Expositio in Proverbia Salomonis

Scholia on the Proverbs. The asterisk, the obelus. Those passages to which obeli are attached were not found either in the other translators or in the Hebrew, but only in the Seventy; and those passages to which asterisks are attached were found in the Hebrew and the other translators, but no longer in the Seventy. But passages that are both asterisked and obelized are found in the Seventy, and are also found in the Hebrew and in the other translators, but the others and the Hebrew differ from the Seventy only in position; therefore they are both obelized and asterisked at the same time, as being found in all, but not in the same places. The book, then, follows the position and order of the Seventy, but the order of the others is also marked, as the passages stand among them; and where the change occurred among them in few passages, it is clear from the signs placed alongside; but where it occurred in more, which is also the last, it has this order among the others: after "But who will know the punishments of both," they join "But these things I say to you who are wise, to understand," as far as "And your want like a good runner"; then "These are the instructions of Solomon," as far as "But an abomination to the lawless is a way that is straight"; then "A son that keeps the word shall be outside destruction," as far as "And their poor from among men"; then "The leech had three daughters," as far as "But judge the poor and the weak"; then "A valiant woman who shall find?" And these things we have set down so that, when such a copy falls in, the book may not seem to have erred. The others: "But the punishments.

Then These things I say, until And thy want; then These disciplines, until But an abomination (leech) to the lawless; then A word kept, until And the poor; then To the leech three, until But discern; then A valiant woman. A scholium of Evagrius. Those passages that have the number placed before them are of this kind, as many as have the name of Origen inscribed with this monosyllable ω6ρ6; and they are chiefly in Job. But those scholia that concern the disagreement of certain passages in the text or of editions, which also have a downward-slanting obelus placed before them, belong to those who collated the book. But those passages that are placed outside as doubtful have an outward-slanting obelus placed before them; they were added on account of the scholia, since the great teacher spoke in accordance with them, so that the scholium might not seem to be brought forward to no purpose—in many of the copies the passages being thus, but in this one not being so placed or not being transmitted at all, and for this reason having been added. 1. A proverb. A proverb is a saying that signifies intelligible things through perceptible things. 2. The kingdom of Israel is spiritual knowledge containing the accounts concerning God and incorporeals and bodies and judgment and providence, or revealing the contemplation concerning ethics and physics and theology. For this reason he says: He reigned in Israel to know discipline and wisdom. And wisdom is knowledge of bodies and incorporeals and of the judgment and providence contemplated in them; but discipline is the moderation of passions, contemplated in the passionate or irrational part of the soul. 4. To direct judgment: it indicates that the criterion is upright and undistorted.

But there are three criteria within us: sense, reason, and intellect; and sense is of things sensible, reason of names and words and things spoken, and intellect of things intelligible. Just as through the senses the intellect applies itself to things sensible, so too through the virtues it surveys things intelligible; and for this reason the wise Solomon teaches us that the virtues hold the place of sense. Those who acquire vice will despise wisdom and instruction; but by reason, as I think, no one despises wisdom and instruction. Just as the head and the neck here signify the intellect, so too the crown and the collar here signify knowledge. For this is the habit of the Holy Spirit, to name God and his angels, and the intellect and virtue and knowledge, and vice and ignorance, and the devil himself and his angels, by many names. And it does not set down the names at random, as some suppose; for they are marks of different activities—of God working in us through his angels and of us in him, and of the demons toward us and of us toward them. The possession of the righteous man is wisdom and understanding and prudence; for he says, Get wisdom, and get understanding, and he who gets prudence loves himself. But the impious seize this possession, persuading the righteous man to do something forbidden by God, so that the intellect, blinded by sin, may fall away from these holy possessions. Those whom the demons conquer they despoil, taking from them the whole armor of God—the helmet and the breastplate and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

These are co-heirs of the adversaries, those who take up the same wickedness as they. And common is that which does not belong to the one God. A net is eternal punishment brought by the righteous judge upon unclean souls, for the destruction of the wings that grew badly from them. Now he calls "exodus" the soul that has gone out from wickedness and ignorance; such also is the exodus of the sons of Israel, the one that came to be after the generation from the judgment and teaching of God. The same soul he also calls "broad": "Widen," he says, "your mouth, and I will fill it"; and "Be widened also yourselves," Paul says in [his letter] to the Corinthians. And by the soul that goes out in this way, wisdom is hymned; but in the soul that is widened through the virtues, it brings forth boldness. And her outermost wall he calls the utmost impassibility, if indeed those who love the law wrap themselves in a wall; for which wall David also prays, saying, "Let the walls of Jerusalem be built," that is, the fallen things of such a soul, evidently from the pretext of Uriah. And "gates of rulers" he calls the virtues of the wise. For "Open to me," he says, "the gates of righteousness"; and "Rulers are passionate; let them not drink wine, lest having drunk they forget wisdom, and be in no way able to judge the weak rightly." How then does Solomon say earlier, "But he who rejoices at the one perishing will not be acquitted"? Or perhaps wisdom rejoices in this way, as it rejoiced at the destruction of Matthew the tax collector and at the destruction of the robber who believed in Christ; for wisdom destroyed the one as a robber, and the other as a tax collector.

A siege is moral teaching, overthrowing the soul that has been badly built up. If it is in our power to wish to attend to the counsels of wisdom and not to wish to attend, we have become self-determining. Similar to this is also the saying, If you are willing and listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you are not willing and do not listen to me, a sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things. Just as infants are between the righteous and the unrighteous, so too all human beings are between angels and demons, being neither demons nor bearing the name of angels, until the consummation of the age. The impassible one is at rest without fear from every evil thought. This one hides the commandment of God—the one who does it—since even the demons are said to snatch it away by not permitting us to do it. Now he calls the voice the impassibility of the soul; for this is naturally inclined to invoke the knowledge of God. Thus also David says: With my voice I cried to the Lord, and again: Attend to the voice of my supplication. Then you will understand how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and how of the God

It becomes the cause of knowledge. But wisdom and understanding must exist beforehand, so as to be able to understand the fear of the Lord; and we shall apply these things to those who despise wisdom and understanding, yet wish to take refuge in fearing God, as though it were an easy matter. He calls the commandments of God "axles"—the commandments that lead us to the knowledge of God. And David says: For this reason I was upright toward all your commandments. The holy angels speak all things faithful; but humans speak some things faithful and some unfaithful; but the devil speaks nothing faithful, which means nothing worthy of faith. For he now calls the devil a "man," if indeed a wicked man sowed the tares. If counsel is a certain movement of the mind, how has it abandoned the teaching of youth? And how has it also forgotten the divine covenant? For he speaks to us of evil counsel as of a rational living being. Or he now calls the devil "evil counsel"; for he took evil counsel when he said, I will set my throne above the stars, I will be like the Most High. And he also forgot the divine knowledge, abandoning the teaching of his youth—which youth indicates his former state, in which he was also enviable among the trees of paradise. For he loves those who pursue righteousness, and so run that you may attain. As many as are attained by years of life, these attain straight paths; And your mercy, he says, shall pursue me all the days of my life. Those, he says, who remained in guilelessness were left behind in the land, that is, in the knowledge.

But those who have fallen away through vice will come back again through goodness. He forgets the law who has not lived lawfully; he remembers the law who lives according to it; and if this man keeps the words of God, it is the one who does them; he destroys them who does not wish to practice them; for not the hearers of the law are righteous, he says, before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. Be not lifted up, he says, having acquired the wisdom of God; but that he here calls the wisdom of God also human wisdom, he shows by what follows: In all your ways, he says, know her, that you may cut straight your ways. When the powers of the soul obtain careful attention, then they will say, Lord, who is like you? For all my bones, he says, will say, Lord, Lord, who is like you? For when the memory power of the soul has obtained careful attention, it will certainly say, I remembered God and was glad; and likewise the contemplative power will say, I considered your works and was amazed; and in the same way the desiring power will say, Lord, all my desire is before you; and the reasoning power will also say, I reasoned about ancient days. This will happen in accordance with all things also in the case of the other powers. In some copies there is written abundance of grain; but it is written neither in the Hebrew nor in those copies which have of grain. Against wisdom alone are the demons powerless, not being permitted to cast thoughts into the heart of the one who has been made wise; for the mind, being occupied with the contemplations of wisdom, becomes unreceptive of an unclean thought. A pure mind draws near to wisdom.

But the unclean one will be removed far from her. From this tree, after the transgression, Adam is prevented from partaking, since the tree of life grows from the fruits of righteousness; and if the tree of life is the wisdom of God, he is justly prevented from touching this tree. For he says, Wisdom will not enter a soul that devises evil. God founded the earth by wisdom, and by understanding he prepared the heavens; and through his perception the abysses were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew. What he here called earth, the holy Paul named breadth; and what are here called heavens, he in the letter to the Ephesians calls height; and what are figuratively called abysses he names depth; and the clouds that have dripped dew he calls length. All these things are symbols of rational natures, divided among worlds and bodies according to proportion. He called the soul that bore the yoke of the Lord a neck. A stumbling block of a rational nature is an unclean thought or false knowledge.

From this we know that almsgiving removes the fearful fantasies that come upon us at night; and meekness and freedom from anger and long-suffering do the same, and all things that are naturally able to calm a troubled temper—since it is from the disturbance of the temper that fearful fantasies customarily arise. This enmity toward one's neighbor brings about some evil. Ignorance of the Lord is in the souls of the impious, but the knowledge of God is in the soul of the righteous. Just as the Lord opposes the unjust as righteousness, and liars as truth, so also he opposes the proud as humility. The wise shall inherit knowledge; but the impious have honored ignorance. It should be noted here that he calls the law a good gift because of the one who receives gifts in his bosom unjustly and does not prosper; for there he calls the commandments of the evil one unjust gifts, which the mind, when it receives them, does not prosper in its ways. This one abandons the law—the one who transgresses it. If it is in our power to fence in wisdom, and the virtues are in our power, then the fences here signify the virtues, which exalt the knowledge of God. The crown of graces and the crown of delight is the knowledge of God, which also shields us, thrusting away every passionate thought and every false knowledge. These many ways lead to one way, which said: I am the way. And he has called the virtues many ways, which lead to the knowledge of Christ. The place of this army is wickedness and falsely named knowledge.

If the Lord gives sleep to his beloved, but the impious are not his beloved, then the Lord does not give sleep to the impious. From this it is also possible to show persuasively that the demons are not even naturally capable of sleeping. From this we know what the army of the opposing power is fed on; for he says its food is impiety, and its wine is lawlessness. The virtues go before us and enlighten us, until the sun of righteousness shines upon us with his own day. Nor do the impious know the manner in which they sin, nor do they know the cause from which they stumble; but they do not even know this very thing, that they are transgressing the law, which is the mark of the utmost folly. He calls the virtues springs, from which they generate the living water, which is the knowledge of Christ. And David says, The springs of the waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were uncovered, clearly at the coming of our Savior Christ. As many as have dispassionate thoughts and true doctrines, these see rightly. For virtue is a mean; therefore they also say that courage is between rashness and cowardice; but now he calls right things not those that are right by nature, but those that appear right to some because of pleasures. For he says the north wind is a harsh wind, but by name it is called favorable; symbolically calling the evil one the north wind, from which all evils on the earth were kindled. To these things agrees, Unless the Lord builds the house and guards the city, and what follows. Fat signifies pleasure, from which impurity is begotten; of which vice and ignorance are the offspring, than which nothing more bitter can be found among things that have come to be.

What he earlier called a harlot, he now has named folly. David prays for those who go down to Hades with death, saying: Let them go down alive into Hades. If the paths are not easily known, well is it said: They do not know how they stumble. Here he called "way" the mind that travels on the road to virtue; or perhaps he enjoins virtue to separate us from vice. Here we recognize that the irascible part prevails in the demons; for relentless is wrath, he says, and sharp is anger. Through their vices the wicked wear away the flesh of Christ and consume his blood, reckoning it as something common; for he who eats my flesh, he says, and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. There was a time when vice was not, and there will be a time when it will not be; but there was no time when virtue was not, nor will there be a time when it will not be; for the seeds of virtue are indelible. And this man too persuades me, who had come to be in every vice all but completely and not perfectly, and the rich man who came to be in Hades because of vice and who pitied his brothers; for pity happens to be the fairest seed of virtue. Knowledge is both a well and a spring; for to those who have come near, virtue seems to be a deep well, but to the impassible and pure it is a spring; thus also the Savior sat at the spring, and it was about the sixth hour; and the Samaritan woman calls it a well; for she says, Lord, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. The woman here signifies the knowledge of God; and this was given to us from youth, which Solomon earlier calls the instruction of youth.

He says, "My son, do not let evil counsel seize you," calling the devil one who has taken evil counsel, she who has abandoned the teaching of youth and forgotten the divine covenant. Forgetfulness and abandonment of knowledge and possession are second things, just as disease is the last thing after health, and the second death after life. At the same time, this too must be known, that the same knowledge is called both mother and wife and sister: mother, because the one who taught me through it has begotten me, as Paul begat the Galatians through the gospel; wife, because being present with me it brings forth virtues and right doctrines, if indeed wisdom brings forth prudence for a man; sister, because both I and she have come from the one God and Father. For he says, "I said that your wisdom is my sister." If grace and friendship set free, and virtue and knowledge set free the rational soul, then grace and friendship are virtue and knowledge. And if the deer is from friendship, and the colt is born from grace, the deer is a symbol of contemplation, and the colt of impassibility; for the one naturally comes from virtues, the other from knowledge. Virtue and the knowledge of God are proper to the rational nature. To be "the thousandth" is to have a multitude of contemplations; and the multitude is that of those who are benefited. "Do not be much with a foreign woman"—some will think this is said about external wisdom, with which it is not necessary to linger because of the deceits hidden within it; others will take it about vice, and will interpret "not to be much with it" thus: that it is not possible for a man to keep entirely away from evil thoughts, but it is possible not to linger in them.

And that he calls "strange arms" the evil thoughts, which hold the soul fast and do not escape the notice of God, who knows the heart. Everyone who gives surety for Christ, the friend of the apostles, as righteousness and truth, hands over his own soul to the enemies who are accustomed to wage war against men because of friendship toward the Savior. For it is a spiritual friendship, the knowledge of God, according to which also the saints are called friends of God; thus also John the Baptist was a friend of the bridegroom, and Moses and the apostles; for he says, "No longer do I call you servants." And he urges, he says, through prayers and supplications, also your friend for whom you gave surety, saying: "Guard me, Lord, from the hand of the sinner, and from the unjust man deliver me," and "for the sake of my enemies do not hand me over into the hands of those who afflict me"; for "for your sake we are put to death all the day long, we were reckoned as sheep for slaughter." Sleep is the sin of the soul in act; but drowsiness is the first impure thought establishing itself in the soul; therefore also before drowsiness the word calls it sleep. For it was said, he says, to the ancients: "You shall not murder," but I say, "You shall not be angry." And here indeed the law appears to me to be preventing sleep, and the gospel of Christ drowsiness; if indeed the one cuts off sin in act, and the other the evil first establishing itself in the mind. It should be noted here that he calls the ant's natural, harmonious motion wisdom; for indeed the wiser is called wiser than the wise. But how also is it not under a master, if indeed the

Are all things servants of God? Or is it that God is called "master" in two senses, as creator and as one who is known? Therefore Paul also writes: "But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God" (clearly in respect of virtue and knowledge), "you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end is eternal life." But if the ant, being irrational, has no share in such an end, it is clear that it is also free from such slavery. Rightly, then, the ant is said not to be under a master, in respect of this kind of mastery; and again to be under a master, since it has God as its creator. Through the ant Solomon seems to sketch out for us the practical way, and through the bee to signify the contemplation of created things and of the very one who made them, which both pure and impure, wise and foolish alike bring to the health of the soul. And the wax seems to me to stand for the account of the things themselves, while the honey stored within it is a symbol of their contemplation. And the wax will pass away—for he says, "Heaven and earth will pass away"—but the honey will not pass away; for neither will the words of our Savior Christ pass away. Concerning which Solomon says: "Good words are honeycombs, and their sweetness is healing of the soul"; and David says: "How sweet are your words to my throat, sweeter than honey to my mouth." The result of toil he has called toils. This sleep is by nature wont to fall upon the rational soul alone; for here it signifies vice and ignorance, of which vigilance produces certain things. Poverty is the deprivation of knowledge; want is the scarcity of virtues.

Here attention must be paid, lest perhaps through such movements of the body the adversaries come to know that their own thoughts are being nourished in us; since we have believed that God alone is the knower of hearts. Everyone who eats the flesh of Christ and drinks his blood obtains righteous blood, deprived of which the rational soul is said to die; for it says, "The soul that sins, it shall die." And if there is righteous blood, there is clearly also unrighteous blood—which those gather in themselves who devour the food given to the Ethiopian peoples, and are nourished on the bread of falsehood. And those who sacrifice to foreign gods consume their own righteous blood, while those who offer themselves as a sacrifice to the only God destroy unrighteous blood. And in every case the destruction of unrighteous blood will be followed by the generation of righteous blood, and the destruction of righteous blood by the generation of unrighteous blood. But this is what naturally happens now; from the beginning, however, it was not so—for righteousness did not come into being through the destruction of evil, just as health did not come through the destruction of disease, since children are born from the beginning with health. Brothers are those who possess the gift of adoption and are under the same father, Christ, whom the witness of unrighteousness attempts to separate, casting disturbances and judgments among them. And "It burns," as I think, has been added because of the passionate thoughts, which kindle anger toward wrath and hatred, and desire toward shameful deeds. These thoughts the holy Paul also called the fiery darts of the evil one, which wound the soul and bring about death.

He commands us to bring our mother, which is the wisdom that gives birth to us according to God. And yet it would have been fitting for him to say "the father," for this one is more suited to being with the son. But since it is not possible to know God before the contemplation of created things, for this reason he commands us to bring the mother and not the father, so that through the mother the son may see the father; for unless she gives birth to him, he does not see the light, which is the knowledge of God himself. Because the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light, and perhaps the old covenant is a lamp—for that was the lamp burning and shining—while the new covenant is the light; for he says, I am the light of the world. For the pleasure of evil is as great as that of a single loaf of bread. This one binds the fire in his bosom, who allows the impure thought to linger in the heart and corrupt the right thoughts. And this one walks upon the coals, who destroys his own soul through sin in act. He calls evil a woman with a husband; for its husband is the devil, begetting with her the lawless sons. And the Savior also in the Gospels says to the Jews, You are from your father the devil. But if it is caught by true knowledge, all false knowledge will be thrust away—the one who previously, through lack of knowledge, was stealing from the wisdom that was made foolish by our Savior. Everyone who has fellowship with evil is an adulterer of the devil, who first married evil and from the beginning became a murderer of man.

Here he shows that we will have the devil as accuser of the things we have done on the day of judgment; and the holy Paul also says this: "that he who is opposed may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us." If through transgression of the law one dishonors God, then clearly through doing the law one honors God. Our sister is wisdom, because the one who made the incorporeal nature, being Father, also made this. And here he calls wisdom not the Son of God, but the contemplation of bodies and incorporeals and of the judgment and providence in them; of which the species are also prudence and knowledge, and instruction and understanding. Words spoken to please are the passionate thoughts. He now names the flesh of man a window; for through this the wicked one works deceits upon men, upon those who wish to walk the broad and spacious road that leads to destruction. But here we must attend to what Solomon says about evil, that it does not in the beginning lead man away to evil, nor compel him to walk in the byways of her houses, or to draw near a corner, or to speak in the evening darkness; but if it sees someone giving himself over to pleasures, it immediately meets him, having a harlot's form, which causes the hearts of the young to be deceived. He has named the unclean state of the soul a nocturnal and dark quiet, in which, being inflamed, it works out sin through the body. Those who wander in the broad streets receive thoughts of adultery and fornication and theft.

But those outside these things, wandering about, are moved contrary to nature, seeking the bed of males, and receiving fantasies of certain other forbidden things. If of thoughts some are pure and some impure; and if of lines some are called straight, and others bent lines—and an angle is a bent line—then an intelligible angle is an impure thought. Therefore, that evil lies in wait at every angle shows that through all impure thoughts it deceives the soul; and a demonic snare is a passionate thought, calling the soul forth to shameful action. Evil seeks to put to shame the face of our soul, through the curtains and the bed and the coverlets and the saffron and the cinnamon—which signify the various evil passions that arise among the inventors of evils. If after many days he will return to his house, Paul, having looked very spiritually upon the economy, writes that the last enemy to be abolished is death. There are three kinds of herons: the cephrus, the white one, and the one called the starling-heron. Of these the cephrus mates and copulates with difficulty; for it cries out, and in copulating it discharges blood, as they say, from its eyes, and it gives birth poorly and painfully. These things we have set down from Aristotle's Histories of Animals. And Scripture seems to have made the word from the history of the animal called the cephrus—of the man who is persuaded by the prostitute woman, being cephrus-ed and made like the bird through licentiousness, as it were, having been set in motion. It wounds us with thoughts, but it kills with sins.

Courage stands between recklessness and cowardice. He says that wisdom is praised sometimes in exits, sometimes in entrances—that is, among those departing from evil and entering into virtue. For he calls the one who departs and the one who enters an exit and an entrance. And we have often noted this habit of his, that from the states he names those who possess the states, whether the best or the worst. Here he has called virtue a heart—the virtue that befalls the heart. Here he has taken wisdom as a genus of instruction and knowledge; for having set instruction and knowledge first, he adds: For wisdom is better than precious stones, since instruction and knowledge are encompassed in wisdom, which is the first gift of the Holy Spirit, if indeed through the Spirit the word of wisdom is given. And this same thing is also called the spirit of adoption. It should be noted that he calls injustice and insolence and arrogance the unjust man and the insolent man and the arrogant man, naming him from the worst state. The same food is called both meat and bread and milk and vegetables and wine; except that fools are said to partake of them as bread and as mixed wine. But if this is so, how shall we understand the verse, Man ate the bread of angels.

A spiritual knowledge is a mixing-bowl, containing the accounts concerning incorporeals and bodies and judgment and providence. If Paul the apostle is a servant of Christ, and Christ is wisdom, then Paul the apostle is a servant of wisdom. In the same way let us also gather the same account concerning the rest of the apostles and the prophets, showing them to be servants of wisdom. This preaching alone is lofty, proclaiming the places of the knowledge of God. He did not say "of my flesh," for solid food belongs to the perfect. One must not reprove the wicked while they are sinning; rather, one should converse with them about the fear of God, which persuades them to depart from evil. If to know the law is a mark of a good mind, then to do the commandment is also a mark of a good mind; yet doing the commandment comes before knowing the law, since knowledge naturally comes after purification. "Who leans upon falsehoods": note. Being carried about by every wind of teaching and having suffered shipwreck concerning the faith. "For he has abandoned the ways of his own vineyard": note. For he abandoned the vine that said, "I am the vine, you are the branches, and my Father is the vinedresser." "And he gathers with his hands fruitlessness": Fruitlessness is evil and ignorance. "She who does not know shame": note. The saying "She does not know shame" is spoken as though shame were something teachable. And David says that the fear of God is teachable: "Come, children," he says, "listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord." But if fear and shame are natural passions of the soul, how are they teachable?

Or perhaps he means by "fear of the Lord" the teaching concerning the fear of the Lord, the teaching that instructs us how we ought to turn away from evil—since by the fear of the Lord everyone turns away from evil. And again he calls "shame" the accounts concerning repentance and shame that lead us to a consciousness of our own sins. Thus also David says: I shall look upon the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you established—that is, I shall look upon the accounts concerning the heavens and the moon and the stars. Touch hidden breads with pleasure: note. The bread of falsehood was sweet to them; and after this their mouth will be filled with a pebble. But leap away, do not linger: The mind must not linger over base thoughts; for no one will bind fire in his bosom and not burn his garments. And do not drink from a strange spring: Just as there is a spring of life with God, so also there is a spring of death with the devil; and if the spring of God is a spring of virtue and knowledge, the spring of the devil is evidently a spring of wickedness and ignorance; and one must understand the same in the case of rivers and wells and waters and rains.

Treasures will not profit the lawless: Treasures will not profit the lawless—those they have stored up on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But the life of the ungodly he will overthrow: If the life of the ungodly is wickedness, and the Lord will overthrow this, then evidently the ungodly will one day not be ungodly; for after this overthrow the Lord will hand over the kingdom to God and the Father, so that God may become all in all. Undisciplined instruction wanders: He calls the evil conduct of the soul "undisciplined instruction," which also becomes the cause of error for it. Unjust lips cover hatred: He calls wickedness "hatred," for through it we become enemies of God. For if, Paul says, while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. And if hatred is wickedness, then friendship is virtue and the knowledge of God, through which we become friends of God and of the holy powers; for in this friendship those who are friends of the same one are also friends of one another. But the desire of the righteous is acceptable: Lord, all my desire is before you, says David. The fear of the Lord adds days: If the fear of the Lord adds days, and the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, then these days are parts of wisdom, produced by the sun of righteousness—days for which David also prays, saying: Do not bring me up in the midst of my days; and Abraham, having fulfilled these days, died, concerning whom it is said: And Abraham died, old and full of days. The righteous man will not give way for the age: "For the age" is used in place of "throughout his life.

And Paul says, I will not eat meat forever, lest I cause my brother to stumble, calling "forever" the interval that extends along with the constitution of his life. But the mouth of the ungodly turns away: here he has called the mind a mouth. To whom there is no governance: being carried about by every wind of teaching and shipwrecked concerning the faith. But he hates the sound of security: he has named the words concerning salvation "the sound of security." But the merciless man destroys his own body: here he has called the soul outright a body. And Christ also in the Gospels calls the soul a body, saying, The lamp of the body is the eye—calling the mind a lamp, for it is receptive of knowledge; and the body the spirited and appetitive part of the soul, which some call the irrational part, others the passible part. He who puts hands to hands unjustly will not be unpunished: this one puts hands to hands unjustly—the one who becomes a teacher of evil deeds and doctrines; and this one sows righteousness—the one who sends forth words about virtues and the knowledge of God.

There are those who sow their own things and make more: Those who sow their own things and make more are opposed by those who gather and are diminished; but if those who sow their own things are those who sow to the spirit and reap life, then those who gather are those who sow to the flesh and gather corruption for themselves. He who holds back grain is cursed by the people. This is like what our Savior says in the Gospels: No one, having lit a lamp, puts it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, and it shines for all who are in the house. The carpenter seeks good things that are acceptable: If carpentry is a working of good things and practice is a working of good things, then practice is carpentry. From the fruit of righteousness grows a tree of life: This tree of life is the one planted in the middle of paradise, which Adam after sin is prevented from touching, having cast away the seeds of righteousness, from which the tree of life grows. But the lawless man will be silenced: Do not be silent from me, says David, and I shall be like those who go down into the pit. But wealth of sinners is stored up for the righteous: The wealth of the ungodly is wickedness. But the righteous will consume it, clearly through good teaching, either now or also in the age to come, becoming above fifteen cities. And Paul

He says: But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And wise lips are weapons of perception: for nothing evil opposes wisdom, because it is an invincible weapon; for the demons are powerless only against it. The houses of the lawless shall owe purification: so that, having become pure, they may see God; for this is the blessed end which has been kept for every rational nature. And from his thoughts a good man: by “thoughts” he now means the states of the virtues, just as he set them against the ways of the bold-hearted. But the unscrupulous shall gain mastery of perception: he has set vice in opposition to perception; but if vice is opposed to virtue, perception now signifies virtue. In abounding righteousness there is great strength: Unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the Pharisees and scribes, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. But those who hate reproofs end shamefully: by “reproofs” he now means the commandments; for these reprove us when we sin. But the good are at rest continually: stillness is abstinence from evil. The ways of life are the thoughts of the prudent man: he calls the practical virtues “the way of life,” those which lead to knowledge. And through them even enemies become friends: Paul having proclaimed: Those who were once enemies were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. Nevertheless one must consider whether all enemies become friends through the righteous, so that Christ may say to all as well: No longer do I call you servants, but friends.

A divination is on the lips of the king: Christ is the knower of hearts, and he will judge the world in righteousness. The wrath of a king is a messenger of death: The messenger who knows the words concerning punishment is called the wrath of God. The nestlings of wisdom are more desirable than gold: The knowledge of wisdom is above gold, and the knowledge of prudence above silver. But he who guards reproofs will be made wise: He calls the commandments of God reproofs; for these reprove us when we sin. But the instruction of fools is evil: He has now called undiscerning instruction the instruction of fools; and if the instruction of fools is wickedness, then undiscerning instruction is folly. And on his lips he will carry understanding: He called knowledge understanding, from the fact that it knows all things beforehand. A crooked man sends forth evils: The word means that the demons, learning from the devil, attempt to assail the saints and try to separate them from the knowledge which by nature unites them in friendship with the heavenly powers. And Solomon, as I think, has indicated this very thing through this proverb, calling the devil a crooked man, and the evil demons, instead of those who are taught, the ways of deceit, and the saints, who are united to one another through knowledge, friends. This one is a furnace of wickedness: A spirit of dew, whistling through, scatters the flame of this furnace. All things come into the bosom of the unjust: It must be noted that here he has called the hearts of the unjust a bosom; and I think that everywhere the bosom signifies either the mind or the knowledge.

But if there is also a reprehensible bosom, it will clearly signify ignorance. A wise servant will rule over foolish masters: If everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin, then everyone who has departed from evil and through the virtues has gained mastery over foolish demons has ruled over masters; and such a person will also become a steward of the mysteries of God, giving spiritual knowledge to each of the brothers in proportion to his state, giving milk to drink to the Corinthian, but feeding the Ephesian with more solid food, discoursing on height and length and breadth and depth; and through these dimensions signifying the division of the rational nature, which contains the words concerning the judgment and providence of God, being very deep and escaping the human condition. Thus also Joshua the son of Nun divided the land of promise among the twelve tribes, which is a symbol of the knowledge of God and of the things that have come to be by him. Except this must be known, that the words concerning the incarnation of Christ and his sojourn in the land of Judah lie stored up in knowledge; for Christ is born in this one's lot; and I think that the words concerning providence are fitting for the state of the hidden Judah and Benjamin; which names I consider to be distinguishing marks of different and pure states, since indeed Judah is interpreted as confession, and Benjamin as son of days or son of the right hand. A wicked man obeys the tongue of the lawless, but the righteous does not: This one obeys the tongues of the lawless—the one who receives unjust thoughts from them and hastens to act according to them.

Those whom the righteous man is said not to heed, that is, not to nourish further within himself. The whole world of wealth belongs to the faithful: The faithful man, he says, will see the words of this world, which he has figuratively called the wealth of the mind; but the unbeliever will not know the word even of an ordinary thing, because of the impurity of his soul. And that the knowledge of God is the wealth of the soul, Paul teaches through what he writes: In everything you were enriched, in all knowledge and all wisdom. But if anyone should wish to show that this is not the meaning of this proverb, let him say where those who went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being afflicted, oppressed, destitute, found wealth; and how the unbeliever will not have even an obol, when many unbelievers are clothed in wealth—I mean many kings and rulers of this world. Faithful lips will not suit a fool: For what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? Or what communion has light with darkness? He who hides a wrong seeks friendship: Through righteousness we hide unrighteousness, and through temperance licentiousness, and again through love hatred, and through freedom from avarice covetousness; and we hide arrogance through humility, and recklessness through gentleness, seeking spiritual friendship, which signifies holy knowledge. And in Paul certain of the saints are said to have become fellow citizens and members of the household of Jerusalem, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

He who repays evil for good: If the one who repays evil for evil is a transgressor of the law, how much more is he who repays evil for good a greater transgressor of the law. Such did Israel become toward God in the wilderness, to whom Moses says in Deuteronomy: A crooked and perverse generation, do you repay these things to the Lord? The beginning of righteousness gives authority: Knowledge follows righteousness; but wickedness precedes ignorance. He who judges the unjust man just, and the just man unjust: He is like the one who says the bitter is sweet and the sweet bitter, and names the light darkness and the darkness light. Why have riches come to be with a fool: The riches of a fool are his follies concerning his own individual affairs; for because of these, having become heartless, he is unable to acquire wisdom. But he who turns aside to learn: But he who turns aside to learn that the Lord opposes the proud will fall into evils. But let brothers be useful in necessities: If the sons of Christ are brothers of one another, and the angels and the righteous men are sons of Christ, then the angels and the holy men are brothers of one another, being born by the spirit of adoption. For this cause they are born: For this cause they are born by wisdom, that they may guide men from wickedness to virtue, and from ignorance to the knowledge of God; since indeed creation itself groans and is in travail with us, and was subjected to vanity not willingly. A man changeable of tongue will fall into evils: This is the changeable man, the one who easily changes from virtue to wickedness.

Taking bribes in his bosom is the ungodly man: In the heart, the thoughts of one who receives unjust things—his ways do not prosper; for he called the passionate thoughts gifts offered to us by the demons, or "the ungodly man will receive gifts in his bosom to turn aside the ways of judgment." But a prudent son gladdens his mother: The prudent man gladdens his mother, but the foolish man grieves her who bore him. But the eyes of the fool are at the ends of the earth: The heart of the fool is in the height of wickedness, and a grief to her who bore him. The prudent son has both her who bore him and a mother, but the foolish son has only her who bore him; for the mother is also she who bore him, but she who bore him is not altogether also a mother; for if the one born dies in wickedness and ignorance, she is indeed one who bore him, but she is not a mother, because the one born has not partaken of the Spirit of adoption. The same will be understood both in the case of perceptible mothers and in the case of perceptible death; for we shall call her both mother and she who bore him, but no longer a mother of the child if the child has died. To harm a just man is not good: For they do not seek our things but us. He who is sparing to utter a harsh word is understanding: He called the thought that stirs up anger a harsh word; or he called the word that stirs up his neighbor's anger a harsh word. To a foolish man who has asked about wisdom, it will be reckoned as wisdom: If this man asks about wisdom—the one who wishes to learn something about wisdom—this man is silent from wisdom, the one who wishes to know nothing about wisdom; therefore the former is said to be wiser than the latter. An excuse seeks a man who wishes to separate himself: He calls sins "excuses.

For he says, "to make excuses for sins"; and "all his friends" means all the saints with whom he was joined through virtue. "A man lacking in understanding has no need of wisdom," for he loved darkness rather than light. "To admire the face of the ungodly is not good": the one who accepts the evil that dwells in the devil and acts according to it—this man admires the face of the ungodly. And "his bold mouth calls upon death": if death is born from boldness, and death separates the soul from the true life, then boldness separates us from the one who said, "I am the life"; and just as death is born from boldness, so life is born from gentleness, for gentleness is opposed to boldness. "Fear casts down the slothful": fear casts down the slothful—either the fear of the enemy, or the fear of the Lord, separating them from sloth through good works. "But the souls of effeminate men shall hunger": an effeminate man is one who is neither able to teach another nor willing to learn from another. "He who does not heal himself in his works is a brother to him who destroys himself": and Paul says, "If therefore anyone purifies himself, he will be a vessel useful to the master." "From the greatness of strength comes the name of the Lord": the name of the Lord signifies the knowledge of God; and through a right life the righteous run to him, and through contemplation they are exalted. "Before destruction a man's heart is exalted": just as destruction follows pride, so glory follows humility.

Whoever answers a word before hearing it, folly is his and disgrace. This saying must be used against those who have not received knowledge from God yet attempt to teach others. And David says, "To hear the voice of your praise, and then to recount your wonders also to others." And again Solomon says, "What your eyes have seen, tell." But who will endure a fainthearted man? Just as our Lord is said to become a leopard at bay toward those who transgress, and a rock of stumbling toward the disobedient, so also is a fainthearted man toward those who sin. But he can call "fainthearted" both the wicked man and all the demons who have fallen away from virtue and knowledge. A man's gift broadens him: He has now called the upright life a man's gift, which furnishes and broadens him and renders him worthy of the fullness of God—which he names the seat of the holy powers; for the seat of the mind is the best state, keeping the one who sits unmoved or hard to move. A lot puts an end to contention: Knowledge puts an end to folly; for this is the

The lot of the rational nature. Death and life are in the hands of the tongue: Here he says that the soul is receptive of death and of life, from which we establish that its free will exists. He who has found a good wife has found favors: He who has found good wisdom has found favors. But he who keeps company with an adulteress is foolish and impious: He who keeps hold of wickedness is foolish and impious. Wealth adds many friends: The wealth of knowledge and wisdom adds to us many angels as friends; but the impure man is separated from the angel given to him from childhood; for spiritual friendship is virtue and knowledge of God, through which we are joined in friendship to the holy angelic powers, since indeed repentant men become a cause of joy to the angels. Thus also the Savior calls servants friends, having deemed them worthy of the greater contemplation. Thus also Abraham, having grown wealthy in knowledge, sets out that mystical table for the friends who appeared to him at midday. But Saul, because of his wickedness, is separated even from the friend he had; for it is written: And the spirit of God departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord choked Saul; calling the angel the spirit of the Lord; for he says, Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire. And that angels have also been entrusted with men, the Lord teaches in the Gospels, saying, See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. And again Jacob: The angel who delivers me from all evils.

And Zechariah: And the angel who spoke in me said. But he who brings an unjust accusation shall by no means escape: All those who, ignorant of the accounts concerning judgment and providence, blaspheme the Creator—these bring an unjust accusation; and again, all those who, harassed by their own passions, think that virtue is unattainable—these bring an unjust accusation against the one who gave the law. A good thought will draw near to those who know it: Here he has called the knowledge of God a thought, and those who know it the pure in heart. But he who provokes words shall not be saved: The passionate thoughts provoke the soul to evil. Luxury is not profitable to a fool: Neither intelligible luxury nor sensible luxury is profitable to the fool; for the former he will trample with his feet, being a pleasure-loving swine; and by sensible luxury his flesh will be stirred. A merciful man is long-suffering, but his boast comes upon the lawless: If the one who boasts boasts rightly in the Lord, and our Lord is wisdom, then the one who boasts rightly boasts in wisdom; therefore the boast of the long-suffering and merciful man, which is his wisdom and knowledge, comes upon the lawless, delivering them from evil—now in a contingent manner, but necessarily in the age to come. The threat of a king is like the roaring of a lion: Our Lord becomes a consuming fire and an angry lion toward those who sin, burning up wood, hay, stubble, and consuming the flesh that wars against the spirit.

But light and dew are for those who set things right, showing them the accounts of things that have come to be, and quenching the fiery darts of the evil one, and cooling the burning heat that arises from the practical life. Prayers are not pure from the wages of a harlot: he called the impure soul a harlot; and he called its wage its condition, from which prayers do not become pure. Fathers will divide house and substance: to teach the sons about virtue and the knowledge of God is the work of fathers; but to give wisdom to the children is the Lord's; for here he calls wisdom a woman; for he says, Desire wisdom, and she will keep you; honor her, that she may embrace you. He who keeps a commandment keeps his own soul: the commandments, in relation to God who commanded them, are called commandments; but in relation to the mind that walks in them, they are called ways; and again, since they were given in the presence of witnesses, heaven and earth, the commandments are called testimonies; therefore the mind that receives them is also called a witness, and whoever falsifies them will not go unpunished. And according to his gift he will repay him: here he called purity of heart a gift; for in proportion to our dispassion we are deemed worthy of knowledge. A man of evil mind will be greatly penalized: I think that the great penalty involves deprivation of the contemplation of things that have come to be, and the addition of the soul is the destruction of the natural concepts about God, when it has altogether fallen into irrationality. And the Savior also says in the Gospels: What will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, but loses and forfeits his soul?

But here, on the one hand, destruction makes clear the ignorance of bodies and incorporeals; and on the other, the loss presents the ultimate irrationality. That you may become wise in old age: After right conduct comes knowledge; for the phrase "in the last times" here does not signify time, but the purity that comes after the practical virtues. The fear of the Lord is for a man unto life, but he who wanders will lodge in places which the eternal one does not oversee: If the fear of the Lord is for a man unto life, and the fear of the Lord is discipline and wisdom, then the life of the man is discipline and wisdom. But Christ says: I am the life; therefore Christ is discipline and wisdom. So to know discipline and wisdom is to know Christ; therefore the one without fear will be in wickedness and ignorance, in which Christ is not. 101 He who hides his hands in his bosom unjustly, not even to his mouth will he bring them: He who does not live rightly hides his hands unjustly in his soul, not wishing to work his own earth nor to be filled with bread; for the practical virtues hold the place of hands, bringing to our mouth the bread that came down from the heavens and gives life to the world. The son who dishonors his father and thrusts away his mother will be put to shame and will be reproached: Through the transgression of the law he dishonors God, and he thrusts away his mother, which is discipline; since indeed a just man is born unto life, and righteousness is constituted from all the virtues.

A son who is left behind to keep discipline will meditate on evil words: Unclean thoughts are evil words begotten in the soul of one who has not kept the commandments of the heavenly Father. Wine is undisciplined and drunkenness is insolent: If their wine is the fury of dragons, and wine is undisciplined, then fury is undisciplined, making men undisciplined, and anger is insolent; for this drunkenness is naturally produced from boiling fury. But if according to the law the Nazirites abstain from wine, then it has been legislated that the Nazirites are outside of fury. The threat of a king differs in nothing from the fury of a lion: Here he has spoken of Christ plainly as a king; for the one who provokes him through sins sins against his own soul. Likewise the one who borrows grain at harvest: If it is possible to borrow grain at harvest, it is also possible in the age to come to borrow intelligible grain from those who have worked their own land during the six years, and who in the seventh year feed the widow and orphans. He will leave his children blessed: Those, clearly, whom he has begotten according to virtue. Of one who speaks evil of father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished: The same Christ can, by conception, be both father and mother; father of those who have the spirit of adoption, but mother of those who need milk and not solid food; for the Christ who spoke in Paul became father of the Ephesians, revealing to them the mysteries of wisdom, and mother of the Corinthians, giving them milk to drink. A portion eagerly sought after in the first things: A portion that for a time fattens your throat, yet later you will find it more bitter than gall. Do not say:

I will take vengeance on the enemy: Do not say, moved by pride, "I alone will wage war against the enemies," but wait for the Lord, that he may help you. And David says: Not in my bow will I hope, and my sword will not save me; and again: A horse is false for salvation; and unless the Lord builds the house and guards the city. A great weight and a small, and double measures, both are abominable (unclean) before the Lord: The one called by some a coward I think to be a great weight and a small; and in general every excess and deficiency I think to be a great weight and a small; for both are vices. Double measures: He who wishes to be well treated by another, but himself does not choose likewise to give rest to others, has double measures, not obeying the commandment that says: All things whatsoever you wish that men should do to you, all things also do you likewise to them. The ear hears and the eye sees: Not the eye that sees evilly is the work of the Lord, but the eye that sees; and not the ear that hears evilly is the work of the Lord, but the ear that hears. And in the case of the other members of the body it must be said likewise; and you will use this text against those who accuse this body of ours and insult the Creator. Open your eyes and be filled with bread: Through the virtues we open the eyes of the soul, and through wisdom we are filled with intelligible bread. But how could a mortal understand (perceive) his own ways: He who is still mortal and has not died together with Christ cannot understand the ways of the Lord.

A snare for a man to dedicate something of his own hastily: Repentance over good things does not happen to the righteous but to the unrighteous; and the unrighteous should promise nothing to God without careful thought; for after praying, repentance comes. And a deceitful balance is not good before him: He calls the mind a deceitful balance, which is naturally disposed to judge matters righteously but inclines by the weight of the adversary. A winnower of the ungodly is a wise king: To separate the chaff from the wheat. And he will cast a wheel upon them: Make them like a wheel. The light of the Lord is the breath of men: If the light of the Lord is the knowledge of the Lord, and the light of the Lord is the breath of men, then the knowledge of the Lord is the breath of men. But the devil, who in ignorance seems to shine, he called a lamp, emptying the mind of good things and transforming himself into an angel of light. To do righteous things and to speak truth is more acceptable to the Lord than the blood of sacrifices: This saying casts out the sacrifice through irrational animals; for a sacrifice to God is a broken spirit. But his works are pure and upright: If the works of God are pure and upright, and one of his works is also the mind, then the mind was created upright and pure by the Lord. Better to dwell on a corner of the open air than in plastered houses with unpleasantness and in a common house: He set the open-air corner against the plastered and common house; and if the plastered and common house is evil, the open-air corner is virtue; an open-air corner, then, is action that touches contemplation and is illuminated by the sun of righteousness.

And Paul too rightly called the high priest of the Jews a whitewashed wall, who would be struck by God; and the Savior in the Gospels called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs. And well did he say, "On the corner," where the stone lies that was rejected by the builders and became the head of the corner; and he called "common" that which is not of the one God. A secret gift overturns wrath: A secret gift it is, so that what your right hand does, your left hand may not know. A man wandering from the way of righteousness will rest in the assembly of the giants: The assembly of the giants is wickedness and ignorance. Better to dwell in a desert land than with a wrathful and quarrelsome woman: And David says, "In a desert land, and impassable, and waterless, so I appeared to you in the holy place." A desert land, then, is virtue, which does not have the old men dwelling in it, who are corrupted according to the desires of deceit; therefore not even the devil finds rest in it, since he passes through waterless places seeking

rest and does not find it; for he himself is king over all things in the waters. And again, of wisdom it says, "Narrow are the dwelling places of her houses"; and if this is so, then the contentious and garrulous and irascible woman is also evil, who makes the one living with her contentious and garrulous and irascible. A desirable treasure will rest upon the mouth of a wise man: the wisdom of the Lord will rest in the heart of a wise man; but foolish men destroy it. A wise man has set foot upon strong cities: wisdom is a strong city, in which the wise dwell, pulling down reasonings and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ. Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from affliction: mouth and tongue, soul and mind; and they call the soul anger and desire, which some name the passionate part of the soul. An ungodly man desires evil desires all the day long: it belongs to angels never to desire evil desires; to men, sometimes to desire and sometimes not to desire evil desires; to demons, always to desire evil desires. For "all the day long" signifies throughout one's life. Such also is "Be in the fear of the Lord all the day long," instead of throughout one's life. A horse is prepared for the day of battle: he calls the mind a horse. For he says, "You shall ride upon your horses, and your riding is salvation." And concerning Paul the Lord says, "To bear my name." A good name is more choice than much wealth: he called the virtue signified by its own name a good name; for this is the good name, which has the good as its meaning.

Thus we will not praise the unjust woman who is called righteousness, but her who possesses righteousness, even if she is named unrighteousness. The rich and the poor met together, and the Lord made both: the rich man purifies his anger through almsgiving, acquiring love; and the poor man is taught through poverty to be humble-minded. The generation of wisdom is the fear of the Lord: these are the generations of Noah; these are the generations of Abraham. Thorns and snares are in crooked ways: and the Lord says to Adam, "The earth shall bring forth thorns and thistles for you," that is, the soul. And he calls sins thorns and thistles, from which also the crown of Christ was woven; for he himself took away the sin of the world. The rich shall rule over the poor: in the age to come, those who have been enriched in all things, in all knowledge and all wisdom, shall rule over the unclean and those deprived of this wealth. But who are the servants and who are the masters, it is not now necessary to publish, because the account concerning them is mystical and deeper. But he will bring to an end the vanity of his works: the Lord brings to an end the vanity of works through virtue and knowledge. He who gives gifts procures victory and honor: he calls the virtues the gifts of man, through which, conquering the devil, he presents himself honorable to God, and withdraws his own soul from the demons who have acquired it.

Cast out the pestilence from the council, and contention will go out with him: He called the worst condition a council, from which the wise Solomon wishes the man to be cast out through spiritual teaching; and contention signifies rivalry. But he can also call the devil a pestilence, whom one must drive away from the soul; for if he settles in it, through uncleanness he dishonors all right thoughts. And the apostle also shows the soul to be a council, through the things he introduces—thoughts that accuse and defend: For between one another, he says, their thoughts accusing or also defending. And where there is accusation and defense, there is also a council. A king shepherds with his lips: The Lord who preserves our souls, he also shepherds us through spiritual knowledge, which knowledge the one who transgresses his law despises. And it must be noted that Christ, being a king, is said through his condescension to shepherd us: For I, he says, am the good shepherd. But if he is king of kings, and shepherd of sheep, he will at some time be king only of the sheep, when they have passed over to the royal dignity. The sluggard makes excuses and says, A lion is in the ways: Our enemy the devil goes about like a lion seeking whom he may devour; fearing whom, the sluggard shrinks back from the working of the virtues. But the one hated by the Lord will fall into him: Job, not hated by the Lord but for the sake of testing, fell into him. And a rod and discipline are far from him: Far from the heart of the fool is the rod from the root of Jesse.

The one who slanders the poor man (the needy) multiplies his own evils: Just as the devil slanders us, taking from us the virtues he did not give us, so we too slander him, taking from him the vices he did not give him. And insofar as we take the vices from him, we take them as from one poor in virtues; but insofar as we give our virtues to him to our own diminishment, we give them as to one rich in vice. And one of the elders said that we are the slanderers who slander Christ, who became poor for our sake and owes us nothing, and who take much from him and give it to Satan to the humiliation of our souls. Incline your ear to the words of the wise: This man hears the words of God—the one who does what is commanded by them; for not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. And you also, write them down for yourself threefold in counsel and knowledge (for counsel and knowledge) upon the breadth of your heart: The one who has broadened his heart through purity will understand the words of God—both the practical and the natural and the theological; for the whole business of Scripture is divided threefold, into ethics and physics and theology; and Proverbs follows the first, Ecclesiastes the second, and the Songs of Songs the third. Do not give yourself over to surety, being ashamed of a face: Those who take up base thoughts and in this honor the evil one, let them be eager with all their power to repay the worse through good thoughts.

For if they are not strong enough to do this, they will take the bed that is under the sides of the soul, that is, virtue; for this is called the garment of the mind that stands in righteousness, but of the one that has fallen through base thoughts it is called the under-layer. Do not move the eternal boundaries which your fathers set: The one who moves the boundaries of piety shows it to be superstition or impiety; and the one who moves the boundaries of courage makes it out to be recklessness or cowardice. And likewise also in the case of the other virtues and in the case of doctrines and of faith itself, this must be understood; and this must especially be observed in the case of the Holy Trinity; for the one who does not theologize the Holy Spirit dissolves the baptism; and the one who names certain other gods introduces a people of gods. But if you are more insatiable, do not desire his foods: For not all can contain the more mystical meaning of the Scripture. For these things hold to a false life: The divine Scripture must be understood intelligibly and spiritually; for the sensible knowledge according to history is not true. Do not dine with a begrudging man: If the begrudging man eats the foods of impiety and is drunk with unlawful wine, and one must not dine with him, then one must not be impious and unlawful; for these vices corrupt spiritual knowledge. Say nothing into the ears of a fool: Say nothing intelligent, that is, deep and mystical; for one must not throw the pearls before the swine. And do not enter into the property of orphans: The property of orphans is vice, through which they were deprived of the Savior in the heavens.

But be in the fear of the Lord all the day: If by the fear of the Lord everyone turns aside from evil, he rightly exhorts us to turn aside from every evil through our whole life. For if you keep these things, you shall have offspring: He called right reasonings and spiritual contemplations the offspring of the mind; therefore that soul is childless which does not have these offspring, which are naturally born from the spiritual bridegroom. And every drowsy person shall be clothed in rags: A torn garment and rags are not a wedding garment. And do not despise her because your mother has grown old: I heard one of the elders calling the soul the mother of the mind; for she, he says, through the practical virtues brings the mind into the light; and he called the soul the passionate part of the soul, which is divided into anger and desire; for through courage, he says, and temperance we acquire wisdom and the knowledge of God; and courage and temperance are virtues of anger and desire. Do not be drunk with wine: These wines are from the vine of Sodom. Do not converse with men, and converse in walks: A mind that converses in walks walks worthily of the calling to which it was called. For if you give your eyes to the bowls and the cups: Sin according to thought is like a bowl, but sin according to action is like a cup. Afterwards you will walk more naked than a broom: The broom knocks many times and does not open the place it knocks. But to the disciples the Lord says: Knock, and it will be opened to you. When your eyes see a strange woman, then your mouth will speak crooked things: A mind that has received a strange thought will meditate evil reasonings.

But he who keeps himself shall inherit life. And just as a pilot in a great surge: being carried about by every wind of teaching. When will morning be: Morning is the knowledge of sin in the soul. War comes with piloting: those who are shipwrecked concerning the faith do not war with piloting against the spirits that oppose theology. But it is possible to say this same thing about every virtue; for there is also a shipwreck concerning chastity and concerning love and concerning freedom from the love of money, and concerning each doctrine of the catholic and apostolic Church a shipwreck likewise occurs. But if one must war with piloting against opposing things, our life on earth is like a naval battle. In the gates the wise do not turn aside from the mouth of the Lord: The gates of the wise are the practical virtues, through which the wisdom of God enters. But uncleanness shall be defiled by a pestilent man: If vice diminishes virtue, then obviously virtue also destroys vice; and this will come to pass in the age to come until vice ceases; for he has set "shall be defiled" in place of "shall be destroyed"; and uncleanness is destroyed either by practical virtue or by sharp punishment. Rescue those being led away to death, and do not spare to redeem those being killed: This saying must be applied to those who have been deemed worthy of knowledge and neglect teaching, while many are being led away by vice to death. Eat honey, son, for a honeycomb is good, that your throat may be sweetened: He eats honey who is benefited by the divine Scriptures.

But he who derives his words from the things themselves, from which the holy prophets and apostles also received them, eats the honeycomb; and to eat honey belongs to everyone who wishes it, but the honeycomb belongs only to the pure. Do not bring the impious near the pasture of the righteous: Do not betray God for the sake of pleasure; for this is the pasture of the righteous, and he will certainly not forsake you. If your enemy falls, do not rejoice: God turns away his wrath from the one who has fallen, having had mercy on him; but he is angry with the one who is elated over the fall of his enemy; for everyone who rejoices over a perishing soul is like the devil, who does not wish all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And it should be noted that here he has called the enemy a man, on whose behalf the Lord also ordained in the Gospels that we should pray. For the offspring of the wicked shall not be: The wicked shall not beget virtues and right doctrines, for these are the offspring of the soul, because they do not fear the Lord; but those who are in the fear of the Lord all the day long shall have offspring, and

Their hope will not depart. Fear the Lord, my son, and the king: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent. But who will know the punishments of both? How then does the Savior say in the Gospels: The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son? Or is punishment one thing and judgment another? Punishment is deprivation of impassibility and of the knowledge of God together with bodily pain; but judgment is the generation of an age, distributing to each of the rational bodies according to proportion. For the tongue of the king is a sword, and not of flesh: and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And "not of flesh" is instead of "not perceptible." For if his anger is sharpened, he consumes men together with their sinews: the sword of God consumes the old men who are corrupted according to the desires of deceit, so that, having put off the old man, they may put on the new man, created according to God. And it burns together like a flame: for I came to cast fire upon the earth. So that they are uneatable to the nestlings of eagles: this one is uneatable to the demons, the one purified by the Lord and abstaining from all evil. For I am the most foolish of all men: he called himself most foolish in respect of the deprivation of human prudence. Who has ascended into heaven and descended: no one has ascended into heaven above, except the Son of Man who came down from heaven.

Who gathered the winds in his bosom? Who by faith, or in every way, gathered those from the east and the west and the north and the sea in the knowledge of God, and gave them spiritual contemplation to store up in the virtues? And in another sense, who through true knowledge concealed the knowledge that is false? Who bound up water in a garment? Who stored up true knowledge in the virtues? Who held fast all the ends of the earth? Who gathered all the nations from the east and the west and the north and the sea, compacting them by the virtues and storing up the heavenly water that flows from the fountain of life. Do not add to his words: for to the law of the Lord there is no adding, and from it there is no taking away. Make a vain and false word far from me: make falsely named knowledge far from me. Lest, being filled, I become false and say, Who sees me? Lest, he says, being filled with knowledge, I become a proud hearer, and say, No one will know my wisdom; lest, being filled with inaccessible knowledge, I appear a liar to men, saying such things as those bound in blood and flesh are not able to know. And well is what follows also added, Lest, being impoverished, I steal and swear the name of God: for someone steals the contemplations of others, in order to fill a hungry mind. But this indeed was happening before the coming of the Savior; but now Paul says: Let the one who steals steal no longer, but rather let him work righteousness, so that having acquired knowledge I may share it also with the one who has need. For what is there that is not ours, that we who have believed in Christ should also steal?

For all things are ours, and we are Christ's, through whom all things came to be, and Christ is God's. Or, "Being poor, I shall steal and swear by the name of my God": This one steals knowledge—not the one who receives the knowledge of his predecessor, but the one who steals away from falsely named knowledge. For all who have believed in Christ, receiving contemplations from the holy prophets and apostles, are not called thieves of others' contemplations, but rather heirs of ancestral treasures. "Do not deliver a servant into the hands of his master": Do not again deliver the mind that has fled from evil to evil, since everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin; and sin now is the name given to the devil who works sin. "But a good blessing shall come upon them": The good blessing is the intelligible blessing, which is distinguished from the sensible blessing. "Prepare your works for the departure and make ready for the field": Our Lord in the Gospels called the world a field, but Solomon here has called the contemplation of the world a field; yet the field in the Gospels is that of man composed of soul and body, for it is sensible; but the field indicated here is that of the mind alone, being intelligible and composed of the principles of this world, into which pure hearts enter. "And you shall rebuild your house": For a house is built with wisdom; but wisdom will not enter a soul skilled in evil. "But its stone walls are thrown down": A wall is the impassibility of a rational soul, composed of practical virtues.

An eye that mocks a father and dishonors the old age of a mother—let the ravens from the valleys pluck it out. These ravens secretly feed the righteous, but punish the unrighteous, gouging out the eyes of injustice, because they mocked the father of all and God, and dishonored the ancient knowledge that gave them birth. And those who gouge out the eyes of the impious he called ravens, but those who devour him whole he named eagles, because the former have been entrusted with partial purification, the latter with universal purification. And a he-goat leading the flock: If the unclean are the goats standing on the left by the Savior, and the he-goat leads them, perhaps the he-goat here signifies the devil. And they shall not be able to judge uprightly all the weak: They shall not be able to teach rightly. Give drunkenness to those in sorrow: One who has become drunk from the fatness of the house of the Lord forgets his pains. But distinguish between the poor man and the weak: He calls poor the one deprived of knowledge, and weak the one who is unclean. The glory of God hides a word: The one who has the glory of God he called the glory of God, and the one who has the glory of the heavenly king he named the glory of a king; for these hide the word of God within themselves, so that they may not sin, and they honor the commandments by which they perform them. And we have often noted this, that those who possess the virtues and the vices are named from the virtues and the vices; thus The Lord is righteous and loved righteousnesses, instead of righteous men.

And the fear of the Lord hates injustice, insolence, and arrogance—that is, the unjust man, the insolent man, and the arrogant man. And here too he has named the one who has the glory of God and the one who has the glory of the king, “glory of God” and “glory of the king.” Or perhaps he calls “glory of God” the one who glorifies God, and “glory of the king” the one who glorifies the king, so that what is said is something like this: the one who glorifies God conceals his word, and the one who glorifies the king honors his ordinances; for the one who dishonors him dishonors him through transgression of the law. Kill the ungodly from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness: The one who by the spiritual word puts to death the old man, who is corrupted according to the desires of deceit, establishes his own mind in righteousness—the mind which is said to be the throne of God; for wisdom and knowledge and righteousness have by nature nowhere else to sit except in a rational nature; and all these things are Christ. Do not stand in the places of the powerful: Do not say, “I will set my throne above the stars; I will be like the Most High”; for better is it that there be said of you, “Therefore God also highly exalted him and granted him the name that is above every name.” Do not rush into battle quickly: Through battle he hinted at evil.

Whenever your friend reproaches you, withdraw backward; do not despise him. And the Savior in the Gospels reproaches the cities in which most of his mighty works were done, because they did not repent, saying, "Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida." Grace and friendship set free; keep these for yourself, so that you may not become a reproach. Solomon more frequently makes mention of a friend and of friendship; therefore it is well now to pay attention to the name, what friendship intends to signify for him. For "grace," he says, "and friendship set free." And yet the Savior in the Gospels says to the Jews who had believed in him: "If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples, and the truth will set you free." And Paul again writes: "Christ has set us free from the curse of the law." If, then, friendship sets free, and truth sets free, and the Savior sets free, Christ is the truth and the friendship; whence also all who have the knowledge of Christ are friends of one another. Thus also the Savior has called the disciples friends, and John was a friend of the bridegroom, and Moses and all the saints; and in this friendship alone are those who are friends of the same one also friends of one another. But "keep your ways" in good dealing: he who has been taught about the virtues and acts according to them keeps his ways in good dealing. "A golden apple in a setting of sardius": just as a golden apple fits a sardius, so does the knowledge of God fit a pure soul. "A golden earring and a costly sardius are bound together":

A wise word into a hearing ear: Put a precious sardius into a golden earring, and the wisdom of the Lord into a passionless mind. As the going forth of snow in harvest helps against the heat: As snow cools the burning heat, so the knowledge of the saints dissolves the soul's toil. But a soft tongue breaks bones: Now he has called the irascible soul soft, which breaks the bones that are wont to say, "Lord, who is like you?" Bring your foot rarely to your own friend: One must rarely touch theological problems and not do this frequently, lest we say something of the things not said concerning God, and as impious fall away from spiritual knowledge, since the mind, through its own weakness, cannot continually gaze upon such contemplation. The ways of the evil man and the foot of the transgressor shall perish in an evil day: This is that wickedness and transgression shall perish in the day of judgment. Thus a passion falling upon the body grieves the heart: The passions that fall upon the heart are the vices; by the privation of which the passionless man is named. Thus grief of a man harms the heart: There is a blameworthy grief, the privation of corruptible pleasure; and there is a praiseworthy grief, the privation of virtues and of the knowledge of God. For doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head: Through kindness and beneficence cleansing his ruling faculty. But a shameless face provokes the tongue: He called the devil a shameless face, provoking the soul; and everywhere Solomon calls the mind a tongue; this face, then, is not good to be ashamed of in judgment. And a good report from a land far off: Thus the knowledge of God from the land of the meek.

Thus it is unseemly for a righteous man to fall before the impious: Of the thoughts of the mind, some are called its falls, others its risings, others its sitting, others its standing, and others its walking; and certain of them are named its stumbling blocks; and others are called hard and soft, fragrant and foul-smelling, sweet and bitter, smooth and straight and crooked; and again some of them are called thorns and thistles, others light and darkness, and life and death, and others sicknesses and healths; and others again are named falsehood and truth; and Scripture assigns many other names both to the soul and to its thoughts. And those which it assigns to it, to speak of a few out of many, are these: mind, soul, heart, man, male, female, slave, servant, father, son, spirit, eye, mouth, lips, tongue, throat, belly, bosom, arm, finger, wood, nostril, sheep, kid, shepherd; and there are many more names of the soul which it is not possible to set down now, because the form of scholia does not admit of much speaking. Here, then, a righteous mind falls before Satan, having received an unclean thought or a false doctrine. And the

But David says: All those who go down to the earth shall fall down before him. But this fall contains true knowledge and pure thoughts. Thus is the man who does nothing with counsel: he called counsel here the inclination of the heart toward the better. A whip for a horse and a goad for a donkey, and a rod for a foolish (lawless) nation: the rod here is a symbol of punishment. From his own feet (or ways) he who sends a word by a foolish messenger makes reproach for himself: one must not give holy things to dogs, nor cast pearls before swine. Remove the going of legs and a proverb from the mouth of fools: take away the evil way from a fool, and put false knowledge far from him. He who binds a stone in a sling is like him who gives glory to a fool: knowledge will not fit a fool, and a stone is dishonored in a golden sling. All flesh of fools is much storm-tossed, for their ecstasy is crushed: if the ecstasy of fools is crushed, by which they stood out from God, again becoming pure they come to God; for all flesh shall see the salvation of God. But one must attend here to the fact that he called souls grown fat from evil the flesh of fools; so also the Lord says: My Spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh. Just as a dog, when it comes upon its own vomit and becomes hateful, so a fool, having turned away in his own evil: he who has cast off his evil and turned back to it again is like a dog eating its own vomit.

The slothful man hides his hand in his bosom and cannot bring it forth: If a tree of life grows from the fruits of righteousness, then everyone who hides righteousness in unrighteousness shall not eat from this tree. Like one who grasps a dog by the tail, so is he who presides over another's judgment: This saying should be applied to those who vote to appoint certain unworthy men to the priesthood or to the clergy. But where there is no double-minded man, strife shall be quieted: He called the irascible man double-minded. Smooth lips cover a wicked heart: Grief shall not overtake a pure heart, for it has thrust corruptible desires away from itself. If your enemy entreats you, supplicating with a loud voice, do not be persuaded by him: Satan entreats us sometimes by tickling us with impure thoughts and drawing us on by the smoothness of pleasure, and sometimes he even puts forward an articulate voice as though he had been defeated, so that we ought not to be persuaded by him who holds an implacable war against us. For there are seven wickednesses in his heart: These wickednesses are opposed to the seven spirits. A soul in abundance mocks honeycombs, but to a soul in want even bitter things appear sweet: A pure soul delights in knowledge; but an impure soul considers even the falsely named knowledge to be true knowledge. Thus a man is enslaved when he is estranged from his own places: The place of the heart is virtue and knowledge, and when a man is estranged from these he falls into wickedness and ignorance and becomes a slave, since everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. With myrrh and wines and incense the heart is delighted: A passionless mind is delighted with manifold wisdom; but a passionate mind shall fall into ignorances.

Do not forsake your own friend and your father's friend: They forsook me, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves cisterns. And do not enter your brother's house when you are unfortunate: Such was the one who entered the wedding feast and did not have a wedding garment. Better is a friend who is near than a brother dwelling far away: Better is the one joined to me through true knowledge than the one joined to me through knowledge that is not true. Take away his garment, for he has passed by as an insolent man: This is what is said in the Gospel, "And from the one who does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken away from him." And this signifies, as I think, the remnants of the virtues and of the knowledge of God that are in the mind, taken away from people who have used them badly. Whoever plants a fig tree will eat its fruits: Our Lord is the fig tree; for its fruit heals leprosy. If you scourge a fool in the midst of the assembly, dishonoring him, you will not remove his folly: It is not by dishonoring a fool that you will make him depart from his folly, but by teaching him what kind of dishonors folly brings about. You will know well the souls of your flock: Attend to yourself and direct your virtues, because people do not always have equal strength in them; nor do they pass soundly from virtue to virtue or from knowledge to knowledge, since the human condition does not easily accept those who are not so; and that he calls virtues and forms of knowledge "generations," according to which the saints are begotten, he shows by what he writes: The generation of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and wealth, and glory, and life.

This proverb must also be applied to the shepherds of the churches, who must attend not to faces but to hearts and shepherd the sheep in a spiritual sense. Tend the green things in the plain and you will shear grass: He calls the mind a plain, and the green things the virtues present in it according to its capacity; the one who tends them will shear grass, which is a symbol of the knowledge of God, which he also again names mountain grass; for mountain grass is the knowledge of the holy powers, suited to the more irrational condition of souls. It is the custom of Scripture to call the saints mountains. Thus also David lifts up his soul to the mountains, whence his help will come; and again the mountains skip like rams, and the hills like lambs of sheep, at the salvation of Israel; for if the angels rejoice over one who repents, how much more over so great a multitude journeying from vice to virtue. Therefore the knowledge of the holy angels alone nourishes the virtues in us, from which the soul is clothed with bowels of compassion, kindness, long-suffering, humility, faith, self-control, love, and the good things born from this. That David also calls rational souls plains, one may learn from this. For your plains, he says, shall be filled with fatness; and again after a little: And the valleys shall abound with grain; they shall cry out, for they shall also sing praise. Hymn and cry alone are naturally suited to occur in the rational nature. A man in acts of impiety defrauds the poor: If there is a man courageous in acts of impiety, there is also one courageous in virtues; and if the one courageous in acts of impiety defrauds the poor, the one courageous in virtues comforts the poor.

Therefore everyone who encourages the poor is brave in acts of piety. But those who love the law surround themselves with a wall: Everyone who loves the law does the law, and everyone who does the law acquires dispassion and the knowledge of God; and if those who love the law surround themselves with a wall, now the wall signifies dispassion and the knowledge of God, which alone are by nature able to guard the rational nature. But he who shepherds prodigality dishonors his father: He calls the mind a shepherd, and the passionate thoughts within it the sheep, which, when he nurtures them in himself through transgression of the law, he dishonors God; for prodigality of the soul is passionate thoughts carried out through the body; and prodigality of the mind is the supposition of false doctrines and speculations. He who multiplies his wealth with interest and increase gathers it for him who has mercy on the poor: If the wealth of the impious is wickedness, and wise men will destroy it, clearly the righteous and wise destroy wickedness, leading the impure back to virtue through spiritual teaching. He who turns away his ear so as not to hear the law, even his prayer is an abomination: It is not the law that abominates anyone's prayer, but God who gave the law. And Paul says: But the scripture, foreseeing what was to come, instead of "he who gave the scripture." But he who expounds and refutes will be loved: I said, I will confess my lawlessness against myself to the Lord, and you forgave the impiety of my heart.

A hungry lion and a thirsty wolf is he who tyrannizes over a poor nation: If those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, then those who thirst and hunger for unrighteousness are lions and wolves. A king in need of revenues is a great sycophant: The revenues of the wicked king are his vices and false doctrines; for these are the revenues that those ruled by him bring to him. He who becomes surety for a man involved in a charge of murder will be a fugitive and not in safety: He who becomes surety for Satan becomes surety for unrighteousness, promising him that he will pay back the fruits of unrighteousness. The Gospel also speaks of this man as one cast into prison for murder and sedition. He will surely not obey a lawless nation: A lawless nation is the order of demons, which the disciplined son does not obey. He who works his own land will be filled with bread: He who purifies himself will be filled with knowledge, but the unclean will be filled with ignorance. Whoever is ashamed of the faces of the unjust (he is not ashamed of the faces of the just) is not good: If the faces of the just are the virtues, then he who is not ashamed of the virtues is not good; and if the faces of sinners are the vices, then he who is not ashamed of the vices is good. A envious man hastens to be rich: Therefore the merciful, having been shown mercy by God in the age to come and having become angels, will rule over the ungodly. The Lord also promised to give such a dignity to his disciples, that they should sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And a throne is that on which the mind sits, spiritual knowledge, gathering together those who have wandered from the worship of God.

Here "to judge" means "to teach," as in "Open your mouth with the word of God, and judge all things soundly," where it stands for "Teach." At the same time this too must be known, that the merciful man who has overcome the envious man will not himself become envious, but will rather make the envious man merciful. And in the destruction of those men the righteous will be multiplied: if the impious cast off being impious, they will become righteous; for destruction here means the removal of impiety. Thus too the Lord, having destroyed Matthew the tax-collector, granted him righteousness. For suddenly, while he is burning, there is no healing: He did not say that when the flame has ceased there is no healing, but while he is burning there is no healing, since he evidently still has wood, hay, stubble—if indeed healing naturally comes even to those who are burned after the burner. And under impious rulers men groan: all who are under the principalities and the authorities and the world-rulers of this darkness, all these also groan. But he who shepherds harlots will destroy wealth: he who nurtures evils will destroy wealth. — Otherwise. The good shepherd is a mind that possesses dispassionate thoughts; and the wicked shepherd is a mind that possesses passionate thoughts. If this is so, then a passionate thought is a kid, and a dispassionate thought is a sheep; which is why the Lord sets the kids on the left and the sheep on the right; and he calls kids and sheep those who possess kids and sheep, that is, those who have dispassionate and passionate thoughts.

Thus he also addressed those who have the tares, and those who have the wheat "wheat," naming them from the worst and the best disposition. Such is also what is said by Paul, "Love does not boast," instead of "The one who has love." A righteous king raises up a country: Christ raises up the rational nature; the antichrist tears it down. And a poor man has no discerning mind: Therefore a poor man is one who does not have a discerning mind. But a worthless man, when angry, is laughed to scorn and does not cower: And at him, says David, they will laugh and say, "Behold a man who did not set God as his helper." Men of blood (partakers) hate the holy man, but the upright will seek out (will seek out) his soul: This one seeks out the soul of the righteous man, the one who wishes to understand the things understood by it. But a wise man stores up little by little: This one stores up his anger little by little—either the one who is angry at righteous deeds, or the one who through patience consumes his anger little by little; and to the simpler sort one must say the former, to the earnest the latter. There will surely not be an interpreter for a lawless nation: For those who have kept the law there will be an interpreter; but for those who have transgressed the law there will not be an interpreter, but a punisher—since not a word but a rod is given to a lawless nation. A stubborn servant will not be taught by words: Since no one is stubborn by nature, he establishes it by "For even if he understands, he will not obey"; for the one stubborn by nature would never understand anything right. And I say this because of Pharaoh, who was hardened against Israel, and was taught not by words but by scourges.

Whoever lives prodigally will be a servant from childhood: If living prodigally makes one sin, and everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin, then everyone who lives prodigally is a slave of sin. Hubris humbles a man: Now he names the wickedness of a rational soul "hubris." Whoever divides with a thief hates his own soul: The thief, he says, does not come except to steal and to slay and to destroy. But if, when an oath has been proposed, they hear and do not report it: He called the law an oath; for just as an oath places God in the soul, so too the law brings God into the soul; and in the same way again perjury removes God from the soul, so also lawlessness casts God out of it. If, then, he says, when the law has been set, they hear and do not confess their own sins, fearing and being ashamed before men, they will be tripped up. So indeed also David: I swore and I established it, to keep the judgments of your righteousness. And again Solomon says: He who covers his own impiety will not prosper, but he who explains and reproves will be loved. And David says: I said, I will confess against myself my lawlessness to the Lord, and you forgave the impiety of my heart. And: You, speak first your lawlessnesses. Many court the persons of rulers: In doing right we court the angels; for these are our rulers, who received us from the beginning, when the Most High divided the nations and set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of his angels. But the justice that comes from judgment will be ours from the Lord on that day, when he will judge the world in righteousness; since indeed the Father has given all judgment to the Son.

Who will find a valiant woman? Valor is the best state of a rational soul, by which it has gained mastery over the enemies that oppose it. Such a one will not lack spoils: having conquered the opposing power, we despoil it, learning the principles concerning it. Spinning wool and flax: the soul spins wool and flax when it exercises the principles concerning living and lifeless things, or examines the principles concerning practical and natural philosophy. And someone said that the soul spins wool and flax when it draws the contemplation of bodies and incorporeals through the practical life to itself. And rising from the nights (she rises from the nights and) gave food to her household: the sun of righteousness finds the soul that rises from the night keeping watch—and certainly also praying that it may not fall into temptation; for she too hastens to say, I kept watch and became like a solitary sparrow on a housetop. And her lamp is not quenched all the night: the lamp is a pure mind filled with spiritual contemplation. She sets her forearms to the spindle: the spindle is a pure mind, weaving virtue with virtue and doctrine with doctrine; or it is spoken reason, drawing spiritual contemplation from the mind. Her husband does not worry about those in the house when he lingers somewhere: the mind would not go forth nor come to be in the contemplation of incorporeals without first setting in order the things within; for the disturbance of those at home is wont to turn it back to the things from which it has gone out—and freedom from passion

Having acquired this, she will spend time in contemplation and will not be anxious about the things in the house; for the spirited part has put on gentleness and humility, and the desiring part temperance and self-control. From fine linen and purple are her garments: the words concerning earth and sea are garments of a rational soul, made of fine linen and purple. But another will say that the contemplation of created things and the contemplation of the Holy Trinity is the garment of a pure mind, made of fine linen and purple. She made linen cloths and sold them, and girdles to the Canaanites: The sheet that appeared to Peter on the roof was a symbol of the sensible world; for the animals contained in it indicated the various dispositions of men, purified by the cross of Christ. If, then, the one sheet signified this world, perhaps the many sheets contain the contemplation concerning different worlds, which the pure soul, having contemplated, also shared with others. And if the Canaanites are interpreted as "humble," rightly she did not sell the linen cloths to those humble in mind, but the linen cloths to the pure, and the girdles to the Canaanites, which are symbols of the practical life, girding the passible part of the soul. Her dwelling places are narrow: If the devil is king over all that is in the waters and finds no rest through dry places, rightly the dwelling places of the pure soul are said to be narrow. And she did not eat the bread of idleness: They say that the bread of idleness is the vices.

For a sensible woman is blessed, and let her praise the fear of the Lord: If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then rightly the soul that has obtained wisdom praises the fear of the Lord, which has become for it the cause of such knowledge. These things have been taken from the sixfold (commentaries) that we found. And again Pamphilus and Eusebius corrected them by hand.