hold them in a closer embrace. Furthermore, because the human mind cannot always be stretched upward and think on divine and higher things, nor be continually in the contemplation of heavenly matters, but sometimes must indulge the needs of the body; for this reason there is a time of embracing wisdom and holding her more closely, and a time of relaxing the mind from the gaze and embrace of wisdom, so that we may attend to the care of the body and to those things which our life needs without sin.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":48,"ref":"p48","source":"« Tempus acquirendi, et tempus perdendi. Tempus custodiendi, et tempus projiciendi. » Sub diversis sermonibus, idem nunc, qui supra et infra, sensus est, in eo quod ait: Tempus destruendi, et tempus aedificandi. Ac deinde: Tempus scindendi, et tempus consuendi. Quomodo enim Synagoga destruitur, ut aedificetur Ecclesia, et a Lege fit scissio, ut Evangelia consuantur 4, quod evangelistae singuli perpetrarunt, de Lege et Prophetis adventus Dominici testimonia consuentes: ita et tempus fuit quaerendi et custodiendi Israel, tempus perdendi et projiciendi illum. Vel certe tempus quaerendi populum ex gentibus, et tempus perdendi populum Judaeorum. Tempus custodiendi credentes ex nationibus, et tempus abjiciendi incredulos ab Israel.\n\n« Tempus tacendi, et tempus loquendi.» Pythagoricos reor, quorum disciplina est tacere per quinquennium, et postea eruditos loqui, hinc originem sui traxisse decreti. Discamus itaque et nos prius non loqui, ut postea ad loquendum praeceptoris ora reseremus. Sileamus certo tempore, et ad eloquia pendeamus. Nihil nobis videatur rectum esse, nisi quod discimus, ut post multum silentium, de discipulis efficiamur magistri. Nunc vero pro saeculorum quotidie in pejus labentium vitio 5, docemus in ecclesiis, quod nescimus.","english":"A time to acquire, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to throw away.\" Under different words, the meaning here is the same as both above and below, in what he says: \"A time to destroy, and a time to build.\" And then: \"A time to tear, and a time to sew.\" For just as the Synagogue is destroyed so that the Church may be built, and a tearing is made from the Law so that the Gospels may be sewn together—which the individual evangelists accomplished, sewing together from the Law and the Prophets the testimonies of the Lord's coming—so too there was a time of seeking and keeping Israel, and a time of losing and casting it away. Or indeed, a time of seeking a people from the Gentiles, and a time of losing the people of the Jews. A time of keeping those who believe from the nations, and a time of casting away the unbelievers from Israel.\n\n\"A time to be silent, and a time to speak.\" I think the Pythagoreans, whose discipline it is to be silent for five years and afterward, once instructed, to speak, drew the origin of their decree from this. So let us also learn first not to speak, so that afterward we may open the mouth of the teacher for speaking. Let us be silent for a fixed time, and hang upon the utterances. Let nothing seem right to us except what we have learned, so that after much silence we may be made teachers from disciples. But now, in the vice of the ages daily sliding into worse, we teach in the churches what we do not know.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":49,"ref":"p49","source":"Et si compositione verborum, vel instinctu diaboli, qui fautor errorum est, plausus populi excitaverimus, contra conscientiam nostram scire nos arbitramur, de quo aliis potuimus persuadere. Omnes artes absque doctore non discimus: sola haec tam vilis et facilis est, ut non indigeat praeceptore.\n\n« Tempus amandi, et tempus odiendi, » Tempus amandi post Deum, liberos, uxorem, propinquos, et tempus odiendi eos in martyrio, cum pro Christi confessione rigidos pietas oppugnat inimica. Vel certe tempus amandi legem, et ea quae a lege fuerant imperata, circumcisionem, hostias, Sabbatum, neomenias; et tempus odiendi ea, Evangelii gratia succedente. Necnon et hoc dici potest, quoniam nunc per speculum videmus in aenigmate (I Cor. XIII, 12), tempus esse praesentia diligendi, et in futurum tempus adveniet, quando cernentes facie ad faciem 7, et in melius proficientes, incipiemus odisse, et despicere quod amavimus.","english":"And if by the arrangement of words, or by the instigation of the devil, who is the promoter of errors, we have stirred up the applause of the people, we think that we know against our own conscience that of which we were able to persuade others. We learn all arts without a teacher; this one alone is so cheap and easy that it does not need an instructor.\n\n\"A time to love, and a time to hate.\" A time to love after God: children, wife, neighbors; and a time to hate them in martyrdom, when for the confession of Christ an hostile piety assails the rigid. Or certainly a time to love the law, and the things that had been commanded by the law—circumcision, sacrifices, the Sabbath, the new moons; and a time to hate them, when the grace of the Gospel succeeds. And this too can be said, since now we see through a glass in an enigma (1 Cor 13:12), that it is a time to love things present, and in the future a time will come when, seeing face to face and progressing toward better things, we shall begin to hate and despise what we have loved.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":50,"ref":"p50","source":"« Tempus belli et tempus pacis, » Quandiu in praesenti saeculo sumus, tempus est belli: cum autem migraverimus de hoc saeculo, pacis tempus adveniet. In pace enim locus est Dei, et civitas nostra Jerusalem, de pace sortita est vocabulum (Psal. LXXV, 3). Nemo ergo se nunc putet esse securum: in tempore belli accingendum est 8, et arma tractanda, ut victores quondam requiescamus in pace.\n\n« Quae abundantia est facienti, in quibus ipse laborat. Vidi occupationem, quam dedit filiis hominum, ut occupentur in ea. Universa fecit bona in tempore suo, et quidem sacculum dedit in corda eorum, ut non inveniat homo opus quod fecit Deus ah initio usque in finem. » Non me fugit quid a plerisque in hoc loco dictum sit, quod propterea Deus in praesenti saeculo etiam perversorum dogmatum magistris concesserit occupationem, ne mens hominis otiosa torpesceret, et hoc esse bonum, quod fecit Deus in tempore suo, et nihilominus nequire eoa naturam et rerum scientiam comprehendere. Mihi vero ab Hebraeo, qui me in Scripturis erudivit, ita expositum est: Cum omnia suo labantur tempore, et sit tempus destruendi et aedificandi, flendi atque ridendi, tacendi atque loquendi, et caetera quae dicta de tempore sunt, quid frustra conamur et tendimus, et brevis vitae labores putamus esse perpetuos? Nec contenti sumus secundum Evangelium, malitia dici: nihilque in crastinum cogitemus (Matth. VI, 34).","english":"A time of war and a time of peace.\" As long as we are in the present world, it is a time of war; but when we have departed from this world, the time of peace will come. For in peace is the place of God, and our city Jerusalem has received its name from peace (Ps. 75:3). Let no one, then, think that he is now secure: in the time of war we must gird ourselves and take up arms, so that, once victorious, we may rest in peace.\n\n\"What abundance is there for the one who labors, in those things in which he himself toils? I have seen the occupation which God has given to the sons of men, that they may be occupied in it. He has made all things good in his time, and indeed he has given the world in their hearts, so that man cannot find out the work which God has made from the beginning even to the end.\" It has not escaped me what has been said by most on this passage: that God for this reason has granted an occupation even to the teachers of perverse doctrines in the present world, lest the mind of man grow sluggish through idleness, and that this is the good which God has made in his time, and that nevertheless they cannot comprehend the nature of things and the knowledge of them. But to me it has been explained thus by the Hebrew who instructed me in the Scriptures: Since all things slip by in their own time, and there is a time to destroy and a time to build, to weep and to laugh, to be silent and to speak, and the rest which are said concerning time, why do we strive and strain in vain, and think that the labors of a brief life are perpetual? Nor are we content, according to the Gospel, with the malice of the day, and to think nothing for the morrow (Matt. 6:34).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":51,"ref":"p51","source":"Quid enim possumus habere in hoc saeculo amplius laborando, in quo id tantum hominibus a Deo datum est, ut alius alia sectando haberet, in quibus erudiri, et exercere se posset? Deus enim omne quod fecit, bonum est, sed bonum in tempore suo. Bonum est vigilare atque dormire: nec tamen semper vigilare aut dormire bonum est, quia vicissim juxta dispositionem Dei bonum est unumquodque, cum opus est. Dedit quoque Deus mundum ad inhabitandum hominibus, ut fruantur varietatibus temporum, et non quaerant de causis rerum naturalium quomodo creata sim omnia: quare hoc vel illud ab initio mundi usque ad consummationem fecerit crescere, manere, mutari.\n\n« Cognovi quia non est bonum, nisi laetari, et facere bonum in vita sua. Et quidem omnis homo qui comedit, et bibit, et ostendit bonum in omni labore suo, ex dono Dei est, » Propterea colonus et hospes mundi homo datus est, ut brevi vitae suae fruatur tempore, et spe prolixioris aetatis abscissa, cuncta quae possidet, quasi ad alia profecturus aspiciat, et quod potest bene faciat in vita sua: nec frustra ob congregandas opes cogitationibus torqueatur. Neque se putet plus de suo labore lucrari posse, quam cibum et polum, et si quid de opibus suis in bonis operibus expenderit, hoc solum donum Dei est.","english":"For what more can we have in this world by laboring, in which this alone has been given to men by God, that one man, pursuing different things, might have those in which he could be instructed and exercise himself? For everything God made is good, but good in its time. It is good to watch and to sleep; yet it is not always good to watch or to sleep, because each one in turn, according to God's disposition, is good when it is needed. God also gave the world for men to inhabit, that they might enjoy the varieties of times, and not inquire about the causes of natural things—how all things were created: why this or that, from the beginning of the world until its consummation, He caused to grow, remain, and change.\n\n\"I have known that there is nothing good except to rejoice and to do good in one's life. And indeed every man who eats and drinks and shows good in all his labor, this is from the gift of God.\" Therefore man has been given as a tiller and a guest of the world, that he might enjoy the brief time of his life, and, with the hope of a longer age cut off, might look upon all that he possesses as one about to depart for other things, and do what good he can in his life; nor be tormented in vain by thoughts of gathering wealth. Nor let him think that he can gain more from his labor than food and drink, and if he has spent anything of his riches on good works, this alone is the gift of God.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":52,"ref":"p52","source":"Ex quibus, non, ut quidam aestimant, ad luxuriam et delicias, et ad desperationem, secundum illud Isaiae: Manducemus et bibamus, cras enim moriemur (Isa. XXII, 31), instar animalium provocamur; sed secundum Apostolum: Habentes victum et vestitam, his contenti sumus (I Tim. VI, 8). ut quidquid supra habere possumus, in pauperibus nutriendis et egentium largitione consumamus. Porro, quia caro Domini venis est cibus, el sanguis ejus verus est potus, juxta hoc solum habemus in praesenti saeculo honum, si vescamur carne ejus, et cruore potemur, non solum in mysterio (Eucharistia), sed etiam in Scripturarum lectione. Verus enim cibus et potas, qui ex verbo Dei sumitur, scientia Scripturarum est. Nec putet aliquis illud a Balaam prophetatum: Non erit labor in Jacob, neque dolor in Israel (Num. XXIII, 23). Huic contrarium esse, quod muneris Dei esse dicitur: Si quis comedat et bibat, et ostendat bonum in omni labore suo. Multae quippe tribulationes justorum. Et de his Apostolus que(??)itur, in labore et dolore sudasse se dicens (II Cor. n). Sed cum de his nos in futuro Dominus liberaverit: Non erit labor in Jacob, neque dolor in Israel. Et quomodo illud legimus: Beati flentes, quoniam ipsi ridebunt (Luc.","english":"From these things, we are not provoked, as some think, to luxury and pleasures and to despair, according to that saying of Isaiah: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die (Isa. 22:31), in the manner of animals; but according to the Apostle: Having food and clothing, let us be content with these (1 Tim. 6:8), so that whatever we are able to have beyond this, we may spend on feeding the poor and giving generously to the needy. Further, because the flesh of the Lord is true food and his blood is true drink, according to this alone we have good in the present age, if we feed on his flesh and drink his blood, not only in the mystery (the Eucharist), but also in the reading of the Scriptures. For the true food and drink, which is taken from the word of God, is the knowledge of the Scriptures. Nor let anyone think that what was prophesied by Balaam—There will be no labor in Jacob, nor sorrow in Israel (Num. 23:23)—is contrary to this, which is said to be a gift of God: If anyone eats and drinks, and shows good in all his labor. For many are the tribulations of the just. And concerning these the Apostle is questioned, saying that he labored and toiled in pain (2 Cor. 11). But when the Lord has delivered us from these things in the future, there will be no labor in Jacob, nor sorrow in Israel. And how do we read that: Blessed are those who weep, for they shall laugh (Luke","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":53,"ref":"p53","source":"VI, 21); et risus noster Job prophetantis verba sectabitur: Veracium os replebitur gaudio (Job VIII, 21); sic nunc labore nostro fruimur in bonis operibus, per quem coangustamur et premimur, ut postea laborare cessemus.\n\n« Cognovi quia omnia quae fecit Deus, ipsa erunt in aeternum, super illa non potest addi, et ab illis non potest auferri; et Deus fecit, ut timeant a facie ejus. » Nihil est in mundo quod novum sit. Solis cursus, et lunae vices, et terrae arborumque siccitas, vel viror, cum ipso mundo nata sunt atque concreta 4. Et idcirco Deus certa ratione cuncta moderatus est, et jussit humanis usibus elementa servire, ut homines haec videntes, intelligant esse providentiam, et timeant a facie Dei, dum ex rerum aequalitate, cursu, ordine, atque constantia intelligunt creatorem. Invisibilia enim Dei per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur: sempiternam quoque virtus ejus et divinitas (Rom., I 20). Quod si voluerimus, priori sensu finito, quasi a capite legere: Et Deus fecit, ut timeant a facie ejus, hic sensus est: Deus omnia fecit, ut timeant homines ab eo, quod semel Deus disposuit, in aliud declinare 7. Pulchre autem temperavit, dicens: Ut timeant a facie ejus (Psal. XXXIII, 17). Vultus quippe Domini super facientes mala.","english":"and our laughter will follow the words of Job's prophecy: The mouth of the truthful will be filled with joy (Job 8:21); so now we enjoy our labor in good works, through which we are constrained and pressed, so that afterward we may cease to labor.\n\n\"I know that all things which God has made, these will be forever; upon them nothing can be added, and from them nothing can be taken away; and God has made it, that they may fear before his face.\" There is nothing in the world that is new. The course of the sun, and the phases of the moon, and the dryness or greenness of the earth and trees were born and grew together with the world itself. And therefore God, having ordered all things by a sure plan, commanded the elements to serve human uses, so that men, seeing these things, may understand that there is providence, and may fear before the face of God, while from the uniformity, course, order, and constancy of things they understand the Creator. For the invisible things of God are understood and seen through the things which are made; his eternal power also and divinity (Rom. 1:20). But if we wish, the former sense having been concluded, to read as it were from the beginning: And God has made it, that they may fear before his face, this is the sense: God made all things, so that men may fear to turn aside from what God has once ordained into something else. And beautifully has he qualified it, saying: That they may fear before his face (Ps. 33:17). For the face of the Lord is upon those who do evil.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":54,"ref":"p54","source":"« Quid est quod fuit? ipsum quod est et quae futura sunt 1, jam fuerunt; et Deus quaeret cum qui persecutionem patitur. » Vel praeterita, vel praesentia, vel futura ipsa et fuerunt, et sunt, et erunt universa quae cernimus. Sol qui nunc oritur, et antequam essemus nos in mundo, fuit, et postquam mortui fuerimus, oriturus est. Solem autem nominavimus, ut ex hoc intelligamus et caetera esse eadem, quae fuerunt. Quod si videantur per conditionem mortis perire, non pereunt, quia rursum rediviva succrescunt, et nihil in perpetuum interit, sed renascitur, et quasi cum quodam fenore reviviscit. Hoc est enim quod ait: Et Deus quaeret eum qui persecutionem patitur; quod Graece melius dicitur ·2, id est, quod praeteriit, quod expulsum est, quod esse cessavit. Si autem istud de cunctis quae in mundo sunt, dicitur, de homine nulla dubitatio est, quin mortuus renascatur. Si cui autem placet quasi proprio legere principio, Et Deus quaeret eum qui persecutionem patitur, utatur hoc testimonio in persecutione gentilium, ad consolandum eum, qui in martyrio perseverat. Et quia omnes juxta Apostolum (II Tim. III), qui pie volunt vivere in hoc saeculo, persecutionem patiuntur, habeant consolationem, quia Deus quaerit persecutionem patientem, sicut requi(??)it sanguinem interfecti, et venit quaerere quod perierat, et errantem ovem suis humeris ad gregem reportavit (Luc. XIX,XV).","english":"What is it that has been? The very thing that is, and the things that are to come, have already been; and God will seek out the one who suffers persecution. Whether past, or present, or future, all the things we see both have been, and are, and will be. The sun that rises now was in the world before we existed, and after we have died it will rise. We have named the sun so that from this we may understand that the rest also are the same things that have been. But if they seem to perish through the condition of death, they do not perish, because they grow up again, revived anew, and nothing perishes forever, but is reborn and, as it were, comes back to life with a kind of interest. For this is what he says: And God will seek out the one who suffers persecution; which is better expressed in Greek, that is, that which has passed by, that which has been driven out, that which has ceased to be. But if this is said of all things that are in the world, there is no doubt concerning man, that when he has died he is reborn. If, however, it pleases someone to read it as though from its own beginning, And God will seek out the one who suffers persecution, let him use this testimony in the persecution of the Gentiles, to console the one who perseveres in martyrdom. And because all, according to the Apostle (2 Timothy 3), who wish to live piously in this world suffer persecution, let them have consolation, because God seeks out the one who suffers persecution, just as he required the blood of the slain, and came to seek what had perished, and carried the wandering sheep back to the flock on his shoulders (Luke 19, 15).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":55,"ref":"p55","source":"« Et adhuc vidi sub sole locum judicii: ibi impietas; et locum justitiae; ibi iniquitas. Dixi ego in corde meo: Justum et impium judicabit Deus, quia tempus omni voluntati super omne factum ibi. » Manifestus est sensus, sed nubilo interpretationis obvolvitur. Sub sole, inquit, isto veritatem et judicium requisivi, et vidi etiam inter judicum ipsa subsellia non veritatem valere, sed munera. Sive aliter: Arbitratus sum aliquid justitiae in praesenti saeculo geri, et vel pium pro suo nunc merito recipere, vel impium pro suo scelere puniri; et e contrario reperi, quam putabam. Vidi enim et justum multa mala hic per peti, et impium regnare pro scelere. Postea vero cum corde meo colloquens et reputans intellexi, non per partes Deum et per singulos nunc judicare, sed in futurum tempus reservare judicium ut omnes pariter judicentur, et secundum voluntatem et opera sua ibi recipiant. Hoc est enim quod ait: Et tempus omni voluntati, et super omne factum ibi, id est, in judicio, quando Dominus coeperit judicare, tunc futura est veritas, nunc injustitia dominatur in mundo. Tale quid et in Sapientia, quae filii Sirach inscribitur, legimus: « Ne dixeris, quid est hoc aut quid est istud? omnia enim tempore suo requirentur. »","english":"And still I saw under the sun a place of judgment: there was impiety; and a place of justice: there was iniquity. I said in my heart: God will judge the just and the impious, because there is a time for every will above every deed there.” The meaning is clear, but it is wrapped in the cloud of interpretation. Under this sun, he says, I sought truth and judgment, and I saw that even among the very benches of the judges it is not truth that prevails, but gifts. Or otherwise: I thought that some justice was done in the present age, and that either the pious now received according to his merit, or the impious was punished for his crime; and I found the opposite of what I thought. For I saw both the just suffer many evils here, and the impious reign because of his crime. But afterwards, conversing with my heart and reflecting, I understood that God does not now judge in parts and individually, but reserves judgment for a future time, so that all may be judged together, and there receive according to their will and their works. For this is what he says: And a time for every will, and above every deed there, that is, in the judgment, when the Lord begins to judge, then truth will be present; now injustice reigns in the world. We read something of this kind also in the Wisdom which is inscribed the son of Sirach: “Do not say, What is this, or what is that? For all things will be sought out in their time.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":56,"ref":"p56","source":"« Dixi ego in corde meo de loquela filiorum hominis, quia separat illos Deus, et ut ostenderet, quia ipsi jumenta sunt sibi 7, quia eventus filiorum hominum, et eventus pecoris, eventus unus eis 8. Sicut mors hujus, ita et mors illius, et spiritus unus omnibus, et amplius homini a pecore nihil est. quia omnia vanitas. Omnia vadunt ad locum unum, omnia facta sunt de humo, et omnia revertentur ad humum. Et quis scit, spiritus filiorum hominis, si ascendat ipse sursum, et spiritus pecoris, si descendat ipse deorsum in terram?» Non mirandum est, in praesenti vita inter justum et impium nullam esse distantiam, nec aliquid valere virtutes, sed incerto eventu omnia volutari, cum etiam inter pecudes et hominem, secundum corporis vilitatem nihil differe videatur, et sit eadem nascendi conditio, sors una moriendi: similiter procedamus ad lucem, aeque dissolvamur in pulverem. Si autem videtur haec esse distantia, quod spiritus hominis ascendat in coelum, et spiritus pecoris descendat in terram, quo istud certo auctore cognovimus? Quod potest nosse, utrum verum an falsum sit quod speratur? Hoc autem dicit, non quod animam putet perire cum corpore, vel unum bestiis et homini praeparari locum, sed quod ante adventum Christi omnia ad inferos pariter ducerentur 11. Unde et Jacob ad inferos descensurum se dicit (Gen. XXXVII et XLIV. Et Job pios et impios in inferno queritur retentari (Job.","english":"I said in my heart concerning the speech of the children of men, that God separates them, and to show that they themselves are beasts to themselves, because the outcome of the children of men and the outcome of the cattle is one outcome for them. As the death of this one, so also the death of that one, and one spirit for all, and man has nothing more than the beast, because all things are vanity. All things go to one place, all things were made from the dust, and all things will return to the dust. And who knows whether the spirit of the children of men ascends upward, and the spirit of the cattle descends downward into the earth? It is not to be wondered at that in the present life there is no distance between the just and the impious, nor that virtues avail anything, but that all things are rolled about by uncertain outcome, since even between cattle and man, according to the vileness of the body, he seems to differ in nothing, and there is the same condition of being born, one lot of dying: let us proceed alike to the light, let us equally be dissolved into dust. But if this seems to be the difference, that the spirit of man ascends into heaven and the spirit of the cattle descends into the earth, by what certain author have we known this? What can know whether what is hoped for is true or false? But he says this, not that he thinks the soul perishes with the body, or that one place is prepared for beast and man, but that before the coming of Christ all were led down to the underworld alike. Whence also Jacob says that he will descend to the underworld (Gen. 37 and 44). And Job complains that the pious and the impious are held back in the underworld (Job.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":57,"ref":"p57","source":"VII et XVII). Et Evangelium. chaos magnum interpositum apud inferos, et Abraham cum Lazaro, et divitem in suppliciis esse testatur (Luc. XVI). Et revera, antequam flammeam illam rotam, et igneam romphaeam, et paradisi fores Christus cum latrone reseraret, clausa erant coelestia, et spiritum pecoris hominisque aequalis vilitas coarctabat. Et licet aliud videretur dissolvi, aliud reservari; tamen non multum intererat perire cum corpore, vel inferni tenebris detineri.\n\nRecurramus ad singula, et commatico genere dicendi, juxta ordinem suum breviter disseramus. « Dixi ego in corde meo de eloquio filiorum hominis, ut eligeret eos Deus. » Hoc solum, inquit, inter homines et jumenta Deus esse voluit, quia nos loquimur, illa sunt muta, nos voluntatem sermone proferimus, illa torpent silentio. Et cum tantum sermone differamus a bestiis, tamen ostenditur nobis, quod juxta corporis fragilitatem pecora sumus. Sicut jumentum moritur, ita moritur et homo, et unus omnibus flatus est, et aer iste quo alimur. Hoc enim ait: Et spiritus unus omnibus, et amplius homini a pecore nihil est. Quod ue putaremus dici etiam de anima, intulit: Omnia facta sunt de terra, et revertentur in terram. De terra autem nihil aliud nisi corpus factum est. Et signanter de corpore dicitur: Terra es, et in terram reverteris (Gen.","english":"(VII and XVII). And the Gospel testifies that a great chaos lies between in the underworld, and Abraham with Lazarus, and the rich man in torments (Luke XVI). And indeed, before Christ opened the heavenly gates with the thief, that flaming wheel, and the fiery sword, and the doors of paradise were closed, and the equal worthlessness of the spirit of beast and man confined them. And although one thing seemed to be dissolved and another reserved, nevertheless it mattered little to perish with the body or to be held in the darkness of hell.\n\nLet us return to the individual points, and in a concise style of speaking, briefly discuss them in their order. \"I said in my heart concerning the speech of the children of men, that God should choose them.\" This alone, he says, God willed to exist between men and beasts, because we speak, they are mute; we bring forth our will by speech, they are inert in silence. And although we differ from beasts by speech alone, yet it is shown to us that according to the frailty of the body we are cattle. As a beast dies, so man also dies, and there is one breath for all, and this air by which we are nourished. For this is what he says: And one spirit for all, and man has nothing more than a beast. Lest we should think this is said even of the soul, he added: All things were made from the earth, and they will return to the earth. But from the earth nothing else but the body was made. And significantly it is said of the body: Earth you are, and to earth you will return (Gen.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":58,"ref":"p58","source":"III, 11), Quod autem videtur esse blasphemum: « Quis cognoscit, spiritus filiorum hominum, si ascendat ipse sursum, et spiritus jumenti, si descendat ipse deorsum in terram? » non inter pecudes et hominem secundum animae dignitatem nihil interesse contendit, sed adjiciendo quis, difficultatem rei voluit demonstrare. Pronomen enim quis in Scripturis sanctis non pro impossibili, sed pro difficili semper accipitur. Ut ibi: Generationem ejus quis enarrabit (Isa. LIII, 8)? Et in psalmo quarto decimo: Domine, quis habitavit in tabernaculo tuo, et in monte sancto tuo (Psal. XIV, 1)? et caetera, quae sequuntur. Et in Jeremia, licet in Hebraeo aliter sit: Et homo est, et quis cognoscet eum (Jerem. XVII, 9)? Inter homines igitur et bestias haec sola est d(??)fferentia, quod spiritus hominis ascendit in coelum, et spiritus jumenti descendit in terram, et cum carne dissolvitur: si tamen hujus rei vir aliquis ecclesiasticus et disciplinis coelestibus eruditus, et quasi dubiae rei certus assertor sit. Haec interim juxta litteram.","english":"(III, 11). But what seems blasphemous: \"Who knows whether the spirit of the sons of men ascends upward, and the spirit of the beast descends downward into the earth?\" — he does not contend that there is no difference between beasts and man according to the dignity of the soul, but by adding \"who,\" he wished to demonstrate the difficulty of the matter. For the pronoun \"who\" in the Holy Scriptures is always taken not for the impossible, but for the difficult. As there: \"His generation who shall declare?\" (Isa. LIII, 8)? And in the fourteenth psalm: \"Lord, who has dwelt in your tabernacle, and on your holy mountain\" (Ps. XIV, 1)? and the rest that follow. And in Jeremiah, although in the Hebrew it is otherwise: \"And man is, and who shall know him\" (Jer. XVII, 9)? Between men, therefore, and beasts this alone is the difference, that the spirit of man ascends into heaven, and the spirit of the beast descends into the earth, and is dissolved with the flesh: if indeed some ecclesiastical man, learned in heavenly disciplines, and as it were a certain asserter of a doubtful matter, [treats] of this thing. These things for the meantime according to the letter.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":59,"ref":"p59","source":"Quantum autem ad spiritualem intelligentiam pertinet: Quoniam homines et jumenta salvos faciet Dominus (Psal. XXXV, 7); et in alio loco: Ut jumentum sum, inquit, apud te, et ego semper tecum (Psal. LXXII, 23): et in omnibus prophetis homines et pecora in Jerusalem salvanda dicuntur, et impleri terram repromissionis·2 pecoribus et armentis; quis scit, utrum sanctos, qui hominis appellatione dignus est, ascendat in coelum, et utrum peccator, qui jumentum vocatur, descendat in terram? Fieri enim potest pro incerto vitae hujus, et lubrico statu, ut et justus concidat, et peccator exsurgat, et nonnunquam evenit, ut rationabilior, et eruditus in Scripturis, id est 3, homo, non circumspecte, et ut scientia sua dignum est, vivat, et deducatur ad inferos, et simplicior quisque atque rusticior, qui jumentum hominis comparatione dicatur, melius vivat, et martyrio coronetur, ac paradisi sit colonus.","english":"But as far as the spiritual understanding is concerned: \"Since men and beasts the Lord will save\" (Ps. 35:7); and in another place: \"As a beast I am, he says, before you, and I am always with you\" (Ps. 72:23); and in all the prophets men and cattle are said to be saved in Jerusalem, and the land of promise is to be filled with cattle and herds; who knows whether he ascends into heaven as a saint, who is worthy of the name of man, and whether he descends into the earth as a sinner, who is called a beast? For it can happen, given the uncertainty and slippery state of this life, that both the just man falls and the sinner rises, and it sometimes comes about that the more rational man, and one learned in the Scriptures, that is, a man, does not live circumspectly and as his knowledge deserves, and is led down to the underworld, while anyone more simple and rustic, who is called a beast in comparison with a man, lives better, and is crowned with martyrdom, and is a dweller in paradise.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":60,"ref":"p60","source":"« Et vidi, quia non est bonum, nisi quod laetetur homo in opere suo, quia haec est pars ejus. Quis enim adducet eum, ut videat id, quod futurum est post ipsum? » Pro eo quod nos posuimus: « Ut videat id quod futurum est post ipsum, » apertius interpretatus est Symmachus, dicens: « Ut videat ea quae futura sunt post haec 4. Nihil est ergo bonum in vita ista, nisi quod laetatur homo in opere suo, faciens eleemosynam, et futuros sibi thesauros in regno coelorum praeparans. Hanc solam habemus portionem, quam nec fur nec latro valet, nec tyrannus auferre, et quae nos post mortem sequatur. Nec enim possumus, cum haec vita fuerit dissoluta, rursum nostris laboribus perfrui, aut scire quae futura sint in mundo postea. Aliter: Superiori errore turbatus, quod putarem inter homines et bestias nihil interesse, in hanc sententiam prava opinione deductus sum 5, ut nihil aliud boni dicerem, nisi praesentem carpere voluptatem. Neque enim cum semel nos dissolvisset interitus, posse his perfrui, a quibus recederemus ingrati. Alii de hoc quod ait: « Quis enim adducet eum, ut videat ea, quae sunt futura post se, » ad illam intelligentiam retulerunt, ut dicerent: Melius esse suis hominem laboribus perfrui; quia hoc solum de substantia sua posset auferre. Cum mors venerit, nescire quali sit haerede moriturus, utrum dignus, an indignus, suis opibus perfruatur.","english":"And I saw that there is nothing good except that a man rejoice in his own work, for this is his portion. For who will bring him to see what will be after him? For what we rendered as \"that he may see what will be after him,\" Symmachus translated more clearly, saying: \"that he may see the things that will be after these.\" There is therefore nothing good in this life except that a man rejoice in his own work, doing almsgiving and preparing for himself treasures to come in the kingdom of heaven. This alone we have as our portion, which neither thief nor robber can take away, nor tyrant, and which follows us after death. For we cannot, once this life has been dissolved, again enjoy our labors, or know what will be in the world afterward. Otherwise: disturbed by the former error—that I thought there was no difference between men and beasts—I was led by a perverse opinion into this view, so that I said there was no other good except to pluck the present pleasure. For once destruction has dissolved us, we cannot enjoy those things from which we depart ungrateful. Others have referred this saying, \"For who will bring him to see the things that are after him,\" to that understanding, so as to say: it is better for a man to enjoy his own labors, because this alone he could take away from his substance. When death comes, he does not know with what kind of heir he will die—whether a worthy or an unworthy one will enjoy his wealth.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":61,"ref":"p61","source":"(Cap. IV). « Et conversus sum ego, et vidi universas calumnias quae fiunt sub sole, et ecce lacrymae eorum qui calumniam sustinent, et non est qui consoletur eos, et in manibus calumniantium eos fortitudo: et non est eis consolator. » Post hanc cogitationem illuc mentem meam oculosque conveni, ut viderem calumniatores, et calumniam sustinentes. Et ecce hi, qui injuste a potentioribus opprimuntur, lacrymis, quas solum habere in calamitatibus licet, rei invidiam protes(??)antes, consolatorem non queunt reperire. Et quo major miseria sit, et inconsolabilis dolor 2, calumniatores vident in suis iniquitatibus fortiores. Et haec est causa, quod non valeant consulari. Plenius hunc locum in psalmo septuagesimo secundo David, et Jeremias in suo volumine exsequuntur 4.\n\n« Et laudavi ego mortuos, qui jam mortui sunt, super viventes quicunque ipsi vivunt usque nunc. Ev melior super hos duos, qui nondum natus est, qui nondum vidit opus malum, quod factum est sub sole. » Ad comparationem miseriarum, quae in hoc saeculo mortales premunt, feliciores judicavi mortuos, quam viventes, secundum illud Job de inferis disputantis: Ibi reguieverunt lassi corpore, cum his qui vincti fuerant, jam securi, non audientes vocem exactoris (Job. III, et 18). Melior autem est his duobus, vivente videlicet et defuncto, qui necdum natus est. Alius enim adhuc mala patitur, alius quasi de naufragio nudus evasit.","english":"(Cap. IV). \"And I turned myself, and I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and behold the tears of those who suffer oppression, and there is no one to console them, and in the hands of those who oppress them there is power: and they have no comforter.\" After this reflection I directed my mind and eyes there, so that I might see the oppressors and those who suffer oppression. And behold, these who are unjustly crushed by the more powerful, revealing by the tears which alone they are permitted to have in their calamities the envy of the accused, cannot find a comforter. And to make the misery greater and the grief inconsolable, the oppressors they see to be stronger in their iniquities. And this is the reason why they cannot be consoled. David in the seventy-second psalm, and Jeremiah in his volume, set forth this passage more fully.\n\n\"And I praised the dead, who are already dead, above the living, whoever they are that live until now. And better than these two is he who has not yet been born, who has not yet seen the evil work that is done under the sun.\" In comparison with the miseries that press upon mortals in this world, I judged the dead more fortunate than the living, according to that saying of Job disputing about the underworld: There have the weary in body rested, with those who had been bound, now secure, not hearing the voice of the exactor (Job 3 and 18). But better than these two—namely, the living and the dead—is he who has not yet been born. For the one still suffers evils, the other has escaped as it were naked from a shipwreck.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":62,"ref":"p62","source":"Porro qui necdum natus est, in eo felicior est, quod necdum mala mundi expertus est. Hoc autem dicit, non quod qui necdum natus est, ante sit quam nascatur, et in eo felicior sit, quia necdum corpore praegravatus est: sed quod melius sit omnino non esse 6, nec sensum habere substantiae, quam infeliciter vel esse, vel vivere. Quomodo et de Juda Dominus loquitur, futura ejus tormenta significans: Melius erat non nasci homini illi (Matth. XXVI, 24): quod melius ei fuerit omnino non esse, quam aeternos cruciatus perpeti. Alii vero hunc locum ita intelligunt: Meliores esse dicentes eos, qui mortui sunt, ab bis qui vivunt, licet ante fuerint peccatores. Viventes enim adhuc esse in praelio, et quasi clausos corporis ergastulo retentari; qui vero mortem obierint, jam esse securos, et peccare desisse. Sicut et Joannes, quo major non fuit in natis mulierum (Matth. II), minor est eo, qui minimus est in regno coelorum 7, et corporis onere liberatus, nescit cum Apostolo dicere: Miser ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus (Rom. VII, 14)? Meliorem autem his duobus esse eum, qui necdum natus est, nec vidit mala, quibus in mundo homines deprimuntur. Animas enim nostras, antequam ad corpora ista descendant, versari apud superos, et tandiu beatas esse, quaudiu coelesti Jerusalem et choro teneamur angelico.","english":"Furthermore, he who has not yet been born is happier in this, that he has not yet experienced the evils of the world. But he says this, not because he who has not yet been born existed before he was born and is happier in this, that he is not yet weighed down by the body, but because it is better altogether not to exist, nor to have any sense of substance, than to be or to live unhappily. In the same way the Lord also speaks concerning Judas, signifying his future torments: It were better for that man not to have been born (Matt. 26:24), because it would have been better for him altogether not to exist than to endure eternal torments. Others, however, understand this passage thus: they say that those who are dead are better than those who are alive, even if they were previously sinners. For the living are still in battle and are, as it were, held confined in the prison of the body; but those who have met death are now secure and have ceased to sin. Just as also John, than whom none greater has arisen among those born of women (Matt. 11), is lesser than him who is least in the kingdom of heaven, and, freed from the burden of the body, does not know how to say with the Apostle: Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death (Rom. 7:14)? But better than these two is he who has not yet been born and has not seen the evils by which men in the world are oppressed. For our souls, before they descend to these bodies, dwell above, and are blessed for as long as we are held in the heavenly Jerusalem and the angelic choir.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":63,"ref":"p63","source":"«Et vidi ego universum laborem, et simul omnem virtutem operis: quia aemulatio viri a sodali ejus; et quidem hoc vanitas et praesumptio spiritus.» Converti me rursus ad alia, et vidi omnem fortitudinem et gloriam laborantium, et deprehendi bonum alterius esse, alterius malum, dum invidus aliena felicitate torquetur, et patet insidiis gloriosus. Quid enim vanius, quid instabilius 10, et sic nihili, quam homines non suas flere miserias, vel propria lugere peccata, sed melioribus invidere?\n\n« Stultus complexus est manus suas, et comedit carnes suas. » Hic est qui et in Proverbiis (cap. XXIV) piger describitur, continens manibus pectus suum. Cui, tanquam citus cursor, venit inopia, et qui propter nimiam famem (hyperbolice autem dictum sit) comedit carnes suas. Qui melius putat esse unum pugillum habere fanis, et otiosum torpentemque vivere, quam laborantem manum utramque complere. Totum autem quod disserit, hoc est, ut ostendat, et eum qui laborat, et habet aliquid, in mundo patere invidiae, et rursus eum qui vivere vult quietus, inopia opprimi, et esse utrumque miserabilem, dum alius propter opus periclitatur, alius propter inopiam egestate conficitur. Vel certo sic. Qui alienae felicitati invidet, et quasi spiritus furore rapiatur, et invidiam in sinum suum receperit, nutrieritque eam in pectore: iste comedit animam suam, et carnes suas.","english":"And I saw all the labor, and every virtue of work: that it is a man's rivalry with his companion; and indeed this is vanity and presumption of spirit.\" I turned myself again to other things, and I saw all the strength and glory of those who labor, and I perceived that one man's good is another's evil, while the envious man is tormented by another's happiness, and the glorious man lies open to plots. For what is more vain, what more unstable, and thus more worthless, than that men should weep not for their own miseries, nor lament their own sins, but envy those who are better?\n\n\"The fool has folded his hands together, and eats his own flesh.\" This is the one who is also described in Proverbs (chapter 24) as the sluggard, holding his hands against his breast. To him, like a swift runner, poverty comes, and who because of excessive hunger (though this is said hyperbolically) eats his own flesh. He thinks it better to have one handful of hay and to live idle and sluggish than, laboring, to fill both hands. But all that he discusses is this, to show that both the man who labors and has something lies open to envy in the world, and again that the man who wishes to live quietly is oppressed by poverty, and that both are miserable, while the one is endangered because of his work, the other is consumed by want because of poverty. Or certainly thus: He who envies another's happiness, and is as it were seized by a frenzy of spirit, and has taken envy into his bosom and nourished it in his breast: that man eats his own soul, and his own flesh.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":64,"ref":"p64","source":"Quanto enim eum, cui invidet, feliciorem viderit, tanto ipse amplius contabescit et deperit, et paulatim zelo et livore distillat. Aliter: Manus crebro pro operibus accipiuntur, sicut ibi: Verbum Domini quod factum est in manu Aggaei (Aggaei I, 1), sive illius, vel hujus prophetae, quod talia opera gesserit, ut dignus exsisteret, in cujus opere fieret sermo Domini. Huic congruit et illud David: Qui docet manus meas ad praelium ( Psal. CXLIII, 1). Stultus igitur complexus est manus suas, id est, contraxit, et extendere noluit, unde non comedit labores manuum suarum quos nec habet; sed carnes suas, vivens juxta sapientiam carnis, et carnis operibus vescitans.\n\n« Melior est plenus pugillus cum requie, quam plenitudo manuum laboris et praesumptionis spiritus. » Melius est modicum habere justum, quam divitias peccatorum multas. Et in Proverbiis: Melior est parva acceptio cum justitia quam multa genimina cum iniquitate. (Prov. XVI, 8). Eleganter justitia requiem habet, iniquitas laborem. Et quia singularis numerus in bono semper accipitur, duplex in malo: propterea unus pugillus habet requiem, et duae manus labore sunt plenae.","english":"For the more fortunate he sees the one he envies to be, the more he himself wastes away and perishes, and little by little melts away through zeal and envy. Otherwise: \"hands\" are frequently taken for \"works,\" as there: \"The word of the Lord which was made in the hand of Haggai\" (Haggai 1:1), whether of that prophet or of this one, because he performed such works as to be worthy to exist, in whose work the word of the Lord might be made. To this agrees also that saying of David: \"Who teaches my hands to battle\" (Psalm 143:1). The fool, therefore, has folded his hands, that is, has drawn them in, and has refused to extend them, whence he has not eaten the labors of his hands, which he does not even have; but his own flesh, living according to the wisdom of the flesh, and feeding on the works of the flesh.\n\n\"Better is a full handful with rest, than the fullness of hands with labor and presumption of spirit.\" It is better to have a little with righteousness, than many riches of sinners. And in Proverbs: \"Better is a small receiving with justice than many offspring with iniquity\" (Proverbs 16:8). Elegantly, righteousness has rest, iniquity has labor. And because the singular number is always taken in the good, the dual in the evil: therefore one handful has rest, and two hands are full of labor.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":65,"ref":"p65","source":"« Et con versus sum ego, et vidi vanitatem sub sole. Est unus, et non est secundus, et quidem filius, et frater non est ei: et non est finis omni labori ejus. Et quidem oculus ejus non saliatur (Al. satiabitur) divitiis: et cui ego laboro, et fraudo (Al. fraudabo) animam meam a bonitate. Sed et hoc vanitas et distentio pessima est. » Conversus sum ad alios, et vidi eos, plus quam necesse est, laborare, congregare per fas et nefas opes, et non uti congregatis, habere omnia, incubare divitiis, servare alteri, et suo labore non perfrui: maxime cum nec filium, nec fratrem habeant, nec propinquum ut videatur pius labor necessariis reservatus. Nihil itaque esse vanius deprehendi, quam eum hominem, qui divi· tias congregat, cui eas relinquat ignorans. Quod quidem possumus secundum superiorem interpretationem et de his intelligere, qui libros conscribunt, et eos fastidiosis lectoribus derelinquunt. Quidam hunc locum ab eo quod ait: Est unus, et non est secundus, super Salvatore interpretantur, quod solus et absque ullo comite ad salvandum mundum descenderit. Et quanquam multi filii Dei sint, et fratres ejus adoptione dicantur: tamen nullus dignus exstiterit, qui in hoc ei opere jungeretur.","english":"And I turned myself and saw vanity under the sun. There is one, and there is no second, and indeed he has neither son nor brother: and there is no end to all his labor. And indeed his eye is not satisfied (variant: will be satisfied) with riches: and for whom do I labor, and defraud (variant: will defraud) my soul of good? But this also is vanity and a most grievous distraction. I turned to others, and I saw them laboring more than is necessary, gathering wealth by right and by wrong, and not using what they have gathered, possessing everything, brooding over riches, keeping them for another, and not enjoying their own labor: especially since they have neither son nor brother nor kinsman, so that their labor may be seen to be piously reserved for their necessary ones. I have therefore found nothing to be more vain than that man who gathers riches and does not know to whom he will leave them. This indeed we can understand, according to the former interpretation, also of those who write books and leave them to fastidious readers. Some interpret this passage, from what it says, There is one, and there is no second, as concerning the Savior, that he descended alone and without any companion to save the world. And although many are sons of God and are called his brothers by adoption, yet no one has proved worthy to be joined with him in this work.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":66,"ref":"p66","source":"Cujus laboris non est finis, portantis nostra vitia atque peccata, et pro nobis dolentis: et oculus ejus non satiabitur divitiis, semper nostram cupientis salutem, et quanto plus peccare quem viderit, tanto magis ad poenitentiam cohortantis.\n\n« Meliores duo, quam unus 2·quibus est merces bona in labore suo: quia, si ceciderit unus, eriget participem suum. Et vae uni, cum ceciderit, et non est secundus, qui erigat eum. Et quidem, si dormiant (Al. dormierint) duo, etiam calor erit illis; et unus quomodo calefiet? Et si invaluerit super eum unus, duo stabunt adversus eum, et funiculus triplex non cito rumpitur 3. » Post sollicitudines et miserias in quibus correptus est ille·5, qui in opibus conquirendis absque certo haerede se cruciat; nunc ad sodalitatem sermo confertur. Et dicitur, quid boni habeat amicorum contubernium, et in commune solatium, quia et alterius ruina alterius auxilio sublevetur, et curas domesticas, ipsius quoque noctis requiem melius exigat ille, qui fidum amicum habet, quam qui solis opibus incubat acquisitis. Quod et si robustior inimicus quis contra unum surrexerit, imbecillitatem alterius amici solatio sustentari. Et quanto duo uno differant, si amore conjuncti sint, tanto etiam trium contubernium plus valere. Etenim vera charitas, et a nullo livore violata, quanto augetur a numero, tanto crescet et robore. Et haec interim simpliciter dicta sint","english":"Whose labor has no end, as he bears our vices and sins and grieves for us; and his eye will not be satisfied with riches, as he always desires our salvation, and the more he sees anyone sin, the more he urges him to repentance.\n\n\"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor; for if one falls, he will raise up his partner. And woe to the one who falls when there is no second to raise him up. And indeed, if two sleep, they will have warmth; and how will one be warmed? And if one prevails against him, two will stand against him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.\" After the anxieties and miseries in which that man was reproved, who torments himself in gathering riches without a certain heir, the discourse is now turned to fellowship. And it is said what good the companionship of friends has, and solace in common, because the ruin of one is relieved by the help of another, and he who has a faithful friend better discharges domestic cares, and even the rest of the night itself, than he who broods over riches alone that he has acquired. And even if some stronger enemy has risen against one, the weakness of one is sustained by the solace of another friend. And as much as two differ from one, if they are joined in love, so much more also does the companionship of three prevail. For true charity, violated by no envy, the more it is increased by number, the more it will also grow in strength. And let these things for the present be said simply.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":67,"ref":"p67","source":"Caeterum, quia in superiori loco super Christo quorumdam intelligentiam posuimus, etiam reliqua eodem ordine disserenda sunt. Melius est duos pariter esse, quam unum. Melius est enim habitantem in se habere Christum, quam solum habitare 7, et patere insidiis adversantis. Merces quippe contubernii statim in ipsa societatis utilitate monstrantur. Si enim ceciderit unus, erigit (Al. eriget) Christus participem suum·8. Vae quippe ei qui, cum ruerit, Christum in se non habet erigentem. Quod si etiam dormierit unus, hoc est, si morte fuerit dissolutus, et secum Christum habuerit 1, calefactus et vivificatus citius reviviscit. Et si adversus hominem robustior in expugnando diabolus astiterit, stabit bomo, stabit et Christus pro homine suo, pro sodali suo. Non quod solius Christi adversus diabolum virtus infirma sit, sed quod liberum homini relinquatur arbitrium, et admitentibus nobis. ipse in praeliando fortior fiat.","english":"But since in the preceding passage we have set forth the understanding of certain persons concerning Christ, the remaining points also must be discussed in the same order. It is better that two be together than one. For it is better to have Christ dwelling within oneself than to dwell alone and lie open to the snares of the adversary. Indeed, the reward of companionship is shown at once in the very benefit of association. For if one falls, Christ raises up his partner. For woe to him who, when he has fallen, does not have Christ within him to raise him up. But if one also sleeps, that is, if he has been dissolved by death, and has Christ with him, being warmed and given life, he revives more quickly. And if the devil, stronger in assaulting, stands against a man, the man will stand, and Christ will stand for his man, for his companion. Not that the power of Christ alone against the devil is weak, but that free will is left to man, and when we admit him, he himself becomes stronger in the battle.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":68,"ref":"p68","source":"Quod si etiam Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus sanctus advenerint, non cito rumpitur ( Al. rumpetur ) ista sodalitas. Quod autem non cito rumpitur, tamen aliquando rumpetur. Et in Juda enim apostolo fuit triplex iste funiculus: sed quia post buccellam introivit in eum Satanas, funiculus iste diruptus est. Porro quod superius ait: « Et quidem si dormiant duo, etiam calor erit illis: et unus quomodo calefiet? » de Elisaeo sumamus exemplum, quod ipse contraxerit se cum puero, et dormierit, et calefecerit corpusculum ejus, et ita vivificaverit resurgentem (IV Reg. IV ). Nisi igitur Christus nobiscum dormierit, et in morte requieverit, calorem aeternae vitae accipere non valemus.\n\n« Melior est puer pauper et sapiens, quam rex senex et stultus, qui nescit providere in posterum. Quoniam de domo vinctorum egreditur in regem 5, quia etiam in regno ejus natus est pauper.","english":"But if even the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have come together, that fellowship is not quickly broken. Yet what is not quickly broken will nevertheless be broken at some time. For in Judas the apostle, too, there was this threefold cord; but because after the morsel Satan entered into him, that cord was burst asunder. Further, as for what he said above, \"And indeed if two sleep, there will be heat for them; and how shall one be warmed?\" let us take an example from Elisha, that he laid himself upon the boy and slept and warmed his little body, and so brought him back to life as he rose again (IV Kings IV). Unless, therefore, Christ has slept with us and rested in death, we cannot receive the heat of eternal life.\n\n\"A poor and wise child is better than an old and foolish king, who does not know how to provide for the future. For he comes forth from the house of prisoners to be king, because even in his kingdom he was born poor.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":69,"ref":"p69","source":"Vidi universos viventes, qui ambulant sub sole cum adolescente secundo, qui consurget pro illo. Non est finis omni populo, universis, qui fuerunt ante illos. Et quidem novissimi non laetabuntur in eo: sed et hoc vanitas et praesumptio spiritus. » Symmachus hunc locum ita transtulit: « Melior est pauper cum sapientia, rege sene et insipiente qui nescit praecavere vicissitudinem. Alter enim exit (Al. exivit) de carcere ad regnandum: alter vero, cum esset rex natus, paupertate oppressus est. Vidi omnes viventes, qui gradiuntur sub sole cum adolescente secundo, qui surrexit pro eo 6. Infinitus omnis populus, qui fuit ante utrumque: et posteri non laetabuntur in eo. Sed et hoc aura et pastio venti. » Hebraeus meus, cujus saepe facio mentionem, cum Ecclesiasten mecum legeret, haec Baracibam 7, quem unum vel maxime admirantur, super praesenti loco tradidisse testatus est. Melior est interior homo, qui post quartum decimum pubertatis anuum in nobis exoritur, exteriore homine, qui de matris alvo natus est, qui nescit r-cedere a vitio, et qui de domo vinctorum, de utero videlicet materno, ad hoc exivit, ut regnaret (Al. regnet) in vitiis. Qui etiam in potestate sua pauper effectus est, mala omnia perpetrando.","english":"I saw all the living who walk under the sun with the second youth, who will arise in his place. There is no end to all the people, to all who were before them. And indeed the last will not rejoice in him: but even this is vanity and presumption of spirit. Symmachus translated this passage thus: \"Better is a poor man with wisdom than an old and foolish king who does not know how to guard against change. For one goes out (or: has gone out) from prison to reign; but the other, though born a king, was oppressed by poverty. I saw all the living who walk under the sun with the second youth, who arose in his place. 6. The whole people is infinite, who was before either of them: and their descendants will not rejoice in him. But even this is a breeze and a feeding of the wind.\" My Hebrew, whom I often mention, when he was reading Ecclesiastes with me, testified that Baracibam, whom they admire as one man above all, handed down these things on the present passage. Better is the inner man, who arises in us after the fourteenth year of puberty, than the outer man, who was born from his mother's womb, who does not know how to withdraw from vice, and who went out from the house of prisoners, that is, from the maternal womb, for this purpose, that he might reign (or: may reign) in vices. He also, having been made poor in his own power, by perpetrating all evils.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":70,"ref":"p70","source":"Vidi eos, qui in priore homine vixerunt, et cum secundo homine postea versati sunt, eo videlicet, qui pro priore decessore generatus est: intellexique omnes in homine priore peccasse, antequam, secundo nascente, duo homines fierent 1. Quia vero ad meliora conversi, et post Y litteram philosophorum, sinistro tramite derelicto, ad dextrum apicem contenderunt, et secundum, id est, novissimum hominem sunt secuti, nou letabuntur in eo, id est, in priore. Hoc duos homines et Apostolus contestatur (II Thess. II,) et Leviticus non tacet: Homo, homo si voluerit illud vel illud (Levit. XVII). Vir sanctus Gregorius Ponti episcopus, Origenis auditor in Metaphrasi Ecclesiaste, ita hunc locum intellexit: « Ego vero praefero adolescentulum pauperem et sapientem 4, regi seni et stulto, cui nunquam venit in mentem, quod possibile sit, quemquam de his, quos vinxerat, ad regnum exire de carcere, et seipsum de iniqua deinceps potestate sua corruere. Evenit enim interdum ut hi qui sub adolescentulo sapiente fuerint, absque moerore sint: ita tamen ut sub sene rege ante versati sint. Qui enim postea nati sunt, quia mala praeterita nescierunt, nec adulescentulum laudare possunt, qui postea consurrexit, adducti opinione perversa et impetu spiritus adversantis. »","english":"I saw those who lived in the former man, and afterward had dealings with the second man, namely the one who was begotten in place of the former predecessor; and I understood that all sinned in the former man, before, with the second being born, they became two men. But because, turned toward better things and after the philosophers' Y, having left the left-hand path, they strove toward the right-hand summit, and followed the second, that is, the newest man, they will not rejoice in him, that is, in the former. The Apostle also testifies to these two men (II Thess. 2), and Leviticus does not keep silent: \"A man, a man, if he should wish this or that\" (Lev. 17). The holy man Gregory, bishop of Pontus, a hearer of Origen, in his Metaphrasis of Ecclesiastes understood this passage thus: \"But I prefer the poor and wise youth to the old and foolish king, into whose mind it never came that it is possible for anyone of those whom he had bound to come out of prison to the kingdom, and for himself thereafter to fall from his unjust power. For it happens sometimes that those who have been under the wise youth are without sorrow: yet in such a way that they had previously lived under the old king. For those who were born afterward, because they did not know past evils, cannot praise the youth who rose up afterward, being led by a perverse opinion and by the impulse of the opposing spirit.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":71,"ref":"p71","source":"Laodicenus interpres res magnas brevi sermone exprimere contendens, more sibi solito etiam hic locutus est: « De commutatione, inquietis, bonorum in mala nunc Ecclesiastae sermo est, insipientem hominem conantis exprimere, qui futura non cogitans, praesentibus et caducis quasi magnis atque perpetuis delectatur. Et post diversa 6, quae solent hominibus accidere in vita sua, atque mutari, quasi generalem infert de morte sententiam, quod innumerabilis multitudo intereat, et paulatim consumatur et transeat, unoquoque in suo loco alium relinquente, et rursum alium, successere moricute. »\n\nOrigenes et Victorinus non multum inter so diversa senserunt. Post generalem enim illam sententiam, quae omnibus patet, quod melior sit adolescentulus pauper et sapiens, quam rex senex et insipiens, et quod frequenter evenit, ut ille per sapientiam suam etiam de carcere regis egrediens, imperet pro dominatore perverso, et rex insipiens perdat imperium, quod tenebat: super Christo et diabolo hunc locum interpretati sunt, quod puerum pauperem et sapientem, Christum velint. Puerum, juxta illud: Magnum tibi est vocari te puerum meum (Isa. XLIX, 6); pauperem vero, quia pauper factus est, cum dives esset (II Cor. VIII, 9); et sapientem, quia proficiebat aetate et sapientia et gratia apud Deum et homines (Luc. II, 52). Iste natus est in regno senis.","english":"The Laodicean interpreter, striving to express great matters in brief speech, spoke here too in his usual manner: \"The Preacher's discourse now concerns the change of good things into evil, seeking to describe the foolish man who, giving no thought to the future, delights in present and fleeting things as though they were great and everlasting. And after the various things which are wont to happen to men in their life and to be changed, he brings in, as it were, a general opinion concerning death—that an innumerable multitude perishes and is gradually consumed and passes away, each one leaving another in his place, and again another, as the dying succeed one another.\"\n\nOrigen and Victorinus did not differ much from each other in their understanding. For after that general opinion which is evident to all—that a poor and wise young man is better than an old and foolish king, and that it frequently happens that the former, by his wisdom, even going forth from prison, rules in place of a perverse master, and the foolish king loses the empire which he held—they interpreted this passage as concerning Christ and the devil, meaning the poor and wise boy to be Christ. A boy, according to that saying: \"It is a great thing for you to be called my boy\" (Isa. 49:6); poor, because he became poor when he was rich (2 Cor. 8:9); and wise, because he advanced in age and wisdom and grace with God and men (Luke 2:52). This one was born in the kingdom of the old man.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":72,"ref":"p72","source":"Et idcirco dicit: Si esset de hoc mundo regnum meum, ministri utique mei certarent pro me, ut pon traderer Judaeis, Nunc autem non est de hoc mundo regnum meum (Joan. XVIII, 36). In illius itaque stulti senis regno, qui ostendit ei omnia regna mundi, et gloriam ejus, natus est optimus puer, et de domo vinculatorum, de quibus Jeremias in Lamentationibus loquitur, dicens: Ut humiliaret sub pedibus ejus omnes vinctos terrae (Thren. III, 34), processit ad regnum, et abiit in regionem longinquam, et contra eos, qui super se eum regnare nolebant, post aliquantum temporis rex reversus est. Praesago itaque spiritu vidit Ecclesiastes omnes viventes, qui possunt adolescentis participes esse, dicentis: Ego sum vita (Joan. XIV, 6), et vetere stulto rege dimisso, Christum sequi. Simulque duo ex Israel populi significamur. Prior qui ante adventum Domini fuerit, et posterior qui Antichristum pro Christo suscepturus est: quod prior non penitus sit abjectus (prima quippe Ecclesia ex Judaeis et apostolis congregata est), et in fine Judaei, qui Antichristum pro Christo suscepturi sunt, non laetentur in Christo.","english":"And therefore he says: If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would surely fight for me, that I not be handed over to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). So in the kingdom of that foolish old man, who showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, the best child was born, and from the house of the bound—of whom Jeremiah speaks in Lamentations, saying: That he might humble under his feet all the bound of the earth (Lam. 3:34)—he went forth to the kingdom, and departed into a far country, and against those who were unwilling that he should reign over them, after some time the king returned. And so with prophetic spirit Ecclesiastes saw all the living who can be partakers of the youth who says: I am the life (John 14:6), and, having dismissed the old foolish king, follow Christ. And at the same time two peoples of Israel are signified. The former, which existed before the coming of the Lord, and the latter, which is to receive Antichrist in place of Christ: because the former is not utterly cast off (for the first Church was gathered from the Jews and the apostles), and in the end the Jews, who are to receive Antichrist in place of Christ, will not rejoice in Christ.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":73,"ref":"p73","source":"« Custodi pedem tuum, cum vadis in domum Dei, et appropinqua, ut audias. Donum enim insipientium sacrificium 7; quia nesciunt, quod faciunt. malum. » Praecepta dat vitae, et non vult nos offendere euntes ad Ecclesiam. Non enim ingredi domum Dei, sed sine offensione ingredi, laudis est. Et si esset omnium qui sunt in Ecclesia Dei 1, audire sermonem, nunquam addidisset, appropinqua, ut audias (Exod. XXIV, et seqq.). Denique Moyses solus prope accedebat ad audiendum Deum: caeteri accedere non valebant. Quod stulti nescientes remedium esse peccati, aestimant oblatione munerum Deo satisfacere se posse, et ignorant hoc quoque malum esse atque peccatum, non obedientia et operibus bonis, sed donis et victimis emendare velle, quod fecerint. Huic congruit illud quod alibi dieitur: Obedientiam super sacrificium (I Reg. XV,21). Et: Misericordiam volo, et non sacrificium (Osee VI, 6).","english":"Guard your foot when you go into the house of God, and draw near to hear. For the sacrifice of fools is a gift, because they do not know what they do—evil.\" He gives precepts for life, and does not want us to offend as we go to the Church. For it is praiseworthy not merely to enter the house of God, but to enter without offense. And if it belonged to all who are in the Church of God to hear the word, he would never have added, \"Draw near to hear\" (Exodus 24 and following). Finally, Moses alone drew near to hear God; the others could not draw near. The foolish, not knowing that this is the remedy for sin, think they can satisfy God by the offering of gifts, and they are ignorant that it is also evil and sin to wish to amend by gifts and victims, rather than by obedience and good works, what they have done. To this agrees what is said elsewhere: \"Obedience above sacrifice\" (1 Samuel 15:21). And: \"I desire mercy, and not sacrifice\" (Hosea 6:6).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":74,"ref":"p74","source":"(Cap. V). « Noli festinare in ore tuo, et cor tuum non festinet ad proferendum verbum in conspectu Dei, quia Deus in coelo, et tu super terram. Propter hoc sint verba tua pauca, quia veniet somnium in multitudine sollicitudinis, et vox insipientis in multiplicatione sermonum.·» Plerique arbitrantur Hoc in praesenti loco praecipi, ne coram Deo facile aliquid promittamus, et sine consideratione virium voveamus ea quae explere non possumus. Adesse quippe praesentem Deum, et licet ille in coelo, nos esse videamur in terra: tamen audire, quae loquimur, et insipientiam nostram argui ex multiplicatione sermonum. Alii vero melius intelligentes, hoc praecipi affirmant, ne aut loquentes, aut cogitantes plus de Deo quam possumus, opinemur; sed sciamus imbecillitatem nostram, quod, quantum distat coelum a terra, tantum nostra opinatio a natura illius separetur: et idcirco debere verba nostra esse moderata. Sicut enim qui in multis cogitationibus est, ea somniat frequenter, de quibus cogitat: ita qui plura voluerit de divinitate disserere, incidit in stultitiam. Vel certe sic: Verba nostra pauca ideo esse debere, quod etiam ea quae nosse nos arbitramur, per speculum videmus et in aenigmate, et velut somnium comprehendimus, quod tenere nos aestimamus. Cumque plura (ut visum nobis fuerit) dixerimus, finem disputationis nostrae esse stultitiam. Ex multiloquio enim nos non effugere peccatum.","english":"(Chapter 5). \"Do not be hasty with your mouth, and do not let your heart be hasty to bring forth a word in the sight of God, because God is in heaven, and you are upon the earth. For this reason let your words be few, because a dream comes in the multitude of anxiety, and the voice of the fool in the multiplication of words.\" Many think that in this present passage the command is given that we should not easily promise anything before God, and that we should not vow without consideration of our strength things which we cannot fulfill. For they hold that God is present, and although he is in heaven and we seem to be on earth, nevertheless he hears what we say, and our foolishness is reproved by the multiplication of words. But others, understanding better, affirm that the command is this: that we should not, either in speaking or in thinking, suppose more about God than we are able; but that we should know our own weakness—that as far as heaven is from earth, so far is our opinion separated from his nature—and that for this reason our words ought to be moderate. For just as one who is occupied with many thoughts frequently dreams of the things he thinks about, so he who wishes to discourse of more things concerning the divine nature falls into foolishness. Or certainly thus: our words ought to be few for this reason, that even the things which we believe we know, we see through a mirror and in an enigma, and we comprehend as a dream what we think we hold. And when we have said many things (as it has seemed to us), the end of our disputation is foolishness. For from much speaking we do not escape sin.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":75,"ref":"p75","source":"« Cum votum feceris Deo 3, ne moreris reddere illud, quia non est voluntas in insipientibus. Quaecunque voveris 4, redde. Melius est non vovere, quam vovere et non reddere. » Simplex intelligentia interpretatione non indiget. Melius est non promittere, quam promissa non facere, quia displiceant Deo, et inter insipientes computentur, qui vota non expleant. Quod autem ait: Non est voluntas in insipientibus, subanditur, Dei, juxta illud Apostoli (I Cor. XVI, 22): Et utique non fuit voluntas, ut nunc venirem ad vos. Quod si volumus et curiosius aliquid dicere, praecipitur Christiano, ut fidem opere compleat, et non sit similis Judaeorum qui spondentes atque dicentes: Omnia quaecunque Dominus pracepit, faciemus (Exod. XXIV, 3), adoraverunt idola. Et post verberatos servos, et lapidibus oppressos, novissime ipsum quoque patrisfamilias filium trucidaverunt. Melius est ergo ancipitem diu librare sententiam 5, quam in verbis facilem, in opere esse difficilem. Servus enim qui scit voluntatem Domini sui, et non faciat eam, vapulabit multis (Luc. XII, 47).","english":"When you have made a vow to God, do not delay in paying it, because there is no will in the foolish. Whatever you have vowed, pay. It is better not to vow than to vow and not pay.\" The simple understanding does not need interpretation. It is better not to promise than not to fulfill what has been promised, because such promises displease God, and those who do not fulfill their vows are counted among the foolish. But as for what it says, \"There is no will in the foolish,\" it is implied, \"of God,\" according to that saying of the Apostle (1 Cor 16:22): \"And indeed it was not my will to come to you now.\" But if we wish to say something more carefully, the Christian is instructed to fulfill his faith by works, and not to be like the Jews who, while promising and saying, \"All things whatsoever the Lord has commanded, we will do\" (Exod 24:3), worshiped idols. And after the servants had been beaten and crushed with stones, in the end they also killed the son of the householder himself. It is better, therefore, to weigh a doubtful opinion for a long time than to be easy in words and difficult in action. For the servant who knows the will of his lord and does not do it will be beaten with many blows (Luke 12:47).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":76,"ref":"p76","source":"« Non des os tuum, ut peccare facias carnem tuam. Et ne dixeris in conspectu angeli, quia ignorantia est; ne irascatur Deos super vocem tuam, et disperdat opera manuum tuarum. » Hebraeus ita sensit: Quod non potes facere, ne promittas. Non enim in ventum dicta transeunt, sed a praesenti angelo, qui unicuique adhaeret comes, statim perferuntur ad Dominum. Et tu qui putas ignorare Deum, quod pollicitus es, provocas eum ad iracundiam, ut omnia opera tua dissipentur. Sed in eo quod ait: Ut non peccare facias carnem tuam, non diligenter eventilans, ita intellexit, quasi dixisset, Non des os tuum, ut non pecces 8. Nobis vero alter sensus videtur, quod arguantur hi, qui de vitio camis queruntur et aiunt, se corporis necessitate compulsos ea facere, quae nolint, secundum illud Apostoli (Rom. VII, 15): Non enim, quod volo, hoc ago, sed quod nolo, et caetera. Noli itaque, ait, vanas excusationes quaerere, et dare occasionem carni tuae ad peccandum, et dicere: Non ego pecco, sed quod habitat in carne mea peccatum. Denique in eo loco ubi ait: Ne dixeris coram angelo, quia ignorantia est, Aquila interpretans verbum Hebraicum SEGAGA, pro ignorantia 2, transtulit, id est, non spontaneum. Si enim, inquit, hoc dixeris, Deum provocas quasi auctorem mali atque peccati, ut iratus, si quid videris boni habere, auferat de inanibus tuis.","english":"Do not give your mouth, that you may make your flesh sin. And do not say in the sight of the angel, 'It is ignorance,' lest God be angry over your voice and destroy the works of your hands.\" The Hebrew understood it thus: what you cannot do, do not promise. For the words do not pass into the wind, but by the angel present, who attends each one as a companion, they are carried at once to the Lord. And you who think that God is ignorant of what you have promised provoke him to anger, so that all your works are scattered. But in that which he says, \"that you may make your flesh sin,\" not examining it carefully, he understood it as though he had said, \"Do not give your mouth, that you may not sin.\" But to us another sense seems right: that those are rebuked who complain of the vice of the flesh and say that they do what they do not wish, compelled by the necessity of the body, according to that of the Apostle: \"For not what I will, that I do, but what I do not will,\" and the rest. Do not, then, he says, seek vain excuses and give occasion to your flesh to sin, and say: \"It is not I who sin, but the sin that dwells in my flesh.\" Finally, in that place where he says, \"Do not say before the angel, 'It is ignorance,'\" Aquila, translating the Hebrew word SEGAGA, rendered it as \"not of one's own will\" instead of \"ignorance.\" For if, he says, you say this, you provoke God as though he were the author of evil and of sin, so that, angry, if he sees that you have any good, he may take it away from your empty things.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":77,"ref":"p77","source":"Vel certe talia sentientem, tradat in reprobum sensum, ut facias ea quae non conveniunt.\n\n« Quia in multitudine somniorum et vanitates, et verba plurima. Sed Deum time.» E(??) hunc locum ita Hebraei edisserunt. Nec superiora facias, de quibus jam dictum est, no facile somniis credas. Cum enim diversa videris per nocturnam quietem, et variis anima fuerit exagitata terroribus, sive incitata promissis, tu ea contemne, quae somnii sunt. Et solum Deum time. Qui enim somniis crediderit, vanitatibus se et ineptiis tradet. Aliter: Quia dixi atque praecepi: « Non des os tuum, ut peccare facias carnem tuam, » et quaeras varias excusationes: hoc nunc infero, quoniam in somno vitae istius, et in imagine umbrae nubis 3, qua vivimus, multa possumus invenire, quae nobis verisimilia videantur, et nostra excusare peccata. Propterea admoneo, ut id solum caveas, ne putes absentem Deum, sed eum timeas, et scias cunctis operibus tuis adesse praesentem: teque liberi arbitrii conditum non cogi, sed velle quod facias.","english":"Or certainly, if one thinks such things, let him hand him over to a reprobate mind, so that you do the things that are not fitting.\n\n\"Because in the multitude of dreams there are also vanities, and many words. But fear God.\" The Hebrews expound this passage thus: Do not do the former things, of which it has already been said, lest you readily believe dreams. For when you have seen various things during the night's rest, and your soul has been disturbed by various terrors, or stirred by promises, despise those things that belong to a dream. And fear God alone. For whoever has believed dreams hands himself over to vanities and follies. Otherwise: Because I have said and commanded: \"Do not give your mouth, that you may make your flesh sin,\" and you seek various excuses: I now add this, since in the sleep of this life, and in the image of the shadow of a cloud in which we live, we can find many things that seem to us plausible and excuse our sins. Therefore I warn you to guard against this one thing only: that you not think God is absent, but fear him, and know that he is present to all your works, and that you, created with free will, are not compelled, but will what you do.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":78,"ref":"p78","source":"« Si calumniam pauperis, et rapinam judicii 4, et injustitias videris in regione, ne mireris super negotio: quia excelsus super excelsum custodit, et excelsior est super illos, et amplius terrae in omnibus est rex in agro culto. » Christi tunica contexta desuper (Joan. XIX; Luc. VIII), nec a crucifigentibus scindi potuit: et eum a quo Salvator daemonia ejecerat, apostolorum indutum vestimentis abire praecepit. Itaque et nos nitamur Ecclesiastae nostri vestimenta non scindere, nec pro voluntate nostra opinationum pannos hinc inde consuere, sed unum disputationis servare textum, et eumdem sensum et ordinem sequi. Supra dixerat: « Ne dixeris in conspectu angeli, quoniam ignorantia est, ne irascatur Deus super vocem tuam, » et reliqua: et adversus eos fuerat locutus, qui negarent providentia res humanas regi. Quia igitur adversus hoc praeceptum suboriebatur quaestio, quare justi calumniam sustinerent, et quare iniqua fiant in toto orbe judicia, et non est ultor Deus; nune infert et solvit, quod opponi poterat, dicens: Si videris calumniam pauperis, qui beatus in Evangelio praedicatur, et res vi geri 6, non justitia, ne mireris, et tibi novum aliquid esse videatur. Excelsus quippe super excelsos haec respicit Deus, qui angelos suos super Judices et reges terrae praeposuit 7, qui possunt utique prohibere injustitiam, et magis in terra valere, quam quaevis bominum potestates.","english":"If you see the calumny of the poor, and the plundering of judgment, and injustices in the land, do not marvel at the matter: because the Most High watches over the high one, and is higher than they, and more than the earth, in all things, is the king in the cultivated field. Christ's tunic, woven from above, could not be torn even by those who crucified him; and the man from whom the Savior had cast out demons, he commanded to go away clothed in the garments of the apostles. And so let us also strive not to tear the garments of our Ecclesiastes, nor to sew together patches of opinions from here and there according to our own will, but to preserve one fabric of discussion, and to follow the same meaning and order. Above he had said: Do not say in the sight of the angel that it is ignorance, lest God be angry at your voice, and the rest; and he had spoken against those who denied that human affairs are governed by providence. Since, therefore, a question was arising against this precept—why the just endure calumny, and why unjust judgments are made throughout the whole world, and God is not the avenger—now he introduces and resolves what could be objected, saying: If you see the calumny of the poor man, who is proclaimed blessed in the Gospel, and that matters are carried on by force, not by justice, do not marvel, and do not let it seem to you to be something new. For God, the Most High, looks upon these things above the high ones, he who has set his angels over the judges and kings of the earth, who can indeed prohibit injustice, and prevail more on earth than any human powers.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":79,"ref":"p79","source":"Sed quoniam servat in fine judicium, et in consummatione mundi, quando cum matura seges fuerit, et messores venerint, jussurus est, ut separetur triticum, et lolium tradatur incendio: ideo nunc exspectat et differt sententiam, quandiu ager mundi istius excolatur 8. Quod autem ager interpretetur mundus, Dominus in parabola zizaniorum et tritici exposuit (Matth. XIII).\n\n« Qui diligit argentum, non implebitur argento, et qui diligit divitias, non fruetur eis. Sed et hoc vanitas. In multitudine enim bonorum multi sunt, qui comedunt ea 9, et quae est fortitudo habenti illa, nisi ut videat oculis suis? Ubicunque argentum ponimus, secundum Graeci sermonis ambiguitatem, potest et pecunia transferri: quippe utrumque significat. Porro Tullius pecuniosos primitus eos dictos refert, qui plura habuissent peculia 1, id est pecora. Ita enim ea antiquitus appellabant. Paulatim autem per abusionem, nomen ad aliud devolutum est. Avarus igitur describitur, quod nunquam opibus expleatur, et quanto plus habuerit, tanto plus cupiat. Flacci quoque super hoc concordante sententia, qui ait (Horat. l. I Epistolar. epist. 2, ad Laelium): Semper avarus eget. et nobilis historici 3, quod avaritia, neque inopia, neque copia minuatur. Nihil ergo, inquit Ecclesiastes, prosunt divitiae possidenti, nisi hoc solum ut videat quae possidet.","english":"But because he reserves judgment for the end, and at the consummation of the world, when the harvest is ripe and the reapers have come, he will command that the wheat be separated and the tares handed over to the fire: therefore for now he waits and defers sentence, as long as the field of this world is cultivated. That the field is to be interpreted as the world, the Lord set forth in the parable of the tares and the wheat (Matthew 13).\n\n«He who loves silver will not be filled with silver, and he who loves riches will not enjoy them. But this also is vanity. For in the multitude of goods there are many who eat them, and what strength has he who possesses them, except that he see with his eyes?» Wherever we place “silver,” according to the ambiguity of the Greek word, it can also be rendered “money”; for it signifies both. Furthermore, Tully reports that those were first called “pecuniosi” who had more “peculia,” that is, cattle. For so they called them in ancient times. But gradually, by misuse, the name was transferred to another meaning. Therefore the avaricious man is described as one who is never filled by wealth, and the more he has, the more he desires. The opinion of Flaccus also agrees on this point, who says (Horace, Book I of the Epistles, Epistle 2, to Lelius): “The avaricious man is always in need.” And the noble historian says that avarice is diminished neither by want nor by abundance. Therefore, says Ecclesiastes, riches profit the possessor nothing, except only this, that he see what he possesses.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":80,"ref":"p80","source":"Quanto enim major fuerit substantia, tanto plures ministros habebit, qui opes devorent congregatas. Ille autem videat tantum, quod habet, et plus quam unius hominis cibum capere non possit.\n\n« Dulcis somnus operanti, sive paululum, sive plus comederit. Et saturitas divitis non sinit cum dormire. » Adhuc de divite et avaro sermo est, et comparatur operanti, et absque sollicitudine dormienti, sive parum sive multum comederit, quod ille labore operis et sudore qualemvis cibum digerat, et dulci somno perfruatur. Dives vero distentus dapibus, et cogitationibus in diversa laceratus, dormire non valeat, redundante crapula, et incocto cibo in stomachi augustiis, aestuante 4. Porro, quia somnus, et communis de hac vita exitus appellatur, melior erit requies ejus qui operatur in praesenti, et secundum vires suas in bonis operibus conversatur, quam eorum divitiae, de quibus scribitur: Vae vobis divitibus 5, quia recepistis consolationem vestram (Luc. VI, 24).","english":"For the larger the substance, the more servants it will have to devour the gathered wealth. But let him see only what he has, and he cannot take in more food than one man.\n\n\"Sweet is the sleep of the laborer, whether he has eaten little or much. And the rich man's satiety does not let him sleep.\" The discourse is still about the rich and avaricious man, and he is compared to the laborer, who sleeps without anxiety, whether he has eaten little or much, because by the labor of his work and his sweat he digests whatever food, and enjoys sweet sleep. But the rich man, distended with feasts and torn by thoughts in different directions, cannot sleep, with drunkenness overflowing and undigested food in the narrow confines of his stomach, burning. Further, because sleep is also called the common departure from this life, the rest of the one who labors in the present and, according to his strength, conducts himself in good works will be better than the riches of those about whom it is written: Woe to you who are rich, because you have received your consolation (Luke 6:24).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":81,"ref":"p81","source":"« Est languor pessimus, quem vidi sub sole, divitias custodiri a domino in malum ejus. Et perierunt divitiae illae in distentione pessima. Et genuit filium, et non est in manibus ejus quidquam 7. Sicut exivit de utero matris suae, nudus revertetur, ut venit 8, et nihil tollet laboris sui, ut vadat in manibus ejus. Sed et hoc languor pessimus, quia sicut venit, sic et vadit. Quid ergo habebit amplius, quia laboravit in ventum? Et omnibus diebus suis in tenebris comedet, et in indignatione plurima, et in infirmitate, et in iracundia. » Cum superiore junge quod sequitur: Ecclesiaste divitem describente, qui. nec ipse possit suis divitiis perfrui, et crebro propter eas in discrimen veniat, nec haeredi, quod congregavit, relinquat; sed et ipse et filius ejus, sicut venerunt nudi, ita nudi revertantur in terram, et nihil eos suorum comitetur laborum. Nonno enim languor est pessimus, pro divitiis cogitatione torqueri, et perituras opes, nec quas nobiscum possumus auferre morientes, in tristitia, in gemitu, in indignatione, in litibus, casso laboro conquirere? Et haec secundum simplicem sensum. Caeterum ut altius elevemur, de philosophis mihi videtur, vel haereticis dicere, qui congregant divitias dogmatum in malum suum, et nec repertores utilitatem possunt aliquam consequi, nec sectatoribus suis fructum relinquere perpetuum.","english":"This is the worst affliction that I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his own harm. And those riches perished in the worst ruin. And he fathered a son, and there is nothing in his hands. As he came out of his mother's womb, naked he will return as he came, and he will take nothing of his labor with him, so as to go with anything in his hands. But this too is the worst affliction: that as he came, so he goes. What then will he have more, because he labored for the wind? And all his days he eats in darkness, and in great indignation, and in sickness, and in anger.\" Join what follows with the preceding: Ecclesiastes describes the rich man, who can neither himself enjoy his riches, and often comes into danger on account of them, nor leaves to an heir what he has gathered; but both he and his son, as they came naked, so return naked to the earth, and nothing of their labors accompanies them. For is it not the worst affliction to be tormented in thought over riches, and to acquire perishing wealth—which we cannot carry away with us when we die—in sorrow, in groaning, in indignation, in disputes, with fruitless toil? And this according to the simple sense. But that we may be lifted higher, it seems to me that he speaks of philosophers, or of heretics, who gather the riches of doctrines to their own harm, and can neither themselves attain any benefit from what they have found, nor leave a lasting fruit to their followers.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":82,"ref":"p82","source":"Sed et ipsi, et discipuli, revertuntur in terram, et perdunt divitias ab eo qui dixit: Perdam sapientiam sapientium, et prudentiam prudentium reprobabo (I Cor. I, 19) Vere quippe, sicut egressi sunt de utero matris suae, de perversa videlicet Ecclesia, ejusque contraria de qua scriptam est: Quae autem sursum est Jerusalem, libera est, quae est mater omnium nostrum (Galat. IV, 26), sic nudi vadent in ventum, et in nihilum laborantes. Qui defecerunt scrutantes scrutinio (Psal. LXII, 7), et feruntur omni vento doctrinae, nec habent lucem, sed in tenebris sua comedunt sacramenta. Semper in infirmitate, semper in iracundia sunt, thesaurizantes sibi iram in die irae, nec habentes propitium Deum.\n\nEcce quod vidi ego bonum, quod est optimum, comedere, et bibere, et cernere jucunditatem in omni labore suo, quo laboravit sub sole, numero dierum vitae suae, quos dedit ei Deus, haec quippe est pars ejus. Sed et omnis homo, cui dedit Deus divitias et substantiam, concessitque ei, ut vesceretur ex cis, et tolleret partem suam, et laetaretur de labore suo, hoc Dei donum est. Non enim multum recordabitur dierum vitae suae, quia Deus occupat in laetitia cor ejus. » Ad comparationem ejus, qui opibus suis in curarum tenebris vescitur, et cum grandi vitae taedio peritura comportat, meliorem dicit esse eum, qui praesentibus fruitur.","english":"But both they and their disciples return to the earth and lose the riches from him who said: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject (1 Cor. 1:19). Truly, just as they came forth from their mother's womb—that is, from the perverse Church, and from her opposite, of which it is written: But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all (Gal. 4:26)—so they shall go naked into the wind, laboring unto nothing. They have failed, searching with scrutiny (Ps. 62:7), and are carried about by every wind of doctrine, and they have no light, but in darkness they eat their own sacraments. They are always in weakness, always in anger, treasuring up for themselves wrath on the day of wrath, and having no God propitious to them.\n\nBehold, this is what I have seen to be good, what is best: to eat and drink and to behold enjoyment in all one's labor, which he has labored under the sun, through the number of the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion. But also every man to whom God has given riches and substance, and has granted him to eat from them and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor—this is a gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life, because God occupies his heart with joy. In comparison with him who feeds on his wealth in the darkness of cares, and with great weariness of life heaps up things that will perish, he says that the one who enjoys the present is better.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":83,"ref":"p83","source":"Hic enim vel parva voluptas est in fruendo: ibi vero sollicitudinum tantummodo magnitudo. Et reddit causas, quare Dei donum sit frui posse divitiis. Quoniam, Non multum recordabitur dierum vitae suae. Avocat quippe eum Deus in laetitia cordis sui: non erit in tristitia, non cogitatione vexabitur, abductus laetitia et voluptate praesenti. Sed melius est juxta Apostolum (I Cor. X, 3). spiritualem escam et spiritualem potum a Deo datum intelligi, et videre bonitatem in omni labore suo, quia ingenti labore et studio vera possumus contemplari bona. Et haec est pars nostra, ut in nostro studio et labore laetemur. Quod licet bonum sit, tamen, donec Christus manifestetur vita nostra, necdum plene bonum est. Et ideo non multum recordabitur Deus dierum vitae nostrae. Notandum quoque, quod hic in meliori parte accipitur pro occupatione spiritualis veraeque laetitiae.","english":"For here there is but a small pleasure in enjoyment; there, however, only the magnitude of anxieties. And he gives the reasons why it is a gift of God to be able to enjoy riches. Because, He will not much remember the days of his life. For God calls him away into the gladness of his heart: he will not be in sorrow, he will not be troubled by thought, drawn away by present gladness and pleasure. But it is better, according to the Apostle (1 Cor. 10:3), to understand the spiritual food and spiritual drink given by God, and to see the goodness in all his labor, because by great labor and zeal we are able to contemplate true goods. And this is our portion, that we rejoice in our zeal and labor. Although this is good, nevertheless, until Christ our life is made manifest, it is not yet fully good. And therefore God will not much remember the days of our life. It must also be noted that here \"in the better part\" is taken for the occupation of spiritual and true gladness.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":84,"ref":"p84","source":"(Cap. VI.) « Est malum, quod vidi sub sole, et frequens apud homines. Vir cui dedit Deus divitias, et substantiam, et gloriam, et nihil deest animae ejus ex omnibus, quae desideravit, et non dedit ei Deus potestatem, ut manducaret ex eo, sed vir alienus comedit illud. Haec vanitas est, et languor pessimus. Si genuerit vir centum et annis multis vixerit, et plures fuerint dies annorum ejus, et anima ejus non repleatur bonis, nec sepulerum fuerit illi, dixi melius ab eo esse abortivum. In vanitate quippe venit, et in tenebris nomen ejus abscondetur. Et quidem solem non vidit, nec cognovit, requies huic magis quam illi. Et si vixerit mille annos duplices, et bonitatem non vidit, nonne ad locum unum omnia properant? » Describit avarum divitem, et hoc malum frequens esse in hominibus asserit, qnod nihil eorum, quae in mundo putantur bona, ei desit, et nihilominus stultissima parcitate se cruciet, aliis devoranda conservans. Necnon et illud hyperbolice adjicit, quod etiam si centum liberos procreavit, et non ut Adam, prope mille, sed duobus millibus vixerit annis, et anima ejus cupiditate et avaritia contabescat: multo deterioris conditionis sit abortivo, qui statim ut natus videtur, interiit.","english":"(Chapter VI.) “There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is frequent among men. A man to whom God has given riches, and substance, and glory, and whose soul lacks nothing of all that he desired, and God has not given him power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it. This is vanity, and a most grievous sickness. If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, and the days of his years be many, and his soul is not filled with good things, and he has no burial, I said that an abortive child is better than he. For he comes in vanity, and his name shall be hidden in darkness. And indeed he has not seen the sun, nor known it; this one has more rest than that one. And if he lives a thousand years twice over, and has not seen good, do not all things hasten to one place?” He describes the covetous rich man, and asserts that this evil is frequent among men: that he lacks none of those things which are thought to be good in the world, and nevertheless torments himself with the most foolish frugality, preserving for others what they will devour. And moreover he adds this by way of hyperbole: that even if he has begotten a hundred children, and has lived not, like Adam, nearly a thousand years, but two thousand years, and his soul wastes away with desire and avarice, he is in a far worse condition than the abortive child, who perished as soon as he seemed to be born.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":85,"ref":"p85","source":"Ille enim nec mala vidit, nec bona: iste vero, cum bona possederit, semper tristitiis et cogitatione cruciatus est: magisque requiem habeat abortivus, quam avarus ille longaevus: et tamen ambo aequali fine rapiantur 5, dum et hic et ille morte simili subtrahuntur. Potest hoc et de Israel accipi, quod dederit illi Deus Legem, et Prophetas, Testamentum, et repromissionem, Salvatore dicente: Quia auferetur a vobis regnum Dei, et dabitur genti facienti fructus ejus (Matth. XXI, 43). Haec omnia ad alienum et peregrinum de gentibus translata sint populum, et videant illi bona sua, et non fruantur. Multoque nos conditionis esse melioris, qui quasi abortivi et novelli putabamur ab eis, qui sibi in antiquitate applaudebant de patribus gloriantes atque dicentes: Pater noster est Abraham (Joan. VIII, 39): et tamen ad unum locum et nos et illos properare, id est, ad judicium Dei. Quod autem in medio ait: Et quidem sepulcrum non fuit ei; sive hoc significat, quod dives ille de sua morte non cogitet, et cum omnia possideat, etiam in exstructione sepulcri avarus sit; sive quod saepe propter istas divitias occisus insidiis, insepultus abjiciatur, sive, quod melius puto, nihil boni facinoris egerit 7, ex quo sibi queat apud posteros memoriam comparare, et non vitam silentio transire, velut pecudes, cum habuerit materiam, per quam potuerit apparere quod vixerit.","english":"For that one has seen neither evils nor good things; but this one, though he possessed good things, was always tormented by sorrows and thought; and the abortive child has more rest than that long-lived miser; and yet both are carried off by an equal end, since both this one and that one are removed by a similar death. This can also be understood of Israel, because God gave to them the Law, and the Prophets, the Testament, and the promise, the Savior saying: Because the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation doing its fruits (Matthew 21:43). All these things were transferred to a foreign and alien people from the Gentiles, and let them see their good things, and not enjoy them. And we are of a much better condition, who were thought to be like abortive and newborn children by those who applauded themselves in antiquity, glorying in their fathers and saying: Our father is Abraham (John 8:39); and yet both we and they hasten to one place, that is, to the judgment of God. But what he says in the middle: And indeed there was no sepulcher for him; either this signifies that that rich man does not think about his death, and when he possesses all things, is even miserly in the building of a sepulcher; or that often, on account of these riches, killed by plots, he is cast out unburied; or, which I think is better, he performed no good deed from which he could procure a memory for himself among posterity, and not pass through life in silence, like cattle, when he had the material through which it could appear that he had lived.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":86,"ref":"p86","source":"« Omnis labor hominis in ore ipsius, et quidem anima non implebitur 8. Quid enim est amplius sapienti a stulto, quid pauperi, nisi scire, ut vadat contra vitam? » Omne quod laborant homines in hoc mundo, ore consumitur, et attritum dentibus ventri traditur digerendum. Cumque paululum gulam delectaverit, tandiu videtur tribuere voluptatem, quandiu gutture continetur. Cum vero in alvum transierit, desinit Inter cibos esse distantia. Et post haec omnia, non impletur anima comedentis: sive quod rursum desideret, quod comedit, et tam sapiens quam stultus absque cibo nequeat vivere, et pauper nihil aliud quaerat, nisi quomodo (Al. quod) possit organum sui corpusculi sustentare, nec interire inedia: sive quod nullam utilitatem anima ex refectione corpusculi capiat, et cibus tam sapienti quam stulto communis sit, et illuc vadat pauper, ubi opes esse perspexerit. Melius est nutem hoc intelligi de Ecclesiastico viro, qui in Scripturis coelestibus eruditus, omnem laborem habet in ore suo. et anima ejus non impletur, dum semper cupit discere. Et in eo plus habet sapiens, quam insipiens: quia cum pauperem esse se sentiat (pauperem autem illum, qui in Evangelio beatus dicitur), properat ad ea comprehendenda, quae vitae sunt, et ambulat arctam et augustam viam, quae ducit ad vitam, et pauper est a malis operibus, et scit ubi Christus qui vita est, commoretur.","english":"All the labor of man is in his mouth, and yet the soul will not be filled. For what does the wise man have more than the fool, and what does the poor man have, except to know how to walk against life?\" Everything that men labor at in this world is consumed by the mouth, and, worn down by the teeth, is handed over to the belly to be digested. And when it has pleased the palate a little, it seems to give pleasure only as long as it is held in the throat. But when it has passed into the stomach, the distinction between foods ceases. And after all these things, the soul of the one eating is not filled: whether because he desires again what he has eaten, and both the wise man and the fool cannot live without food, and the poor man seeks nothing else except how he may sustain the organ of his little body and not perish from hunger; or because the soul derives no benefit from the refreshment of the little body, and food is common to the wise man and the fool alike, and the poor man goes there where he has seen that riches are. But it is better that this be understood of the ecclesiastical man, who, instructed in the heavenly Scriptures, has all his labor in his mouth, and his soul is not filled, since he always desires to learn. And in this the wise man has more than the foolish man: because, when he feels that he is poor (but that poor man who is called blessed in the Gospel), he hastens to grasp those things which are of life, and walks the narrow and strait way which leads to life, and is poor in evil works, and knows where Christ, who is life, dwells.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":87,"ref":"p87","source":"« Melior est aspectus oculorum super ambulantem in anima. Sed et hoc vanitas et praesumptio spiritus. » Dilucide hoc interpretatus est Symmachus, dicens: « Melius est providere, quam ambulare, ut libet; » id est, melius ost juxta sensum cuncta agere, qui animae est oculus, quam voluntatem cordis sequi 1. Hoc est enim ambulare in anima, sicut Ezechiel ait: Qui ambulant in voluntate cordis sui (Ezech. II, 21), Vel certe superbum et sibi placentem arguit, et meliorem dicit esse eum, qui cuncta provideat, quam illum, cui nihil placet, nisi quod ipse fecerit: quo nihil est deterius, et omni vento inanius. Rursum et hic praesumptionem spiritus, Aquila et Theodotio, pastionem venti, interpretati sunt: Symmachus vero afflictionem spiritus. Porro sciendum est, quod apud Hebraeos et spiritus et ventus similiter appellentur, id est, RUHA 2.","english":"The sight of the eyes is better than walking in the soul. But this also is vanity and presumption of spirit.\" Symmachus has interpreted this clearly, saying: \"It is better to look ahead than to walk as one pleases;\" that is, it is better to do all things according to the sense which is the eye of the soul, than to follow the will of the heart. For this is to walk in the soul, as Ezekiel says: \"Who walk in the will of their own heart\" (Ezek. 2:21). Or certainly he reproves the proud man who pleases himself, and says that better is the one who looks ahead in all things than the one to whom nothing is pleasing except what he himself has done: than which nothing is worse, and nothing more empty than any wind. Again, here too Aquila and Theodotion interpreted \"presumption of spirit\" as \"pasture of wind,\" while Symmachus rendered it \"affliction of spirit.\" Furthermore, it must be known that among the Hebrews both \"spirit\" and \"wind\" are called alike, that is, RUHA.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":88,"ref":"p88","source":"« Quid est, quod futurum est? jam vocatum est nomen ejus, et cognitum, quia homo est, et non poterit judicari cum fortiore se. » Aperte de Salvatoris praedicatur adventu, quod qui futurus est, antequam in corpore cerneretur, jam vocatum est in Scripturis nomen ejus, et cognitum prophetis et sanctis Del: quia homo sit, et juxta hoc quod homo est, non possit se conferre cum Patre, et in Evangelio dicat: Pater qui me misit, major me est (Joan. XIV, 28). Unde et in consequentibus praecipitur, ne ultra quam de eo nobis scriptum est, requiramus. ne velit homo plus scire, quam Scriptura testata est. Cum enim de statu nostro ignoremus, et vita nostra quasi umbra pertranseat, et futura incerta sint, non nobis expedit ut majora quam possumus inquiramus. Nonnulli illud in hoc loco significari putant, quod omnium, qui futuri sunt, et hominum corpore circumdandi, jam Deus vocabulum noverit: nec possit homo respondere contra artificem suum, quare ita vel ita factus sit. Quanto enim amplius quaesierimus, tanto magis ostendi vanitatem nostram et verba superflua: et non ex praescientia Dei liberum tolli arbitrium, sed causas ante praecedere, quare unumquodque sic facium sit.","english":"What is it that is to come? Its name has already been called, and it is known that he is man, and he will not be able to be judged with one stronger than himself.\" This is plainly spoken of the coming of the Savior: that he who is to come, before he was seen in the body, already had his name called in the Scriptures, and was known to the prophets and the saints of God; because he is man, and according to this, that he is man, he cannot compare himself with the Father, and says in the Gospel: \"The Father who sent me is greater than I\" (John 14:28). Hence also in what follows it is commanded that we should not seek beyond what has been written for us concerning him, lest a man wish to know more than Scripture has testified. For since we are ignorant of our own condition, and our life passes by like a shadow, and future things are uncertain, it is not expedient for us to inquire into greater things than we are able. Some think that what is signified in this place is that God already knows the name of all who are to be, and who are to be clothed with a human body; and that man cannot answer against his Maker why he was made thus or thus. For the more we have sought, the more our vanity and superfluous words are shown; and that free will is not taken away by God's foreknowledge, but that causes precede, on account of which each thing has been made so.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":89,"ref":"p89","source":"« Quia sunt verba multa multiplicantia vanitatem. Quid est amplius homini 5? Quis enim cognovit quid sit bonum homini in vita, numero dierum vitae vanitatis ejus? et faciet eos quasi umbram, quia quis annuntiabit bomini, quid sit post eum sub sole? » Cum, inquit. ignoret homo de statu suo, et quaecunque videtur scire et cernere, non ut se rei habet veritas, sed per speculum, et umbram et Imaginem videat, nec futura cognoscat, et in multiloquio non effugiat peccatum; silentium ponat ori suo, et credat eum venisse qui scriptus est. quomodo, et quantus, et qualis venorit, non requirens.\n\n(Cap. VII.) « Bonum est nomen super oleum bonum, et dies mortis super diem nativitatis ejus.» Considera, inquit, o homo, dies tuos breves, et quia cito esse, soluta carne, cessabis: fac tibi famam longiorem, ut quomodo unguentum nares odore delectat, sic ad tuum vocabulum cuncta posteritas delectetur. Quod perspicue interpretatus est Symmachus, dicens: « Melius est nomen bonum, quam unguentum hene olens. » Siquidem moris est Hebraeorum unguentum bonum, oleum nuncupare. Quod autem ait: « Et dies mortis super diem nativitatis ejus, » vel hoc ostendit, melius esse exire de saeculo, et carere tribulationibus atque incerto vitae statu, quam ingredientem mundum, haec omnia sustinere. Vel certe quod in morte, quales simus, notum sit: in exordio vero nascendi, qui (Al. quales) futuri simus, ignoretur.","english":"Because there are many words multiplying vanity. What is there more for man? For who knows what is good for man in his life, in the number of the days of his vain life? And he will make them like a shadow, because who will announce to man what is after him under the sun?\" Since, he says, man is ignorant of his own condition, and whatever he seems to know and perceive, he sees not as the truth of the matter stands, but through a mirror, and a shadow, and an image, nor does he know future things, and in much speaking he does not escape sin; let him put silence to his mouth, and believe that he has come who was written of—not asking how, or how great, or of what kind he came.\n\n(Chapter VII.) \"A good name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of his birth.\" Consider, he says, O man, your brief days, and that you will quickly cease to be once the flesh is dissolved: make for yourself a longer-lasting fame, so that just as ointment delights the nostrils by its fragrance, so all posterity may be delighted at your name. Symmachus translated this plainly, saying: \"A good name is better than sweet-smelling ointment.\" Indeed, it is the custom of the Hebrews to call good ointment \"oil.\" But what he says—\"and the day of death than the day of his birth\"—shows either this: that it is better to depart from the world and be free of tribulations and the uncertain state of life, than as one entering the world to endure all these things; or certainly that in death it is known what sort we are, whereas at the beginning of being born, what we will be is unknown.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":90,"ref":"p90","source":"Aut quod nativitas alliget corpore (Al. corpori) libertatem animae, mors resolvat.\n\n« Melius est ire ad domum luctus, quam ad domum convivii, in quo finis est omnis hominis: et qui vivit, dabit ad cor suum. » Utilius est ad exsequias funeris, quam ad domum ire convivii, quia ibi conditionis nostrae et fragilitatis humanae ex praesenti cadavere commonemur. In convivii autem laetitia, etiam si quid timoris habere videbamur, amittimus. Novissimum versum apertius interpretatus est Symmachus, dicens: « Et qui vivit, respiciet ad mentem. » Ex quibus approbatur, in eo quod superius cibum et potum visus est approbare, non eum voluptatem rebus praeferre cunctis, ut plerique male aestimant: sed ad comparationem avaritiae et nimiae parcitatis, licet breve sit, plus esse, si vel ad momentum quis suis opibus perfruatur. Nunquam enim tristitiam lucius festivitati convivii praetulisset 2, si bibere et vesci alicujus putasset esse momenti.","english":"Or that birth binds the freedom of the soul to the body, and death releases it.\n\n\"It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, in which is the end of every man: and he who lives will give to his heart.\" It is more useful to go to a funeral procession than to the house of feasting, because there, from the corpse present before us, we are reminded of our condition and human frailty. But in the joy of a feast, even if we seemed to have some fear, we lose it. Symmachus interpreted the last verse more clearly, saying: \"And he who lives will look to the mind.\" From these things it is approved that, in the fact that above he seemed to approve food and drink, he does not prefer pleasure to all things, as many wrongly judge, but in comparison with avarice and excessive stinginess, although it is brief, it is more, if one enjoys his own wealth even for a moment. For he would never have preferred the sadness of mourning to the festivity of a feast, if he had thought that drinking and eating were of any importance.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":91,"ref":"p91","source":"« Melior est ira quam risus, quia in moerore vultus emendabitur cor. » Risus dissolvit riddentem: ira corripit et emendat. Irascamur et nobis, si quando peccamus, irascamur et aliis. Per tristitiam quippe vultus, melior fiet animus, ut interpretatus est Symmachus. Et idcirco: Vae nunc ridentibus, quoniam ipsi lugebunt (Luc. VI, 25)!\n\n« Cor sapientium in domo luctus, et cor insipientium in domo laetitiae. » Beati, inquit Salvator, lugentes, quoniam ipsi consolabuntur (Matth. V, 5). Lugebat et Samuel regem Saul omnibus diebus vitae suae (II Reg. XVI). Et Paulus super eos qui post peccata varia noluerant agere poenitentiam, lugere se dicit (II Cor. XII). Cor igitur sapientis vadat ad domum talis viri, qui se corripiat delinquentem, ut adducat ad lacrymas, qui provocet propria flere peccata, et non eat ad domum laetitiae, ubi doctor adulatur et decipit, ubi non conversionem audientium, sed et plausus quaerit et laudem. Talis praeceptor plangitur, dives in sermone, dives in verbis 4, qui quia saturatus est, propterea recepit consolationem suam. Denique huic expositioni etiam sequentes versiculi concordant. Ait enim:","english":"Better is anger than laughter, for in sorrow the countenance is corrected.\" Laughter dissolves the one who laughs; anger rebukes and corrects. Let us be angry, and if ever we sin, let us be angry even with ourselves, and angry with others too. For through sadness of countenance the mind becomes better, as Symmachus translated it. And therefore: Woe to those who now laugh, for they shall mourn (Luke 6:25)!\n\n\"The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, and the heart of fools in the house of gladness.\" Blessed, says the Savior, are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matthew 5:5). Samuel also mourned for King Saul all the days of his life (2 Samuel 16). And Paul says that he mourns over those who after various sins have been unwilling to do penance (2 Corinthians 12). Therefore let the heart of the wise go to the house of such a man, one who rebukes him when he does wrong, so as to bring him to tears, who stirs him to weep for his own sins, and let him not go to the house of gladness, where the teacher flatters and deceives, where he seeks not the conversion of his hearers but even applause and praise. Such a teacher is lamented, rich in speech, rich in words, who because he is satiated has therefore received his consolation. Finally, the following verses also agree with this exposition. For it says:","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":92,"ref":"p92","source":"« Melius est audire correptionem sapientis, super virum audientem carmen stultorum. Quia sicut vox spinarum sub olla, sic risus stulti. Sed et hoc vanitas. » Melius enim est a sapiente corripi, quam adulatione decipi blandiente. Cui simile est illud: Meliora sunt vulnera amici, quam voluntaria oscula inimici (Prov. XXVII, 6). Sicut enim vox spinarum ardentium sub olla, strepitum reddit insuavem: sic et palpantis magistri verba non proderunt, vel ad curas saeculi 5, quae spinae interpretantur, auditores suos cohortantis, vel futuro eos incendio praeparantis. Symmachus pro eo quod nos posuimus: « Quia sicut vox spinarum sub olla, sic risus stulti, » hunc sensum interpretans quem supra disseruimus, ait: « Per vocem enim imperitorum vinculis quispiam colligatur. » hoc est, ad vocem talium praeceptorum magis auditor innectitur, dum vinculis peccatorum suorum unusquisque constringitur.","english":"Better is it to hear the rebuke of a wise man than a man listening to the song of fools. For as the voice of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool. But this also is vanity.\" For it is better to be rebuked by a wise man than to be deceived by flattering adulation. To this is similar that saying: Better are the wounds of a friend than the willing kisses of an enemy (Prov. 27:6). For just as the voice of burning thorns under a pot gives forth a disagreeable crackling, so also the words of a flattering teacher will not profit, whether he is exhorting his hearers to the cares of the world—which are interpreted as thorns—or preparing them for future fire. Symmachus, for what we have set down as \"For as the voice of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool,\" interpreting this meaning which we have discussed above, says: \"For by the voice of the foolish, one is bound in chains.\" That is, at the voice of such teachers the hearer is all the more entangled, while each one is bound fast by the chains of his own sins.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":93,"ref":"p93","source":"« Calumnia conturbat sapientem, et perdet cor fortitudinis ejus. » Nunc sapientem in profectu positum accipe, secundum illud: Argue sapientem, et diliget te (Prov. IX, 8). Sapiens quippe perfectus nulla argutione indiget, nulla calumnia conturbatur. Utamur hoc versiculo, si quando justum virum atque sapientem videmus calumniam sustinere, et turbari de iniquitate judicii, nec Deum statim subvenire praesentem. Pro eo vero, quod Septuaginta, et Aquila, et Theodotio interpretati sunt, perdit cor 6, id est, fortitudinis sive vigoris ejus, Symmachus ait, et perdit cor MATTHANA ( ) id est, donum: tam verbum Hebraicum, quam interpretationem ejus copulans, et faciens illum sensum, qui alibi scriptus est: Excaecant munera etiam sapientium oculos (Deut. XVI, 19).\n\n« Melius est novissimum sermonis, quam principium ejus. » Meliores sunt in dicendo epilogi, quam exordium. In his enim dicentis sollicitudo finitur, in illo incipit. Vel certe sic: Qui incipit audire sermonem, et ad praeceptorem vadit, in principio est; qui vero extrema audit, consummatus est atque perfectus. Sed et hoc modo intelligi potest: Dum in isto saeculo sumus, quod scimus, omne principium est; cum autem venerit, quod perfectura est, in novissimis et comummatis erimus.","english":"Calumny disturbs the wise man, and destroys the heart of his strength.\" Now understand the wise man as one placed in progress, according to that saying: Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you (Prov. 9:8). For the perfect wise man needs no rebuke, and is disturbed by no calumny. Let us use this verse whenever we see a just and wise man enduring calumny, and being disturbed by the iniquity of judgment, and God not immediately coming to his aid. But for what the Seventy, and Aquila, and Theodotion translated as \"he destroys the heart,\" that is, of his strength or vigor, Symmachus says, \"and he destroys the heart MATHANA,\" that is, the gift: joining together both the Hebrew word and its interpretation, and producing that sense which is written elsewhere: Gifts blind even the eyes of the wise (Deut. 16:19).\n\n\"The end of a speech is better than its beginning.\" In speaking, epilogues are better than the exordium. For in these the speaker's anxiety is ended, in that it begins. Or certainly thus: he who begins to hear a speech, and goes to the teacher, is at the beginning; but he who hears the last things is consummated and perfect. But it can also be understood in this way: while we are in this world, whatever we know is all a beginning; but when that which is perfect comes, we shall be in the last things and consummated.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":94,"ref":"p94","source":"Hebraeus ita hunc locum cum sequenti versiculo disseruit: Melius est te finem considerare negotii, quam principium, et patientem esse 1, quam impatientiae furore raptari. Discimus quoque ex hac sententiola, nullam in hominibus esse sapientiam, cum melius sit tacere, quam proloqui; et quia cum finita fuerit oratio, intra semetipsum recogitat auditor, quid sit dictum: cum autem coeperimus loqui, necdum quid utilitatis accepit.\n\n« Melior est patiens super excelsum spiritu. » Quia superius iram concesserat, dicens: « Melior est ira, quam risus, » ne putaremus iram, quae in passione est laudari, nunc praecepit iram penitus esse tollendam 2. Ibi enim pro correptione in peccantes, et eruditione in minores iram posuit: hic vero impatientiam refrenavit. Patientia autem non solum in angustiis, sed et in laetioribus necessaria est, ne plus quam concedet, exaltemur. Videtur mihi et qui nunc excelsus appellatur spiritu in Evangelio, pauperi spiritu esse contrarius, qui et in beatitudine ponitur.","english":"The Hebrew explained this passage together with the following verse: It is better for you to consider the end of a matter than the beginning, and to be patient than to be carried away by the fury of impatience. We also learn from this little sentence that there is no wisdom in men, since it is better to be silent than to speak; and because when the speech has ended, the hearer reflects within himself on what was said, whereas when we have begun to speak, he has not yet received any benefit.\n\n\"Better is the patient man than the high in spirit.\" Because above he had granted anger, saying, \"Better is anger than laughter,\" lest we should think that anger, which consists in passion, is being praised, he now commands that anger be entirely removed. For there he set anger for the correction of sinners and the instruction of the lesser; here, however, he restrained impatience. But patience is necessary not only in hardships but also in happier circumstances, lest we be exalted more than is fitting. It seems to me that the one who is now called high in spirit is in the Gospel the opposite of the poor in spirit, who is also set among the beatitudes.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":95,"ref":"p95","source":"« Ne festines in spiritu tuo, ut irascaris, quia ira in sinu stultorum requiescit. » Non quod concedat tardius irascendum, idcirco nunc dicit: Ne festines in spiritu tuo irasci; sed quod cum furens et recens fuerit ira 4, dilata facilius sedetur, et possit auferri, Et quia ira semper juncta superbiae est, (??) desiderans ultionem, meliorem supra patientem dixit esse, quam eum qui excelsus est spiritu, et nunc signum insipientiae dedit: quia quamvis aliquis potens existimetur et sapiens, si iracundus sit, insipiens arguitur: « Ira quippe in sinu stultorum requiescit. »\n\n« Ne dixeris: Quid factum esi? quia dies priores erant meliores, quam isti; non enim sapienter interrogasti de hoc. » Ne vetus saeculum praesenti praeferas, quia unus utriusque est conditor Deus. Virtutes bonos dies viventi faciunt, vitia, malos. Ne dicas ergo meliores fuisse dies sub Moyse, et sub Christo, quam modo sunt. Nam et illo tempore plures fuerunt increduli, et dies eorum ma(??)i facti sunt, et nunc credentes multi reperiuntur, de quibus ait Salvator: Beatiores qui non viderunt, et crediderunt (Joan. XX, 29). Aliter: Sic debes vivere, ut semper praesentes dies meliores tibi sint, quam praeteriti, ne cum paulatim decrescere coeperis, dicatur tibi: Currebatis bene, quis vos impedivit veritati non obedite (Galat. V, 7)? Et iterum: Incipientes spiritu, nunc carne consummamini (CGalat. III, 3).","english":"Do not be hasty in your spirit, so as to become angry, because anger rests in the bosom of fools. Not that he is conceding that one should be slow to become angry, and for that reason now says: Do not be hasty in your spirit to be angry; but because when anger is fresh and raging, if delayed it is more easily calmed and can be taken away. And because anger is always joined to pride, desiring vengeance, he said above that the patient man is better than the one who is exalted in spirit, and now he has given a sign of foolishness: because even if someone is considered powerful and wise, if he is irascible, he is proven foolish: For anger rests in the bosom of fools.\n\nDo not say: Why has this happened? because the former days were better than these; for you have not asked wisely about this. Do not prefer the old age to the present, because God is the one founder of both. Virtues make good days for the one who lives; vices make bad ones. Do not say, therefore, that the days under Moses and under Christ were better than they are now. For even at that time there were many unbelievers, and their days were made worse, and now many believers are found, of whom the Savior says: More blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed (John 20:29). Otherwise: You ought so to live that the present days are always better for you than those past, lest when you begin gradually to decline, it be said to you: You were running well, who hindered you from obeying the truth (Galatians 5:7)? And again: Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh (Galatians 3:3)?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":96,"ref":"p96","source":"Aliter: Ne dicas meliora tempora olim Moysi, quam nunc Christi, Legis fuisse, quam Gratiae. Si enim hoc volueris quaerere, imprudenter facis, non videns, quantum distet Evangelium a Veteri Testamento.\n\n« Bona est sapientia cum haereditate, et amplius videntibus solem, quia quomodo umbra sapientiae, sic umbra argenti: et quod. plus est, scientia sapientiae vivificabit habentem se. » Majoris est gloriae sapiens cum divitiis, quam tantum sapiens. Alii enim sapientia indigent, alii opibus, et qui sapiens est, et non dives, potest quidem docere quod bonum est, sed interdum non potest praestare quod petitur. Et idcirco ait: Quia sicut umbra sapientiae, ita umbra pecuniae, id est, quomodo protegit sapientia, sic interdum protegit et pecunia. Et ne videretur sapientiae detraxisse, dum eam fortuito bono subjecit (non enim in nostra potestate est habere divitias, quas injusti saepe plus possident), propterea majorem esse sapientiam demonstrat, dicens: « Et amplius scientia sapientiae vivificabit habentem se. » In eo, inquit, major est sapientia divitiis, quod absque ullis opibus vivificat eum, qui se babuerit.","english":"Otherwise: Do not say that the times of Moses were better than the times of Christ now, or that the times of the Law were better than those of Grace. For if you wish to seek this, you act foolishly, not seeing how far the Gospel differs from the Old Testament.\n\n\"Wisdom is good with an inheritance, and more so for those who see the sun, because as the shadow of wisdom, so is the shadow of silver; and what is more, the knowledge of wisdom will give life to the one who possesses it.\" It is a greater glory for a wise man to be with riches than to be merely wise. For some lack wisdom, others lack wealth, and one who is wise but not rich can indeed teach what is good, but sometimes cannot provide what is asked. And therefore he says: Because just as the shadow of wisdom, so is the shadow of money—that is, just as wisdom protects, so sometimes money also protects. And lest he seem to have disparaged wisdom by subjecting it to an accidental good (for it is not in our power to have riches, which the unjust often possess in greater measure), for this reason he shows that wisdom is greater, saying: \"And more, the knowledge of wisdom will give life to the one who possesses it.\" In this, he says, wisdom is greater than riches, that without any wealth it gives life to the one who has possessed it.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":97,"ref":"p97","source":"Quidam hunc locum ita interpretantur: Haereditatem, inquiunt, pro conversatione bona posuit, per quam haeredes sumus Dei, et cohaeredes Christi. Vult igitur Ecclesiastes docere, quanto differant hi, qui solem merentur videre justitiae, et habent sapientiam cum conversatione bona, ab bis qui absque sapientia, vitae tantum et conversationis studium commodarunt. Quod quidem et Daniel ostendit, dicens: Intelligentes sermones meos fulgebunt, ut luminaria coeli (Dan. XII, 3); sive ut Theodotio interpretatus est: Quasi splendor firmamenti. Qui vero fecerint sermones meos, quasi stellae coeli. Umbram autem argenti, sive pecuniae, illam secundum debemus accipere, de qua talenta et minae In parabolis 6· Evangelii colliguntur (Matth. XXV, Luc. XIX), ut cum fuerimus sub umbra sapientiae, et sub umbra talis argenti: Per diem sol non uret nos. neque(??)luna per noctem (Psal. CXX). Sed et hoc dici potest, quia umbra est vita nostra super terram: Et spiritus vultus nostri Christus Dominus cui diximus: In umbra ejus vivemus in gentibus (Thren. IV, 20). Omnis nostra in hac terra protectio instar umbrae est, sive sapientiae, sire supradicti argenti, donec aspiret dies, et amoveantur umbrae. Symmachus more suo etiam in hoc loco manifestius interpretatus est, dicens: Quomodo protegit sapientia, similiter protegit pecunia. Sequent autem versiculus perspicue ad studium scientiae cohortatur.","english":"Certain interpreters explain this passage as follows: By \"inheritance,\" they say, he has set down a good manner of life, through which we are heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ. Ecclesiastes therefore wishes to teach how greatly those differ who are worthy to see the sun of justice and possess wisdom together with a good manner of life, from those who, without wisdom, have devoted themselves only to life and conduct. Daniel also shows this, saying: Those who understand my words shall shine as the luminaries of heaven (Dan. 12:3); or as Theodotion translated it: As the splendor of the firmament. But those who have done my words, as the stars of heaven. But the shadow of silver, or of money, we ought to understand as that about which the talents and minas are gathered in the parables of the Gospel (Matt. 25, Luke 19), so that when we have been under the shadow of wisdom and under the shadow of such silver: The sun shall not burn us by day, nor the moon by night (Ps. 120). But this also can be said, that our life upon earth is a shadow: And the spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord, to whom we have said: In his shadow we shall live among the nations (Lam. 4:20). All our protection on this earth is like a shadow, whether of wisdom or of the aforementioned silver, until the day dawns and the shadows are removed. Symmachus, after his custom, has also translated this passage more clearly, saying: As wisdom protects, so money protects. But the following verse clearly exhorts to the study of knowledge.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":98,"ref":"p98","source":"« Vide opera Dei, quoniam quis poterit adornare quem Deus pervertit 1? »Et in boc loco ita Symmachus transtulit: « Disce opera Dei, quia nemo poterit corrigere, quod ille imminuit, » id est, sufficiat tibi de Scripturis sanctis, sive ex ipsa contemplatione elementorum, scire et intelligere quae facta sunt: non tamen causas rationesque perquirere quare unumquodque sic factum sit, vel aliter fleri debuisse, quam factum est. Verbi gratia, si quis velit quaerere cur Moysi Ita loquatur Deus: Quis fecit mutum et surdum, videntem et caecum, nonne ego Dominus Deus (Exod. IV, 12)? et dicat: Cur caecus et surdus et mutus ita creati sunt, et caetera his similia? sumendum in hoc loco testimonium de septimo decimo psalmo, in quo ad Dominum dicitur: Cum sancto sanctus eris, et cum perverso perverteris 2. Et dicendum est sanctum Dominum esse cum eo, qui sanctus est, et perverti apud eum, qui sua voluntate fuerit ante perversus· Juxta illud quoque, quod in Levitico scriptum est: Si ambulaverint ad me perversi, et ego ambulabo ad eos in furore meo perversi, (Levit. XXVI, 27). Quod quidem et illud poterit exponere, quare induraverit Dominus cor Pharaonis.","english":"See the works of God, for who can adorn what God has overturned?\" And in this place Symmachus translated it thus: \"Learn the works of God, because no one can correct what he has diminished,\" that is, let it suffice for you from the holy Scriptures, or from the very contemplation of the elements, to know and understand the things that have been made; yet not to investigate the causes and reasons why each thing was made as it is, or ought to have been made otherwise than it was made. For example, if someone wishes to ask why God speaks thus to Moses: \"Who made the mute and the deaf, the seeing and the blind, did not I, the Lord God?\" and says: Why were the blind and deaf and mute created thus, and other things similar to these? In this place one must take up the testimony from the seventeenth psalm, in which it is said to the Lord: \"With the holy you will be holy, and with the perverse you will be perverse.\" And it must be said that the Lord is holy with him who is holy, and is perverted with him who was beforehand perverse by his own will. According to that also which is written in Leviticus: \"If they have walked to me perversely, and I will walk to them in my fury perversely.\" Indeed this can also explain why the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":99,"ref":"p99","source":"Quomodo enim una atque eadem solis Operatio liquefacit ceram, et siccat lutum, et pro substantia sua liquescit cera, et siccatur lutum: sic ima Dei in AEgypto signorum operatio molliebat corda credentium, et incredulos indurabat, qui juxta duritiem suam, et impoenitens cor, thesaurizabant sibi iram in die irae ex bis mirabilibus, quae cum viderent fieri, non credebant·\n\n« In die bonitatis esto in bono, ei in die malo vide. Et quidem istud congruum huic fecit Deus ad loquendum, ut non inveniat homo post eum quidquam, » Scio me audisse in Ecclesia ab eo, qui putabatur habere scientiam Scripturarum, ita hos versiculos edissertos. « Dum in praesenti saeculo es, et boni quid operis potes facere, labora, ut postea ipse securus in die malo, id est, in die judicii, torqueri alios videas. Sicut enim praesens saeculum fecit Deus, in quo nobis fructum bonorum operum possumus praeparare; ita et futurum, in quo nulla boni operis datur facultas. » Visus est quidem suadere, cum diceret audientibus: sed mihi videtur alius esse sensus, quem et Symmachus transtulit, dicens: In dic bono esto in hono; diem vero malum latuere. Siquidem hoc simile huic fecit Deus, ut non inveniret homo quod contra eum quereretur. » Et bona, inquit, et mala, prout tibi evenerint, sustine.","english":"For just as one and the same operation of the sun melts wax and dries clay—the wax liquefies according to its own nature, and the clay is dried—so the most profound working of signs of God in Egypt softened the hearts of believers and hardened the unbelievers, who, according to their hardness and impenitent heart, were storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath from those very wonders which, though they saw them performed, they did not believe.\n\n\"In the day of goodness be in good, and in the day of evil see. And indeed God has made this fitting for this purpose, to speak, so that man may not find anything after him.\" I know that I heard in the Church from one who was thought to have knowledge of the Scriptures that these verses were expounded thus: \"While you are in the present age and can do some good work, labor, so that afterward, secure in the evil day—that is, in the day of judgment—you may see others tormented. For just as God made the present age, in which we can prepare the fruit of good works for ourselves, so too the future one, in which no opportunity for good work is given.\" He indeed seemed to persuade when he said this to his hearers; but to me there seems to be another meaning, which Symmachus also translated, saying: \"In the good day be in good; but the evil day has lain hidden. For God has made this similar to that, so that man may not find anything to complain against him.\" And, he says, \"Bear both good and evil, according as they have come to you.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":100,"ref":"p100","source":"Nec putes vel bonorum tantum aut malorum in mundo esse naturam, cum ex diversis mundus iste contrariis subsistat 5, calidis et frigidis, siccis et humentibus, duris et mollibus, tenebrosis et lucidis, malis et bonis. Hoc autem fecit Deus, ut habeat locum sapientia in eligendo bonum 6, et vitando malum, et liberum homini relinquatur arbitrium, ne se dicat insensibilem, et stolidum a Deo esse generatum; sed eum ideo fecisse diversa, ut homo queri de sua conditione non posset. Simulque hoc testimonium consequenter superioribus copulabitur, in quibus ait: « Quis poterit adornare quod perverterit Deus? »\n\n« Omnia vidi in diebus vanitatis meae. Est justus periens in justitia sua. et est impius longaevus in malitia sua. » Huic quid simile Salvator in Evangelio ait: Qui invenit animam suam, perdet eam, et qui perdiderit animam suam propter me, inveniet eam (Matth. X, 39). Macchabaei pro lege Dei atque justitia visi sunt in sua perire justitia, et martyres, qui sanguinem fudere pro Christo. E contrario qui et illo tempore suillam carnem comederunt, et post adventum Domini sacrifica verunt idolis, hi visi sunt in hoc saeculo vivere, et propter suam malitiam perseverare longaevi.","english":"Nor should you think that only the nature of good things, or only that of evil things, exists in the world, since this world consists of diverse contraries: hot and cold, dry and wet, hard and soft, dark and light, evil and good. But God made this so that wisdom might have a place in choosing the good and avoiding the evil, and so that free will might be left to man, lest he claim that he was born insensible and foolish by God; but God made diverse things for this reason, that man might not be able to complain about his condition. And at the same time this testimony will be joined in sequence to the preceding ones, in which he says: “Who will be able to adorn what God has perverted?”\n\n“I have seen all things in the days of my vanity. There is a just man perishing in his justice, and there is an impious man long-lived in his malice.” To this the Savior says something similar in the Gospel: He who finds his soul will lose it, and he who loses his soul for my sake will find it (Matt. 10:39). The Maccabees, for the law of God and for justice, seemed to perish in their own justice, and the martyrs, who shed their blood for Christ. On the contrary, those who both ate swine’s flesh in that time and, after the coming of the Lord, sacrificed to idols—these seemed to live in this age and, because of their malice, to persist long-lived.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":101,"ref":"p101","source":"Sed Dei in occulto patientia est, et tribulare nunc sanctos, ut recipiant mala in vita sua, et peccatores non visitare pro scelere, et quasi ad victimam reservare, ut et illis possit aeterna bona restituere, et his mala inferre perpetua. Hebraei justos pereuntes in justitia sua, filios Aaron suspicantur, quod dum putant se juste agere, alienum ignem obtulerint. Et impium longaevum in malitia sua Manassen dicunt, qui post captivitatem restitutus in regnum, longo deinceps vixerit tempore.\n\n« Noli esse justus mullum, et ne quaeras amplius ne obstupescas. » Si quem rigidum et trucem ad omnia fratrum peccata conspexeris, ut nec in ser mone peccanti, nec propter naturalem interdum pigritiam moranti, det veniam, hunc scito plus justum esse quam justum est. Cum enim Salvator praecipiat, dicens: Nolite judicare, ut non judicemini (Luc. VI, 37); et nullus sit absque peccato, nec si unius quidem diei fuerit vita ejus, inhumana justitia est fragilitati conditionis hominum non ignoscens. Noli ergo esse justus multum, quia pondus grande, et pondus parvum abominatio coram Domino. Unde et apud philosophos virtutes in meditullio positae sunt, et omne quod nimis est, sive sursum, sive deorsum, reputatur in vitio.","english":"But God's patience is hidden, and now to afflict the saints, so that they may receive evils in their life, and not to visit sinners for their wickedness, and as it were to reserve them for the victim, so that he may both restore eternal goods to those and bring perpetual evils upon these. The Hebrews suspect that the righteous who perish in their righteousness are the sons of Aaron, because while they think they act justly, they offered strange fire. And the impious man long-lived in his wickedness they call Manasseh, who after the captivity was restored to the kingdom, and thereafter lived for a long time.\n\n\"Do not be much righteous, and do not seek more, lest you become stupefied.\" If you have seen anyone rigid and harsh toward all the sins of his brothers, so that he grants no pardon to one who sins in speech, nor to one who lingers sometimes because of natural sloth, know that this man is more righteous than is righteous. For since the Savior commands, saying: Do not judge, so that you may not be judged (Luke 6:37); and no one is without sin, not even if his life has been but a single day, it is inhuman righteousness that does not pardon the frailty of the human condition. Do not therefore be much righteous, because a great weight and a small weight are an abomination before the Lord. Hence also among the philosophers the virtues are placed in the middle, and everything that is excessive, whether upward or downward, is reckoned as a vice.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":102,"ref":"p102","source":"Quod autem ait: « Noli quaerere amplius, ne conturberis, » sive, « ne obstupescas; » mentem nostram scit, perfectam comprehendere non posse sapientiam, et mensuram fragilitatis nostrae jubet nos scire debere. Denique et Paulus ei, qui plus quam homo scire poterat 2, requirebat, dicens: Quid adhuc queritur? Voluntati enim ejus quis resistit? respondit: O homo, tu quis es, qui respondeat Deo (Rom. IX, 19)? et caetera. Si enim causas quaestionis ille, qui interrogans introducitur, audisset ab Apostolo, stupore forsitan torpuisset, et gratiam sensisset inutilem. Quia est et donum, juxta eumdem Apostolum, quod non prosit ei cui datum est. Hebraei hoc mandatum, id est: Noli este justus multum, super Saule interpretantur, qui Agag misertus est, quem Dominus jusserat occidi (I Reg. XV). Sed et ille de Evangelio servus (Matth. XVIII), cui ignoverat Dominus, et ipse conservo noluit ignoscere, huic potest versiculo coaptari, quod fuerit justus multum.","english":"But what is said: \"Do not seek more, lest you be disturbed,\" or, \"lest you be astonished,\" he knows our mind cannot comprehend perfect wisdom, and he commands us to know the measure of our frailty. Finally, Paul also, to the one who was seeking to know more than a man could know, saying: \"Why does he still complain? For who resists his will?\" answered: \"O man, who are you to answer God?\" (Rom. 9:19), and the rest. For if that one who is introduced as asking had heard the causes of the question from the Apostle, he might perhaps have grown numb with astonishment and perceived the grace as useless. For there is also a gift, according to the same Apostle, which does not benefit the one to whom it is given. The Hebrews interpret this command, that is: \"Do not be excessively just,\" as concerning Saul, who took pity on Agag, whom the Lord had ordered to be killed (1 Kings 15). But also that servant from the Gospel (Matt. 18), whom the Lord had forgiven, and who himself was unwilling to forgive his fellow servant, can be fitted to this verse, in that he was excessively just.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":103,"ref":"p103","source":"« Ne impie agas multum, et noli esse stultus; cur morieris in tempore non tuo 3. » Cum Dominus loquatur: Nolo mortem morientis, tantum revenatur et vivat (Ezech. XVIII, 32): semel peccasse sufficiat; debemus nos erigere post ruinam. Si enim juxta eos qui de physicis disputant, novit hirundo pullos de sua oculare chelidonia 5, et dictamnum capreae appetunt vulneratae; cur nos ignoremus medicinam poenitentiae propositam esse peccantibus? Quod autem ait: Ne moriaris in tempore non tuo (Num. XVI); scimus Chore, et Dathan, et Abiron propter seditionem adversum Moysen et Aaron, repentino terrae hiatu devoratos, et in emendationem aliorum, ante diem judicii etiam in hac vita plurimos judicatos. Quod dicit ergo, tale est: Noli peccatis adjicere peccata, ne provoces Deum etiam hic tibi inferre supplicium·\n\n« Bonum est retinere te istud 1. Et quidem ab hoc ne dimittas manum tuam; quoniam qui timet Deum, egredietur ad omnia. » Donum est justis benefacere, sed et peccatoribus benefacere, non injustum est. Bonum est domesticos fidei sustentare, sed et omni petenti tribuere, praeceptum est. Timens quippe Deum, et imitator conditoris sui, qui pluit super justos, ei injustos, absque respectu personarum omnibus benefacere festinat.","english":"Do not act wickedly much, and do not be a fool; why should you die in a time not your own?\" Since the Lord says, \"I do not will the death of the dying man; only let him turn back and live\": let it suffice to have sinned once; we ought to raise ourselves up after a fall. For if, according to those who dispute about natural philosophy, the swallow knows how to heal its young with celadon, and wounded goats seek the dictamnus, why should we not know that the medicine of repentance has been set before those who sin? But what he says: \"Do not die in a time not your own,\" we know that Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on account of their sedition against Moses and Aaron, were swallowed up by a sudden opening of the earth, and that for the correction of others many were judged even in this life before the day of judgment. What he says, then, is this: Do not add sins to sins, lest you provoke God to bring punishment upon you even here.\n\n\"It is good that you hold fast to this. And indeed from this do not let your hand go; for he who fears God will go forth to all things.\" It is a gift for the just to do good, but to do good also to sinners is not unjust. It is good to support the household of the faith, but to give to everyone who asks is also a commandment. For he who fears God, and is an imitator of his Creator, who rains upon the just and the unjust, hastens to do good to all without respect of persons.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":104,"ref":"p104","source":"Aliter: Quia vita haec miserabilis diversis quotidie variatur eventibus, tam ad adversa, quam ad prospera, justi animus praeparetur, et poscat Domini misericordiam, ut quodcunque evenerit, librata mente sustentet. Qui enim timet Deum, nec prosperis elevatur, nec opprimitur adversis.\n\n« Sapientia confortabit sapientem 3, super decem potestatem habentes, qui sunt in civitate: quia non est homo justus in terra, qui faciat bonum, et non peccet. » Propterea sapientia confortat justum, et omnium principum civitatis super eum excedit auxilium, quia quamvis aliquis justus sit, tamen dum in hac carne est constitutus, subjectus est vitiis atque peccatis, et majore praesidio indiget. Aliter: Decem qui potestatem habent, et in urbe consistunt, angeli sunt, qui ad perfectum numerum pervenere denarium, et auxiliantur humano generi. Sed si quis consideret omnia auxilia, majus est auxilium sapientiae, id est, Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Postquam enim dixerunt angeli: Curavimus Babylonem, et non est curata, relinquamus eam, et abeat unusquisque in terram suam (Jerem. LI, 8), tunc magister medicorum ipse descendit, et respersos nos sanguine, et peccatorum madentes cruore qui omnem substantiam nostram expenderamus in medicos, tactu fimbriae suae sanavit (Luc. VIII). Sanavit autem in civitate, hoc est, in mundo isto, et confortavit sapientem, sive, ut Septuaginta transtulerunt, adjuvit.","english":"Alternatively: Because this miserable life is varied every day by different events, both adverse and prosperous, the mind of the just man should be prepared, and should seek the Lord's mercy, so that whatever happens, it may bear it with a balanced mind. For he who fears God is neither lifted up by prosperity nor crushed by adversity.\n\n\"Wisdom will strengthen the wise man beyond ten who have power, who are in the city: because there is no just man on earth who does good and does not sin.\" Therefore wisdom strengthens the just man, and the help of all the rulers of the city surpasses him, because although someone is just, nevertheless while he is established in this flesh, he is subject to vices and sins, and needs greater protection. Alternatively: the ten who have power and stand in the city are angels, who have reached the perfect number of ten, and aid the human race. But if one considers all helps, greater is the help of wisdom, that is, of our Lord Jesus Christ. For after the angels said: \"We have healed Babylon, and she is not healed; let us leave her, and let each one depart into his own land\" (Jer. 51:8), then the physician of physicians himself descended, and healed us, sprinkled with blood and dripping with the gore of sins, who had spent all our substance on physicians, by the touch of his fringe (Luke 8). He healed, moreover, in the city, that is, in this world, and strengthened the wise man, or, as the Seventy translated, helped him.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":105,"ref":"p105","source":"Omni enim qui habet, dabitur ei, et adjicietur ei. Quia autem indiguit homo positus in pcccavis, et infixus in limo profundi, majore auxilio; idcirco venit ipsa Sapientia. Aliter: Supra dixerat, et domesticis et alienis bene esse faciendum. Poterat ergo aliquis respondere: Si omnibus benefacere voluero, non habeo unde faciam. Nec potest justus tantas habere divitias, quae solent magis peccatoribus abundare; propterea nunc ait: Quos non potes re 5, consilio adjuva solatio fove. Plus enim potest in angustia constituto praestare sapientia, quam quaelibet maximae potestates. Et hoc ipsum cum prudentia facito Grandis quippe libra justitiae est, et cui, et quantum, et quandiu, et quale vel in re, vel in consilio tribuere.\n\n« Et quidem in omnes sermones, quos loquentur, ne dederis cor tuum: quia non audies servum tuum maledicentem tibi. Etenim frequenter scit cor tuum, quia et tu maledixisti aliis. » Fac quae praecepta sunt, et sapientiae auxilio confortatus, vel ad bona, vel ad mala praepara cor tuum, et non cures, quid de te loquantur inimici, qualis foris opinio sit. Quomodo enim prudentis viri est, murmurantem famulum non audire, nec curiosam aurem apponere, quid de se loquatur absente: si enim hoc fecerit, semper in tribulatione erit, et ad mussitationem servi iracundia commovebitur; sic et sapientis hominis est, sapientiam praeviam sequi, et vanos non considerare rumores.","english":"For to everyone who has, it shall be given, and it shall be added to him. But because man, placed among sinners and fixed in the mire of the deep, needed greater help, therefore Wisdom herself came. Alternatively: Above he had said that one must do good both to those of the household and to strangers. Someone could therefore reply: If I wish to do good to all, I do not have the means to do it. Nor can a just man have such great riches, which usually abound more for sinners; therefore he now says: Those whom you cannot help with money, assist with counsel, cherish with comfort. For wisdom can accomplish more for one placed in distress than any greatest powers can. And do this very thing with prudence, for great is the balance of justice—both as to whom, and how much, and for how long, and of what kind, whether in money or in counsel, you should give.\n\nAnd indeed, to all the words that they speak, do not give your heart: for you will not hear your servant cursing you. For your heart frequently knows that you too have cursed others. Do what has been commanded, and, strengthened by the help of wisdom, prepare your heart for either good or evil, and do not care what enemies say about you, or what opinion of you there is abroad. For just as it is the part of a prudent man not to listen to a murmuring servant, nor to apply a curious ear to what he says about him in his absence—for if he does this, he will always be in turmoil, and will be stirred to anger by the muttering of a servant—so too it is the part of a wise man to follow wisdom as his guide and not to consider vain rumors.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":106,"ref":"p106","source":"Sed et alio exemplo docet penitus non curandum justo homini, quid homines loquantur, dicens: Quomodo novit conscientia tua, quod tu de multis locutas es, et saepe aliis detraxisti: sic et aliis debes ignoscere detrahentibus. Et simul docet, non facile judicandum, et habenti trabem in oculo, de festuca alterius non loquendum.\n\n« Omnia haec tentavi in sapientia, et dixi: Sapiens efficiar, et ipsa longius facta est a me, magis quam erat: et alta profunditas, quis inveniet eam?» Dicit se, ut Regnorum quoque testantur libri (III Reg. III et IV), ultra omnes homines quaesisse sapientiam, et tentasse ad finem illius pervenire, sed quanto plus quaesierit, tante minus repetisse, et in mediam demersum caliginem, tenebris ignorantiae circumdatum. Aliter: Vir qui eruditus fuerit in Scripturis, quanto plus scire coeperit, tanto ei in his quotidie oritur major obscuritas. Aliter: Contemplatio sapientiae in hac vita in speculo videtur et in imagine: cum ergo recogitavero in futuro facie ad faciem ejus notitiam revelandam, tunc liquido recognoscam longe me nunc ab ejus notitia dissidere.","english":"But he also teaches by another example that a righteous man should not be deeply concerned about what people say, saying: As your conscience knows that you have spoken about many and often disparaged others, so you ought also to forgive others who disparage. And at the same time he teaches that one should not judge readily, and that one who has a beam in his eye should not speak about another's speck.\n\n\"All these things I tried in wisdom, and I said: I will become wise, and it has become farther from me than it was: and deep profundity, who will find it?\" He says of himself, as the books of Kings also testify (3 Kings 3 and 4), that he sought wisdom beyond all men and tried to reach its end, but the more he sought, the less he obtained, and was plunged into the midst of darkness, surrounded by the shadows of ignorance. Alternatively: The man who has been instructed in the Scriptures, the more he begins to know, the greater obscurity arises for him daily in them. Alternatively: The contemplation of wisdom in this life is seen in a mirror and in an image; therefore, when I have reflected that in the future its knowledge will be revealed face to face, then I will clearly recognize how far I now stand apart from its knowledge.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":107,"ref":"p107","source":"« Circuivi ego et cor meum, ut scirem 1, et considerarem, et quaererem sapientiam, et rationem, et ut cognoscerem impietatem stulti et imprudentium errorem. Et invenio ego amariorem morte mulierem, quae est laqueus, et sagenae cor ejus, vincula manus ejus. Bonus coram Deo eruetur ab ea, peccator capietur in illa. » Pro eo quod Septuaginta posuerant: « Circuivi ego et cor meum ut cognoscerem, » Symmachus interpretatus est, dicens: « Pertransivi universa sensu meo, scire, et discere 3, et investigare. » Quia igitur supra Ecclesiastes dixerat, omnia se in sapientia pertentasse, et quanto plus eam requisierit, tanto illam longius refugisse; nunc ait etiam aliud in sua se quaesisse sapientia, quod in rebus humanis malum universa antecedat mala 4, et quae res in impietate, stultitia, errore, vecordia teneat principatum. Et dicit se omnium malorum caput mulierem reperisse: quia et per illam mors in orbem terrarum introivit, et pretiosas animas virorum capit. Omnes quippe adulterantes, quasi clibanus corda eorum: quae fecit adolescentium evolare corda. Et cum in mentem miseri amatoris inciderit, trahit eum in praeceps: nec ante pedes suos respicere patitur, sed quasi laqueus et sagena cor adolescentis innectit. Vincula sunt enim manus ejus. Pro quo Aquila interpretatus est: Vinctae sunt manus ejus, quod Hebraica lingua dicitur ASSURIS ( ) 5.","english":"I surveyed myself and my heart, to know, and to consider, and to seek wisdom and reason, and to recognize the impiety of the fool and the error of the imprudent. And I find woman more bitter than death, who is a snare, and her heart a dragnet, her hands bonds. He who is good before God shall be delivered from her, the sinner shall be caught in her. For the phrase that the Septuagint had put as \"I surveyed myself and my heart, to know,\" Symmachus translated, saying: \"I passed through all things with my understanding, to know and to learn and to investigate.\" Since, then, Ecclesiastes had said above that he had tested all things in wisdom, and that the more he sought it, the further it fled from him, now he says that he also sought something else in his wisdom, namely what evil in human affairs surpasses all evils, and what thing holds the chief place in impiety, folly, error, and madness. And he says that he found woman to be the head of all evils, because through her death also entered into the world, and she captures the precious souls of men. For all adulterers are like an oven in their hearts, which has made the hearts of the young fly up. And when she has fallen into the mind of a wretched lover, she drags him headlong, nor does she allow him to look back at his own feet, but like a snare and a dragnet she entangles the heart of the young man. For her hands are bonds. In place of this Aquila translated: \"Her hands are bound,\" which in the Hebrew language is called ASSURIS.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":108,"ref":"p108","source":"Suadere enim potest, vim facere non potest, nec ad se trahere nolentes. Justus qui fuerit, et bonus coram Deo, eruetur ab ea: peccator vero captus deducetur ad mortem. Non putemus temere hanc Salomonem de genere mulierum protulisse sententiam; quod expertus est, loquitur. Ideo quippe offendit Deum, quia captus est a mulieribus. Et haec secundum litteram. Caeterum juxta intelligentiam spiritualem, aut omne generaliter peccatum, mulierem nominamus et iniquitatem, quae sub specie mulieris sedet in Zacharia super plumbi talentum (Zach. V, 7): aut diabolum mulierem accipimus, propter effeminatas vires: aut certe idololatriam, et ut propius accedamus, haereticorum Ecclesiam, quae insipientem sensu ad se vocat, ut panes furtivos, et aquam furtivam, hoc est, falsum sacramentum, et pollutum baptisma inductus accipiat. « Ecce hoc inveni, dixit Ecclesiastes, unam ad unam 7, ut invenirem numerum, quem adhuc quaesivit anima mea, et non inveni. Hominem unum de mille inveni, et mulierem in omnibus his non inveni. Solummodo hoc inveni, quia fecit Deus hominem rectum; et ipsi quaesierunt cogitationes multas. » Hoc, inquit, reperi, universa diligenter; eventilans, quod paulatim peccando, et ad unum delictum aliud apponendo, grandem nobis summam efficimus peccatorum.","english":"For it can persuade, it cannot use force, nor draw to itself those who are unwilling. The man who is just and good before God will be rescued from it; but the sinner, once captured, will be led down to death. Let us not think that Solomon rashly uttered this sentence about the race of women; what he experienced, he speaks. For he offended God for this reason, that he was captured by women. And this is according to the letter. But according to the spiritual understanding, either we name every sin generally, and iniquity, as a woman—which under the appearance of a woman sits in Zechariah upon the talent of lead (Zech. 5:7)—or we take the devil as the woman, on account of his effeminate powers; or certainly idolatry, and, to come closer, the Church of the heretics, which calls the foolish in mind to itself, so that one who is led in may receive stolen bread and stolen water, that is, a false sacrament and a polluted baptism. \"Behold, this I found, said Ecclesiastes, one by one, that I might find the number which my soul still sought, and I did not find it. I found one man among a thousand, and a woman among all these I did not find. Only this I found, that God made man upright; and they sought out many thoughts.\" This, he says, I discovered, examining all things diligently; that by sinning little by little, and adding one offense to another, we make for ourselves a great sum of sins.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":109,"ref":"p109","source":"Esebon ( ) quippe, quod omnes voce consona transtulerunt, secundum Hebraei sermonis ambiguitatem, et numerum possumus, et summam, et rationem, et cogitationem dicere. Sed et hoc, ait, requisivit anima mea, an recta mulier inveniatur. Et cum vix paucos de viris bonos invenerim, ita ut de mille unus potuerit inveniri 9, mulierem bonam omnino invenire non potui Omnes enim me non ad virtutem, sed ad luxuriam deduxerunt· Et quia appositum est cor hominis diligenter ad malitiam ab adolescentia (Gen. VIII, 21), et pene omnes offenderunt Deum: in hac ruina generis humani, facilior ad casum est mulier. De qua et poeta gentilis:..... Varium et mutabile semper Femina.... (VIRG. AEncid. IV, V 35.) Et Apostolus: Semper, ait, discentes, et nunquam ad scientiam veritatis pervenientes (II Tim. III, 7). Et ne videretur communem hominum damnare naturam, et Deum auctorem facere mali, dum talium conditor est, qui malum vitare non possint, argute praecavit, et ait, bonos nos a Deo creatos: sed quia libero sumus arbitrio derelicti, vitio nostro ad pejora labi, dum majora quaerimus, et ultra vires nostras varia cogitamus. Aliter: Quotidie mecum uniuscujusque rei rationem ponens, nullum invenire potui cogitatum, qui non cogitatione perversa extrinsecus turbaretur.","english":"Heshbon, which all have translated with one accord, according to the ambiguity of the Hebrew word, we can call both a number and a sum and a reckoning and a thought. But this too, he says, my soul has sought: whether a upright woman may be found. And since I have scarcely found a few good men, so that one out of a thousand could be found, I could not find a good woman at all. For all led me not to virtue but to luxury. And because the heart of man is diligently set toward malice from adolescence, and nearly all have offended God: in this ruin of the human race, a woman is more prone to fall. Concerning whom even a pagan poet says: \"Woman is ever fickle and changeable.\" And the Apostle says: \"Always learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth.\" And lest he seem to condemn the common nature of mankind and make God the author of evil, while he is the creator of such as cannot avoid evil, he shrewdly guarded against this and said that we were created good by God; but because we have been left to free will, we slip toward worse things by our own fault, while we seek greater things and think various things beyond our strength. Otherwise: Every day, weighing the reason of each thing with myself, I could find no thought that was not disturbed from without by a perverse thought.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":110,"ref":"p110","source":"In mille nutem viris inveni hominem, qui juxta imaginem conditoris est conditus: et in mille non quibuslibet, sed in mille viris: quorum numerum mulier implere non potuit. Et in mille qui non appropinquaverunt ad mulierem, et propterea purissimi permanserunt. Haec autem omnia tropologice accipienda. In multis quippe studiosis, et quotidiana meditatione sudantibus, vix invenitur cogitatus purus, et viri dignus vocabulo. Possumus et cogitatus pro viris aecipere, mutieres pro operibus, et dicere, quod difficile cogitatio alicujus pura inveniri queat. Opera vero, quia per corpus administrentur, aliquo semper errore commista sint. Pro eo autem, quod supra sermonem Hebraeum interpretantes diximus: Unam ad unam ut inveniatur numerus, sive summa, sive ratio, aut cogitatio: apertius interpretatus est Symmachus, unam ad unam invenire rationem 2. Quod enim nos solemus absolute et neutraliter appellare, id est, hoc quaesivi, istud volui invenire, Hebraei feminino genere pronuntiant, sicut in psalmo: Unam petii a Domino, hanc requiram (Psal. XXXI, 4), pro eo quod est, unum.","english":"But among a thousand men I found a man who was formed according to the image of his Creator: and among a thousand—not any whatever, but a thousand men—a number which a woman could not fill. And among a thousand who did not draw near to a woman, and for that reason remained most pure. But all these things must be taken tropologically. For among many studious men, who sweat over daily meditation, a pure thought is scarcely found, and one worthy of the name of man. We can also take thoughts for men, and women for works, and say that the pure thought of anyone can with difficulty be found. But works, because they are administered through the body, are always mixed with some error. Moreover, in place of what we said above when interpreting the Hebrew text: \"One to one, that a number may be found,\" whether sum, or reckoning, or thought, Symmachus has translated more plainly: \"to find a reckoning one to one.\" For what we are accustomed to call absolutely and neutrally—that is, \"this I sought,\" \"this I wished to find\"—the Hebrews pronounce in the feminine gender, as in the psalm: \"One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek,\" in place of \"one.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":111,"ref":"p111","source":"(Cap. VIII.) « Quis ita ut sapiens; et quis novit solutionem verbi? Sapientia hominis illuminabit vultum ejus et fortis faciem suam commutabit. » Supra docuerat difficile bonum hominem inveniri, et venientem contra eliserat quaestionem: a Deo bonos homines conditos, sed sponte sua ad peccata delapsos. Nunc quid boni homini dederit Deus, quasi gloriabundus enumerat, sapientiam scilicet, atque rationem et providentiam, occulta Dei nosse mysteria, in arcana ejus sensu cordis intrare. Oblique autem de se loquitur, quod nemo ita fuerit sapiens, ut ipse, et nullus sic scierit problematum solutiones, et sapientia ejus a cuncto laudata sit populo, quae non solum intrinsecus latuerit, sed et in superficie corporis et speculo vultus eluxerit, ultraque omnes homines prudentiam mentis in facie sua pinxerit. Septuaginta pro eo quod nos posuimus: « Quis ita ut sapiens, » transtulerunt: « Quis novit sapientes 7. » Et pro eo quod nos diximus: » Et fortis faciem suam commutabit, » posuerunt: « Et impudens vultu suo odietur. » Et revera cum multi sint, qui sapientiam repromittant, difficile invenitur, qui discernere queat verum sapientem ab bis qui videntur esse sapientes. Et cum sint plurimi, qui Scripturarum occulta dicant posse se solvere 9, rarus est, qui veram inveniat solutionem.","english":"(Chapter VIII.) \"Who is like the wise man; and who knows the solution of a word? The wisdom of a man will illuminate his face, and the mighty man will change his countenance.\" Above he had taught that it is difficult to find a good man, and he had struck down the question that arose against this: that good men were created by God, but of their own will fell into sins. Now he enumerates, as if boasting, what good things God has given to man—namely wisdom, and reason, and providence, to know the hidden mysteries of God, to enter into his secrets with the sense of the heart. But obliquely he speaks of himself, that no one was so wise as he, and no one so knew the solutions of problems, and his wisdom was praised by the whole people, which lay hidden not only within, but also shone forth on the surface of the body and in the mirror of the face, and beyond all men he painted the prudence of his mind on his face. Where we have set down \"Who is like the wise man,\" the Seventy translated \"Who knows the wise?\" And where we said \"And the mighty man will change his countenance,\" they set down \"And the shameless man will be hated in his countenance.\" And indeed, since there are many who promise wisdom, it is difficult to find one who can discern the truly wise man from those who seem to be wise. And since there are very many who say they can solve the hidden things of the Scriptures, rare is the one who finds the true solution.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":112,"ref":"p112","source":"Quod autem sequitur: Sapientia hominis illuminabit vultum ejus, et improbus facie eoa odietur, » ita possumus explanare, ut Pauli verba ponamus: Nos autem omnes revelata facie gloriam Domini contemplantes (II Cor. III, 18); et Psalmistae canentis: Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui. Domine (Psal. IV, 7). Sapientiam autem hic hominis non aliam dicit absque sapientia Dei. Quae cum saptentia Dei sit, juxta possibilitatem capacitatis hominis ejus esse incipit, qui se habere meruerit. Omnis haereticus et falsum dogma defendens, impudenti vultu est. Denique Marcion et Valentinus melioris se dicunt naturae esse, quam conditor est. Et hoc posset aliqua ex parte ferri, si spem se hujus rei habere contenderent, et non jam possidere naturam.\n\n« Ego os regis custodio, et loquelam juramenti Dei. Ne festines a facie ejus abire, et ne stes in verbo malo, quoniam omne quod voluerit, faciet. Sicut dixerit (Al. dicet) ree, potestatem habens: et quis dicet ei, Quid facis? » Videtur quidem praecipere juxta Apostolum, regibus et potestatibus obsequium (Tit. III, 1), maxime Septuaginta Interpretibus imperativo modo dicentibus: « Os regis custodi; » sed ego puto de illo rege nunc dici, de quo David ait: Domine, in virtute tua laetabitur rex (Psal. XX, 1).","english":"But what follows: \"The wisdom of a man will illuminate his face, and the shameless man will be hated by his face,\" we can explain in such a way as to set down the words of Paul: \"But we all, beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face\" (2 Cor 3:18); and of the Psalmist singing: \"The light of your face is stamped upon us, O Lord\" (Ps 4:7). But he does not call \"the wisdom of a man\" here anything other than the wisdom of God. And since it is the wisdom of God, according to the capacity of the man's ability it begins to be his who has merited to possess it. Every heretic and defender of false doctrine has a shameless face. Finally, Marcion and Valentinus say that they are of a better nature than the Creator is. And this could in some part be tolerated, if they claimed to have hope of this thing, and not already to possess the nature.\n\n\"I keep the mouth of the king, and the speech of the oath of God. Do not hasten to depart from his face, and do not stand in an evil word, for whatever he has willed, he will do. As he has said (or: will say) the thing, having power: and who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'\" He seems indeed to command, according to the Apostle, obedience to kings and authorities (Tit 3:1), especially since the Seventy Translators say in the imperative mood: \"Keep the mouth of the king\"; but I think that it is now said of that king of whom David says: \"O Lord, in your strength the king will rejoice\" (Ps 20:1).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":113,"ref":"p113","source":"Et in alio loco, ut Patris et Filii unum regnum significet, Seriptura commemorat: Deus, judicium tuum regi da, et justitiam tuam filio regie (Psal. LXXI, 1). Non enim judicat Pater quemquam, sed omne judicium dedit Filio (Joan. V, 22). Qui rex Filius Dei 11, Patris regis est Filius. Hujus itaque custodienda praecepta sunt. hujus voluntas patranda. Et hoc est, quod in Tobiae libro scribitur: Mysterium regis abscondere bonum est (Tob. XII, 7). Et praecipue monet, ne tractemus, quare Deus unumquodque praeceperit, sed quodcunque viderit esse mandatum, hoc pia mens hominis implere festinet Et in lege Domini erit voluntas ejus. Quia vero Septuaginta aliter transtulerunt, dicentes: « Et de juramento et de verbo Dei ne festines a facie ejus ambulare 2; » sciendum juramentum Dei in divinis voluminibus esse conscriptum. Hoc itaque juramentum, de Dei verbo sacrum et arcanum, non debemus quibuscunque narrare, et proferre in medium, et citam de eo ferre sententiam 3. Neque, ut Moyses, festines videre faciem Dei, sed tandiu sustine, donec ipse pertranseat, et tantum ejus posteriora conspicias. Necnon et illud quod sequitur: « Ne stes in verbo malo, (??) et caetera, super co intelligamus, qui haereseos errore praeventus est: vel super illo, qui cum Ecclesiae fidem habeat, tamen peccatis vincitur, ut sit infidelis. Ne perseveres in detractione, nec in turpiloquio, iuxu, avaritia libidine.","english":"And in another place, to signify the one kingdom of the Father and the Son, Scripture records: \"God, give your judgment to the king, and your justice to the king's son\" (Ps. 71:1). For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). He who is king, the Son of God, is the Son of the king, the Father. His commandments, therefore, are to be kept; his will is to be carried out. And this is what is written in the book of Tobit: \"It is good to conceal the mystery of the king\" (Tob. 12:7). And he especially warns us not to discuss why God has commanded each particular thing, but whatever he has seen to be a commandment, the pious mind of man should hasten to fulfill. And in the law of the Lord will be his will. But because the Seventy translated it differently, saying, \"And concerning an oath and the word of God, do not hasten to walk from his face,\" we must know that the oath of God is written in the divine volumes. This oath, then, concerning the word of God, sacred and hidden, we ought not to tell to just anyone, nor bring it forth into the open, nor even pass judgment on it. Nor should you, like Moses, hasten to see the face of God, but wait so long until he himself passes by, and see only his back parts. Moreover, what follows: \"Do not stand in an evil word,\" and the rest, we should understand as referring to one who has been overtaken by the error of heresy; or to one who, though he holds the faith of the Church, is nevertheless overcome by sins, so as to be faithless. Do not persevere in detraction, nor in foul speech, nor in lust, nor in avarice, nor in desire.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":114,"ref":"p114","source":"Quod si perseveraveris, rex vitiorum atque peccati diabolus operabitur perditionem in te, et faciet quodcunque voluerit.\n\n« Qui custodit mandatum, non cognoscet verbum malum: et tempus, et judicium cognoscit cor sapientis. Notandum quod, non cognoscet verbum malum, positum est pro eo quod est, non patietur, aut non erit in eo. Siquidem et de Salvatore sic scriptum est: Qui non noverat peccatum, pro nobis peccatum fecit (II Cor. V, 21). Pro verbo quoque Symmachus rem interpretatus est, dicens: Qui custodierit mandatum, non experietur rem malam. Pracepit autem regis imperium conservandum, et sci(??)e quid, et quare, et quo tempore jubeat.\n\n« Quia omni negotio est tempus et judicium. Afflictio quippe hominis multa super eum, quia nescit quod futurum est; sicut enim erit, quis annuntiabit ei? » Licet diversa eveniant, et non possit justus scire quid ei futurum sit, nec singularum rerum causas rationesque cognoscet e (nemo enim est conscius futurorum), tamen scit a Deo cuncta in utilitatem hominum fieri, et non absque ejus voluntate disponi. Est enim magna afflictio generis humani, quia ut poeta ait (AEneid. X, 501): Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae, aliud sperat, aliudque evenit: de altero loco exspectat hostem, et alterius jaculo vulneratur.","english":"But if you persevere, the devil, the king of vices and of sin, will work destruction in you, and will do whatever he wishes.\n\n« Whoever keeps the commandment will not know an evil word: and the heart of the wise knows both time and judgment. » It must be noted that \"will not know an evil word\" is put in place of \"will not suffer,\" or \"it will not be in him.\" For indeed it is written thus also of the Savior: \"Who knew no sin, for us he made him sin\" (2 Cor. 5:21). For \"word,\" Symmachus rendered the sense, saying: \"Whoever has kept the commandment will not experience an evil thing.\" But he commanded that the king's authority be preserved, and to know what, and why, and at what time he commands.\n\n« Because for every matter there is a time and judgment. » For man's affliction is great upon him, because he does not know what is to come; for as it will be, who will announce it to him? Although diverse things happen, and the righteous man cannot know what is to come for him, nor will he know the causes and reasons of individual things (for no one is conscious of future things), yet he knows that all things are done by God for the benefit of men, and are arranged not without his will. For there is a great affliction of the human race, because, as the poet says (Aeneid 10:501): \"The mind of men, ignorant of fate and of the lot to come,\" hopes one thing, and another comes to pass: from one quarter it expects the enemy, and is wounded by the spear of another.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":115,"ref":"p115","source":"Pro eo amem quod Septuaginta Interpretes et Theodotio dixerunt: « Quia scientia hominis multa super eum, » in Hebraeo malitiam habet, non scientiam: sed quia RES et DALETH litterae Hebraicae, excepto parvo apice, similes sum, pro RAATH ( ). lege runt DAATH ( ) 8, id est, pro malitia, scientiam. Hoc melius sciet qui ejusdem linguae habuerit notitiam. Illud quoque quod in fine horum versuum scriptum est, « Quia nescit quod facium sit 9; et quid futurum sit post eum, quis annuntiabit ei? » de verbo ad verbum nunc ex sermone Hebraeo transtulimus, ut esse sensum alterum nove(??)imus. quod scilicet nec ea quae praeterierim, scire possumus, nec ea quae futura sint, ita ut sunt futura, cognoscere.\n\n« Non est homo potestatem habens in spiritum, ut prohibeat spiritum, et non est potens in die inertis, et non est emissio in bello, et non salvabit impietas habentem se. » Non est in potestate anima nostra, ne auferatur a nobis, et egrediente ad imperium Domini spiritu, nibil prodest ora concludere, et vitam retinere fugientem. Cumque interitus, inimicus vitae nostrae et hostis advenerit, inducias accipere non possumus. Nec reges quondam in saeculo, et omnia nostra impietate vastantes, obvias morti inferre manus: sed in cinerem terramque solvemur.","english":"For whereas the Seventy Interpreters and Theodotion said, «Because the knowledge of man is much upon him,» in the Hebrew it has malice, not knowledge; but because the Hebrew letters RES and DALETH are similar except for a small point, they read DAATH for RAATH, that is, knowledge for malice. This one will know better who has knowledge of the same language. That also which is written at the end of these verses, «Because he does not know what has been done; and what will be after him, who will announce it to him?» we have now translated word for word from the Hebrew speech, so that we may know there is another meaning—namely, that we can know neither the things that have passed, nor recognize the things that are to come, as they are to come.\n\n«There is no man having power over the spirit, to prohibit the spirit, and there is no one powerful in the day of death, and there is no discharge in war, and impiety will not save the one who has it.» It is not in the power of our soul that it not be taken from us, and when the spirit goes forth at the command of the Lord, it profits nothing to close the mouth and to retain the fleeing life. And when destruction, the enemy and foe of our life, has come, we cannot receive a truce. Nor can kings formerly in the world, and all who lay waste our things by their impiety, offer their hands against death; but we shall be dissolved into ashes and earth.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":116,"ref":"p116","source":"Non est ergo lugendum, si futura scire non possumus, et saepe ab iniquis potentioribus opprimamur 2, cum morte omnia finiantur, et superbus et potens, qui cuncta populatus est, non valeat animam suam retinere, cum rapitur. Aliter: Spiritus, qui universa dispensat, non potest a quoquam hominum prohiberi, et leges accipere spirandi. De quo et supra dictum est: « Girans girando vadit spiritus. » In die mortis non sumus potentes: in die enim vitae facile vitatur inimicus. Similiter qui in bello est, et non habet Dei pacem, quae superat omnem sensum, non habebit emissionem, de qua ad sponsam dicitur: Emissiones tuae paradisus cum fructu pomorum (Cant. IV). Et quia impietas non salvabit habentem se, pietas e regione salvabit. Potest impietas diabolus appellari, et pietas Dominus noster Jesus Christus.\n\n« Omnia haec vidi, et dedi cor meum in omne opus, quod factum est sub sole, et dominatus est homo homini, ut affligeret cum. Et tunc vidi impios sepultos, et venerunt, et de loco sancto egressi sunt, et laudati sunt in civitate, quia sic fecerunt: sed et hoc vanitas 3. Quia enim non est contra dictio facientibus malum cito: ideo repletum est cor filiorum hominis in eis, ut faciant malum. » Dedi, inquit, cor meum, ut omne quod sub sole geritur, intuerer, et hoc vel maxime, quod homo accepit in hominem potestatem, ut quoscunque vult affligat atque condemnet.","english":"It is not to be mourned, then, if we cannot know the future and are often oppressed by wicked men who are more powerful, since all things are ended by death, and the proud and powerful man, who has laid waste all things, cannot retain his own soul when he is snatched away. Otherwise: the Spirit, who dispenses all things, cannot be prevented by any man, nor receive laws for breathing. Of whom it is also said above: «The spirit goes circling about, circling.» In the day of death we are not powerful; for in the day of life the enemy is easily avoided. Likewise he who is in war, and does not have the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will not have a sending forth, of which it is said to the bride: «Your sendings forth are a paradise with the fruit of apples» (Song 4). And because impiety will not save the one who has it, piety on the other hand will save. Impiety can be called the devil, and piety our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n«All these things I have seen, and I gave my heart to every work that is done under the sun, and man has ruled over man, to afflict him. And then I saw the impious buried, and they came, and went forth from the holy place, and were praised in the city, because they did so: but this also is vanity.» For because there is no contradiction to those who do evil quickly, therefore the heart of the sons of man is filled in them, so that they do evil. I gave, he says, my heart, so that I might look upon everything that is carried on under the sun, and this especially, that man has received power over man, so that he may afflict and condemn whomever he wishes.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":117,"ref":"p117","source":"Cum itaque mentem meam haec intuenda dirigerem, vidi impios cum tali opinione mortuos, et sic sepultos, ut sancti (??)estimarentur in terra, qui et cum viverent, putabantur digni Ecclesia et templo Dei, insuper ambulantes tumidi, laudabantur in malis suis, sicut scriptum est: Laudatur enim peccator in desideriis animae suae. ei qui iniqua gerit, benedicitur (Psal. IX, 24). Hoc autem propterea evenit, quia nemo peccantibus audet contradicere 7, nec statim scelus ulciscitur Deus, sed differt poenam, dum exspectat poenitentiam. Peccatores autem, quia non statim arguti atque correpti sunt, putantes nequaquam futurum esse judicium, in scelere perseverant. Possumus hoc testimonio uti adversus episcopos, qui acceperunt in Ecclesia potestatem, et scandalizant magis eos, quos docere et ad meliora debuerant incitare. Hi frequenter post mortem laudantur in Ecclesia, et beati in his, quae non probabiliter fecerant, publice sive a successoribus, sive a populis praedicantur. Et hoc itaque vanum est; quia enim non ut egerunt, sic audiunt, nec statim corripiuntur in peccato suo (nemo quippe audet accusare majorem), propterea quasi sancti et beati, et in praeceptis Domini ambulantes, augent peccata peccatis. Difficilis est accusatio in episcopum. Si enim peccaverit, non creditur, et si convictus fuerit, non punitur.","english":"So then, when I directed my mind to contemplate these things, I saw the wicked dead, and buried with such a reputation, that they were reckoned as saints on earth—men who, even while they lived, were thought worthy of the Church and the temple of God, and moreover, walking about puffed up, were praised in their evils, as it is written: For the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul; he who does iniquity is blessed (Ps. 9:24). Now this happens for the reason that no one dares to contradict those who sin, nor does God immediately avenge the crime, but he postpones punishment while he awaits repentance. But sinners, because they are not immediately rebuked and corrected, thinking that there will be no judgment at all, persevere in their crime. We can use this testimony against bishops, who have received power in the Church and scandalize all the more those whom they ought to teach and stir up to better things. These men are frequently praised after death in the Church, and are publicly proclaimed blessed in the things they had done without approval, whether by their successors or by the people. And this too is vanity; for because they are not heard as they acted, nor are they immediately rebuked in their sin (for no one dares to accuse a superior), therefore, as if they were saints and blessed and walking in the commandments of the Lord, they increase sins by sins. Accusation against a bishop is difficult. For if he has sinned, he is not believed; and if he has been convicted, he is not punished.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":118,"ref":"p118","source":"« Quia peccator facit malum centies, et elongat ei 8. Ex hoc cognosco ego, quod erit bonum timentibus Deum, qui timebunt a facie ejus. » Ex eo quod peccanti plurimum, hoc quippe significat centies, dat Deus locum poenitentiae, et non eum statim punit in scelere, sed exspectat ut convertatur ab iniquitate sua: ego intelligo, quam benignus et misericors super eos futurus sit Deus, qui habent timorem ejus, et ad verbum illius contremiscunt. Symmachus hunc locum ita transtulit: « Peccans enim malus mortuus est, longanimitate concessa ei 9. Porro ego scio, quia erit bene timentibus Deum, qui timuerunt a facie ejus. Bonum vero non erit iniquo, neque longo supererit tempore, quia non timuit a facie Dei. » Et quia manifestum est quid iste transtulerit, hoc dicendum est quod verbum Hebraicum MAATH ( ), quod Septuaginta ex tunc, transtulerunt, et nos centies posuimus, Aquila et Symmachus et Theodotio, mortuus est, interpretati sunt, ut sit sensus, qui peccavit, et fecit malum, mortuus est: in eo enim quod peccavit, statim mortuus est. Si autem juxta Septuaginta Interpretes, pro eo quod est, mortuus est, legerimus ex tunc, juxta quosdam hic egerit sensus: Peccator non tunc primum peccat, quando videtur facere peccatum, sed jam ante peccavit: Alienati sunt enim peccatores a vulvo, erraverunt a venire (Psal.","english":"Because a sinner does evil a hundred times, and he prolongs it for himself. From this I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who will fear before his face.\" From the fact that he sins very greatly—for \"a hundred times\" signifies this—God gives him room for repentance, and does not punish him at once in his wickedness, but waits for him to turn from his iniquity: I understand how kind and merciful God will be toward those who have fear of him and tremble at his word. Symmachus translated this passage thus: \"For the sinner, being evil, is dead, long-suffering having been granted to him. Furthermore, I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who have feared before his face. But good will not be for the wicked, nor will he survive for a long time, because he did not fear before the face of God.\" And since it is clear what he translated, this must be said: that the Hebrew word MAATH, which the Seventy translated as \"from then\" and we have rendered as \"a hundred times,\" Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion interpreted as \"he is dead,\" so that the sense is: he who sinned and did evil is dead; for in that he sinned, he died at once. But if, according to the Seventy Interpreters, instead of \"he is dead\" we read \"from then,\" according to some the sense here will be: the sinner does not first sin when he seems to commit sin, but he has already sinned before: \"For sinners are estranged from the womb, they have gone astray from the belly\" (Ps.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":119,"ref":"p119","source":"LVII, 4); et quaerunt hoc, quod sequitur, locuti sunt falsa, quomodo possit exponi: simplex enim intelligentia habere consequentiam non videtur, parvulos peccatores. statim ut de vulva ejecti sunt, mendacium equi.\n\n« Et bonum non sit impio, et non prolonget dies quasi umbra, qui non timet a facie Dei. » Imprecatur male his qui non habent timorem Dei, et optat ne diu differatur ad poenam 2, sed statim morte subtracti, cruciatus recipiant, quos merentur. Simile quid et Apostolus loquitur: Utinam praecidantur qui vos conturbant (Galat. V, 12). Et alibi: Alexander aerarius multa mihi mala ostendit: reddat illi Dominus secundum opera ejus (II Tim. IV, 14). Quae quomodo elementer dicta sint, requirendum est. Haec juxta sensus Hebraici veritatem. Si quis vero Septuaginta Interpretes sequitur, qui quasi ab alio sensu incipientes, dixerunt: « Et ego recognosco, quia erit bonum timentibus Deum, ut timeant a facie ejus, et bonum non erit impio, et non prolongabit dies in umbra: quia non est timens a facie Dei; » hoc poterit dicere: Ficut quidem et illa, de quibus paulo ante tractavi; ego tamen manifestissimo cognosco, quia bene erit his qui timent a facie Dei: Vultus enim Domini super facientes mala (Psal. XXXIII, 17). Et impio non erit bene: non enim timet a facie Dei, et non prolongabit dies in umbra, hoc est, dies vitae suae, qui quasi umbra viventibus sunt.","english":"LVII, 4); and they seek this, what follows, \"they have spoken false things,\" how it can be explained: for the simple understanding does not seem to have a connection, \"little ones, sinners, as soon as they are cast out of the womb, a horse's lie.\"\n\n\"And let it not be well for the impious, and let him not prolong days like a shadow, who does not fear from the face of God.\" He curses those who do not have the fear of God, and he wishes that punishment not be long delayed, but that, taken away at once by death, they receive the torments they deserve. The Apostle says something similar: Would that those who disturb you be cut off (Gal. 5:12). And elsewhere: Alexander the coppersmith showed me many evils: may the Lord repay him according to his works (2 Tim. 4:14). How these things were said with clemency must be examined. These things are according to the truth of the Hebrew sense. But if anyone follows the Seventy Interpreters, who, beginning as it were from another sense, said: \"And I recognize that it will be well for those who fear God, that they may fear from his face, and it will not be well for the impious, and he will not prolong days in a shadow: because he is not one who fears from the face of God;\" he will be able to say this: As indeed also those things about which I treated a little earlier; yet I most manifestly know that it will be well for those who fear from the face of God: for the face of the Lord is upon those who do evil (Ps. 33:17). And it will not be well for the impious: for he does not fear from the face of God, and he will not prolong days in a shadow, that is, the days of his life, which are as a shadow for those who live.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":120,"ref":"p120","source":"Non enim hi, qui multo tempore vivunt, prolongant dies suos 3, sed qui grandes eos faciunt bonorum operum magnitudine. Unde et Jacob quasi se peccatorem confitens, dicit: Parvi et mali dies mei (Gen. XLVII,9). Et in Psalmo confitens (Psal. et, 12): Dies, inquit, mei sicut umbra inclinati sunt, et ego sicut fenum arui. Non quod longam vitam quaesierit in praesenti, in quo omne quod vivimus, breve et umbra est, et imago: In imagine enim perambulat homo (Psal. XXXVIII, 7): sed quod de futuro timeat, ne longitudo vitae ipsius, ubi vera est vita, brevietur.\n\n« Est vanitas quae fit super terram: quia sunt justi ad quos perveniunt qua(??)i facta impiorum, et sunt impii ad quos perveniunt quasi facta justorum. Dixi quia et hoc vanitas est. » Inter caeteras vanitates, quae in mundo vario feruntur eventu, etiam hoc deprehendi, quod justis ea frequenter eveniunt, quae impiis evenire debuerant, et impii tam feliciter in hoc mundo degunt, ut eos putes esse justissimos. Dabit exemplum Evangelium divitis purpurati, et pauperis Lazari (Luc. XVI). Septuagesimus quoque secundus psalmus de hac re disputat: cur justis interdum mala, et impiis eveniant bona.","english":"For it is not those who live a long time who prolong their days, but those who make them great by the magnitude of good works. Hence also Jacob, as if confessing himself a sinner, says: \"Few and evil are my days\" (Gen. 47:9). And in the Psalm he confesses (Ps. 102:12): \"My days,\" he says, \"have declined like a shadow, and I have withered like grass.\" Not that he sought a long life in the present, in which all that we live is brief and a shadow and an image—for \"man walks in an image\" (Ps. 39:7)—but that he fears for the future, lest the length of his life, where true life is, be shortened.\n\n\"There is a vanity that takes place upon the earth: that there are righteous men to whom things happen as though done by the wicked, and there are wicked men to whom things happen as though done by the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.\" Among the other vanities that are borne along in the world with varying outcome, this too I have discerned: that the things which ought to have happened to the wicked frequently happen to the righteous, and the wicked live so prosperously in this world that you would think them the most righteous. The Gospel of the rich man in purple and poor Lazarus will give an example (Luke 16). The seventy-second Psalm also disputes concerning this matter: why sometimes evils happen to the righteous, and good things to the wicked.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":121,"ref":"p121","source":"Pro eo autem, quod nos posuimus: « Est vanitas, quae fit super terram, » Symmachus absolute transtulit, dicens: « Est difficile cognitu quod fit super terram, » Hebraei, justos quibus eveniant mala, et impios quibus accedant opera justorum, filios Aaron interpretantur, et Manassen, quod illi sacrificantes perierint, et iste post tanta mala et captivitatem in imperium restitutus sit.\n\n« Et laudavi ego laetitiam; quia non est bonum homini sub sole, nisi comedere, et bibere, et laetari. Et ipsum egredietur cum eo de labore suo diebus vitae suae, quos dedit ei Dens sub sole. » Hoc plenius supra interpretati sumus, et nunc strictim dicimus: licet brevem et cito finiendam praeferre eum vescendi et bibendi vblnptatem angustiis saeculi, et his quae fieri videntur inique in mundo: quod solum hoc homo de labore suo habere videatur, si vel modico fruatur refrigerio. Verum haec interpretatio jejunantes, esurientes, sitientes, atque lugentes, quos beatos in Evangelio Dominus vocat (Matth. V), si sic accipitur, ut scriptum est, miseros approbabit. Et cibum itaque et potum spiritualiter accipiamus, et super eis laetitiam, quam in labore vitae nostrae vix possumus invenire.","english":"But whereas we rendered it as \"There is a vanity that takes place upon the earth,\" Symmachus translated it absolutely, saying: \"It is difficult to know what takes place upon the earth.\" The Hebrews interpret the righteous, to whom evils befall, and the impious, to whom the works of the righteous accrue, as the sons of Aaron and Manasseh—because the former perished while sacrificing, and the latter, after such great evils and captivity, was restored to royal power.\n\n\"And I praised joy, because there is no good for man under the sun except to eat and drink and rejoice. And this itself shall go out with him from his labor in the days of his life, which God gave him under the sun.\" We have expounded this more fully above, and now we say briefly: although he prefers the brief and quickly ended pleasure of eating and drinking to the straits of the world and to those things which seem to be done unjustly in the world—since this alone man seems to have from his labor, if he enjoys even a modest refreshment. But this interpretation, if it is taken as it is written, will approve as wretched those who fast, hunger, thirst, and mourn, whom the Lord in the Gospel calls blessed (Matt. 5). And so let us take food and drink spiritually, and joy over them, which we can scarcely find in the labor of our life.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":122,"ref":"p122","source":"Quod autem haec ita sentienda sint, ut diximus, demonstrat sequens versiculus, in quo ait: « Dedi cor meum, ut viderem sapientiam et occupationem: » quod scilicet occupentur homines super terram, et diebus ac noctibus in Scripturarum meditatione versentur: ita ul plerumque pro investigatione veri ab oculis somnus aufugiat.\n\n« Quapropter dedi cor meum, ut cognoscerem sapientiam, et viderem occupationem, quae facta est super terram. Quia et in die et in nocte somnum in oculis suis non est videns. Et vidi omnia opera Dei: quia non poterit homo invenire opus, quod factum est sub sole, in quo laboravit homo ut quaereret, et non inveniet 7. Siquidem et si dixerit sapient se cognoscere, non poterit invenire. » Qui quaerit causas rationesque rerum, quare hoc vel illud factum sit, et quare mundus variis gubernetur eventibus: cur alius caecus et debilis, alius videns nascatur et sanus: hic paupertatem habeat, ille divitias: iste sit nobilis, ille inglorius; nihil aliud proficit, nisi in sua tantum questione torqueri, et disputationem pro tormento habere, nec tamen invenire quod quaerit... Et cum haec dixerit se cognovisse, tunc ignorationis habere principium, et in profunda errore versari. Subostendit tamen esse causas rerum omnium et justitiam, quare unumquodque sic fiat: sed in occulto eas latere, et non posse ab hominibus comprehendi.","english":"But that these things are to be understood as we have said, the following verse demonstrates, in which he says: \"I gave my heart to see wisdom and occupation\": namely, that men are occupied upon the earth, and day and night are engaged in the meditation of the Scriptures, so that for the most part, in the investigation of truth, sleep flees from the eyes.\n\n\"Wherefore I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to see the occupation which is done upon the earth. For neither in the day nor in the night does he see sleep in his eyes. And I saw all the works of God: because man will not be able to find the work which is done under the sun, in which man has labored to seek, and he will not find it. Indeed, even if the wise man says that he knows, he will not be able to find it.\" He who seeks the causes and reasons of things, why this or that was done, and why the world is governed by various events: why one is born blind and weak, another seeing and healthy; why this one has poverty, that one riches; this one is noble, that one inglorious—he profits nothing else except to be tormented in his own question alone, and to have disputation as a torment, and yet not to find what he seeks... And when he has said that he has known these things, then he has the beginning of ignorance, and is engaged in deep error. Yet he hints that there are causes of all things and a justice, why each thing is done as it is: but that they lie hidden in secret, and cannot be comprehended by men.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":123,"ref":"p123","source":"(Cap. IX. ) « Omne hoc dedi in cordo meo 1. ut considerarem universa; quia justi, et sapientes, et opera eorum in manu Domini. Et quidem charitatem, et quidem odium: non est cognoscens homo omnia in facie eorum. » Etiam hunc locum Symmachus manifestius interpretatus est, dicens: « Omnia haec statui in corde meo, ut ventilarem universa: quia et justi et sapientes, et opera eorum in manu Dei sunt. Et insuper neque amicitias, neque inimicitias scit homo; sed omnia coram eis incerta, propterea quod omnibus eveniunt similia, justo et injusto. » Porro hic sensus est: Etiam in hoc dedi cor meum, et scire volui quos Deus diligeret, quos odisset. Et inveni justorum quidem opera in manu Dei esse, et tamen utrum amentur a Deo, an non, nunc eos scire non posse, et inter ambiguum fluctuare, utrum ad probationem sustineant quae sustinent, an ad supplicium 3. In futuro igitur scient, et in vultu corum sunt omnia, id est, antecedit eos. cum de vita hac recesserint, notitia istius rei, quia tunc est judicium, et nunc certamen. Et quicunque adversa sustinent, ut cum per amorem Dei sustineant, ut Job, an per odium, ut plurimi peccatores nunc habetur incertum.","english":"(Cap. IX.) \"All this I gave in my heart, to consider all things: because the just, and the wise, and their works are in the hand of the Lord. And indeed love, and indeed hatred: man does not know all things before their face.\" Symmachus also interpreted this passage more clearly, saying: \"All these things I set in my heart, to sift all things: because both the just and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God. And moreover man knows neither friendships nor enmities; but all things before them are uncertain, for the reason that similar things happen to all, to the just and the unjust.\" Now the meaning is this: Even in this I gave my heart, and wished to know whom God loved, whom He hated. And I found that the works of the just are indeed in the hand of God, and yet whether they are loved by God or not, they cannot now know, and they waver amid doubt, whether they endure what they endure for a testing, or for a punishment. In the future, therefore, they will know, and all things are before their face, that is, the knowledge of this matter precedes them when they have departed from this life, because then is judgment, and now is struggle. And whoever endures adversities, whether they endure them through love of God, like Job, or through hatred, like very many sinners, is now held uncertain.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":124,"ref":"p124","source":"« In omnibus eventus unus, justo et impio, bono et malo, mundo et polluto, sacrificanti et non sacrificanti. Sic bonus ut peccator, sic jurans sicut juramentum timens 4. » Ea quae per se nec bona nec mala sunt, sed a sapientibus saeculi media nuncupantur (quia aequaliter et justis eveniunt et injustis) simplices quosque conturbant, cur ita eveniant, et propterea non putant esse judicium, cum omnium rerum in futuro discrimen sit, et hic confusa sint omnia. Quod autem ait: Eventus est unus omnibus, justo et impio, sive angustiarum, sive mortis significat eventum: et idcirco nec charitatem Dei eos in se nosse, nec odium. Sacrificans quoque et non sacrificans, et caetera quae contraria enumerata sunt, spiritualiter accipienda, secundum illud: Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus (Psal. L, 19).\n\n« Hoc est pessimum in omni quod factum est sub sole: quia eventus unus omnibus. Sed et cor filiorum hominum repletum est malitia, et errores in corde eorum in vita sua, et post haec ad mortuos. Quia quis est qui communicet in omnes viventes? » Et hoc apertius more suo interpretatus est Symmachus, dicens: « Sed et cor filiorum hominum repletur malitia et procacitate juxta cor eorum in vita sua. Novissima autem eorum veniant ad mortuos. Quis enim potest in sempiternum perseverare vivens?","english":"In all things there is one event: to the just and the impious, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the polluted, to him who sacrifices and to him who does not sacrifice. As the good is, so is the sinner; as he who swears, so is he who fears an oath.\" Those things which in themselves are neither good nor evil, but are called by the wise men of the world \"indifferent\" (because they happen equally to the just and the unjust), disturb the simple, [who wonder] why they happen so, and therefore they do not think there is a judgment, although the distinction of all things is in the future, and here all things are confused. But what he says, \"There is one event to all, to the just and the impious,\" signifies either the event of distress or of death; and for this reason they know neither the love of God nor hatred in themselves. And he who sacrifices and he who does not sacrifice, and the other things that are enumerated as opposites, must be understood spiritually, according to that saying: \"A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit\" (Ps. 50:19).\n\n\"This is the worst among all that is done under the sun: because there is one event to all. But also the heart of the sons of men is filled with malice, and errors are in their heart in their life, and after these things they go to the dead. For who is he that may be joined to all the living?\" And this Symmachus has interpreted more openly, after his manner, saying: \"But also the heart of the sons of men is filled with malice and shamelessness according to their heart in their life. But let their last things come to the dead. For who can persevere living forever?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":125,"ref":"p125","source":"» Eumdem autem sensum Scriptura repetit, de quo paulo ante tractavimus, quod cum omnia aequaliter eveniant universis, et nulla sit in bonis sustinendis malisve discretio, vel certe aequali morte de hoc saeculo subtrahamur: nihilominus erroribus et procacitate et malitia repleamur, et post haec omnia subito rapiamur interitu 6, nec ultra possimus cum viventibus habere consortium. Vel certe sic: Quoniam communes angustiae, et justos et injustos premunt, idcirco ad peccata homines provocantur: et tamen post omnes conatus, quibus frustra nisi sunt, dum ignorant, ad inferna descendunt.\n\n« Est confidentia, quoniam canis vivens melior est a leone mortuo; quia viventes sciunt quod moriantur, et mortui nesciunt quidquam, et non est eis amplius merces. In oblivione enim venit memoria eorum. Sed et dilectio eorum, et odium eotum, et zelus eorum jam periit: et pars non est eis adhuc in saeculo in omni quod fit sub sole. » Quia supra dixerat, cor filiorum hominum impleri malitia et procacitate, et post haec omnia morte finiri: nunc eadem complet et repetit, donec vivunt homines, posse eos justos fleri, post mortem vero nullam boni operis dari occasionem. Precator enim vivens potest melior esse justo mortuo, si voluerit ad ejus transire virtutes. Vel certe eo, qui se in malitia, potentia, procacitate jactabat, et mortuus fuerit, melior potest quis pauper esse et vilissimus 8. Quare?","english":"» But the Scripture repeats the same meaning that we discussed a little before: that since all things happen equally to everyone, and there is no distinction in enduring good or evil things, or certainly we are withdrawn from this world by an equal death, nonetheless we are filled with errors and shamelessness and malice, and after all these things we are suddenly snatched away in destruction, nor can we any longer have fellowship with the living. Or certainly thus: because common distresses press upon both the just and the unjust, therefore men are provoked to sins; and yet after all the efforts in which they have labored in vain, while they are ignorant, they descend to hell.\n\n« There is confidence, because a living dog is better than a dead lion; because the living know that they will die, and the dead know nothing, and they have no further reward. For their memory comes into oblivion. But even their love, and their hatred, and their envy have already perished: and they have no part any longer in the world in all that is done under the sun. » Because he had said above that the heart of the sons of men is filled with malice and shamelessness, and that after all these things it is ended by death: now he completes and repeats the same, that while men live they can become just, but after death no opportunity of good work is given. For a living suppliant can be better than a dead just man, if he wishes to pass over to his virtues. Or certainly, than he who boasted in malice, power, and shamelessness, and has died, anyone can be better, even a poor and most worthless man. Why?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":126,"ref":"p126","source":"quia viventes metu mortis possunt bona opera perpetrare: mortui vero nihil valent ad id adjicere, quod semel secum tulere de vita: et oblivione involuta sunt omnia, juxta illud quod in Psalmo scriptum est: Oblivioni datus sum, tanquam mortuus a corde (Psal. XXX, 13). Sed et dilectio eorum, et odium, et aemulatio, et omne quod in saeculo habere potuerunt. mortis finitur adventu; nec juste quidquam jam possunt agere, nec p(??)ceare, nec virlutes adjicere, nec vitia. Licet quidam huic expositioni contradicant, asserentes, etiam post interitum crescere nos posse et decrescere, et in eo quod nuuc ait: « Et pars non erit eis adhuc in saeculo, in omni quod factum est sub sole, » ita intelligunt, ut dicant eos in hoc saeculo, et sub hoc sole quem nos cernimus, nullam habere communionem: habere vero sub alio saeculo, de quo Salvator ait: Non sum ego de hoc mundo (Joan. VIII, 23); et sub sole justitiae; et non excludi opinationem, quae contendit, postquam de hoc saeculo migraverimus, et offendere posse creaturas rationabiles, et promereri. Aliter referebat Hebraeus versiculum istum, in quo dicitur: Melior est enim conis vivens super leone mortuo, ita apud suos ex poni: Utiliorem esse quamvis indoctum, et eum qui adhuc vivat et doceat, a praeceptore perfecto, qui jam mortuus est.","english":"because the living can perform good works through fear of death; but the dead can add nothing to what they once carried with them from life, and all things are wrapped in forgetfulness, according to what is written in the Psalm: I have been given over to forgetfulness, like a dead man from the heart (Ps. 30:13). But their love too, and hatred, and envy, and everything they could possess in the world, is ended by the arrival of death; nor can they now do anything justly, nor sin, nor add virtues, nor vices. Although some contradict this exposition, asserting that even after death we can grow and diminish, and they understand that which is now said: \"And they will have no part any longer in the world, in all that is done under the sun,\" in such a way that they say they have no fellowship in this world and under this sun which we behold; but they do have it under another world, of which the Savior says: I am not of this world (John 8:23); and under the sun of righteousness; and they do not exclude the opinion which contends that after we have departed from this world, rational creatures can both offend and merit. Otherwise the Hebrew expounded this verse, in which it is said: For a living dog is better than a dead lion, setting it out among his own people thus: that even an unlearned man is more useful, one who is still alive and teaches, than a perfect teacher who is already dead.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":127,"ref":"p127","source":"Verbi causa, ut canem intelligeret unum quemlibet de pluribus praeceptorem: et leonem Moysen, aut alium quemlibet prophetarum. Sed quia nobis haec expositio non placet, ad majora tendamus: et Chananaeam illam, cui dictum est: Fides tua te salvam fecit (Matth. IX, 23): canem esse juxta Evangelium dicamus; leonem vero mortuum, circumcisionis populum, sicut Balaam propheta dicit: Ecce populus, ut catulus leonis consurget, et ut leo exsultans (Num. XXIII, 24). Canis ergo vivens nos sumus ex nationibus: leo autem mortuus Judaeorum populus a Domino derelictus. Et melior est apud Dominum iste canis vivens, quam leo ille mortuus. Nos enim viventes cognoscimus Patrem, et Filium, et Spiritum sanctum: illi vero mortui nihil sciunt, neque exspectant aliquam repromissionem atque mercedem: sed completa est memoria eorum. Neque ipsi meminerunt quae scire debuerant, neque illorum jam Dominus recordatur. Dilectio quoque, qua aliquando Deum diligebant, periit, et odium de quo audacter loquebantur: Nonne odientes te, Domine, odivi, et super inimicos tuos tabescebam [Psal. CXXXVIII, 21)? nec non et zelus eorum, juxta quem Phinees zelatus est, et Matathiae intremuerunt poplites [in Graec. ]. Perspicuum autem est, quod et pars corum non est in saeculo. Non enim possunt dicere: Pars mea Dominus (Psal. LXXII, 28).","english":"For example, so that he might understand one of many teachers as a dog, and Moses or any other of the prophets as a lion. But because this exposition does not please us, let us press on to greater things: and let us say that that Canaanite woman, to whom it was said, \"Your faith has saved you\" (Matt. 9:23), is a dog according to the Gospel; but the dead lion is the people of the circumcision, as the prophet Balaam says: \"Behold, the people shall rise up as a lion's whelp, and as a lion exulting\" (Num. 23:24). The living dog, therefore, is we who are from the nations; but the dead lion is the people of the Jews, forsaken by the Lord. And better in the sight of the Lord is this living dog than that dead lion. For we, being alive, know the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; but they, being dead, know nothing, nor do they expect any promise and reward: but their memory is fulfilled. Neither do they remember what they ought to have known, nor does the Lord now remember them. The love also, by which they once loved God, has perished, and the hatred of which they spoke boldly: \"Have I not hated those who hate you, O Lord, and wasted away over your enemies?\" (Ps. 138:21); and also their zeal, according to which Phinehas was zealous, and the knees of Mattathias trembled [in Greek]. It is clear, moreover, that their portion is not in the world. For they cannot say: \"The Lord is my portion\" (Ps. 72:28).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":128,"ref":"p128","source":"« Vade et comede in laetitia panem tuum, et bibe in corde bono vinum tuum, quoniam jam placuerunt Deo opera tua. In omni tempore sint vestimenta tua candida, et oleum de capite tuo non deficiat; » usque ad cum locum, in quo ait: « Sicut pisces qui tenentur in captione pessima, et sicut volucres quae capiuntur in laqueo: similiter caplentur filii hominum in tempore pessimo, cum ceciderit super eos subito. » Antequam de singulis disputemus, breviter constringenda sunt omnia, ut appareat, quo simul sensu cuncta dicantur. Quia in superiori capitulo fuerat praelocutus, quod postquam mortui fuerint homines, a corde viventium excidant, et nec dilectionem quis in cos habeat nec odium, secundum illud poetae: Nullum cum vietis certamen et aethere cassis: (AEneid. II.) et quia sub sole ultra nihil possint: nunc quasi errorem humanum et consuetudinem, qua se ad fruenda hujus saeculi bona invicem hortantur, inducit, et (prosopopaeian) facit more rhetorum et poetarum, dicens; O homo, quia ergo post mortem nihil es 4, et mors ipsa nihil est, audi consilium meum, et dum vivis in hac brevi vita, fruere voluptate, utere dapibus, vino curas opprime, et intellige, quoniam a Deo tibi donata sunt ad utendum Candidis vestibus ornatus incede, unguentis spiret caput tuum: quaecunque tibi placuerit feminarum, ejus gaude complexu, et vanam hanc et brevem vitam, vana et brevi voluptate percurre.","english":"Go, eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine with a good heart, because your works have already pleased God. Let your garments be white at all times, and let oil not fail from your head”; up to the place where it says: “As fish that are caught in a very bad net, and as birds that are caught in a snare: so are the children of men caught in an evil time, when it falls upon them suddenly.” Before we dispute about individual points, all these things must be briefly summarized, so that it may appear in what sense they are all said together. Because in the preceding chapter he had said beforehand that after men have died, they fall away from the heart of the living, and no one has either love or hatred toward them, according to that line of the poet: “No contest with the vanquished, and [words] scattered to the empty air”: and because under the sun they can do nothing further: now, as it were, he introduces human error and the custom by which people urge one another to enjoy the goods of this world, and he makes a personification, in the manner of rhetoricians and poets, saying: O man, since therefore after death you are nothing, and death itself is nothing, hear my counsel, and while you live in this brief life, enjoy pleasure, use banquets, crush your cares with wine, and understand that they have been given to you by God for your use. Walk adorned in white garments, let your head be fragrant with ointments: whichever woman has pleased you, rejoice in her embrace, and run through this vain and brief life with vain and brief pleasure.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":129,"ref":"p129","source":"Nihil enim extra haec habebis amplius, quo fruaris: quodcunque te delectare potest, festinus carpe, ne pereat. Neque enim frivola debes formidare commenta, quod singulorum operum, vel bonorum vel malorum, apud inferos tibi reddenda sit ratio. Non est enim aliqua in morte sapientia: nullus post dissolutionem vitae hujus remanet sensus. Et haec, inquit, aliquis loquatur Epicurus 6, et Aristippus et Cyrenaici, et caeterae pecudes philosophorum. Ego autem mecum diligenter retractans, invenio non, ut quidam male aestimant, omnia fortuito geri, et variam in rebus humanis fortunam ludere, sed cuncta judicio Dei fieri. Neque enim velox pedibus, suum debet cursum putare, si currat; neque fortis in suo confidat robore, nec sapiens divitias et opes aestimet prudentia congregari: nec eloquens et doctus per eloquentiam et doctrinam apud populum invenire se posse gratiam: sed omnia Deo fieri disponente. Et nisi ille suo cuncta arbitrio rexerit, et aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboravere, qui aedificant eam. Nisi ille custodierit civitatem, in vanum vigilant, qui custodiunt eam (Psal. CXXVI, f).","english":"For you will have nothing more beyond these things to enjoy: whatever can delight you, seize it quickly, lest it perish. Nor should you dread frivolous fables, that a reckoning for each deed, whether good or evil, must be rendered to you among the dead. For there is no wisdom in death; no awareness remains after the dissolution of this life. And these things, he says, let some Epicurus say, and Aristippus and the Cyrenaics, and the other cattle of the philosophers. But I, carefully reflecting within myself, find—not as some wrongly judge—that all things are carried on by chance and that varied fortune plays with human affairs, but that all things are done by the judgment of God. For neither should the swift of foot, if he runs, think his course is his own; nor should the strong trust in his own strength, nor should the wise reckon that riches and wealth are gathered by prudence; nor should the eloquent and learned think that through eloquence and learning they can find favor among the people; but all things are done by God's disposing. And unless he has ruled all things by his own will and built the house, those who build it have labored in vain. Unless he has guarded the city, those who guard it watch in vain.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":130,"ref":"p130","source":"Non est itaque, ut illi putant, unus eventus, et incertus vitae hujus status: quia quando non aestimant, repentina morte subducti ad judicium venient· Et quomodo pisces hamo capiuntur et retibus, et aves per aerem liberae laqueo dum ne- (??) iunt alligantur: sic et homines pro merito suo ad aeterna supplicia deducentur, cum repente mors venerit, et judicium in eos, qui putabant incerto statu omnia volutari. Haec juxta eum sensum, quo breviter voluimus universa comprehendere: nunc, quasi non ex alterius, sed ex sua persona loquatur, interpretanda sunt singula: « Vade, comede in laetitia panem tuum, et bibe in corde bono vinum tuum: quia complacuerunt Deo opera tua. » Quia didicisti, quod morte omnia finiantur, et in inferno non sit poenitentia, nec aliquis ad virtutes recursus, dum in isto saeculo es, festina, contende agere poenitentiam: dum habes tempus, labora. Libenter enim Deus suscipit poenitentem. Aliter: Et simpliciter intellectum prodest, juxta illud: Sive manducatis, sive bibitis, sive aliquid facitis 3, omnia in nomine Domini facite (I Cor. X, 31). Et in alio loco: « Cum consilio vinum bibe 4. » Non enim habet veram laetitiam et cor bonum, qui creaturis supra modum abutitur. Melius autem est sic sentire: Cujus placuerunt opera coram Deo, nequaquam indigere poterit vero pane et vino, quod calcatum est de vinea Sorech.","english":"It is not, therefore, as they think, one and the same outcome, and the state of this life is not uncertain; for when they do not expect it, carried off by sudden death they will come to judgment. And just as fish are caught by hook and net, and birds, though free in the air, are bound by the snare while they do not (??) notice it, so too men, according to their desert, will be led away to eternal punishments, when death has come suddenly, and judgment upon those who thought that all things were tossed about in an uncertain state. These things are to be understood according to that sense in which we wished briefly to comprehend everything; now, as though he were speaking not in another's person but in his own, the individual points are to be interpreted: \"Go, eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine with a good heart, because your works have pleased God.\" Because you have learned that all things are ended by death, and that in hell there is no repentance, nor any return to virtues, while you are in this world, hasten, strive to do penance; while you have time, labor. For God willingly receives the penitent. Otherwise: and understood simply, it is profitable, according to that saying: \"Whether you eat, or drink, or do anything, do all in the name of the Lord\" (1 Cor. 10:31). And in another place: \"Drink wine with counsel.\" For he does not have true gladness and a good heart who abuses creatures beyond measure. But it is better to understand it thus: he whose works have pleased before God will by no means be able to lack true bread and wine, which is trodden out from the vineyard of Sorech.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":131,"ref":"p131","source":"Dato nobis itaque praecepto, quod dicit: Desiderasti sapientiam, serva mandata, et Dominus ministrabit tibi eam (Eccli. I, 33): servemus mandata, et panem et vinum spiritualia invenire poterimus. Qui autem mandata non servat, ei in panis et vini abundantia gloriatur, dicitur ei per Isaiam: Ne dicas etiam, cognosco eam: neque cognovisti, neque scis, neque a principio aperui tibi aures 5. Scio enim quia contemnent contemnes [AI. contemnis, Graec. ] (Isa. XLVIII, 8, sec. LXX). Porro quod in Septuaginta Interpretibus dicitur: « Veni, comede in laetitia panem tuum 6. « ejus Ecclesiastae vox est. qui in Evangelio loquitur: Qui sitit, veniat ad me, et bibat (Joan. VII, 37). Et in Proverbiis: Venite, comedite panes meos, et bibite vinum meum (Prov. IX, 5). In omni tempore sint vestimenta tua candida, et oleum de capite tuo non desit. Habeto, inquit, corpus mundum, et esto misericors. Vel ita: Non sit tempus in quo candida non habeas vestimenta, cave ne quando pollutis vestibus induaris. Populus quippe peccator in vestibus fuscis luxisse describitur. Tu autem in luere lucem, et non maledictionem, quae super Judam scripta est: Induatur maledictione, sicut vestimentum (Psal. CVIII, 18). Induere viscera misericordiae, benignitatis, humilitatis, mansuetudinis, patientiae (Coloss. III). Et cum exspoliatus fueris veterem hominem cum operibus ejus, induere novum, qui renovatur de die in diem.","english":"Therefore, since the commandment has been given to us, which says: You have desired wisdom; keep the commandments, and the Lord will minister it to you (Sirach 1:33): let us keep the commandments, and we shall be able to find the spiritual bread and wine. But to him who does not keep the commandments, and who glories in abundance of bread and wine, it is said through Isaiah: Do not say, I know her; for you have neither known nor understood, nor have I opened your ears from the beginning. For I know that the despisers will despise (Isaiah 48:8, according to the Septuagint). Moreover, what is said in the Septuagint translators: Come, eat your bread in gladness — this is the voice of that Ecclesiastes who speaks in the Gospel: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink (John 7:37). And in Proverbs: Come, eat my breads, and drink my wine (Proverbs 9:5). At all times let your garments be white, and let oil not be lacking from your head. Have, he says, a clean body, and be merciful. Or thus: Let there be no time in which you do not have white garments; take care lest at any time you be clothed in polluted garments. For the sinful people is described as having shone in dark garments. But you — in light, light, and not the curse which was written over Judah: Let it be put on like a garment (Psalm 108:18). Clothe yourself with the bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience (Colossians 3). And when you have stripped off the old man with his works, clothe yourself with the new, which is renewed from day to day.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":132,"ref":"p132","source":"Quod autem ait: Et oleum de capite tuo non desit: sciendum naturam hanc esse olei, ut et lumen alat, et fessorum solvat laborem. Est oleum spirituale 7, oleum exsultationis, de quo scribitur: Propterea unxit te Deus, Deus tuus oleo exsultationis prae participibus tuis (Psal. XLV. 8). Hoc oleo vultus noster exhilarandus est. Hoc jejunantis ungendum caput, quod peccatores habere non possunt, quibus dicitur: Non est malagma imponere, neque oleum, neque alligaturas (Isa. I, 6). Habent enim oleum contrarium, quod vir justus detestatur, dicens: Oleum peccatoris non impinguet caput meum (Psal. CIV, 5). Hoc oleum haeretici habent, et eo cupiunt deceptorum capita perfundere.\n\n« Vide vitam cum muliere, quam dilexisti omnibus diebus vitae vanitatis tuae 9, qui dati sunt tibi sub sole: quia haec est pars tua in vita et in labore, quo tu laboras sub sole. » Sapientiam sequere et scientiam Scripturarum, et hanc tibi in conjugium copula de qua in Proverbiis dicitur: Ama illam, et servabit te: amplexare illam, et circumdabit te (Prov. IV, 8). Dies autem vanitatis, dies hujus saeculi nequam significant. De quo et Apostolus non tacet.","english":"But as for what it says: And let not the oil of your head fail: it must be known that this is the nature of oil, that it both nourishes light and relieves the weariness of the tired. There is a spiritual oil, the oil of exultation, of which it is written: Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of exultation before your companions (Psalm 45:8). With this oil our face must be made cheerful. With this oil the head of the one fasting must be anointed, which sinners cannot have, to whom it is said: There is no plaster to apply, nor oil, nor bandages (Isaiah 1:6). For they have a contrary oil, which the just man detests, saying: Let not the oil of the sinner make fat my head (Psalm 104:5). This oil the heretics have, and with it they desire to pour over the heads of the deceived.\n\n«See life with the woman whom you have loved all the days of your vain life, who have been given to you under the sun: because this is your portion in life and in the labor in which you labor under the sun.» Follow wisdom and the knowledge of the Scriptures, and join this to yourself in marriage, of which it is said in Proverbs: Love her, and she will keep you: embrace her, and she will surround you (Proverbs 4:8). But the days of vanity signify the days of this wicked age. Of which the Apostle also does not keep silent.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":133,"ref":"p133","source":"Quod autem ait: « Vide vitam cum muliere, quam dilexisti 1, » ambigue dictum est, sive vide et contemplare vitam, et ipse et uxor tua tecum (non enim poteris sine tali uxore solus videre vitam), sive utrumque considera, et vide vitam, et mulierem diebus vanitatis tuae. Et pulchre praecipit, ut in diebus vanitatis nostrae veram vitam cum sapientia uxore quaeramus. Haec enim pars nostra est, et hic laboris fructus, si in hac vita umbratili vitam veram invenire valeamus.\n\n« Omnia quae invenit manus tua, ut facias, in virtute tua fac: quia non est opus, et cogitatio, et scientia, et sapientia in inferno quo tu vadis illuc. » Fac quodcunque nunc potes, et labora: quia cum ad infernum descenderis 2, locus non erit poenitentiae. Huic quid simile a Salvatore praecipitur: Operamini, dum dies est: veniet nox, quando nemo poterit operari (Joan. IX, 4). Quod autem ait: In inferno quo tu v(??)dis illuc, nota, ut Samuelem quoque vere in inferno credas fuisse: et ante adventum Christi, quamvis sanctos, omnes inferni lege detentos. Porro quod sancti post resurrectionem Domini nequaquam teneautur in inferno, testatur Apostolus, dicens: Melius est dis· solvi, et esse cum Christo (Philipp. I, 23). Qui autem cum Christo est, utique non tenetur in inferno.","english":"But what it says, \"See life with the woman whom you have loved,\" is spoken ambiguously: either \"see and contemplate life, both you and your wife with you\" (for you cannot see life alone without such a wife), or consider both, and see life, and the woman, in the days of your vanity. And it aptly instructs that in the days of our vanity we should seek true life with a wise wife. For this is our portion, and this the fruit of labor, if in this shadowy life we are able to find true life.\n\n\"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might: because there is no work, and thought, and knowledge, and wisdom in hell, where you are going.\" Do whatever you can now, and labor: because when you have descended to hell, there will be no place for repentance. Something similar to this is commanded by the Savior: \"Work while it is day: night will come, when no one will be able to work\" (John 9:4). But what it says, \"In hell, where you are going,\" note that you should believe Samuel also was truly in hell: and before the coming of Christ, all, even the saints, were held by the law of hell. Furthermore, that the saints after the resurrection of the Lord are by no means held in hell, the Apostle testifies, saying: \"It is better to be dissolved, and to be with Christ\" (Philippians 1:23). But whoever is with Christ is certainly not held in hell.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":134,"ref":"p134","source":"« Converti me, et vidi sub sole, quoniam non est velocium cursus, nec fortium praelium, nec sapientium panis, nec prudentium divitiae, nec scientium gratia: quoniam tempus et eventus occurret omnibus illis,. » Qui vinctus est compedibus ferreis, et gravibus plumbi nexibus praegravatur: Iniquitas enim sedet super talentum plumbeum (Zach. V, 7); et in Psalmo loquitur: Sicut onus grave gravatae sunt super me (Psal. XXXVII, 5): non est aptus ad cursum illum, de quo dicitur: Cursum consummavi, fidem servavi (II Tim. IV, 7). Qui autem levis est, et anima illius non gravatur, nihilominus et ipse absque adjutore Deo ad calcem non potest pervenire 3. Sed et cum praelium fuerit adversus contrarias potestates, de quo scriptum est: Sanctificate bellum (Jerem. VI, 4): licet robustus, tamen propriis viribus vincere non valebit. Perfectus quoque in filiis hominum et sapiens viventem panem atque coelestem habere non poterit, nisi per sapientiam cohortantem: Venite, comedite panes meos. Et quia sunt divitiae 4, de quibus Apostolus ait: Divites fieri in operibus bonis (I Tim. VI, 18): et alibi: Divites facti estis in omni sermone, et in omni scientia (I Cor. I, 5): sciendum prudentem virum has non posse divitias congregare, nisi eas a Domino acceperit, cujus ipsae divitiae sunt. De quibus et alibi dictum est: Redemptio animae viri, propriae divitiae (Prov. XV, 8).","english":"I turned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the prudent, nor favor to the learned, because time and chance befall them all.\" The one who is bound in iron fetters and weighed down by heavy chains of lead—for iniquity sits upon the leaden talent (Zech. 5:7), and in the Psalm it is said: \"Like a heavy burden they are weighed down upon me\" (Ps. 38:5)—is not fit for that race of which it is said: \"I have finished the race, I have kept the faith\" (2 Tim. 4:7). But the one who is light, and whose soul is not weighed down, nonetheless cannot reach the finish line without God as his helper. Moreover, when there is battle against the opposing powers, of which it is written: \"Sanctify the war\" (Jer. 6:4), even if he is strong, he will not be able to conquer by his own strength. Also, one who is perfect among the children of men and wise will not be able to have the living and heavenly bread, except through Wisdom, which exhorts: \"Come, eat my bread.\" And because there are riches of which the Apostle says: \"Be rich in good works\" (1 Tim. 6:18), and elsewhere: \"You have become rich in every word and in all knowledge\" (1 Cor. 1:5), it must be understood that a prudent man cannot gather these riches unless he has received them from the Lord, whose riches they are. Of these it is also said elsewhere: \"The redemption of a man's soul is his own riches\" (Prov. 15:8).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":135,"ref":"p135","source":"Gratia quoque, nisi scientiam comitata fuerit, et concessa a Deo, quamvis eruditus vir eam non poterit invenire. Quod et Paulus sciens: Plus, inquit, omnibus illis laborari 5; non autem ego, sed gratia Dei quae mecum est (I Cor. XV, 10). Et iterum: Gratia ejus in me non fuit vacua. Et ad extremum nescitur ab homine, quando tempus adveniat, in quo varius eventus et finis omnium subsequatur. Haec secundum.\n\nCaeterum, ut simplicius disseramus, Epistola ad Romanos huic loco congruit: Quia non volentis neque currentis, sed miserentis Dei sit (Rom. IX, 16). Quod autem ait: « Non est sapientibus panis, » multorum quotidie probatur exemplo, qui cum sapientissimi sint, necessariis indigent. Et, « Non est scientibus gratia. » Videas enim in Ecclesia imperitissimos quosque florere: et quia nutrierunt frontis audaciam, et volubilitatem linguae consecuti sunt, dum non recogitant quid loquantur, prudentes se et eruditos arbitrantur: maxime si favorem vulgi habuerint, qui magis dictis levioribus delectatur et commovetur. Et e contrario eruditum virum latere in obscuro, persecutiones pati: et non solum in populo gratiam non habere, sed inopia et egestate tabescere, Haec autem fiunt, quia incerto statu feruntur omnia, et non est in praesenti retributio meritorum, sed in futuro.","english":"Grace too, unless it has been accompanied by knowledge and granted by God, an educated man will not be able to find it. Paul, knowing this, says: \"I labored more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me\" (1 Cor. 15:10). And again: \"His grace in me was not in vain.\" And finally, it is not known by man when the time may come in which the varied outcome and the end of all things follows. This is the second point.\n\nBut to speak more simply, the Epistle to the Romans agrees with this passage: \"Because it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy\" (Rom. 9:16). Now what it says, \"Bread is not for the wise,\" is proved daily by the example of many who, though they are most wise, lack necessities. And \"grace is not for the learned\": for you may see in the Church the most unskilled of people flourishing, and because they have nourished boldness of countenance and acquired a fluency of tongue, while they do not reflect on what they say, they consider themselves prudent and learned—especially if they have the favor of the crowd, which is more delighted and moved by lighter words. And, on the contrary, an educated man lies hidden in obscurity, suffers persecutions, and not only has no favor among the people but wastes away in want and poverty. These things happen because all things are borne along in an uncertain state, and there is no recompense of merits in the present, but in the future.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":136,"ref":"p136","source":"« Et quidem nescit homo tempus suum, quasi pisces qui retinentur in captione pessima 8, sicut (??)ducr(??)s quae colligantur laqueo: similiter corr(??)ent filii hominum in tempore malo, cum ceciderit super ipsos extemplo. » Jam et supra diximus, quod dum nesciant homines, ita eis [Al. eis aut) angustiae veniant, aut interitus. Porro secundum allegoriam, est sciendum, regnum coelorum simile esse sagenae missae in mari (Matth. XIII): et e contrario babere sagenam haereticos, per quam pisces capiant ad interitum. Sagena eorum est sermo affabilis, blandum eloquium, simulata aut coacta jejunia, vestis humilis, virtutum imitatio. Quod si coeperint, et de superioribus disputare, et in sublime levare os suum, et Dei altitudines quaerere, laqueum ponunt in excelsis. Quomodo igitur pisces et volucres cito capiuntur a tali sagena, et ab istius(??)nodi laqueo: sic cum multiplicata fuerit iniquitas, et refrixerit charitas multorum, et signa la t(??) fuerint atque portenta, ita ut seducantur, si possibile est, etiam electi (Matth. XXIV): sciendum est ecclesiasticos quoque viros, qui filii hominum appellantur, et sunt modicae fidei, cito posse corruere. Notandum etiam, quod per totum librum ubicunque dicitur, filii hominum, In Hebraeo habet ((??)) filii hominis, hoc est, filii Adam. Et omnis pene Scriptura hoc (??)iomate plena est, universum genus hominum, Adam filios vocans.","english":"And indeed a man does not know his time, like fish that are caught in a most wretched net, and like birds that are gathered in a snare: in the same way the sons of men are entangled in an evil time, when it falls upon them suddenly.\" We have already said above that, while men do not know, distress or destruction comes upon them. Furthermore, according to the allegorical sense, it must be known that the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea (Matthew 13); and, on the contrary, heretics have their own net, by which they catch fish to destruction. Their net is affable speech, flattering eloquence, feigned or forced fastings, humble dress, the imitation of virtues. But if they begin both to dispute about things above and to lift up their mouth on high and to seek the heights of God, they set a snare in the high places. Therefore, just as fish and birds are quickly caught by such a net and by the snare of this kind, so when iniquity has been multiplied and the love of many has grown cold, and signs and wonders have been performed, so that even the elect, if possible, may be deceived (Matthew 24), it must be known that ecclesiastical men too, who are called sons of men and are of little faith, can quickly fall. It should also be noted that throughout the whole book, wherever it says \"sons of men,\" the Hebrew has \"sons of man,\" that is, sons of Adam. And almost all Scripture is full of this idiom, calling the whole human race the sons of Adam.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":137,"ref":"p137","source":"« Sed et hanc vidi sapientiam sub sole, et magna est apud me. Civitas parva et viri in ea pauci: et venit ad eam rex magnus et circumdedit eam, et aedificavit adversus eam machinam magnam. Et invenit in ea virum pauperem et sapientem, et salvavit hic civitatem in sapientia sua: et homo non recordatus est hominis pauperis illius. » Aliis omnia incerta dicentibus, et justum ab injusto nihil amplius habere: ego sapientiam etiam in hoc maximam comprobavi: quod crebro evenit, ut parva sit civitas, et habitatores in ea pauci, et innumerabilium hostium cingatur exercitu, et obsidione et lame populus intus necetur: et repente contra omnium suspicionem inveniri virum humilem et pauperem 2, qui quia habet sapientiam majorem cunctis divitibus, magnis et potentibus et superbis in periculo positis, et ad obsidionem paventibus, cogitat et inquirit, et invenit quomodo a malis eruat civitatem. Et, o ingrata hominum oblivio, postquam fuerim liberali, et soluta captivitas, et reddita patriae libertas, nemo meminit sapientis illius pauperis, nemo refert gratias pro salute: sed omnes honorant divites, qui in periculo nihil subvenire potuerunt. Aliter Hebraeus ita hunc locum interpretatus est: Civitas parva, homo est, qui etiam apud philosophos minor mundus vocatur. Et viri in ea pauci, membra de quibus homo ipse contexitur.","english":"But I too have seen this wisdom under the sun, and it is great in my estimation. There was a small city and few men in it: and a great king came against it and surrounded it, and built a great siege-engine against it. And he found in it a poor and wise man, and this man saved the city by his wisdom: and no man remembered that poor man. While others say that all things are uncertain, and that the just man has nothing more than the unjust, I have proved wisdom to be greatest even in this: that it often happens that a city is small, and its inhabitants few, and it is surrounded by the army of countless enemies, and the people within are killed by siege and famine: and suddenly, contrary to everyone's expectation, a humble and poor man is found, who, because he has wisdom greater than all the rich, great, powerful, and proud men who are placed in danger and terrified by the siege, thinks and inquires and finds a way to rescue the city from evils. And, O thankless forgetfulness of men, after we have been set free, and the captivity dissolved, and the fatherland's liberty restored, no one remembers that poor wise man, no one gives thanks for the deliverance: but all honor the rich, who could bring no help in the danger. The Hebrew interpreted this passage differently, as follows: The small city is man, who is even called by the philosophers the lesser world. And the few men in it are the members from which man himself is composed.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":138,"ref":"p138","source":"Cum autem venerit adversus eam rex magnus diabolus, et quaesierit locum per quem possit irrumpere, invenitur in ea humilis et sapiens, et quieta cogitatio interioris hominis, et servat urbem quae obsessa ab hostibus cingebatur. Cumque homo de periculo sive persecutionis, sive angustiarum, sive cujuscunque adversae rei atque peccati fuerit erutus: homo ille exterior, qui inimicus est illius pauperis hominis, et sapientis, non recordatur interioris hominis, nec subdit se consiliis ejus: sed rursum sua fruitur libertate. Aliter: Parva civitas est, et viri in ea pauci, ad comparationem totius mundi, Ecclesia est: adversus quam saepe consurgit rex magnus diabolus (non quod magnus sit, sed quod magnum se esse jactitet), et circumdat eam obsidione sive persecutionis, sive alio angustiarum genere. Et invenit in ea virum pauperem et sapientem. Dominum Jesum Christum, qui pro nobis pauper factus est (II Cor. VIII, 9) et est ipsa sapientia: et ille vir pauper liberat urbem in sapientia sua. Quoties vidimus sedentem leonem in insidiis cum divitibus, hoc est, cum senatoribus et principibus hujus saeculi, et adversus Ecclesiam molientem, pauperis istius sapientia corruisse? Cumque pauper hic vicerit, et urbs paci fuerit restituta, vix aliquis ejus meminit, vix illius mandata considerat: sed totos se luxuriae et voluptatibus concedentes, quaerunt divitias, quae in necessitate non liberant.","english":"But when the great king, the devil, has come against it, and has sought a place through which he might break in, there is found in it a humble and wise man, and the quiet thought of the inner man, and he saves the city that was being encircled, besieged by enemies. And when a man has been delivered from the danger of persecution, or of distress, or of any adverse thing and of sin, that outer man, who is the enemy of that poor and wise man, does not remember the inner man, nor does he submit himself to his counsels, but again enjoys his own freedom. Otherwise: The small city, and the few men in it, compared with the whole world, is the Church, against which the great king, the devil, often rises up (not because he is great, but because he boasts that he is great), and surrounds it with a siege, whether of persecution or of another kind of distress. And he finds in it a poor and wise man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sake became poor (II Cor. 8:9) and is wisdom itself; and that poor man delivers the city in his wisdom. How often have we seen the lion sitting in ambush with the rich, that is, with the senators and princes of this world, and striving against the Church, brought down by the wisdom of this poor man? And when this poor man has conquered, and the city has been restored to peace, scarcely anyone remembers him, scarcely anyone considers his commandments; but giving themselves wholly over to luxury and pleasures, they seek riches, which do not deliver in time of need.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":139,"ref":"p139","source":"« Et dixi ego, melior est sapientia super fortitudinem, et sapientia pauperis quae despecta est, et verba ejus quae non sunt audita. » Quanquam nullus meminerit sapientis pauperis illius, cum laeta sint omnia; sed universi potentiam et divitias admirentur: ego tamen secundum omnes supra interpretationes magis honoro contemptam sapientiam, et verba quae nullus audire dignatur.\n\n« Verba sapientium in quiete audiuntur, plus quam clamor potestatem habentis in stultis. » Quemcunque in Ecclesia videris declamatorem, et cum quodam lenocinio ac venustate verborum excitare plausus, risus excutere, audientes in affectus laetitiae concitare: scito signum esse insipientiae, tam ejus qui loquitur quam eorum qui audiunt. Verba quippe sapientium in quiete, et moderato audiuntur silentio: qui vero insipiens est, quam vis sit potens, et clamorem sive suae vocis, sive populi habeat acclamantis, inter insipientes computabitur 2.","english":"And I said, wisdom is better than strength, and the wisdom of the poor man which was despised, and his words which were not heard. Although no one remembers that poor wise man when all things are prosperous, but all admire power and riches, yet I, in accordance with all the interpretations above, honor more the despised wisdom and the words which no one deigns to hear.\n\nThe words of the wise are heard in quiet, more than the shout of one having power among fools. Whoever you see in the Church as a declaimer, and who with a certain allurement and charm of words stirs up applause, provokes laughter, rouses the hearers into feelings of joy: know that it is a sign of foolishness, both of him who speaks and of those who hear. For the words of the wise are heard in quiet and in moderate silence; but he who is foolish, however powerful he may be, and whether he has the shout of his own voice or of the people acclaiming him, will be counted among fools.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":140,"ref":"p140","source":"« Melior est sapientia super vasa belli, et peccans unus perdet bonitatem multam. » Nunc quoque sapientiam praefert fortitudini, et dicit plus eum valere in praeliis, quam arma pugnantium. Quod si unus insipiens fuerit, quamvis parvus et nihil sit, crebro tamen per illius stultitiam, opes magnas divitiasque subverti. Quia vero in Hebraeo potest legi: Et qui peccat unum, perdet bonitatem multam, etiam sic sentiendum est: quod propter unum peccatum, multae justitiae retro pereant, et invicem se virtutes sequi, et qui unam habuerit, habere omnes: et qui in uno peccaverit, eum omnibus vitiis subjacere (Jac. II, ).\n\n(Cap. X.) « Muscae mortis polluunt oleum compositionis: pretiosa est super sapientiam et gloriam stultitia parva. » Exemplum superioris sensus dedit, in quo ait, per unum stultum multa bona posse subverti, quod sic malus mistus bonis contaminet plurimos, quomodo muscae si moriantur in unguento, perdant et odorem illius et colorem 4. Et quia saepe calliditati mista est sapientia, et habet malitiam prudentia, praecipit ut sapientiam simplicem requiramus, mistaque sit cum innocentia columbarum; prudentes simus ad bonum, simplices autem ad malum. Et est sensus: Convenit justo parum habere simplicitatis, et propter nimiam patientiam, dum ultionem reservat Deo, stultum videri, quam statim se vindicantem sub velamento prudentiae exercere malitiam.","english":"Wisdom is better than weapons of war, and one sinner destroys much good.\" Now too he prefers wisdom to strength, and says that it is more powerful in battles than the weapons of those who fight. But if one foolish man exists, although he is small and nothing, yet often through his folly great wealth and riches are overturned. But since in the Hebrew it can be read: \"And he who sins in one thing destroys much good,\" it must also be understood this way: that because of one sin many righteous deeds perish in retrospect, and that the virtues follow one another, and he who has one has all, and he who has sinned in one thing is subject to all vices (James 2).\n\n(Chapter 10.) \"Dead flies defile the oil of ointment: a little folly is precious above wisdom and glory.\" He gave an example of the preceding meaning, in which he said that through one fool many good things can be overturned, namely that the wicked man, mixed with the good, contaminates very many, just as flies, if they die in ointment, destroy both its scent and its color. And because wisdom is often mixed with cunning, and prudence has malice, he instructs that we seek simple wisdom, and that it be mixed with the innocence of doves; let us be wise for good, but simple for evil. And the meaning is: It is fitting for the righteous man to have a little simplicity, and because of excessive patience, while he reserves vengeance for God, to seem foolish, rather than immediately avenging himself and practicing malice under the veil of prudence.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":141,"ref":"p141","source":"Aliter: Muscae quae juxta Isaiam (cap. VII, ) principantur parti fluminis AEgypti, perdunt olei suavitatem, in unoquoque credentium relinquentes immunditiae suae odorem atque vestigia. Ab his muscis etiam princeps appellatus est daemoniorum Beelzebub (Matth. XII, 24), qui interpretatur aut idolum muscarum 6, aut vir muscarum, aut habens muscas.\n\n« Cor sapientis in dextra ejus, et cor stulti in sinistra illius. Sed et in via, cum stultus ambulat, cor ejus minuitur: et dicit, omnis insipiens est. » Et in Evangelio praecipitur, ut nesciat sinistra quid faciat dextera sapientis (Matth. VI 3; V, 39). Et quando percutimur in maxillam dexteram, non jubemur sinistram genam percutienti praebere, sed alteram dexteram (Matth. V, 39). Justus enim sinistram in se non habet, sed totum in eo dextrum est. Et cum ad judicandum Salvator venerit, agni stabunt a dextris: haedi vero a sinistris erunt (Matth. XXV, 35). Et in Proverbiis scribitur: Dextras vias novit Dominus: quae autem perversae sunt, a sinistris sunt (Prov. IV, ). Qui ergo sapiens est, semper de futuro saeculo cogitat, quod ducit ad dextram. Qui vero insipiens, de praesenti, quod positum est in sinistra. Quae quidem secutus idem philosophus et poeta 10, ait (VIRGIL. AEneid. VI): Dextera quae magni ditis sub moenia ducit. Hac iter Elysium nobis: at laeva malorum Exercet poenas, et ad impia tartara mittit.","english":"Otherwise: the flies which, according to Isaiah, rule over the part of the river of Egypt destroy the sweetness of the oil, leaving in each of the faithful the odor and traces of their uncleanness. From these flies the prince of demons was also called Beelzebub, which is interpreted either as the idol of flies, or the man of flies, or the one having flies.\n\n\"The heart of the wise is in his right hand, and the heart of the fool in his left. But even on the way, when the fool walks, his heart is diminished: and he says, every man is a fool.\" And in the Gospel it is commanded that the left hand of the wise should not know what the right hand does. And when we are struck on the right cheek, we are not commanded to offer the left cheek to the one who strikes, but the other right cheek. For the righteous man has no left in himself, but everything in him is right. And when the Savior comes to judge, the lambs will stand on the right, but the goats will be on the left. And in Proverbs it is written: The Lord knows the right ways; but those that are perverse are on the left. Therefore whoever is wise always thinks of the future age, which leads to the right. But whoever is foolish thinks of the present, which is placed on the left. Following this, the same philosopher and poet says: The right way which leads beneath the walls of great Dis—by this is our path to Elysium; but the left exercises the punishments of the wicked, and sends them to impious Tartarus.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":142,"ref":"p142","source":"Firmianus quoque noster in praeclaro Institutionum suarum opere Y litterae meminit 11, et de dextris ac sinistris, hoc est, de virtutibus et vitiis plenissime disputavit. Nec putemus huic sententiolae illud esse contrarium, in quo dicitur: Ne declines in dexteram, neque in sinistram (Prov. IV, 27). Hic enim pars dextera pro bono accipitur: ibi vero non tam dextera, quam declinatio dexterae accusatur: ne plus sapiamus quam sapere nos necesse est: quia virtutes in medio sunt·9, et nimietas omnis in vitio est. Sequentis autem versiculi in quo ait: « Sed et in via cum stultus ambulat, cor ejus indiget, et dicit: omnis insipientia est, sive insipiens, » hic est sensus: Stultus ut ipse peccat, sperat omnes peccare similiter, atque ex suo ingenio universos judicat. Denique Symmachus ita interpretatus est: « Sed et in via stultus cum ambulat, ipse insipiens suspicatur de omnibus, quia stulti sunt. » Septuaginta vero alium fecere sensum, quo dicerem: « Omnia quae insipiens cog tat, esse vanissima. »","english":"Our Firmianus too, in the renowned work of his Institutions, makes mention of the letter Y, and disputed most fully concerning things on the right and on the left, that is, concerning virtues and vices. Nor should we think that this is contrary to that little sentence in which it is said: Do not turn aside to the right, nor to the left (Prov. 4:27). For here the right side is taken for the good; there, however, it is not so much the right as a turning aside from the right that is accused: lest we be wise beyond what it is necessary for us to be wise, because virtues are in the middle, and all excess is in vice. But the sense of the following verse, in which he says, \"But even when a fool walks on the way, his heart is in need, and he says: all is foolishness,\" or \"the fool,\" is this: the fool, just as he himself sins, hopes that all sin in the same way, and judges everyone by his own nature. Finally Symmachus interpreted it thus: \"But even when a fool walks on the way, he himself, being foolish, suspects concerning all that they are fools.\" The Seventy, however, produced a different sense, by which I would say: \"All the things that a fool thinks are utterly vain.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":143,"ref":"p143","source":"« Si spiritus habentis potestatem ascenderit super te, locum tuum ne dimiseris, quia sanitas requiescere facit peccata magna. » Principem mundi istius, et rectorem tenebrarum harum, et operantem in filiis diffidentiae, cujus et Apostolus meminit (Ephes. II, 2; VI, ), nunc Scriptura significat. Quod si in cor nostrum ascenderit, et animus malae cogitationis vulnus acceperit, non debemus locum ultra tribuere·2, sed pugnare contra cogitationem pessimam, et liberare nos a peccato maximo, ne scilicet cogitationem opere compleamus: quia aliud est cogitatione, aliud opere peccare. De quo grandi peccato et in Psalmo scribitur: Si mei non fuerint dominati, tunc immaculatus ero, et emendabor a delicto maximo ( Psal. XVIII, ). Symmachus verbum Hebraicum ( ) MARPHE, quod omnes, hoc est, sanitatem vel curationem, similiter transtulerunt, interpretatus est ad sensum, et ait: « Si spiritus principis irruerit tibi, de loco tuo ne recedas: quia pudicitia comprimit peccata magna. » Id est, si titillaverit mentem tuam diabolus, et te ad libidinem concitaverit, ne sequaris cogitationem pessimam et blandientem voluptatem: sed sta fortis et rigidus, et frigore castitatis flammam voluptatis exstingue. Hebraeus in hoc loco tale nescio quid suspicatus est.","english":"If the spirit of one who has power ascends over you, do not abandon your place, because soundness makes great sins rest.\" The Scripture here signifies the prince of this world, and the ruler of these darknesses, and the one working in the sons of unbelief, whom the Apostle also mentions. But if he has ascended into our heart, and the mind has received the wound of an evil thought, we ought no longer to give him a place, but to fight against the worst thought, and to free ourselves from the greatest sin—namely, lest we complete the thought in deed; because it is one thing to sin in thought, another in deed. Concerning this great sin it is also written in the Psalm: \"If they have not had dominion over me, then I shall be spotless, and I shall be cleansed from the greatest transgression.\" Symmachus interpreted the Hebrew word MARPHE, which all others likewise translated as \"soundness\" or \"healing,\" according to the sense, and said: \"If the spirit of the prince rushes upon you, do not withdraw from your place, because chastity suppresses great sins.\" That is, if the devil has tickled your mind, and stirred you to lust, do not follow the worst thought and the flattering pleasure; but stand strong and rigid, and extinguish the flame of pleasure with the cold of chastity. The Hebrew suspected some such thing in this passage.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":144,"ref":"p144","source":"Si aliquam in mundo acceperis dignitatem, et ordinatus fueris major in populis, noli relinquere priora opera tua, et anti quarum virtutum ne incipias oblivisci, laboremque pristinum non habere: quia peccatorum remedium ex conversatione bona nascitur, et non ex tumenti et superflua dignitate.\n\n« Est matum quod vidi sub sole, quasi ignorantia egrediens a facie potentis: dari stultum in sublimitatibus magnis, et divites in humili sedentes. Vidi servos in equis, et principes ambulantes quasi servos super terram. » Pro eo quod nos posuimus: « Quasi ignorantia egrediens a facie potentis, » Aquila et Theodotio et Septuaginta interpretati sunt: « Quasi non spontaneum 6, » id est,, « a facie principis. » Cui subucctens Symmachus, ait: « Positum stultum in sublimitate magna: divites autem sedere humiles. » Et hanc ergo iniquitatem se in saeculo perspexisse commemorat, quod videatur injustum esse Dei judicium: et sive per ignorationem, sive absque ejus fieri voluntate, ut vel in mundi potestatitibus, vel in Ecclesiae principatu 7, hi qui divites sunt in sermone atque sapientia, divites etiam in operibus bonis, ignobiles sedeant, et imprudens quisque in Ecclesia principatum teneat. Hoc autem fieri Apostolus non tacet a diabolo, qui in saeculo habet potestatem 8, ut potentes quosque et doctos viros premat, nec eos in populis apparere permittat.","english":"If you have received any dignity in the world, and have been appointed greater among the peoples, do not abandon your former works, and do not begin to forget your earlier virtues, nor to disregard your former labor: because the remedy of sins is born from good conduct, and not from swollen and superfluous dignity.\n\n\"There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were ignorance proceeding from the face of one who has power: that a fool be given high places, and the rich sit in lowliness. I saw servants on horses, and princes walking on the earth like servants.\" For what we have set down as \"as it were ignorance proceeding from the face of one who has power,\" Aquila and Theodotion and the Seventy interpreted as \"as it were not voluntary,\" that is, \"from the face of a prince.\" To this Symmachus, adding, says: \"A fool placed in great sublimity: but the rich sitting lowly.\" And so he recalls that he has observed this iniquity in the world, that the judgment of God seems to be unjust: and whether through ignorance, or whether it happens without his will, that either among the powers of the world, or in the principate of the Church, those who are rich in speech and wisdom, rich also in good works, sit inglorious, and each imprudent person holds the principate in the Church. But the Apostle does not keep silent that this is done by the devil, who has power in the world, so that he may press down any powerful and learned men, and not permit them to appear among the peoples.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":145,"ref":"p145","source":"illos vero quos scit imprudentes esse in Ecclesiis, faciat esse majores, ut caeci a caecis ducantur in foveam. In hunc sensum facit et illud quod sequitur: « Vidi servos super equos 9, et principes ambulare quasi servos super terram. » Quod hi qui servi sunt vitiorum atque peccati, sive tam humiles, ut servi ab hominibus computentur, subita a diabolo dignitate perflati 10, vias publicas mannis terant: et nobilis quisque et prudens, paupertate oppressus, gradiatur itinere officioque servorum. Hebraeos potentem et principem, a cujus facie ignoratio videatur egredi, Deum exposuit, quod putent homines in hac inaequalitate rerum 2, illum non juste, et ut aequum est, judicare. Porro alii cum superioribus aestimant esse jungendum: Ut ipse sit potens, de quo ante hos versus dicitur: « Si spiritus habentis potestatem ascenderit super te, locum tuum ne dimiseris. » Non simus itaque tristes, si in hoc saeculo humiles esse videamur, scientes a facie diaboli et stultos sublevari, et divites dejici: servos insignia habere dominorum, et principes servorum ingredi vilitate. Notandum autem quod et hic equus in bonam partem accipitur, ut ibi: « Et equitatio tua salus. »","english":"But those whom he knows to be foolish in the Churches, he makes greater, so that the blind are led by the blind into the pit. To this sense also belongs what follows: \"I saw servants upon horses, and princes walking like servants upon the earth.\" That is, those who are servants of vice and sin, or so lowly that they are counted as servants by men, suddenly puffed up by the devil with dignity, wear out the public roads with ponies; while anyone noble and prudent, oppressed by poverty, walks along the path and office of servants. The Hebrew exposited God as the powerful one and prince, from whose face ignorance seems to proceed, because men think that in this inequality of things he does not judge justly, and as is fair. Furthermore, others think this should be joined with the preceding: that he himself is the powerful one, of whom it is said before these verses: \"If the spirit of one having power ascends upon you, do not leave your place.\" Let us not therefore be sad if in this world we seem lowly, knowing that from the face of the devil both fools are raised up and the rich are cast down: servants have the insignia of masters, and princes enter in the vileness of servants. But it should be noted that here too the horse is taken in a good sense, as there: \"And your riding is salvation.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":146,"ref":"p146","source":"« Qui fodit foveam, in ipsam incidet, et qui dissipat sepem, mordebit eum serpens. » Ex parte simplex et ex parte mysticus intellectus est. Siquidem et alibi ipse Salomon ait 3·: Qui statuet laqueum, capietur in illo (Eccli. XXVII, 26). Et in psalmo septimo: Lacum aperuit, et effodit eum, et incidit in foveam quam fecit. Sepis autem maceriaeque convulsio 4, ecclesiastica dogmata sunt, et institutio ab apostolis prophetisque fundata, quae qui dissolverit, et voluerit praeterire, in eo ipso quo negligit, a serpente percutitur. De quo serpente et in Amos scriptum est: Si descenderit in infernum, mandabo serpenti, et mordebit eos (Amos IX, 3).\n\n« Qui subtrahit lapides dolebit in eis: et qui scindit ligna, periclitabitur in eis. » Volvuntur et in Zacharia (cap. IX, vers. 16) sancti lapides super terram. Non enim firma in ea statione consistunt: sed praetereunt, et semper ad altiora nitentes, hinc abire festinant. De his vivis lapidibus et in Apocalypsi (cap. XVI, vers. seqq.) urbs Salvatoris exstruitur, et Ecclesiam aedificari Apostolus non tacet. Si quis ergo haeretica arte perversus de Ecclesiae aedificio istos abstulerit lapides (unde et signanter Aquila et Symmachus, pro eo, quod nos posuimus, « Qui subtrahit lapides, dolebit in cis, » dixerunt: « Qui transfert lapides, dilacerabitur in eis), » postea tormenta patietur.","english":"Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever breaks down a hedge, a serpent will bite him.\" This is partly a simple and partly a mystical understanding. For indeed Solomon himself says elsewhere: \"Whoever sets a snare will be caught in it\" (Sirach 27:26). And in the seventh psalm: \"He opened a pit and dug it out, and he fell into the pit he made.\" But the tearing down of the hedge and the wall are the ecclesiastical dogmas and the teaching founded by the apostles and prophets; whoever dissolves these and wishes to pass them by, in that very neglect of his he is struck by the serpent. Of this serpent it is also written in Amos: \"If they descend into hell, I will command the serpent, and it will bite them\" (Amos 9:3).\n\n\"Whoever removes stones will grieve over them: and whoever splits wood will be in danger over them.\" In Zechariah too (chapter 9, verse 16) the holy stones are rolled over the earth. For they do not stand firm in their station upon it, but they pass by, and always striving toward higher things, they hasten to depart from here. From these living stones, also in the Apocalypse (chapter 16 and following verses), the city of the Savior is built, and the Apostle does not keep silent that the Church is built. If anyone, therefore, perverted by heretical craft, has removed these stones from the building of the Church (whence also Aquila and Symmachus pointedly, for what we have set down as \"Whoever removes stones will grieve over them,\" said: \"Whoever transfers stones will be torn apart over them\"), afterward he will suffer torments.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":147,"ref":"p147","source":"Quia vero absolute Scriptura ait, « Qui subtrahit lapides, » sive, « Qui transfert lapides, » et non adjecit bonos sive malos; propterea et e contrario intelligendum, quod ecclesiasticus vir, episcopus videlicet et presbyter, si juxta mandatum Levitici (cap. XIV, vers. 45), de leprosa domo lapidem abstulerit, in cinerem et pulverem conterendum: dolebit in eo ipso, quod de Ecclesia Christi lapidem auferre cogatur, dicens secundum Apostolum: Flere cum flentibus, lugere cum lugentibus (Rom. XII, 15); et, Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor 1? quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror (II Cor. XI, 29)? Ligna quoque scindens, periclitabitur in eis. Haeretici ligna infructuosa sunt, et saltus absque utilitate pomorum. Unde et in templo Dei prohibetur plantari nemus, et vana foliorum, id est, verborum tantum sonantium spernuntur umbracula. Quamvis igitur sit prudens et doctus vir, qui gladio sermonis sui haec ligna conscindat, periclitabitur in eis, nisi diligenter attenderit; maxime si ei hoc quod sequitur, acciderit: Si retusum fuerit ferrum, et faciem ejus turbaverit, id est, si disputatio ejus infirmior fuerit inventa, nec acumen habuerit, quo contraria quaeque secet: sed principale cordis ejus hebetetur; in partem transibit adversam, et confirmabit eum fortitudo perversa.","english":"But because Scripture says absolutely, \"Whoever removes stones,\" or \"Whoever transfers stones,\" and did not add \"good\" or \"bad,\" therefore it must also be understood conversely: that an ecclesiastical man—namely a bishop or a presbyter—if, according to the command of Leviticus (ch. 14, v. 45), he has removed a stone from a leprous house to be ground into ash and dust, will grieve in that very act, because he is compelled to remove a stone from the Church of Christ, saying according to the Apostle: \"Weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn\" (Rom. 12:15); and, \"Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I do not burn?\" (2 Cor. 11:29). Also, he who splits wood will be endangered by it. Heretics are unfruitful wood, and a grove without the usefulness of fruits. Hence also in the temple of God a grove is forbidden to be planted, and the vain shadows of leaves—that is, of words that merely make sound—are despised. Therefore, although he be a prudent and learned man who cuts these woods with the sword of his speech, he will be endangered by them unless he has carefully attended; especially if what follows happens to him: \"If the iron has been blunted, and its face has been disturbed,\" that is, if his disputation has been found weaker, and has not the sharpness with which to cut through contrary things, but the principal part of his heart is dulled, he will pass over to the adverse side, and perverse strength will confirm him.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":148,"ref":"p148","source":"Hoc enim est, quod Septuaginta Interpretes transtulerunt: Et fortitudine confortabitur; et superflua roboratus sapientia incipiet, inquit, fortitudinem habere, et sapientiam, quae superflua est, et non adjuvat possidentem.\n\n« Si retusum fuerit ferrum; et hoc non et prius, sed conturbatum fuerit, virtutibus corroborabitur: et reliquum fortitudinis sapientia est. » Si se, inquit, aliquis viderit per negligentiam amisisse scientiam Scripturarum, et acumen ingenii ejus fuerit obtusum: et conturbatus nequaquam manserit, qualis esse jam coeperat. Evenit quippe interdum, ut cum modicum scientiae quis habuerit, elatus in superbiam, discere desistat et legere, et paulatim ex eo, quod nihil ei additur, subtrahatur, et vacuum disciplinis pectus remaneat, ferrumque, quod acutum fuerat, hebetetur; otium enim et desidia quasi quaedam rubigo sapientiae est. Si igitur quis hoc passus fuerit, non desperet remedium sanitatis, sed vadat ad magistrum, et rursum instruatur ab eo, et post laborem et industriam, sudoremque nimium, valebit sapientiam recipere quam amiserat, Hoc est, quod in Hebraeo significantius dicitur: « Et fortitudinibus corroborabitur, » id est, labore, et sudore, et industria, et quotidiana lectione, sapientiam consequetur, et tortitudo ipsius habebit hunc finem, ut accipiat sapientiam.","english":"For this is what the Seventy Interpreters translated: \"And he will be strengthened with strength; and being strengthened by superfluous wisdom, he will begin,\" he says, \"to have strength, and wisdom which is superfluous and does not help its possessor.\"\n\n\"If the iron has been blunted; and this not once before, but it has been thrown into confusion, he will be strengthened by virtues: and the remainder of strength is wisdom.\" If someone, he says, sees that through negligence he has lost knowledge of the Scriptures, and the sharpness of his intellect has been dulled, and being thrown into confusion he has by no means remained such as he had already begun to be. For it happens sometimes that when someone has had a little knowledge, puffed up into pride, he ceases to learn and to read, and gradually from the fact that nothing is added to him, it is taken away, and his breast remains empty of disciplines, and the iron that had been sharp is blunted; for leisure and sloth are, as it were, a kind of rust of wisdom. If therefore someone has suffered this, let him not despair of the remedy of health, but let him go to the master, and again be instructed by him, and after labor and diligence, and excessive sweat, he will be able to receive the wisdom he had lost. This is what is said more significantly in Hebrew: \"And he will be strengthened by strengths,\" that is, by labor, and sweat, and diligence, and daily reading, he will attain wisdom, and his crookedness will have this end, that he receive wisdom.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":149,"ref":"p149","source":"« Si momorderit serpens in silentio, non est amplius habenti linguam. » Simplex hic sensus est: Serpens et detractor aequales sunt. Quomodo enim ille occulte mordens venenum inserit; sic iste clam detrahens, virus pectoris sui effundit in fratrem, et nihil habet a serpente amplius 3. Cum enim lingua hominis ad benedicendum et ad aedificationem proximi sit creata, ille eam serpenti aequalem facit, dum virtutibus ejus in perversum abutitur. Aliter: Si quem serpens diabolus occulte momorderit, et nullo conscio, eum peccati veneno infecerit; si tacuerit qui percussus est, et non egerit poenitentiam, nec vulnus suum fratri et magi stro voluerit confiteri, magister et frater, qui linguam habent ad curandum, facile ei prodesse non poterunt. Si enim erubescat aegrotus, vulnus medico confiteri, quod ignorat medicina non curat.\n\n« Verba oris sapientis gratia, et labia insipientis praecipitabunt eum. » Stultitia, si sua esset rusticitate contenta, minus aliquid haberet mali. Nunc autem contra sapientiam bellum gerit, et quidquid prudentiae in docto viro viderit 5, zelo stimulata non recipit. Loquitur enim vir sapiens verba scientiae, et verba gratiae, quae utilitatem possunt praebere audientibus, et aures stulti non ita suscipiunt quae dicuntur, ut dicta sunt; sed e contrario virum prudentem supplantare conantur, et sui similem facere.","english":"If the serpent bites in silence, there is no more for him who has a tongue.\" The simple sense here is this: the serpent and the detractor are alike. For just as the former, biting secretly, injects venom, so the latter, slandering in secret, pours out the poison of his breast upon his brother, and has nothing more than the serpent. For since man's tongue was created for blessing and for the edification of one's neighbor, he makes it equal to a serpent when he abuses its powers perversely. Otherwise: if the serpent, the devil, has secretly bitten someone and, with no one aware, has infected him with the venom of sin, if the one struck keeps silent and does not do penance, nor is willing to confess his wound to his brother and to the teacher, the teacher and brother, who have a tongue for healing, cannot easily benefit him. For if the sick man is ashamed to confess his wound to the physician, what medicine does not know, it does not cure.\n\n\"The words of the mouth of the wise are grace, and the lips of the fool will cast him down.\" Folly, if it were content with its own rusticity, would have less of evil. But now it wages war against wisdom, and whatever prudence it sees in a learned man, stirred by envy it does not receive. For the wise man speaks words of knowledge and words of grace, which can offer benefit to hearers, and the ears of the fool do not receive what is said as it was said; but on the contrary they try to supplant the prudent man and make him like themselves.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":150,"ref":"p150","source":"Et revera praecipitatur vir sapiens, quando in aurem loquitur imprudentis, et verba ejus in profundo, ut ita dicam, gurgite pereunt. Unde beatus, qui in aurem, loquitu(??) audientis·6.\n\n« Initium verborum ejus insipientia, et novissimum oris ejus error pessimus. Et stultus multiplicat verba. Ignorat homo quid sit, quod factum est: et quod futurum est post eum, quis annuo tiabit ei? » Adhuc ei de stulto disputatio est, cujus labia praecipitant sapientem, sive juxta aliam interpretationem, stultum ipsum corruere faciunt, Initium enim sermonis ejus, et finis stultitia est et error pessimus; sive, ut Symmachus transtulit, « tumultus, et quaedam verborum inconstantia; » dum non manet in sententia, sed putat in multiplicatione sermonum effugere se posse peccatum. Cum enim nec praeteritorum meminerit, nec futura cognoscat, et in ignorantia et tenebris volutetur, falsam sibi scientiam repromittens 8; in eo doctum, in eo se putat esse sapientem, si verba multiplicet. Potest hoc et de haereticis accipi, qui prudentium virorum dicta non capiunt; sed se ad disputationes contrarias praeparantes, et initium et finem loquendi vanitate, tumultu, errore convolvunt: et cum nihil sciant 9, loquuntur plura quam norunt.","english":"And indeed the wise man is cast down when he speaks into the ear of the imprudent, and his words perish in a deep whirlpool, so to speak. Hence the blessed man is the one who speaks into the ear of the one who listens.\n\n\"The beginning of his words is folly, and the last of his mouth is the worst error. And the fool multiplies words. Man does not know what it is that has been done; and what is to be after him, who will announce it to him?\" The discussion is still about the fool, whose lips cast down the wise man, or according to another interpretation, make the fool himself fall. For the beginning of his speech, and its end, is folly and the worst error; or, as Symmachus translated, \"tumult, and a certain inconstancy of words,\" since he does not remain in his opinion, but thinks that by multiplying words he can escape sin. For since he neither remembers past things nor knows future things, and is rolled about in ignorance and darkness, promising himself false knowledge, he thinks himself learned in this, wise in this, if he multiplies words. This can also be understood of heretics, who do not grasp the sayings of wise men; but preparing themselves for contrary disputations, they wrap up both the beginning and the end of speaking in vanity, tumult, and error: and when they know nothing, they speak more than they know.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":151,"ref":"p151","source":"« Labor stultorum affliget eos, qui nesciunt ire in civitatem. » Cum superioribus etiam hos junge versiculos: aut generaliter de omnibus stultis, qui ignorant Deum, aut specialior de haereticis disputat 1. Lege Platonem; Aristotelis revolve versutias, Z(??)aonem et Carneadem diligentius intuere, et probabis verum esse quod dicitur. « Labor stultorum affliget eos. » Veritatem illi quidem omni studio quaesierunt; sed quia non habuerunt ducem, et praevium itineris, et humanis sensibus rati sunt se comprehendere posse sapientiam, ad civitatem minime pervenerunt, de qua in Psalmo dicitur: Domine, in civitate tua imaginem ipsorum dissipabis (Psal. LXXII, 20). Omnes enim umbras et diversas imagines atque personas, quas sibi in variis dogmatibus induerunt, in urbe sua Dominus dissipabit. De qua et alibi scribitur: Fluminis impetus laetificat civitatem Dei (Psal. XLVI, 5). Et in Evangelio: Non potest civitas abscondi supra montem posita (Matth. V, 14). Et in Isaia: Ego civitas firma, civitas quae oppugnatur (Isa. XXVII, 30, sec. LXX). Siquidem hanc veritatis et sapientiae civitatem, cum firma sit et robusta, omnes et sapientes saeculi et haeretici impugnare conantur. Et quod de philosophis diximus, hoc idem etiam de haereticis sentiendum, quod frustra laborem et affligantur in studio Scripturarum, cum ambulent in deserto, et civitatem invenire non valeant.","english":"The labor of fools will afflict them, who do not know how to go into the city.” Join these verses also with the preceding ones: either he speaks generally of all fools who do not know God, or more specifically he disputes concerning heretics. Read Plato; turn over the subtleties of Aristotle; look more diligently into Zeno and Carneades, and you will prove that what is said is true. “The labor of fools will afflict them.” They indeed sought the truth with all zeal; but because they did not have a guide and one going before them on the way, and they thought that by human senses they could comprehend wisdom, they by no means reached the city, of which it is said in the Psalm: O Lord, in your city you will bring their image to nothing (Ps. 72:20). For all the shadows and various images and persons which they put on for themselves in various doctrines, the Lord will scatter in their city. Of which it is also written elsewhere: The rushing of the river gladdens the city of God (Ps. 45:5). And in the Gospel: A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:14). And in Isaiah: I am a strong city, a city that is besieged (Isa. 27:30, according to the LXX). Indeed, this city of truth and wisdom, since it is firm and strong, all both the wise of the world and heretics try to attack. And what we have said of the philosophers, the same must also be understood of the heretics, that they labor in vain and are afflicted in the study of the Scriptures, since they walk in the desert and cannot find the city.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":152,"ref":"p152","source":"De quorum errore et Psalmista commemorat dicens: Erraverunt in deserto et in inaquoso, viam civitatis et habitationis ejus non invenerunt (Psal. CVI, 4).\n\n« Vae tibi, terra, cujus rex adolescens, et principes tui mane comedunt. Beata terra 3, cujus rex tuus filius l(??)genuorum, et principes tui in tempore comedunt, in fortitudine et non in confusione. » Videtur quidem reprobare juvenum principatum, et luxuriosos judices condemnare, quod in altero per aetatem sit infirma sapientia, in aliis etiam matura aetas deliciis enervetur. Et econtrario principem probare bonis moribus, et liberaliter institutum; et eos judices praedicare, qui nequaquam voluptatem negotiis civium praeferant: sed post multum laborem et administrationem rcipublicae, cibum capere quasi necessitate cogantur. Verum mihi sacratius quid latere videtur in littera, quod juvenes dicantur in Scriptura, qui a veteri auctoritate desciscunt, et cana praecepta parentum contemnunt: qui neglecto Dei mandato, cupiunt statuere traditiones hominum. De quibus et in Isaia (cap. VIII) Israeli Dominus comminatur, eo quod noluerit aquam Siloe, quae vadit cum silentio, et veterem piscinam averterit, eligens sibi fluenta Samariae, et gurgites Damasci. Et dabo, inquit, juvenes principes eorum, et illusores dominabuntur eis (Isa. III, 4). Lege Daniel, et vetustum dierum invenies Deum (Dan. VII).","english":"Concerning whose error the Psalmist also makes mention, saying: \"They wandered in the desert and in the waterless place; they did not find the way of the city and of its dwelling\" (Ps. 106:4).\n\n\"Woe to you, land, whose king is a youth, and whose princes eat in the morning. Blessed is the land whose king is the son of the freeborn, and whose princes eat in due time, in strength and not in confusion.\" He seems indeed to reprove the rule of the young and to condemn luxurious judges, because in the one case wisdom is weak through age, and in the other even mature age is enervated by pleasures. And on the contrary, he seems to approve a prince of good morals and liberally instructed, and to praise those judges who by no means prefer pleasure to the business of the citizens, but after much labor and the administration of the commonwealth are compelled as it were by necessity to take food. But to me something more sacred seems to lie hidden in the letter: that those are called \"young\" in Scripture who revolt from ancient authority and despise the hoary precepts of their parents, who, neglecting the command of God, desire to establish the traditions of men. Concerning whom the Lord also threatens Israel in Isaiah (chapter 8), because it was unwilling to accept the waters of Shiloah, which flow in silence, and turned away from the old pool, choosing for itself the streams of Samaria and the whirlpools of Damascus. And, he says, \"I will give their princes as youths, and mockers shall rule over them\" (Isa. 3:4). Read Daniel, and you will find God as the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":153,"ref":"p153","source":"Lege Apocalypsim Joannis, et caput Salvatoris candidum ut nivem, et quasi lanam albam reperies (Apoc. I). Jeremias quoque quia sapiens erat, et cani ejus in sapientia reputabantur, prohibetur juvenem esse se dicere. (Jerem. I). Vae ergo terrae cujus rex est diabolus, qui semper novarum rerum cupidus etiam in Abessalon adversus parentem rebellat: quae judices et principes eos habet, qui ament hujus saeculi voluptates, qui antequam dies mortis adveniat, dicunt: Manducemus et bibamus: cras enim moriemur (Isa. XXII, 13). Econtra beata terra Ecclesiae, cujus rex est Christus Filius ingenuorum; de Abrabam, Isaac, et Jacob, prophetarum quoque et sanctorum omnium stirpe descendens, quibus peccatum non fuit dominatum; et ob id vere fuerunt liberi. Ex quibus nata est Virgo liberior sancta Maria, nullum habens fruticem, nullum germen ex lutere; sed totus fruetus ejus erupit in florem, loquentem in Cantico canticorum: Ego flos campi, et lilium convallium (Cant. u, 1). Principes quoque ejus sunt apostoli et omnes sancti, qui regem habent filium ingenuorum, filium liberae; non de ancilla Agar, sed de Sarae libertate generatum. Nec comedunt mane, nec velociter. Non enim in praesenti saeculo quierunt voluptatem, sed tempore suo manducabunt cum retributionis tempus advenerit, et manducabunt in fortitudine, et non in confusione.","english":"Read the Apocalypse of John, and you will find the head of the Savior white as snow and like white wool (Rev. 1). Jeremiah too, because he was wise and his gray hairs were reckoned in wisdom, is forbidden to say that he is young (Jer. 1). Woe, therefore, to the land whose king is the devil, who, always eager for new things, even in Absalom rebels against his parent: a land that has as its judges and princes those who love the pleasures of this world, who, before the day of death comes, say: \"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die\" (Isa. 22:13). By contrast, blessed is the land of the Church, whose king is Christ, the Son of the freeborn; descending from the stock of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of all the prophets and saints, over whom sin did not reign; and for that reason they were truly free. From these was born the Virgin, freer still, holy Mary, having no shoot, no sprout from the mud; but all her fruit burst forth into a flower, speaking in the Song of Songs: \"I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys\" (Song 2:1). Its princes too are the apostles and all the saints, who have as their king the son of the freeborn, the son of the free woman; not born of the slave girl Hagar, but of Sarah's freedom. Nor do they eat in the morning, nor quickly. For they have not sought their pleasure in the present world, but in their own time they will eat when the time of recompense arrives, and they will eat in strength, and not in confusion.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":154,"ref":"p154","source":"Omne bonum praesentis saeculi confusio est, futuri perpetua fortitudo. Tale quid et in Isaia dicitur: Ecce qui serviunt mihi, manducabunt 4; vos autem esurietis. Et iterum: Ecce qui serviunt mihi, laetabuntur; vos autem pudebi(??) (Isa. LXV, et 14).\n\n« In pigritiis humiliabitur contignatio, et in infirmitate manuum stillabit domus. » Domus nostra, quae, cum statu hominis erecta est, et habitatio quam habemus in coelis, si pigri sumus et ad hona opera tardiores, humiliabitur. Et omnis contignatio quae debet culmen portare in sublime, ad terram corruens, habitatorem suum opprimet. Cumque auxilium manuum virtutumque torpuerit, omnes desuper tempestates, et nimborum ad nos turbo prorumpit. Porro quod in homine uno interpretati sumus, melius potest super Ecclesia accipi; quod per negligentiam principum omnis ejus corruat altitudo: et ibi vitiorum illecebrae sint, ubi tegmen putabatur esse virtutum.","english":"Every good of the present age is confusion; of the future, perpetual strength. Something of this sort is also said in Isaiah: Behold, those who serve me shall eat; but you shall hunger (Isa. 65). And again: Behold, those who serve me shall rejoice; but you shall be ashamed (Isa. 65:14).\n\n\"In slothfulness the roof-beam shall be brought low, and in the weakness of the hands the house shall drip.\" Our house, which was raised up with the standing of man, and the dwelling that we have in the heavens—if we are slothful and too slow to good works—shall be brought low. And every roof-beam that ought to bear the roof on high, falling down to the earth, will crush its inhabitant. And when the help of hands and of virtues has grown torpid, all storms from above and the whirlwind of clouds burst in upon us. Furthermore, what we have interpreted in the case of one man can better be understood of the Church: that through the negligence of her leaders all her height collapses, and there be allurements of vices where the covering of virtues was thought to be.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":155,"ref":"p155","source":"« In risu faciunt panem et vinum 2, ut epulentur viventes. Et argento obediunt omnia. » Existimo ex superioribus pendere quod sequitur. In pigritia enim et in socordia magistrorum humiliari Ecclesiam, et culmen ejus concidere, et tigna perflui 3, supra exposuimus. Nunc ergo de eisdem magistris loquitur. Et quia visus fuerat accusare eos, cur tacerent, et non uterentur officio magistrorum, et episcopi et presbyteri in Ecclesia constituti, non laborarent in sermone et doctrina, quod et Titus commonetur ut faciat (Tit. I, 5), et Timotheo praecipitur, ne gratiam negligat, quam per impositionem manuum acceperat; sed et in eo se aestimarent presbyteros et episcopos, ut salutaria acciperent 4, et uti praeceptores honorem duplicem quaererent, qui laborantibus in doctrina et sermone debetur (I Tim. IV, 14); nunc econtrario accusat eos qui loquuntur quidem in Ecclesia, et docent populos, sed ea docent quae populum audire delectet, quod peccatores palpet in vitio, et strepitus concitet audientium. Nonne quando in Ecclesia lascivit oratio, et beatitudinem, et regna coelorum multitudini pollicetur, videtur tibi in risu panem facere, et vinum ad laetitiam miscere viventium 6?","english":"In laughter they make bread and wine, so that the living may feast. And all things obey silver.” I consider that what follows depends on the preceding. For we have explained above that through the sloth and indolence of teachers the Church is brought low, and her roof-tree falls, and her beams are swept away. Now, therefore, he speaks concerning these same teachers. And because he had seemed to accuse them for keeping silent and not discharging the office of teachers—that bishops and presbyters established in the Church did not labor in speech and doctrine, which Titus is also admonished to do (Tit. 1:5), and Timothy is instructed not to neglect the grace he had received through the laying on of hands; but that in this they should reckon themselves presbyters and bishops, so as to receive wholesome things, and as teachers seek the double honor that is due to those who labor in doctrine and speech (1 Tim. 4:14)—now, on the contrary, he accuses those who indeed speak in the Church and teach the peoples, but teach those things that delight the people to hear, because he flatters sinners in their vice and stirs up the clamor of his hearers. Do you not think that when speech runs wanton in the Church and promises blessedness and the kingdoms of heaven to the multitude, it seems to make bread in laughter and to mix wine for the gladness of the living?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":156,"ref":"p156","source":"Sive quod ipsi qui docent, divitias, et cibos, et opes per delectabilia promissa conquirant; sive quod Ecclesiae panem, qui panis lugentium est, et non ridentium (beati quippe lugentes, quoniam ipsi ridebunt) in laetitia gaudioque conficiant. Quod autem sequitur: Pecuniae vel argento obediunt omnia, dupliciter accipiendum: vel ipsos doctores postquam adulatione ditati sint, regnum in populos exercere; vel certe, quia argentum pro sermone semper accipiatur: Eloquia enim Domini, eloquia casta, argentum igne probatum terrae 7, purgatum septuplum (Psal. II, 7): hoc asseverat, quod eloquentiae et orationi, quae verborum sit fronde composita, facile vulgus cedat ignobile. Aliter: Qui habent apud se sponsum, et propterea lugere et jejunare prohibemur, in risu faciunt panem. A quo risu et Isaac nomen accepit, et in laetitia bibentium vinum praeparant. Omnis itaque vir sauctus qui, ut Christus praecepit, magister Ecclesiae est, in risu et laetitia panem facit, et vini pocula ministrat in gaudio. Argentum quoque, cui obediunt omnia, quinque illa de Evangelio, et duo, et unum patrisfamilias sunt talenta, et decem mnae, quae servis in negotiatione creduntur (Matth. XXV, seqq.).","english":"Whether because those who teach themselves acquire riches, and foods, and wealth through pleasurable promises; or because they make the bread of the Church, which is the bread of those who mourn and not of those who laugh (blessed indeed are those who mourn, for they shall laugh), in gladness and joy. But what follows: All things obey money or silver, must be understood in two ways: either that the teachers themselves, after they have been enriched by flattery, exercise dominion over the peoples; or certainly, because silver is always taken for speech: For the words of the Lord are pure words, silver tried by fire of the earth, purified sevenfold (Psalm 11:7): he asserts this, that to eloquence and speech, which is composed with the foliage of words, the ignoble crowd easily yields. Otherwise: Those who have the bridegroom with them, and for that reason are forbidden to mourn and fast, make bread in laughter. From this laughter Isaac also received his name, and in the gladness of those drinking they prepare wine. And so every holy man who, as Christ commanded, is a teacher of the Church, makes bread in laughter and gladness, and ministers cups of wine in joy. Silver also, to which all things obey, are those five talents from the Gospel, and two, and one of the father of the household, and the ten minas, which are entrusted to servants for trading (Matthew 25, ff.).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":157,"ref":"p157","source":"« In mente tua regi ne maledixeris, et in secreto cubilis tui, ne maledixeris diviti; quia avis coeli auferet vocem, et habens pennas, annuntiabit verbum 9. » Et simplex praeceptum aedificat audientes; ne ira et furore superati, in maledictum et in detractionem regum et principum prorumpamus; quia contra spem interdum evenit, ut bis quibus malediximus, nuntietur, et incurramus periculum immoderatione linguae. Quod autem ait: « Avis coeli auferet vocem, et habens pennas annuntiabit verbum, » hyperbolice intelligendum, quomodo solemus dicere, etiam ipsos parietes, quibus consciis loquimur, quae audierint non celaturos. Sed melius est sic audire praeceptum, ut sciamus nobis esse mandatum, non solum contra Christum temere nihil loquendum, verum etiam in arcanis cordis, quamvis variis tribulationibus coarctemur, nihil blasphemum, nihil impium sentiendum. Et quia dilectionem quam Christo exhibemus, debemus et proximo: Diliges quippe Dominum Deum tuum, sed et proximum tuum tanquam teipsum, etiam nunc jubemur, ne post regem de sanctis quoque facile detrahamus; et eos quos viderimus sapientia, scientia, virtutibusque ditatos, linguae mordacitate rodamus; quia angeli qui terram circumeunt, et sunt administratorii spiritus, et in Zacharia loquuntur: Circumivimus terram, et ecce omnis terra habitatur, et silet (Zach.","english":"«Do not curse the king in your mind, and in the secret of your bedchamber do not curse the rich; for a bird of the sky will carry off your voice, and one that has wings will report the word.» And the simple precept edifies its hearers: that we not, overcome by anger and fury, burst forth into cursing and slander against kings and rulers; because sometimes it happens contrary to hope that what we have cursed is reported to those very persons, and we incur danger through the immoderation of the tongue. But what it says, «A bird of the sky will carry off your voice, and one that has wings will report the word,» is to be understood hyperbolically, in the way we are accustomed to say that even the very walls, as witnesses when we speak, will not conceal what they have heard. But it is better to hear the precept thus, that we know it has been commanded us not only to speak nothing rashly against Christ, but also in the secrets of the heart, although we are constrained by various tribulations, to think nothing blasphemous, nothing impious. And because the love which we show to Christ we owe also to our neighbor—for You shall love the Lord your God, but also your neighbor as yourself—even now we are commanded not to detract easily from the king concerning the saints as well, and not to gnaw with the sharpness of the tongue those whom we have seen enriched with wisdom, knowledge, and virtues; because the angels who go about the earth, and are ministering spirits, also speak in Zechariah: We have gone about the earth, and behold, all the earth is inhabited, and it is silent (Zech.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":158,"ref":"p158","source":"I, 11): ad instar avium, nostra verba et cogitationes ad coelum perferant; et quod clam cogitamus, D(??)i scientiam non latere.\n\n(Cap. XI ) « Mitte panem tuum super faciem aquae: quia in multitudine dierum invenies illum. » Ad eleemosynam cohortatur, quod omni petenti sit dandum, et indiscrete faciendum bene. Quomodo enim, qui super irrigua seminat, fructum sementis exspectat: ita qui largitur egentibus, non granum seminis, sed ipsum panem serit, fenore quodam multiplicationem illius praestolans; et cum dies judicii advenerit, multo amplius quam dederat recepturus. Aliter: In quocunque homine illam aquam videris, de qua dicitur: Flumina de ventre ejus fluent aquae vivae (Joan. VII, 38), ne te pigeat panem sapientiae, panem rationabilem, panem praestare sermonis. Si enim hoc frequenter feceris, invenies te non incassum doctrinarum jecisse sementem. Tale quid et in Isaia dicium puto: Beatus qui seminat super aquam, ubi bos et asinus calcant (Isa. XXXII, 20). Quod ille magister beatitudine dignus habeatur, qui super irriguum pectus seminet audientium, tam ex Judaeis, quam ex gentium populo congregatum 2.","english":"(11:1): like birds, our words and thoughts carry to heaven; and what we think in secret does not escape the knowledge of God.\n\n(Cap. 11) «Send your bread over the face of the waters: for after many days you will find it.» He exhorts to almsgiving, that it should be given to everyone who asks, and that good should be done without discrimination. For just as one who sows upon well-watered ground expects the fruit of his seed, so he who gives generously to the needy sows not a grain of seed but bread itself, awaiting its increase through a kind of interest; and when the day of judgment comes, he will receive far more than he gave. Otherwise: in whatever man you see that water of which it is said, «Rivers of living water shall flow from his belly» (John 7:38), do not be reluctant to offer him the bread of wisdom, the rational bread, the bread of speech. For if you do this frequently, you will find that you have not scattered the seed of teachings in vain. I think something of this kind is also said in Isaiah: «Blessed is he who sows upon the water, where the ox and the ass tread» (Isa. 32:20). That teacher is deemed worthy of blessedness who sows upon the well-watered breast of his hearers, gathered both from the Jews and from the people of the Gentiles.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"scripture","severity":"info","ref":"John 4:10","text":"The English carries the scriptural phrase “living water”, which matches John 4:10. The match is on the English draft; check the Coptic before quoting the verse."}]},{"i":159,"ref":"p159","source":"« Da partem septem, et quidem octo: quia non scis quid futurum sit malum super terram. » Et in Ezechiele septem et octo gradus ad templi leguntur ascensum (Ezech. XL, 26, 31). Et post ethicum illum psalmum, id est, centesimum octavam decimum quindecim graduum psalmi sunt, per quos primum erudimur in lege, et septenario numero expleto, postea per ogdoadem ad Evangelium scan limus. Praecipitur ergo ut in utrumque instrumentum, tam vetus scilicet quam novum, pari veneratione credamus. Judaei dederunt partem septem, credentes Sabbato, sed non dederunt octo, resurrectionem diei Dominicae denegantes. Econtrario haeretici, Marcion et Manichaeus, et omnes qui veterem legem rabido ore dilaniant, dant partes octo, suscipientes Evangelium: sed eamdem septenario numero non tribuunt, legem veterem respuentes 3. Nos igitur utrique instrumento credamus. Non enim possumus dignos cruciatus, dignamque poenam jam nunc mente comprehendere, quae reposita est his qui versantur in terra, Judaeis atque haereticis, e duobus alterum denegantibus. Hebraei ita hunc locum intelligunt: Et Sabbatum et circumcisionem serva: ne si hoc forte non feceris, inopinatum tibi superveniat malum.","english":"«Give a portion to seven, and indeed to eight: for you do not know what evil will be upon the earth.» And in Ezekiel seven and eight steps are read for the ascent of the temple (Ezek. 40:26, 31). And after that ethical psalm, that is, the one hundred and eighteenth, there are the psalms of fifteen degrees, through which we are first instructed in the law, and when the number seven is completed, afterwards through the ogdoad we climb to the Gospel. It is commanded, therefore, that we believe in each instrument, namely both the old and the new, with equal veneration. The Jews gave a portion to seven, believing in the Sabbath, but they did not give to eight, denying the resurrection of the Lord's day. On the contrary, the heretics, Marcion and Manichaeus, and all who tear apart the old law with rabid mouth, give portions to eight, accepting the Gospel, but they do not assign the same to the number seven, rejecting the old law. Let us, therefore, believe in each instrument. For we cannot now comprehend in mind the worthy torments and the worthy punishment that are stored up for those who dwell on the earth, Jews and heretics, who deny one of the two. The Hebrews understand this passage thus: Observe both the Sabbath and circumcision, lest perhaps if you fail to do this, an unforeseen evil come upon you.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":160,"ref":"p160","source":"« Si repletae fuerint nubes, imbrem super terram effundent. Et si ceciderit lignum ad austrum, aut ad aquilonem: in locum ubi ceciderit lignum, ibi erit. » Serva mandata quae tibi superius sunt praecepta, ut nubes super te effundam imbrem suum. Ubicunque enim tibi locum praeparaveris, futuramque sedem, sive ad austrum, sive ad boream: ibi cum mortuus fueris, pe(??)man bis. Aliter: Propterea supra diximus: « Mitte panem tuum super faciem aquae, et omni petenti te tribue; » quia et nubes cum plenae fuerint, divitias suas mortalibus largiuntur, et tu quasi lignum, quamvis longaevus sis, non eris in perpetuum, sed subito ut ventorum 5, ita mortis tempestate subversus, ubicunque cecideris, ibi jugiter permanebis, sive te rigidum et trucem, sive clementem et misericordem, ultimum invenerit tempus. Aliter: Dicitur in Psalmis ad Deum: Veritas tua usque ad nubes (Psal. XXXV, 6); et in Isaia, peccanti Deus vineae comminatur: Mandabo nubibus, ne pluant super eam imbrem (Isa. V, 6). Nubes igitur sunt prophetae, et omnis vir sanctus, qui cum plures in corde suo congregaverit disciplinas, tunc valebit praecepta pluere doctrinarum, et dicere: Exspectetur sicut pluvia sermo meus et effundent super terram imbrem (Deut. XXXII, 2): ad quam dictum est: Audiat terra verba oris mei.","english":"«If the clouds are filled, they will pour out rain upon the earth. And if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will be.» Keep the commandments that were commanded you above, so that I may pour out my rain upon you as clouds. For wherever you prepare a place for yourself and a future seat, whether to the south or to the north, there when you have died you will remain. Otherwise: For this reason we said above: «Send your bread upon the face of the waters, and give to everyone who asks of you;» because both the clouds, when they have been filled, bestow their riches on mortals, and you, like a tree, although you may be long-lived, will not be forever, but suddenly, overthrown by the storm of death as by winds, wherever you fall, there you will remain forever, whether the final time finds you rigid and harsh, or gentle and merciful. Otherwise: It is said to God in the Psalms: Your truth reaches to the clouds (Ps. 35:6); and in Isaiah, God threatens the sinful vineyard: I will command the clouds not to rain upon it (Isa. 5:6). The clouds, therefore, are the prophets, and every holy man, who when he has gathered many teachings in his heart, then will be able to rain the precepts of doctrines, and to say: Let my speech be awaited like rain, and let them pour out rain upon the earth (Deut. 32:2); to which it was said: Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":161,"ref":"p161","source":"Quod autem sequitur: « Et si ceciderit lignum ad austrum, aut ad aquilonem: in locum ubi ceciderit lignum, ibi erit; » illud de Habacuc sumamus exemplum, in quo scribitur: Deus de Theman veniet (Habac. III, 3), quod alii interpretes ediderunt, Deus ab austro veniet 6. Et quantum ego aestimo, semper in bonam partem auster accipitur. Unde et in Cantico canticorum dicitur: Exsurge, aquilo (Cant. IV, 16), hoc est, recede, et abi, et veni, auster. Lignum igitur quod in hac vita corruerit, et conditione mortalitatis fuerit incisum, aut peccavit ante dum staret, et in boreae parte postea ponitur: aut si dignos austro fructus attulerit, in plaga jacebit australi. Nec est aliquod lignum, quin aut ad aquilonem sit 7, aut ad austrum. Hoc idem significat, et illud quod scriptum est in Isaia: Dicam aquiloni, adhuc, et Africo, noli prohibere (Isa. XLIII, 6). Nunquam enim austro et orientali vento praecipitur, ut adducant: quia apud alias plagas esse eos oportet, qui ad orientem et austrum postea deducantur. Aquilo igitur ad austrum adducit, et Africus ad orientem habitatores suos. Nec enim possunt proficere, si in pristinis sedibus perseverent.","english":"But as for what follows: «And if the tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will be» — let us take that example from Habakkuk, where it is written: «God will come from Theman» (Hab. 3:3), which other translators rendered, «God will come from the south.» And, as I judge, the south is always taken in a good sense. Hence also in the Song of Songs it is said: «Arise, north» (Cant. 4:16) — that is, withdraw and depart, and come, south. The tree, therefore, that has fallen in this life and has been cut down by the condition of mortality either sinned before while it stood and is afterward placed in the region of the north, or, if it bore fruits worthy of the south, it will lie in the southern region. Nor is there any tree that is not either to the north or to the south. The same thing is signified also by what is written in Isaiah: «I will say to the north, Give them up, and to the southwest wind, Do not withhold» (Isa. 43:6). For it is never commanded of the south and the east wind that they bring them, because those who are afterward to be led to the east and the south must be in other regions. The north, therefore, brings its inhabitants to the south, and the southwest wind to the east. For they cannot advance if they persist in their former seats.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":162,"ref":"p162","source":"« Qui observat ventum, non seminabit; et qui aspicit nubes, non metet. » Qui considerat cui benefaciat, et non omni petenti se tribuit, saepe praeterit eum qui meretur accipere (Luc. VI, 30). Aliter: Qui tantum eo tempore Dei verbum praedicat, quo populus libenter auscultat, et secunda aspirat aura rumoris, sator negligens et ignavus agricola est. In ipsis enim prosperis, dum nescimus, adversa consurgunt. Sed opportune, importune, suo tenore 1, Dei sermo est praedicandus (II Tim. IV, 2): nec fidei tempore adversariarum nubium consideranda tempestas. De qua in Proverbiis dicitur: Sicut pluvia vehemens et inutilis, sic qui derelinquunt sapientiam, et impietatem laudant (Prov. XXVIII, et 4). Absque consideratione ergo nubium et timore ventorum, in mediis tempestatibus seminandum est. Nec dicendum: illud tempus commodum, hoc inutile, cum ignoremus quae via, et quae voluntas sit spiritus universa dispensantis.","english":"«Whoever observes the wind will not sow; and whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.» Whoever considers to whom he should do good, and does not give to everyone who asks him, often passes by the one who deserves to receive (Luke 6:30). Otherwise: whoever preaches the word of God only at the time when the people willingly listen, and when the favorable breeze of popular report blows, is a careless sower and a lazy farmer. For in the very midst of prosperity, while we do not know it, adversities rise up. But the word of God must be preached in season and out of season, at its own steady course (2 Timothy 4:2); nor, in a time of faith, is the storm of adverse clouds to be considered. Of this it is said in Proverbs: Like a violent and useless rain, so are those who abandon wisdom and praise impiety (Proverbs 28 and 4). Therefore, without considering the clouds and without fear of the winds, we must sow in the midst of storms. Nor should it be said: that time is convenient, this one useless, since we do not know what the way and what the will of the spirit that dispenses all things is.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":163,"ref":"p163","source":"« Quomodo non cognoscis tu quae sit via spiritus, et sicut ossa in utero praegnantis: sic nescis opera Dei, qui facit omnia. » Sicut nescis viam spiritus et animae ingredientis in parvulum, et ignoras ossium et venarum varietates in ventre praegnantis: quomodo ex vili elemento corpus hominis in diversas effigies artusque varietur, et de eodem semine, aliud mollescat in carnibus, aliud durescat in ossibus, aliud in venis palpitet, et aliud ligetur in nervis: ita Dei opera scire non poteris, qui factor est omnium. Ex quo docet contraria non timenda, nec temere de ventis et nubibus, quas supra diximus, judicandum: cum suo tenore et cursu debeat sator pergere, et eventum Domini sententiae, reservare. Non enim volentis neque currentis, sed Dei miserentis est (Rom. IX, 16).\n\n« In matutino semina semen tuum, et ad vesperum ne dimittas manum tuam: quoniam nescie quid placeat 3, hoc, an illud. Etsi utrumque, quasi unum bonum est, et dulce lumen, et bonum oculis videre solem: quia si annis multis vixerit homo, in omnibus his laetetur, (??) meminerit dies tenebrarum, quia plurimae erunt. Omne quod venturum est, vanitas. » Ne eligas cui bene facias; sed et cum benefeceris, nunquam a bono opere desistas. Matutinam justitiam vesper inveniat. Et vesperis misericordiam sol ortus accumulet. Incertum est enim quod opus magis placeat Deo, et ex quo tibi fructus justitiae praeparetur.","english":"«How is it that you do not know what the way of the spirit is, and like the bones in the womb of a pregnant woman: so you do not know the works of God, who makes all things.» Just as you do not know the way of the spirit and of the soul entering into the little one, and you are ignorant of the varieties of bones and veins in the womb of a pregnant woman: how from a base element the body of a man is varied into different shapes and limbs, and from the same seed one part softens into flesh, another hardens into bones, another throbs in the veins, and another is bound together in the sinews: so you will not be able to know the works of God, who is the maker of all things. From this he teaches that contrary things are not to be feared, nor is judgment to be passed rashly about the winds and clouds that we mentioned above: since the sower ought to proceed in his own course and tenor, and to reserve the outcome to the Lord's sentence. For it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy (Rom. 9:16).\n\n«In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand: for you do not know which will please, this or that. Even if both are, as it were, one good, and the light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun: because if a man has lived many years, let him rejoice in all these things, (??) let him remember the days of darkness, because they will be very many. Everything that is to come is vanity.» Do not choose whom you should benefit; but even when you have done good, never cease from the good work. Let evening find the morning's righteousness. And let the rising sun heap up mercy for the evening. For it is uncertain which work pleases God more, and from which the fruit of righteousness may be prepared for you.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":164,"ref":"p164","source":"Potest autem accidere, ut non unum, sed utrumque. placeat Deo. Aliter Et in adolescentia, et in senecta, aequus tibi labor sit. Nec dicas: dum potui, laboravi, debeo in senectute requiescere. Nescis enim utrum in juventute, au in aerate longaeva placeas Deo. Nec prodest adolescentiae frugalitas, si senecta ducatur in luxu. In quacunque enim die justus erraverit, veteres eum justitiae a morte liberare non poterunt. Quod si juxta utramque interpretationem semper benefeceris, et omni aetate aequalem cursum habueris, videbis Deum Patrem, dulcissimam lucem: videbis Christum, solem justitiae. Porro si et multis annis vixeris, et omnia bona habueris, vel bona opera perpetraris, et scieris te semper esse moriturum, et ante oculos tuos tenebrarum semper versetur adventus: praesentia quasi fluxa, fragilia et caduca contemnes. Symmachus finem hujus sententiae ita interpretatus est: Si annis multis vixerit homo, et omnibus his laetatus fuerit 4, recordari debet et dies tenebrarum, quia multae erunt, et in quibus omnibus veniet esse desinere. Aliter: Repromittit in alio Scripturae loco. Deus dicens: Dabo vobis pluviam temporaneam et serotinam (Deut. XI, 14), vetus scilicet Testamentum, et novum, et utroque vos imbre irrigabo.","english":"But it can happen that not one thing only, but both, are pleasing to God. Otherwise: Both in youth and in old age let your labor be alike. And do not say: While I was able, I labored; I ought to rest in old age. For you do not know whether you are pleasing to God in youth or in advanced age. Nor does the frugality of youth profit, if old age is spent in luxury. For on whatever day the righteous man has gone astray, his former righteousness will not be able to free him from death. But if, according to either interpretation, you have always done good, and have kept an even course at every age, you will see God the Father, the sweetest light; you will see Christ, the sun of righteousness. Furthermore, if you have lived many years, and have had all good things, or have performed good works, and you know that you must always be dying, and the approach of darkness is always turning before your eyes, you will despise present things as fleeting, fragile, and falling away. Symmachus has interpreted the end of this sentence thus: If a man has lived many years, and has rejoiced in all of them, he ought to remember also the days of darkness, because they will be many, and in all of them will come the ceasing to be. Otherwise: He promises in another place of Scripture, with God saying: I will give you the early and the late rain (Deut. 11:14), namely the old Testament and the new, and with both showers I will water you.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":165,"ref":"p165","source":"Unde et nunc admonemur, ut sic legamus Legem veterem, ne Evangelium contemnamus: sic quaeramus spiritualem in Veteri Instrumento intelligentiam, ne in evangelistis et apostolis hoc tantum putemus sonare quod legitur. Ignorare enim nos in quo magis scientia nobis a Deo tribuatur et gratia, felicemque cum esse, qui utrumque in commune sociaverit, et quasi unum corpus effecerit. Quod qui fuerit consecutus, videbit lucem, videbit Christum, solem justitiae. Et si annis pluribus vixerit, in summa laetitia et delectatione versabitur, habens scientiam Scripturarum, et magis ad hunc laborem recordatione futuri judicii compelletur: quia perpetuum tenebrarum tempus adveniet, et aeternae poenae praeparabuntur eis, qui non seminaverint mane et ad vesperam, et nequaquam utrumque sociaverunt: nec viderunt lucem, ncc solem, unde ipsum lumen egreditur.","english":"Hence we are also admonished now to read the old Law in such a way that we do not despise the Gospel; to seek the spiritual understanding in the Old Instrument in such a way that we do not think that in the evangelists and apostles only what is read aloud has meaning. For we are ignorant of the fact that knowledge is granted to us by God more in one respect, and grace in another, and that he is blessed who has joined both together in common and made them, as it were, one body. Whoever has attained this will see the light, will see Christ, the sun of justice. And if he has lived for many years, he will pass his time in the highest joy and delight, having knowledge of the Scriptures, and will be driven to this labor all the more by the remembrance of the future judgment: because a perpetual time of darkness will come, and eternal punishments are being prepared for those who have not sown in the morning and in the evening, and have by no means joined both together: nor have they seen the light, nor the sun, from which that light itself comes forth.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":166,"ref":"p166","source":"(Cap. XII.) « Laetare, adolescens 6, in juventute tua, et in bono sit cor tuum in diebus juventutis tuae, et ambula in viis cordis tui, et in intuitu oculorum tuorum 7. Et scito hoc, quia super omnibus his adducet te Deus in judicium. Et repelle iram a corde tuo, et aufer malitiam a carne tua: quia adolescentia et stultitia vanitas est. Et memento Creatoris tui in diebus juventutis tuae, antequam veniant dies malitiae, et appropinquent anni in quibus dices: Non est mihi in illis voluntas. » In hoc capitulo, diversa omnium explanatio fuit, et tot pene sententiae, quot homines. Unde quia longum est opinationes omnium recensere, et argumenta quibus sententias suas approbare voluerint, explicare, prope res unius voluminis est: sufficiat prudentibus significasse quid senserint, et quasi in quadam brevi tabella, situs pinxisse terrarum, totiusque orbis vastitatem et ambitum Oceani, angusto monstrasse compendio.","english":"(Chapter XII.) \"Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart be in good in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes. And know this, that over all these things God will bring you into judgment. And repel anger from your heart, and take away malice from your flesh: because youth and folly are vanity. And remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of malice come, and the years draw near in which you will say: I have no will in them.\" In this chapter, the explanation of all has been diverse, and there have been almost as many opinions as men. Hence, because it is long to review the opinions of all, and to explain the arguments by which they wished to approve their opinions, it is nearly the matter of a single volume: let it suffice for the prudent to have indicated what they thought, and, as if in a certain brief tablet, to have painted the sites of the lands, and to have shown the vastness of the whole world and the circuit of the Ocean in a narrow compendium.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":167,"ref":"p167","source":"Hebraei ad Israel aestimant pertinere mandatum, cui praecipitur, ut fruatur divitiis suis, antequam ei captivitatis tempus adveniat, et adolescentiam senectute commutet: quidquid delectabile vel jucundum, tam cordi, quam oculis apparuerit, eo, dum in promptu est, abutatur: ita tamen ut se noverit in omnibus judicandum: et tam cogitationes malas, quam libidines fugiat, sciens stultitiam adolescentiae copulatam: recordeturque semper Creatoris sui, antequam dies Babyloniae ac Romanae captivitatis adveniant, in quibus non poterit habere voluntatem 1. Et totum hunc locum ab eo quod ait: « Antequam tenebrescat sol, et luna, et stellae, » usque ad eum locum, in quo Scriptura commemorat: « Et convertetur pulvis in terram suam sicut erat, et spiritus revertetur ad Dominum, qui dedit illum; » super statu suae conditionis explanant. Quae quia, ut supra diximus, laciniosa sunt et prolixa, strictim a nobis breviterque tangentur. Laetare ergo in juventute tua, o Israel, et fac illa vel illa, de quibus jam dictum est, antequam captivitas adveniat, et a te tuus honor recedat et gloria, et judices, et sancti tui (quos in sole, et luna, et stellis intelligi volunt) auferantur. Antequam veniat Nabuchodonosor, sive Titus Vespasiani filius, accitus a prophetis, et eorum vaticinia compleantur.","english":"The Hebrews think that the command pertains to Israel, by which it is enjoined that it enjoy its riches before the time of captivity comes upon it, and exchange adolescence for old age: whatever delightful or pleasant thing has appeared, whether to the heart or to the eyes, let it use it while it is at hand; yet in such a way that it knows itself to be judged in all things, and flees both evil thoughts and lusts, knowing that foolishness is coupled with adolescence; and let it always remember its Creator, before the days of the Babylonian and Roman captivity arrive, in which it will not be able to have its will. And this entire passage, from what it says, \"Before the sun grows dark, and the moon, and the stars,\" up to the place in which Scripture recalls, \"And the dust will return to its earth as it was, and the spirit will return to the Lord, who gave it,\" they explain concerning the state of its condition. Because these things, as we said above, are verbose and lengthy, they will be touched upon by us briefly and in summary. Rejoice therefore in your youth, O Israel, and do this or that, of which it has already been said, before the captivity comes, and your honor and glory depart from you, and your judges and your holy ones (whom they wish to be understood in the sun, and moon, and stars) are taken away. Before Nebuchadnezzar comes, or Titus the son of Vespasian, summoned by the prophets, and their prophecies are fulfilled.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":168,"ref":"p168","source":"In die qua angeli templi praesides recedent, et turbabuntur robustissimi quique in exercitu tuo, et otiosa erunt eloquia magistrorum, et prophetae, qui de coelis solebant visionum suarum lumen accipere, contenebrescent: quando claudentur templi januae, et humiliabitur Jerusalem, et Chaldaeus veniet, quasi cantu volucris, ita Jeremiae vocibus provocatus (Jerem. IX), et conticescent filiae cantici, in templo psallentium chori. Illo tempore, quando venientes in Hierosolymam, ipsi quoque hostes Dei pertimescent magnitudinem, et in via dubii, Sennacherib interitum formidabunt. Hoc enim dictum putant: Et ab excelso timebunt, et formidabunt in via (Isa. XXXVII). In illis diebus florebit amygdalum [AI. amygdalus], ille baculus et virga quam Jeremias in prophetiae suae vidit exordio, et impinguabitur locusta, Nabuchodonosor cum suo exercitu, et dissipabitur capparis (Jerem. I), amicitia Dei cum Israel. Quid sibi autem velit capparis, cum de singulis coeperimus dicere, plenius explicabitur. Hoc autem totum eveniet Israeli: quia abiturus est homo in domum aeternitatis suae, et a praesidio Dei ad coelestia reversurus, quo abeunte in tabernaculum suum, circumibunt in platea flentes atque plangentes, et hostium obsidione vallati.","english":"On the day when the angels, the guardians of the temple, withdraw, and the strongest of your army are thrown into confusion, and the eloquence of the teachers falls silent, and the prophets, who were wont to receive the light of their visions from the heavens, grow dark: when the gates of the temple are shut, and Jerusalem is brought low, and the Chaldean comes, as if summoned by the voice of Jeremiah like the song of a bird (Jer. 9), and the daughters of song fall silent, the choirs of those singing psalms in the temple. At that time, when they come to Jerusalem, the enemies of God themselves will also dread its greatness, and doubtful on the way, they will fear the destruction of Sennacherib. For they think this was said: And they shall fear from on high, and shall be afraid on the way (Isa. 37). In those days the almond tree shall blossom—that staff and rod which Jeremiah saw in the beginning of his prophecy—and the locust shall grow fat, Nebuchadnezzar with his army, and the caper berry shall be scattered (Jer. 1), the friendship of God with Israel. But what the caper berry means, when we begin to speak of each in turn, will be explained more fully. Now all this will happen to Israel: because man is about to go to the house of his eternity, and from the protection of God to return to heavenly things; when he departs to his tent, they will go about in the street weeping and wailing, hemmed in by the siege of enemies.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":169,"ref":"p169","source":"Laetare ergo, Israel, in juventute tua, antequam rumpatur funiculus argenteus, hoc est, donec gloria vestra vobiscum est, antequam recurrat vitta aurea 5, id est, antequam arca testamenti auferatur: priusquam conteratur hydria ad fontem, et convolvatur rota super lacum, id est, donec intra sancta sanctorum praecepta legis, et sancti Spiritus est gratia, et antequam revertaris in Babylonem, unde in lumbis egressus es Abrahae, et incipias in Mesopotamia conteri, unde et quondam profectus es: omnisque gratia prophetiae, qua quondam fueras inspiratus, revertatur ad datorem suum. Haec Judaei usque hodie disserunt, et ad personam suam intelligentiam hujus capituli trahunt.\n\nNos autem ad superioris disputationis ordinem revertentes, singula conabimur explanare: « Laetare, juvenis, in adolescentia tua, et in bono sit cor tuum in diebus juventutis tuae, et ambula in viis cordis tui, et in aspectu oculorum tuorum. Et scito super omnibus his, quia adducet te Deus in Judicium. » Dixerat lucem mundi hujus esse dulcissimam, et lactari debere hominem in diebus vitae suae, omnique studio carpere voluptatem: ingruere enim noctem mortis aeternam, quando non liceat perfrui congregatis, et quasi umbram, universa quae habuimus pertransire.","english":"Rejoice therefore, O Israel, in your youth, before the silver cord is broken—that is, while your glory is with you—before the golden band rolls back, that is, before the ark of the covenant is taken away; before the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, and the wheel is rolled over the cistern—that is, while the precepts of the law and the grace of the Holy Spirit are within the holy of holies, and before you return to Babylon, from where you went forth from the loins of Abraham, and begin to be crushed in Mesopotamia, from where you once set out; and all the grace of prophecy, by which you were once inspired, returns to its giver. These things the Jews discuss to this day, and apply the understanding of this chapter to their own person.\n\nBut we, returning to the order of the preceding discussion, shall attempt to explain each point: \"Rejoice, young man, in your adolescence, and let your heart be in good things in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. And know concerning all these things, that God will bring you into judgment.\" He had said that the light of this world is most sweet, and that man ought to rejoice in the days of his life and seize pleasure with every effort; for the eternal night of death is pressing on, when it is not permitted to enjoy what has been gathered, and all that we have passes by like a shadow.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":170,"ref":"p170","source":"Nunc ergo hominem cohortatur, et dicit: O adolescens, antequam tibi senectus et mors ingruat, laetare in juventute tua, et quidquid tibi corde bonum, aspectu jucundum videtur, assume, fruere. ut libet, mundi rebus. Rursum ne putaretur haec dicens, hominem ad luxuriam provocare, et in Epicuri dogma corruere, suspicionem hanc abstulit, inferens: « Et scito, quoniam super omnibus his adducet te Deus in judicium.» Sic, inquit, abutere mundi rebus, ut scias te in ultimo judicandum. « Et repelle iram a corde tuo, et aufer malitiam a carne tua: quia adolescentia, et stultitia vanitas est. » In ira, omnes perturbationes animi comprehendit. In camis malitia, universas significat corporis voluptates. Sic ergo, inquit, bonis saeculi hujus fruere, ne aut desiderio, aut carne delinquas. Relinque antiqua vitia, quibus in adolescentia tua vanitati stultitiaeque servisti: quia juventus insipientiae copulata est. « Et memento Creatoris tui in diebus juventutis tuae, antequam veniant dies malitiae, et appropinquent anni, in quibus dices: Non est mihi voluntas in eis. » Semper memento Conditoris tui, et sic adolescentiae tuae viam gradere, ut mortis ultimae recorderis: antequam tibi tempus adveniat, quo tristia quaeque succedant.","english":"Now therefore he exhorts the man, and says: O young man, before old age and death fall upon you, rejoice in your youth, and whatever seems good to your heart, pleasant to the sight, take up and enjoy as you please the things of the world. Again, lest in saying this he be thought to provoke the man to luxury and to fall into the dogma of Epicurus, he removed this suspicion by adding: \"And know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.\" Thus, he says, use the things of the world, but know that you will be judged at the last. \"And drive anger from your heart, and put away malice from your flesh: because youth and folly are vanity.\" In anger he comprehends all the disturbances of the mind. In the malice of the flesh he signifies all the pleasures of the body. Thus therefore, he says, enjoy the good things of this age, but do not sin either through desire or through the flesh. Leave behind the old vices, by which in your youth you served vanity and folly: because youth is joined to foolishness. \"And remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of malice come, and the years draw near in which you will say: I have no pleasure in them.\" Always remember your Creator, and so walk the path of your youth that you may be mindful of the final death: before the time comes upon you in which all sorrowful things follow.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":171,"ref":"p171","source":"« Antequam obtenebrescat sol, et lumen, et luna 1, et stellae, et revertantur nubes post pluviam. » Si de generali consummatione mundi accipimus, verbis Domini hoc capitulum congruit, in quibus ait: Erit tribulatio et angustia 2, qualis non fuit a principio creaturae sed neque fiet. Sol enim tenebrescet, et luna non dabit lumen suum, et stellae cadent de coelo, et virtutes coelorum commovebuntur (Matth. XXIV), quae sunt custodes domus: ita ut domus intelligatur hic mundus, viri vero fortes, errore decepti, et dissipandae contrariae fortitudines. Quod si specialis uniuscujusque consummatio, ad vitae hujus finem refertur; et sol, et luna, et stellae, et nubes, et pluviae ei esse cessabunt, qui mortuus fuerit. Aliter: Laetare, adolescens, o popule Christiane, et fruere bonis quae a Deo tibi concessa sunt, et in his omnibus scito te a Domino judicandum.","english":"Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain. If we take this concerning the general consummation of the world, this chapter agrees with the words of the Lord, in which he says: There will be tribulation and distress, such as has not been from the beginning of creation, nor shall be. For the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken, which are the guardians of the house; so that by the house is understood this world, and by the strong men those deceived by error, and the opposing powers that are to be scattered. But if it is the particular consummation of each one, it is referred to the end of this life; and sun, and moon, and stars, and clouds, and rains will cease to be for him who has died. Otherwise: Rejoice, O young man, O Christian people, and enjoy the good things that have been granted to you by God, and in all these things know that you are to be judged by the Lord.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":172,"ref":"p172","source":"Nec putes, quia priores rami fracti sunt, et tu insertus es in radicem bonae olivae, idcirco te esse securum; sed aufer iram a corde tuo, et a corpore voluptates, et caeteris vitiis derelictis memento Creatoris tui, antequam tibi dies malitiae adveniat, et insanabilis 4, in qua peccantibus poenae sunt praeparatae: ne cum peccaveris, occidat tibi sol justitiae meridie, et scientiae lumen intereat, et splendor lunae, id est, Ecclesiae subtrahatur, et stellae occidant, de quibus scriptum est: In quibus lucetis quasi luminaria in mundo rationem vitae habentes (Philipp. II, 15). Et alibi: Stella a stella differt in gloria (II Cor. XV, 41). Antequam revertantur nubes post pluviam: ne prophetae qui corda credentium suo sermone suisque pluviis irrigant, postquam te imbre suo indignum esse perspexerint, revertantur ad sedem suam: ad eum scilicet, a quo missi sunt.","english":"And do not think that because the earlier branches were broken off and you were grafted into the root of the good olive tree, you are therefore safe; but take anger away from your heart, and pleasures from your body, and, leaving behind the other vices, remember your Creator before the day of malice comes upon you, and the incurable day, in which punishments are prepared for those who sin: lest, when you have sinned, the sun of righteousness strike you at midday, and the light of knowledge perish, and the splendor of the moon, that is, of the Church, be withdrawn, and the stars fall, of which it is written: Among whom you shine as luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life (Philippians 2:15). And elsewhere: Star differs from star in glory (2 Corinthians 15:41). Before the clouds return after the rain: lest the prophets, who water the hearts of believers with their speech and their rains, after they have seen that you are unworthy of their shower, return to their seat: namely, to him by whom they were sent.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":173,"ref":"p173","source":"« In die quo moti fuerint custod(??)s domus, et perierint viri fortitudinis. » Custodes domus, aut sol intelligitur et luna, et reliquus astrorum chorus, aut angeli qui huic mundo praesident. Viri vero fortitudinis, sive fortes 6, ut interpretatus est Symmachus, qui peribunt, sive ut Aquila [Ad. qui] transtulit errabunt, daemones sentiuntur, a forti diabolo etiam ipsi tortium sortiti vocabulum. Quem superans Dominus, et ligans, juxta Evangelii parabolam, vastat domum ejus (Luc. XI). Aliter: Custodes domus, qui ad corpus hominis referunt cuncta quae scripta sunt, costas significari putant, quod ab ipsis intestina vallentur, et tota ventris mollitudo servetur. Viros vero fortes, crura aestimant; solem, et lunam, et stellas, ad oculos, aures, nares, et totius capitis sensus coaptant. Hoc autem ideo, quia inferius necessitate coguntur, non de angelis et daemonibus, sole, et luna, et stellis, sed de hominis membris intelligere quae sequuntur.","english":"In the day when the keepers of the house shall be moved, and the men of strength shall perish. By the keepers of the house is understood either the sun and the moon and the rest of the chorus of stars, or the angels who preside over this world. But the men of strength—whether \"the strong,\" as Symmachus translated it, who shall perish, or, as Aquila rendered it, \"they shall wander\"—are understood to be demons, who have received their very name from the strong devil, even they obtaining a lot of torture. Overcoming and binding him, according to the parable of the Gospel, the Lord despoils his house (Luke 11). Otherwise: the keepers of the house, who refer all that has been written to the body of man, think that the ribs are signified, because by them the intestines are enclosed and all the softness of the belly is preserved. But the men of strength they reckon to be the legs; the sun and the moon and the stars they fit to the eyes, ears, nostrils, and the senses of the whole head. This, however, is so because, being compelled by necessity below, they are forced to understand what follows not of angels and demons, the sun and the moon and the stars, but of the members of man.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":174,"ref":"p174","source":"« Et cessabunt molentes; quoniam imminutae sunt; et contenebrescent quae vident in foraminibus. » In consummatione mundi cum refriguerit multorum charitas, et imminutae fuerint animae magistrorum, quae possum coelestem cibum praebere credentibus, translataeque in coelestia: tunc incipient hi qui ex parte in hoc mundo intuebantur lumen scientiae, involvi tenebris. Si enim Moysi dicitur: Ponam te in foramine petrae: et sic poste· riora mea videbis (Exod. XXXIII, 22): quanto magis unaquaeque anima per foramen, et quasdam tenebrosas cavernas aspicit veritatem! Aliter: Duae molentes sunt, ex quibus unam recipi, et alteram relinqui 8, Evangelium non tacet (Matth. XXIV, 41). Quae cum imminutae fuerint, atque cessaverint, necesse est ut omne lumen scientiae auferatur ex oculis. Aliter: Cessare molentes, quia imminutae sint, de dentibus dictum putant. Quod cum extrema senectus advenerit, dentes quoque aut atteruntur, aut decidunt: quibus permoliti cibi in alvum transmittuntur. Tenebrescere autem videntes in foraminibus, oculos arbitrantur: quod aetate confectis caliget acies, et intuitus obscuretur.","english":"And the grinding women shall cease, because they are diminished; and those who see through the holes shall grow dark. At the consummation of the world, when the love of many has grown cold, and the souls of the teachers have been diminished—those who could offer heavenly food to believers—and have been transferred to heavenly things, then those who in this world saw the light of knowledge only in part shall begin to be wrapped in darkness. For if it is said to Moses: I will place you in the hole of the rock, and so you shall see my back parts (Exod. 33:22), how much more does each soul see the truth through a hole, as it were through certain dark caverns! Otherwise: there are two grinding women, of whom one is taken and the other left, as the Gospel does not keep silent (Matt. 24:41). When these have been diminished and have ceased, it is necessary that all the light of knowledge be taken away from the eyes. Otherwise: they think that the grinding women ceasing because they are diminished is said of the teeth. For when extreme old age comes, the teeth are either worn down or fall out—teeth by which food, once ground, is passed into the stomach. But they consider that those who see through the holes growing dark refers to the eyes: because in those worn out by age the sharpness of sight grows dim and the gaze is darkened.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":175,"ref":"p175","source":"« Et claudent ostia in platea in humilitate vocis molentis: et consurget ad vocem volucris; et obmutescent omnes filiae carminis. » Cum vox molentis fuerit infirmata, et magistrorum doctrina cessaverit, consequenter cessabunt omnia: inter quae, et ostia claudentur in platea, ut juxta fatuas Evangelii virgines (Matth. XXV), unusquisque habeat clausas suae plateae januas, et illae oleum emere non possint. Vel certe, fatuis virginibus cireumeuntibus in platea, claudent cubiculum sponsi quae cum eo intraverint. Si enim arcta et angusta via est quae ducit ad vitam, et Iata et spatiosa, quae ducit ad mortem (Matth. VII), recte, refrigerata charitate multorum, ostium doctrinarum clauditur in plateis. Sequenti autem versiculo, in eo quod ait: « Et consurget ad vocem volucris, » sive pasoeris, utemur in tempore, si quando viderimus peccatorem ad vocem episcopi, sive presbyteri per poenitentiam consurgentem. Potest quoque hoc extraordinarie, tametsi contextum capituli non sequamur, et de ultima resurrectione accipi, quando ad vocem archangell resurgent mortui. Nec mirandum, si angeli tubam passeri comparemus, cum omnis vox ad Christum comparata, sit tenuis. Et quantum ego possum animo recordari, nunquam passerem in malam partem legisse me novi. Loquitur in decimo psalmo justus: In Domino confido: quomodo dicitis animae meae, Transmigra in montem sicut passer.","english":"And they shall shut the doors in the street at the low voice of the grinder; and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird; and all the daughters of song shall fall silent. When the voice of the grinder has been weakened, and the teaching of the teachers has ceased, then all things will consequently cease; among them, the doors will also be shut in the street, so that, like the foolish virgins of the Gospel (Matthew 25), each one may have the gates of his street shut, and they may not be able to buy oil. Or indeed, while the foolish virgins go about in the street, those who have entered with the bridegroom will shut the bridal chamber. For if the way that leads to life is narrow and strait, and broad and spacious is the way that leads to death (Matthew 7), rightly, when the love of many has grown cold, the door of teachings is shut in the streets. In the following verse, however, in what it says: And he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, or sparrow, we shall use it in time, if ever we see a sinner rising up through repentance at the voice of a bishop or a presbyter. This can also be taken extraordinarily, even though we do not follow the context of the chapter, concerning the final resurrection, when at the voice of the archangel the dead shall rise. Nor should we wonder if we compare an angel to a sparrow's trumpet, since every voice compared to Christ is faint. And as far as I can recall in my mind, I have never known myself to have read \"sparrow\" in a bad sense. The righteous man speaks in the tenth psalm: In the Lord I trust: how do you say to my soul, Transmigrate to the mountain like a sparrow.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":176,"ref":"p176","source":"Et alibi: Vigilavi, et factus sum sicut passer solitarius in tecto (Psal. CI, 8). Necnon et in alio loco: Etenim passer invenit sibi domum (Psal. LXXXIII, 4) Aliter: Clausas in plateis januas, infirmes senis gressus accipi volunt: quod semper sedeat, et ambulare non possit. Humilitatem autem vocis molentis, de mandibulis interpretantur, quod cibum terere nequeat, et vix spiritu coaretato, vox ejus tenuis audiatur. Porro consurgere eum ad vocem volucris, ostendit, quod frigescente jam sanguine, et humore siccato, quibus materiis sopor alitur, ad levem sonitum evigilet, noctisque medio, cum gallus cecinerit, festinus exsurgat: nequaquam valens strato saepius membra convertere. Obmutescere quoque, sive, ut melius habet in Hebraeo, surdescere filias carminis, aures significat, quod gravior senum auditus fiat, et nulla inter voces valeant scire discrimina, nec carminibus delectari. Quod quidem et Berzellai loquitur ad David, nolens transire Jordanem.","english":"And elsewhere: I have watched, and become as a solitary sparrow on the housetop (Ps. 101:8). And also in another place: For indeed the sparrow has found a home for itself (Ps. 83:4). Otherwise: by the doors shut in the streets they wish the steps of the weak old man to be understood: that he always sits, and cannot walk. But the lowliness of the grinder's voice they interpret as concerning the jaws, that he cannot grind food, and with his breath scarcely constrained, his thin voice is heard. Furthermore, that he rises up at the voice of the bird shows that, with the blood now growing cold and the moisture dried up—materials by which sleep is nourished—he wakes at a light sound, and in the middle of the night, when the cock has crowed, he rises up hastily: by no means able to turn his limbs on his bed more often. That the daughters of song also fall silent, or, as it has it better in Hebrew, grow deaf, signifies the ears, because the hearing of old men becomes heavier, and among voices they can discern no distinctions, nor take delight in songs. Which indeed Berzellai also says to David, not wishing to cross the Jordan.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":177,"ref":"p177","source":"« Sed et ab excelsis timebunt et formidabunt in via. » Id est, ardua ingredi non valebunt, et lassis poplitibus, ac trementi vestigio, etiam in plano itinere fluctuantes, offensam gressuum formidabunt.\n\n« Et florebit amygdalum, et impinguabitur locusta, et dissipabitur capparis: quoniam ibit homo in domum aeternitatis suae: et circumibunt in platea plangentes.·» Per metaphoram etiam nunc de membris hominis Ecclesiastae sermo est: quod cum senectus advenerit, capillus incanuerit, tumuerint pedes, libido refrixerit, et homo morte fuerit dissolutus: tunc revertetur in terram suam et in domum aeternitatis suae sepulcrum: exsequiisque rite celebratis, plangentium funus turba praecedat. Florem autem amygdali, quem nos pro canis posuimus, quidam sacram spinam interpretantur, quod, decrescentibus natium carnibus, spina succrescat et floreat. Porro quod ait: Impinguabitur locusta, sciendum ubi in nostris codicibus legitur, locusta, in Hebraeo scriptum esse, AAGAB ( ): quod verbum apud eos ambiguum est. Potest enim et talus et locusta transferri. Quomodo igitur in Jeremiae principio, verbum SOCED ( ) » si varietur accentus, et nucem significat et vigilias; et dicitur ad eum: Quid tu vides, Jeremia? Et respondit: Baculum nuceum 1. Et ait Dominus ad cum: Bene vidisti: quia vigilabo ego super verbum meum 2, ut faciam illud (Jerem.","english":"But even from high places they will be afraid and will dread the way. That is, they will not be able to walk upon steep paths, and with weakened knees and trembling step, wavering even on level ground, they will dread stumbling in their steps.\n\nAnd the almond tree will blossom, and the locust will grow fat, and the caper will be scattered; for man will go to the house of his eternity, and those mourning will go about in the street. Even now the Preacher's discourse is about the members of man by way of metaphor: that when old age comes, the hair has grown white, the feet have swollen, desire has grown cold, and man has been dissolved by death: then he will return to his own earth and to the house of his eternity, the tomb; and when the funeral rites have been duly celebrated, a crowd of mourners will go before the funeral. But the blossom of the almond, which we have rendered as gray hairs, some interpret as the sacred thorn, because, as the flesh of the buttocks wastes away, the thorn grows up and blossoms. Furthermore, as for what he says, The locust will grow fat, it must be known that where our codices read locust, in Hebrew is written AAGAB, a word that is ambiguous among them. For it can be translated both as ankle and as locust. Just as, then, at the beginning of Jeremiah, the word SOCED, if the accent is changed, signifies both a nut and vigils; and it is said to him: What do you see, Jeremiah? And he answered: A rod of nut. And the Lord said to him: You have seen well, because I will watch over my word, to do it.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":178,"ref":"p178","source":"I, 11), vel illud: et habet etymologiam nucis, quod vigilaturus sit Deus, et retributurus populo quod meretur, idque sermonis occasio est. Ita et nunc ambiguitas verbi per etymologiam ejus, indicat senum crura tumentia, et podagrae humoribus praegravata 3. Non quod omnibus senibus hoc fiat, sed quod plerumque accidat, a parte, id quod totum est, appelletur. In eo vero ubi nos habemus, capparim, in Hebraeo habet ABIONA ( ): quod et ipsum ambiguum est, interpretaturque amor, desiderium, concupiscentia vel capparis. Et significatur, ut supra diximus, quod senum libido refrigescat, et organa coitus dissipentur. Hoc autem ideo, quia haec verba ambigua, cum in vocabulis suis, et amygdalum, et locustam, et capparim sonent, aliud derivata significant, et per figuram ad sensus qui seni conveniunt, derivantur. Sciendum quoque, quod ubi nunc Septuaginta interpretes posuerunt amygdalum, ipsum verbum sit SOCED ( ), quod in Jeremiae principio est: sed ibi in nucem versum est, hic in amygdalum. Symmachus nescio quid in hoc loco sentiens, multo aliter interpretatus est. Ait enim: « Super haec etiam de excelso videbunt, et terror erit in via, et obdormiet vigilans, et dissolvetur spiritus fortitudo. Ibit enim homo in domum aeternitatis suae, et circumibunt in platea plangentes.","english":"or that passage: and it has the etymology of the nut, because God will be watchful and will repay the people what it deserves, and that is the occasion of the saying. So too now the ambiguity of the word, through its etymology, indicates the swollen legs of old men, and weighed down by the humors of gout. Not that this happens to all old men, but because it happens for the most part, by synecdoche—the part is named for the whole. But in the place where we have \"capparis,\" the Hebrew has ABIONA: which is itself ambiguous, and is translated as love, desire, concupiscence, or caper. And it is signified, as we said above, that the lust of old men grows cold, and the organs of intercourse are dispersed. This is so because these words are ambiguous, since in their own forms they sound as almond, locust, and caper, but when derived they signify something else, and by figure they are derived to the senses that befit an old man. It should also be known that where the Seventy translators have now put \"almond,\" the word itself is SOCED, which is at the beginning of Jeremiah; but there it was rendered as \"nut,\" here as \"almond.\" Symmachus, sensing I know not what in this place, translated far otherwise. For he says: \"Beyond these things they will also look from on high, and terror will be in the way, and the watchful one will fall asleep, and the spirit of strength will be dissolved. For a man will go into the house of his eternity, and they will go about in the street lamenting.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":179,"ref":"p179","source":"» Cujus interpretationem Laodicenus secutus, nec Judaeis placere potest, nec Christianis: dum et ab Hebraeis procul est, et sequi Septuaginta Interpretes dedignatur.\n\n« Antequam rumpatur funiculus argenti, et recurrat vitta aurea, et conteratur hydria super fontem, et confringatur rota super lacum. Et revertatur pulvis in terram suam sicut erat, et spiritus redeat ad Deum, qui dedit illum. Vanitas vanitatum, dixit Ecclesiastes, universa vanitas. » Revertitur ad superiora, et post grande hyperbaton (quod ab eo loco interjecerat, in quo ait: « Et memento creatoris tui, in diebus juventutis tuae: antequam veniant dies malitiae, et antequam tenebrescant sol et luna, et caetera in die qua movebuntur custodes domus »), nunc coeptam sententiam simili fine concludit, dicens: « Antequam rumpatur funiculus argenti, » et illud vel illud fiat. Funiculus autem argenti, candidam hanc vitam, et spiramen quod nobis de coelo tribuitur, ostendit. Recursus quoque vittae aureae animam significat, quae illuc recurrit, unde descenderat. Porro duo reliqua quae sequuntur, contritio hydriae super fontem, et confractio rotae super lacum, per metaphoram, mortis aenigmata sunt.","english":"Whose interpretation the Laodicean followed, and it can please neither Jews nor Christians: since he is both far from the Hebrews and disdains to follow the Septuagint Translators.\n\n« Before the silver cord is broken, and the golden band runs back, and the pitcher is crushed over the fountain, and the wheel is broken over the cistern. And the dust returns to its earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God, who gave it. Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, all is vanity. » He returns to the earlier points, and after the great hyperbaton (which he had interposed from that place where he says: « And remember your creator, in the days of your youth: before the days of malice come, and before the sun and moon grow dark, and the rest on the day when the keepers of the house shall be moved »), now he concludes the sentence begun with a similar ending, saying: « Before the silver cord is broken, » and let that or that be done. But the silver cord shows this bright life, and the breath that is granted to us from heaven. The running back of the golden band also signifies the soul, which runs back thither whence it had descended. Furthermore, the two remaining things that follow, the crushing of the pitcher over the fountain, and the breaking of the wheel over the cistern, are through metaphor the riddles of death.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":180,"ref":"p180","source":"Quomodo enim hydria quae conteritur, cessat haurire, et rota per quam de lacu et puteis levantur aquae, si confracte fuerit vel ut Septuaginta Interpretes voluerunt in suo funiculo convoluta, aquae usus intercipitur: ita et cum funiculus argenti fuerit interruptus 9, et animae rivus recurrit ad fontem, interibit homo. Et ut manifestius sequitur: « Revertetur pulvis in terram suam, unde sumptus est, et spiritus revertetur ad Dominum, qui dedit illum. » Ex quo satis ridendi, qui putant animas cum corporibus seri, et non a Deo, sed a corporum parentibus generari 1. Cum enim caro revertatur in terram, et spiritus redeat ad Deum, qui dedit illum; manifestum est, Deum parentem animarum esse, non homines. Post descriptionem interitus humani, pulchre exordium libri sui repetens, ait: « Vanitas vanitatum, dixit Ecclesiastes, omnia vanitas. » Cum enim cunctus mortalium labor, de quo in toto volumine disputatum est, huc perveniat, ut revertatur pulvis in terram suam, et anima illuc redeat, unde sumpta est, magnae vanitatis est in hoc saeculo laborare et nihil profutura conquirere.","english":"For just as a pitcher that is shattered stops drawing water, and a wheel by which waters are lifted from the lake and the wells, if it has been broken or, as the Seventy Translators would have it, rolled up in its own cord, the use of water is cut off: so too, when the cord of silver has been broken and the stream of the soul has run back to its source, man will perish. And, as follows more plainly: « The dust will return to its own earth, from which it was taken, and the spirit will return to the Lord, who gave it. » From this they are quite to be laughed at, who think that souls are sown together with bodies, and are generated not by God but by the parents of bodies. For since the flesh returns to the earth, and the spirit returns to God, who gave it, it is manifest that God is the parent of souls, not men. After the description of human destruction, beautifully repeating the opening of his book, he says: « Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, all is vanity. » For since the whole labor of mortals, about which discussion has been carried on throughout the entire volume, comes to this, that the dust returns to its own earth, and the soul returns thither whence it was taken, it is great vanity to labor in this world and to acquire things that will profit nothing.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":181,"ref":"p181","source":"« Et amplius, quia factus est Ecclesiastes sapiens, adhuc docuit scientiam populum, et audire cos fecit: et scrutans composuit proverbia. Multum quaesivit Ecclesiastes 2, ut inveniret verba voluntatis, et scriberet recte verba veritatis. » Sapientiam qua praevenit Salomon omne hominum genus, nunc quoque in fine opusculi sui profitetur, quod non fuerit veteris Legis institutione contentus, sed in profundas se ultro demerserit quaestiones, et ad docendum populum, proverbia, et parabolas composuerit 4, aliud habentes in medulla; aliud in superficie pollicentes. Proverbia quippe non hoc sonare quod scriptum est, etiam in Evangeliis edocemur (Matth. XIII, et XV), quod Dominus populo in parabolis et proverbiis sit locutus, secreto autem apostolis dissolverit ea. Ex quo manifestum est, et Proverbiorum librum, non ut simplices arbitrantur, patentia habere praecepta, sed quasi in terra aurum, in nuce nucleus, in hirsutis castanearum operculis absconditus fructus inquiritur: ita in eis divinum sensum altius perscrutandum. Super haec addidit causas naturasque rerum se voluisse cognoscere, et Dei dispositionem et prudentiam: quare unumquodque, vel quomodo factum sit scire voluisse: ut quod David post dissolutionem corporis et animae, ad coelos recursum se sperat esse visurum, dicens, Videbo caelos, opera digitorum tuorum (Psal.","english":"And moreover, because Ecclesiastes had been made wise, he further taught the people knowledge, and he caused them to hear: and searching out, he composed proverbs. Ecclesiastes sought much, to find words of the will, and to write rightly words of truth.\" The wisdom by which Solomon surpassed every race of men, he now also at the end of his little work declares, that he was not content with the instruction of the old Law, but had of his own accord plunged himself into deep questions, and for teaching the people composed proverbs and parables, having one thing in the marrow, and promising another on the surface. For that proverbs do not sound what is written, we are also taught in the Gospels (Matthew 13 and 15), that the Lord spoke to the people in parables and proverbs, but in private explained them to the apostles. From this it is manifest that even the book of Proverbs does not, as the simple suppose, contain plain precepts, but as gold in the earth, the kernel in the nut, the fruit hidden in the prickly husks of chestnuts, so in them the divine meaning must be searched out more deeply. Beyond these things he added that he wished to know the causes and natures of things, and the disposition and prudence of God: wherefore he wished to know each thing, or how it was made: so that what David, after the dissolution of body and soul, hopes he will see at his return to the heavens, saying, I shall see the heavens, the works of your fingers (Psalm","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":182,"ref":"p182","source":"VIII, 4), hoc nunc in praesenti Salomon nisus fuerit invenire, ut veritatem soli Deo cognitam, corporis vallata(??) septo mens humana comprehenderet 7.\n\n« Verba sapientum, ut stimuli, et quasi clavi in altum defixi, habentibus coetus, data sunt a pastore uno. » Ne videretur post legem Dei temerarius subito praeceptor erumpere, et sibi vindicare doctrinam, quam Moyses non tam sua sponte, quam Deo irascente primum 7, dehinc inspirante susceperat: dicit verba sua verba esse sapientium, quae in similitudinem stimulorum corrigant delinquentes, et pigros mortalium gressus aculeo pungente commoveant: sicque sint firma quasi clavi in al· tum solidiimque defixi: nec auctoritate unius, sed conelio atque consensu magistrorum omnium proferantur. Et ne contemneretur humana sapientia 10, ait eam ab uno pastore concessam: id est, licet plurimi doceant, tamen doctrinae auctor unus est Dominus 11. Facit hic locus adversus eos, qui alium legis veteris, alium Evangelii aestimant Deum, quod unus pastor concilium prudentium instruxerit. Prudentes autem tam Prophetae sunt, quam apostoli. Simul et hoc notandum est, quod dicantur verba sapientium pungere, non palpare. nec molli manu attrectare lasciviam: sed errantibus et (ut supra diximus) tardis poenitentiae dolores et vulnus infigere. Si cujus igitur sermo non pungit, sed oblectationi est audientibus, iste non est sermo sapientis.","english":"And this is what Solomon strove to find in the present passage: that the truth, known to God alone, might be grasped by the human mind, enclosed as it were by the rampart of the body.\n\n“The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails driven deep, given by one shepherd to those who have gatherings.” Lest he should seem, after the law of God, to burst forth suddenly as a rash teacher and to claim for himself a doctrine that Moses had received not so much of his own accord as first from God's wrath and then from his inspiration, he says that his words are the words of the wise, which, in the likeness of goads, correct those who go astray and stir the sluggish steps of mortals with a pricking sting; and so they are firm, like nails driven deep and solid; and they are brought forth not by the authority of one, but by the council and consensus of all teachers. And lest human wisdom be despised, he says that it was granted by one shepherd—that is, although many teach, yet the author of the doctrine is the one Lord. This passage is directed against those who think the God of the old law is one and the God of the Gospel another, since the one shepherd instructed the council of the prudent. Now the prudent are both the prophets and the apostles. At the same time this too must be noted: that the words of the wise are said to prick, not to stroke, nor to handle wantonness with a soft hand, but to fix the pains and the wound of repentance in those who err and (as we said above) are slow. If therefore anyone's speech does not prick but is a delight to its hearers, that is not the speech of a wise man.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":183,"ref":"p183","source":"Verba quippe sapientium ut stimuli. Quae quoniam ad conversionem provocant delinquentem, et firma sunt, et a concilia sanctorum data, atque ab uno pastore concessa, el solida radice fundata sunt. Hoc stimulo, necdum Paulum, sed adhuc Saulum puto in via(??) confossum erroris audisse: Durum tibi est adversum stimulum calcitrare (Act. IX, 5).\n\n« Et amplius ab bis, fili mi, cave. Faciendi multos libros non est finis: et meditatio plurima labor est carnis. » Exceptis his verbis quae ab uno pastore sunt data, et a concilio atque consensu probata sapientium 3, nihil facias, nihil tibi vindices: majorum sequere vestigia, et ab eorum auctoritate non discrepes. Alloqui, quaerenti multa, infinitus librorum· numerus occurret: qui te pertrahat ad errorem, et legentem frustra faciet laborare. Vel certe doces brevitati studendum, et sensus magis sectandos esse quam verba, adversus philosophos et saeculi hujus doctores, qui suorum dogmatum falsitates conantur asserere vanitate ac multiplicatione sermonum. Econtra Scriptura divina brevi circulo coarctata est, et quantum dilatatur in sensibus 4, tantum in sermone constringitur. Quia consummatum breviatumque sermonem fecit Deus super terram, el verbum ejus· juxta est in ore nostro, et in corde nostro (Rom. X, 8; Deut. XXX, 1(??)). Aliter: Frequens lectio, et quntidiana meditatio, animae solet magis labor esse quam carnis.","english":"For the words of the wise are like goads. And because they provoke the delinquent to conversion, they are both firm and given by the council of the saints, and granted by one shepherd, and founded on a solid root. By this goad, I think, not yet Paul but still Saul, pierced on the road of error, heard: It is hard for you to kick against the goad (Acts 9:5).\n\n“And beyond these, my son, beware. There is no end to making many books, and much meditation is labor of the flesh.” Except for these words which are given by one shepherd and approved by the council and consensus of the wise, do nothing, claim nothing for yourself: follow in the footsteps of your elders, and do not depart from their authority. Otherwise, to one who seeks many things, an infinite number of books will present itself, which will drag you into error and make the reader labor in vain. Or certainly you teach that brevity must be cultivated, and that meanings are to be pursued more than words, against the philosophers and teachers of this world, who try to assert the falsities of their dogmas by the vanity and multiplication of words. On the contrary, divine Scripture is confined within a brief compass, and as much as it is expanded in meanings, so much is it compressed in speech. Because God has made a consummate and shortened word upon the earth, and his word is near in our mouth and in our heart (Rom 10:8; Deut 30:14). Otherwise: frequent reading and daily meditation is wont to be a labor of the soul rather than of the flesh.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":184,"ref":"p184","source":"Quomodo enim quidquid manu et corpore fit, manus et corporis labore completur: ita quod ad lectionem pertinet, magis mentis est labor. Ex quo mihi videtur, superiora de multitudine librorum aliter sentienda, quam plerique aestimant. Moris est Scripturarum, quamvis plures libros, si inter se non discrepent, et de eadem re scribantur, unum volumen dicere: siquidem et Evangelium et Lex Domni immaculata, convertens animas (Psal. XVIII, 8), singulariter appellantur, cum plura Evangelia, et multa sint mandata legis: sic et volumen in Isaiae sermone signatum, omnis Scriptura divina est (Isa. XXIX), et uno capitulo libri, Ezechiel Joannesque vescuntur (Ezech. VIII; Apoc. X). Salvator quoque omnium retro sanctorum vocibus prophetatus, ait: In capitulo libri scriptum est de me (Psal. XXXIX, 9). Juxta hunc igitur sensum arbit(??)or nunc praeceptum, ne plures libri fiant· Quidquid enim dixeris, si ad eum referatur, qui in principio erat apud Deum, et Deus Verbum (Joan. I, 2), nuum volumen est: et innumerabiles libri una Lex, unum Evangellum nominantur. Quod si diversa et discrepantia disputaveris, et curiositate nimia huc atque illuc animum adduxeris, etiam in uno libro, multi libri sunt. Unde dictum est: Ex multiloquio non effugies peccatum (Prov. X, 19). Talibus igitur libris non est finis. Bonum enim omne, et veritas certo fine concluditur: malitia vera atque mendacium sine fine sunt.","english":"For just as whatever is done by hand and body is accomplished by the labor of hand and body, so what pertains to reading is more a labor of the mind. From this it seems to me that the earlier statements about the multitude of books are to be understood differently from how most people estimate them. It is a custom of the Scriptures that, although there are many books, if they do not disagree among themselves and are written about the same matter, they are called one volume: since indeed both the Gospel and the Law of the Lord, spotless, converting souls, are called in the singular, although there are many Gospels and many commandments of the law. So too the volume sealed in the prophecy of Isaiah is all divine Scripture, and Ezekiel and John feed on one chapter of a book. The Savior also, foretold by the voices of all the saints of old, says: In the chapter of the book it is written of me. According to this sense, therefore, I judge that the precept is now given, that many books should not be made. For whatever you have said, if it is referred to him who in the beginning was with God, and was God the Word, it is one volume: and innumerable books are called one Law, one Gospel. But if you have disputed diverse and discrepant things, and by excessive curiosity have led your mind hither and thither, even in one book there are many books. Whence it is said: From much speaking you shall not escape sin. Of such books, therefore, there is no end. For every good thing and the truth are concluded by a certain end: but malice and falsehood are without end.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":185,"ref":"p185","source":"Et quanto plus requiruntur, tanto major eorum series nascitur. Super hae re (??) studium atque meditatio, labor est carnis. Carnis, inquam, non spiritus. Habet siquidem et spiritus laborem suum, juxta illud quod ait Apostolus: Plus autem illis omnibus laboravi: non autem ego, sed gratia Dei quae mecum est (I Cor. XV, 10). Et Salvator: Laboravi clamans (Psal. LXVIII, 4).\n\n« Finis sermonis verbi universi auditu perfacilis est: Deum time, et mundata ejus custodi. Hoc est enim omnis homo·, quia omne furtum Deus adducet in judicium de amni abscondito, sive bonum, sive malum sit. » Aiunt Hebraei cum inter caetera scripta Salomonis quae antiquata sunt, nec in memoria duraverunt, et hic liber oblitterandus videretur 7, eo quod vanas Dei assereret creaturas, et totum putaret esse pro nihilo, et cibum, et polum, et delicias transeuntes praeferret omnibus, ec hoc uno capitulo meruisse auctoritatem, ut in divinorum Voluminum numero poneretur, quod lotam disputationem suam, et omnem catalogum hac quasi (recapitulatione) coarctaverit, et dixerit finem sermonum suorum auditu esse promptissimum, nec aliquid in se habere difficile, ut scilicet Deum timeamus, et ejus praecepta faciamus. Ad hoc enim natum esse hominem, ut creatorem suum intelligens veneretur eum metu, et honore, et opere mandatorum.","english":"And the more they are sought after, the greater the series of them that is produced. On this matter, study and meditation are a labor of the flesh—of the flesh, I say, not of the spirit. For the spirit too has its own labor, according to what the Apostle says: I have labored more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me (1 Cor 15:10). And the Savior: I have labored crying out (Ps 68:4).\n\n\"The end of the discourse of the whole word is very easy to hear: Fear God, and keep his cleansed commandments. For this is every man, because God will bring every theft into judgment, from every hidden thing, whether it be good or evil.\" The Hebrews say that, among the other writings of Solomon which have grown old and have not endured in memory, this book too seemed fit to be blotted out, because it asserted that God's creatures are vain and thought everything to be as nothing, and preferred food and the sky and passing delights to all things; and that by this one chapter alone it merited authority to be placed in the number of the divine Volumes, in that it compressed its whole disputation and entire catalogue, as it were by a recapitulation, and said that the end of its discourses is most readily heard, and that it contains nothing difficult in itself—namely, that we should fear God and keep his commandments. For man was born for this: that, understanding his Creator, he should venerate him with fear, and honor, and the work of the commandments.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":186,"ref":"p186","source":"Siquidem cum judicii tempus advenerit, quidquid a nobis gestum est, stare sub judice, et ancipitem diu exspectare sententiam, et unumquemque recipere pro opere suo, sive mali quid gesserit, sive boni. Pro eo autem quod nos posuimus: De omni abscondito, sive bonum, sive malum sit, Symmachus et Septuaginta interpretati sunt, de omni contempto 9, vel certe de omni ignorato, quod etiam de otioso verbo, et non voluntate, sed ignoratione prolato, reddituri simus rationem in die judicii. Aliter: Quia timor servorum est, et perfecta dilectio foras mittit timorem (I Joan. IV, 18), et in Scriptura divina tam incipientium 1, quam perfectorum duplex appellatus est metus: nunc de consummato in virtutibus metu dici puto, secundum illud; Nihil deest timentibus eum (Psal. XXXIII. 10). Vel certe, quia adhuc homo est, et necdum nomen Dei accepit, hanc habet rationem substantiae suae, ut in corpore positus Deum timeat. Quia omne factum, id est, omnes homines adducet Deus in judicium super universis, quae aliter quam ab eo disposita sunt et dicta, senserunt, sive in hanc partem, sive in illam. Vae quippe his qui dicunt malum bonum, et bonum malum (Isa. V, 20).","english":"Indeed, when the time of judgment arrives, whatever has been done by us will stand before the judge, and will long await an uncertain sentence, and each one will receive according to his work, whether he has done evil or good. But in place of what we have set down: Concerning every hidden thing, whether it be good or evil, Symmachus and the Seventy translated as concerning every despised thing, or certainly concerning every unknown thing, because even for an idle word, spoken not from will but from ignorance, we shall render an account on the day of judgment. Otherwise: Because fear is the portion of servants, and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), and in divine Scripture fear is called twofold, both of beginners and of the perfect: now I think it is said of the fear that is consummated in virtues, according to that saying: There is nothing lacking to those who fear him (Psalm 33:10). Or certainly, because he is still a man, and has not yet received the name of God, he has this as the reckoning of his substance, that, placed in the body, he should fear God. Because God will bring every deed, that is, all men, into judgment concerning all things that they have understood otherwise than as arranged and spoken by him, whether in this direction or in that. Woe indeed to those who call evil good, and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]}]}