PROCOPIUS THE CHRISTIAN: COMMENTARY ON PROVERBS
CHAPTER ONE.
A Having in mind to stir our desire toward the ineffable beauty of the divine image, which is the only-begotten Son and Word of God the Father, His subsistent power and wisdom, who is proclaimed through visible things as through symbols, Solomon describes, in the manner of proverbs, His graces. By way of introduction, he draws the desire of one who is still in the infancy of his soul toward the true Lover, by setting before us the desirable joys of understanding; he teaches abundantly, correcting bad habits and explaining what is to be done, and he speaks as in the inscription:
Vers. 1. *Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, who reigned in Jerusalem.* Words B useful for the whole course of the present life, not only because they regulate our character toward the good, but also because they lead us toward the contemplation of the nature of things in the Spirit; by the manifestations of these things, as in mirrors and riddles, the will of God is made known as the reasons of things, according to which all things have been made: "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Rom. 1, 20). Through these words, one thing is indicated according to what appears outwardly, and another according to what is grasped by the intellect. These are, therefore, the words of Him who, through them, endeavors to bring us to peace with ourselves, with the angels, and with God—Solomon (for Solomon is interpreted as "Peaceful"), who received wisdom and prudence from God, and was the son of David who reigned in Jerusalem. These were set forth by him, as one teaching those who learn them:
Vers. 2. *To know wisdom and instruction, to understand the words of prudence.* To recognize wisdom, which is the knowledge of divine and human things; and instruction, which is the training useful to the soul, purifying it with much labor, often from the stains of vice; and to understand the words that teach what is fitting.
Vers. 3. To receive the C interpretations of words and the solutions of riddles, to understand true justice, and to direct judgment. To receive D
A and to grasp the descents of these things from the intellect through operation [into] sense-perception, and in turn their ascents from sense-perception through knowledge back to the intellect; and [so as] not to be satisfied in the Jewish manner with a false justice, which is circumscribed only by symbols, but to learn the true justice revealed through these things, which, through right judgment, assigns to each of the three powers of the soul that which is appropriate—which is a habit of distributing according to merit—and to direct such judgment toward virtue, by means of an unswerving practice regarding the passions that arise from a deficiency or excess of virtue.
Vers. 4. To give to the innocent craftiness, and to the young man knowledge and perception. Solomon, having set forth these words, shows through them that for those who have stripped themselves of all vice, there is an orderly operation of all goods; but for those who labor under intellectual infancy, there is the discernment of good and evil, and finally, the contemplation of the rewards of virtue and the punishments of wickedness in the future.
Vers. 5. The wise man, hearing these, will be wiser. For he who, having heard these proverbial words, progresses toward wisdom, will reach its most perfect state, rejoicing in great intelligence regarding divine B dogmas, and also in human affairs, and by the help of these proverbs he will in many ways put vice to flight and acquire virtues.
And the man of understanding shall possess governance. Hence, he who acquires the true knowledge of things as they are, and knows how it behooves him to traverse the unstable course of human C affairs—for neither the good things sought after by the many, nor the troublesome and sad things, have stability and permanence—he, even in the very peace of life, when all things go well for him, awaits changes; he does not trust in present things as if they were immortal, nor does he despair of himself in evil events, nor is he dejected in soul in great sorrows; but possessing intelligence, which, like a captain, rules the vessel of the flesh and skillfully uses his judgments as if they were rudders, he will bravely withstand the desires of carnal longing D as if roused by a violent storm; he will be superior to them, in no way submerged by their waves; and he will always stand constant to himself, neither puffed up in prosperity nor cast down in adversity.
Vers. 6. He will understand a parable, and an obscure saying, and the words of the wise, and their riddles. And he will know various kinds of discourse: the parable, which by means of a known likeness shows an unknown likeness; the obscure [saying], which shows [both] the statement and the meaning; and the words of the wise, which have a depth of knowledge, even if many think they have the grasp ready at hand
A Ver. 7. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The beginning of wisdom, which is divided for us into seven spiritual gifts, is—lastly from God, but proximately for us—the fear of the Lord; which, through the threats of eternal punishments, makes us turn away from all vices and drives away the hardness of contempt. Those who are moved by this fear proceed by a certain way and order, through the aid of fortitude, which is a generous desire and impulse toward the fulfillment of the commandments, for the sake of the hope of promises, and the banishment of infirmity; through the aid of counsel, which is a habit of discernment: by which we fulfill divine commandments with judgment, and distinguish the better from the worse; through the aid of knowledge, which is the expulsion of impiety and of the works done according to it, and the unerring knowledge of those things that pertain to the practice of virtue, by which, acting, we in no wise falter from the right judgment of reason; and through the aid of understanding, which is the knowledge of the interpretation of the commandments, by which the various modes of virtues are strengthened, and we ascend to the end of wisdom, which is prudence—that is, the removal of imprudence and the reception of the modes and reasons of the virtues. Or, more properly speaking, it is the transformation by which a blending of natural powers takes place toward the modes and reasons of the commandments—powers which keep the commandments not because of threats or promises, but by embracing these two as best B according to love.
Good understanding [is given] to all who perform it. This good understanding is indeed to all those who practice it, in performing intelligently all divine wills, after which we become proximate to God Himself. For we have as a sole mediator for our union toward Him—though it is far from us, yet proximate to God—wisdom, which is both the removal of folly and the resolution and synthesis of the more spiritual words in the commandments. For as we walk according to the other mentioned spiritual gifts, we are joined to the Divine monad of wisdom, and through the distinction made by us of the gifts, we understand the reasons for them. For wisdom is a monad, efficiently making the whole indivisible with the various virtues arising from it; and it is comprehended uniformly in the acts of all virtues, restoring to itself the virtues that arise from it when we, proceeding variously according to each virtue, approach it through each way. Through this wisdom, by the wise meditation on C corporal and intellectual things, we who are unlearned are initiated, as befits men, into the many and varied understanding of things in God; and thus, we shall render a pious knowledge concerning the whole truth, which we offer to other men in various ways, as if from a fountain springing from the heart.
Piety toward God is the beginning of sensation. Piety D
toward God, which is to honor Him with works of justice, is the beginning of understanding, or it is the knowledge of His all-good will through experience; for the practice of the commandments of God is the stepping-stone to the contemplation of them—being understood indeed through instructive discourse before the practice, but known more perfectly after the practice, through direct vision.
*Fools despise wisdom and instruction.* A Now, wisdom, which is the illumination of the soul and perfection according to God, and instruction, which is the beneficial training for the soul, laboriously purifying it from the stains of wickedness—these, they who do not honor God with works of justice wholly despise; so that they do neither out of fear of His threats, nor desire of His promises, nor love toward Him—as a Father by grace—perform those things which are fitting for slaves, or for hirelings, or for sons.
Vers. 8, 9. *Hear, my son, the laws of thy father, and do not put away the counsels of thy mother; for a crown of graces shall be added to thy head, and a golden chain about thy neck.* But you, who are still in an infantile state of soul, keep the commandments of God, who has adopted you by grace, through the Scripture given for the aid of nature; and do not reject the reasons [Logoi] implanted in the nature of all things by the Wisdom that is the Cause of all—which are the very divine wills, according to which all things have been made—abusing the powers given to you for the working of good. For I announce to you that from the observation and keeping of the divine commandments, there shall come to your governing mind, like a crown woven of various flowers, the knowledge of the truth gathered from the nature of all things; and to the rational power of your spirit, which clings to knowledge just as the rest of the body clings to the head through the neck, I announce a certain necklace-ornament: a life shining with virtue. B C
Vers. 10–14. *My son, if sinners entice thee, do not consent to them; when they call thee, saying: Come with us, let us partake of blood; let us hide a just man in the earth, unjustly; let us swallow him up like Hades alive, and let us take away his memory from the earth; let us find his most precious substance; let us fill our houses with spoils. Cast thy lot with us, we shall all possess one common purse, and let there be one purse for us.* Do not submit yourself, most dear child, to men who do not honor God through good works, nor walk in the way of murderers. Do not consent at all, if they say to you with entreaty: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us hide a man under the earth, contrary to every just reason, a man living blamelessly; and before death comes to him naturally, let us, like some Hades, swallow him up; let us deliver his memory to the abysses of oblivion; let us seize his precious substance, and fill our houses with spoils; and make the portion that falls to you from such things common with us, and let us all have one purse; and let there be one repository of wealth for us. D
A VERS. 15–19. My son, do not walk in the way with them: remove your foot from their paths. For their feet run to evil, and are swift to shed blood; for not unjustly is the net spread for the winged birds; for they themselves, becoming participants in slaughter, treasure up for themselves evils: the end of the wicked is evil: these are the ways of all who do iniquity: for by iniquity they destroy their own soul. My spiritual child, do not be led away with such men on the road that leads to destruction, by their wicked counsel; but turn away your desire from their evil counsels that prepare sin for you; for their appetitive and irascible faculties, like certain feet, perform their motion with a quick impulse toward evil; whence they are also swift to work slaughter. But I exhort you to turn away your desire from their wicked counsels, because for those who are able, by mind and reason, as if by certain wings, to fly over earthly things by knowledge and virtue, and to be carried toward heavenly things, but who willingly, through irrational desire and anger, like moving on certain feet, turn around the connection of earthly things, the nets of the soul are justly spread for destruction. For they who use the counsels of murderers store up for themselves those things that are ruinous to their own souls. But the end of those who transgress the commandments of God turns to evil for them, as they themselves exact the penalties for what they have sinned. These are the ways of the present life of all who perform unjust works, not honoring God by their deeds, and depriving themselves of the spiritual life, which is fitting for them as rational beings. But hear the words of doctrine.
CONCERNING PROVERBS
C VERS. 20. Wisdom preaches in the ways. The word of wisdom is abundant in every place; for when it goes forth from the retreat of the spirit through words and deeds toward manifestation, it magnifies the true good that shows the man to all who hear and see these things.
And in the broad places she utters her voice. And in the broad expanse of natural contemplation in the spirit, she gives a voice to all the truths, working the knowledge of this [wisdom], and establishing herself in every good.
D
PROVERBS 1:21
And she is proclaimed on the tops of the walls. It is recognized at the beginning and at the end of the virtues that protect the soul like walls; being cast beforehand before action by the fear of the virtues, and being grasped after the action, in all things beyond those belonging to God, by the steadfastness of the mind regarding these.
She sits at the gates of the mighty. And she sits teaching at the mouths, as it were, of those who are opened like gates, for the exit of the word spoken by those who have manfully fought against the passions, and are able to rescue others from them, in the manner of teachers.
At the entrance to the understanding of the words concerning beings, through the introduction of the appearance of visible things...
the Word, in which the soul possesses its constitution, teaches freely. A
VERS. 22. *How long will the innocent resist justice, and not be ashamed.* Because those who are little regarding the things which are shown by the doctrine of virtue will not yield, until, through the shame of evil deeds, they prefer the stable to the transitory, as is just.
VERS. 23. *But the senseless, desiring infamy, have become impious, and hated doctrine, and have become subject to reproofs.* Those who do not bear God in their heart, desiring the turpitude of iniquitous desires, have cast away the rational discernment of good and evil, being unwilling to honor God by good works; and thus, they become subject, through their iniquitous actions, to the reproofs of conscience before Wisdom, which speaks thus to their soul: *Behold, I will pour out to you the words of my spirit. Behold, I will set forth the discourse of my spirit. I will teach you my word.* By these things I will announce to you more clearly the spiritual doctrine of my law, which nature and the Scripture make to be understood symbolically. B
VERS. 24. *Because I have called, and you have not listened.* Since I called you through the natural law and my will, by which all things were made, you did not obey. *And I have stretched forth my words, and you have not heeded.* Announcing these things to you through the written law, I was delivering to you a greater doctrine of these things, but you were unwilling to hear anything of this law. C
VERS. 25. *But you were making my words useless, and you have neglected my reproofs.* But you have neglected my commandments, and when I was rebuking you through the prophets, who predicted to you the evils to come on account of your disobedience, you admitted nothing of these into your conscience.
VERS. 26. *Wherefore, I also will laugh at your destruction.* For this reason, I will also exult over the annihilation that is to come upon you, as one bringing an end to your wickedness.
VERS. 27. *But I will rejoice when ruin comes to you, and when disturbance arrives, and disaster is present like a storm; or when tribulation and anguish come to you.* I will rejoice when your exterior man perishes through the renewal of the interior man; when an unexpected temptation and a calamity of temporal prosperity suddenly come upon you, like a certain pain and the anguish of enemies, compelling those who are unwilling to do this freely, and who are unwilling to remember me. D
VERS. 28. *For it shall be when you call upon me, I also will not hear you.* For the time will come in which you will pray to me for liberation from the calamities rushing upon you; but I will not accept your petition, as it is worthless.
They will seek me, the wicked, and shall not find me. For the evildoers shall beseech me, when sorrows overtake them, for deliverance from such things, and they shall not attain me. A
Vers. 29, 30. For they hated wisdom and did not prefer the fear of the Lord, nor did they wish to heed my counsels; they mocked my reproofs. Because they turned away from me, Wisdom, who instructed them in what was fitting; and the divine fear, which one who acquires it never departs from the way that leads to me, they did not prefer above all other things; nor were they willing to yield to my exhortations, and they derided my reproofs regarding their transgressions.
Vers. 31. Therefore, they shall eat the fruits of their own way, and shall be filled with their own desires. For this reason, they shall eat the fruits of their own labor; and they shall be sated with their own evil cravings, when the wages of these things overtake them. B
Vers. 32. Because they did injustice to the little ones, they shall be killed, and justice shall destroy the ungodly. For because they laid unjust hands upon those who were adults in understanding but infants in malice, they shall suffer an untimely death; and the present examination of the works of iniquity shall destroy those who do not honor God through good works, depriving them of life before the time; for men of blood and craft shall not halve their days.
Vers. 33. But he who hears me shall dwell in hope, and shall rest without fear from all evil. He who listens to me, and keeps the divine commandments, gathers the fruits of future goods already in his hopes, having fixed his dwelling among them according to his choice; and he shall be restrained from all evil, not slavishly through fear of punishments, but filially through love for the better good. Hence— C
CAPUT II
Vers. 1. My son, if you receive the word of my commandment, and store it up within yourself. He who is adopted by me through instruction in the Spirit, if, having received the word that demands of you my will, you guard it in the memory of your soul, unforgotten.
Vers. 2. Your ear shall hearken to wisdom. It shall yield in practice to the prudent word that declares the cause, which is led through it in you toward righteousness; that is, the concupiscible and irascible powers of the soul—the one wisely abstaining from the pleasure of the senses, the other manfully enduring the sufferings of the body. You shall incline your heart to understanding; and you shall incline it for the admonition of your son. And having removed the troubled life, which is justly called the life of the heart, [you shall incline] your intellectual power, being D liberal toward the other powers of the soul through the life in the Spirit, into meditation for the recognition of truth; and you shall incline this toward the spiritual instruction of him who, through this, shall become a son of adoption to you.
Vers. 3. For if you call upon wisdom, and give your voice to understanding, and seek perception with a loud voice. For if you ask of God, that which...
A destroys foolishness, and take up the more spiritual words found within the commandments, and listen for the wisdom that is the cause of all things, through which we are initiated, as is permitted to humans, into the simple reasons for existing things that are in God; and if you provide that disposition of your soul which is, as it were, a voice that God hears; and if you also provide *discretion*—through which we perform the divine commandments with reason, and fivefold distinguish the evil from the good, that which has been set in motion from that which has not, that which ought to be understood from that which ought not to be understood, that which ought to be spoken from that which ought not to be spoken, that which ought to come to pass from that which ought not to come into being, and that which is corruptible from that which is incorruptible—you will hasten to acquire [wisdom] with a soul that is once again intense in its disposition.
Vers. 4. *If you seek her as silver, and search for her as treasures.* And if you seek the purity and chastity of such discretion in practice as silver, and if you examine the depth of her spiritual wealth through contemplation, as one would for hidden treasures.
Vers. 5. *Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.* Then you will learn that divine fear which cleanses away every stain of sin, and you will lay hold of the hidden wealth of divine knowledge, from which there is an abundant supply of all good things for the soul.
Vers. 6. *For the Lord gives wisdom.* Because the Lord of all, God, grants that perfecting gift of the all-holy Spirit, which is wisdom, to those who seek it with intense desire. *And from his mouth, knowledge and understanding.* And to those who, having been adopted by him, wear his image, there is granted knowledge to those who keep the "according to the image," which is destructive of the ignorance of our intelligible enemy, and which grasps the words within the commandments according to which the ways of the virtues are constituted; and from the working of these all-holy desires of his according to his likeness, there comes understanding, which is destructive of thanklessness, and which transforms the soul toward his words and the ways of virtue.
Vers. 7. *He stores up safety for the upright.* And in this way the Lord stores up—through the C gifts of the all-holy Spirit, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge—an unfailing protection for those who do not incline either to the left or to the right (that is, to the passions which arise from the lack or the excess of virtue), clearly protecting in mind, soul, and flesh against impiety, ignorance, and malice.
Vers. 8. *He will protect their path, and he will preserve the way of those who fear him.* And he will assist their path of virtue, so that they might unswervingly keep the workings of his holy commandments; and he will keep the way leading to him, for those who fear him, protected from the intelligible enemy.
Vers. 9. *Then you will understand justice and judgment, and you will set upright all good paths.* When you have attained these good things, having heard my
A exhortation, then you will recognize the justice that distributes to each according to their merit, and the judgment of what is good, which does not swerve; and you will fulfill the commandments of God which lead to every good thing.
Vers. 10. *If wisdom enters your heart.* If true knowledge concerning God comes by contemplation into your intellect. *Knowledge will seem beautiful to your soul.* The five-fold discernment of evil will appear to you as a virtue of the soul, so that you do not irrationally desire anything through thoughtless imagination.
Vers. 11. *Good counsel will guard you.* This is the best consideration of things, which will guard you from every unreasonable action. *Holy knowledge will keep you.* True knowledge concerning God, which transcends every other knowledge, will keep you from every deceitful knowledge that turns [one] away from God.
Vers. 12. *That you might be rescued from the evil way.* So that the best consideration of things may rescue you from an impassioned life. *And from a man who speaks no truth.* True knowledge concerning God [will deliver you] from the devil, the corrupter of our souls, who envies the truth and attempts to tear your soul away from its spouse, the Word of God, and to attach it to himself, the destroyer of our souls.
Vers. 13. *O you who leave straight paths to walk in ways of darkness!* Alas! Those who abandon the paths that lead not to malice but to God through virtue, in order to walk in paths that drive [them] into the precipices of malice and the abysses of the darkness of ignorance.
Vers. 14. *O you who rejoice in evils and exult in the worst things!* Alas! Those who exult in the evils of others, and rejoice in their turning from good to the opposite.
Vers. 15, 16. *Whose ways are crooked, and whose paths are winding, in order to make you far/distanced from the straight road and a stranger to a righteous mind.* Their habits and dispositions are like paths, fleeing the highest good and seeking the depth of malice, [and] they have become twisted. As if skilled at moving [someone] far from the straight road that leads to God through virtue, and [skilled] at rendering [someone] altogether a stranger to the reason that distinguishes the worse from the better, and at condemning complete devotion to this choice; whence it follows:
Vers. 17. *My son, let not evil counsel overtake you, which leaves the teaching of youth and forgets the divine covenant.* O spiritual child, flee the evil counsel of the spiritual serpent, through temperance against pleasures and patient endurance of tribulations, lest you behave sluggishly regarding the good that is required of you—which counsel crept into the first-formed [man] so that he would abandon the divine will, which had been given to him as to a little one regarding spiritual matters, and so that he might speak...
A regarding this, as it disposes those things concerning us in accordance with the good, in the likeness of God.
VERS. 18. *He has set her house near death, and the axes of the giants near Hades.* For this counsel, having proceeded from the prince of evil, the enemy, and having made both Adam, who had received it, and all who sprang from him mortal, established its dwelling in their mortality; as those who are tyrannized by the fear of death and by an impulse against their own will to live, they are held fast by passions of pleasure continually, because the participation in sensible things, in which pleasure consists, constitutes their bodily and visible nature. But in the shadow of death, with those from whom that rest takes its origin, it had placed the beauties of external things, through which, deceitfully, it leads them to the transgression of the divine will. For it has set, as has been said, in the shadow with the giants, external beauties, which it corrupted through them by the transgression of the divine will from the beginning. B
VERS. 19. *All who walk in her shall not return, nor shall they apprehend straight paths.* All, therefore, who by their deeds follow this evil counsel, shall not return after death to the keeping of the commandments of God; nor will they acknowledge their labors, which firmly lead to God.
*Nor shall they be apprehended by the years of life.* For those who depart from this temporal life, which has been given to us for the fulfillment of God's commandments, can no longer obtain years of life, so as to desist from the way of malice that leads them to destruction; because they have already arrived at that destruction. C
VERS. 20. *For if they had walked in good paths, they would have found level paths of justice.* For if they had walked, during this present life, through the works of the divine will, after their exertion they would have found the level paths of justice, turning themselves away from the muddy mire of disordered desires.
VERS. 21. *Upright will be the inhabitants of the earth, and simple will remain in it.* Those who have been in the acts of the good, and who have not rushed into carnal things through desire, will dwell in the firm state of the virtues; and those who have patiently endured evils and have not repelled the afflicted will not be exiled from that state, even if they have been forced to bear such things against their will.
*For the upright shall inhabit the earth, and the holy shall be left in it.* Because those who have found the true good will inhabit the aforementioned state of virtues on account of their works; they will not be aliens to it, those who for the sake of God have despised nature, when in it, because of its bodily frailty, they found occasions for sin. D
VERS. 22. *The ways of the impious shall perish from the earth.* Moreover, the works of those who have honored God neither through fear of punishments nor through love of promises will vanish from the seat of the virtues; because they have neither abstained from pleasures on account of eternal punishments, nor...
to endure future retribution and painful things, but to fall from the love of doing good to one's neighbor, to opposing him out of hatred. A
The wicked, however, shall be removed from it. Those who henceforth transgress the divine commandments shall be driven from the land of the meek; which is the complete cessation of desire and anger toward things contrary to nature. B
CHAPTER III
Vers. 1. My son, do not forget my law. But you, spiritual son, remember according to what has been ordained, my exhortations, which impel you to those things which must be done, and draw you back from those which should not be done.
And let my precepts guard your heart. Let my precepts, which promise a reward for good acts, but threaten you with punishments for evil ones, guard your heart manfully.
VERS. 2. For they will bring you length of days and years of life, and peace. For the continuous remembrance of these things, and their virile observance, will extend your life: leading you toward eternal joy, through the performance in this present life of the divine commandments, which draw the soul away from wickedness; they will increase for you the measure of spiritual life through the spiritual knowledge of intellectual things, purifying [the soul] from every deception of the senses, which may increase for you a peaceful state of the soul, so that, with ignorance removed, it may abstain from every malice. But now, hear a portion of my exhortations. C
VERS. 3. Let mercy and truth not forsake you. Let compassion toward your fellow man in those tribulations which happen to him against his will, and docility toward God, so that you may observe His commandments, not forsake you.
Bind them about your throat. Hang them, in accordance with the rationale of life, upon the practical power of your soul, so that it may be subjected to them like a neck to some divine yoke.
Write them upon the tablet of your heart, and you will find grace. Engrave them through affection upon the concupiscible power of your soul, and you will find the grace of the most Holy Spirit. D
VERS. 4. Provide good things before God and men. Before any other thought, provide before God piety toward Him, and before men, beneficence toward them.
VERS. 5. Be confident in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own prudence. Hope with all your heart in God, the Lord of all; and concerning the wisdom that has been given to you by Him by grace, do not think great things of yourself.
VERS. 6. In all your ways think of it, that it may direct your ways, and your foot may not stumble. In all your works, recognize it as a guide, so that you may firmly direct them in the good; and [may] your understanding, by which you…
traverse your soul as if on foot and act with deliberation, not stumble against the stones of ignorance. A
VERS. 7. *Ne sis sapiens apud temetipsum.* Do not be wise in your own eyes, and do not be knowledgeable about matters on your own account. Do not judge them solely according to your own sense, considering that which pleases it to be good, and that which displeases it to be evil; for thence you miss what is truly good and fall into that which is truly evil. *Time Deum, et recede a malo.* Have, moreover, the fear of God, and withdraw from every sin.
VERS. 8. *Tunc erit sanitas corpori tuo, et stabilitas ossibus tuis.* Then there shall be health for your flesh from the burning malice of your actions; and salvation for the powers of your soul, which, like bones, are supports for it, so that they may not be broken. B
VERS. 9. *Honora Deum de tuis justis laboribus.* Offer to God, as a servant to a master, from that which you have acquired through the labor of soul and body: from the body, those things which you have gained without harm to your neighbor; from the soul, chastity, poverty, and similar things, which, even without Him asking, you have faithfully kept, so that you may offer these to Him as a gift, for which you have guarded His commandments. *Et primitias da ei de tuis fructibus justitiae.* And as firstfruits, offer to Him from [your] fruits—not those of rapine, but [those] of your own lands, as did the righteous Abel—the most honorable and better [fruits] of all, the intentions of your good works, doing all things for His sake. C
VERS. 10. *Ut impleantur horrea tua frumenti saturitate, et vino torcularia tua redundent.* That, with God granting the blessing, your granaries and wine-presses may be filled with those things that are necessary for the body: that the practical power of your soul may be filled with virtues as if with certain fruits, produced as if from the seed of divine commandments, tilled according to the practice of good works; and that your understanding may be filled with words of knowledge, so that as divine dogmas flow, as if from clusters of grapes, you yourself, abounding in the manner of teaching masters, may satisfy the souls of others, refreshing them with spiritual wine. D
VERS. 11. *Disciplinam Domini, fili mi, ne abjicias, nec deficias cum ab eo corriperis.* Spiritual son, manfully endure the tribulations which happen to you against your will by the judgment of God; and do not fail when He argues with you concerning the sins which He manifests to you through the onset of afflictions.
VERS. 12. *Quem enim diligit Deus corripit.* For the Lord corrects him who recognizes in himself the love of God, [doing so] through tribulations, that he may walk rightly; while He does not correct him who does not feel such love. For to the one not corrected, but rather blaspheming, the chastisement brings only tribulations.
He scourges every son whom He receives. A He brings stripes upon everyone who is adopted as a son through virtue and knowledge, yet who boasts in the things in which he succeeds; that He might persuade him to be moderate in these things, and to approach Him wholly, and not in part; for he is received and then rejected in turn: the one, because of a virtuous life; the other, because of failing to think humbly.
13. Blessed is the man who has found wisdom, and the mortal who has seen prudence. He is thenceforth worthy of eternal memory who judges the human being according to the soul, by which he is also called a human; who, through the spiritual contemplation of existing things, seeks their Creator, God; and who, having attained to Him knowledgeably through created things, and having as if some mist scattered—as a consequence of which he was previously deceived by temporal things—becomes a firsthand witness through practical experience of that state which is the rival of both folly and over-wisdom, which is prudence. For this is opposed to folly by causing in us a contempt for temporal things and a desire for eternal ones; and it is opposed to over-wisdom by causing in us, again, the recognition of our own weakness.
14. For it is better to procure it than treasures of gold and silver. Since it is better that we should make wisdom—the cause of prudence—our purchase through all the things that concern us; being unyielding in temptations and shining in our life, it bestows upon us that which in gold is undiminished in the furnace, and that which is pure in silver, rather than our acquiring many treasures of gold and silver.
15. It is more precious than costly stones. B It is more precious than most precious stones; for in the trade of these, being as they are of corruptible matter, much gold or silver is paid, which are but equally vile matter; but in the trade of prudence, we ourselves acquire the most precious and familiar possession of God.
No evil thing stands against it. No wickedness resists it; for having shone into us through knowledge and virtue, it drives far from us all the gloom of ignorance and malice.
It is easily known to all those who seek it. C It is therefore easily grasped by those who approach it by way of imitation; as it is viewed as the archetype in the mode of the "according to the image" and the "according to the likeness" within the Word.
And every precious thing is not worthy of it. Nothing of the things held most precious among us is worth as much as this; because it is superior to all in essence, even if it is in all things by way of operation; wherefore we partake of it by grace, yet we consider nothing worthy of it that we might give in return.
16. For length of life and years of life are in its right hand. D By that which is as a right hand—a more perfect operation of this, which is the knowledge of divine things—is the magnitude of the virtuous life according to the spiritual law, which is entirely the holiness that transcends the justice of the natural and the written law, and the measures of pure knowledge—in the spirit—of the contemplation of visible things.
A And in her left hand are riches and glory. A Regarding that which is, as it were, the "left hand"—an activity less perfect than the former, which is understood as human knowledge—this consists in the wealth of virtues according to the natural and written law, and the devout grasping of divine judgments through natural meditation, that is to say, the true glory found in visible things.
"Out of her mouth proceeds justice; she carries law and mercy upon her tongue." And from her most truthful teaching, as if from a mouth, proceeds the rule of virtues; it preserves the tripartite nature of the soul, keeping it unswerving toward the passions that arise from a deficiency or an excess of virtue; the doctrinal discourse of wisdom brings about the removal of all evil action and piety toward all mankind; this doctrinal word itself, like a tongue, regulates the human life toward virtue.
VER. 17. "Her ways are beautiful ways." The best laws of virtue and knowledge and the dogmas in which wisdom, as if walking in ways, accomplishes the course of salvation in each person, are easily fulfilled by those who lead a life in conformity with them. "And all her paths are peaceful." And the stages of the virtues, by which she most excellently leads to salvation those who follow her, are produced in them with every destruction of the passions, so that they do not pursue virtue or the meditation of the divine commands for the sake of glory, nor out of a desire to please others, nor out of pride. B
VER. 18. "She is a tree of life to all who grasp her, and blessed is she to those who rely on her as upon the Lord." The tree, bearing the fruit of spiritual life, is a protection against all evil for all who aspire to it through their disposition, and for those who are established in it by faith as if in the almighty Word of God. C
VERS. 19, 20. "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by prudence he established the heaven: by his wisdom the depths broke forth, and the clouds dropped dew." Along with the aforementioned benefits of wisdom, God and the Father himself, by this wisdom as his own subsistent power, consolidated the dry land upon the nature of the flowing waters; he extended the heavens by his own counsel; and by his judgment the waters were divided above and below the firmament; and the clouds were ordered to irrigate the earth with rain. D
VER. 21. "Son, do not slip away." Therefore, my child, having learned that this whole universe subsists by the Word of the Lord, do not be turned aside by the beauty and sublimitude of created things to the point of accepting them as gods and failing to acknowledge God, the Creator of all.
"Keep my counsel and knowledge." Guard my counsel in practice, by setting before yourself the things that must be done, and in theory, by maintaining a pious understanding of God.
VER. 22. "That your soul may live." So that your soul, having been delivered from the death that [comes] through ignorance of the true good,
A may be judged worthy of that life in the Spirit which is free from passions. "And may it be grace about your neck." And may the splendor of the commandments of God be like a yoke of righteousness, B encompassing your practical will as if it were a neck. "And there shall be healing for your flesh, and care for your bones." The healing of the members of your body, which have been consumed by pleasure, shall be temperance; and the health of the powers of your soul, which serve it as bones [serve as] supports—so that they are not broken by him who attempts to place them in his own domain—shall be a pious understanding of God.
B VER. 23. "That you may walk in confidence in peace all your ways, and your foot may not stumble." So that you may walk practically and confidently, in a state completely free from passions and undisturbed, through all the commandments of God that lead to Him; and that your intellect, running through your questions from their principles to their conclusions, may not stumble upon false opinions. C VER. 24. "If you sit down, you shall be without fear; and if you sleep, you shall sleep sweetly." For whether you are resting your flesh a little from the labor of virtue, you shall not fear the inroads of the spirits of wickedness, since you always have your mind fixed upon God; or if you sleep the death of the saints of God, which is precious in His sight, you shall rejoice in the hope of the resurrection and of the good things promised by God.
C VER. 25. "And you shall not fear a sudden terror, nor the onsets of the wicked as they come." And through an irreproachable conscience you shall not fear any demonic dread that might come upon you after the departure from this present life, so as to cut you off from the hope toward God; nor shall you fear the incursions of the spirits of wickedness, who have apostatized from Him and do not honor Him, when they come upon you in this life, so as to prove you to be a transgressor of the divine commandments. D VER. 26. "For the Lord shall be over all your ways, and shall establish your foot, that it may not be shaken." For He who is the Lord of all, God, shall be present in all your paths in life in accordance with virtue, leading you toward salvation through His holy commandments; but even after the departure from this present life, He shall establish your hope in Him, like a foot, in a safe place, so that you may not be separated from Him; and this is my counsel, which proposes to you what must be done.
VER. 27. "Do not refrain from doing good to a needy person, whenever your hand has the power to help." Do not cease to benefit him who has need of being benefited, as long as you have the abundance to provide for him.
VER. 28. "Do not say: Go and return, and tomorrow I will give, when you can do good; for you do not know what the coming day will bring forth." Do not send him away to the coming day, saying: "Go today, and return tomorrow, and I will give you what you have need of," when you have at hand the immediate power to benefit him; for you do not know what the morrow will bring.
A Ver. 29. "Do not devise evil against your friend, who dwells near you, and who trusts in you." A Do not plot—whether against a man who, by reason of our common nature, ought to be loved by you, who lives near you, and who, after God, rests his hopes on you, as one capable of helping him in whatever he needs for the salvation of his soul and body—or against the flesh that is beloved by you, because of its connection to you, by devising passions that arise from the defect or excess of virtue. For it, being mortal, is joined to your soul only transitionally and transiently, and naturally expects to be provided for by your soul’s rational power. Rather, provide for both: for the one of the same nature, in things pertaining to his need; and for your own kindred flesh, in things pertaining to its sustenance, so that you may have it as a fellow-worker for what is best, and not for voluptuousness, lest you thereby treasure up for yourself fuel for eternal fire.
Ver. 30. "Do not hate a man without cause, lest he do you some evil." Do not cherish hatred toward any man, lest he bring upon you some spiritual or bodily harm; for there can be no reasonable ground for you to feel animosity toward him. Or, do not cherish it toward your flesh, foolishly—due to the weakness of human nature in it, and its proclivity toward the labors that befall it against its will—lest by your negligence you bring about its physical destruction, which is the worst of all evils, and thus effect the death of the one who devised such ruin.
B Ver. 31. "Do not acquire the injuries of evil men." Do not draw upon yourself the reproaches which sinners deserve. "And do not envy their ways." And do not become an imitator of their deeds. C
Ver. 32. "For everyone who violates the law is unclean before God." For every transgressor of His commandments is defiled before God, even if he attempts to hide it from men. "But He does not hold counsel with the just." He does not sit with those who keep them, as one who does not join in agreement with them in counsel directed toward the good.
Ver. 33. "The curse of the Lord is in the houses of the wicked." Therefore, there is condemnation from the Lord, the Creator of all, upon those bodies to which the souls of men—who do not honor God through good works—adhere as if they were lovers of bodies, dwelling in them as in stable houses. But those who have honored God through works have fought against the flesh, that they might live in the spirit according to God. D "But the houses of the just shall be blessed." The bodies in which dwell the souls of those who prefer the eternal to the temporal—dwellings that they occupy as temporary lodgings—are led toward the good by the practice of His divine commandments.
Ver. 34. "The Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." But the Lord of all Himself, the subsistent power of God and almighty, resists those who are ignorant of their own weakness—who attribute their good works to themselves and not to God—those who...
rhetorical power, casting him down. In order that those who know their own A weakness may not be puffed up over things they cannot do without him, and so be led astray from the truth. But those who acknowledge their own weakness and are humble-minded, he deems worthy of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, purifying them from all malice through fear, illuminating them through the understanding of divine commandments by experience, and perfecting them through the wisdom that unites them to him in love.
VERS. 35. *The wise shall inherit glory.* Those who have been deemed worthy of this wisdom, because they have honored with works of righteousness Him who is by grace the Father in heaven, shall be made inheritors of His kingdom. *But the ungodly exalt dishonor.* Those who do not honor Him through good works have made their own shame-producing malice more manifest, B having devised the numberless origins of irrational passions.
CHAPTER IV
VERS. 1. *Hear, children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.* From this, then, spiritual children, as to the concupiscible powers of your souls that are amenable to the word, listen to the counsel which purifies you, through painstaking action, from the stains of malice—counsel given by God, who has adopted us as children by grace. But as to the intellectual powers, attend, that you may reach the understanding of this in a knowledgeable way.
VERS. 2. *For I will give you a good gift; do not forsake my law.* To you, who offer nothing first, I offer a saving benefit so that you may not turn yourselves away from the divine law, which removes one from what is not fitting and prompts one toward what is fitting—a law to which I myself am also subject.
VERS. 3. *For I also was a son obedient to a father, and beloved in the sight of a mother.* For I, too, have become a child by grace, obedient to our heavenly Father, and loved by Him in the characteristic way of life of that teaching which nurtured me.
VERS. 4. *They taught me and said.* Those who were my teachers in all things, and their instruction, admonished me, saying: Let our word be fixed in your heart. Let our exhortation make a firm foundation in your intellect, establishing it in goodness. *Keep my commandments and live.* Guard the injunctions of Me who adopted you, that you may partake of the blessed life in the Spirit.
VERS. 5. *Get wisdom, get understanding.* Lay hold of wisdom, which is the destroyer of all ignorance, and of understanding, which is the practitioner of all my commandments. *Do not forget, nor overlook, the utterance of my mouth.* Do not be unmindful or neglectful of my teaching.
VERS. 6. *Do not forsake her, and she will guard you. Do not depart from her, and she will assist you in the oppositions against your intellectual enemies.*
B Love her, and she will keep you. Love her, and she will keep you secure from the harm that comes from her.
VERS. 7. *The beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom.* Beginning, then, to hold wisdom through faith—in the fear of my threats, which is what purifies you from the defilement of your sins—hasten with great zeal to possess her entirely, through the hope of my promises and through love for me.
*And in all your possession, acquire understanding.* And through all the powers you possess, hasten to acquire the understanding that carries out my commandments.
VERS. 8. *Surround her with ramparts, and she will exalt you.* Bind wisdom to yourself with my commandments, as with salutary ramparts against the spiritual enemies who plot evils against her, and withdraw yourself from corporal and earthly things toward those that are spiritual and heavenly.
*Honor her, so that she may embrace you.* Glorify her through good works, so that she may hold you entirely, persuading the flesh not to fight against the spirit, but rather to cooperate with it in the operation of good works.
VERS. 9. *So that she may give your head a crown of grace.* And may she grant to your mind, which is your leader, a crown adorned with the graces of the commandments, for the victory over voluntary passions.
*And with a crown of delight she will shelter you.* She will fight for you even against involuntary things, by the hope of the reward, which is the spiritual delight in Paradise.
VERS. 10. *Hear, my son, and receive my words.* Finally, my spiritual child, learn the things which I myself was taught by God, and receive my exhortations with affection.
*And the years of your life will be multiplied.* And the measures of your spiritual life will also be increased.
*So that many ways of life may be yours.* So that you may have many methods of spiritual governance, which will keep you immovable through all the events of life as you walk toward the choir above.
VERS. 11. *For I will teach you the ways of wisdom.* For the will of God, which leads you to salvation—which his only-begotten Son and Word, his subsistent power and wisdom, sets forth—revealing them unceasingly through both the natural and the written law, I teach you theoretically.
*I will lead you on right paths.* I guide you in practice into the paths of the virtues, which do not incline toward any wickedness.
VERS. 12. *For when you have entered, your steps will not be constrained.* For if you traverse the divine will through contemplation, your thoughts will have no end, being extended by the divine immensity.
*And if you run, you will have no stumbling block.* But if you keep them with zeal in practice, the yoke will be easy, and the weight of the divine commandments will appear light to you, as you are lightened by the hope of the goods reserved for the labors of virtue.
A Ver. 13. Tene disciplinam, ne dimittas eam; sed custodi illam tibimetipsi in vitam tuam. Therefore, receive my exhortation with affection, and do not let it go, but keep it hidden within yourself, so that it may teach you how you ought to live.
Ver. 14. Ne delecteris in semitis impiorum, nec tibi placeat malorum via. Do not enter the ways of men who do not believe in God, nor honor Him with good works, and do not imitate the deeds of those who violate His commandments.
Ver. 15. In loco, quo steterint, ne eas in eum: declina ab eis, et fuge. In the place where they gather for the ruin of men, do not enter. Flee far from them, as from those who are enemies both to God and to men; live a life different from theirs, loving God and men at the same time.
Ver. 16. Non enim dormiunt, nisi male fecerint, et rapitur somnus ab eis, et non quiescunt. They do not share in sleep unless they have harmed someone; sleep is snatched away from them, and they are never at rest, always kept from slumber by the anxiety of harming their neighbor.
Ver. 17. Comedunt panem impietatis, et bibunt vinum iniquitatis. For they feed upon the works of impiety, increasing in malice through them; and by the unruly desire of the flesh, as if by some wine, they remove themselves from the spiritual desire which brings moderation of soul.
C Ver. 18. Via justorum lumine splendent: procedunt, et lucent quoad exsurgat dies. The deeds of those who live according to the divine laws illuminate the souls of those who look upon them, just like the works of the Sun of justice; they lead the way, and show the path until the Sun of justice Himself shines brightly upon these souls.
Ver. 19. Via impiorum tenebrosa: nesciunt quomodo corruerint. The works of those who do not believe in God, and who do not honor Him through good deeds, are possessed by the darkness of ignorance, for they do not know how they have fallen from the good.
Ver. 20. Fili, ausculta sermones meos. Hence, O spiritual child, occupy the intellectual part of your soul with my teaching, understanding wisely those things which are proposed to you by it. D Et ad eloquia mea inclina aurem tuam. Incline to my admonitions the docile, concupiscible, and irascible power of your soul, submitting to them in practice with the desire for them.
Ver. 21. Ne te derelinquant fontes vitæ. So that the commandments of God, which I propose to you, may ever, in accordance with effective knowledge, pour forth into you—as perennially flowing springs—the spiritual life befitting you as a rational being. Custodi eos in corde tuo. Keep them, above all, in your understanding.
Ver. 22. Vita est enim invenientibus eas, et universæ carni sanitas. For spiritual knowledge is granted
to those who encounter them, and a deliverance from the passions acting through the members of all their flesh. A
Ver. 23. "Keep thy heart with all vigilance; for from these are the outgoings of life." Safeguard your understanding through all these things; for from them the life hidden in the spirit proceeds upon every power of the soul according to its operation.
Ver. 24. "Remove from thee a froward mouth." Put far away from you the counsel of the devil, which suggests to you the exercise of the virtues for the sake of acquiring glory among men. "And let unjust lips be far from thee." And drive far away from you his lawless suggestions, which dictate to you the defects of the virtues. B
Ver. 25. "Let thine eyes look aright." Let the intellectual powers of your soul, not swaying by their own weight toward the things I have mentioned above, turn only to that which is pleasing to God. "And let thy eyelids discern just things." And let the appetitive powers follow them, being moved by their own weight toward the goods chosen by reason, desiring the true good and shunning evil from themselves.
Ver. 26. "Make straight paths for thy feet." Make your paths straight toward the true and the good, both in theory and in practice, by moving your soul and your will toward them. "And establish all thy ways." And then run firmly along his precepts, which lead you by knowledge and virtue toward God, as toward an object of knowledge that cannot be hidden and as the supreme object of desire. C
Ver. 27. "Turn not aside to the right hand, nor to the left." Do not turn yourself toward the desires that arise either from a defect or from an excess of virtue. "Turn away thy foot from an evil and perverse way." If any such thing happens to you, and your intellect is moved toward these things, remove it promptly from the contagion of the malice that comes from the lack of virtue, and from the wickedness that arises from the exaggeration of virtue—which is for one to love only that labor in which one adheres to the good not for the sake of God, but for the sake of human approval. "For the Lord knows the ways that are on the right hand." For those exaggerations of the virtues, which are not for the sake of God but for the sake of a good reputation among men, do not escape the eye of the Lord; therefore, He will grant no reward to anyone for such things. "But the ways that are on the left are perverse." The works of malice are far removed from the good, as being in all things opposed to it, and although they may simulate it, they do not participate in it. D "And He shall make thy paths straight." Now God Himself will establish your steps according to knowledge, by casting down the works which, for the sake of human estimation, have feigned the good, and by exposing them to contempt, so that you may seek only the truth with your understanding. "And He shall lead thy journeys in peace." And your voluntary efforts, according to the impulse of your affection toward the good,
you, in all tranquility, and in the deep calm of the passions, may lead you to work. A
CAP. V.
VERS. 1. *Fili mi, attende ad sapientiam meam.* Spiritual son, attend to my knowledge of God, so that you are not dragged away to vain glory. *Et sermonibus meis appone aurem tuam.* To obey my exhortations, lend a docile ear, along with the concupiscible and irascible parts of your soul.
VERS. 2. *Ut custodias scientiam bonam.* That you may eternally preserve with love the true glory of the true good. *Intelligentiam meorum labiorum mando tibi.* I ask of you that you keep the doctrines of my law in practice, and that you be not a mere hearer of them. B
VERS. 3. *Ne attendas fallaci mulieri.* Do not attend to the reprehensible doctrine, as being wicked in practice. *Mel distillat enim a labiis mulieris meretricis.* For a certain pleasure, thought to be such, flows from the love by which the sensitive part of your soul, which leans far away from the Word, is carried toward sensible things.
VERS. 4. *Hæc enim ad tempus saginat guttur tuum; sed novissima ejus felle amariora invenies, et acutiora gladio ancipiti.* This will nourish you with delights for a short time through pleasure; but after this, you will find it more bitter than all gall, so that in the end, the pleasure of the senses contains pain, and it strikes at your conscience as if with a two-edged sword, more apt to wound. C
VERS. 5. *Insipientiæ pedes adducunt eos qui illi serviunt, post mortem ad inferos.* The motions of foolishness, after physical death, draw those who follow it, born of sins, to the darkness of bodily destruction. *Gressus ejus non firmantur.* For its works, since they are not established upon permanent things, are not secure.
VERS. 6. *Vias enim vitæ non ambulat.* She does not, in practice, cultivate the commandments of God, which lead to the eternal and blessed life of the soul. *Vagi sunt gressus ejus et investigabiles.* The steps of her intelligence wander concerning the judgment of the good; for they do not consider the good in truth, but in false judgment, and they are not easily convinced of these things, on account of the deceit of temporal pleasures. D
VERS. 7. *Nunc ergo, fili mi, audi me, et ne vana fac verba mea.* Therefore, O son, be obedient to me throughout your whole present life, and keep my doctrines, so that, as if by these paths, you may walk with an irreproachable life toward the future life.
VERS. 8. *Longe fac ab ea viam tuam.* From that inconsiderate knowledge, as it has been said, make your way far. *Ne appropinques foribus domus ejus.* And walking
A in spirit towards the words of things that are, flee their appearances, which lie before the senses of fantasy like introductory gates for the senses, in which as in certain houses, sensation remains and lingers.
VERS. 9. *Ne des vitam alienis, et annos tuos crudelibus.* Do not deliver to others the life formed for you by God, so that divine mandates, through which all things were made, may be subjected to carnal desires, and all your good work may be submitted to cruel powers.
VERS. 10. *Ne forte impleantur extranei viribus tuis.* Lest demons, separated from God, enjoy the power B you possess for good works, when it serves them for the committing of every impious act according to your own choice.
VERS. 11. *Et labores tui sint in domibus alienis, et te pœniteat in novissimis tuis.* And may your labors be brought into the houses of the demons prepared for punishments, acting as fuel for you for eternal fire, and you shall repent in your final days.
VERS. 12. *Quando consumpseris carnes corporis tui, et dicas: cur detestatus sum disciplinam, et increpationibus non acquievit cor meum?* When the limbs of your body have been consumed by time, and you are languishing C due to old age for the performance of good works, and you say, chiding yourself: "Why did I loathe the discipline that suggested the good to me, and why did my mind not pay heed to the words that were refuting my wickedness?"
VERS. 13. *Non audivi vocem docentem me, et instruenti me non præbui aurem meam.* I did not obey him who restrained me from things not becoming; and to him who suggested to me the things that were fitting, I did not incline my ears to hear.
VERS. 14. *Pene fui in omni malo, in medio ecclesiæ et synagogæ.* I committed almost every sin in soul and body before the spiritual law, which prepares D souls as temples by purifying them according to knowledge; and before the written law, which strongly puts to flight errors and leads those who have been divided into various and opposite lots to this one law of nature, exhorting each to love his neighbor as himself.
VERS. 15. *Bibe aquas de cisterna tua, et de fontibus puteorum tuorum.* Choose doctrines, not of cisterns, from which nature devoid of reason derives knowledge concerning the pleasure and pain that comes from the senses—which cistern is altogether sensation and vain appearance—nor from the Greek sciences, which are foreign to the Church and which, as if from wells, give false opinions about things to those who cling to them. But draw from those which are more proper to you, that is, from the spirit and the intelligence—from which, as if from cisterns, true and not true notions of the Good are arranged—draw (doctrines) from the writings, given under divine inspiration to the spirit and intelligence for their aid, from which as from certain wells having a depth that cannot be exhausted
of living water, bubbling forth eternally as from the fountain of the most holy Spirit, the knowledge of truth is dispensed to them—to the mind, I say, and to the understanding.
16. Let thy waters be poured out from thy fountain. Let the streams of the knowledge of God overflow thy mind in excellence of understanding, as thou acknowledgest God in all things, who in essence exists above all things.
And let thy waters flow into thy streets. And in the parts of thy reason, which can contain the breadth of the natural theory of visible things, let the discourses of these matters of which thou art capable flow forth, as thou gatherest them together in the spirit with understanding.
17. Let them be for thee alone. Let all things be as having been made for thy sake, as the riches of thee alone as a man, who usest them according to reason.
And let no stranger be a partaker with thee. And let not any of those apostate powers that have become estranged from God be a partaker with thee of such wealth, misusing it according to their own will.
18. Let the fountain of thy water be for thee alone. Let the spring of divine grace, from which thou drawest mystical waters, be kept for thee alone, who art faithful, for the participation in the mysteries of the Spirit, which is not granted into the hands of the unbelieving.
And rejoice with the wife of thy youth. And rejoice with the Wisdom which has been joined to thee, from the very beginning of the first creation, having been honored with reason, and having been made in the image and likeness of God.
19. Let the deer of friendship and the foal of thy graces talk with thee. Let this friendship, which like a deadly sword destroys the intelligible serpents that have breathed wickedness into the race of men, and which drives all these off by love, dwell with thee for spiritual joy together with the Wisdom which is always youthful by reason of all the gifts of the omnipotent Spirit bestowed upon thee.
And let this one be thy own and walk with thee, and be with thee at all times. And let humility, which is becoming to thee on account of the passibility of the flesh which arose from the first transgression, go before all thy works, and let it dwell with thee for the preservation of these things. For being accompanied by the love of this, thou shalt be small; and by loving it, thou shalt be exalted in thyself.
20. Be not much toward a strange woman. Do not be so weak in reason as to turn to the pleasures of the senses, which are strange to wisdom; but whether thou partakest of drink or of sleep according to the law of the body, or whether thou art joined to a lawful wife for the procreation of children, in all such things use moderation.
Neither hold her in arms that are not thine own. And do not be circumscribed by the perceptions of sensible things through sense, which are common to thee, who art endowed with reason, and to those who lack reason.
to be trapped, so that you cling to their appearances, and do not advance in spirit to their underlying reasons.
A VER. 21. *Before the eyes of God are the ways of a man.* No movement of a man’s spirit escapes the eyes of God, which see all things. *He considers all his paths.* He considers all his paths, both according to theory and practice, to see whether he walks according to His will.
VER. 22. *Iniquities take a man captive.* By iniquitous pleasures, as if by nets, a man is constricted, which do not allow him to walk according to the commandments of God.
VER. 23. *He is bound with the ropes of his own sins.* He dies with those who are ignorant. As if by inescapable ropes, every sinner is bound by the nets of a great habit of errors, so that he cannot be loosened from them; and if he remains unrepentant, he shall not escape perdition along with those who have not admitted the admonitions of God. B
*By the greatness of his life he is cast down, and he has perished because of his foolishness.* He is stripped of the perpetual and blessed life of the spirit, which is proper to him as one made according to the image and likeness of God, because of his own will; and he is deprived of his own salvation on account of a life lived senselessly.
CAP. VI
VER. 1. *My son, if you have given surety for a friend, you shall give your hand to the enemy.* Spiritual son, if you put off until tomorrow to show to God, in the body that is dear to you, the works of repentance, and if you wish today to be free for carnal pleasures, by submitting your power to them—both the concupiscible and the irascible—you will subject your practical power to the common enemy of our souls, so that you may do the things he proposes to you for your destruction. C
VER. 2. *A strong net to a man are his own lips.* An inextricable net to man is the concupiscible and irascible power, which, being open like certain lips because of the propensity toward sensible things, removes the exhortation toward the way of virtue, and reduces man into servitude, so that he serves cupidities today and puts off repentance until tomorrow. D
*And he is taken by the lips of his own mouth.* And man is overcome by the iniquitous propensities of his own will, through which, as if through a certain mouth, he becomes a partaker of either virtue or malice in the spirit.
VER. 3. *Do, my son, those things which I propose to you, and deliver yourself.* Work, spiritual son, at the things I propose to you, and guard yourself from iniquitous cupidities.
*You have come into the hands of the evil because of your friend.* You have been compelled to be taken by these pernicious cupidities because of the body that is most dear to you.
*Be strong.* Be robust with the firmness of spirit.
A Excite even the friend for whom you have pledged yourself. Excite rather your own most dear little body; move it to good works, you who have promised to God the works of justice.
4. *Give not sleep to your eyes.* Do not, according to your own will, grant the sleep of sloth to your contemplative powers, so that you may reach the apprehension of the truth. *Neither let your eyelids slumber.* Do not consent to the irrational opinions of sense and imagination, nor to the appetitive powers which do not wake for the attainment of the true good because of the labor involved in its work. These latter, indeed, open up toward it like eyelids when the contemplative powers are awake to reaching the truth; but they close toward it when they are sluggish toward it. And hence, the light of the sun of justice is blocked off from them B.
5. *That you may be saved as a doe from the snares, and as a bird from the trap.* I urge you to be so disposed that you may guard yourself against the varied traps of the author of all evil: that you may, like a swift and most agile doe, leap over these things according to virtue; and, like an air-faring and high-flying bird, fly over them according to knowledge.
6. *Go to the ant, O sluggard, and emulate his ways.* Look to the most insignificant animal, the ant, O slothful one; and knowing his natural works, imitate them according to your own choice. *And become wiser than he.* And as a rational being, surpass his wisdom concerning bodily things, demonstrating yours in spiritual things.
7. *For he, having no husbandman.* For such a one, having no farmer by whom seed is cast into the earth before him. C *Nor having one to compel him.* Nor having anyone to urge him on toward work.
8. *And not being under a master, he prepares his food in the harvest.* Nor subject to the yoke of servitude, yet by a certain natural impulse, he prepares in the summer time the food necessary for the winter. D And he makes a great gathering in the harvest. He makes a sufficient store of them in the time of the reaping of the ears of corn. Him, therefore, imitate—and observing the Word which compels you to attend to the good, and being subject to the sweet yoke of the commandments of God—hasten in all the time of your life's work to gather the virtues and store them up in the soul, so that when this soul, upon its separation from the body, shall pass the winter, it may be nourished by them sufficiently through the hope of future goods; but if you neglect the ant,
*Go to the bee.* Go rather to the bee, contemplating her works. And learn that she is a worker, and that she makes her work as something sacred. And know that she also labors, and her work is made most honorable.
A Its labors kings and commoners alike use for health. And for her works, which are most natural, both the famous and the obscure use them for the healing of all sorts of diseases. She is desired by all and is glorious; she is loved equally by all and held in admiration.
Though she is fragile in strength, she is said to honor wisdom. Though she is weak in power, yet because she has been granted natural wisdom by God, the author of all, she has become more venerable than all animals that excel in strength. Imitate her through reason, working honorable works of virtue; and let your works be for the spiritual and also bodily healing of many who love her and admire her. And if you do not have power from an abundance of riches and a magnitude of dignities, but are wealthy in the grace of God B and great in knowledge and virtue, you will be more honorable than all these who enjoy much glory and riches according to the world.
Ver. 9. How long, sluggard, will you lie down? How long, O sluggish one, will you be inflamed with the love of the body?
When will you arise from your sleep? And when, as if from sleep, will you arise from your laziness regarding the true good? If you have not learned from the irrational nature that you ought to be led by reason towards the good, at least learn from the very experience of things, that a dreadful poverty awaits those who abandon bodily labors because of laziness and think the toil concerning these to be burdensome; and you, by imitating them, are lazy regarding the works of righteousness.
Vers. 10. A little, indeed, you sleep. Now, however, you indulge in the sleep of laziness! A little you sit. You delight your flesh with rest! A little you doze. And at another time you are subject to the slumber of listlessness! A little you fold your hands over your breast. Then again you bind your hands to your chest, having only bare thoughts upon your heart, C and not confirming these by action.
Ver. 11. Then there shall come upon you need, like an evil companion of the way. After these things there shall come upon you, as an evil companion of the way, a complete lack of the spiritual riches of virtue, so that it will be with you always, and will run through your entire present life with you.
And shortage, as a good runner. And just like one swift in running, a lack of doctrine—which is not in perfection—and because of the reproofs of conscience regarding your evil acts, there is destitution: because you have neither tasted in practice nor known the sweetness of the yoke and the lightness of the burden of God's commandments.
But if you are diligent, your harvest will come like a fountain. If, however, shaking off laziness, you are awakened and labor in the work of the good, D your harvest will come to you in abundance, like a fountain pouring forth...
A waters, the harvest of the fruit of works of righteousness. But your need will flee far away, like a bad runner. And the lack of the knowledge of the good, upon which you have stumbled by not listening attentively and by being ignorant of the practice of the true good, will flee from you—not swiftly (as the negligence of the good came upon you), but more slowly by the piecemeal performance of the commandments, like a sluggish runner, on account of the difficulty of acquiring virtue.
Ver. 12. *A foolish and wicked man walks in ways that are not good.* A man ignorant of the true good, and doing irrational things, passes his life in the darkness of ignorance and the stumblings of malice.
Ver. 13. *But he winks with his eyes, stamps with his feet, and teaches with the signs of his fingers.* But he, being unwilling either to speak with his mouth or to hear with his ears the things that are good and worthy, as commanded by the commandments, does not dare to state with words the craftiness and deceit of his own thoughts; rather, desiring again to have in himself accomplices of his evil intents, he reveals his will to those like him B by means of wicked and simulated movements of the eyes, feet, and fingers of his hand.
Ver. 14. *With a perverse heart he plots evils.* A soul removed from the upright path acts iniquitously. *At all times such a one excites seditions in the city.* That person, whether in time of prosperity or calamity, voluntarily stirs up a tumult of passions in his own soul—in which the trinity of its powers was established—stirring up, from its quiet state, the concupiscible and irascible [powers] against the rational [power], so that they neither govern the desires of pleasures nor manfully endure tribulations.
Ver. 15, 16. *Therefore his destruction will come suddenly; breaking and crushing are incurable, because he rejoices in all things that the Lord hates.* Hence there comes upon him suddenly his own extermination, which is a separation of the soul from the body and entails endless punishment; because he rejoices in all things that God, the Lord of all, hates, and wallows in them. *He will be crushed for the impurity of his spirit.* And, as it has been said, he shall be punished for the stain upon his soul, which arises from the mire of the passions. C
Ver. 17. *The eye of the proud.* The gaze of a fault-finder. *Hands shedding the blood of the righteous.* Actions bringing death to a just man.
Ver. 18. *A heart crafting evil thoughts.* A mind contriving wicked intentions. *And feet hastening to do evil.* And counsels hastening to the destruction of one's neighbor. *They shall be exterminated.* They shall hasten to complete destruction, since they are hateful to God and men. D
A
VERS. 19. *Unjust witness kindles falsehood.* He who confirms false assumptions about his neighbor, contrary to right judgment, kindles groundless suspicions. *And he sends forth contentions in the midst of brothers.* From this, he broadcasts strife among those of the same race who are living in peace with one another.
VERS. 20. *Keep, my son, the precepts of your father.* O son, whom I nourish spiritually with divine doctrines, keep the commandments of God, written in the Scripture, who by them has graciously adopted you as a son. *And do not abandon the laws of your mother.* Do not abandon the principles of wisdom implanted in the nature of all things by the Author of all, which are the very divine wills according to which all things have been made, nor misuse the powers granted to you for the performance of good. B
VERS. 21. *Bind them about your heart continually.* Through affection, bind to your heart, throughout your entire life, the words which are found in all the written and natural law, raising them to the height of spiritual contemplation. *Encircle them about your throat.* Bind them firmly, like a necklace, to the rational power of your spirit, which adheres to knowledge just as the rest of the body adheres to the head by means of the neck; and fortify your reason with them, so that it may avoid both the deficiency and the excess of virtue.
VERS. 22. *When you walk, take them along, and let them be with you.* When you move to action, take with you that law which is written in the whole of Scripture and in nature, doing those things which it proposes; and let it be with you always, turning you away from things that bring destruction to your soul, and leading you toward those things that bring about its salvation. *When you sleep, may they keep watch over you, and when you wake, may they speak with you.* When you are doing nothing, may they keep you from every deceitful speculation and iniquitous desire; when you rise to action, may they propose what is useful to you, so that you may manifest the hidden affection of your spirit toward them through practical actions. C
VERS. 23. *For the commandment of the law is a lamp.* Therefore, the precept of the divine law, both written and natural, like a lamp, dispels the nocturnal darkness of the passions. *And a light, and a way of life.* Like the light of the Sun of righteousness, it bestows a true knowledge of existing things; and, as a straight path, it leads through virtue and knowledge into the spiritual life which is according to the Spirit and the Word. D
VERS. 24. *Reproof and discipline, that they may keep you from the slanderous tongue of a stranger.* It is a manifestation of evil works, and a laborious way of life directed toward the good through temperance; so that you may keep yourself from the heavy accusation of adultery, and from the reproof of the heterodox man who observes all your conduct intently,
A so that he may find something worthy of calumny, and through this may calumniate your irreprehensible faith.
Vers. 25. *Fili, ne te vincat pulchritudinis cupido.* For the rest, child, in the Lord, let not an irrational longing for beauty, which is extinguished in time, overcome you.
*Ne capiaris tuis oculis.* Do not be ensnared by your eyes. Do not be ensnared by your eyes as they look too avidly upon the beauty of a woman.
*Ne a retibus palpebrarum ejus capiaris.* Do not be caught by her eyelashes. Do not be quickly entangled by her eyelids as they call you to base intercourse, and do not depart from wise and sound judgment.
Vers. 26. *Præmium meretricis, quasi unius panis.* For the hire of a harlot is miniscule; like the price of one loaf of bread, it is a fleeting pleasure of the body, sufficing for her lover for but a short time. B *Mulier honoratorum virorum animas capit.* Such a woman ensnares the souls of men, to whom the whole present world is not comparable.
Vers. 27-29. *Qui injiciet ignem in sinum...* Just as one who puts fire into his bosom will burn his garments, and one who walks upon coals will burn his feet, in the same way he who casts himself, through base action, toward a woman married to a man, will not escape the penalties due for such a crime, nor will he who completes the sin against her in his mind. For the one, by kindling into a flame as it were a satanic love, and by depositing the images of base action into his soul, will incinerate the virtues which the soul, by its own choice, had put on like garments to guard itself from the winter of the passions; the other, by walking in his mind upon those passionate thoughts of sin which the fire of irrational desire has ignited, will destroy the good reflections of the soul, through which, as if by certain feet, it is accustomed to be carried to the blessed state of impassibility. C
Vers. 30. *Non mirum si capiatur quis furans.* It is not strange if someone is caught stealing. It is in no way novel if someone is caught in theft. He steals what belongs to others in order to be filled with what he lacks.
Vers. 31. *Si deprehendatur, reddet septuplum.* Being caught and held, he will pay back sevenfold what he took. *Et omnia sua dans, seipsum liberabit.* Having given all his substance, he will be freed from this crime. D
Vers. 32. *Adulter vero ob inopiam cogitationum perniciem suæ animæ attrahit.* He who has fallen into the sin of adultery, not only through foolishness loses his own soul through thought and through deed, as it has been said,
Vers. 33. *Dolores et ignominiam sufferet.* But he also endures torments of the flesh and reproaches.
And his reproach shall not be blotted out forever. And he is under the greatest censure throughout all his life. A
VERS. 34. A heavy yoke is the woman that has committed adultery with him; it begets against him a hatred full of jealousy. They will not spare him in the day of judgment. Neither will they have pity on him when he is judged with her.
VERS. 35. He will not redeem the hatred for any price. In no way will he obtain peace. Nor will they make a covenant with him for many gifts. Nor will reconciliation be granted to him, even if he should offer many gifts.
CAP. VII
VERS. 1. *Fili, custodi sermones meos.* Son, observe my exhortations. B Hide my precepts within yourself, and my commandments in your soul; that you may be totally occupied with them, and not hear them lightly with your ears alone.
*Fili, honora Deum, et confortaberis.* Son, honor much the Lord of all, God, and thence you shall be strengthened against the common enemy of our souls, and being kept superior to his snares, you shall guard yourself.
*Illo excepto, nullum time.* Except for God, fear no one; for no other is able to cast you into hell.
VERS. 2. *Custodi mea præcepta et vives.* Observe the mandates which show you what must be done: and without danger to your soul you shall traverse the present life.
*Sermones meos, ut pupillam oculorum.* My words, by which it is granted to you to know the truth with understanding, guard as the pupil of your eyes.
VERS. 3. *Liga eos in digitis tuis.* Bind them through practice, by the practical powers of your soul, so that being moved by them as if by fingers, they may skillfully bring every work to a happy end. C
*Scribe eos in tabulam cordis tui.* From the small cognition of them, arrive at a more perfect one; sculpting them through affection upon the tablet of your heart.
VERS. 4. *Dic sapientiam tuam sororem esse.* With all love, call the Only-begotten Son and Word of God and the Father, the self-subsistent power and wisdom, your brother, so that through the spiritual knowledge of Him who is by nature the Son of God and the Father, you may be rendered a brother, you who have been called a son of this same Father by grace.
*Prudentiam autem amicam acquire tibi.* Make even that love for wisdom your friend, which is the spiritual desire for the logical and intellectual doctrines D that revolve around wisdom, and which is called prudence, as it brings to him who has acquired it a right knowledge of wisdom, known
A in the general love of all practical virtues, through which the love for the Word of God is recognized.
VERSE 5. *That it may preserve you from the outside and wicked woman.* That you may preserve yourself from the desire which arises from a defect of prudence and which impels one to the pleasures toward which human nature is carried of its own accord, and which loves to enjoy immoderately various temporal lusts; that you may remove yourself from that desire which arises from an excess of virtue—a desire that insanely delights in pleasures while being boastful, not because this is pleasing to God, but because from it one can be exalted among men. *If she assail you with flattering words.* If this desire should assail you with words of pleasure or pride.
B VERSE 6. *For from her window, from her house, looking out into the streets.* As if from a window, from some sense of the sensitive part in which she dwells as in a house, looking out into the broad paths of dissipation that lead to death.
VERSE 7. *If she sees any of the foolish children, a youth destitute of prudence.* If she encounters any of those who live thoughtlessly, of the sons of perdition, young in age and immature in mind.
VERSE 8. *Passing near the corner, in the ways of her house.* If she encounters anyone of the sons who do not walk rightly according to the Word of human nature, joining together as if at a corner both the spiritual part and the bodily part, and C by clinging to sensible things, cultivating the knowledge of the senses; for sensible things are, as it were, paths of the senses to pleasures, in which she dwells as if in houses.
VERSE 9. *And talking in the darkness of the evening.* And to one discoursing in the darkness of ignorance, while which lasts, the divine precepts that illuminate the path of justice for him are hidden like solar rays beneath the earth—hidden beneath the earthly flesh on account of his love for it. *When the silence of the night and darkness comes.* When he does nothing good, on account of ignorance of the true good which he does not see.
VERSE 10. *Then the woman meets him, having the face of a harlot.* Then that desire meets the youth, who is D running toward her with his heart, carrying the face of sin, from the fact that he has gone far from the right Word. *She makes the hearts of young men fly away.* This desire prepares the minds of those not established in prudence to rush promptly into sins.
VERSE 11. *She is winged and dissolute.* She comes to him itching, a dissipator of spiritual riches. *In the house her feet do not stand.* In the sensitive part, in which she dwells as in a house, her movements do not remain immobile.
VERSE 12. *For some time she wanders abroad.* At one time
she wanders among visible things in her intent. B And at times she lies in wait in the broad places by every corner. Sometimes, indeed, in the broad ways of sin, contrary to all reason—that is, contrary to the rational use of each thing, which, like a corner, joins the visible to the intelligible—she secretly plots against the souls of the foolish with the smooth enticements of pleasure.
VERSE 13. *Then taking him, she kisses him.* After this, having taken hold of him through habit, she makes him beloved to herself. *With an impudent face, she said to him.* Acting impudently with him, she speaks such things as if in conversation with him:
VERSE 14. *I have peace offerings with me.* By bringing about a reconciliation to temporal things for those who, on account of the pain of death, stand hatefully disposed toward them, there comes to me entirely that pleasure which has existed from the beginning. *Today I pay my vows.* Desiring to enjoy the firm good in the future, I naturally, by a decision of the will, perform what seems to me good for the present time, contrary to nature.
VERSE 15. *Therefore I came out to meet you.* For this reason, leaving behind the intelligible, I came out to the sensible, meeting you who, on account of the present, neglect the future. *Desiring your face, I found you.* Desiring you, who prefer present things to future things in your soul, I came out to meet you.
VERSE 16. *I have decked my couch with coverings.* I have bound the flesh with psychical bonds, so that I might enjoy therein the varied delights of pleasures as if on a bed. C *I have spread it with tapestry from Egypt.* I have prepared the flesh with the allurements of the pleasure of sin, casting away from me the gravity of that life which is according to God.
VERSE 17. *I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, and my house with cinnamon.* I have sprinkled the flesh, in which I rest voluptuously as on a bed, with the pleasure of the flesh—like myrrh, which immeasurably excites the soul to the enjoyment of material things. And the sensitive part, in which I remain as if in a house, I have sprinkled as with cinnamon, with the choice of sensible things, which both soothe with pleasure and sting with pain by the discrimination of the senses; D I have sprinkled both of these, and filled them with the filth of sins.
VERSE 18. *Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning.* Come, then, and let us enjoy the irrational things that are sought after for the sake of empty glory, until the light of the Sun of righteousness shines in us, and scattering the darkness of ignorance, points out the truly good. *Come, let us take our fill of love.* Come, and let us be slaves to the desire for temporal things, defiling ourselves with their pleasures in our works.
VERSE 19. *For my husband is not at home.* For absent is...
the word of the spiritual home which was joined to me according to the law of human nature.
*He has gone a long journey.* He has gone far from that home, neglecting the spiritual habitation and devising various modes of malice.
VERSE 20. *Taking in his hands a sum of money.* Taking the soul—which is splendid like silver with the beauty of divine grace—by his own free will, as if in his hands, and fortified by the bond of the body to provide for his living power, so that if out of pride at its dignity it should be humbled by the dust, it might not be despoiled by the demon who secretly lies in wait for it through desires arising from the excess of virtue: dwelling in the spiritual deception of carnal things, on account of the soul's affection for the flesh, and devising ways of desires arising from the defect of virtue. B
*After many days he will return to his house.* He shall not return in a short time to his spiritual home, not ascending with understanding from sensible things to the truth through natural meditation in the spirit.
VERSE 21. *He has ensnared him with many words.* He has thus deceived him with a long conversation, ensuring that he would cling to her.
*With the nets of her lips she drew him away.* With the cords of the love of the senses toward carnal things, through which—as if by lips—she kisses them, he removed him from all upright thoughts. C
VERSE 22. *He followed her as one blind.* He obeyed her, lured by the pleasure of carnal desires.
*As an ox led to slaughter.* Just as an ox, failing under the weight of labor, is led to death, so he, failing under the labor of virtue, is led to mortiferous sins.
*And as a dog to the nets.* And just as a dog, tied with ropes, ceases to guard against those who lie in wait, so he, hastening to be bound by the works of sin, ceases to defend his own soul against the demons who lie in wait for it. D
VERSE 23. *Or as a stag pierced by an arrow in the liver.* Or like a stag dwelling on the highest mountains, wounded in the liver by an arrow, he is led away as one dead by the hunters; in the same way he, wounded in his desire for temporal things by the arrow of the hunter of our souls, deprived of spiritual life, is led by him to every kind of malice, having become a stranger to the heavenly rule.
*He hastens as a bird to the snare.* Just as a bird is swiftly carried toward the bait, being lured, so he, suddenly seized by the affection of sin through the appearance of delusions, hastens to be snared by the aforementioned hunter.
Nesciens quod de anima periclitatur. Not knowing that he is running to the destruction of his own soul.
VERS. 24. Nunc ergo, fili, audi me. Now therefore, my son, obey A me. Et attende verbis oris mei. And attend carefully to my exhortations.
VERS. 25. Ne declinet in viis suis cor tuum. Let not your heart turn aside into her ways. Let not your mind turn aside into those unseemly thoughts which, as it were paths, lead you toward that irrational desire. Et ne decipiaris semitis illius. And do not be deceived by her paths, that is, do not be deceived by the ways of those who are delighted by temporal things.
VERS. 26. Multos enim vulnerans dejecit. For she has wounded and cast down many. For by wounding many in their soul with the sting of pleasure, she has caused them to fall into a miserable collapse. Et innumerabiles sunt quos interfecit. And countless are those whom she has killed. No man can number those whom she has put to death by sin.
VERS. 27. Viæ inferni domus illius, deducentes ad custodias mortis. Her house is the way to Hades, leading down to the chambers of death. For the sensory power, in which she loves to dwell as in a house, being disordered by the variegated perception of sensible objects through the senses, is as it were a way of destruction, leading down into the storehouses of ruin caused B by the sin of the soul; for this power, through the senses, having entered into a relationship with sensible things, preserves its own ruin in accordance with habit, until, having grasped an opportune moment, it manifests this ruin in activity.
CAP. VIII
VERS. 1. Quapropter sapientiam proclama. Wherefore, raise your voice to proclaim wisdom. Therefore, you yourself, exalt with a loud voice the only-begotten Son and Word of God, His subsistent power and wisdom, who sets before you His own wills, preferring these to your own carnal desires.
VERS. 2. Ut prudentia tibi subjiciatur : est enim in excelsis valde. That prudence may be subject to you: for it is in the highest places. That the virtue of the soul, which brings profit according to the Word, may come into you, to repress evil desires through temperance: for the Word of God, subsisting in Himself, since He is the end of all sciences C as truth, by Himself transcends the most lofty heights of scientific knowledge; such are the words of things, according to which all things were made, and He Himself is through all things in all things.
In medio viarum stetit. She stood in the midst of the ways. In the midst of those things which arise from the defect and excess of virtue, she stood as the supreme object of desire, granting a common good to soul and body; and freeing both from the ruin which proceeds from both vices: for the passions caused by a defect of virtue corrupt the character of the soul and defile the flesh; while those caused by excess darken the soul, which seeks the good for God’s sake, and corrupt the flesh, stripping it of the providence due to it from the soul for its sustenance.
VERS. 3. Apud portas potentium sedet. For she sits by the gates of the mighty. By those of them who were not overcome by the deceptive appearances of visible things, she sits in the senses, through which visible things... D
A are perceived, yet also through which, as through certain gates, the Word is introduced by meditation, so that the author of these may be known and recognized by the soul according to its pleasure. In the atria, she is magnified. And at its entrances to the soul, it exalts the good works that are done in imitation of it, so that those who see them might celebrate Him, the author of every good thing: and these are the words of wisdom.
VERS. 4. O viri, ad vos clamito. O men, I call to you. You, however, who keep sound the law of human nature and are not overcome by the passions which are against nature, but who are not yet able to despise this selfsame nature, I do not call you to its contempt through command, by casting a certain fear upon you, but by showing you the beauties of the supernatural Word, I draw you to the desire of a more perfect life.
Et vocem meam effundo ad filios hominum. And I pour forth my voice to the sons of men. I propose my teaching even to those who are vacant for an understanding of those things which are according to human knowledge, and not the knowledge of God.
VERS. 5. Intelligite, insontes, astutiam. Understand, O guileless ones, subtlety. Understand, you who are free from all malice, the methodical operation B of every good: recognizing in practice the precepts of God; and from that expiation which is by way of introduction, advancing toward the light.
Insipientes, animadvertite corde. O unwise, apply your heart. You who have not yet come to paternal instruction for [the sake of] expiation, cast into your own souls the life-giving knowledge of God; which, by the fear of Him, purifies a life stained with every taint.
VERS. 6. Audite me, gravia enim locutura sum; proferam labiis meis recta. Hear me, for I shall speak of grave things; and I shall bring forth right things from my lips. Hear me, for I shall cry out honorable things, and I shall bring forth from my mouth straight words and just.
VERS. 7. Quia veritatem meditabitur guttur meum. Because my throat shall meditate on truth. Because to me, the mind [is] like a throat, capable of receiving the celestial bread that strengthens the soul, [and] it will meditate C entirely to show you the truth in all things, that is, it will manifest the per-subsistent Word of God heralded by all creation.
Odiosa ante me labia dolosa. Odious before me are lying lips. Odious before me are words that do not announce the truth.
VERS. 8. Cum justitia omnia verba oris mei. With justice are all the words of my mouth. With firm judgment [are] all my exhortations.
Non est in eis pravum quid, neque perversum. There is nothing crooked in them, nor perverse. Nothing in them is a lie imitating the truth, nor removing [anything] from rectitude.
VERS. 9. Omnia ante oculos his qui intelligunt. All things are before the eyes of those who understand. All things are manifest to those who incline toward the good, and who, through practical efforts, have acquired the knowledge of the commandments.
Et recta invenientibus scientiam. And straight to those who find knowledge. And most straight to those who search for and find the knowledge D of the truth.
VERS. 10. Apprehendite disciplinam et non argentum. Receive instruction and not silver. Acquire, above pure silver, [the virtues]...
soul from the stains of wickedness with effort.
*And knowledge above proven gold.* Above gold tested in the fire, the light of knowledge is by no means lacking in the furnace of involuntary temptations.
*Confide in intelligence as in pure gold.* Confide, not in the hope of pure gold stored up by you, but in the discernment of those things which are before your eyes, [which is] derived from the Good, so that through ignorance you may not fall into the precipices and abyss of malice.
VERS. 11. *For wisdom is better than precious stones.* For the Word that discerns the bad from the good is better than even the most precious stones. *Every honorable thing is not worthy of it.* Because nothing of those things which seem estimable to you can be compared to that Word which teaches these things through Scripture and nature.
VERS. 12. *I, Wisdom, dwell in counsel.* I, the Word of God, have built a tabernacle in the souls that believe in me, guarding them from the stains arising from the fire of the passions, [providing] the discernment of virtue and wickedness. *And I have called upon knowledge and intelligence.* And the knowledge of beings—insofar as they are—and the intelligence that comes from them concerning me, God the author of all, I have drawn into the souls that believe in me, and I have introduced them into moral, natural, and theological philosophy.
VERS. 13. *The fear of the Lord hates injustice, arrogance, and pride, and the ways of the wicked, and a double-tongued mouth.* The fear of God, the Lord of all, hates every iniquity; I speak here of the malice that dishonors the rational nature through a defect of virtue. I speak of pride and non-rational glory, of things coming from an excess of virtue, through which the spirits of wickedness entering into the souls of men, by way of the defect of virtue, introduce desires; I speak at the same time of their impiety, by which they teach that men—and not God, who inspires the works of goodness—are to be credited for these things. Therefore, the Word of God, through this fear of God, forbidding them, says: *And I have hated the perverse ways of the wicked.* I, who am the very rule of virtue, have abhorred the machinations of the demons, the malice of the inventors in the souls of men, which turn these souls away from the rectitude of virtue, through both defect and excess of it. D
VERS. 14. *Mine is counsel and security.* From me, the Sun of justice—as it illuminates the intellectual eye of the soul—comes to men the circumspect discernment of present things; from me, as it repels the storm of the passions with the fervor of the Spirit, comes their deliverance from them.
*Mine is prudence, mine is strength.* From me is given to them, as from the supreme object of desire, the longing for the Good which brings benefit; [it is] from me that for its operation...
A
VERSION 15. By me kings reign.
By me, as the Word of God, those who are masters of their passions exercise authority lawfully over desire and anger.And the powerful write justice.
And those who subject the flesh to the spirit, morally fashioning their earth according to action, are marked through this, just as with ink, in the unwavering judgment of the soul regarding the passions of deficiency and excess of virtue, while I provide them the logos of virtue.VERSION 16. By me princes are magnified.
By me, as the unerring Knower and the supreme Object of desire, those who excel in knowledge and virtue become illustrious and glorious through these.And tyrants by me rule the earth.
And those who constrain the earthly flesh, in order to mortify its vanity, rule through me; as I turn their longing from visible things to intelligible things.VERSION 17. I love those who love me.
I myself, through my commandments, deliver those who love me from irrational passions; I make my love for them known to them, although I love all men as my own creation, wishing also for the salvation of all.And those who seek me shall find grace.
But those seeking me—the goal of those who know, truth—moving with desire according to the mind, shall attain the grace of the Spirit who is of the same nature as I, while I grant them the participation of wisdom in leading them into all truth. BVERSION 18. Wealth and glory are with me, and the possession of many things, and justice.
For the inexhaustible treasure laid up in the promises, and the incorruptible glory—that is, the supernatural goods, and those natural goods which correspond to nature—and the true knowledge of the higher laws through which all things were made and remain firm, and the upright judgment which is drawn from these concerning the passions of the deficiency and excess of virtue, are in me, as in the giver of supernatural goods, and the cause of those that are natural.VERSION 19. It is better to reap me than gold and much precious stone.
It is better, therefore, than gold and countless precious stones—the pleasant things in the world—to collect me, the fruit of immortality, as in a paradise throughout the whole world; taking from all things, according to their natural contemplation in the spirit, as I exist above all things by essence. CAnd my issues are better than chosen silver.
And my wills, by which I become all things to all men according to operation, are better than chosen silver, as they render those who do them purer and more brilliant than silver.VERSION 20. I walk in the ways of justice.
For these things, to them, DA I set forth in a teaching manner as it were ways leading to an irreprehensible life. And I stand in the midst of the paths of justice. And among those who adhere to the truth of my essence, and who do not simulate the good out of a desire to please men, keeping the modes of those wills, I keep watch against the passions that arise from the defect and excess of virtue.
VERS. 21. That I may divide goods to those who love me. That I may distribute to those who desire me, according to the future, proportionally to each, the inexhaustible wealth of deification by grace. And I will fill their treasuries with good things. And from there I will fill their intellectual and concupiscible powers, in which they stored up virtue and knowledge in their life, with the goods in my promises, so that they may experience and see my splendor, and enjoy the contemplation of my glory. B If I report to you the things done day by day, I will be mindful of those numbered from the age. Since if I teach you the things concerning the rising of the Sun of righteousness in the flesh, accomplished for the salvation of men, I will be mindful to set forth the mysteries concerning me that exist eternally by the will of my Father.
VERS. 22. The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways, for his works. Know therefore that it pleased my Father, and the God who is Lord of all, that I, the uncreated, should be created in the flesh: so that those who wish to walk towards Him through His commandments may follow me, as the author of their salvation, and as the one who first walked according to them in a manner befitting men; and that they may have me as an example for performing the divine works of justice in imitation of me; and thus He created me, the uncreated.
VERS. 23. From eternity He founded me. From all eternity He had the best counsel concerning my incarnate economy, as a kind of pre-established foundation for it. C
VERS. 24, 25. In the beginning, before He made the earth, and before He made the abysses; before the fountains of waters came forth; before the mountains were established. In the beginning, before the earth produced, and the abysses of waters, and before their fountains leaped forth, and the mountains were solidified.
Before all the hills He begets me. Before He produced even all the angelic orders themselves, which, like certain hills, are exalted above all forest and rise above all sensible creatures, and are separated from every created thing, He naturally and eternally begets me. D
VERS. 26. The Lord made lands, both habitable and uninhabited, and the extreme parts of all under heaven. For my Father, and the Lord of all, brought into being from nothing all the parts and portions surrounding the earth; both the parts capable of containing many inhabitants and all nations, and the part not inhabited at all, and
A if there were any limit to the earth, and if it possessed any inhabitants.
27. *When He prepared the heaven, I was present with Him.* When He was preparing the heaven, adorning it with the sun and moon and stars, I was present with Him and co-operated, existing as consubstantial with Him, and as subsistent power and wisdom. *When He set His throne upon the winds.* And when He was setting apart the throne of His essentially subsistent kingdom—of the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from Him and rests consubstantially in me—bestowing the grace to rest upon the angelic and heavenly spirits, granting them intimacy with Himself.
28. *When He made the strong clouds above, and set down the safe fountains under the heaven.* And whenever He was working the firm clouds above the earth, and making them as it were protective fountains of waters, He made these for the irrigation of the earth.
29. *When He set to the sea His limit.* And when He commanded the sea not to overstep its own boundaries; for which reason the waters of it do not pass beyond His command, but its waves are broken within it. *And He made the foundations of the earth strong.* Furthermore, He established the fluid nature of these, founding the dry and downward-tending earth upon the waters. B
30. *I was by Him, fitting together.* I existed co-eternally, in consubstantiality with Him, fitting together the essences of existing things to those pre-eternal wills of His, by causing all things in accordance with them to subsist. *I was that wherein He rejoiced day by day.* I was that in which, on each of the seven days of creation, He rejoiced as I fulfilled each thing according to His will, and as I was perceived through these things as symbols. C
31. *But I was rejoicing before His face at every time, when He rejoiced in having finished the habitable world, and rejoiced in the sons of men.* And being of one will with Him, as I am also of one essence, I too always rejoiced before Him whenever He rejoiced, having completed everything with the perfection in the Spirit; and He rejoiced at the production of the race of men, brought to completion according to Our image and likeness. D
32. *Now therefore, son, listen to Me, and blessed are they that shall keep My ways.* Now therefore, my offspring and pupil, obey me; for indeed they are praiseworthy who, having been persuaded by me, will keep my commandments forever.
33. *Listen to instruction, and be wise, and do not fall away.* Learn these things, all of you, and become participants in me, and do not block my entry ways.
34. *Blessed is the man who shall listen to me.* Happy is he who, out of desire
...viriliter imperans, A hears me, exhorting him not to succumb to them.
“And the man who guards my ways. And who looks upward, keeps my commandments.” B Being watchful in my courts every day, watching over his entire present life, regarding his own senses as doors opened for the contemplation of things.
“Guarding the doors of my courts.” Guarding the theoretical constitution according to the spirit, and the practical activity of the soul according to the law, which are the aids guarding entrance to it; my end for things knowable is as truth, and for practical things as good, so that the evil spirit might not enter secretly through the appearances of sensible things and bind the mind with the love of them, and that they might not consent to follow their reasonings, and from there admit me. 35 “For my outgoings are outgoings of life.” For my outgoings from God and the Father, according to the natural, written, and spiritual law, and likewise from the most holy Spirit, are dispensations of grace to those who will inherit the heavenly kingdom. “And the will is prepared by the Lord.” And it is made ready in you, through the three aforementioned laws, by me the Lord of all, a natural and logical (rational) desire, and one that substantially contains the properties joined to nature.
C VERSE 36. “Those who sin against me are impious toward their own souls.” For those who, because of the irrational desire of the passions, do not follow me, the Word of God, deprive their own souls of the honor of participation in me, as though casting off their likeness to God, comparing themselves to irrational animals, and becoming similar to them. “And those who hate me love death.” And those who turn away from me, who grant the immortal life of the spirit to those who wish for it, embrace the death of their own souls through sin—teaching these things throughout all of Scripture.
CAP. IX. D VERSE 1. “Wisdom has built herself a house.” The power of God and the Father, subsisting of itself, prepared its own house, the whole universe, in which it dwells through power, and he who was created according to the image and likeness of God, consisting of a visible and invisible nature. “And has hewn out seven pillars.” And to the entire sensible nature, for its existence, it assigned the hebdomadal circuit of time; but to man himself, formed after his creation according to Christ, that he might believe in Him and observe His commandments, it assigned, conversely, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: by which, with virtue excited by knowledge, and in turn knowledge manifested through virtue, the spiritual man is perfected, established by the perfection of faith in the participation of supernatural things. For purification according to the practical...
A philosophy is wrought by fear, which persuades one to be continent from the passions; by understanding, which shows the modes of purification; and by knowledge, which does not allow one to be ignorant of the snares of the Enemy. The illumination in the spirit according to natural philosophy is perfected by power, which prepares one to hasten and move eagerly toward the reasons/logoi of existing things, which are essentially God’s will, according to which all things have been made; and by purpose, which discerns such altogether good wills of God, as unoriginated and immortal, and as capable of being understood, spoken, and acted upon, from those that are not such; and by discernment, which makes one incline and concur with these and not with the opposites. But the perfection according to mystical theology is gifted by divine wisdom alone, providing participation in the Life.
B VERSE 2. *She has slaughtered her own victims.* Thus, by the seven charisms of the All-Holy Spirit, the Word of God, having made man a habitation for Himself, slew within him, with the sword of the Spirit, the movement and the forms of the visible creation and the very substance of existing things, mortifying his disturbed affection for visible things, his deceitful boasting about them, and the error of polytheism.
*She has mixed her wine in a mixing bowl; and has prepared her table.* And He united in such a man, in whom, as in a mixing bowl, spiritual and corporeal nature is mixed, the knowledge of existing things, C and the knowledge of Himself as the author of all; which makes intelligence, as if inebriated with wine, to be concerning things related to God. And thus, through Himself, who is the heavenly bread, nourishing souls in virtue, and inebriating and delighting them in doctrine, He prepares all these things as a banquet for a spiritual feast for those who desire to participate in it.
VERSE 3. *She has sent her servants, calling with a high proclamation to the mixing bowl, saying.* He sent the Apostles, who serve His divine will, with the evangelical proclamation which, as coming from the Spirit, is above the written and natural law, calling them to Himself; in whom, as in a mixing bowl, by the mystery of the Incarnation, D the wonderful mixture of the divine and human nature has occurred without confusion according to hypostasis, saying through them as it were:
VERSE 4. *Whoever is foolish, let him incline to me.* Whoever is foolish, because he thinks in his heart that there is no God, abandoning impiety, let him incline to me through faith, and let him know me as Creator and Lord of all.
VERSE 5. *And to those lacking sense, she said: Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you.* And to those still needing the works of faith and the more perfect knowledge therein, He said: Come, eat my body, which nourishes you according to virtue like bread; and drink my blood, which, according to doctrine, like wine, exalts you toward deification,
for your salvation.
Vers. 6. *Forsake foolishness, and live.* Forsake unbelief, and you shall have spiritual and immortal life. *And seek prudence, that you may live, and correct your understanding in doctrine.* Seek the prudence which is the cause of the practice of the good, so that you may acquire a blameless manner of life, and in the knowledge of the true Good, perfect the prudence of your soul in its threefold aspect, which you have begun through faith.
Vers. 7. *He who corrects the wicked, gets dishonor for himself.* For he who strikes with words of truth those who truly break forth into wickedness and who do not wish to be corrected, irritates them all the more, and by increasing their malice, prepares for himself contempt as a result. *He who reproves the ungodly, shall be reproved by himself.* By making manifest the wickedness of one who does not honor God, he places himself under reproach, as one who does not spare him from harm; for, besides bringing him no benefit, he does him great damage, provoking him to tyranny against himself. *For reproofs to the ungodly are wounds to him.* For the words that make manifest the wickedness of him who does not honor God are wounds to his soul, producing in it a passion of hatred that is difficult to eradicate.
Vers. 8. *Do not reprove the wicked, that they may not hate you.* Do not reprove those who do not desire their own correction for their sins, so that you may not stir them to hatred against you, and thereby, far from taking away their wickedness, you rather increase it. *Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.* Make manifest the defects to one who shares in wisdom, as he possesses the fear of God, and such a one, not being ignorant of the utility derived from reproofs, will bring you much honor.
Vers. 9. *Give an opportunity to a wise man, and he will be wiser.* Show to one who possesses the fear of God the knowledge of his sins, so that through purgation and illumination he may be perfected. *Teach a just man, and he will hasten to receive it.* Manifest to him who, through fear of eternal punishments, guards the commandments of God, the true good that is in them, and he, desiring it as the supreme object of longing, will increase his love for it according to his disposition.
Vers. 10. *The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.* The beginning of the knowledge of divine things is the fear of the Lord God of all. *And the counsel of the holy ones is prudence.* And among those who have been purified from all wickedness, and who are thus able to contemplate the true Good without hindrance, the discernment regarding this is the prudence of the three powers of the soul, [directed] toward the words and ways of the Good as set out in the commandments. *To know the law is a sign of a good understanding.* But to understand that nothing is impossible or hard, the law repeats
A what the law that leads us to the truly Good demands; it is the mind contemplating and seeking the truly Good itself.
Verse 11. *For in this way you shall live a long time.* For by seeking the good, there will come to you, whoever you may be, the unending, spiritual, and divine life. *And years of life will be added to you.* And the measures of life will be extended for you, you having acquired in addition to the present life, through an existence pleasing to God therein, the life to come.
Verse 12. *My son, if you become wise for yourself, you will be wise also to your neighbors.* Disciple of my teaching, if you are wise in yourself, having purified yourself by the fear of God, illuminated with understanding, and perfected by wisdom, you will be wise also to those nearest to you who emulate your wisdom, and from thence believe your words and imitate your ways, as if illuminating, purifying, and perfecting them also.
*But if you prove evil, you alone will draw up the evils.* If, through the small deceits of the wicked one, you have ended up full of malice, in that you neither think nor speak anything virtuous, you have drawn upon yourself the rewards of that malice, and no one else has brought these upon you.
*He who leans upon falsehoods, this one will shepherd the winds.* For whoever trusts in things that are deceitful and flowing, he will steer things that are standing—himself changed along with the changeable—because he is not able to restrain their course, any more than a blast of wind.
B The same *will pursue flying birds.* And such a person will vainly attempt to catch things that are, like birds, swiftly rushing from birth toward destruction.
*For he has abandoned the ways of his own vineyard.* For he has abandoned the divine commandments—which lead by way of recognition to Him who said, *I am the vine*—the divine Word, in whom man is planted according to the principle of his own nature, like a branch; cultivating the knowledge of existing things which, like wine, gladdens the heart.
*And he has wandered from the paths of his own farm.* He has led astray his mind and speech, which bring forth virtue along with knowledge, as if his own proper farm.
*He walks through a waterless desert and land ordered in thirst.* He traverses a life lacking spiritual teaching, which, like water, irrigates the soul toward the bearing of the fruits of virtue, and he C spreads a fixed habit of evil in souls destitute of the aforementioned divine teaching.
*And with his hands he gathers barrenness.* And he collects, according to the activity of the practical powers of his soul, sin, which is the deprivation of the spiritual fruit of virtues.
Verse 13. *A foolish and bold woman becomes needy of a morsel.* For imagination, deprived of divine thought and headlong—inasmuch as it judges not according to reason but according to its own pleasure, and irrationally adheres to the mind deceived by itself—when the one dwelling D
A in her abandons wisdom, and generates wicked thoughts within, he is deprived of the Word which, like bread, feeds and strengthens souls. *She knows not shame.* B What phantasy, if, after base actions, reproof from reason should shine upon it, does not perceive it?
VERS. 14. *She sat at the doors of her house.* For such phantasy is seated upon those things which, like doors, lead toward her through the senses—that is, the manifestation of visible things, in the natural sensory organs of this fleshly dwelling. *Upon a high seat in the streets.* Laying out for herself, through desire and passion, the discursive faculty like some most lofty throne, in the broad ways of destruction that lead through pleasures. C
VERS. 15. *Calling those who pass by and go on their ways.* Enticing those who traverse this transitory life, and who are not vexed in their life’s pursuits by troublesome encounters; and setting herself against wisdom, she teaches them these things.
VERS. 16. *Whoever among you is most imprudent, let him turn to me.* Therefore, whoever does not yet bear the thought of God in his mind at all, let him come to me, to be taught the multitude of gods. *And to those lacking in sense, I exhort, saying.* And to those who indeed know God, but do not keep His commandments, I advise, saying:
VERS. 17. *Lay hold of hidden bread.* Taste with pleasure the works that nourish the habit of malice as if with certain loaves, which nonetheless escape the eyes of men. *And drink stolen, sweeter water.* And drink to satiety—the knowledge of sensible things, which, like water, excites thirst—exciting the irrational propensity of the soul toward these things, for the mind is seized by the joy of pleasure, having been stolen by the smoothness of that pleasure. D
VERS. 18. *But he knew not that those who are earth-born perish with her, and he meets the threshold of Hades.* But he who obeys her is ignorant that, through her, those who mind earthly things draw upon themselves the death of the soul. And for this reason, he too falls into the abyss of perdition. And these things are the effect of headlong phantasy. But do you, in your thought, ascend far away from her toward reason.
But flee; do not linger in her place. Do not delay at the sight of sensible things, which phantasy alone carries about, but as it is unable to reach their underlying reasons (logoi) without intelligence, it describes them in itself as in its own proper place.
Do not lift your eye toward her. Do not thoughtlessly direct your intellectual eye toward this phantasy, since you are able to contemplate it through thought, to see the reasons of things, and to arrive at the truth in all matters.
For thus you shall pass over foreign water. For in this manner you shall pass through it without being drenched, if you do not from the beginning
[pro]duced in nature, but the sea of passions which has been stirred up and grown wild. A *And thou shalt pass over a foreign river.* And that which, according to the appearance of nature, is flowing and transitory — which indeed was not created with it from the beginning, but was added to the same state on account of transgression — letting it fall below, you will hasten to know its immutable permanence according to the intellect. *And abstain from foreign water.* And from the turbid one, and according to the reason of nature, do not have a part in the sea of passions. *And drink not from a foreign fountain.* And from the knowledge of visible things according to sense alone, gushing forth like a certain fountain, the flowing and transitory life of pleasure and pain; which, indeed, as natural to unreasonable nature, the rational nature, suited for knowing things by reason, casts out—do not taste it. *That thou mayst live much time.* That you may live a stable life through virtue. *And years of life shall be added unto thee.* The years of your transitory life shall be extended for you, leading you, on account of your God-filled conduct in these, toward the future life that is ageless B and blessed.
CHAPTER X
B Verse 1. *A wise son gladdens the father.* From thence, certainly, the reason generated from the mind through thought in the soul, knowing what is truly beautiful, gladdens its own mind through a true opinion concerning things, which occurs in accordance with reason and truth, while it ardently seeks the cause in all things.
*But a foolish son is a sorrow to the mother.* The thought, however, generated in the soul according to sense or phantasy, being ignorant of that which is truly beautiful, becomes a cause of sorrow to the soul as a result, on account of a false opinion about things, which indeed craves pleasure but finds pain; for the end of this pleasure which is through sense is pain.
Verse 2. *Treasuries will not profit the lawless.* For the storehouses of wealth do not aid toward the deliverance from evil things those who do not distribute them to the needy according to divine laws.
*But righteousness shall deliver from death.* For that judgment of the good which is inflexible according to divine commands delivers the soul D from the danger of sin.
Verse 3. *The Lord will not famish the souls of the just.* And the omnipotent dominion of God, His consubstantial Word, will not deprive of its own reception, the bread descending from heaven, the souls that are obedient to Him, to the Divine Righteousness itself—the souls of those who here act justly through the fulfillment of His holy commandments.
*But He shall subvert the life of the impious.* He will subvert the earthly and pleasure-loving life of those who have not believed in Him, and who do not honor Him through the works of righteousness, in
A that He will turn it completely into a painful one; at the time when they shall be deprived both of present things and shall not attain the future.
VERS. 4. *Paupertas virum deprimit*. For indeed, the failure arising from negligence regarding spiritual wealth, according to doctrine and virtue, brings down the man who, although he is a human being—having been endowed by nature with an active and free power according to the image of God—is not manly, since he does not demonstrate by his works, through his own choice, the effectiveness and freedom of this rational power according to the likeness of God; it brings him down into the slavery and disgrace of irrational passions, having been compared to the senseless ones and made like them.
*Manus autem fortium divitias parant*. The active powers of those who demonstrate by their works the effectiveness and freedom B of rational power that does not serve irrational passions, but fights against them, not only keep their souls unharmed, but also impart to others spiritual wealth according to virtue and understanding; for they excite them to the good by instructional speech and turn them away from evil; and by their works, they confirm their speech and persuade them to fulfill what was said by imitating the works; for indeed—
VERS. 5. *Filius eruditus sapiens erit*. He who has been adopted by God through a laborious course of discipline, cleansing his soul from the stains of wickedness, will be experienced in the benefit that can arise from those things that befall him against his will.
*Stulto autem, ut servo utetur*. But he who does not carry God in his heart, if he brings afflictions and pains upon the wise man, he will be a servant to him for his salvation, C acknowledging the one who torments him as a benefactor, and giving thanks to God in all things, since—
*Salvatus est ab ardore filius prudens*. He is saved from the heat, the prudent son. Such a one is he who knows the reward for the patience of labors during involuntary temptations; and thus he, as if on a threshing floor in the present age, struck by sharp labors of the flesh, is cleansed like wheat from the passions innate since birth, as if from certain chaff; and he is gathered by the husbandman of our souls into certain storehouses, the eternal dwellings.
*Vento corrumpitur in messe filius improbus*. He is driven to destruction by the winds of wickedness through irrational D affections, just as chaff is driven by the winds, to be sent into the fire at the time of the harvest of works; he who indeed calls God his Father on account of his faith in Him, yet transgresses His holy commandments.
VERS. 6. *Benedictio Domini super caput justi*. For the impartation of holiness from the Lord, the God of all, proceeds according to grace upon the head of him who acts irreproachably, sanctifying him entirely through the medium of the mind.
*Os autem impiorum obruet dolor intempestivus*. And may it stifle the teaching full of blasphemy of the spirits of wickedness that do not honor God, which—
by reason of their alien and evil works, vanishes, being unknown to Him, according to the word, "I know you not anymore."
B 7. *Memoria justi cum laudibus*. Indeed, the remembrance and awareness of those who live blamelessly will be before God, provided with praises that afford them ineffable joy.
*Et nomen impiorum exstinguitur*. That name which is from God for those who do not honor Him through good works vanishes, being no longer known to God because of their evil works which are contrary to Him, according to that word: "I know you not anymore."
8. *Sapiens corde suscipiet præcepta*. He who carries the word of God within his soul in a dispositional way will accept, and will never cast aside, His commandments as regards action.
*Insipiens autem labiis oblique incedens supplantabitur*. He who does not persevere through works of righteousness in honoring God by confession, but rather inclines toward those passions which are a defect of virtue—on account of which he does not keep the divine commandments—or toward those which are an excess—on account of which he is puffed up, confessing Him only with empty words—will be turned aside from the straight path that leads to eternal life through virtue; for indeed,
9. *Qui ambulat simpliciter, ambulat confidenter*. He who completes the journey according to virtue unfeignedly for God’s sake, and does not mix it in his mind with the wickedness intended to deceive the multitude, traverses such a path without fearing either present or future accusations of hypocrisy.
*Qui autem depravat vias suas, manifestus erit*. He who turns his own actions from truth to falsehood, as has been said, shall be convicted—if not in the present age, then certainly in the coming one beyond all doubt; wherefore,
C 10. *Qui annuit oculis cum dolo, colligit hominibus tristitias*. He who has his contemplative powers looking toward wickedness while nodding toward an insincere manner of virtue, gathers vain labors for the man both within and without; for the body, laboring for the present in the matter of virtue but not for God, is burdened, and the soul is eternally oppressed in the future by the lack of virtue with respect to its disposition.
*Qui autem vituperat cum sinceritate, pacem facit*. The word of God, which openly declares—freely, through the conscience of the soul, and in the Holy Spirit—the evil and vanity of hypocrisy, delivers the soul from that evil disposition toward both God and the flesh which was troubling it.
11. *Vena vitæ in manu justi*. For the life-giving Holy Spirit, by nature, rests upon the omnipotent power of the righteous man and of the Lord God of all, who has loved righteousness; but by grace, the Spirit rests upon the practical faculty of him who discerns the worse from the better and removes the passions that are defects of virtue or excesses, and who does good, D
A For he who has by nature the Holy Spirit, the dispenser of life, resting within him, the God Word, grants eternal life to those who believe in him.
*The mouth of the ungodly shall cover destruction.* For the ruinous counsel of him who does not honor God, the inventor of wickedness, is destroyed by our falling away from the truly Good, through the reproof of the conscience. For as long as we consider fleeting pleasure and perishable glory to be a good, the aforementioned counsel does not vanish, having a clear path due to our false opinion about the good. But from the fact that those who obey it find, as the end of pleasure according to sense, pain, and as the end of ephemeral glory, disgrace; and because, on account of the subsequent loss of the true Good, they no longer receive it, such counsel vanishes, no longer having efficacy in those who do not accept it.
VERS. 12. *Hatred stirs up strife.* And it stirs up enmity of the soul against the flesh, as being treacherous, through the warring of the law of the flesh against the law of the mind, according to pleasure and pain, the law of the flesh. *But love shall cover all that do not strive.* But all those who according to reason subject the flesh to the soul, and for these acquire that which is strife-free—in that each man’s soul is helped by the flesh toward the highest things, and the flesh is provided for with the appropriate care by the soul—divine love shall cover, and they live the life hidden in Christ. B
VERS. 13. *He who utters wisdom from his lips shall smite the man who is lacking in heart with a rod.* That is to say, he who proclaims the divine word through his mouth smites, by means of it as if with a rod according to the conscience, him who does not possess warmth of soul for what is good.
VERS. 14. *Wise men shall hide perception.* And those who have received the word of God in the Holy Spirit by grace as an indwelling guest, restrain perception from sensible things; and being accustomed in their thought to those things which are above sense, they receive perception of those things which are spiritual, according to an active knowledge. *But the mouth of the rash draws near to destruction.* But the teaching of the good, before the practice of it, draws near to destruction; inasmuch as the works, being opposed to the words, endeavor to overturn them. C
VERS. 15. *The substance of the rich is a strong city.* And the abundance of those who have acquired spiritual wealth according to knowledge is the soul, being in no need of the heavenly bread that strengthens it, and being the keeper of the commandments that preserve it, impregnable to intelligible enemies, and fortified by the virtues. *But the ruin of the ungodly is poverty.* And the punishment of those who do not honor God is the absolute deprivation of the spiritual eating of the Word through contemplation, and of the covering of the virtues; which, after the manner of garments, protect the souls from the storm of the passions. D
VERS. 16. *The works of the just produce life.* Because whatever...
works are performed by those who prefer the truly good before what appears so, they deliver souls from the death caused by sin, and procure for them that blessed life which is in the Spirit. A *The fruits of the impious are sins.* The results, moreover, of those who do not honor God, are failures in obtaining the truly good.
VERS. 17. *The ways of life keep discipline.* And truly, laborious conduct according to virtue keeps those divine commandments which carry souls unto eternal life; but this... *Discipline that rejects reproofs goes astray.* Laborious conduct according to virtue, if it be not tested by involuntary temptations, and appear firmly rooted in the soul as a habit, is turned away from the truth, falling into vainglory under the pretext of a virtuous way of life; since, when involuntary temptations toward testing likewise befall us through men, those who do not guard the summit of their soul fall into hatred. B
VERS. 18. *Just lips hide hatred.* Words subject to the divine law, and not turning aside to reviling, indeed hide the hatred which the soul, having acted unjustly through contempt, has conceived in its disposition. *But they who bring forth revilings are most foolish.* Those, moreover, who manifest their own hatred toward those they hate by means of slanders, are excessively foolish, since they arouse those who do them evil all the more against themselves, by casting reproaches upon them thereafter.
VERS. 19. *In much speaking thou shalt not escape sin.* By long-windedness thou shalt not escape stumbling before God or before men; for if thou dost not pre-meditate what is said by thee, thou wilt provoke—either God by lying, or men by speaking something out of inattention to their harm—if thou art not wary. *But he who is sparing of his lips will be prudent.* But being temperate in words, thou shalt have understanding of what is proper to be said, as thou hast first examined these things in thy mind, and grasped that they strike against neither God nor men; and thus thou shalt utter them without misgiving. C
VERS. 20. *Silver tried in the fire is the tongue of the just.* For indeed, like some silver tested by fire is the word of him who delivers it blamelessly and with judgment; for it is first examined by the crucible of the mind, and every base thing is cast off from it, and it is uttered sincerely. *But the heart of the impious shall fail.* The soul, moreover, from which life flows to the body, of him who does not honor God with good-doing words, will be weak regarding the encounter with the truth, having been convicted by it of lying.
VERS. 21. *The lips of the just know high things.* And the divine instructional words of those who, out of practical experience and with judgment, deliver them blamelessly, bring to them the understanding of the will of the heavenly God. D
A "But those who are foolish will die in want." Humans who do not carry God in their hearts bring their own lives to an end in the deprivation of those riches which are according to virtue and intelligence.
VERS. 22. "The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the just." For the all-good teaching of the Lord, God of all, proceeds to the governing mind of him who lives blamelessly according to the practice of the divine commandments, as one who makes practice the foundation of contemplation. "It makes them rich." Such teaching makes him who obeys it abundant in spiritual riches according to virtue and intelligence. "And grief shall not be added to it in the heart." And if such a person labors in body for the sake of virtue, he shall nevertheless not receive the addition of grief in his soul through this teaching, being gladdened by the hope of the future reward.
VERS. 23. "In laughter the fool does evil." And with joy, indeed, he who does not carry God in his heart commits sins, because he is not even saddened by the fear of His threats in those matters in which he transgresses. "But wisdom generates prudence for a man." The divine Word generates in him who struggles nobly against the passions a circumspection in his actions; for, B
VERS. 24. "In destruction the impious person is perturbed." In the deprivation of God; he who does not honor Him—by contemplation as truth, and by action as the good—is turned about by passions which are according to the deficiency or excess of virtue. "But the desire of the just is acceptable." The longing of him who honors God through a virtuous life—that is, the desire for Him above all other things—is most acceptable to Him.
VERS. 25. "As a storm passes, the impious vanishes." And by even a minor temptation, whether voluntary or involuntary, coming unexpectedly from the spirit of malice, he who does not honor God through temperance and patience is destroyed. "But the just person turning aside is saved forever." He who tempers those voluntary passions that are according to pleasure, and endures the involuntary ones that are according to pain, escaping the danger to his soul, is rescued from eternal punishment.
VERS. 26. "As vinegar is harmful to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so is transgression to those who use it." And just as unripened fruit harms the effectiveness of the teeth, and smoke that of the eyes, so the irrational use of fleeting things by those who persist in such use harms the practical and contemplative C powers of the soul; for it renders their active powers, like teeth made to ache by the untimely fruition of what pleases, unable to attain the timely fruition of the true Good; and it casts a veil of darkness like smoke over their contemplative powers, and, even when it should have been driven away by intelligence in the spirit, they cannot behold the rays of truth. D
A Ver. 27. *The fear of the Lord adds days.* A And divine fear, delivering the soul from the death which comes through sin, extends the days of the present life for him who adheres to it; transferring him to that life which is there, cease-less and blessed. *But the years of the impious shall be shortened.* The times of the life of those who do not honor God through active knowledge shall be shortened, as they fail to attain the spiritual life: *For men of blood and craft shall not halve their days.*
Ver. 28. *Joy abides with the just.* B And spiritual exultation remains with those who conduct themselves blamelessly, because they are not overcome by those things that befall them, but always rejoice in the hope of the promised goods. *But the hope of the impious perishes.* And the trust in temporal things of those who do not honor God through active knowledge perishes, because they do not remain, but quickly pass away.
Ver. 29. *The fear of the Lord is a fortress for the pious.* B For indeed, pure and everlasting divine fear is a protection for him who has gone beyond justice according to natural law and acts according to the spiritual law, so that he may never fall from divine charity by falling into contempt. *But there is destruction for those who work evil.* And there is tribulation and compunction unto salvation from repentance for those who practice sin.
Ver. 30. *The just shall never be moved.* C For he who prefers the eternal to the temporal will not be neglectful of his own salvation, but will constantly and steadily travel toward God according to virtue, enduring with thanksgiving all things that befall him during the present life. *But the impious shall not inhabit the land.* And those who do not prefer God to all things that were made through Him, will not gain a dwelling by way of a disposition in the solid habit of virtues, but will always be driven about by passions, as those who live by the lack and excess of these virtues.
Ver. 31. *The mouth of the just distills wisdom.* C And the teaching, gently brought forth, of him who prefers the eternal to the temporal, imparts—like a drop, bit by bit—perfection to those who receive it, because they easily embrace it. *But the tongue of the unjust shall perish.* D And the talkativeness of those who prefer temporal things to eternal things shall vanish, passing into nothing; for indeed,
Ver. 32. *The lips of just men distill graces.* The words of those who struggle nobly against the passions, and who prefer the true good to that which merely seems so, grant progress according to Christ through successive ascents toward perfection; first purifying, then illuminating, and thus perfecting those who trust them. *But the mouth of the impious shall be turned away.* And the empty talk of those who do not honor God through active knowledge is hateful in His sight.
CAPUT XI.
A VERS. 1. *Statera dolosa, abominatio ante Dominum.* And indeed, the dispositions of the soul which incline toward either the defects or the excesses of the virtues are odious before the face of Him who forbids us to turn to the right or to the left, the Lord of all, God, as they are wandering away from the true Good on both sides. *A just weight is acceptable to Him.* The disposition of the soul which, beholding the mean of virtue, does not incline toward desires according to the defect or the exaggeration of virtue, is well-acceptable to Him; for it strives after the true Good.
VERS. 2. *Where pride enters, there also comes shame.* And upon him into whom insolence from arrogance against his neighbor enters, there falls by divine permission the pain of shame, so that he may learn humility.
VERS. 3. *But the mouth of the humble meditates on wisdom.* The mind of those who reproach themselves for their failings learns wisdom, making the fear of the Lord its beginning.
VERS. 4. *A just man dying has left repentance.* For the man who lived blamelessly, when murdered, left behind for those who killed him—on account of the things in which they have transgressed against him—repentance: which in the present time strikes the conscience, and in the future age punishes perpetually. B *And the ruin of the ungodly comes sudden and delightful.* For the ruin of the evildoers, and those for this reason not honoring God, comes unhindered and delightful; because they both paid the penalties for the things they did wrongly in the present time, and those who were unjustly treated by them were delivered from the injuries inflicted by them.
VERS. 5. *Justice of the simple makes straight the ways.* For the steady judgment concerning things to be done of him who acts blamelessly makes his paths according to virtue unswerving toward the passions that are in accordance with the defect or excess of virtue; in which paths those walking in his footsteps are deemed worthy of salvation. *But the ungodly shall fall in his impiety.* He who rejects the law of the commandments of God falls into the ignominy of God through works of malice. For,
VERS. 6. *The justice of upright men will deliver them.* The blameless life of those who struggle C courageously against the passions, and who make the course of virtue unswerving toward malice, will deliver them from that peril which is in the soul on account of the passions that conform to the defect or the excess of virtue. *But by their own impiety are sinners caught.* Those who do not honor God with their soul according to their disposition are caught, since they reject the law of the divine commandments.
VERS. 7. *When a just man has died, hope does not perish.* And when he has died—he who struggled courageously against the passions, and did not cease from the labors of virtue, and preferred the eternal to the momentary, D
A his hope in the eternal goods remains, as he awaits the reward for the endurance of his toils. But the boasting of the ungodly shall perish. The haughtiness, moreover, of those who do not honor God through good works, founded on vain glory and corruptible riches, is reduced to nothing, inasmuch as these things are quickly dissolved and brought to nothing.
Vers. 8. The just man escapes from the snare. He who distributes virtues to his own soul, and sufficient food and clothing to his flesh, escapes the nets of the hunter of our souls, which are set according to our deficiency or excess of virtue. And in his stead the ungodly is delivered. He who is not honoring God through active knowledge falls, by his own choice, into the aforementioned snares, in place of the one whom the wicked one attempts to capture with his hunting.
Vers. 9. In the mouth of the ungodly is a snare for the citizens. B For in the deceitful counsel of those spirits of wickedness who do not honor God, but rather slander His providence, a noose of unbelief and hopelessness is prepared for those men who possess their citizenship not in heaven, but on earth: so that, through such a fear of punishments, they might be able neither to escape, nor to run toward the rewards above with a desire for them according to virtue. But the knowledge of the just is a way forward. The understanding of men who are endowed with virtue does not err, since they establish action as the foundation of contemplation.
Vers. 10. In the prosperity of the just, the city is set straight. C And by the good works and words of such men, the soul in which many reasonings reside has perfected its own salvation. And in the destruction of the ungodly, there is exultation. For from the destruction of the evil reasonings of those who do not honor God, spiritual joy comes to the soul.
Vers. 11. Through the blessing of the upright, the city shall be lifted up. For indeed, by the good teaching of those who teach the word of truth without error, the soul in which various reasonings circulate will be lifted up by natural contemplation in the Spirit, unto an unerring knowledge of those things that are below nature and time. But the mouth of the ungodly shall be torn down. For D through the deceitful suggestions of the spirits of wickedness who do not honor God, it shall be carried down into irrational desires.
Vers. 12. He who is destitute of understanding sneers at the citizens. And he who is lacking in prudence sneers, condemning those who do not live rightly in the present life, while not recognizing his own weakness. But a sensible man keeps quiet. He, however, who recognizes this and is perfect in mind, keeps watch over himself and finds rest, attending only to and correcting his own faults.
Vers. 13. A double-tongued man reveals matters in counsel. And a man, for the sake of the deception of many,
A uttering words opposed to one another, reveals the designs entrusted to him by someone in the assembly of the people; and from this, he renders fruitless those things which are to the advantage of many, even if to them it does not appear to be so. Faithful in spirit conceals matters. He who keeps these things in his own mind, and does not reject the command of him who entrusts his own mysteries to him, conceals whatever, if manifested, would bring harm; and B Vers. 14. To whom there is no governance, they fall as leaves. To those for whom there is no one presiding, directing their affairs well, when some temptation breathes upon them, they are cast down by the spirit of wickedness, easily, like leaves scattered by the wind; being unable to stand against the stratagems of the enemy, in that they are deprived of one who supports them. But salvation is in much counsel. Bodily guard is in the greatest investigation of useful things by a wise man. For indeed C Vers. 15. A wicked man does evil when he mingles justice. The resourceful enemy and adversary of our souls does not accomplish those things that will harm those who are struggling except when, inspiring a striving for virtue which brings him justice from men—namely, praise—he mingles it with the snares being prepared by his right hand against them. But he hates the sound of security. He turns away and does not wish for any word to be brought forth which proceeds from a soul fortified by the experience of his pains, and he establishes that same fortification for the souls that obey him. Vers. 16. A useful woman stirs up glory for a man. And the sense which serves the mind for the understanding of the reasons that are in existing things, if it uses these things well as its instrument, stirs up for it—in accordance with the thought of one who fights nobly against the passions—a rational judgment about things; through which the mind receives its own honor, recognizing from existing things the dignity of existing things. But the throne of dishonor is a woman hating just things. D The seat of injury for him is the sense which assists the mind toward evil through the irrational desire for transitory things, and which abhors the virtues because of their labor; for the mind which is persuaded by this sits in the disgraceful habit of malice, resting irrationally in it. Those who differ in riches become needy. And those who do not care for spiritual riches according to understanding, nor rise to the operation of the virtues, suffer privation. But the manly are established by riches. Those who are noble according to the soul are established by those very spiritual riches of understanding, bearing labor manfully.
A Ver. 17. *A merciful man does good to his own soul.* He benefits his own soul, preserving it through good works as the image of God in its likeness, he who behaves manfully against the passions, and has pity on those who fall into various temptations and need every kind of guidance, and reaches out a hand of assistance to them as far as he is able. *But the unmerciful destroys his own body.* He corrupts his own body—and the body of anyone else is indeed our own, since we are all from the same clay and mixture—when he does not soften with pity for someone and assist as he is able, but lets him be destroyed by the evils that beset him; for such a man shuts out both the mercy of God toward himself and the compassion of the people. And he condemns himself through his lack of compassion toward his neighbor, not being pitied, because he did not pity.
Ver. 18. *The ungodly man does unjust works.* He who does not honor God as the truth itself performs works that are against the law of His holy commandments. *But the seed of the righteous is the reward of truth.* Like seed falling into the souls of those who prefer eternal things over temporal, and bearing good fruit—to thirty, sixty, and a hundred—the divine word is a recompense for an end of known things, with truth firmly believed. For he who offers to God a firm faith in Him receives in return from Him the word of truth, cleansing him and perfecting him according to grace, through the participation in goods that are above nature.
Ver. 19. *A righteous son is generated unto life.* For he who is adopted by God through faith, and lives his life blamelessly, is born unto spiritual and incorruptible life, receiving as a beginning of this, knowledge of God through faith; and as a progress, conduct according to virtue. *But the pursuit of the ungodly is unto death.* And all the fervor of him who does not honor God through active understanding ends in destruction, as being occupied with things that are fleeting.
Ver. 20. *Abominations to the Lord are perverse ways.* Because works that turn away from the straight path according to virtue, toward the passions that fall into the deficiency or excess of that path, are hated by God. *But all those blameless in the way are acceptable to Him.* Those who walk through the way of the present life free from every reproach are acceptable to Him.
Ver. 21. *He who puts hand to hand unjustly will not be unpunished of evils.* He who has mingled the labors of his own hands with the labors of the hands of others, contrary to every reason of justice, will not be outside of punishment for the painful things he showed toward those defrauded by him. *But he who sows justice will receive a faithful reward.* He who scatters into the stomachs of the needy the labors of his own hands, according to
the need of each, shall receive from the rewarding God a firm recompense, which indeed remains forever. B
VERS. 23. *As an earring of gold in a swine's snout, so is a woman of ill-thought beauty.* And just as a golden ornament, hung from the nose of a swine, is defiled by the mire, so also, to a sense borne along irrationally, the beauty of the sensible things—which was for the pretension of glory to Him who created it—one has defiled with the mire of pleasures through the ardor of desire. For indeed,
VERS. 23. *The ardor of the just is all good.* The ardor of him who prefers the goods that are above the senses, as being eternal, to sensible things, as being momentary, is entirely good, as being saving. *But the hope of the impious shall perish.* For confidence in transient things by those who do not worship God through active understanding will vanish, passing into nothing, since those things will perish.
VERS. 24. *There are those who sow their own, and make more.* And there are indeed those who are either distributing their own property to the needy, or making distributions of virtues, who acquire for themselves a hundredfold either corporeal or spiritual wealth. C *But there are also those who gather that which is foreign, who are diminished.* And again, there are certain ones who, either by seizing the goods of other men or by receiving the malice of demons, make themselves smaller; for indeed, regarding corporeal wealth, they pay penalties for what they have ill-gotten, and regarding spiritual wealth, by casting away the honor that is according to virtue, they acquire for themselves the dishonor of malice.
*A blessed soul is all simple.* For a soul that is praised before God and men is every one that remains the same in the same state through *apatheia*, and is not stirred by what befalls it, whether they be pleasant or painful things, and does not receive composition from them out of the passions, but preserves the simple reason of its own nature.
VERS. 25. *But an irascible man is not of decent appearance.* He who becomes angry at those who annoy him is indecent, casting away the dignity of peace and of the serenity in the soul.
*He who withholds grain, lets it fall to the nations.* And he who does not cast [into the earth] the fruit-bearing word of virtue, which is innate to the flesh, through action, will leave it to be consumed by the enemies of our souls, the demons, through the cleverness of irrational passions. D *But a blessing is on the head of him who gives.* But the use of this innate word will be for good things, with the ruling mind, of him who distributes it to the flesh for spiritual fruitfulness.
VERS. 27. *He who constructs good things, seeks good favor.* And he who works the all-good commandments of God hastens to receive the gifts of the all-holy Spirit, which releases one from every debt and renders one worthy of the participation in supernatural goods. *But he who seeks evil things, it shall overtake him.* The
but if he hastens to do evil, he is justly overtaken by suffering evil, whether in the present time for correction, or in the future for vengeance.
A Ver. 28. *He who trusts in his riches shall fall.* And whoever relies upon his own things, whether riches or accomplishments, and not upon God, such a person will be brought down through divine abandonment, whether because his riches flow away, or because he errs in word or action. *But he who receives just things shall arise.* He who carries out the divine commandments according to habit and action—those which turn one away from evil and encourage one toward the good—and who, as one who knows his own weakness, hopes in God alone, such a one will become translucent and radiant in virtue.
B Ver. 29. *He who does not watch over his own house shall inherit the winds.* And he who does not show indulgence to the weaknesses of those in his own house, and does not bear with them as much as is possible, will gain [only] the instability of their judgment, and will not lead them to obey him. *But the foolish shall serve the wise.* The imprudent shall minister to the prudent, as the latter approaches him gently and leads him toward his own will.
Ver. 30. *From the fruit of righteousness springs up the tree of life.* And from virtue, gathered from the divine governance according to the laws, there sprouts up in the soul the word of discernment that preserves it, by which it is kept from the death of sin, in that it holds fast to good things that are permanent, while it holds itself back from the evil of that which relates to temporal things.
*But the untimely souls of the lawless are taken away.* The souls of those who do not keep the commandments of God are snatched away from temporal life before their time, their days of malice being shortened for the sake of the elect.
Ver. 31. *If the righteous man is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?* For if even he who keeps the divine commandments is saved through many disciplines—by being temperate in the face of pleasant, voluntary passions, and willingly enduring painful trials; because *the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force*—how will he who does not honor God through works of righteousness, and who voluntarily deprives himself of Him, either not be found at all, having been condemned to exclusion from God who is everywhere present and fills all things, so that he in no way enjoys Him for his own blessedness; or be found in existence only in such a way that he is a partaker of Him (God) exclusively in that he has voluntarily exchanged, in place of the *ever-being-well*, an *ever-being-bad*?
CAP. XII
Ver. 1. *He who loves discipline loves sense.* For he who loves the instruction—painful to the soul—that leads to salvation through temperance and patience, loves discernment.
A And the discernment of what is truly good and what is evil is fivefold: that which is non-dominant and that which reigns widely; that which is allowed to be thought and that which is not allowed; that which is allowed to be spoken and that which is not; that which is allowed to be done and that which is not; and finally, that which is incorrupt and that which is corrupt. Because the discernment of good and evil that comes from the instinct of the mind is full of care and labor, as it is a matter of free choice; but that which follows the sense of what one experiences—that is, bodily pleasure and pain—is very easy and free of toil, as it is natural.
*But he who hates reproofs is foolish.* He who flees from the manifestations of his own sins is emptied of sense, since he is unwilling ever to come to the knowledge of the truth.
B Ver. 2. *Better is he who finds grace from the Lord.* And he is chosen before the Lord, the God of all, who has obtained by his own desire, as a free gift from Him, both the remission of his own sins and the possession of God Himself.
*But the unrighteous man shall be kept in silence.* But he who has acquired the power of doing what is right, yet has used it through his freedom contrary to what is right, will not be deemed unworthy of the word of God in all respects; but by this word, so that he may live forever, he will be accounted worthy in the resurrection on account of God’s goodness toward all. Yet, in that he should always live blessedly, he will be judged unworthy of Him, because of the perversity of his own will and the justice of God.
Ver. 3. *A man shall not prosper from unrighteousness.* For a man from a senseless choice will have no good outcome, since all his zeal hastens toward corruption.
*But the roots of the just shall not be removed.* But the fixed habits concerning the good of those who live blamelessly will remain forever in the same state, inseparable, for those men are immutable in their dispositions.
C Ver. 4. *A brave woman is a crown to her husband.* And indeed, the laborious sense becomes a cause of true glory to the mind, for the one who uses it according to reason as an aid toward the unerring contemplation of things that are.
*But as a worm in wood, so does an evil woman destroy a man.* Just as a worm destroys wood by gnawing it, so sense, when it wallows in the rot of pleasures, dissipates the mind and leads it away from the true glory of God, the Cause of all things, and of the creatures produced by Him.
D Ver. 5. *The thoughts of the just are judgments.* And the thoughts of those who incline neither toward the neglect of virtue nor toward its excess are nothing else than the choice of the truly good, and the flight from evil.
*But the ungodly govern deceits.* Those who do not honor the truth, while feigning virtue, mix good and evil; because for men in deception, and not for God in truth, s…
A they strive to please.
Ver. 6. *The words of the ungodly, are snares for blood.* For the words of those who do not honor the truth, though they may seem sensible to their hearers, are fashioned by them for the slaughter of those whom they persecute with envy or hatred, and whom they consequently slander, so that the hearers themselves become accomplices in such an unholy undertaking. *But the mouth of the upright delivers them.* The discourse of good men, who prefer nothing to the truth, serves both to convict the slanderers and to vindicate the slandered, indeed delivering them from schemes.
Ver. 7. *And wherever the ungodly turns, he is destroyed.* For whenever a man who does not honor the truth deviates from the path of virtue, whether by feigning good on the right, or by neglecting it on the left, he perishes, missing the good that abides forever, B as he has not God looking upon his works. *But the houses of the just shall remain.* Those habits anchored in knowledge and virtue, belonging to those who live blamelessly, are kept by them for eternal life; guarding them like houses, in the present from the winter and heat of voluntary and involuntary passions, and in the future from eternal punishment.
Ver. 8. *The mouth of an intelligent man is praised by a man.* The exhortation of one who has reformed his own soul through disposition toward the ways and words of the commandments is praised by the man who shows himself valiant against all passions, in that he exercises self-control over voluntary things and endures involuntary ones; illuminating his own soul with the light of knowledge, and leading it safely through difficulties. *But the slothful is mocked.* He who is sluggish in soul C regarding the performance of God's commandments is mocked by the demons with the reproach of ignominy, and,
Ver. 9. *Better is a man in dishonor serving himself, than he who honors himself and lacks bread.* Just as better is he who lives in obscurity and provides for his own needs, than he who, for the sake of vainglory, cannot bear to work with his own hands and therefore lacks necessary food; so too is he better who acts manfully against the passions by being in subjection and acquiring virtues for himself through action, than he who appoints himself a leader, yet lacks the practical word that nourishes souls.
Ver. 10. *A righteous man pities the souls of his beasts.* For he who is perfect in virtue pities the souls of those of his own flock D who have chosen an irrational life, being concerned with their salvation in every way. *But the bowels of the ungodly are unmerciful.* For the dispositions of those who do not honor God through works of righteousness
A are unmerciful, as they are indifferent toward the weaker ones.
Vers. 11. *He who works his own land shall be filled with bread.* And he who labors in practice concerning his own earthly flesh, cleansing away the passionate thoughts that grow from it like certain thorns with the plow of the Word, shall be filled with virtues that feed the soul like bread. *But those who pursue vanities are destitute of understanding.* Those who are busied with the useless relations of passing things are lacking in the habits of opposing folly and arrogance; for prudence is a habit that is the opposite of folly and arrogance, and the want of it is a deficiency of this, according to folly.
B *He who is pleasant in wine-drinking shall leave dishonor in his own strongholds.* For whoever is delighted in mind to be diverted by the appearances of visible things—which, like wine, make the mind that lingers in them depart from the truth and not advance to the reasons of existing things—within the powers of his own soul, which were secured by the Creator as certain strongholds for it, so that it might not fear the demons who, according to the nature of the things seen, plunder and capture the mind towards ignorance through the senses; such a one, because of his own careless attitude, will allow himself to lack the virtues that procure honor for these powers. This deprivation, by way of the lack of temperance, courage, C and justice, is called, in the concupiscible part, licentiousness; in the irascible part, cowardice; in the rational part, folly; and concerning the three aforementioned, inferiority.
Vers. 12. *The desires of the ungodly are evil.* Since the irrational cravings of the concupiscible and irascible parts, in those who do not honor God through practical knowledge, are harmful, as they damage the habits of the virtues. *But the roots of the pious are in strongholds.* But the firm habits of those who honor God through practical knowledge are permanently established within the soul’s protective powers.
Vers. 13. *By the sin of the lips the sinner falls into snares.* For indeed, through the aberration of the concupiscible faculty from the truly Good—in which, as if in lips that offer kisses, the inclinations towards vanities are found—he who strays from the path of the divine commandments is caught in the snares of D the devil. *But the righteous man escapes from them.* He avoids the snares of the wicked one who conducts his life according to the divine laws.
*He who observes mercy shall be pitied.* And he who, with his mind, looks towards the single reason of human nature, which is seen equally in all men, and does not judge from appearances—deeming some base and others noble—shall be judged worthy of the compassion of God; for he shall not be judged for his own transgressions, since he himself did not judge those of others.
B He who meets at the gates, shall vex souls. [/B] But he who, in the eyes of the many, according to the appearance of things, meets unevenly with the senses—acting as it were as gates bringing the appearances of visible things to the soul—and who, being hindered by these inequalities, does not rise in mind to the contemplation of the one nature of men, will vex souls, cleansing them against their will, as is fitting, from the filth of their sins; and it is altogether logical that he should be judged, since he has judged, and that he should drink of the wormwood of the divine judgments, for the cleansing of the things in which he has sinned against God.
Verse 14.
From the fruits of the mouth, a man’s soul shall be filled with good things.
And from the words of instruction, which nourish the soul, of him who declares in all things the divine will, the soul of him who shows strength against the passions shall be filled with virtues.And the reward of his lips shall be given to him.
Indeed, the recompense of this good instruction will be provided to him by God, the rewarder, because he brings forth the worthy from the unworthy.Verse 15.
The ways of the foolish are right before them.
And the works of those deprived of understanding appear without fault to themselves; for they trust in themselves, and do not submit their own affairs to other wise men, to whom they might give heed.But the wise man hearkens to counsel.
He obeys good instructions, knowing that everyone naturally clings to his own things, even if they be not good; and from this he appoints others as examiners of his own thoughts, lest perhaps he runs or has run in vain.Verse 16.
The foolish [man] declares his anger the same day.
And he who does not hold his anger by reason, as soon as he is stirred to wrath, manifests it, if he can by deeds, or else by words.But the crafty man hides his own dishonor.
He allows the dishonorable passions—I mean cupidity and the anger that avenges it—to be manifested neither by deeds nor by words, he who does everything with circumspection, being in control of them by reason, until he has mortified them.Verse 17.
A just man declares a manifest faith.
And he who lives blamelessly proclaims his faith in God, made manifest through works, as possessing it not dead, but alive.But the witness of the unjust is deceitful.
But he who confirms by deeds his own judgments against the right reasoning, pollutes the purity of his faith with his passions.Verse 18.
There are those who, by speaking, wound like swords.
And there are those who, saying nothing peaceful, strike the hearers through their own words, as if with weapons taken up in battle for the defense of the righteous; but they strike those,and trouble their souls, in that they do not know of what spirit they are. A *The tongues of the wise heal.* The words of those who know that they partake of the peaceful Spirit, because they have been enriched by His grace, and who soothe troubled souls with peaceful words, judge what healing is appropriate for them.
VERS. 19. *Truthful lips establish testimony.* For the words of true wisdom, and of one who does not feign the truth, when dispensed in judgment, lead to the confirmation of the truth, skillfully guiding the minds of the hearers to the fullness of the truth.
*But a hasty witness has an unjust tongue.* But he who proclaims the truth, before he has arranged his words in judgment for the joy and usefulness of his hearers, as one who does not think of the things of God, because he does not love his brothers, but shows himself off, because he wishes to be held righteous by men, he utters words to the detriment of the hearers. B
VERS. 20. *Deceit is in the heart of him who fabricates evil.* And there is a commingling of passions in the soul of him who works out evil counsels; which commingling corrupts the purity of the soul that was created in the image of God.
*But they who desire peace shall rejoice.* But they who are anxious to be freed from passions shall rejoice, having been delivered from the dangers of the soul and having attained salvation: for he who seeks, finds, and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. C
VERS. 21. *Nothing unjust shall please the righteous.* Nothing will seem good to him who governs himself according to the divine laws, not even one of those things which the evil one suggests to him against the divine commandments.
*But the ungodly shall be filled with evils.* They who do not worship God through works of righteousness shall be filled with the passions of dishonor.
VERS. 22. *Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.* And the Lord of all turns away from the confession of the one which is not confirmed by works of righteousness, as if it were dead. D
*But he who produces faith is acceptable to Him.* And he who has perfect faith in God, namely that which is living through works, is well accepted by Him: for God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
VERS. 23. *An intelligent man is a throne of perception.* He who resists the passions nobly, and assents to the divine precepts through his disposition, is a foundation of discernment; through the habit of which, being deeply rooted, he declines from every evil from which it turns him away, and inclines to every virtue to which it urges him.
*But the heart of the foolish shall encounter curses.* The soul of those who do not carry God within them shall encounter such evils as one might pray for an enemy.
A For thus having fallen, it encounters shameful passions willingly, but encounters vengeful ones unwillingly.
Vers. 24. *The hand of the elect shall rule easily.* For the active power of those who distinguish the better from the worse—which is the rational faculty—will easily subject their entirely passible and irrational powers, namely, desire and anger, and will produce the virtues.
*But the deceitful shall be for plunder.* Those who feign piety by an inclination toward corruptible things will be subject, according to their own will, to being plundered by the author of all evil, the enemy. B
Vers. 25. *A terrible word perturbs the heart of a just man.* For the divine threat of punishments strikes fear and perturbs the soul of him who is struggling against the passions and obeying the divine commandments, drawing it back from all wickedness.
*But good tidings gladden him.* The proclamation of the incorruptible goods gladdens him with the hope of possessing them.
Vers. 26. *A just investigator will be a friend to himself.* For he who acknowledges God with fear and desire as Judge, and in preferring the love of every man, keeps the divine commandment, will be loving himself in effect; for he will be loved by God in the same measure as he loved those of the same nature as himself. C
*The sentiments of the impious are without mercy.* The interior dispositions of those who do not carry God in their heart with fear and desire are without mercy in their time and without affection toward their fellow men; and for this very reason they will have such a just judge for themselves in the day of retribution, not obtaining mercy from Him, since they themselves showed no mercy to others.
*Evils shall overtake those who sin.* And those who fail to find the narrow and afflicted way that leads to salvation, namely the way of the commandments of God, will fall into punishments, whether temporary for the sake of purification or eternal for the sake of vengeance.
*But the way of the impious shall lead them astray.* For the broad and spacious life that leads to ruin—in the case of those who do not honor God through works of righteousness—will deceive them, having led them astray with the lures of pleasure, and will lead them away from the path that leads to salvation. D
Vers. 27. *A deceitful man shall not attain to hunting.* Nor shall the man who feigns virtue attain to the honor he hunts for among men.
*But a precious possession is a pure man.* A thing worthy of honor before God and men is a man cleansed of every stain of sin.
Vers. 28. *In the paths of righteousness is life.* And by the practice of the commandments of God, the fullness of which is love, the illumination of knowledge born from this provides life to the mind.
*But the ways of those who remember injuries are unto death.* The works of those who harbor hatred toward men are lasting, on account of the indelible memory of some painful incident.
from those things which are brought upon them by these same passions, they lead them—as though they were far removed from charity, which generates all virtues—into the death of the soul, which is sin, as it is a separation from God, the true life.
CHAPTER XIII
A Ver. 1. *A crafty son is obedient to his father.* Of those who have been adopted through faith, he who observes all of His divine commandments is obedient to God and the Father, by whom he was adopted according to grace, and who enjoins those things which lead to salvation. *But he who is disobedient is in destruction.* He who is not obedient to God in observing His holy commandments, even if, on account of mere faith, he is deemed worthy to be called His son, falls disastrously into the turning away from God.
Ver. 2. *By the fruits of justice, the good son is nourished.* From fruit-bearing virtues, through the observance of the divine commandments, he is nourished according to the soul—he who preserves his spiritual adoption according to grace, having kept it irreproachable in all obedience. *But the souls of the transgressors perish before their time.* The souls of those who violate the divine commandments voluntarily procure for themselves the turning away from God, before the time of judgment and retribution.
B Ver. 3. *He who guards his mouth guards his own soul.* Whoever masters his tongue, so as not to speak inconsiderately things that offend God or men, keeps his soul safe from the snares of demons or of men seeking an occasion to entrap it. *But he who is headlong with his lips shall terrify himself.* He who speaks inconsiderately casts himself into fear, having spoken something that brings danger to his own soul or body.
C Ver. 4. *In desires is every sluggard.* Every man who is idle through sloth compares irrational lusts to himself, because he does not occupy himself in the operation of virtue. *But the hands of men are in diligence.* The active faculties of those who manfully resist voluntary passions of the soul, and endure the involuntary ones, perform good with every ardor, so that they might entirely flee from evil.
Ver. 5. *A just man detests an unjust word.* He who observes the law of God’s commandments recoils from every unjust utterance, so that he does not wish to admit it even to the tips of his ears. *But the impious man is ashamed, and shall not have boldness of speech.* D He who does not honor God, when the aforementioned sentence is set forth before him—who does not accept this, is suffused with shame, and is no longer able to speak with a free mouth, nor to utter similar things; for indeed
Ver. 6. *Justice guards the innocent.* The observance of God’s commandments preserves those who are exempt from all malice in the good.
But sin makes the impious wicked.** Those who do not honor God, the author of the divine commandments, by fulfilling them—their failure to choose the good makes them evil. A
Ver. 7. *There are those who enrich themselves, having nothing.* And there are some who acquire for themselves spiritual riches according to virtue; whether in hypocrisy, being deprived of them in their disposition; or genuinely, as those who are destitute of material wealth, and who gratefully endure the distresses that ensue from this. *And there are those who humble themselves in great wealth.* Again, there are those who humble themselves—either in reality, honoring God only with outward esteem while losing that which has only the appearance [of goodness] through the misuse of superfluous material wealth beyond what is necessary, and who are troubled by irrational passions; or in mind, as those who, in the fullness of spiritual wealth according to knowledge and virtue, consider themselves unworthy of God. B
Ver. 8. *The ransom of a man’s soul is his own wealth.* And the freedom of the soul is [the portion] of the man who struggles manfully against the passions, whether it be that most genuine spiritual wealth in knowledge and virtue for his own soul, as it delivers it from all ignorance and malice; or whether it be material wealth garnered by his own labors and distributed among the poor, as a ransom for his [own] sins. *But the beggar does not sustain a threat.* He who is deprived of wealth—whether bodily or spiritual—does not fear the threat of future punishment, because due to folly he despises it. C
Ver. 9. *Light is for the righteous always.* And the light of the knowledge of God, having risen from the Sun of Justice, shines eternally and inextinguishably for those who live according to the divine law of the commandments; in the present, it is dimmer, but in the future, it is clearer and purer. *But the light of the impious is extinguished.* The deceptive light of the knowledge of perishable, earthly things, in those who do not honor God through works of justice, vanishes quickly as something transient. D
*Deceitful souls wander in sins.* Souls, indeed, which dig a pit for their neighbors, are deceived, bringing ruin upon themselves in those very things through which they plot the destruction of others.
*But the righteous show mercy and give.* Those who fulfill the divine law through charity take pity on those who are suffering, and they minister to them according to their ability, thereby working out their own salvation.
Ver. 10. *A bad man does evil with contumely.* He who is filled with all malice performs wicked acts without shame. *But those who know themselves are wise.* But those in whom such things are done, recognizing their own weakness and thinking humbly, for this very reason become partakers of some wisdom.
Ver. 11. *Wealth gathered in haste with wickedness*
A becomes less. Wealth, gathered unjustly with haste, diminishes; because he who gathers it in such a way raises up against himself those whom he treats unjustly; by whom the wealth gathered by him is consumed in many ways; since the unjust man is unable to escape divine justice in any way. *But he who gathers for himself with piety shall be increased.* But he who, from his own labors, without robbery, acquires money for himself in order to provide for those in need, shall become richer from this; receiving a hundredfold of what he gives to those who ask, and eternal life.
12. *Better is he who begins to succor with his heart, than he who promises and leads into hope.* He who begins with his whole soul to assist a man in need of his help is better than one who promises to help and leaves the wretched man to hope alone. For he who puts off the time does not know what the coming day will bring; but he who lives according to the divine laws shows mercy and lends; in those [acts] where he shows mercy to men, he lends to God. *A just man shows mercy and lends; for the desire of good is a tree of life.* To him who bestows a loan with interest, in returning the reward of mercy toward the needy, a hundredfold will be given; for this, just like a certain tree, B toward the just judgment of eternal goods before temporal ones, brings forth as fruit the life which is in the spirit; of which charity and goodness are the fruits.
13. *He who despises a matter shall be despised for it.* He who is negligently disposed toward one of the commandments given to us by God to be kept, shall be deprived of the benefit resulting from it, falling short thereby of the excellence of the good. *But he who fears the commandment, he is whole.* But he who despises none of God’s commandments, but follows each of them with all zeal, remains undiminished in the good. *To a deceitful son there shall be no good.* To a crafty son who practices virginity, poverty, and the other things of a perfect life—by which a son of God is demonstrated—with hypocrisy in order to please men, nothing good will result, not even a temporal one; for that person suffers temporal distress, and is deprived of every C spiritual utility.
*To a wise servant there shall be prosperous works, and his way shall be directed.* For one who fears the threatened eternal punishments as he fears the scourges of a master, and from that assumes the role of a servant, making the beginning of wisdom the fear of the Lord—for him, the temporal distresses become tolerable, namely those which aid in the expiation of the stain of his faults; and his path toward virtue does not decline either to the left or to the right because of the difficulties that occur.
14. *The law of the wise is a fountain of life.* When the spiritual law directs the actions of the wise man, delivering him from death according to sin, it opens to him a spiritual fountain of life according to virtue.
"The foolish man shall die by a snare." A The senseless man, entangled as if in some snare—the error regarding material things according to the senses—perishes by the death that is according to sin.
15. "Good understanding gives grace." The more perfect instruction regarding divine things, among those who teach, imparts divine knowledge to those who are instructed.
"To know the law is the mark of a good understanding." When the disciples themselves comprehend the causes of the divine commandments that are taught to them, it is an indication of an understanding that runs straight toward the truth.
"But the ways of the contemptuous are in destruction." The actions of those who behave negligently regarding the divine commandments occupy themselves with nothing; for in existing things, evil does not exist. B
16. "Every prudent man acts with knowledge." Everyone who has acquired an active understanding of all the virtues practices the virtues with reason, distinguishing evil from good, and thus acting.
"But the fool discloses his own wickedness." The senseless man brings into the open the evil that is hidden within him according to his disposition, by expressing it through action.
17. "A rash king falls into evils." The mind that governs the whole man, if it does not recognize the weakness of the body and condescend to it, by traversing the mean according to virtue, falls, as if reckless, into the passions that arise from an excess of virtue. C
"A wise messenger delivers him." The Angel of the great council of the Father delivers him from such a danger; the wise physician of our souls, God the Word, permits him to be stirred by various passions, so that he may learn to be humble and not to act vainly out of empty glory.
18. "Instruction takes away poverty and dishonor." The bringing on of involuntary hardships purifies the soul of the privation of spiritual riches that is concomitant with pleasure, and removes the passions that cause dishonor, rousing the conscience to the reproof of evil.
"But he who keeps reproofs shall be glorified." D He who does not destroy the reproofs of hard labors out of sloth, but guards them within himself through grateful patience, shall attain the glory that is with God.
19. "The desires of the pious gladden the soul." The impulses toward the good, in those who honor God with good works, gladden the soul by their successful outcome.
"But the works of the impious are far from knowledge." The actions of those who do not honor Him in this way are far from the knowledge of the good, as they are devoid of reason and full of deceit; and because of this, they always crush the soul with repentance through the trial of evil.
A Ver. 20. *Who walks with the wise, shall be wise; but who walks with the senseless, shall be known.* He who imitates the teachers who have reached perfection will himself also be perfect, by becoming like them. But he who is led astray with the foolish, even if he attempts to remain hidden while performing the works of darkness, will by no means be able to remain entirely hidden; for his actions will be made public at the fearful tribunal.
Ver. 21. *Evil shall pursue sinners.* Eternal punishments shall follow those who transgress the divine commandments. *But to the just, good things shall be rendered.* But those who keep them shall receive eternal good things, when the just Judge renders to each according to their merits.
B Ver. 22. *A good man shall inherit sons of sons.* He who is good by nature, as God, the only-begotten Son and Word of God and the Father by nature, having become man, will possess spiritual children from his own divine preaching—namely, his holy disciples and apostles—and their children, whom they in turn begat through the Gospel; since the good is thus transmitted from him through succession to all who believe in him and keep his holy commandments.
*But the riches of the impious are laid up for the just.* Those whom the most wicked demons, who do not honor God, possessed as a kind of wealth, and whom they acquired for themselves through deceit, and whom they use for every whim of their will—these will be adjudicated to the holy Fathers and teachers, so that they might be snatched away from the servitude of the demons by them, thus making their own disciples wealthier and bringing them to God.
C Ver. 23. *The just shall spend many years in wealth.* Those who live according to the divine laws, having acquired wealth that is incorruptible through virtue and knowledge, shall preserve it for infinite ages.
*But the unjust shall perish quickly.* But those who disparage these things, as they expend all their zeal only on corruptible things, will shortly be deprived of these fleeting things by death, and they themselves will be condemned to perdition.
D Ver. 24. *He who spares his rod, hates his son.* He who does not chastise his son with reason, as a rod strengthening him in the good, has a bad disposition toward him, because he neglects what is of benefit to him.
*But he who loves, instructs diligently.* But he who is well-disposed toward him, carefully prunes him, turning him away from what is not proper and admonishing him by urging him towards what is proper.
Ver. 25. *The just man eating satisfies his soul.* He who lives according to the divine laws, having the heavenly bread as nourishment, shall be satisfied when the glory of God appears to him.
But the souls of the impious are indigent. The souls of those who do not honor God through good works find themselves destitute of the Good, and because of this indigence of the Good, they are tormented as if by some terrible famine. A
CHAPTER XIV
Vers. 1. *Wise women have built houses.* Souls that, because they keep the reason in accordance with which they were created, are not devoid of wisdom, have prepared for themselves, in practice, virtues that act like houses to protect them against the cold and the heat of the passions.
*But the one who has become foolish has destroyed them with her own hands.* For the soul that has turned toward foolishness has corrupted such virtues, in that it has used faculties suited for the performance of good toward malice, from which it has altogether prepared itself to be agitated by the passions. B
Vers. 2. *He who walks uprightly fears the Lord.* He who does not turn aside from the straight path of virtue fears God, his own Master; for through the fear of the Lord, every man turns away from evil.
*But he who deviates in his ways shall be dishonored.* But he who turns to the passions, through which virtue is neglected, shall be deprived of honor before God, banished from the divine kingdom, and condemned to Gehenna.
Vers. 3. *Out of the mouth of fools comes a rod of insolence.* The speech of fools does not lash the insolence of the passions like a rod, but rather, as a kind of staff, it reinforces it, because it does not instruct those who hear, but establishes them in evil. C
*But the lips of the wise guard them.* The discourses of the wise not only instruct those who hear them, but also protect themselves so they do not fall into the evils from which they turn others away; for in the very things in which the prudent attempt to instruct others, they fortify themselves, so as not to suffer the same things as them.
Vers. 4. *Where there are no oxen, the mangers are clean.* Where there are no irrational desires for visible things, there the images of the passions—in which is found the appearance of those things that are seen—are banished, for this is the nourishment of the irrational part of the soul. D
*But where there are many crops, the strength of the ox is manifest.* But where the diverse reasons of visible things are skillfully cultivated according to the natural contemplation in the Spirit, there the power of desire, which is according to reason, is manifest; through which it was able to transcend the distraction that comes through the senses, and to arrive at the unity of the truth which is in all things according to the mind.
Vers. 5. *A faithful witness will not lie.* God the Word, truth itself, when He convicts our habit concerning external appearances—which is full of error—by the destruction of these things, is truthful.
*But an unjust witness kindles lies.* He stirs up...
A within us the false opinion concerning their beauty, he who always schemes to deceive us through this by every possible means.
VER. 6. *You shall seek wisdom among the wicked, and you shall not find it.* You shall examine the reason for which those who do evil perform it, and you shall not find it, since it does not even exist; for what these men do, they do without reason. But *perception for the intelligent is easy.* For those who are of a sound mind, the distinction between good and evil is not difficult, since they have such an impulse from nature itself. For they know evil, so as not to do to others what they do not wish to suffer from them; and they know good, so as to do to others what they also wish to be repaid to themselves by them.
VER. 7. *All things are against the foolish man.* For all things, both pleasant and bitter, turn out to the detriment of the senseless, because he conducts himself poorly in these matters; for he does not use pleasant things prudently, because, while sailing smoothly, he forgets the storm; nor does he endure painful things, because he does not hope for a deliverance from them, nor for the reward which he would receive by enduring the pains that come from them. *The weapons of perception are wise lips.* To cast down his foolishness, the weapons of knowledge are words that clearly proclaim the truth and bring the domestic life back to the norm of reason.
VER. 8. *The wisdom of the crafty will discern their own ways.* Those who pass through all occurring events with a good disposition, and use them for their own benefit, know how they walk; and from there, they escape the crags and chasms of malice, and with unswerving foot they hasten toward the final desired goal. *The foolishness of the insipid is in error.* Those who live without reason wander away from the truth, and fail to attain the good.
VER. 9. *The houses of the iniquitous shall require cleansing.* The bodies of those who transgress divine commandments, in which their souls remain as if in some dwellings until death, since they are stained by the passions according to their activity, shall require purification through voluntary or involuntary pains. *But the houses of the just are acceptable.* The bodies of those who conduct themselves blamelessly, being led to God through their works, exist as a sacrifice highly D acceptable to Him.
VER. 10. *The sensitive heart of man is painful to his own soul.* The heart of man, on the one hand, regarding those things that are pleasant to the senses, produces a diffusion of the spirit surrounding it and excites irrational desire; on the other hand, with the blood fermenting in the chest, it again clings to things painful to the senses and excites a similar emotion; it is accustomed to grieve the soul of such a man through the reproaches of his conscience, and moreover, to ensnare it in the various desires that arise from there.
A When it rejoices, it does not mingle with insults. When the soul possesses spiritual joy, it is free from the ignominy of the passions.
Ver. 11. The houses of the impious shall vanish. The bodies of those who do not honor God through good works, and this world in which their corporal life is lived—because they regard themselves not as having these as temporary provisions, but as eternal dwelling-places—shall be delivered over to corruption; together with these temporal things, such men shall utterly lose their eternal mansions.
But the tents of the upright shall stand. Both the flesh and the world shall stand for those who consider these things as mere temporary tents, knowing that all visible things have their state in origin and their movement in corruption, and neither rejoicing in their origin (nor grieving at their corruption); hence, they show what is unstable to be stable in itself.
Ver. 12. There is a way that seems right to men. The carnal and relaxed life, on account of its sweetness, is judged by men to be beautiful, as long as it has a smooth flow for them. Its last ends go to the depths of hell. Its end leads to destruction, since it draws one away from the true good.
Ver. 13. In joys, sadness is not mingled. Those who are attached to temporary things, while they rejoice in them, do not perceive sadness, on account of the victory of pleasure. But the end of joy comes into mourning. Such joy, being circumscribed by its end, goes over into lamentation on account of the deception arising from it; for the end of perishing joy is sadness.
Ver. 14. The bold-hearted man shall be filled with his own ways. He shall be filled with those irrational undertakings of his that lead to destruction, he who, because of a desire for retaliation, burns with blood around the heart, and is thence bold-hearted. But a good man is from his own thoughts. He shall be filled from his own reflections made according to reason—he who acts entirely for the good, and stands courageously against the passions.
Ver. 15. The innocent believes every word. He who does not know how to discern things that appear to his detriment, like a foolish man, is simply persuaded by everyone to whom he entrusts himself, by whom he might perhaps be driven into danger. But the cunning man comes to repentance. The prudent man, even if he has accepted some such thing through being caught off guard, rejects it; for he is able to discern whether things result in his own harm or benefit.
Ver. 16. The wise man, fearing, turned away from evil. He who recognizes his own weakness, trembling, is separated from the lawless man, keeping himself safe from the harm caused by him. But the foolish man, trusting in himself, mingles with the lawless man. He who is without
A understanding, not trusting in God, but in himself, walks dangerously with him who transgresses the divine laws.
VERS. 17. *Iracundus with inconsideration acts.* He who is quickly moved to anger acts thoughtlessly in matters worthy of punishment. *A prudent man suffers many things.* He who has strength and intellect considers what things must be done, and endures most of the unexpected things manfully.
18. *Foolish men distribute malice to themselves.* The foolish allot to themselves malice, because, on account of the enticements of the senses, they hate one another and are hated by one another. *But the cunning shall hold sway over the senses.* But the prudent will subject the sense to reason, and will love what is kindred and of the same nature.
19. *The evil shall fall before the just.* Those who run quickly toward evil stumble before those who are not overcome by evil, but who overcome evil with good, being ashamed of their virtue. *And the impious shall serve at the doors of the just.* Those who do not honor God through good works serve at the doors of those who live blamelessly; they sit there and importune them, so that they might obtain for themselves the divine favor through them.
20. *Friends shall hate poor friends.* Those who love certain people on account of their wealth despise them when they have fallen from it. *And friends of the rich are many.* Those with whom wealth remains, these many love on account of utility. Or otherwise: those who, on account of passions, serve the spirits cast down from heavenly glory and spiritual riches, will shrink back from them—God permits that they be punished by them for the satisfaction C of the sins committed by them—but they love the holy angels, with whom the glory and the no light treasury of grace remains; being helped by these, they return to God.
21. *He who despises the poor man, sins.* He who disdains even one of those living in poverty misses the good, provoking God to anger. *He who pities the poor is most blessed.* He who sympathizes with all those who have fallen from wealth is very acceptable to God.
22. *The erring unjust, fashion evils.* Deceived by temporal things, those who do not live according to divine laws accomplish the works of iniquity. *But the good fashion mercy and truth.* They prepare mercy toward those of the same nature and the knowledge of the truth—which is the end of things to be known—through all the appetitive and theoretical faculties, observing the most holy wills of God.
A Fabricators of evil do not understand mercy and faith. Those who practice lawlessness do not acknowledge mercy toward the needy, nor faith toward God; for if they were merciful, they would not plunder the property of others without restraint. But alms and faith are found among those who fabricate good. And if they possessed a firm faith toward God, they would not despise His commandments; for the compassion shown to the poor and the faith toward God are found among those who work the good—they demonstrate through their works the hidden dispositions of their souls toward God and men.
ver. 23. In everyone who is anxious there is abundance. For one who anxiously seeks the true good in every matter, there exists an object which incomparably surpasses everything: the one Cause of all things and God who is above all.
But the pleasant and unfeeling person will be in want. He who is self-indulgent, and does not labor for the true good, will be deprived of it.
ver. 24. The crown of the wise is their wealth. For those who increase their virtues with reason, these become a crown of glory that will not wither.
But the way of life of fools is evil. And the distraction of the senseless in vain things is evil, as a provider of eternal punishment.
ver. 25. A faithful witness will rescue souls from evils. He who teaches the word of truth, and confirms this by his works, will deliver souls from sins.
But the deceitful one burns with falsehood. He kindles the deceptive furnace of the passions, who, under the guise of the good, sets forth the opposite, and deceives the simpler among men.
ver. 26. In the fear of the Lord is the hope of strength. In those who, through faith in the fear of the B Lord, have turned aside from evil, there arises a hope of strength that is productive of divine commandments; for after they have turned aside from evil, like servants, through the fear of punishments, it is possible for them to do what is good like hired laborers, through the hope of future goods.
And to his children he will leave a support of peace. The Lord Himself will bestow immutability—a foundation of impassibility—upon those deemed worthy through love of the adoption of sons of the Lord.
ver. 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life; it causes one to avoid the snare of death. Divine fear is the principle of those seven spiritual C gifts of the Spirit which vivify the soul that is dead to sin, of which wisdom is the end, as being perfecting; this fear prepares one to avoid sin, which happens to be a snare of the soul for destruction.
ver. 28. In a great nation is the glory of the king. In the multitude of the nations is the glory of the King of all, God, D when they approach Him and proclaim Him to be the true God through faith. And in the multitude of nations,
A in the deficiency of the people, there is the destruction of the powerful. When that tyrant of our souls and enemy is frustrated in this way by the great multitude which he had acquired through idolatry, his glory shall collapse into the dust.
VERS. 29. A man long-suffering is rich in understanding. He who masters his anger according to reason, and suffers painful things with nobility, who acts and speaks with circumspection as is fitting, clearly possesses intelligence.
A faint-hearted man is very foolish. He who is quickly carried away into anger on account of faint-heartedness, doing and saying what ought not to be done or said, is foolish.
VERS. 30. A meek man is a physician of the heart. He who is not troubled in spirit by the causes for which another is driven against him, but bears with nobility the things that come upon him from another, and approaches his adversary gently, heals the troubled soul of the other through his own long-suffering.
A worm of the bones is a sensitive heart. Just as a worm gnaws through bones, so too the heart, which is prone to feelings (at times overflowing with pleasant things, at times agitated by painful ones), consumes the stronger powers of the soul in unnatural passions.
VERS. 31. He who insults the poor, provokes his Maker. He who casts his own faults upon the man who is always in need, as if he were defenseless, provokes God, the Maker of that man. B He who honors God, has mercy on the poor. He who honors the Father in heaven through good works, feels pity for him who has fallen from wealth, and assists him as much as he is able.
VERS. 32. In his own malice will the impious man perish. In his own malice, and not in the malice of fathers or children, shall the man perish who does not honor God through good works. For he who does not take care of his children and those under his hand shall render an account, not because they turned out evil, but because he himself neglected their salvation; and again, they themselves shall be condemned, not because of the negligence of their fathers and masters, but because they themselves have become evil.
He who trusts in the Lord is righteous by his own holiness. He who places all his hope in the Lord of all things is righteous through his own perfection toward God, and not through the works and righteous acts of others; for it is required of us that we honor the Lord by our own labors.
VERS. 33. In a good heart, wisdom finds rest. In a soul that possesses love for God and for neighbor, the knowledge of divine and human things rests; it obeys this in all things and is not in the least opposed to it; for it loves God, acknowledging His supreme goodness and His omnipotence; and it also [loves] men...
omnipotent; and He loves men, since He knows what is akin to Himself, and is not ignorant of human fragility; for this reason, He is disposed toward those who are His own kinsmen with forbearance and sympathy.
In the heart of fools it is not discerned. In the soul of those living irrationally, even if such knowledge is present in potentiality, yet it is not recognized because it has not progressed to operation; for operation B is the manifestation of power, just as power is the manifestation of existence.
Ver. 34. Righteousness exalts a nation. The righteousness according to Christ glorifies the holy nation that has believed in him; for in every nation he who works righteousness is acceptable to him.
But sins diminish the tribes. The iniquities which they committed against Christ diminish the Israelite tribes.
Ver. 35. A sensible servant is acceptable to a king. He who knows the will of the King of all and of God, and does it, is most acceptable to Him.
And by his own pliability he removes dishonor. Such a man, even if he commits some dishonorable act through impulse, corrects it by a swift turning back, and delivers himself from dishonor.
Chapter XV
1. Wrath destroys even the wise. Whenever men who are even wise and prudent are moved into anger—which is the beginning of operation regarding passion—they often fall into danger C of soul and body at once; and if this is the case for them, how much more so for fools?
But a submissive answer turns away wrath. A defense that is yielding, and not resistant, soothes and calms the spirit.
But a harsh word stirs up angers. A rough word, by pricking, kindles spirits to wrath.
Ver. 2. The tongue of the wise knows good things. The wise know how to speak what is good and to benefit their hearers.
But the mouth of fools declares evil things. The foolish speak things that are contrary, out of the abundance of the heart, and harm those who hear them.
3. In every place the eyes of the Lord look upon good and evil. D Throughout the whole earth, the Lord of all keeps watch, observing both those who are doers of His most holy commandments and those who work the contrary to these; and no one escapes His all-seeing eye. Therefore, let sinners tremble, but let those who work good things be of good hope.
4. The healing of the tongue is a tree of life. A tongue that has been healed from sinning in words brings forth the life-giving teaching of the Spirit, like a tree bearing fruit, for the souls of those who are being instructed, which are dead through ignorance.
A He who keeps it shall be filled with the Spirit. He who, with understanding, keeps his tongue from sinning shall be filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, having become a vessel for Him through the purity of his mind.
VERS. 5. *The fool ridicules his father’s discipline.* He who is without sense mocks the admonition of his teacher.
*He who keeps the commandments is more prudent.* He who, after the manner of the prudent, observes the precepts of his teacher, receives an increase of understanding, progressing in goodness every day.
VERS. 6. *In abounding righteousness there is great strength.* In the righteousness of the spiritual law, which greatly surpasses both the natural and the written law, there is such great power by divine grace (for one who has been deemed worthy of it) that he overcomes not only the passions of nature, but nature itself. B
*The ungodly shall utterly perish from the earth.* Those who do not honor God through good works shall be destroyed by death from the earth, along with their regard for earthly things, under which their souls are so attached to perishing things that they do not wish to be transplanted among the incorruptible.
*In the houses of the righteous there is great strength.* In the bodies of those who keep the divine commandments—which remain as houses for them until death—there is so much power through divine grace that they mortify the passions lurking within them by their actions and raise up virtues. C
*The fruits of the ungodly shall perish.* The works of those who do not honor God through a life of virtue will come to nothing, just as if they had been directed solely toward perishable things.
VERS. 7. *The lips of the wise are bound by perception.* The words of the wise are tied to the faculty of judgment: they are brought forth where, when, and as it is proper.
*The heart of the fools is not secure.* The soul of the senseless is not guarded in the fear of the Lord against those judgments which are contrary to reason. D
VERS. 8. *The sacrifices of the ungodly are an abomination to the Lord.* The Lord of all things rejects the gifts offered to Him by men who have not first been reconciled with their brothers, and who have not rendered to Him worship through love for them (which is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets).
*The prayers of the upright are acceptable to Him.* He accepts the petitions of those who direct their own lives according to His divine commandments.
VERS. 9. *An abomination to the Lord are the ways of the ungodly.* Hateful to the Lord of all things, as being opposed to His commandments, are all those pursuits pertaining to the life of the man who does not honor God through good works.
A He loves those who pursue righteousness. He cherishes those who hasten toward a life pleasing to God, as they live according to His commandments.
10. *Discipline of the innocent is recognized by those present.* The admonition of the simpler man, who is free from malice, being bold and formidable, is apprehended even by those who hear it in passing. *Those who hate reproofs will end shamefully.* Those who reject the manifest reproofs of their own sins that come from these sources will die in their shameful wickedness, remaining incorrigible forever.
11. *Hades and perdition are manifest before the Lord; how much more the hearts of men?* And all things unknown to us—such as that invisible place in which, after the separation from bodies and before the resurrection, souls dwell, and indeed the very casting off from God to which sinners are condemned—are known to the Lord of all things. And how does He not also know the thoughts of our hearts? Let us, therefore, fear before His face, we who think evil things, as He beholds these as well.
12. *An undisciplined man will not love those who reprove him.* He who is not initiated into the good will by no means embrace those who make manifest to him the things done wrongly by him. *He will not converse with the wise.* He will not speak with those who explain the good to him, as he desires neither to flee from evil nor to attain to the good. C
13. *When the heart is joyful, the countenance blooms.* For the one who—according to the hidden disposition of the soul, whether rejoicing in the pleasures of temporal things or in the hope of eternal goods—is glad, his face appears bright, characterizing the joy within him. *But when in sorrows, it is sad.* D Again, if anyone, according to their hidden state—whether afflicted by the painful things of temporal life or by the fear of unending punishments—is sad, his face is downcast, bringing the sorrow that dwells within his soul out into the open.
14. *An upright heart seeks perception.* The soul that looks toward what is upright strives to acquire the discernment of good and evil, so that it may not prefer evil to good, thinking it to be good. *But the mouth of the undisciplined seeks evil things.* The words of those who have not learned the good hasten toward contentions and fights.
15. *At all times the eyes of the wicked*
A receive evils. Throughout all their life, the eyes of those who act against reason receive a punishment corresponding to such deeds, being troubled forever. But the good always rest. Those who do good will be altogether undisturbed.
VERS. 16. *Better is a little portion with the fear of the Lord.* A light portion of wealth is finer; with the fear of the Lord, who provides things necessary, it dismisses the desire of having from the mind.
*Than great treasures without fear.* This is directed against those who, with a desire for gaining and distributing (in no way submitted to the fear of God), gather together many and great treasures, which are fuel for a fire that is never extinguished.
VERS. 17. *Better is a meal of herbs with friendship and grace.* A simple supper is even finer, when only herbs are placed before a guest for food, so that these are pleasing to him and reconcile his love.
*Than a calf from the manger with hatred.* Than a fatted calf from the manger with hatred; that is, of one who completely feigns love so that he may secretly inflict some harm upon the hated guest.
VERS. 18. *A hot-tempered man prepares battle.* A man who is quickly moved to anger kindles fights in the souls of many.
*But the long-suffering one quietens even that which is about to rise.* He who controls his anger by reason, in this B keeps a check on the battle which the hot-tempered man is about to stir up, and by his own patience soothes the other's anger.
VERS. 19. *The long-suffering man will extinguish fire.* He who is in control of his anger, and manfully bears the painful things brought upon him by another, settles dissensions with him; he approaches him firmly and comes to peaceful agreements.
*But the impious man stirs it up more.* Since he does not keep the commandment of love, and does not honor God, he rather inflames contentions, fighting incessantly, and seeking to establish his own will.
*The ways of the slothful are strewn with thorns.* For those not working what is good, the outlets of life are filled with cares and anxieties, which, like thorns, prick them painfully from every side.
C *But those of the generous are easy.* The ways of the brave, who lift the burden of labor with their own virtue, are free from all these things; for they place their concern in God alone.
VERS. 20. *A wise son gladdens his father.* The judgment born from the mind, which is not ignorant of the truly good, wisely orders the movements of the body and, as if with a bridle, keeps habit from disgrace and directs it to the better; so it procures spiritual joy entirely.
*But a foolish son despises his mother.* The judgment which, in turn, is born from sense, ignorant of the true good, slanders the sense, whose fal-
false and irrational opinion he makes manifest through his works. A
Ver. 21. *The ways of the foolish, destitute of understanding.* Actions which do not proceed from judgment are destitute of understanding, as being irrational.
*A prudent man proceeds by directing.* He who acts with reason distinguishes the good from the evil, and walking straight toward it, he attains this according to virtue.
Ver. 22. *They who do not honor councils set aside reasonings.* Those who, thinking themselves sufficient for themselves, despise examining what is necessary with others, do not accept good counsel.
*In the hearts of those who take counsel, counsel remains.* In the minds of good counselors, good counsel resides for those who seek it.
Ver. 23. *The wicked man shall not obey it.* He who inclines toward wickedness will not obey it, as one who is arrogant. B
*Neither will he say anything opportune or good for the public.* Nor will he himself utter anything suitable for the times and beneficial to the public, seeking his own glory and not the benefit of the majority.
Ver. 24. *The ways of life are the thoughts of the understanding, that one may be saved by declining from Hades.* He who is inclined toward the good contemplates the paths that lead according to virtue to the spiritual life, so that, by escaping the abyss of wickedness, he may find salvation from God.
Ver. 25. *The Lord will pull down the houses of the arrogant.* The Master of all destroys those who work iniquity—in whom dwell the spirits of wickedness that attempt to slander God—by means of various temptations; and by the architecture of the Spirit, He rebuilds them as a dwelling place for Himself, living within them through faith, and walking through the operation of His holy commandments. C
*He has established the borders of the widow.* He strengthened in the soul that is widowed of all wickedness the divine commandment that defines it, so as not to pass over toward wickedness, by bestowing upon such a soul immutability in the good.
Ver. 26. *An unjust reasoning is an abomination to the Lord.* Irrational judgment is hateful to God, because it is the root of perversity. D
*But the utterances of the pure are venerable.* Of those who cleanse themselves from evil thoughts, even the words are venerable; they sprout from a purified mind, as noble branches from a good root.
Ver. 27. *He who accepts gifts destroys himself.* He who receives gifts destroys himself, and by betraying the truth, he fails to obtain God, who is the self-existent Truth.
*But he who hates the reception of gifts shall be saved.* He who refuses to accept wealth for the purpose of overturning the truth obtains salvation from God.
A Sins are cleansed by alms and by acts of faith. By mercies toward the poor, and by faith in God—as Creator, provider, and judge—the failures which were committed against the Good and against Truth through frailty and ignorance are washed away.
In the fear of the Lord, everyone turns away from evil. By the divine and masterly fear which proceeds from faith, all men flee from wickedness; for he who believes in the Lord fears punishment, and he who fears this restrains himself from the passions.
VERS. 28. The hearts of the righteous meditate upon faith. Souls that live according to the divine laws occupy themselves at all times with obedience to the Lord's commandments, so that they do not wish to sin even in thought.
The mouth of the impious answers with evil things. For those who do not honor God through good works, even the organ of voice itself, out of the abundance of the heart, offers evil replies to those who ask; for what useful thing could a person utter who conceives of nothing good?
The ways of the righteous are acceptable to the Lord. Highly acceptable to the Lord, the God of all things, are the paths of those who live without offense, according to knowledge and truth; they attain God, who is the end of things to be known, that is to say truth, and the end of things to be done, that is to say goodness.
Through them, even enemies become friends. Through them—inasmuch as they are able both to cleanse and to perfect others—even those who through malice and ignorance oppose God, after being purged of the filth of the passions and freed from the darkness of ignorance, are reconciled to God through virtue and knowledge.
B VERS. 29. The Lord is far from the impious. God stands apart from those who do not honor Him through good works, so as not to cause them to do good according to the likeness of Him.
He hears the prayers of the righteous. He shows himself compliant to the wishes of those who live according to His law; for He adopts them among His own, on account of their imitation of Him.
Better is a small gain with justice than many fruits with iniquity. A small income from righteous labors, sufficient for necessary things alone, is better than many riches heaped up through rapacious avarice.
Let the heart of a man meditate on just things, so that under God his steps may be directed. The soul of one who stands manfully against his passions must meditate upon the commandments of God, so that the actions of such a man may be directed by Him in the good.
VERS. 30. An eye that sees good things gladdens the heart. Once the divine commandments have been tasted by the soul in practice, that intelligent, spiritual eye—which perceives the words of the law in theory—fills the soul with spiritual joy in the contemplation of them, as it tastes and sees that the Lord is gracious.
"A good report fattens the bones." A The report concerning divine commandments, which takes hold of the soul through hearing alone, when these have been set forth, nourishes the vivid powers of the soul, like bones, and raises them up to the working of them.
Verse 32. "He who rejects discipline hates himself; but he who keeps reproofs loves his own soul." He who sends away the reproving words intended for correction shows himself to be his own enemy, as he turns away from what is beneficial to himself; but he who keeps these within himself loves his own soul, seeking its salvation.
Verse 33. "The fear of the Lord is discipline and wisdom, and the beginning of glory will answer to it." The lordly and divine fear instructs those engaged in practice to turn away from evil and to do good; but it tutors those who are contemplative to escape the deception of the senses and to pass on to the perception of the reasons of things in existence through the mind B in the Spirit; in these things, God—the cause of the greatness in creation—will entirely reveal Himself to those who are contemplative.
CHAPTER XVI
Verse 2. "All the works of the humble are manifest before God." The entire virtuous conduct of the humble-minded, even if it is hidden—since he does not seek glory from men—is established as plain to God, who knows him from the noble management of his works.
Verse 4. "But the ungodly shall perish on an evil day." Those who do not honor God through works of righteousness shall perish on the day of His wrath and retribution, being sent into Gehenna.
Verse 5. "Everyone who is high-hearted is unclean before the Lord." One who is arrogant and proud is profane before the Lord of all, C even if he displays the purity of a life, (for he sets himself against God).
"He who unjustly puts hands into hands shall not go unpunished." He who has mixed the labors of others’ hands with the labor of his own hands against all just reason will not obtain pardon from the righteous Judge of all on the day of retribution.
"The beginning of a good way is to do just things." The entrance to a life acceptable to God is the purification of the passions through works opposite to malice; with this come both progress and perfection.
"More acceptable before God than to sacrifice a sacrifice." Such works are far more acceptable to the Lord than the burnt offerings of irrational animals, for by the Spirit they mortify the frame of the flesh D and, through holy conduct, they render this a sacrifice pleasing to Him.
"He who seeks the Lord will find knowledge with righteousness." He who is desirous of attaining to God will acquire for himself the practical knowledge of His holy commandments.
"And those who rightly seek Him will find peace." Those who,
A proceed toward the Lord in an orderly manner, turning neither toward the passions by way of a deficiency of virtue, nor toward those of excess, shall be deemed worthy of the most perfect impassibility, as far as is possible for man.
5. *All the works of the Lord are with justice.* All things whatsoever the Master of all things may do are just; and even if a good man suffers hardship, being chastised in the present time for those things in which he has transgressed as a man, so that in the future he may receive only the rewards for his good works.
*The ungodly shall be kept for the evil day.* He who flourishes in the present, but does not honor God through good works, is preserved. God is long-suffering toward him until the day of wrath and revelation, and He renders to him good things now, in return for whatever good he may have done, since He knows that he will not be corrected by the sorrows of this life. B
10. *Divination is on the lips of the king.* In the words of God, the King of all, there is a foreknowledge of things to come: for He threatens eternal punishment to those who sin without repentance, and promises infinite good things to those who unceasingly perform His holy commandments.
*And his mouth shall not err in judgment.* His sentence regarding the future judgment—both upon the just and the sinners—is most just, and is without error; and so He justifies the former and condemns the latter.
11. *The weight of the balance is justice with the Lord.* Just as a scale inclines toward the greater weight, so the justice of the Master of all things will weigh our good and evil works on the day of judgment; and if He finds the good works to be heavier, He will justify, but if the evil, He will condemn. C
*And his works are just weights.* His benefits are poured out equally upon all, for in the resurrection He will grant to all the incorruptibility of will and nature, so that they are no longer subject to malice and death; yet each shall receive in accordance with what he has done in his own life.
12. *An abomination to the king is he who does evil.* He is hateful to the Master of the world who performs works contrary to His commandments; for through a life ordered according to divine laws, the soul is prepared as a kind of throne upon which God, the Cause of all things, may rest.
*For with justice the throne of rule is prepared.* Desire and anger are acceptable to God, the King of all, when they are ordered according to right judgment: for the former loves the good, while the latter abhors the evil. D
13. *Acceptable to the king are righteous lips.* He loves those who confess the truth in their words, and who do not feign falsehood through human fear.
14. *The wrath of the king is a messenger of death.* The bringing upon us by the Master of all things, according to judgment and for the sake of correction, of things that are grievous in the present, is like a
messenger of death to those who do not repent, signaling their future deprivation of true life. A *A wise man will appease him.* He who bears grievous things manfully, becoming through this aware of his own transgressions and the punishment that awaits them, and having corrected his own life, will both turn away His anger and obtain His favor.
15. *In the light of life is the King’s son.* He exists in the light of the commandments of the Sun of righteousness, through love for God and his neighbor, having been granted the honor to become a son by the grace of Him who is the Master of all.
*But those who are accepted by Him are like a late rain.* Those who are accepted by Him—insofar as they turn from their former perverted way of life toward the end of their own lives through faith in Him and in fear of the punishments as slaves—and who water their souls, stripped of all spiritual moisture by the scorching heat of voluntary passions, with the stream of tears from compunction, are like a late rain irrigating the earth which had been dried by the heat of summer. B
16. *Nests of wisdom are more desirable than gold.* The contemplative habits of the mind, which he establishes in the spirit by the power of wisdom—in perception and in imagination—and in these, through thought, brings forth as it were a brood of birds, the true doctrines concerning existing things, are to be preferred to refined gold, insofar as they are tested by rational trials as if in fire and are found whole according to knowledge. C
*And nests of prudence are more precious than silver.* The practical habits of the word, which he establishes in the desire and the spirit by the power of prudence—and in these, by brooding, brings forth the virtues as if a brood of birds—are to be preferred to shining silver on account of the purity and brilliance of life.
17. *The paths of life turn away from evils.* The ways of the spiritual life, traveling from the beginning through progress toward perfection, for one who endeavors to please God—insofar as they fulfill all the commandments—escape all wickedness.
*Long life [is] the ways of righteousness.* These ways of living according to the divine laws produce an extension of life; from the temporal they conduct those who choose them to the unending life in God. D
*He who receives discipline shall be in good things.* He who bears gratefully the involuntary afflictions brought upon him for his correction shall have as his reward the good things promised.
*But he who guards reproofs shall become wise.* He who keeps the divine commandments, which signify every kind of wickedness, shall become a knower of the truly Good.
*He who guards his own ways, keeps his own soul.* He who, on account of divine fear, guards his ways according to
A virtue, so that he does not turn aside from the path of good, keeps his own soul secure from malice.
*But he who loves his own life will spare his own mouth.* He who embraces a spiritual manner of life, as is fitting for him as a rational being, will hear much but speak little; so that he may perform the good things he has learned, but not speak of those things he has not yet grasped by his intellect, and thereby fall short of the truth.
*Before a breaking, pride takes the lead.* The sin which is dishonorable to the soul, having been honored by the Word, precedes the punishment, as the cause precedes its effect.
VERS. 18. *But before a fall, imprudence.* As for the fall of the guilty soul itself, it is to think more highly than one ought to think, and not one’s own heart unto wisdom.
VERS. 19. *Better is the mild of heart with humility.* Better is he who, due to the frugality of his diet, patiently bears the burden of his labors and his fasting.
*Than he who divides spoils with the proud.* Than he who tyrannically seizes these things and places his portion with the arrogant despoilers; for the former has God as his avenger, while the latter has Him as his punisher. B
VERS. 20. *A prudent man in his affairs will find good things.* The discerning man, having acquired precise experience of affairs, distinguishes the better from the worse, and will happily attain them.
*And he who trusts in God is blessed.* He who commits all his hope to God and does not trust in himself, is always mindful: for unless the Lord, out of love for him, guards the soul against the spirits of wickedness that plot against it, he who guards it watches in vain; and again: unless He Himself builds it as a dwelling place for Himself by the architecture of the Spirit, he who undertook to build it has labored in vain. C
VERS. 21. *They call the wise and prudent, contemptible.* Many men attempt to slander those who know the truth, and who choose what is good—and who proclaim such things openly in words and deeds for the benefit of those who hear and see—both because of the boldness of their speech and the strictness of their life.
*But those who are sweet in speech will be heard more.* But those who speak things pleasing to the hearers, and hide the truth, will hear more words spoken to them in favor; and these will be both deceivers and deceived. D
VERS. 22. *Knowledge is a fountain of life to those who have acquired it.* The circumspection of the mind, which thinks through the things that have been perceived, is for those who have acquired it a spring of spiritual knowledge, discovering the causes of things.
*But the teaching of fools is evil.* The learning of those who heedlessly desire some thing, or who reject it, is not good; since they, without examination, according to
A merely what appears to the senses, have learned to praise or blame whatever happens to come their way.
Ver. 23. *The heart of the wise shall cogitate what his mouth utters.* The soul of the prudent person will first understand what is fitting to be said, and thus brings these things forth from his mouth; and he will not speak whatever is not fitting, as it might happen to occur to him. *And he shall carry understanding upon his lips.* He himself, at the opening of his lips, will surround himself with the awareness of the appropriate time, in order to say what he has known beforehand ought to be spoken.
Ver. 24. *Honeycombs are fair words.* Words that are good for instruction are, like honeycombs, prepared in various ways; so that they may be suitably adapted to the capacity of those who receive them. *And the sweetness of them is a healing of the soul.* For the knowledge of the truth, which is concealed within them as in certain hives, is most sweet, and is a healing for the soul, delivering it from the darkness of ignorance.
Ver. 25. *There are ways which seem right to a man, but the ends of them look to the abyss of Hades.* There are certain ways of life which, on account of their transient pleasure and prestige, are thought by some to be good for a man; but the end of these things looks to the depth of destruction. For the end of pleasure according to the senses is pain; and the end of empty glory is disgrace.
Ver. 26. *A man suffering endures hardship for himself, and forces upon himself destruction.* A certain man labors for himself in the pursuit of wealth, growing rich greedily in many toils and boasting tyrannically; but since these things are a danger to the soul, such a man violently drags down his own ruin. *But the crooked man carries destruction upon his own mouth.* For the person who has a twisted mind, and is always meditating how to do harm, does not need much labor to bring about his own injury; but by his own mouth he brings his own destruction upon himself, procuring ruin for himself from the things he is accustomed to speak: from God, that which concerned the soul, but from those who give ear to the things spoken by him, that which concerns the body.
Ver. 27. *A foolish man digs evils for himself.* A man who does not calculate the things that are to his own advantage finds harmful things against himself, devising those things which lead to his own ruin. *And upon his own lips he treasures up fire.* And in his mouth he gathers words, kindling all wickedness among those who hear.
Ver. 28. *A crooked man sends forth evils.* A man who is twisted in his mind sends forth, through the medium of those who are suitable to serve his designs, the deceits studied within his soul, against those who love one another. *And he will light a lamp of deceit with evils; and he separates friends.* And thus he ignites the torch of deceit among those who obey him as ministers of his wickedness; and through them, as if through certain instruments, he separates from one another those who are united by sincere love, casting enmity into their midst.
Ver. 29. *An unjust man attempts friends, and*
leads them into ways that are not good. A man who is a transgressor of the commandments of God, wishing to harm some who have attained mutual love and are helping one another, tests them to see if they might receive stumbling blocks against one another; and from such a good disposition, he leads them into thoughts of hatred.
A Ver. 30. *He that fixes his eyes, thinks perverse things; and he who bites his lips, performs all evil.* He who remains motionless in his eyes meditates on perversion in them; and by biting his own lips, he signifies all the evil he has meditated upon against them. This is a furnace of iniquity. Such a man, therefore, is a hearth of iniquity, inhumanely consuming those he happens upon.
Ver. 31. *The hoary head is a crown of glory; it is found in the ways of righteousness.* This is a reward signifying victory over the passions; it is the end of life; and this end is found in the performance of God’s commandments. For whoever from youth struggles against the passions through the performance of divine commandments, has the victory over them hidden until old age, as he expects its manifest reward at the very end.
Ver. 32. *A patient man is better than a strong one; and he who masters his anger, than one who takes a city.* Better is he who bravely bears the painful things coming upon him from someone, and thus by reason masters his spirit, so as not to desire the requital of these pains, than he who, in response to such an injury, shows his own power. But he who, even if he could not restrain the desire for mutual pain, nevertheless refrains from thus requiting the pain in turn, although he has the power, is superior to him who first saddened the soul of the other, in which he holds the rule of governance; for from God, some are to receive a reward for the sake of patience, while others [are to receive] punishment, since each of them acted perversely toward his neighbor. B
Ver. 33. *All things return into the bosom to the unjust; but from the Lord all things are just.* Among those who harm others, these things they put forth against them return to their own ruin; but from the Lord of all goes forth this most just judgment, as He renders to all according to their works. C
CHAPTER XVII
Ver. 1. *Better is a morsel with pleasure and peace.* Better is bread eaten alone with pleasure, with tranquility of soul and concord toward everyone. D *Than a house full of many good things and unjust sacrifices with strife.* Than a house filled with dainties and slaughtered portions from plunder, with enmity that embitters the soul.
Ver. 2. *A wise servant will rule over foolish masters.* He who is a slave to the passions, and acknowledges his own weakness, and has repentance for the things he commits, will eventually rule by reason over the irrational passions that tyrannize his soul.
A And among brothers he will divide parts. But among the powers of the soul that conspire toward the good, he will divide the single rationale of virtue into various virtues, assigning to each power what is suitable; for instance, to the appetitive power, temperance; to the spirited, fortitude; to the rational, wisdom; and to the whole, justice, in avoiding the defects and excesses of the virtues.
A Ver. 3. Sicut in fornace probantur argentum et aurum, ita a Deo electa corda. Just as the substance of silver and gold, which are more precious than other materials, are tested in the fire to see if they are genuine, so too are the souls of many, which excel in understanding, by God, the Lord of all. For by the true opinion concerning Him and His works, and by His all-good commandments, that which is in accordance with knowledge in rational trials is tested as gold, unimpaired; and that which is in accordance with virtue in life is tested as silver, transparent and brilliant in such souls.
B Ver. 4. Malus iniquorum linguis aurem præbet. He who possesses an evil mind obeys the counsels of the spirits of wickedness, who have not kept the principle in which they were created.
Justus autem labiis mendacibus non attendit. But he who obeys divine laws does not accept their deceitful suggestions.
C Ver. 5. Qui pauperem irridet Factorem ejus exasperat. He who despises a man destitute of riches—by those judgments which God knows—irritates his Creator Himself; because he does not honor the human being, the possession most precious and peculiar to God, but rather earthy matter that flows away and remains below.
Et qui ruina lætatur alterius, non erit impunitus. And he who mocks one in danger, whether as to soul or body, shall not go unpunished, but shall pay the penalty, either in the present or in the future, which the just Judge exacts, for the reason that he conducted himself so unmercifully toward one of his own kin.
Qui autem misericors est misericordiam consequitur. And he who opens up the bowels of mercy to him, will draw down upon himself the mercy of God; as he has shown mercy, so he shall obtain mercy.
D Ver. 6. Corona senum filii filiorum. Just as children’s children are the glory of those advanced in years, so too is the wisdom of the aged a glory—born of those whom they themselves have begotten through spiritual discipline. For they did not teach fruitlessly, but were able to make their own disciples the teachers of others.
Et gloria filiorum patres eorum. As the glory of carnal children is their own parents, so in the same way, those who have begotten them spiritually are the honor of spiritual offspring. For just as with an inheritance, sons boast in the glory of their fathers.
Ad fidelem universitas thesaurorum. To the faithful belongs the whole world of riches. He who firm-
entrusts himself to the Creator and Provider of all is filled from Him in his need. Therefore such a man, even while possessing nothing, possesses all things. A To the unbeliever, however, not even an obol. To him who does not trust in God, there is not even a single obol, for he possesses nothing faithful or stable, even if he should heap up a great abundance of wealth.
VERS. 7. *Non congruent imprudenti labia fidelia.* To him who does not carry God in his heart—whether by fear as Lord, or by love as Father through grace—His holy commandments will not be acceptable. *Nec justo labia mendacia.* Nor will the deceptive doctrines of the devil be acceptable to him who lives according to them; for no one can serve God and Satan. B
VERS. 8. *Merces gratiarum disciplina utentibus.* Through the commandments, those who accept them procure the gifts of the most holy Spirit, which convey our life from the contrary state to what is good. For without the gifts of the Spirit—I mean fear, fortitude, and the rest—no one’s life is changed for the better through the discipline of the commandments. *Quocumque se verterit, prosperabit.* Such a discipline will proceed well even in adverse circumstances; for it provides moderation of pleasant things in times of prosperity, and in times of affliction, the endurance of painful things. C
VERS. 9. *Qui celat delicta, quaerit amicitiam.* He who overlooks the scandals caused to him by others desires to befriend them. *Qui autem a celando abhorret, amicos et propinquos dividit.* But he who turns away from overlooking these things alienates those who love him and even those kin by blood; for to those who judge each other’s actions, it is impossible that scandals should not be found.
VERS. 10. *Conterunt minae cor prudentis.* A word of threat alone crushes and turns away the soul of the sensible man from the impulse toward evil; for such a man anticipates his escape from evils D before he has even experienced them. *Imprudens autem flagellatus, non erudietur.* But the foolish man, even after the blows inflicted upon him for his own transgressions—which, by divine permission, are brought upon him as incursion of temptations—does not acknowledge for what reason they came, and consequently does not reform his own life.
VERS. 11. *Controversias suscitat omnis malus.* Everyone who chooses evil contradicts the commandments of God, feigning excuses for his sins. *Dominus autem angelum immisericordem immittet ei.* The God who is Lord of all will send against him a retributive power, announcing to him His just wrath against him. For he who...
vainly brings forward excuses for not doing the Master’s commands, provoking God, justly experiences the blows from Him. B
Ver. 12. Viro prudenti incumbent curæ. A continuous care for all the judgments from above comes upon the prudent man, who does not hold his mind slavishly attached to temporal things. But the foolish devise evil. Those who do not carry God in their heart will have perverse thoughts, as being subject only to corruptible things.
Ver. 13. Qui pro bonis mala reddet, illius ex domo mala non exibunt. The passions of the flesh will be mortified and lose their motion in him who afflicts and tortures it on account of the carnal pleasures afforded by them, which are thought to be good by the many. For the flesh is the dwelling-place of the soul, through which, as being rational and intelligent, each one of us is, and is called, a human being.
Ver. 14. Potestatem præstat sermonibus auctoritas virtutis; præcedit autem defectum seditio et pugna. It grants freedom to words to announce the truth openly—the power that arises from a life of virtue against the passions. But there follows upon the struggle of the flesh against the spirit and (the struggle) of life against reason, a falling away from the side of truth; for when life does not bear witness to the word, it must necessarily be that the truth limps in that case. C
Ver. 15. Qui injustum judicat justum, justumque injustum, scelestus et abominabilis ante Deum. He who considers the one acting contrary to divine commands to be good, as powerful to deceive and to do harm; but the one who keeps these (commands) to be evil, as bearing grievances without resentment and not resisting the one who inflicts these things upon him—such a person is passion-driven and therefore hateful to God, who is without passion. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.”
Ver. 16. Ut quid obvenerunt imprudenti divitiæ? Amens enim sapientiam comparare non poterit. What is the cause of possessing wealth for him who does not carry God in his heart? Since he does not know how to use it well. For he who does not carry Him within, who is the light of prudence, will not be able to have the judgment that distinguishes the worse from the better. D Qui altam facit domum suam quærit contritionem; et qui ad disciplinam non recte tendit in mala cadet. He who exalts his own tabernacle so as to rise up against the soul, seeks his own ruin; and he who is hindered from this point on, because of the prevalence of carnal senselessness, from knowing what is truly good, will fall into destructive passions.
Ver. 17. In omne tempus amicus sit tibi. Strive to be pleasing to God, who will be a helper to you for all time. Let brothers be useful in times of need; for they are born for this purpose. Those who are brothers by kinship and by one and the same reverence toward God, let one help the other in times of distress; for this reason they possess kinship both by nature and by grace, so that, as members
of one body having Christ as their head, they may help one another in time of need.
VERS. 18. *A foolish man applauds and rejoices in himself, as one who has pledged surety for his friend.* A man who understands neither his own interests nor those of others, being a lover of self and not pleasing to God, indeed applauds and rejoices in himself for the things he says and does, just as he congratulates himself on the pleasure of his beloved flesh, which he promises to bring to fruition—like a debt payable by virtue—while not inciting it to the execution of the commandments. B *And upon his lips and his ways he treasures up fire.* Throughout his whole life, in both words and habits, he treasures up eternal fire for himself, even if he rejoices in these things as if they were good for him.
VERS. 19. *He who delights in sins rejoices in quarrels.* A lover of wickedness takes pleasure in the rebellions of the law of the senses against the law of the mind, and by making that very sensation—which instigates sin—stronger than the mind, he seeks his own destruction. *He who exalts his own door, seeks ruin.* For just as the pleasure-seeker departs from God because of the delights of the flesh, so also the proud man, through ignorance of the soul, does not know that God is the author of all good things, and therefore ascribes great successes to himself.
VERS. 20. *He who is of a hard heart will not meet with good things.* He who is thus hardened in his soul and rebels against the divine commandments will not obtain the good things laid up for the just. *A man with a shifting tongue will fall into evils.* He who easily changes his covenants with God, which consist in the observance of His holy commandments, C will fall into passions of ignominy.
VERS. 21. *But the heart of a fool is sorrow to him that possesses it.* The soul of him who possesses neither the fear of God nor desire, and who from this is disposed contemptuously toward the commandments, shall be his own avenger through the unceasing reproaches of conscience. *A father does not rejoice over an undisciplined son.* The mind does not rejoice in lacking understanding, because from the sensation that serves it, it has begotten this as a base child, unlike itself. *But a wise son makes his mother glad.* A prudent judgment gladdens through the works of righteousness the wisdom that begat it—her who dwells with the mind—by fulfilling all her instructions.
VERS. 22. *A glad heart makes for health.* A soul that is always joyful, as one praying unceasingly so as to seek not its own will but only that of God, and therefore in every circumstance—even if it be a sorrowful one—gives thanks, confers health upon its own powers. *But the bones of a sorrowful man are dried up.* Of the mind
A of one occupied with temporal things, and of the thoughts that are grieved at their loss—which, like bones, support it—these become destitute of the life-giving moisture of the Spirit.
Ver. 23. *In his bosom he collects gifts unjustly, he does not prosper in his ways: for he declines from the ways of righteousness.* He who with great joy receives, as if they were certain gifts, the deceitful dictates of the demons into the intellectual storehouse of his soul without discernment, does not find a fortunate outcome in his actions; since he abandons the more righteous commandments of God, which lead him to the desired end.
Ver. 24. *The face of a wise man is intelligent.* For him who has the Word of God—Wisdom itself—dwelling within, his manner of life is disciplined, which manifests the invisible state of the soul; he uses B present things with moderation, but contends entirely to obtain future things. *But the eyes of the foolish are at the ends of the earth.* The eyes of him who does not carry God in his heart look to the ends of the earth, to see if it is possible to grasp it and to master it all.
Ver. 25. *A foolish son is a provocation to his father.* The thought of an erring soul, subject to desires and the concurrent sensuality, inspires divine anger in the mind itself, as if it were a father; which anger is like a cast anchor, a place of halting for the gifts of the Spirit that guide us. *And a sorrow to her who bore him.* To the sensuality that brings this forth, as to a mother, it produces sorrow: God permitting the flesh to be tamed by involuntary toils, so that both—the mind, that is, and sensuality—may C recognize that they should not be joined in an illegitimate embrace, nor generate wickedness in the place of virtue.
Ver. 26. *It is not good to harm a just man.* To deprive of virtue one who is diligent in it, and to turn him toward the passions where virtue is lacking, is not good, even if it may seem so because of the sweetness of pleasure. *Nor is it right to plot against just princes.* It is not right to impose the burdens of virtue beyond measure upon those who have conquered the desires of sensual pleasures and have subjected their flesh to the spirit for the accomplishment of God's commandments: for such a plot is a hidden trick of enemies D acting from the right flank. But it is entirely good, just as it is right, that one should act toward others according to the law of nature and the written law, doing what he would wish to be done to himself by others, and loving his neighbor as himself; but it is holy to love one's enemies and do good to those who hate one, according to the spiritual law, and thus to remain constant. Let us therefore obey God who has ordained these things, so that we may become heirs of his kingdom; and let us not listen to the devil, who attempts to turn us away from virtue into the passions that are the deficiency and excess of virtue, lest we be cast into the fire prepared for him and his angels.
A
Verse 27. *He who is careful not to utter a harsh word is understanding.* He who refrains from that which tends to soften the heart, so as to choose instead what would irritate it, knows human weakness; and he does not wish to cast down those who are clothed in it, but to support them. Yet he patiently endures those by whom anyone is provoked against him and who inflict troubles upon him. *A man of long-suffering is understanding.* He is a man who does not ignore that God is the one who ordains the events that happen to each person, and therefore, out of pity for the one who causes him grief—viewing him as one harassed by Satan—he makes every effort to deliver him from this harassment.
Verse 28. *To an imprudent man asking for wisdom, wisdom shall be imputed.* The ignorant man shall be considered wise if he has posed a single wise question; for the listeners will think that, being knowledgeable, the one who asks is testing those who are questioned to see if they know what is being asked.
*But if he has made himself mute, he shall be thought prudent.* He who shows himself silent and thoughtful to those he meets will give them the impression that he is a person of sound mind; for they will respect him as a sensible man, being unable, because of his silence, to grasp his true state.
CHAPTER XVIII
Verse 1. *He who wishes to withdraw from a friend seeks excuses.* He who desires to dissolve a friendship seeks pretexts on every side; for there is no reasonable excuse for breaking charity, which is a commandment of the Lord. *At every time he shall be reproached.* Such a man shall, at all times, be despised—by men in this life, as someone unstable in friendship, and by God in the world to come, because he has utterly neglected charity, which is the most general of His commandments.
Verse 2. *He who is lacking in heart has no need of wisdom; for he is rather led by folly.* He who is devoid of prudence, because he does not subject the irrational flesh to the rational soul, does not strive for wisdom; for, being a lover of the flesh, he is not a lover of God; and indeed, such a man chooses folly rather than reason in his intention.
Verse 3. *When an impious man has come into the depth of sins, he becomes contemptuous; but dishonor and reproach follow him.* When one who does not honor God through good works despairs of his own salvation, he banishes the fear of God entirely from his own soul; and then the passions of dishonor take hold of him, along with the contempt of everyone on account of those passions.
Verse 4. *Deep water is the word in the heart of a man.* The divine word in the soul of one who has struggled courageously against the passions is like the deepest water; he searches out the abyss of its knowledge according to his mind, and finds it to be unsearchable.
A A river gushing forth and a fountain of life. From the mouth of the aforementioned man, this word, like a flooding river that overflows its own banks and irrigates the adjacent land and makes it fruitful, proceeding in a manner of teaching, gushes forth so as to be a life-giving force.
Chapter 18
5. To respect the person of the ungodly is not good. To be dazzled by the face of a powerful man who does not honor God through good works is not praiseworthy. Nor is it holy to turn aside the just in judgment. Nor is it holy, on account of the fear of a powerful man, to turn aside from the just in judgment; even if it concerns what is just according to the natural law, holiness according to the spiritual law excels nature, as the Spirit shifts it toward things that are above nature. 6. The lips of a fool bring him into evils. The concupiscible and irascible appetites of one who does not restrain them with reason, but is led by them thoughtlessly, and through them—as if through lips—embraces everything that happens, lead him into every sin. And his bold mouth calls upon death. His imagination, like an impulsive mouth, not awaiting the rational judgment of the mind, but anticipating it to praise or blame something as it happens, draws to itself actual sin, which is the death of the soul. B 7. The mouth of a fool is a shattering to him; and his lips are a snare to his soul. For the imagination of one who does not carry the fear of God in his heart shatters him, dragging his understanding down to the earth; and his concupiscible and irascible appetite binds his soul to temporal things deceptively, as with certain snares. 8. Fear casts down the slothful; but the souls of the effeminate shall hunger. Those who neglect the performance of divine commandments are made to fall by the timidity of that performance. But the souls of those who, while being bold as men in evil deeds and daring to face their own danger, are yet fearful as women in good works and sluggish toward their own salvation, shall hunger for lack of the good. C 9. He who does not heal himself in his works, is a brother to him who destroys himself. He who does not, through works of virtue, deliver himself as much as he can from the passions of sin, thinks similarly to him who harms himself. For unless one strives manfully to root out the root of malice, he will inevitably cause the branches of evil thoughts to grow green and will again, with all his might, bring forth the bitter fruits of sin. 10. From the magnificence of strength, the name of the Lord is manifest. From the great power of the Lord of all, God, proclaimed by all creation, the knowledge of Him has become manifest. D And the righteous who run to Him are exalted. But those who approach this knowledge through faith and fear—the righteous, who prefer the truly good over that which is merely thought to be good—are led away from carnal and earthly things toward spiritual and heavenly ones.
VER. 11. *The substance of the rich man is a strong city.* The wealth of those who possess virtue and knowledge is a heavenly metropolis, not susceptible to ambushes, and impregnable; it belongs to those who despise all present things so that they may become citizens of that city. *And its glory overshadows it greatly.* The grace of the All-Holy Spirit, which is the glory of that city, protects those whom it has deemed worthy of this deification through grace, shielding them greatly in this life against the stain splattered by the passions.
VER. 12. *Before it is broken, the heart of man is exalted, and before it is glorified, it is humbled.* The cause of the soul's fall is haughtiness, just as humility is the cause of honor before God; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
VER. 13. *He who answers before he hears, demonstrates that he is foolish and worthy of reproach.* For the one who defends himself before receiving into his ears what is being said to him by another, such a defense becomes a manifestation of his madness, since he does not understand what is being said so that he might answer it; hence, he is also held in contempt by all those who converse with him.
VER. 14. *A prudent servant mitigates the fury of a man.* A sensible attendant calms the anger of a man with skillful words. But if anyone bears with a faint-hearted master, he is worthy of admiration; for such a man is accustomed to getting angry at every opportunity, if it happens that something is not carried out according to his wishes due to the ignorance of the servant who does not fulfill the command, upon whom he often inhumanely inflicts scourges.
VER. 15. *The heart of a prudent man possesses discernment.* The soul of the man who carries God in his mind receives the discernment that distinguishes the better from the worse; it desires to fulfill the commandments of God, both those that avert one from evil and those that exhort one toward virtue. *But the ears of the wise seek instruction.* The hearing of those who are partakers of the divine word is not content with its mere literal utterance, but they examine even the meaning of this word through contemplation, until they arrive at that which pertains to the essence, as it were, of God, above all mental conception.
VER. 16. *A man’s gift expands him, and makes him sit among princes.* The gift of the Holy Spirit, which a man receives, leads him to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Since the man began with the fear of God and grew through subsequent gifts, [the Spirit] strengthens him and makes him sit with those who are partakers of the perfecting wisdom—which gives strength to subdue the spirits of wickedness and the authors of falsehood. Having purified him from the passions and enlightened him through contemplation in knowledge, it establishes him as perfect in the solidity of virtue.
VER. 17. *The righteous man is his own accuser in the beginning of his speech.*
A He who keeps the law of love toward God and neighbor brings no reproach of any kind, either to God or to man, in the first instance; rather, he accuses himself of the things in which he fails; and after this, he surely seeks the indulgence of both. But when the adversary makes an attempt, he is rebuked. From this, just as the opponent of our souls attacks him—whether attempting to incite him to blasphemy against God or to hatred of his brother—he is shown to be defeated and powerless.
18. *Contradiction stays the lot.* B The gift of the all-holy Spirit, which is derived from God as a kind of paternal inheritance—for those who have been deemed worthy of his adoption by grace—stays the dissensions for the newly-begotten in the faith, increasing faith in them and, through the fear of God, quelling the passions that are contrary to the commandments. *And in the powerful one he defines.* But for those who have been made men in the faith and have overcome the passions, he circumscribes the activity C in those very commandments of God that struggle against the passions, so that it may not decline into the excesses of virtue.
19. *A brother helped by a brother is as a strong and high city; and he prevails as a well-founded kingdom.* A soul that is assisted toward the best things by its kindred flesh is like a strong and high city. It remains unassailable by passions that are excessive in virtue, because it modulates the labor of virtue according to the infirmity of the flesh. Nor is it captured again by passions through deficiency, because it raises the mind toward spiritual things, through the height of knowledge, by its own dignity. And she is able to do these things through the operations of the Holy Spirit dwelling within her, being kept safe just as a king’s house is secured with iron bars.
20. *From the fruits of his mouth a man shall fill his belly.* D From the words proceeding from the mouth of a good teacher, he who is not softened by pleasures fills his own mind, which is both receptive and productive of these things, growing rich in understanding. *And he shall be filled with the fruits of his own labors.* He shall be filled from the words that proceed from his own mouth, because, while he dispenses doctrine to others, he becomes full of wisdom.
21. *Death and life are in the hand of the tongue.* According to the activity of the tongue, there proceeds either a death-bearing word or a life-giving one, as it has the power to utter both evil and good things; the former kill both body and soul, while the latter bring both to life. *And those who control it shall eat its fruits.* Those who restrain it and do not allow it to utter evil things, enjoy the words that are able to bring life to those who hear.
22. *He who has found a good wife has found graces.* The mind that has acquired Wisdom, the cause of every good thing, as an inhabitant, has also acquired the other gifts of the all-holy Spirit—the gift of understanding, the gift of knowledge, the gift of intelligence, the gift of counsel, the gift of strength, and
and the gift of fear. Moreover, he received from God health of soul, being purified, illuminated, and perfected.
A VERS. 25. *Qui expellit mulierem bonam, expellit bonum.* He who, because of an affection for sensible things, rejects the wisdom which dwells within him—which is the cause of such good things—casts away along with it all the good things that proceed from it.
*Qui autem tenet adulteram, stultus et impius.* He who dismisses wisdom while maintaining deceitful sense perception neither brings God into his heart nor honors Him with works of justice.
CAP. XIX.
VERS. 3. *Imprudentia viri vastat vias ejus.* For him who does not look toward God, but is deceived by the love of temporal things, his movement is irrational. His pursuits profit nothing, because they pass away along with corruptible things.
*Accusat autem Deum in corde suo.* Out of madness, he does not blame his own perverse judgment—which, while despising true and permanent things, shows all its fervor for corruptible things—but rather blames God, because those things which are by nature subject to corruption actually perish.
VERS. 4. *Divitiæ addunt amicos multos.* Spiritual riches of virtue and knowledge bring to the one who possesses them both love toward God and love toward men; for love toward the latter is the proof of love toward God.
*Inops autem et ab amico quem habet deseritur.* He who willfully lacks such riches departs from God, who so loved him that He not only brought him from nothing into existence and gifted him with life, reason, and every other abundance of goods, but even delivered up His only-begotten Son to death for him.
VERS. 5. *Testis falsus non erit impunitus.* The devil, who mendaciously praises evil and urges man to perform it, will pay the penalties for his malice at the hand of the just Judge.
*Qui autem accusat inique, non effugiet.* He who, regarding the things he has committed, accuses the devil himself without reason, C will not thereby escape all punishment; for he was able not to obey him. He, too, will render an account because he despised the commands of the Creator and obeyed the suggestions of the Evil One.
VERS. 6. *Multi colunt personam regis.* Many show zeal before kings for their service, but behind their backs they think the opposite.
*Omnis autem malus fit opprobrium viro.* Everyone who thinks so wickedly is despised by the upright as an impostor.
VERS. 7. *Quicunque fratrem inopem odit, etiam ab amicitia longe erit.* He who from his soul rejects D
the needy—who lacks what is necessary for body or soul—and does not pity him, nor reach out a hand to him when he can, shall suffer the same things himself, for he has distanced himself far from the philanthropy of God. For just as he himself was disposed toward his fellow, so too shall God be disposed toward him in righteous judgment.
A *Cogitatio bona scientibus eam appropinquabit.* The simple knowledge of God, which is more precious than all knowledge of things outside of God, shall draw near to those who have been initiated into it by faith, having stood far off from all the faithless.
*Vir prudens inveniet eam.* He shall obtain sufficient experience of this who has struggled nobly against the passions, and according to reason has passed through the relations of material things—having crossed over all things that are subject to time and nature—and has purely ascended to Him who is above all, God.
B *Multa malefaciens, explebit malitiam.* He who sins greatly, does not commit sin only by inclination, but carries it out in action as well.
*Qui contendit verbis, non salvabitur.* He who stirs up his own passions-inclined thoughts through the senses shall not be kept unharmed in soul. “For everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
VERS. 8. *Qui possidet prudentiam, diligit seipsum.* He who acquires prudence through the choice of what is better cares for his own advantage; because prudence knows how to manage the salvific things of soul and body.
*Qui custodit prudentiam inveniet bona.* He who keeps this by the practice of the good shall attain the promised blessings.
C VERS. 9. *Testis falsus non impunitus erit.* The demon who praises our propensity toward things that perish shall not escape the fire prepared for himself and his angels.
*Qui accenderit malum, peribit in eo.* He who has fanned into flames a passion, by desire and by deed, shall be destroyed by it. He who, by disposition and action, has kindled the torch of iniquity cast into his soul by the destroyer, Satan, shall have the health of his soul incinerated by it.
VERS. 10. *Non prosunt stulto deliciæ, etsi famulus incipiat cum contumelia dominari.* The indulgence of the physical contemplation of visible things is of no avail to one who applies himself to them irrationally; for he remains in their appearances, not being able, because of foolishness, to cross over them and grasp their hidden reasons. D Just as it is of no avail to him when that which occurs is that the body, which is subordinate to the soul, attempts to rise up against it through the shameful passions.
VERS. 11. *Misericors vir longanimis est.* The compassionate man is also long-suffering and free from malice, choosing rather to suffer injustice than to commit it.
*Et gloriatio ejus est iniqua prætergredi.* But his true praise, by reason of the long-suffering he possesses, is that those who, contrary to the divine commandment,
A act unjustly mistakenly ascribe [the title of praise] to the foolish; [for the latter] believe it is more of a commendation to be able to commit injustice than to be able to endure injustices, and by this [means] to be pleasing to God.
VERS. 12. *The king’s threatening is like the roaring of a lion.* The word by which a king, whether earthly or heavenly, threatens punishment is like the roaring of a lion, inspiring the fear of death. Therefore, that word persuades the souls that have received it to turn themselves away from evils. *And as dew upon the grass, so is his pleasantness.* Just as morning dew refreshes the grass growing from the earth, protecting it from the scorching of the sun and irrigating its dryness, so too does every gentle word that proceeds from the mouth of a king, whether earthly or heavenly, console the labor of the good works of one who has borne the weight and heat of the day, with the hope of the reward he will receive for such labor.
VERS. 13. *A father’s grief is an imprudent son.* A most foolish word is the confusion for the mind that brought him forth; for he who brings forth what is not fitting is shown to be senseless. *And the prayers from the wages of a harlot are not pure.* B Unclean are the promises made to God from worldly thinking. The irrational sense receives this thought, like a harlot’s hire, from the mind, because of its monstrous commerce with her. For many promise many things to God in order to obtain from Him perishing riches; these promises, as being sordid and harmful to them, God rejects. "For you ask," He says, "and do not receive, because you ask amiss."
VERS. 14. *Fathers distribute houses and substance to their children.* The minds that have conceived the house of our intellect—that is, the entirely sensory flesh and whatever affection of it—distribute it according to their own thoughts, assigning to each of those thoughts the sensory [faculty] of the flesh that is appropriate to it, and the use of this according to the intellectual disposition, whether for the good or for the evil. *But a woman is joined to a man by God.* From the Lord of the universe stands the conjunction of the intellectual soul with the sensory flesh. C Therefore, it in no way benefits the [soul] that loves the life of society[?]—for it loves death—but rather injures it, because through impiety it provokes God, the Author of life.
VERS. 15. *Fear takes hold of the effeminate; but the soul of the idle shall hunger.* He who has a mind, as it were, of a man for perpetrating evils, and has the boldness to undergo his own danger, but spares himself, like a woman, in good works and is lazy toward his own salvation—is hindered by sloth from the labor of virtue, so that he does not care to cultivate it. His soul, because it does not expend effort in the work of virtue, shall hunger from the lack of the good.
VERS. 16. *He who keeps the commandment guards his own soul.* He who does not transgress the divine commandment guards D
his own soul from the spirits of wickedness which lie in wait for it through various passions. But he who neglects his ways shall perish; he who is careless regarding the divine commandments—which, like ways, lead him to God—shall fall away from Him who is present everywhere and fills all things. A
VERS. 17. *He who has mercy on the poor lends to God.* A person who displays sympathy in the present time toward one who has fallen into poverty makes God his debtor. *According to his gift, He will repay him.* God will repay him at His terrible coming, rendering rewards worthy of his disposition toward the needy.
VERS. 18. *Discipline your son, so he will be full of good hope.* Teach what is fitting to your son, whether carnal or spiritual. For from this he will hope to receive good things from God; having been initiated into what is pleasing to God, and by the diligent performance of these, he shall receive the promised good things. *And do not lift yourself up to insult.* If it happens that you are grieved by him, do not rouse your soul to consider him evil or to cut him off from you, lest you be altogether condemned as a hater of children. B
VERS. 19. *A man with an evil mind shall suffer many losses.* The man who does not think about what is necessary will be deprived of the wealth of the virtues; because, not distinguishing the better from the worse, he does evil as it occurs to him, suffering the loss of the good. *And if he is infectious, he shall also add his soul.* He who, through wickedness, imparts his corrupting malice to others, shall go so far as to forfeit his own life; his soul shall be cut off before its time, so that it may not be a source of harm to the many.
VERS. 20. *Hear, my son, the discipline of your father, that you may be wise in your latter days.* Be obedient, my child, to the admonitions of me, your teacher; so that after being purified of passions and receiving the light of knowledge, you may find at the end of your course the final desirable object, namely, by passing over all present things with your mind, to encounter God, who is the cause of these and exists above all these things. C
VERS. 21. *Many are the thoughts in the heart of a man.* Diverse thoughts succeed one another in the mind of man, at one time attending to this thing, and at another changing along with the change of mutable things. *But the counsel of the Lord endures forever.* The divine and Lordly will, however, remains unmoved throughout all ages. Whence he who has fixed the eye of his soul upon this, and has despised the vanity of things that pass away, has himself become untroubled, not being moved by the change of mutable things. D
VERS. 22. *Alms are a fruit to a man.* A person bears fruit to God who shows compassion toward his fellow men; this is the perfection of the virtues, as it is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets.
A Better is a poor man who is righteous than a rich man who is a liar. Better is he who is lacking in knowledge but lives blamelessly than he who is rich in knowledge but does not show a blameless way of life, which he promised to God.
VERS. 23. The fear of the Lord is unto life for a man. He who, through the fear of the Master, keeps the divine commandments, finds in them the life of the mind, which is, in every way, the illumination of knowledge.
But he who is without fear shall abide in places where knowledge does not watch. The one who is deprived of the fear of God shall rest in those things which are not examined by reason according to knowledge, but in works of iniquity which happen as they may, the operation of which possesses a pleasure inherent in it, but is followed by pain; for the end of sensual pleasure is pain.
VERS. 24. He who hides his hands in his bosom B unjustly, will not even bring them to his mouth. He who, because of the labor involved in cultivating virtue according to the flesh, foolishly hides the practical powers of his soul and does not extend them toward the working of the commandments of God, will not harvest the fruit of virtue from the earthly flesh, nor will he feed his own soul with such fruit, which is most pleasing to it; for the flesh, when it is not devoted to the works of righteousness by the soul, nor assisted by it, instead of the fruit of virtue, brings forth for it the passions of ignominy, which like thorns prick it with the stings of conscience.
VERS. 25. When the pestilent man is scourged, the fool becomes more prudent. When he who made others participants in corruptive wickedness pays the penalty, he who was thinking of things that are not fitting becomes better, being drawn away from irrational appetites and striving toward better things.
If you rebuke a prudent man, he will understand knowledge. If you show a wise man the things which he ought not to have committed, he will distinguish the good from the evil by right discernment, being stirred up by reproaches to examine the things which he ought to do.
VERS. 26. He who dishonors his father and drives away his mother shall be put to shame and shall be reproachful. He who does not honor the heavenly Father according to grace by works of righteousness, and who drives away from himself the divine instruction which gave him birth unto life, shall be put to shame before all; inasmuch as he has bartered the heavenly Father for the devil, and serves him with passions of ignominy. C
VERS. 27. A son who ceases to keep the discipline of a father will meditate on evil words. He who, through faith in God, has been adopted as a son according to grace, if he ceases to observe the commandments of God and the Father which properly regulate our life, will meditate on the contrary things; and he who tries to destroy him, the enemy of our souls, impels him to do these things.
VERS. 28. He who pledges a foolish child brings reproach upon righteousness. He who pledges that the body, which is subject to the soul and irrational in itself, will at the end produce the perfection of virtue by its works, and does not D
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and stirring him to the performance of what is good, does not honor the Divine Law which justifies those who keep it, because he performs the things that are forbidden by it. A
*For the mouth of the ungodly shall devour judgments.* The infallible judgment of God, which is to come, will take hold of all the excuses of those who do not honor God through good works, to the end that it may refute them for the condemnation of those who put them forward, and destroy every pretext.
V. 29. *Flagella are prepared for the intemperate, and punishments likewise for the foolish.* Bodily pains are prepared for those who sin in act, just as sorrows of soul are for those who offend in mind—in the present time for conversion and amendment, and in the future for retribution. B
CHAPTER XX
V. 1. *A luxurious thing is wine, and contumelious is drunkenness.* Wine, by heating the flesh of those who do not use it with moderation, is the cause of irrational appetites and excites them to shameful concupiscence; and drunkenness is contumelious, because it makes the drunkard a madman. *And every foolish man is involved with such things.* Everyone who lives irrationally similarly takes pleasure in fools. C
V. 2. *The threat of a king does not differ from the fury of a lion.* The threat of God, the King of all, is like the fury of a lion, for it brings the fear of death. *And he who provokes him, sins against his own soul.* He who provokes God, the Lord of all, even if he often does not risk his body, as he who is devoured by the aforementioned beast, risks his very soul, being deprived of God who is the true life.
V. 3. *It is honor to a man to turn away from revilings.* It is an honor to a man to hate the slanders against others; for such a man is praiseworthy, since he hates the revilings against his brother, yet does not hate his brother—just as he is blameworthy who, because he does not hate the revilings against himself, hates the one who reviles him. D
*And every foolish man is involved with such things.* For this reason, every man who does not examine his own actions according to reason, and who, while eager to cast out the beam from his own eye, wishes to look around at the mote in his brother's eye and to mock him for it, is entirely involved with such men who are slanderers.
V. 4. *The reproached sluggard is not ashamed; likewise also he who borrows grain in harvest.* He who is negligent in the practice of virtues because of their labor, when assailed by the reproving words of a teacher, does not feel shame. In the same way, he who in the future age—in which those who sow in tears in the present time gather the fruits of their own labors with exultation—is in need of the help of others so that he might nourish his own soul which is starving for good things, as in the Gospel the evil rich man and the foolish virgins, by attempting impossibilities and striving in vain, does not feel shame. For he who at the time of retribution feels shame because he is in need of good things...
feels shame also in the present time of labor, being reproved for his negligence concerning what is good.
Verse 5. Aqua profunda, consilium in corde viri.
The hidden counsel in the soul of a man is like inexhaustible water. A But a wise man will draw it out. A discerning person will examine the whole of it: from his words, he will methodically trace him, and from his works, he will investigate them logically; for action is the proof of inner disposition.Verse 6. Magnum homo et pretiosum vir misericors.
He who looks upward to God as his archetype, despising all earthly things and preserving the image of God, is by this very act superior to all visible things. And he who struggles generously against the passions and is compassionate toward men according to the likeness of God, is precious and honorable both with God and with men.But who shall find a faithful man? It is difficult to find a man who displays a firm faith in God through his works; for few are they who find the narrow and straitened way. A man is called apt for action when he generously subdues his passions and is not effeminated by sensual pleasures.
Verse 7. He who walks in his integrity as a righteous man, blessed will be his children after him.
He who seeks the commandments of God with a pure heart, without dissimulation and vainglory, when he departs from earthly things, will leave behind worthy children whom he has spiritually educated; for the doctrines of good teachers are good.Verse 8. When a king sits on the throne of judgment, he winnows out all evil with his eyes.
When God, who rules the universe justly and is sovereign over all, sits to judge what men have done, no evil that they have committed will escape His most just examinations, so that it will not be manifest to them. B Those who have done evil will be condemned by their own judgment; each one of them will be reproved by his own conscience, C and will be unable to deny his faults before God, who knows all things accurately.Verse 9. Who can say, 'I have made my heart pure'?
Or who will dare to assert that he is clean from sins? Who will boast that he has a soul pure from every passionate thought? Or who will confidently declare his conduct to be perfectly irreproachable? For no one is free from sin, except God alone.Verse 10, 11. A large and a small weight, double measures, are an abomination before the Lord: he who does these things shall be entangled in his own pursuits.
It is to not weigh one's own sins and those of one's brothers equally, but to consider the faults of others as heavy and intolerable, while one's own are light, and to measure oneself by one standard and one's fellows by another, D demanding "great" [weights] from them, and "small"...[ones] for oneself, and from thence dividing the one nature, and thus striking against its Creator and lawgiver; these things are abominable before the Lord of all, and both are so. And he who commits these things will stumble in such machinations of his own; for in what he judges others, he condemns himself; and with what measure he metes, it shall be measured to him.
*And a young man with a holy [man], and his path is straight.* If the young man is under a spiritual teacher, he walks rightly along the path leading toward God in accordance with virtue, being duly instructed by him.
A ιβ΄. *An ear that hears, and an eye that sees, the Lord has made both.* From the Lord, the God of all, you have received all senses, O man—such as the auditory, the visual, and the others in order; it is necessary, therefore, that you use these as the divine commandment requires.
B ιγ΄. *Do not love to backbite, lest you be removed.* Do not love to speak against someone, or to give your tongue to the ear of a lover of gossip, so that you not be swept away as one who harms others with him, having undergone a sudden destruction.
*Open your eyes, and be filled with bread.* Spread out toward God the contemplative powers of your soul, and be filled knowledgeably with His oracles that nourish it; choosing rather to learn what is good than to speak what is evil.
*He who curses his father or mother, his lamp shall be extinguished.* The mental light of the knowledge of God will be extinguished in him who blasphemes, whether against God and Father when he boldly says that God is not at all the cause of the universe, or against His substantial Wisdom, through which the all came into being and is deemed worthy of appropriate providence, when he shamelessly says that this is not rightly directed by God Himself.
*But the pupils of his eyes shall see darkness.* But the visual powers of his soul, through error, will receive as light the devil who is darkness and pretends to be light; and from thence such a one will fall into precipices of ignorance and abysms of wickedness.
D κα΄. *An inheritance gathered in haste at the beginning, shall not be blessed in the end.* The pleasure that is zealously sought by us in youth because of the childishness of our minds, being separated in perception from pain, and preferred by our decision to the labor of virtue—toward the end of the seeing of this life of ours, it will not be praised by reason now become manly, and able to distinguish what is truly good from what is supposed [to be so]. Rather, it will be condemned, since it possesses an end—the destruction that produces pain—and it is a hook of the devil, pulling toward perdition.
κβ΄. *Do not say, "I will avenge myself on the enemy," but wait for the Lord, so that He may help you.* Do not desire to take vengeance on him who has grieved you in some way; but wait with thanksgiving for the Lord of all, who trains you through him for [your] correction, so that He may become your aide against those who annoy you through involun
involuntary passions, [and against] the wickedness of spirits; for perseverance in involuntary passions becomes a deliverance from voluntary ones. C
VERS. 23. *Abomination is to the Lord a weight and a weight, and a deceitful balance is not good before Him.* The disposition of the soul is hateful to God, varying in its concupiscible and irascible appetites, when one, for the sake of love of his own body, appropriates pleasant things to himself, but for the sake of tyranny over his brethren, devises troublesome things for them; for thus he weighs ill what is his own and what is his neighbor's. Hateful, likewise, is the thought of one who weighs his concupiscible and irascible appetites, who, while he keeps himself from pleasures and endures painful things, does so not to please God, but to please men and for the sake of his own vainglory; and from this he corrupts the purity of the virtues, and although he may appear good before men, he is not such before God, who knows all things as they are. B
VERS. 24. *By the Lord are the steps of a man ordered; but a mortal, how shall he understand his ways?* By the Lord, the God of the universe, are the paths of virtue ordered for man, so that he neither declines into the passions through a deficiency of virtue, nor is turned aside into them through an excess. For truly, by the fear of God he flees the passions [arising] from a deficiency of virtue, and by desire [he flees] those [arising] from excess. Through this desire he works the good; for seeing that if he does not recognize good and evil by the divine commandments, and if he is not turned away from the evil by fear of the threats, and raised up to the practice of the good by desire for the promises, how, being subject to birth by way of pleasure and to corruption by way of pain—and thus having a short-lived existence—could man grasp the ways that carry him toward salvation by abstaining from pleasant things and enduring painful ones? C
VERS. 25. *It is a snare for a man to sanctify something of his own in haste; for after he has vowed, repentance ensues.* He is caught by his own words as in a snare, who, through an impulsive seizing of the moment, promises to sacrifice to God something of his own. For after he has vowed, it often happens that he regrets it, and cannot be loosed from the bond of the vow.
VERS. 26. *A wise king is the winnower of the ungodly, and he will cast a wheel upon them.* He who has subdued his own passions separates the thoughts that honor God from those that do not, as chaff from wheat. By the words of wisdom, he distinguishes what is considered good from the true good; and he also rolls away such wicked thoughts far from himself, as if with a wheel. D
VERS. 27. *The light of the Lord is the breath of man, which searches the secrets of the belly.* The unfailing light of the knowledge of the Sun of righteousness is the life-sustaining force for those who look toward Him as to an archetype, and by works of imitation of His all-good will, keep that which is according to the image unimpaired. For the life of the mind is the illumination of the knowledge of God, which searches the depths of the understanding—the belly, as it were—[the soul] being capable of receiving [both] nutritious and destructive foods. D
VERS. 28. *Mercy and truth are a guardianship to the king;*
circumscribed by justice. A Sympathy toward those of the same nature, and true faith in God, are guards for the man who rules over his passions; and they shall encompass his ruling and self-determining faculty, entirely his intellect, in which he sits upon a throne above earthly things, in the right discernment of thoughts in theory, and of actions in practice. This discernment does not permit, in theory, to acknowledge the creature before God, nor in practice, to worship the creature before the Creator.
VERS. 29. Ornament to the young is wisdom; and glory to the elder is gray hair. Ornament to the young is the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit, which is the most intimate union with God. Glory to those who conduct themselves according to the antiquated word of Scripture is the casting off of the blackness of bodily passions. For the antiquated letter removes those who conduct themselves according to it from passions with all their might. But the renewing Spirit, by the words of wisdom, turns the intellect and action away from creatures and converts them to the Creator. B
VERS. 30. Blows and bruises occur to the wicked; and stripes in the innermost parts of the belly. Visible punishments of the body, and invisible bruises of the soul, through the onset of involuntary pains, come upon those who conduct themselves wickedly; these are the rebukes of conscience in the depths of their understanding.
CHAPTER XXI
VERS. 1. As the impetus of water, so is the heart of a king in the hand of God; whithersoever He wills to nod, He has inclined it. Just as the canal-builder leads the flow of water C wherever he wishes, so also the omnipotent power of God directs the soul of the one who rules, whether over men or over passions, as is pleasing to God himself; leading the soul of the one ruling men to the mercy of some and the punishment of others, moving them for the benefit of each, even if the king himself perhaps does not intend this, but acts driven by benevolence or hatred; and leading the soul of the one who masters passions into words or modes of virtue that are profitable to him.
VERS. 2. Every man seems just to himself; but the Lord directs hearts. Whoever among men chooses a life according to divine laws is seen by men to be blameless in his own eyes; but God, the Lord of all, by the reasons of providence and judgment, prepares every soul willing to obey these to D travel straight along the path of virtue.
VERS. 3. To do just things and to be truthful are more pleasing to God than the blood of sacrifices. To perform the commandments of God, and to offer to Him a true confession, are more pleasing to Him than the blood of sacrifices brought by the Jews according to the law. For He says: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”
VERS. 4. A high-minded man in contempt, bold of heart. He who possesses a great spirit, while despising the worthless—
A and human things, yet seeks the great and divine, becomes bold in soul for the sake of its salvation, sparing not the flesh.
“The lamp of the ungodly is sin.” The lamp of those who make their belly their god, and consequently do not worship God, is the service of the belly; for they suppose gluttony to be illumination.
VERS. 6. He that gathereth treasures by a lying tongue, pursueth vanity, and shall come upon the snares of death. He who treasures up wealth through falsehood desires things that perish, and falls into the snares of destruction, wandering away from saving charity, enticed by the love of earthly things, and striving to deceive men so that he may treasure up their goods for himself, he is severed from the love of God. B
VERS. 7. Destruction shall take lodging with the ungodly. For they do not wish to do what is just. For those who refuse to worship God through good works, death—though alien to the spiritual nature, yet having been derived into the soul through sin—will be received by choice; for these men do not wish to perform the most just commandments of God, which give life to the soul.
VERS. 8. To the perverse [God] sends perverse ways; for His works are pure and right. To those crooked in their judgment, God, who is holy with the holy, seems to be distorted. His works are pure and upright; for everything created by God is good, and as effects, they direct our mind to the knowledge of Him as the Cause. But since man C turned away from the divine commandment in his judgment, he himself became evil by choice, and has made those things which were created through him evil, through his irrational use of them.
VERS. 9. It is better to dwell upon a corner of the housetop, than in plastered houses with iniquity, and in a common house. It is better for one to sit in an open corner than to dwell in walls plastered and decorated, and in a house recently built, with greed. For of him who chooses what is simple and obscure, the soul is led out from the prison of earthly things and already proceeds toward the infinite goods. But the soul of him who chooses what is superfluous, and temporarily bright and glorious, and is entangled in earthly things, is shut up in Hades; and already it is tormented by D eternal punishments.
VERS. 10. The soul of the ungodly shall not obtain mercy from any of men. The soul of him who does not worship God through good works, being sent away to punishment by His most just judgment, none of men shall deliver out of it.
VERS. 11. When the intemperate man is punished, the simple becomes wiser; but if a wise man understands, he will receive knowledge. While he who lives foolishly consumes his own riches, however great they may be, with excess, he who is delivered from every malice in his practice becomes more prudent; he does not envy such a man, but rather guards himself, so that he may not fall into similar evils. The contemplative man, considering the imbecility of human nature in the intemperate man...
brother, will understand his own weaknesses and will not condemn his brother. B
Ver. 12. *The just man understands the hearts of the wicked, and he vilifies the wicked in their evil.* He who conducts himself blamelessly considers how those who refuse to honor God through good works are in a wretched state in their soul; and he rebukes them for their irrational deeds, so that they might amend their own lives and be delivered from eternal punishment.
Ver. 13. *He who shuts his ears so as not to hear the weak, he himself shall call out, and there shall be none to listen.* He who is not moved to help someone who is suffering—whether in body or in soul—and who is in need of any kind of aid, shall himself undergo similar things when he is in need in times of distress, and shall not find one to help him; for he is not shown mercy, since he himself showed no mercy.
Ver. 14. *A hidden gift averts angers.* The surreptitious distribution of money to those in need reconciles a man to God, whose anger he had provoked by transgressing His commandments. *But he who spares gifts stirs up violent wrath.* He who, out of stinginess, does not distribute his own goods to those who are in need greatly provokes God; for, being himself in need of mercy, he does not have mercy on those who are worthy of mercy.
Ver. 15. *The joy of the just is to do judgment.* The joy of those who live according to the divine laws consists in performing that which is judged by reason to be good. *But the holy man is considered unclean among the evildoers.* He who lives in such a way is not considered by the workers of iniquity to be doing good well, but is thought to be feigning this for the sake of human approval and vainglory. C
Ver. 16. *A man wandering from the way of righteousness shall rest in the assembly of the giants.* A man who turns aside from the path of virtue will dwell with those who love the body; in them the Spirit of God will not remain, because they are flesh.
Ver. 17. *A needy man loves joy, loving wine and oil toward riches.* He who is in need of spiritual food longs for the joy of the soul, abundantly embracing both the fear of God—which is like wine, astringent for the fleeing of wickedness—and the divine longing—which is like oil—anointing one toward the practice of good things. D
Ver. 18. *An unjust man is a purification for the just.* The transgressor of the divine laws is an atonement—as Aquila interpreted "purification"—for the one who lives according to them; by amending the life through which he had angered God, he makes God propitious. For he who lives according to God leads the one who does not live in this way to God by his own exhortations, and reconciles him to Him.
Ver. 19. *It is better to dwell in a wilderness than with a contentious and irascible woman.* Just as it is better for a man to be unmarried and to live alone than to dwell with a quarrelsome woman who flies into a rage for no reason, so it is better to remain in a simple mind toward God, free from terrestrial things—
A or from the Greek wisdom that moves one quickly to anger with untimely contentions.
B VER. 20. *A desirable treasure shall rest upon the mouth of the wise.* The desirable riches of the mysteries of God, which are hidden in God, will gladly appear in the instructional discourse of one who knows divine things; through him, they are revealed to those in need, and he enriches those who are destitute. *But imprudent men will devour it.* Those who live thoughtlessly, even when they have received the aforementioned riches from the teacher, will destroy them, not wishing in any way to cultivate them.
VER. 21. *The way of justice and mercy shall find life and glory.* To judge matters uprightly and to be disposed mercifully toward men will lead one who thus conducts his own life, in both contemplation and action, to the life of the mind in the Spirit—to the illumination of knowledge—and to a life that is bright and glorious through good works.
VER. 22. *A wise man scaled the fortified cities.* The Word of God, by His most wise providence and judgment, has entered into those souls that are founded and secured by faith in God, subjecting them to Himself so that they might not turn toward folly. *And he demolished the fortification in which the impious had trusted.* He stripped away from them the carnal mindset by which the spirits of malice, not reverencing God, possessed all their boldness as in a certain fortification of wickedness, seducing the soul that was impatient of pain on account of the indifference of the flesh. C
VER. 23. *He who keeps his mouth and his tongue, keeps his soul from tribulation.* He who is continent in words, speaking few things with circumspection, keeps his own soul untouched by the grief that comes from the repentance of things spoken rashly.
VER. 24. *Audacious and arrogant and ostentatious is called a pestilence.* He who does not spare his brother, but punishes him without mercy, and—contemning the prohibition of the divine law—dares to slander him, rising up against his brother and treating him as of little account, is called a destroyer, as one who attempts to injure his neighbor in word, in deed, and in the disposition of his soul. *But he who is mindful of injuries is lawless.* He who remembers the sorrow he has suffered from someone, and does not keep a pure love toward him, even if he brings no damage to him, transgresses the commandment of God by which he is ordered to love his neighbor as himself. D
VER. 25. *Desires slay the slothful.* The irrational appetites for sensible pleasures slay the soul of one who is negligent in fulfilling the commandments of God. *For his hands do not choose to do anything.* For the practical powers of such a soul, being given over to vanities, do not choose to do anything good; therefore, the soul
according to a good intention; whence such a person is shown to be dead regarding the soul, as he is motionless toward the working of the good.
VERS. 26. *The impious covets evil desires all the day.* He who does not honor God through good works, throughout his whole life, foolishly covets what is forbidden.
*But the just man shows mercy, and pities, and gives unsparingly.* But he who lives according to the divine laws shares his own possessions with those in need, and opens the bowels of compassion to them without hesitation.
VERS. 27. *The sacrifices of the impious are an abomination to the Lord; for they offer them iniquitously.* Things brought to the Master of all from plunder, by those who do not honor Him through the working of His holy commandments, are hateful to Him; because these men, while transgressing the commanded precept to honor the Lord from one's own just labors, offer these things.
VERS. 28. *A false witness shall perish.* The demon, who falsely praises that which is momentarily pleasant and seeks to deceive man through the perception of fleeting things, so that he is shown to be a transgressor of God’s commandments, shall be sent away into the eternal fire prepared for him and his angels.
*But an obedient man shall speak with watchfulness.* He who obeys God and keeps His holy commandments, keeping himself untried by Satanic deception, will confess the true good by his works and words for the benefit of those who see and hear him.
VERS. 29. *An impious man brazenly hardens his face.* The man who does not honor the truth endures the reproof of it regarding his unreasonable actions with a shameless countenance.
*But the upright man himself understands his ways.* The truthful man, who holds the truth in honor, examines himself from within, if perchance he has offended God in anything; and being reproved by Him, he takes care for the correction of his faulty works.
VERS. 30. *There is no wisdom, there is no bravery, there is no counsel against the Lord.* Human wisdom, or bravery, or circumspection does not exist that is capable of opposing God; for He makes the wise to stumble, and overturns the strong, and dissipates the counsels of nations; but His counsel remains forever.
VERS. 31. *A horse is prepared for the day of battle.* The irrational flesh is prepared by the one riding upon it, so as to follow him readily, whenever he perceives by the light of knowledge the approach of the spiritual enemy against the soul.
*But help is from the Lord.* For the Lord God of all gives victory over it; for unless He grants this, the one who opposes the aforementioned enemy has labored in vain.
CHAPTER XXII
VERS. 1. *A good name is more desirable than much wealth.* A good reputation, based on a virtuous conduct, is more to be preferred
than corruptible wealth; both because it is written: “Let your light shine before men,” and because: “It is difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.” For such a reputation rouses those who hear it to a similar zeal for virtue, whereas wealth creates distraction and often tears the mind away from God. *Better is grace than gold and silver.* Better than what is offered to God by men—meaning a life of silver, pure and sober, and like gold, tried in the furnace of temptations and unimpaired—is the all-good grace of the Holy Spirit. For: “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed.”
V. 2. *The rich and the poor have met each other; the Lord is the maker of them both.* He who is rich in the wealth of either body or soul, and he who is in need of some of these, although they are in opposite states while one abounds and the other lacks, have nevertheless met each other, so that the one with a surplus might fill up the poverty of the one in need. For the Lord has so arranged matters for both, that each might attain salvation—the rich man through almsgiving, the poor man through gratitude of mind.
V. 3. *The crafty man, seeing the evil punished, is strongly instructed.* A prudent man, seeing a wicked person being punished, is himself greatly amended in those things which perhaps he does not do rightly, and thus is fortified against falling into punishment. *But the foolish, passing by, have suffered damage.* But the witless, who pass by and do not attend to the one being punished for his wickedness, have lost the benefit to be derived from it.
V. 4. *The generation of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and riches and glory and life.* The perfection of wisdom in God is this generation: it begins with the fear of God, which is a flight from evils; it progresses through the riches of virtues and the true opinion concerning all things; and it is perfected in the blessed life in God, when the mind, passing beyond all created things, rests in God, who is its true life.
V. 5. *Thorns and snares are in crooked ways; but he who guards his own soul will abstain from them.* Along the ways that deflect from the divine commandments—whether in theory or in practice—the soul is tormented as if by certain thorns, by the passions of its triple-fold sensibility, by which it is caught as if by certain snares unto destruction. But he who guards his own soul, so as not to swerve from the commandments, abstains from such passions.
V. 7. *The rich shall rule over the poor.* Souls endued with reason and wisdom would rule over irrational bodies which lack this wisdom, if they so willed, for the fulfillment of the divine commandments. D *And servants shall lend to their own masters.* The bodies, which are the servants of the souls, shall offer to their mistress souls as a sort of loan, the diligence concerning the [cont.]
virtues—the labor, in this life—so that in the life to come they may enjoy these together with spiritual joy.
A Ver. 8. *He that sows wickedness shall reap evils.* He who, in place of seed, casts evil reasonings about the earthly tabernacle, shall reap sin in his action. And he shall complete the plague of his works; indeed, he shall harvest the punishment for his wicked deeds. *God loves a cheerful man and a giver.* God loves a man who thinks rightly and offers virtues unto Him according to his actions. *And he shall complete the vanity of his works.* He shall entirely bring to rest his diligence concerning temporal things, having transferred his whole desire from present things to those which are to come.
B Ver. 9. *He who has mercy on the poor shall himself be fed.* He who, by way of instruction, imparts the divine Word to the needy soul of another, shall himself be fed more abundantly in his own soul; because, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." For he has *given of his own bread to the poor.* For he has shared with the one in need that divine Word which feeds his own soul; and he receives it more clearly, so that he might be able to suffice for many. *He who gives gifts acquires victory and honor.* He who offers virtues to God as though they were gifts, by all means acquires for himself victory over the passions and glory from God. *But he takes away the soul of the possessors.* And from this he snatches away his own soul from those spirits of wickedness that hold it captive to sin.
C Ver. 10. *Cast out a pestilent man from the council.* Banish from the seat of those gathering in the assembly him who imparts his own malice to the rest. *And strife shall go out with him.* For when he sits in council, he dishonors everyone. *And disputes shall be expelled with him.* For whenever this man sits in council with any, he mocks them all and stirs them up to fights.
Ver. 11. *The Lord loves holy hearts.* The Master and God of all loves souls that despise the flesh and live according to the spiritual law. *And all who are blameless are acceptable to Him.* He welcomes with sympathy, with outstretched arms, those who, through repentance, have cleansed themselves of every stain of sin.
D *The king rules with lips.* God, who governs all things, deeming those who willingly accept to be ruled by Him worthy of His proper providence through His holy commandments, turns them away from the soul-destroying wickedness and leads them toward the good by way of virtue.
A VER. 12. *The eyes of the Lord keep sense.* The reasons of things—which are, as it were, certain eyes through which the Lord of all sees everything, knowing them before their creation from the wisdom through which and in which He made all things—are like certain rays of Himself, the Sun of justice. To the speculative powers of the soul, they grant that they might behold beings as they truly are in their nature; and they ensure that beings themselves are thus beheld, and they do not place the knowledge of truth in the appearance of visible things according to sense.
*But the unrighteous man mocks at reasons.* The transgressor of the commandments of God slanders the reasons of Providence. Whenever he does not abstain from pleasures, he calls those saving commandments of God heavy and unbearable; and when he cannot bear the things that are troublesome, he says that he suffers unjustly, blaming not himself, but God.
B VER. 13. *He brings an excuse, and says the sluggard: A lion in the ways.* Someone who is negligent toward action and meditation puts forward excuses, saying thus: "The Satan, who is opposed to these things, hinders my zeal for fulfilling the commandments of God and, like a lion, seeks to snatch away my soul."
*And in the squares, murderers.* And in that broad, corrupting space of the natural contemplation of visible things, the evil spirits, lying in wait like robbers, attempt to destroy my mind by means of the error of the senses, dragging it toward the darkness of ignorance as it hastens.
C VER. 14. *A deep pit, the mouth of the unrighteous.* The counsels of the demon—who has fallen from the end for which he was created and has revolted from God—are like a most deep pit. He who falls into these, due to their operation, ceases his course in virtue.
*He with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.* He falls into them whom God rejects, as one who prefers what is contrary to His commandments. God allows such a one to fall, by his own impulse, into the pit of sin, and to learn by experience itself how great an evil it is to distrust God, who is the governor of all things, and to obey the enemy, so that from this he might learn to invoke God, that He might stretch forth to him an auxiliary hand and draw him back from the pit of perdition.
*There are evil ways before a man, and he does not love to turn away from them.* But it is necessary to turn away from a perverse and evil way. Certain men know that they have thoughts leading to evil, and they do not love—alas!—to turn their own mind from evil to good. Yet it is necessary to turn away from the defect of virtue and from a way that is indeed too much turned aside from virtue, but which leads into the precipices and pits of malice.
D VER. 15. *Stolidity is bound in the heart of a child.* Foolishness is attached to the soul of him who is still young in age. *But the rod and discipline are far from him.*
A Corrective words, which strike him like a rod, and those which lead him to what is necessary, are driven far away from him, because he does not accept them at all, since his mind is carefully set upon evil things.
VER. 16. *He who slanders the poor makes his own evils many.* He who speaks falsely against someone in poverty increases his own wickedness by much. *He gives to a richer man, and will become poor.* He diminishes the status of the rich man towards whom he slanders the poor; for he himself becomes the cause of his own harm.
VER. 17. *Incline your ear to the words of the wise.* Apply your hearing to the teachings of those who are participants in the divine Word and who hold divine thoughts, and do not listen to others at all. *And hear my words.* And from then on, receive into your ears the words of my wisdom, in the midst of those who have been initiated into my mysteries. *And fix your heart, that you may know that they are good.* To these, apply your mind so that you may understand that they are good. B
VER. 18. *And if you cast them into your heart, they will delight you together upon your lips.* And if you bring these into your soul, they will become for you the authors of spiritual joy; at once they will be carried about in your mind and on your lips, whether you are praising God through them, or teaching men things that are useful.
VER. 19. *That your hope may be in the Lord.* So that your whole hope may be in God, the Lord of all things, while you think and speak only of divine things. *And He shall make known His ways to you.* And He will make known to you the paths that lead towards Him, according to knowledge and virtue; which serve as the goal of things known, as truth, and of things to be done, as the good. C
VER. 20. *But do you also describe them for yourself in a threefold manner.* And you yourself impress such words within yourself in a triple way, according to the extent of your soul, as it is unfolded into sensory, spiritual, and intellectual contemplation. For the soul, by sensory contemplation, investigates the literal meaning of the words spoken, which, as it is most easy to understand, can edify all. By spiritual contemplation, it adheres to the mystical sense of the words, which, because it is higher, can make many, though not all, better. The intellect, finally, D refers the words of wisdom to theology, which is accessible to only a few, and is able to bring them great benefit, but not to the many or to all, because it is most high and most secret.
*In counsel and knowledge upon the breadth of your heart.* Thus, engrave these upon your soul, for the discernment of things to be done and for the grasping of things to be known; for in this way you will discern the true good from that which is only thought to be good, and you will know things as they exist in their true nature.
A
Ver. 21. I teach you, therefore, to obey the true word and good knowledge, in order to answer with words of truth those who propose questions to you. I instruct you in the divine word of truth, and in the knowledge of it in the Spirit, so that you may receive and learn it simultaneously with ears and mind; so that your answers to those who ask you may be true. For unless you have true doctrine, you cannot become a true teacher. B
Vers. 22, 23. Do not do violence to the poor, because he is poor; nor dishonor the weak at the gates; for the Lord will judge his judgment, and you shall deliver your own soul safely. Do not demand of him who is devoid of the riches of spiritual knowledge, and who is occupied only with turns of phrase and words poured uselessly into the air, that he give you solutions to mysteries; for he is lacking in the knowledge of these things. And do not slander the one who is weak in works that lead to knowledge, by judging him. For he stands or falls to his own Lord; and He will examine his affairs; and you will free your own soul unharmed from the danger of judging your brother. C
Vers. 24, 25. Do not be a friend to an irascible man, nor dwell with a wrathful friend; lest you learn his ways and take traps for your soul. Do not be a companion to a man who loves to return harm to one who harms him; nor converse as a friend with one who takes vengeance on those who have brought some loss upon him, lest you become a participant in the corruption of his pursuits, and bind your own soul with the chains of sins. D
Ver. 26. Do not give yourself over to suretyship, having respect for a person. Do not abandon yourself with the flesh to pleasure in the present, nor promise to give it up to the debt of virtue on the following day, being affected by a shame that will, by reason of your acting, mark your secret soul’s disposition as if upon your forehead.
Ver. 27. For if you do not have wherewith to pay, they will take your bedding from under your ribs. For if, while you give the present day to the devil, and promise the morrow to the Lord, old age overtakes you, your flesh will not be able, having spent all its strength in sin, to pay the debt of virtue; the elements will demand back the body which consists of them and is resolved into them again through death; through which the powers of the soul, which should strengthen it like bones, incline toward pleasures and are not raised up to the operation of virtues. Thenceforth your soul will be left stripped of every good, having also lost the temporary rest it had in the flesh.
Ver. 28. Do not move the eternal boundaries which your fathers have set. Do not move the upright dogmas of the truth, which the teachers of truth have handed down to you, taking them captive for the sake of some absurd opinions.
Ver. 29. A man who is truly discerning and swift in his works ought to stand with kings, and not with the slothful. A man who is contemplative and most ready for action ought to obey divine reasonings,
which are by right superior to all, and not human, and towards the working of good, because they do not grow weary due to the labor of virtue; so that by the contemplative and active powers of the soul, working knowledge and virtue, one may be borne toward God as truth and good, and not be distanced from Him, being deceived by an affection for earthly things and occupied with these alone.
CHAPTER XXIII
A 1, 2. *If you sit down to dine at the table of a ruler, understand with your mind what is set before you, and stretch forth your hand.* If you have arrived at passionlessness, having ceased from the movement toward evil, so that you are able to partake of the bread that has descended from heaven, while the creation of Almighty God stands as if on four feet—the elements—you must not enjoy this according to sense, but rather take hold intellectually of the shapes of it presented to you according to appearance, gathering their reasons, and strive to practice the good according to them. B Knowing that you must prepare such things for yourself. Knowing that you ought to imitate God in your works, mixing according to intent the four general virtues that correspond to the elements; and yourself constituting a world that is most worthy of God according to the intellect, through the particular species of the virtues: in transferring, through a symbolic likeness, the mystical contemplation of the sensible age to the world of the intellect, which is spiritually perfected through the virtues.
3. *If you are more insatiable, do not desire his dainties.* But if you are not content with such a knowledge of the virtues, but extend yourself further in contemplation, do not crave to grasp the mysteries known only by God Himself, such as how the Only-begotten and coeternal Son is C begotten from the unbegotten Father, and the coeternal Spirit proceeds from Him; and how creation was brought by God out of non-existence. For these things hold to a false life. For he who attempts to grasp such things, which are incomprehensible, clings to false knowledge.
4. *Do not overextend yourself, being a pauper, toward a rich man.* Do not, therefore, you who were fashioned from dust and are in need of divine grace, even if you partake of God, equate yourself to Him, the Uncreated and All-filling, attempting to grasp Him as He knows Himself. But withdraw from your own meditation. Turn your mind away from the attempt to grasp the Word of God according to His essence.
5. *If you set your eye upon Him, He will nowhere appear.* For if you fix the intellectual eye of your soul steadfastly upon Him, whom all proclaim as Cause, you will find Him in nothing according to essence, as He is supra-essential. D For He has wings prepared as an eagle. For the Word of God, who remains essentially in the Father, and without separation proceeds into the world according to activity, as He is proclaimed by those caused by Him in affirmative theology, as the Only-begotten Cause of God, the Spirit consubstantial to Him
A,
and as He is raised on high to the perspective of the human mind, just like the wings of that which flies on high. And he returns to the house of his governor.
He returns through the abstraction of natural and temporal things, by which God is proclaimed negatively, to the glory full of grace and truth, which He enjoys as the Only-begotten with the Father.VER. 6. *Ne comedas cum homine invido.* Do not live together with the devil, who envies the salvation of your soul. The soul is indeed distracted from the Word of God, its own Spouse, but through irrational actions contrary to virtue, it is glued, as it were, to a certain man who is Satan himself, and thus, living with him, it is excluded from God. *Et ne desideres cibos ejus.* Do not covet the various foods of his depravity.
VER. 7. *Quemadmodum enim si quis deglutiat pilum, sic comedit et bibit.* B For just as the one who has swallowed a hair is anxious, so he who has indeed eaten malice and drunk ignorance is disturbed and agitated, and loses natural health. *Neque ad te introducas eum et comedas buccellam tuam cum eo.* Do not give him the opportunity, in those things where you work at virtue, to arrogate that to himself with you in the direction of his endeavors.
VER. 8. *Evomet illam, et contaminabit sermones tuos bonos.* For soon he will despise virtue, turn you away from the end according to God, and corrupt your right intention, persuading you to feign virtue for the sake of vain glory and to court popular air. C
VER. 9. *In aures imprudentis noli quidquam dicere; ne forte irrideat sapientes sermones tuos.* Do not set forth any of the precious words of God for the hearing of one who lives irrationally, and who, like a pig, wallows in the mire of pleasures, lest he mock your words, founded as they are in truth.
VER. 10. *Ne transferas terminos aeternos; et in possessionem orphanorum ne ingrediaris.* Do not move the judgments of God decreed before all time, snatching away His judgment before the time, and do not lead yourself into the malice deliberately acquired by those who fall from the adoption of God through the transgression of His commandments, judging them for those things in which, as men, they stumble. D
VER. 11. *Qui enim redemit eos Dominus validus est, et judicabit judicium eorum tecum.* For God, being omnipotent, will indeed deliver them from malice; but upon you He will bring the judgment awaiting them, and by the judgment with which you judge others, you shall be judged.
VER. 12. *Da in disciplinam cor tuum.* Offer your intellect to God, so that it may be led by divine thoughts to better things.
A But do you prepare your ears for the words of perception. Prepare the faculties that obey the sensitive part of your soul, namely, the concupiscible appetite and the irascible appetite, with reasonings that distinguish the truly good from that which is thought to be good, so that the former may desire the true good, while the latter may turn away from that which is merely thought to be good.
VER. 13. *Do not withhold discipline from a child: for if you strike him with a rod, he shall not die.* Do not cease to govern your flesh, which thinks in a childish way and is carried along without reason, toward the practice of the good; for since you will humble it by reason, as if by a rod, and bring it into subjection, it shall not be destroyed, even if such a fear may come upon you.
VER. 14. *You, indeed, shall strike him with a rod, but you will deliver his soul from death.* For you, as has been said, shall humble it so that it may not drag you into the precipices and pits of wickedness; and you shall deliver your own soul, which you thereby animate, from the death of sin.
VER. 15, 16. *My son, if your heart is wise, my heart shall rejoice with you, and your lips shall dwell upon my lips, if they be right.* My son, whom I have spiritually begotten through my teachings, if your soul becomes a participant in the divine word, you will bring joy also to my soul, regarding your concerns as my own; and you shall compare your words with my words as if by a rule, and you shall examine whether they are true.
VER. 17, 18. *Let not your heart emulate sinners, but be in the fear of the Lord all the day long: for if you keep these things, there shall be descendants for you, and your hope shall not be taken away.* Let not your soul imitate the transgressors of the divine commandments, but have the fear of God, the Lord of all, until the night of death comes upon you. C If you keep both of these things, you will have disciples of disciples who will follow your teaching and imitate your irreproachable life, and you will never despair of your salvation.
VER. 19. *Hear, my son, and be wise; and direct the intention of your heart.* Incline your ears to me, my son, and partake of the divine word, and according to it guide the primary movement of your soul, so that you may not turn aside from the truth.
VER. 20. *Do not be a wine-bibber, nor extend yourself to bargains and the buying of meats.* Use not the drinking of wine immoderately; nor dwell long in the marketplaces, buying things that serve your belly.
VER. 21. *For every drunkard and lecher shall become poor, and every sleepy person shall be clothed in torn and tattered garments.* For every man who is addicted to much wine-drinking and to the service of the belly, inflamed by bodily passions and dissipated in incontinence, shall fall away from both corporal and spiritual wealth; for he spends both on the works and meditations of shame. And every man who is negligent and in his body...
A being thus broken and vile in his clothing, shall inwardly be wrapped in thoughts divided among many irrational and base desires, which do not lead to the glory of God, the Creator of all things.
VERS. 22. *Audi, fili, patrem tuum qui genuit te.* Obey, spiritual son, the commandments of Him who, by grace through faith in Him, has adopted you as God. *Et ne contemnas cum senuerit mater tua.* Do not disregard the ancient teaching that nourished you, because its symbols have become weak B now that Christ has truly fulfilled the type expressed by the law.
VERS. 24. *Bene educat pater justus.* For fittingly, through such teaching, God the Father, in accordance with His grace, rears him who believes in Him, turning him away from all wickedness and inciting him to every virtue through His most righteous commandments. *Et in filio sapiente laetatur anima ejus.* In a son who is full of wisdom according to grace, His Holy Spirit finds rest, for he fulfills the spiritual law, not out of fear of punishment like a slave, nor out of desire for reward like a hireling, but as a son fulfilling the Father's will, doing what is good for the sake of goodness itself.
VERS. 25. *Laetentur pater et mater super te; et gaudeat quae peperit te.* Let God, who adopted you, rejoice over you as a son according to C grace; and let the old legislation itself—which conceived you in the faith toward Him, as if in a womb, in a type that overshadows the truth, and in which you were purified from the power of sin—rejoice. Furthermore, let the grace of the Spirit—which, by the holy baptism that gave you birth and showed you to be a Son of God, renews you—rejoice, as you clearly perceive the rays of truth, with the eye of your mind unclouded by any passion, and fulfill the will of God, as a son, with affection; for He commands you these things.
VERS. 26. *Praebe, fili, cor tuum mihi : et oculi tui vias meas custodiant.* Offer to me, my son, the love of your whole soul; and let your every purpose be to keep my commandments. Cherish the virtue which they enjoin, and hold nothing D of perishing things more precious than love for your neighbor; for, "He who loves me will keep my word," and, "This is my commandment, that you love one another."
VERS. 27. *Dolium enim perforatum domus aliena.* For he who is deprived of understanding by passions that are foreign to the rational nature and dwell within him, such that he is unable to keep the commandments of God, is likened to a punctured jar. *Et puteus angustus alienus.* And he is like a narrow and alien well, who limits himself to temporal things.
A having the affection, and offering his own perdition to the spiritual enemies who desire to destroy him.
Ver. 28. *Hic enim brevi peribit, et omnis iniquus absumetur.* For after this fleeting life, such a one shall be consigned to perpetual destruction. Whoever transgresses the commandments of God shall undergo for his soul the ruin caused by sin.
Ver. 29. *Cui væ? cui tumultus? cui judicia? cui autem molestiæ et tricæ? cui contritiones supervacuæ? cui oculi lividi? Cui planctus lugubris? cui dissidium? cui similium odia ac garrulitates? cui eventus sine ulla utilitate? cui vires visivæ debiles?*
Ver. 30. *Nonne his qui commorantur in vino et student calicibus epotandis?* Is it not for those who dwell upon the appearances of visible things, which, like wine, transfer the mind from its natural state to a state against nature? Is it not for those who seek where a full measure of the participation of the turbid drink of sin is achieved? For he who is weak in the speculative powers of the soul, being unable to arrive by the mind at the reasons of existing things, because he lingers through sense upon the appearances of them, is grieved by their corruption. And while he attempts in vain to stabilize them, he falls into thoughts that greatly disturb him. And because of his love for earthly things, he fights with his fellows. He turns away from them, accuses them, and perishes as he needlessly offends them.
Ver. 31. *Nolite inebriari in vino, sed conversamini cum hominibus justis, et conversamini in locis deambulationis.* Therefore, do not fix your mind upon the sensible consideration of visible things, applying it to them irrationally; but dwell with teachers who assign to each power of the soul what is proper; and dwell with them as you pass by contemplation from sensible to intellectual things. *Nam si in phialas et pocula dederis oculos tuos, postea ambulabis nudior pistillo.* For if you give your eyes to visible appearances—which, like bowls and cups, can receive the flow of divine knowledge—whoever you may be, your irrational desire will afterwards be moved toward utterly absurd volitions. Privated of divine grace, you will be barer than C wood that has been stripped of its leaves and is incessantly rubbed by everything. Thus, your mind will be, as it were, worn down by the contact of earthly things.
Ver. 32. *Novissime autem tanquam a serpente percussus extenditur, et tanquam a ceraste diffunditur ei venenum.* Finally, as someone bitten by a horned snake is stretched out upon the ground dead, and the poison spreads through his whole body, so he who has been bitten by the wicked one shall be spread abroad into the manifold and sinful thinking D
action, which is perfect toward the good, is death. And the malice of the spiritual serpent that has bitten you will invade you entirely, affecting the soul in its states, and the body in its actions.
B VER. 33. *Thine eyes when they shall look upon a strange woman, thy mouth shall then speak perverse things.* When your mind, ceasing to look upon its own affairs, fixes its gaze upon a sensation foreign to it, and thoughtlessly dwells upon the types and apparent beauties of this sensation, then your intellect will become the cause of skewed opinions of the truth; it will irrationally praise the things that appear, and will not advance by reason toward the things that are perceived by the mind.
VER. 34. *And thou shalt lie as one in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great tempest.* And you shall fall, like an unskillful pilot in a great tempest, into the abyss of ignorance and the storm of contrary thoughts.
VER. 35. *And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I have not felt it; and they have mocked me, but I knew it not.* But afterwards, moved by repentance, you shall say according to your conscience: The passions wounded me, and I did not feel it; the spirits of wickedness deceived me, and I did not know it; for I was led astray from things according to nature to things contrary to nature, and was held fast by the darkness of ignorance.
When will it be dawn, that I may go and seek those with whom I may associate? Henceforth, when will the light of the Sun of Justice shine upon me, so that, being converted in my mind from outward error, I may search out by my intellect the true concepts regarding existing things, in accordance with reason, and with these may enter into the blessed spiritual life in God?
CHAPTER XXIV
VER. 1, 2. *My son, envy not evil men, neither desire to be with them; for their heart meditates falsehood, and their lips speak of labors.* Spiritual son, do not in any way imitate men who work iniquity, nor desire to dwell with them; for the soul of such men contemplates all things for the purpose of deceit; and the words which their lips utter smite those who hear them and prepare sorrows, because they announce nothing good.
VER. 3, 4. *By wisdom a house is built, and it is set up by prudence. By knowledge the storerooms are filled with all precious and beautiful goods.* By the divine Word, the mind—its dwelling place—is renewed; and through the disposition that inclines the threefold faculty of the soul toward this, it is roused from the instances of omission and commission of the passions. While the flesh is stirred by labor to the search for the true good, the practical and speculative powers of the soul are filled with spiritual riches—namely, with knowledge and virtue, with the truth that exists above all things, and with the Good that is proclaimed by all, which is God, immutable in essence, beneficent in operation.
VER. 5. *A wise man is better than a strong man; and a prudent man…*
who possesses great tillage is better. He is better and more perfect A who, through the wisdom of the Word, has passed through all existing things in his mind, and has found rest in God, which is the true life, than he who is still struggling against the passions and resisting them nobly. And he who nobly wrestles down the passions, practicing virtue with reason, and only in necessary things yielding to the weakness of the flesh for the sake of sustenance, is better than he who gathers a great heap of virtues from this [flesh] through action, and then casts it down through the excess of his struggles. For the former not only flees from evil, but also advances toward the good, having the flesh as a cooperator toward better things; while the latter indeed flees the passions of omission, but uses no help to attain the highest things. B
VER. 6. *For with guidance is war waged, and safety is found in much counsel.* Just as war against visible enemies calls for military science, and the prudence and skill of a leader contribute greatly to a powerful army, so too in the battle against spiritual enemies, for the sake of overcoming and casting them down, there is need for a prudent circumspection that directs well the faculties of the sensible part of the soul—that is, the appetitive and the irascible [faculties]—and [for] the judgment of reason that discerns the better from the worse. C
VER. 7. *Wisdom and good intelligence are in the gates of the wise.* The knowledge of God and the care for good works sit as it were in the gates—that is, in the senses of perfect men—who from created things perceive the Creator and behold Him who is beneficent above all things, and endeavor to imitate Him with all their strength.
VER. 8. *Wise men do not turn away from the mouth of the Lord, but deliberate in their councils.* Those who have attained to perfection do not in any way overstep the commandments of the Lord of all, God, but are drawn up towards them.
VER. 9. *Death meets the undisciplined, and the foolish man dies in sins.* And concerning the irrational powers of the soul—the speculative and the practical, I mean the senses, and the appetitive and the irascible [faculties]—in the gathering of these toward the unity of the intellect, to those who have not learned to lead their own life in a way pleasing to God, the death of the soul by sin meets them. D
VER. 10. *And uncleanness is to a pestilent man; he shall be defiled in an evil day, and in a day of tribulation, until he fails.* And he who lives irrationally, and voluntarily does not understand the things in which he offends God, remains in sins until the end. But he who does evil openly, and perverts others, and who despairs of his own salvation, when bodily pains and sorrows of the soul come upon him, his malice will be extended, until the end of life overtakes him.
VER. 11. *Deliver those who are led away to death, and do not cease to ransom those who are being slain.* Ransom, as much as you are able, those who are led away to death—whether to the unjust death of the body, or to an internal death by sin—and those who are...
A in danger in this way, by using your wealth or by using all kinds of words and actions, do not grow weary.
VER. 12. "If thou sayest, 'I know not this man,' consider that the Lord knoweth the hearts of all men, and He who formed their hearts, He knows all things; who renders to everyone according to his works." If you should say to yourself, "This man who is perishing, whether in body or in soul, is unknown to me," and you disregard him in his danger, know that the Lord, the God of all, understands the thoughts of all men. And He who gave life to all men understands all things accurately, and He Himself, as a most just judge, renders to everyone the reward worthy of their deeds; therefore, you shall not receive mercy from Him, because you yourself did not have mercy on your fellow man.
VER. 13. "Eat honey, my son; for it is good, that thy throat may grow sweet." Be fed spiritually, my child, on the sweetness of the divine utterances; for the harmony of their teaching is well adapted to all, just as a honeycomb is aptly suited to those who are instructed by it. To those who are soiled by the stains of sins, it is purifying; to those kept in the darkness of ignorance, it is illuminating; and to those who are virtuous and knowledgeable, it is perfecting. So that when you have been filled with such teaching, your spirit may be replenished with spiritual pleasure, from which, as from a throat, spiritual thoughts are transmitted to the soul.
VER. 14. "So shalt thou perceive wisdom in thy soul." For you will perceive the sweetness of wisdom in your soul in such a way, having B tested through the perfection of life the most pleasant beauty of its spiritual nature, as to be so sweet. If you find it, your end will be good, and hope will not desert you. For if, seeking it in the Scriptures and in creation, you find it as it is proclaimed by the created things, your end of life will be good, since you will be guided by it toward salvation; and from this you will not despair of obtaining it.
VER. 15. "Do not bring an ungodly man to the pasture of the righteous; and do not be deceived by the fullness of the belly." Do not offer instruction, which is appropriate for those who are perfect in virtue, to one who does not love to worship God through good works, and do not cast the pearly spiritual words of God before one who C wallows in the mire of pleasures like a pig. Otherwise, by attempting to fill him with spiritual teaching, you will be mocked.
VER. 16. "For a righteous man shall fall seven times, and shall rise again." For he will desist from falling into sins who, according to the legitimate jurisdiction of the law of nature, distributes their due allotment to soul and body—providing for the soul the principal virtues, and for the body only the most necessary food and clothing. From every attachment to superfluous and unnecessary things, he is liberated and stirred toward a more divine spiritual life, being able to eat the bread that descends from heaven as a more solid food, after the cessation of every sin—which the number seven signifies. D
A "But the ungodly shall be weak in evils." Those who live irrationally, and who do not at all honor the truly good, will despair of their own salvation because of the sins in which they are entangled; as ones who are unable to carry the discipline according to the spiritual law, being in need of softer food, like those with the minds of children.
VERSE 17. "If your enemy fall, do not rejoice over him; and at his tripping, do not exalt yourself." If anyone who is fighting against you falls into some calamity, do not mock him, rejoicing over his destruction; and at the reversal of his fortunes toward the contrary, do not think highly of yourself, as if you have already been delivered from the one who was distressing you and casting down your spirit.
VERSE 18. "Lest the Lord see, and it displease Him, and He turn away His anger from him." Because the Lord God, the Knower of all, will see how your soul is badly disposed; and as He is a lover of mankind, this will not appear acceptable to Him. Hence, He will have mercy on him, because he has been corrected by the infliction of painful things, but He will turn all of His anger onto you, since you have need of discipline for correction. B
VERSES 19, 20. "Do not rejoice in evildoers, nor envy sinners; for there shall not be evil offspring, and the lamp of the ungodly shall be put out." Do not rejoice in teachers who make you evil with their self-serving exhortations, nor imitate those who in their own deeds turn away from the truly good; for you will produce nothing good from their teaching; and what is pleasant for the moment, and glorious to those who do not honor the truly good, and are therefore failing of it, will quickly vanish.
VERSES 21, 22. "Fear the Lord, my son, and the king, and be disobedient to neither of them; for they shall suddenly take vengeance upon the ungodly, and who knows the punishments of both?" Spiritual son, do not disdain God, who has power over both your soul and your body, nor the king, who has power only over your body; and do not neglect to hear and fulfill the commands of either of these. For they will suddenly punish those who do not honor them; and no one, because the time is obscure, will be able to guess the punishments that both bring upon those who sin against them; so that, having been corrected before being punished, you might reconcile them to yourself.
"A son who keeps the word shall be outside of destruction; but one who receives it, has received it." One who keeps the command of God, having been deemed worthy to become His son by grace, will be delivered from the danger of sin; having received it into the depth of his mind.
"Let no lie be spoken to the king from the tongue, and let no lie go forth from his tongue." Do not promise false things to the Lord God of all through your mouth, but fulfill your covenants with Him; and He will surely fulfill for you the promises of future good things, and the hopes conceived by you regarding them will not be frustrated. C
A "The sword of the king is a tongue, and not one of flesh." The Word of the Lord of all, God, is not bodily, poured out into the air through vocal organs and dissolved, but is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. "Whoever shall be surrendered shall be crushed." Whoever acts against reason and is found to be an adversary to Him on the day of revelation and righteous judgment shall undergo the final punishment, being rebuked by Him for the sins he has committed. For if His anger is aroused, it consumes men along with their sinews, and eats up the bones of men. His anger, if it is kindled, consumes men who have been corrupted according to the desires of error, along with their attachments to worldly things; these bind them to these [desires] like sinews; and it eats away their soul-strengthening powers like bones. B And it burns like a flame, so that they are unfit to be food for the eaglets. And it burns them up like fire consuming straw and hay, easily combustible material—His wrath burns up their irrational impulses, so that the thoughts which evil spirits—which, like eagles flying on high, are carried up into the heights of pride—sow in the souls of men are not consumed.
Ver. 23. "These things I say to you, O wise men, that you may know." These things I say to you, O teachers, so that you may discern whom God turns away, and may turn them back to Him through the fear of His threats; but comfort those who fear, so that they do not fall into despair.
"To show partiality in judgment is not good." Just as it is evil in judgments to spare either the powerful or the poor, and thereby to overlook what is just, so too it is evil to obey the demon suggesting either sins of commission or sins of omission, and this is to turn away from the virtue of justice. C
Ver. 24. "He who says to the wicked: You are righteous, shall be cursed by peoples, and tribes shall detest him." He who praises one who refuses to seek and honor what is good, and who consequently harms his neighbor, will not be loved either by the multitude of the faithful or by the infidels, inasmuch as he is the cause of their harm, even if the elect of the faithful love him because of the commandment of God.
Ver. 25, 26. "But those who rebuke him shall be seen to be better; and blessing shall come upon them. Lips shall kiss those who answer with good words." But those who attempt to restrain him from the harm of his neighbor with words of rebuke will appear better, and praise shall follow them; and they themselves shall kiss those who accept reproof for their own amendment and answer them kindly, inasmuch as they are ready for conversion.
Ver. 27. "Prepare your works for your departure." Direct your actions according to virtue while you pass through the present life: for the present time is the time of action; the future is for remuneration. D "And prepare in the field." And in the outer world, he who
A causes worldly cares to spring up like a field agitated by wild growth, make ready with the plow of the Word to pluck them up by the roots for spiritual fruitfulness, while you distribute your possessions to the poor.
And follow after me. And thus, taking up your cross—which is the complete mortification of carnal thinking—follow me, who became poor for your sake and endured the cross.
And you shall build your house. And you shall raise up through a spiritual way of life the habitation of your flesh, which had fallen under the assaults of the spirits of wickedness.
B VER. 28. Be not a false witness against your fellow citizen, and do not be enlarged with your lips. Do not falsely testify against your own flesh, as you yourself may choose, saying that it is impossible to fulfill the divine commandments because of bodily infirmity; for from this you linger in the passions that are contrary to virtue, and do not willingly malign the flesh, since it too has God as its creator.
VER. 29. Do not say, "As he has treated me, so I will treat him; I will take vengeance on him for the things in which he has wronged me." Do not say that just as this has been the cause of harm to me, so I shall harm him, and I will avenge that which has resisted me and wrongly taken away my mastery; for thus you might turn into passions through an excess of virtue. Instead, do not become a slave to irrational desires toward it, but deem it worthy of the providence that is fitting, C so that you may have it as a fellow-worker for the highest good.
VER. 30. As a field, a man devoid of sense. Just as a field suited for agriculture requires much diligence in order to become fertile and fruitful, so is the man who trusts only in temporal things and steadfastly endures labors regarding them, while disbelieving God who promises eternal blessings; he is an "outward man."
And as a vineyard, a man in need of wisdom. And as a vineyard needing a fence so as not to be harvested by everyone who passes along the road, such is the man who, while looking upward toward God and believing in Him, does not—through sloth—keep unassailable the theoretical and practical habits that are built up through His holy commandments. For whether the outward man is left heedless as regards the fulfillment of divine commandments, D or the inward man is left indifferent as regards the contemplation of them, he will be unable to receive the spiritual seed found in teaching.
VER. 31. And if you leave it, it will be deserted and will become entirely wild. And like grass, it will sprout only carnal pleasures, to sate its own irrational desire.
And it becomes neglected. And from this point on, he is indeed left to himself by choice, without care.
But its stone fences are dug up. But those things that are built upon the foundation of God—which is faith in Christ—as if upon stones, keeping this through the divine commandments in terms of both theory and
act, they are overthrown while you fall into base thoughts and actions.
VERS. 32. *Novissime ego poenitentiam egi* (I have repented at the last). I, a man so constituted, have often repented at the end. *Respexi, ut eligerem disciplinam* (I looked, that I might choose instruction). I fixed my gaze so as to prefer above all visible things a practice of God’s commandments that disciplines both soul and body toward the good.
VERS. 33. *Paululum dormito, paululum autem somnum capio; paululum vero amplexor manibus pectora* (I sleep a little, I take a little slumber, I embrace my chest with my hands). Since the flesh has become weak through the infirmity of old age, I content myself with a short nap of weariness; I yield to a short sleep of negligence; and I exercise my practical faculties only briefly, amid the thoughts that rise up from the earth into my heart. B
VERS. 34. *Si autem hoc feceris, veniet procedens paupertas tua; et egestas tua tanquam bonus cursor* (If you do this, your poverty shall come as a pioneer; and your want as a good runner). If you do these things, O man—to criticize myself [as I do]—there will come upon you a total lack of the riches of virtue, bringing destruction upon you; and an imperfection in the knowledge of God’s commandments, due to your neglect of them, like a very swift runner.
CAP. XXV
VERS. 1. *Hae sunt disciplinae Salomonis indistinctae, quas transtulerunt viri Ezechiae regis Juda* (These are the indiscriminate disciplines of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out). These current admonitions are Solomon’s, which were formerly scattered and unknown to many. Those persons who were devoted to the meditation of the Holy Scriptures, and were for that reason friends to Hezekiah, the king of the land of Judah, gathered them together after Solomon's death and appended them C to the book of Proverbs.
VERS. 2. *Gloria Dei est celare verbum. Gloria autem regis investigare sermonem* (It is the glory of God to conceal a word. But the glory of a king is to investigate a speech). The glory of God, as that of a supersubstantial being, is ineffable, because God cannot be comprehended; but as Ruler of all, His glory persuades [us] to obey His commandments because of fear of Him, and not to regard them with contempt.
VERS. 3. *Caelum sursum, et terra deorsum, cor autem regis inscrutabile* (Heaven above, and earth below, but the heart of the king is inscrutable). Just as the height of heaven and the depth of the earth are incomprehensible to us, so also is the Divine being, in a way beyond comparison, for He has neither beginning nor end. Moreover, concerning the manner of our future deification by grace, the counsel of God, the Lord of all, is still hidden from us; which the evangelist John disclosing, said: "It has not yet appeared what we shall be." D
VERS. 4. *Percute argentum improbatum, et mundabitur mundum totum* (Strike the unrefined silver, and the whole will be made clean). Cast out the thoughts that are injurious to God from your soul, which is honored by the Lord’s own image, and your intellect—in which the Lord of all, God, rests as upon a throne—will, by likeness to Him, perform what is good by not thinking what it ought not to think, neither failing through lack of virtue nor overstepping through excess, but by being wise toward sobriety.
A
VERS. 5-7. "Do not show off before a king, and do not stand in the places of the powerful. For it is better for you to be told, 'Come up here,' than to be humbled before a prince." Do not imagine yourself worthy of any dignity before you have been deemed worthy of it by God; nor run after offices that are appropriate for men who subordinate the wisdom of the flesh to the wisdom of the Spirit. For it is better for you, humbling yourself and judging yourself unworthy of any office, to be called to it by God than to be repelled from it for running after it, while another, who first ruled himself, is called to it by Him. "What your eyes have seen, tell." The divine wills which your speculative faculties have grasped, by which all things have been made, make known by words and deeds themselves.
VERS. 8-10. "Do not be quick to fall into a quarrel, so that you do not repent in the end." When your friend reproaches you, withdraw to the rear; do not disdain it, lest your friend reproach you, and the quarrel and enmity do not depart, but remain with you even unto death. Do not rush into enmity without reflection, lest you lament it afterwards. But when a friend reproaches you for some word or deed, turn away from the things you have done wrong, steadying your steps so as not to fall into the same things again. And do not consider love for your neighbor a small matter, so that he may not reproach you for not having been well-disposed toward him—for the dissension and hatred will not depart from you, but will remain for you as death of the soul. B
"Grace and friendship set free; which keep for yourself, that you may not become a reproach; but keep your ways readily." The gift of wisdom and love take away ignorance and malice; keep these for yourself, that you may not be condemned; but observe, O man, your speculative and practical paths toward wisdom and love, which well impart their own gifts to one another. For practice requires theory for the knowledge of reasons, while theory requires practice for the performing of the institutions of the virtues; so that virtue according to reason is as the soul, and reason according to virtue is as the body in which it is clothed. C
VERS. 11. "A golden apple in a necklace of sardius, so is one who speaks a word in its season." As a golden apple, becoming to an ornament for the neck made of sardius stone, so to speak a word teaching things that bring salvation is becoming to one who lives decorously in virtue; for a word that accords with life produces great propriety. D
VERS. 12. "As an earring of gold and a sardius is precious, so is a wise word to an obedient ear." Just as a sardius, variegated with diverse colors, is set in a golden earring, so unto an ear adorned with docility, the manifold instructional word of the virtues is held fast, not to be obliterated by deeds.
VERS. 13. "As the falling of snow in harvest is beneficial in the heat, so is a faithful messenger to those who sent him."
A For it helps the souls of those who use it. Just as the cold breath which rises from melting snow in time of harvest repels the decay caused by the burning of the sun and nourishes the grain, so he who keeps untainted the divine teaching of the prophets and apostles (that is, the instructional message) refreshes the souls that accept it, which are scorched by the fervor of voluntary temptations, and strengthens them in temperance and perseverance.
VERS. 14. "As smoke and wind and clouds are most manifest, so is he who boasts of a false gift." Just as the impetuous blasts of winds and dark clouds and the most violent rains are B manifest to all, so those who boast of a distribution of goods that does not actually take place publish that distribution only to catch popular favor; for they wish to deceive men and not to please God.
VERS. 15. "In long-suffering is the prosperity of kings, and a soft tongue breaks bones." Those who rule the people prosper in patience, for through it they acquire for themselves the goodwill of their subjects. For the utterance of sweet words softens hard bones and the severe dispositions of the soul.
VERS. 16. "If you have found honey, eat what is sufficient for you, lest you be filled and vomit it up." If you have found the knowledge of God, like the sweetest honey, in the divinely inspired sayings, enjoy it according to the limit and measure of the power inherent in you, so that by hastening to be filled immoderately, you do not repel the truth, thinking to comprehend the incomprehensible with your knowledge; for unbridled contemplation brings great damage to the soul. C
VERS. 17. "Bring your foot rarely to your friend, lest he be filled with you and hate you." Take little thought for the body that is loved by reason of the union, providing for it only what is necessary for its sustenance, so that it may not, by your providing it with what is superfluous, become satiated and, instead of a helper, become your enemy through the passions of pleasure and pain.
VERS. 18. "A mace and a sword and a sharp arrow, such is a man who speaks false testimony against his neighbor." He who brings a false accusation against one of the same nature and faith is like a mace, striking his soul and becoming for him a cause of grief; D and like a sword, he raises up battle, stirring up enmity between himself and the other; and, like an arrow, he sends forth abuse from afar against him, wounding him through this as if with a very sharp missile.
VERS. 19. "The way of the wicked man and the foot of the lawless will perish in an evil day." The perverse thought that chooses evil, and the method of acting of him who transgresses the divine commandments, will perish in the time of vengeance, whether that be cleansing in the present time or retributive in the future.
VERS. 20. "As vinegar is useless to a wound, so does an occurring passion in the body sadden the heart." Just as
very sharp vinegar is useless to an ulcerated limb, and actually stings it, so an involuntary temptation that occurs in the body afflicts the soul because of its kinship with the body. As a moth in a garment and a worm in wood, so does a man’s sadness harm the heart. Just as a moth ruins a garment and a worm wood, so does the sadness from a man—through the hatred held toward him—harm the soul that is prone to passion.
Vers. 21, 22. "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for by doing this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord will reward you with good things." If your enemy is in need of food or drink, feed and give him to drink; for by thus benefiting him, you will gather into his ruling mind thoughts which, like the coals of fire, refute his malice and consume the hatred he felt toward you. B And God, the Master of all, because you were not overcome by the brother’s hatred against you through the injury caused by Satan, but rather have overcome that hatred with love for him, will reward you with eternal goods.
Vers. 23. "The North Wind raises clouds; and a shameless face irritates the tongue." The wicked spirit, like the North Wind, storms the souls and raises dark passions within them as though they were clouds, darkening them and not allowing them to be illuminated by the rays of the Sun of righteousness. But the life that reveals the hidden disposition of the soul, if it is not entirely covered by shame over shameful deeds, drives the tongue of the one who sees it to slander.
Vers. 24. "It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a common house." C It is incomparably better to remain with the reason that joins sensation to the mind, as in some corner of a lowly shelter of the visible world, than in the whole world, which is a common lodging house for both the mind and the senses. For the mind, in a sense, rests in the accounts of visible things, while its sensation loiters in the forms of things thought of; the mind abides with the sensation that slanders the intelligible things through the deception of the visible, and from there it remains in those forms and does not cross over to the truth that is in all things.
Vers. 25. "As cold water is to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." D Just as the coldest water is a delight to a thirsty animal, so too for the soul that bravely bears the heat of temptations and the labors of virtue, the promise of the future inheritance in the land of the meek is most sweet. It consoles and restores such a soul with the hope of the blessings of that land.
Vers. 26. "As if one should block a spring, and ruin the outlet of water, so is it for a righteous man to have fallen before an ungodly man." Just as if someone were to block a spring and prevent the water from flowing out of it, he acts unseemly by removing from view the most clear streams welling up from it; so is it
who is adorned with the beauty of virtues, fall into sins and be despoiled of the ornament of virtues in the struggle against the enemy of our souls and the despiser of God. A
VERS. 27. *Comedere mel multum, non est bonum; sermones autem insignes honorare decet.* It is not profitable to enjoy the spiritual sweetness of divine mysteries to excess. For an unbridled contemplation of these things leads to a precipice. It is appropriate, however, to revere the most sublime dogmas concerning God and not to attempt to comprehend His incomprehensible essence.
VERS. 28. *Sicut urbs patens et absque murorum ambitu, sic vir qui non cum consilio quid agit.* Just as a city that has no walls and is not guarded at all is easy to attack, so is he who struggles against invisible enemies without rational discernment. For either, being utterly unguarded, he is easily occupied by passions through a lack of virtue; or, as if guarded by those things in which he claimed security for himself, he is brought down from on high into sin and is captured by passions through an excess of virtue. B
CHAPTER XXVI
VERS. 1. *Sicut ros in messe, et sicut pluvia in aestate, sic non est insipienti honor.* Just as dew on bundles of wheat and rain in the time of harvest are not to be praised, for they are of no use; so there is no glory for one who lives irrationally, neither in death nor after death. For he is bereft of immortal glory because he did not hasten to acquire it through a life adorned with virtues; and as for temporary glory, it happens that he is despoiled of that as well. C
VERS. 2. *Sicut aves volantes et passeres, sic maledictum vanum non superveniet ulli.* Just as all birds, both large and small, fly away from a place where they cannot rest; so every curse pronounced without reasonable cause against one who is cursed will not reach him, but will surely come upon him who, although cursed by no one, nonetheless persists in works worthy of a curse.
VERS. 3. *Sicut flagellum equo et camus asino, ita virga genti iniquae.* Just as a whip striking a horse curbs its lustful and contentious nature, and a goad pricking a donkey stirs it to walk more quickly; so does a rational punishment of the flesh, like a kind of rod, instruct a people that transgresses the divine laws. Indeed, it calms the intemperance of his concupiscible appetite and the contentions of his irascible appetite; but it arouses the sluggishness inherent in his carnal weakness, so that he may take care to fulfill the commandments of God in practice. D
VERS. 4, 5. *Ne respondeas stulto juxta stultitiam suam, ne efficiaris ei similis; sed responde stulto contra stultitiam suam, ne sibi sapiens esse videatur.* Do not consent to him who does not have God in his heart
A in accordance with his foolishness, so that you may not be drawn along into his error. But rather, contradict him according to his foolishness, so that he may not think his own folly to be wisdom, and persist in it until the end; but, by coming to acknowledge himself, he will be able to escape it.
B VER. 6. Ex viis suis, he makes a reproach who has sent a word by an imprudent messenger. From his unwise thoughts, the mind that puts forth teaching through an imprudent sermon that announces it attracts onto itself a reprimand. For he who perceives such a sermon will refute the mind that conceived it, for having thought of inappropriate things.
VER. 7. Aufer gressum crurum, et iniquitatem ex ore imprudentium. Take away the operation of evil from the concupiscible appetite and the irascible appetite of those who forget God. By these powers, as if by certain legs, the soul pursues what it longs for and flees what it hates. But take away the habit of this, as if from the mouth—from the intellect of such men, which posits the kind of movement in the aforementioned powers—for it is necessary to utterly erase them, because the habit of evil has been sown by the evil one, and it brings forth its own operation. C VER. 8. Qui alligat lapidem in funda, similis est illi qui dat insipienti gloriam. He who firmly places a stone in a sling, intending to cast it against someone, is similar to him who grants honor and power to one who lives irrationally. For he who has grasped this, having attained dignity, will not neglect to do things that harm men; and from this, he who bestowed the honor upon him will become a participant in his judgment.
VER. 9. Spinæ nascantur in manu temulenti; servitus autem in manu imprudentium. In the activity of the senses, when the mind is diverted from wisdom by the love of visible things, anxieties are born in the soul which, like thorns, strike and grieve it; but the slavery of the passions, in the activity according to desire and anger, arises when the reason for those [who are] not intelligently presiding over these powers does not persuade concupiscence to bravely endure painful things. D VER. 10. Multis procellis jactatur omnis caro imprudentium, conteritur enim exstasis eorum. The flesh of those who do not intelligently steer it with wise reasonings, as if by certain rudders, is buffeted by a great storm of voluntary and involuntary temptations, like a skiff. For their transition from things according to nature to things contrary to nature, at the impulse of pleasure and pain, pushes it and grinds it to pieces; for the passions according to pain, being opposed to the passions according to pleasure, destroy them, and are destroyed again by them.
VER. 11. Sicut canis cum redierit ad suum vomitum, odibilis fit; sic imprudens proprio malitia
A et in his own wickedness, returns to his own sin. Just as a dog when it has eaten vomit, and disgusted, has vomited it up, returns to be fed by that same thing again, it will be hateful to all who see it, filling them with loathing; so also he who lives irrationally, by the habit of sin, having returned to his own wickedness, from which he promised to abstain, will be hateful to God and to His holy angels.
There is a shame that brings on sin; and there is a shame that is glory and grace. There exists a fear concerning a base action which brings injury to both soul and body, by all means driving one who has committed the base act—as one who cannot bear the shame from men—to plot against his own life. And there is, again, a fear concerning base actions, which is truly a glory to him who possesses it, because it guards him from base passions. And it is grace, because it is given by God as a gift preventing the inclination toward base things, which is above all to be feared by us.
VERS. 12. Vidi virum qui videtur apud se sapiens esse, magis illo spem habet insipiens. We have seen a man B intrepid in the face of passions through a lack of virtue, thinking that he has from himself the reasoning that destroys the passions, and not that he receives it from God. However, he who wallows irrationally in passions through a lack of virtue has acquired a greater hope of salvation than that man; because the latter, recognizing his own weakness, awaits a time of repentance through which he hopes to obtain salvation from God; while the former, who does not know that his arrogance concerning his abundant virtue is vain and intolerable, can hardly be healed C.
VERS. 13. Dicit piger missus ad viam: leo in viis, in plateis autem sicarii. The slothful man, who is encouraged by both the written law and the natural law to walk in His salutary will—by Him who brought him into being and who, as the Creator and Lord of all, justly presides over all things—feigns fear. In the paths of the practice of the divine commandments in the written law, he fears death, which, like a lion, snatches away the souls of men because of the labors of virtue; and in the breadth of the natural contemplation of existing things, he fears the demons D who lie in wait like robbers in this [domain] through the deceitfulness of the senses, and who, with false opinions concerning apparent things, strip the mind of its life in the Spirit.
VERS. 14. Sicut janua vertitur super cardinem, ita piger super lectum suum. Just as a door turns on its own hinge to be opened, so also he who is negligent in executing God’s commandments on account of the labor of virtue, resting on the flesh as on a bed because of a love of pleasure, is turned around by a restless concern for it; turning himself according to the intemperance of the irascible appetite toward the desire for pleasures, and according to the other appetite—
A bravely, averting the onsets of painful things; and existing as immovable toward knowledge, but sluggish toward virtue.
15. *The sluggard hides his hand in his bosom; he cannot bring it to his mouth.* He who is slothful regarding the performance of the commandments, hiding in the treasury of his soul the practical power given by God, inasmuch as he does not extend it toward the working of the divine commandments, sparing the flesh because of the labor of virtue, is able neither to feed himself with the tasting of these same commandments through action, nor to stretch out a helping hand to his own teaching word that proclaims the truth, by means of practical signs that follow and confirm it, so that he might be able to fully persuade those who hear.
16. *The sluggard seems to himself wiser than one who brings a report in abundance.* He who is slothful toward the working of the good deems himself wiser than one who, upon being filled with understanding, proclaims it through works of righteousness, in that he has not, like the latter, committed himself to the ruggedness of the life according to God, but rather to carnal indulgences; for not knowing what is truly good, he thinks that which is not good to be good. B
17. *As one who holds a dog by the tail, so is he who presides over the judgment of another.* Just as one who touches the tail of a dog, attempting to hinder it from its forward rush, is bitten by it, as it hastens to have its impulse unimpeded, so he who, according to the authority allotted to him, judges another and presides over the examination of his affairs, attempting to hinder him from his inclination toward wickedness, suffers snares from him, because this wicked person does not wish to be restrained from his undertaking. C
18, 19. *As those who are cured utter words to men, but he who meets the word will be tripped up; [19] so all who lie in wait for their friends, but when they are seen, say that I did it in jest.* As those who are full of envy utter deceitful words to men, whoever is first deceived by them and agrees with any of such words will be tripped up, and will teach others to be on their guard, so as not to be snatched away by the deception of such words; thus all who secretly lie in wait for those who love them are busy about them through what they say; but when they are detected by them, each of these excuses himself, saying that he feigned the snare in jest. D Even in the very light of recognition, the wicked attempt to hide their own wickedness, the perverse attempting to obscure their own perversity.
20. *When wood is wanting, the fire will be extinguished; and when the whisperer is removed, strife will cease.* The nature of fire knows how to be broadened by much material of wood and to be raised to the greatest height; in the very same way, anger also, when it, lurking within, has seized upon the offering of material, is doubled, kindling a great hatred; but where he who possesses the anger lurking within does not exist to double it from…
external sources, the hatred for his neighbor remains dormant within his soul, as it is not shown to the hated person in action, as if through an organ of the body.
A VER. 21. *A gridiron for coals, and wood for fire; but a contentious man for the tumult of wrath.* The gridiron is made to glow when placed over coals, and wood placed upon the fire raises a flame even more; but a man who is accustomed to slander those who are absent, when he has found some who are stirred by hatred against another, adds slanders against them, and kindles a great fire of hatred in those who hate against those whom they hate, and stirs up the war between them all the more. And thence, when he ought to be a peacemaker and be called a son of God, he becomes an alien to God.
VER. 22. *The words of the crafty are soft, but these strike into the hidden parts of the belly.* The words of those who speak to curry favor are devoid of all harshness; but those who offer these things attempt to open the closed repositories of the heart, as it were, unto compassion. If, therefore, speaking to curry favor is not good because of the neglect of the truth, those who are uncompassionate are altogether to be blamed.
VER. 23. *Silver given with deceit is to be reckoned as earthenware.* If anyone bestows silver upon another, deceiving those who see it, and capturing praise from them, this silver must be thought to differ in nothing from earthenware, since he does not please God through his affection for his brother, which should be as pure as silver. For the word of God requires us to become merciful in imitation of God.
B VER. 24. *Smooth lips cover a sad heart.* A mouth producing consoling words, and possessing no harshness, dissipates the pain of the soul, calling it forth unto a certain comfort by means of them, and restraining its grief. C *With his lips the hostile man nods assent to all, but in his heart he weaves deceits.* By such words as these, the enemy—who is ill-disposed toward him—manifests a sorrow of mind, and is always nodding assent, as if he were truly sympathizing with the one who is expressing such things. Yet, at the same time, out of hatred, his mind weaves deceits against him, as to how he might impel him into the abyss of despair. For he who truly grieves with one who is grieving, attempts to soothe that pain, not to increase it. D
VER. 25. *If thine enemy should beseech thee with a loud voice, do not believe him; for there are seven iniquities in his heart.* If that common enemy of all calls you to be a partner in his counsels against us, and magnifies his own invitation, both with the enticements of pleasures and with the fear of labor, so that he may persuade you, do not believe him when he sets before you the delights and feasts of the flesh, as if it were not to be suppressed in this life neither by mortification nor by affliction; for there are seven most evil snares which he plots on the occasion of gluttony against anyone who cares for his body—namely, lust, envy, anger, sloth, vainglory, and pride, by which he who is a slave to his belly is captured. How
ingluvies who has been able to cut away, will simultaneously take away the passions that are its daughters. A
Vers. 26. *Qui occultat inimicitiam, nectit dolos*, etc. He who hides his hatred toward an enemy is preparing snares against him, and therefore he conceals it, so that he may not fail in his purpose through being detected. But that man confesses his own sins who is well known within the council of illustrious men, because it is impossible to argue with all of them about a lie or to shroud what is clearer than light to them.
Vers. 27. *Qui fodit foveam proximo, incidet in eam*; *qui autem volvit lapidem, super seipsum volvit*. If you have thought to inflict a wound upon your brother by stealth, this will fall back upon your own soul; but if you have prepared it openly, your soul will suffer it nonetheless. For in the way that we feel toward our neighbor, so the Lord feels toward us, rendering to each according to his works, as a most just judge. B
Vers. 28. *Lingua mendax odit veritatem, os autem non tectum facit ruinas*. He who speaks things that please, desires also to hear things that please; he wants others to be delighted by those things by which he himself is delighted, and therefore he ceases to speak and hear the truth. If anyone does not restrain his tongue, but says things with it rashly by which the listeners are stung or softened, he leads their souls away from their settled state, either turning them into irrational grief or into a similar joy.
Chapter XXVII
Vers. 1. *Ne glorieris in rebus crastinis; nescis enim quid pariet superveniens dies*. Do not serve the devil, who deceives souls, in the present by being given over to the passions of pleasure. But for tomorrow, instead of vain hopes, boast that you will do what is just; and thus, by weighing the passions that diminish and those that exaggerate virtue, you will prepare for yourself a lethal remedy and the destruction of the life that has been breathed into you. For you do not know what the coming day will bring forth for you. Therefore, one must believe God who says: "Today if you will hear his voice," and not defer it to tomorrow, of which we are not the masters. C
Vers. 2. *Laudet te vicinus, et non os tuum; alienus, et non labia tua*. Let your brother in the faith praise you, seeing you doing good and being well-pleasing to God; do not you yourself do it, thinking something great about yourself. Let even the unbeliever glorify you, hearing about your virtue and revering it; and do not let him blaspheme the name of God on your account, as though you were a worker of lawlessness, while you yourself exalt yourself with your own words. For if you bear the fruit of righteousness, you will be justly worthy of admiration by all who in any way partake of it; but if you are without fruit, you will be considered worthy of the axe and the fire, even if you attempt to cloak yourself with a thousand praises. D
A Ver. 3. *Grave is a stone, and sand is a burden; but the anger of a foolish man is heavier than both.* Heavy also is the dullness of the reasoning faculty due to a deprivation of prudence; and burdensome is pleasure, which, by reason of a lack of temperance, is made moist as by the flooding of a brine of passions, and which crushes and weighs down the conscience; and because of this, we are unable to bear ourselves without suffering. But the irrational activity of the irascible part, in a man who does not check [his impulse] with a sound mind—like a bridle, as it were, restraining like some steed the tyrannical impulse against one’s own kind—is more grievous than both. Hence, the remedy provided by the Lord—the law of love—is a greater means for ridding oneself of such a burden.
Ver. 4. *Merciless is indignation, and sharp is anger; but jealousy cannot stand.* Indignation is unsympathetic toward men, and anger, borne vehemently against them, arises from a small cause; but jealousy is by no means consistent with these, as it is moved without any reasonable cause; for if reason does not precede indignation and anger, how could jealousy, which comes with knowledge, ever stand?
Ver. 5. *Better is manifest reproof than hidden love.* Better are the words that freely profess the truth and make known to those who are loved their own failings for the sake of correction; even if they sting as they scrape away the ichor of wickedness, they are superior to a love that shrinks back out of fear of the oppressiveness of reproofs, appearing not in deeds. For those former words disperse the mist of ignorance of those who are under reproof and kindle the light of knowledge before their eyes, bringing their soul’s wounds into view so that, lest those who are led astray remain untreated, they may obtain the appropriate healing; that [hidden love], however, brings no benefit to them.
C Ver. 6. *Wounds of a friend are more trustworthy than the voluntary kisses of an enemy.* The chastenings of God, who loves us and does not desire the death of the sinner, but rather that he should turn and live, are incomparably more worthy of being believed to be of profit to us—even if they befall us for our purification against our will—than the suggestions of the devil who desires our destruction and who, for the sake of our pleasure, draws us willingly into passions. For those labors, ordered by God, make us just even against our will and are a cause of salvation for us; those, however, from the Evil One are voluntary and lead to our destruction and eternal punishment. Let us then master our pleasures and be patient in pain as much as we are able, and thus we shall repel every temptation of the passions and the malice of the demons, and we shall attain to eternal life.
D Ver. 7. *A soul in satiety mocks honeycombs; but to a hungry soul, even bitter things appear sweet.* Just as a man full of food, when before even the sweetest honey in the comb, feels nausea and makes little account of it, while to one who is in need of bread even the bitterest of foods seem pleasant; so too the soul that is filled with temporal goods [finds] divine...
A teachings, which are sweeter than honey and the honeycomb to the spiritual throat, to be something it rejects. But to the soul that is moderately disposed toward the pleasures of the moment, even the labor of virtue—though it may seem painful or unpleasant to the flesh—is seen by the spirit to be most sweet. For this reason it perseveres in this task courageously, possessing an insatiable longing for knowledge and virtue.
B VERSE 8. *As a bird migrating from its nest, so a man becomes a slave when he wanders from his own place.* Just as a bird, not yet fully fledged, attempts to fly, falls from its nest, and is captured by those who happen to be passing by, so also man—created to gaze upward toward God as his archetype, to love Him as the unerring object of knowledge and the ultimate goal of desire—when he voluntarily becomes alienated from the habits of knowledge and virtue that are proper to his mind and reason, is enslaved by passions that bring dishonor.
VERSE 9. *With unguents and wines and perfumes the heart is delighted; but the soul is shattered by calamities.* When the soul is anointed spiritually with the dogmas of piety and with divine commandments, and being exalted above natural desires and made fragrant by the gifts of the All-Holy Spirit, it is filled with spiritual joy; but it is torn away from these things when it falls at once into disbelief in the dogmas and disobedience to the commandments, becoming filled with the stench of impure passions. C
VERSE 10. *Do not abandon your friend and your father’s friend; and do not enter into the house of your brother on the day of your affliction.* Do not abandon the body, which is beloved by you and by the Creator, by paying too little heed to virtue and those things necessary for salvation, lest it be overcome by pleasure or by pain; rather, as far as lies in your power, keep it free from pleasure and disease, and have it as a fellow-servant for the performance of better things. But regarding the house of the brother—the holy temple [sanctified by the virtue of] the Word of God, who out of love for mankind deigned to become your brother according to the flesh—if you are still wanting in the spiritual riches of virtue, do not dare to enter under the shadow of piety, nor to appear as one of the chosen to the crowd; beware lest, having entered unworthily, you be cast into the outer darkness. D *Better is an inhabitant friend nearby, than a brother living far away.* A friend who holds the same opinion is better than a brother who holds a different one, because with the former it is possible to live in peace, whereas with the latter, this is by no means the case, but rather one lives in confusion and strife. For those who think alike, even if they are not brothers [by blood], are nonetheless more truly brothers than those who are brothers according to the flesh; which the Lord also indicated when He said: "Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother."
VERSE 11. *Be wise, my son, that your heart may rejoice; and turn away from yourself reproachful words.* Receive the gift of wisdom that perfects, O adopted son whom I have trained spiritually; and may your soul reap the fruits of spiritual joy, when it has been purified by its actions and has been illumin-
by the natural contemplation of existing things in the Spirit; and perfected in passing through these things in the mind, and reaching the untroubled place of the blessed, ever-shining light around God, and incessantly enjoying the beauty of His divine splendor. Therefore, in your fear and desire for Him, banish from yourself all those thoughts that are stirred up by the suggestion of the Evil One in your soul, which are worthy of much blame and condemnation. A
VERS. 12. *A prudent man, seeing evil, hides himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.* A man who is prudent, performing the good in every way, as he wisely foresees the evils imminent to him from demons or from men deceived by them, avoids these by taking refuge in divine aid, and successfully passing them by. But those who live irrationally, and audaciously expose themselves to these evils, themselves pay the penalty for their own spiritual ruin and the ruin of those who follow them. B
VERS. 13. *Take away his garment, for the injurer has passed by, who wastes others' goods.* By means of reproofs, lay open the masked speech and conduct of a man who puts this on like a sheep’s skin and, like a wolf, snatches up the souls of the simpler ones. For he parades virtue, but has taken on its external form in a way that is contrary to his interior disposition. Such a person simultaneously dishonors truth and virtue, seeking not to be seen, and lying with the pleasant and venerable appearance of a virtue that is far removed from him; things which, when held in this way, are utterly corrupted. C
VERS. 14. *He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, shall seem to differ not at all from a curser.* Anyone who promptly and openly praises his friend, and inflicts upon him a deep wound—the pride that arises from praises—shall be judged as differing not at all from one who curses; therefore, one should not call anyone blessed before death, due to the mutability of the will.
VERS. 15. *Drops of rain drive a man out of his house on a winter’s day; and likewise a railing woman out of her own house.* The divine words that descend from above lift the mind of a troubled man above the body in which he dwells, and teach him to despise it for the sake of the future reward. But the senses, having calumniated virtue on account of the labor inherent in it, turn him away from continuing in it, and prevent its difficulties from being overcome. Would that everyone might undergo the better change, and not suffer the worse! For the former raises the soul to God and renders it worthy of His kingdom, while the latter casts it down to the earth and condemns it to Gehenna. D
VERS. 16. *The North wind is a harsh wind, but by name it is called right-hand.* Above the sea of this life, like the North wind, the spirit of wickedness, having stirred up waves of temptation and agitated the mind, now lies in wait for the soul with hateful dangers, and now for the flesh with alluring ones. Out of...
For even if the flesh rejoices in voluntary temptations, the soul, pricked by the reproach of conscience and the fear of future punishments, finds no rest. As for involuntary temptations, even if they gladden the soul with the hope of the reward of future goods, yet the flesh complains because of the toil they involve. The Evil One craftily manages both such kinds of temptations: on the one hand, lifting up and goading the soul, contriving through bodily pleasures to alienate its desire from divine love; on the other, sophistically pleading as one who wishes to destroy nature through pain, that he might force the soul, through exhaustion, to cause its reasonings to falter.
17. *Iron sharpens iron; and a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.* By iron rubbing against iron, as a smith does with B artifice, he sharpens it: so a man who is manly and patient of toil in spirit renders the body with which he labors more refined and more apt for virtue, having laid aside its exhaustion, toward the contemplation of the Creator.
18. *He who plants a fig tree shall eat its fruits; and he who keeps his own Lord shall be honored.* He who plants the divine word by faith in his soul, bearing fruit like a fig tree through the fear of threats, and afterward sweetening like honey through the hope of the promises, shall enjoy this, having become outside the flesh in action; and having tasted and learned by experience that the Lord is good. And he who keeps his own ruling mind unassailable by the deception of visible things, C having become outside the world in contemplation, and having rested in God, shall be glorified when His glory is revealed to him.
19. *As faces are not similar to faces, so neither are the hearts of men.* Just as the characters of faces are different, distinguished by inseparable accidents—the snub-nosed and the hooked, the white and the black, and such like—so too the dispositions of souls differ according to their various chosen virtues and vices.
20. *Hell and destruction are never filled; so also are the eyes of men insatiable.* As hell, which receives souls after their separation from bodies, and the demon who deceives them and causes D them to depart from God, are not filled even if they swallow everyone; in the same way, the optical powers of men are not filled by the deception concerning visible things, until, having despised these, they may behold the glory of God. For everything by nature reaches out for the final object of desire; even if some, through deception, ignore this, and cling by their own judgment to the non-existent as if it were existent.
*An abomination to the Lord is one who hardens his eye, and the undisciplined who do not restrain their tongue.* He is not pleasing to the Lord of all, who occupies the intellectual eye of the soul according to sense on the surface of visible things, and does not pass through in spirit to the truth signified through all things as if by symbols; and...
being uninstructed in divine things, they deceive the ears of the many with composed eloquence, and do not feed the hungering souls with the bread descended from heaven, A by which they might be strengthened.
VERS. 21. *Probatur aurum et argentum igni, vir autem ore laudantium eum.* Silver and gold are tested when heated in a furnace, if they are pure and not counterfeit; and the man who does not serve his passions is tested and recognized by the praises with which he is honored, whether he be humble, or if he is puffed up by them.
*Cor iniqui exquirit mala, cor autem rectum quærit scientiam.* He who does not know how to rule his desire or fury by reason pursues pleasures and vengeance against enemies without measure; the former consists in the satisfying of the heart’s desire, the latter in the inflammation of the blood about the heart. But the soul that walks aright by the light and the natural law, and keeps the eye of the intellect pure from every mist of the passions, seeks to be illuminated by the sciences B by God, the creator of all.
VERS. 22. *Si flagellareris, et infamaveris imprudentem in medio concilio, imprudentiam ejus non auferes.* Although you may rebuke one living irrationally and cast shame upon him before a surrounding multitude, you will not heal this blind propensity toward evil in him. Having cast off all shame, he acts wickedly without modesty.
VERS. 23, 24. *Evidenter cognoscas animas gregis tui, et applicabis cor tuum armentis tuis, quoniam non in sæculum viro robur et fortitudo, neque cibos tradit a generatione in generationem.* O shepherd of rational sheep, it is not sufficient to judge the disciples merely by their external habits; you must indeed look to all that pertains to them, acknowledge the secret dispositions of the mind, liberate the weak souls from the tumult of the passions with suitable remedies, and conserve the healthy as much as you can; you must give drink to the novices, as infants in Christ, with the milk of moral doctrine; C teach those who are progressing the physical [science]; and nourish the perfect with theology, proposing the Word of God, the bread descending from heaven, as intellectual food to the disciples. You must apply your mind to these assemblies of disciples, diligently considering what pertains to them and embracing their healing as is fitting. For so long as they war against the passions in this world, it is impossible to report a full victory over them, just as it is also (impossible) to be entirely cast down by them. Nor, as long as we are subject to corruption, are we immutable; for if we were so in this life, we would not pass over into the future one. We shall be heirs of this immutability, as well as of incorruption, in the future. Therefore, you must watch over your subjects with all zeal while they are mutable. D
Verses 25, 26. *Attend to the green things in the field, and you shall shear grass; and gather hay from the mountains, that you may have sheep for clothing; honor the field, that there may be lambs.* Despising the perception by sense of those things which, in the expanse of physical and scriptural theory, are both growing old and passing away—the surface entirely of visible things, and the letter according to history—apply yourself according to your mind to the words that exist in such an expanse, becoming new through the renewing Spirit, and to the meanings of Scripture. And you shall reap, according to the energy of the virtues, the ever-flourishing knowledge of the all-good will of God, which is shown in all Scripture and in creation; but gather also from everywhere, like grass, the exemplary history of higher contemplations, so that you may possess within yourself, according to spiritual knowledge, rational sheep—fed by you with instruction corresponding to this food according to history, and producing the ways of moral philosophy like a fleece; so that even those who are in need of it may receive spiritual warmth. Do not therefore despise the more humble instruction, but make an account of this also, so that you may have pupils who are less perfect, being fed by this as by milk, and being led daily toward perfection, and thus your rational flock may expand. B
Verse 27. *My son, from me you have strong words for your life, and for the life of your ministers.* You who have received the spirit of adoption, you have acquired from me undeniable principles of wisdom, leading you according to contemplation and action, both to the life hidden in Christ which is your own according to the spirit, and to the life according to the law of nature for those who serve you, for the working of the commandments of God in the members of your flesh. For in the proverbs, through external things, I grant you hidden knowledge of divine and human affairs, so that you may be disposed well toward God and men, pursuing peace with all and holiness. C
CHAPTER XXVIII
Verse 1. *The impious flees, with no one pursuing, but the just, like a lion, is confident.* Just as one who does things to the dishonor of men, fearing that he might be caught, and that he will pay the penalty for what he has wrongdoingly committed against them, runs away, even if no one is yet pursuing him; so too, he who has done nothing to grieve anyone, even if he is slandered by some and dragged into court, having his own conscience unaccused, is confident like a lion in its own strength. Thus, also, he who performs works that do not honor God is already condemned, even before the coming judgment stands before him, being judged by his own conscience; but he who lives blamelessly, even if he is tested by voluntary trials, does not lose the hope of the future reward. This is also what the blessed David signifies when he says: *Therefore we will not fear when the earth is troubled, and the mountains are moved into the heart of the seas.* (Ps. XLV, 3) D
Verse 2. *Because of the sins of the impious, judgments are raised up;*
A but a crafty man shall extinguish them. Since those who do not honor the truly good according to their disposition often fail to attain the things they desire, disputes arise among them, as they mutually impute the causes of their failures to one another. But the prudent man, addressing the resulting strife with understanding, will quiet them.
Verse 3. *The strong man in impieties falsely accuses the poor.* As the man who is powerful in his tongue at lying, and in his hand at oppressive rule, spitefully attacks those who lack both speech and power, so too the Devil, who is strong in our own impulse towards evil, spitefully attacks those who have fallen away in their resolve from the riches of knowledge and virtue, and who, B from that state, are unable to resist him, seeking to destroy them completely.
Verse 4. *As a violent and useless rain, so those who abandon the law praise impiety; but those who love the law surround themselves with a wall.* Just as a violent and untimely downpour, which uproots the earth and brings extreme damage to the farmer, is like those men who, scorning the precepts of God and inclining the minds of their listeners to wickedness, corrupt the good seed implanted by the Creator into human nature, and do not blush to praise deeds injurious to God; conversely, those who are well-disposed toward these commandments set for themselves the fear of God as a wall by which their souls are protected from such deadly counsels. C
Verse 5. *Evil men will not understand judgment; but those who seek the Lord will understand in all things.* The workers of iniquity are blind at the level of the soul, inasmuch as they turn away from the law of God, which, according to the Psalmist, is a light unto our paths; they do not distinguish the better from the worse. But those who simply and zealously direct their minds toward their own Author, the God and Lord of all, and who, with longing, have their mental eye illuminated by the very Sun of justice, will rightly understand everything that comes their way, having acquired universal discernment.
Verse 6. *Better is a poor man seeing in truth than a rich man who is a liar.* D A teacher who possesses not only knowledge but follows the true path of God’s commandments in his practice is better than others who have great eloquence but who are not confirmed by just works. He who acts and teaches by his deeds is blessed; he serves himself, and he leads those who see him to glorify God. But he who speaks and does not act is wretched; he harms himself, and he renders his own words ineffective through the opposition of his deeds, because *simple knowledge puffs up,* as the great Apostle says, *but charity edifies.* (I Cor. VIII, 1)
Verse 7. *An understanding son keeps the law; but he who feeds luxury dishonors his father.* He who has been deemed worthy to be called a son of God according to grace keeps the command of God: he has not merely accepted the faith, but also through works of righteousness—
A endeavors that the faculties of the soul might be in harmony and agreement with the words and ways prescribed by the Lord. He, however, who prepares destruction for himself through the corruption of his life is the reason why God—by whom he was created from nothing—is blasphemed. For whoever experiences his malice is compelled to curse his Creator.
VERS. 8. *He who multiplies his wealth with usury and interest gathers it for him who shows mercy to the poor.* He who increases the wealth of his own knowledge and virtue, while he teaches the needy and calls them to share, while he draws benefit from them and at the same time increases his own wealth, he lends to God, who is merciful to the poor in need of such wealth; and he becomes His partner in the salvation of the nations. B
VERS. 9. *He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.* If anyone turns away his ear so as not to hear the law of God, God Himself will hold his prayer in abomination. He asks and does not receive, because he asks amiss. For even if he has prayed for his own salvation, which God is willing to grant, yet because he does not make his prayer effective by working, as one who does not perform the divine commands, he justly falls short of it.
VERS. 10. *He who leads the just into an evil way will himself fall into destruction; but the wicked shall pass by good things and shall not enter into them.* If anyone turns the simple away from the way of righteousness that leads to salvation into another law that leads to destruction, he himself, as a spoiler, will fall into danger of his life; and he, being seized beforehand by the just judgment of God, as a man of deceit, will be deprived of it, so that he may not be the cause of ruin to many. Others, however, led astray by the deceit of another and not by their own will, will pass by the good things of those who follow a legitimate course of action, and will not imitate their life. C
VERS. 11. *A rich man is wise in his own conceit; but an understanding poor man will condemn him.* A man thinks himself wise who displays mere knowledge in teaching; but a man who is destitute of this, who notices and understands that this skill in words is of no profit, will condemn him for lavishing empty words upon the winds and priding himself on the flourishes of his speech. D
VERS. 12. *Through the aid of the just there is much glory; but in the places of the ungodly men are caught.* By means of the help from divine grace, those who in the light of knowledge prefer the eternal to the temporal, and live blamelessly, send up much glory to God, as those who see their good works and know that without Him they can do nothing. But in the places of ignorance and wickedness, it is the case that those who do not honor God through good works are held fast—those who are forgetful of eternal things and think on temporal things in a human way.
A Thus, if he has denied his works through which he offends God, he will not be able to remain hidden. For although he may have deceived men for a time by concealing them, he will not deceive God, whose eyes nothing escapes and who renders to each according to his works. If, however, a man confesses these things one by one to those who reprove him, as one contrite of heart, even if he should not be acquitted by men, he will be let go, cleansed by God.
VERS. 14. *Blessed is the man who fears all things through piety; but the hard of heart shall fall into evils.* Pleasing to God is the man who despises nothing, but who flees those things by which the soul is wounded and seizes upon those by which it is saved, for fear that he may fall into punishment or fall away from the kingdom. B But whoever is void of the fear of God in his soul shall fall into sins, which bring upon him eternal punishment.
VERS. 15. *A hungry lion and a thirsty wolf, who, being destitute, domineers over a poor nation.* Like a lion stronger than the rest of the beasts, hungry to devour flesh, or a more rapacious wolf thirsty to drink blood, is the man who, devoid of wealth, tyrannically rules over a poor people, mercilessly trampling and destroying them, so as to fill his own storehouse with treasures.
VERS. 16. *A king lacking revenue is a great sycophant; but he who hates injustice shall live a long time.* A king desirous of flowing riches, and lacking them, deceives his own people by fastening new charges upon them which they do not understand; but he who turns away from greed passes the present life safe from treachery, C and the eternal life awaits him.
VERS. 17. *The man who pledges for another in a cause of death shall be a fugitive, and not in security.* He who is told on the morrow that the body must be slain, because it has risen up against the soul and truly slaughtered it with sin, shall be deprived of the present life and will fear the future condemnation.
*Instruct thy son and he will love thee, and he will give adornment to thy soul, and he will not obey a lawless nation.* Instruct the mind of thy son unto the Lord profitably; take care to cleanse him often of the stains of wickedness, and he will conduct himself well toward thee D and will bring glory to thy soul as thou bringest those near to thee to the virtue of counsel. He will not obey the multitude of demons who did not keep the commands given at the time of their creation; but having neglected their suggestions, and being established by thy proven counsels, he will take refuge in God, the mighty defender.
VERS. 18. *He who walks justly shall be helped; but he who walks in perverse ways shall be entangled.* He who never turns aside from the straight path of the virtues has obtained divine help, by which he shall ward off the traps of the devil; but he who turns aside from it, and at one time serves passions short of virtue, and at another time beyond it, he, in the constant habit of these passions...
A will be caught as if in an inescapable snare, and will be bound unto destruction.
19. *He who works his own land will be filled with bread; but he who pursues idleness will be filled with poverty.* He who labores with his earthly flesh in the fulfilling of the commandments will be filled with the gifts of the Spirit that strengthen the soul. Where life is lived remissly, there will be no possession of these good things, but strong famine.
20. *A faithful man will be blessed in many things; but the wicked man will not go unpunished.* He who believes in the Lord, and fears Him, and unceasingly persists B in the laborious work of His commandments, being deemed worthy to have His divine mysteries—which are beyond the intellect—entrusted to him, will hear from Him this: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many; enter into the joy of your Lord." But the faithless man and the transgressor of His commandments will not escape eternal punishment.
21. *He who does not respect the faces of the just is not good; such a one will sell a man for a morsel of bread.* He who does not show reverence for the countenances of those who walk blamelessly, but instead impudently despises them, is not good in his mind; for such a man, for a small piece of bread, will sell a person who is unyielding in his labors for virtue, C ignoring him and, for the sake of sparing a morsel of bread, becoming a victim of famine.
22. *A jealous man hastens to be rich, and knows not that a merciful man will overcome him.* The envious man is eager to keep the good things he has received in abundance from God, not sharing them with others; and he is ignorant of the fact that by bestowing them upon those in need—since he thus manages these things well—he will receive more, and consequently will become stronger than him (the envious man).
23. *He who reproves a man's ways will find more favor than he who flatters with his tongue.* He who looks upward to the Lord, and possesses the fear of Him, and is therefore not devoid of wisdom, by reproving with a good disposition D those in whom he sees that the man is in some way falling short of what is fitting, will find more favor from him than the flatterer; for he is a fellow-worker to him in his course.
24. *He who casts off father or mother, and thinks he does not sin, this man is a partner of an ungodly man.* He who rejects God, his Father by grace, through unbelief, or rejects doctrine, the foster-mother of his soul, through the transgression of divine commandments, and thinks he does no evil, such a man partakes of the whole wickedness of the devil, who with all his might harms those who willingly obey him, and knows not how to honor God.
25. *A faithless man judges rashly; but he who…*
will be in diligent care. He who is anxious about the morrow and does not trust in the God who provides for all, nor entrusts his own affairs to Him, judges vainly regarding uncertain matters, imagining a time of need and old age; and he knows not what the coming day will bring forth, and from this he neglects his own salvation, becoming occupied with endless anxieties. But he who hopes in the Lord God of all will be deemed worthy of His providence.
B Ver. 26. *He who trusts with the boldness of his heart is foolish, but he who walks in wisdom will be saved.* He who trusts in the thoughtless impulse of his own soul possesses no understanding, which persuades the desiring faculty to reach for what is truly good, and the irascible faculty to turn away from what is truly evil; but he who first perceives through his mind, by the power of wisdom, the causes of things, and thus according to reason desires the one and turns away from the other by his irascible faculty, will be delivered from that thoughtless rush which carries one toward the precipices and abysses of wickedness.
Ver. 27. *He who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who turns away his eye will be in great want.* He who bestows wealth and instruction upon those in need without envy will never be in want of these things, receiving from God a hundredfold of what he has distributed to others. But he who despises them, and scorns the salvation of their soul and body, will himself be in total need of all things necessary for salvation; and he who has not had mercy on his neighbor C will not himself obtain mercy from God.
Ver. 28. *In the places of the impious, the righteous groan; but in their destruction, the righteous will multiply.* In regions where the rulers do not honor God through good works, those who live blamelessly are afflicted and groan; but when, by the just judgment of God, such leaders are delivered to destruction, then upright men, cultivating virtue, will join the multitude, since subjects are usually wont to be fashioned after their rulers.
CHAPTER XXIX
Ver. 1. *A man worthy of reproof is better than a stiff-necked man; for when he suddenly becomes inflamed, there is no remedy.* Even if he acts unwisely who reproves a stiff-necked and insubordinate man, exciting hatred against himself and harming rather than helping, yet that is better than the case D where the disobedient man refuses to hear reproofs and is immediately inflamed to anger because of his own stubbornness, and finds no remedy for himself in the one who warns him, save for hatred.
Ver. 2. *While the righteous are praised, the people will rejoice; but when the impious rule, men groan.* When leaders are praised who allot to each of those under them what is due, those who are subject to them will rejoice, having no reasonable cause for complaint against them; but again, when tyrants are praised who do not honor God with good works, ruling
A they groan, bearing bravely the painful things which come upon them from those men.
Ver. 3. *Vir amans sapientiam lætificat patrem suum; qui autem pascit meretrices, disperdet divitias.* If any one has bravely wrestled down the passions by his deeds, and desires to know Wisdom, the parent of all things, through the contemplation of beings in the Spirit, and thus hastens toward salvation, the all-merciful God, who by grace has adopted him as a son, rejoices because of His love for mankind; but he who looks to his own strange desires, and hence nourishes with passionate impulses the senses that incline away from the Word, is deprived of the spiritual wealth of knowledge and virtue.
Ver. 4. *Rex justus erigit regionem, vir autem iniquus destruit.* God, the Lord of all and just Judge of all things, raises the human race from the death of sin to the performance of His commandments, both by the threats of punishments and by the promises of good things; but the devil, who has transgressed against the reason for which he was made, abusing the power he received from God to proclaim the divine will, and thereby being mighty to do evil to those who willingly obey him, instead of helping toward our edification in God, destroys it by that which is deceptive to the senses and momentarily pleasant.
Ver. 5. *Qui præparat ad faciem sui amici rete, illud impingit suis pedibus.* He who treacherously plots against one who loves him, secretly weaves a bodily injury against him—which is the "face" of the soul, as it is characteristic of it—and by his action primarily brings such injury upon his own mind. By the movements of this injury, as if by feet, he proceeds through his soul to destruction; and that the one plotted against is injured by this man is uncertain, as it lies in the judgment of God; but that he brings the greatest evils upon himself is clear, as he has distanced his mind from God, who is Love itself, and has subjected himself to the man-killing Satan.
Ver. 6. *Peccanti viro, magnus laqueus; justus autem in gaudio et lætitia erit.* To the man who stumbles by transgressing the divine commandments, there will be a great punishment in the future, namely, the falling away from God, the ultimate object of desire; but to him who lives blamelessly according to His commandments, there is exultation and enjoyment, and as much as success brings happiness, so much does failure bring grief.
Ver. 7. *Novit justus judicare pauperibus; impius autem non cogitat scientiam, et inopi non inest mens cognoscens.* He who honors God with works of righteousness knows how to distinguish perfectly the worse from the better, as one who recognizes the evil opposed to the good from the experience of the good; but he who does not thus honor Him is ignorant of the designs of the arch-wicked enemy that estrange us from God, and is caught by these to his destruction; and to the one who is thus impoverished D in knowledge, there is no mind that recognizes [good], for he has departed from the disposition of self-love, and to the man-killing...
A Lord, as if he were harsh, because of the arduous nature of the labor of His commandments.
VER. 8. *Wicked men have burned the city, but the wise have turned away wrath.* Those who, contrary to the divine commandment, act rashly within the soul—which is, as it were, a city—and stir up these thoughts against men; these, however, who are moved within it by the fear of God, turn them into tranquility, having made peace and extinguished the turbulence of anger.
VER. 9. *A wise man will judge the nations; but a foolish man, being enraged, is laughed at, and he will not be terrified.* He who does good through the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, chastens foreign passions, [namely] desire and anger; and by persuading them according to reason, he teaches desire to be continent of pleasures, and anger to endure hardships. But the worker of iniquity, being enraged in vain against his brother, is mocked by Satan, and is not ashamed to speak things that strike at souls and rouse them up against him.
VER. 10. *Men of blood hate the holy man, but the upright will seek his soul.* Those who, like workers of iniquity, set upon their brethren and attempt inhumanly to destroy them, will turn away from the man who does not even spare his own life for the sake of salvation, because he opposes them; but those who are well-disposed within themselves will strive to discover his hidden soul in order to imitate it.
VER. 11. *A fool brings forth all his anger, but a wise man dispenses it by parts.* When someone does not rule the irrational part of the soul according to reason, and breaks out into angry words and deeds because of whatever injury is inflicted upon him by anyone, he reveals how great is his desire to afflict those who afflict him. But when the intellectual eye of the mind is illuminated by the grace of the Holy Spirit and sees what is necessary, then a man compresses his anger by reason, [and] accommodates it to individual injuries, because he is stronger than all these things. B
VER. 12. *If a king listens to an unjust word, all those under him are lawless.* Just as when a king of men accepts advice opposed to the righteous, those under him who obey him commit that which is contrary to reason; so too, when the mind, which governs all the powers of the soul, submits to the counsel of Satan, which is opposed to the divine commandment, all the aforementioned powers transgress the said commandment, working evil.
VER. 13. *The creditor and the debtor meeting one another, the Lord makes a visitation of both.* The soul, having breathed life into the flesh, as it were demands a debt [that the flesh] be a companion to it for the most beautiful works, and does not wish to be distracted at all by certain cares for it; yet the flesh also requires the providence of the soul for its own preservation, but refuses to obey it at all in the observance of the commandments of God, inasmuch as it is too arduous. Therefore, while both sides consent, the soul [assists] the flesh in the preparation of food and...
clothing, which are the most necessary things; and the flesh [assists] the soul in yielding to it for the practice of virtue; the Lord of all things, both intelligible and sensible, watches over both with providence, granting to each that which is conducive to its salvation.
A Ver. 14. *Regis in veritate judicantis pauperes, sedes ejus in testimonium constituetur.* Just as a certain king, judging those under him according to the dispositions of their souls and not according to outward appearances, even if those under him are actually needy, [shows that] this royal dignity, which the throne signifies, shall be for the judgment of both the good and those who are not such; so too does the ruler [the intellect], not looking at apparent beauties but at those which are hidden, and preferring the truly good over those that are only thought to be so, [exercise] this authority over one's passions, which, being a grace of the all-holy Spirit and light of knowledge, shall by instructional words distinguish both good and evil.
Ver. 15. *Plagae et correptiones dant sapientiam, puer autem errans confundit parentes suos.* Punishments and words of frankness, when brought upon a son by his father, disclose the sins which deserve the punishments and, by shaming him toward correction, bestow upon him the knowledge of the truth. But a son who strays from the truth and prefers things that are only thought to be good over what is truly good, by committing unreasonable acts, B shames his own parents, being the cause of many reproaches for them, because he has not received from them the discipline that is fitting.
Ver. 16. *Cum multi sunt impii, multa sunt peccata; justi autem, illis cadentibus, timidi fiunt.* When there are many who do not honor God through good works, many things are done that are displeasing to Him; but those who live blamelessly, having mercy on them for their fall, fortify themselves with the fear of God, so that they may not fall into similar things.
Ver. 17. *Erudi filium tuum, et requiem dabit tibi, et dabit ornatum animae tuae.* Lead your son, whether he be carnal or spiritual, in a way that is profitable to the soul, strenuously purifying him of ignorance and wickedness; and he will heal you, fulfilling in himself the desires of your soul, and he will attach to it, as to its cause, the variety of virtues within himself.
Ver. 18. *Non erit propheta genti iniquae, custodiens autem legem beatissimus.* A people enslaved to habits of wickedness and to ignorance, and in no way receiving the law of the Spirit, shall never have an interpreter of the lawful teachings of the Spirit; for those who do not receive this law would not even seek its interpretation, so that they might have an interpreter; therefore, wrapped in the darkness of ignorance, they fall into the abyss of wickedness. But the man who keeps such a law is undying, as one not to be consumed by the death of sin.
Ver. 19. *Verbis non erudietur servus durus; nam etsi intellexerit, non tamen audiet.* Just as a disobedient servant is not corrected by D mere mocking words; for even if he understands, he will not obey. Just as by mocking words alone, an indocile servant is not directed, for
even if he knows what is good, he will not be persuaded to do it, but will require stripes so that he may become compliant; so, too, he who is hardened against the Lord’s divine commands, and does not obey them, will stand in need of involuntary tribulations for their accomplishment. A
VERS. 20. *If you see a man swift in words, know that the fool has more hope than he.* If you see someone speaking thoughtlessly, know that there is more hope for the one who lacks understanding to receive it from another; for he who is rash in discourse, thinking he knows all things, does not endure to learn what is good from another.
VERS. 21. *He who lives delicately from childhood will be a servant; but at the last he will grieve over himself.* Whoever has not obtained suitable discipline, and from childhood has been drunk on sensual delights, will be a slave to base passions; but having come to awareness at the end, he will grieve, repenting for himself for the things in which he has wretchedly wasted his own life, having used it for no good purpose. B
VERS. 22. *A passionate man stirs up strife, and an irascible man digs up sin.* Whoever feels the blood around his heart boiling due to evil thoughts, such a person gropes for contention; and he who is accustomed to have his anger active, while warding off the one who has grieved him—whether by his own hand or through another—has laid bare the wounds of the tripartite soul. For if one does not control the passions of concupiscence by prudent reason, he does not bravely endure afflictions in his anger; hence, he who avenges himself on one who has grieved him, not enduring these [afflictions], is proven not to have controlled the passions of concupiscent C desire by prudent reason.
VERS. 23. *Contumely humbles a man, but the Lord establishes those who feel humbly with glory.* When someone has bravely overcome the passions that fall short of virtue, there is a fear that the arrogant vice of pride, exceeding virtue, may cast him down from the height of God's honor. But those who have acknowledged human frailty and feel humbly, the consubstantial power and wisdom of God establishes, and preserves them in honor by the saving grace of the all-holy Spirit; for *God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.*
VERS. 24, 25. *He who shares with a thief hates his own soul; but if they do not announce the proposed oath, fearing and revering men, they have been tripped up; but he who trusts in the Lord will be saved.* If you have consented to one who steals another’s property, or have helped him, you are a participant in the booty with him, and you plot against your own soul, willingly delivering it to destruction. But if these two, having bound one another with oaths not to disclose such wickedness, and keeping their conspiracy for evil, do not reveal it, fearing lest D [they be revealed, and fall under the fitting punishment and shame from men, you err in this; for the reason I have stated—]
NOTES. (1) One may ask what is meant by "tripartite soul" (τριμεροῦς ψυχῆς): these are the three powers of the soul of which Saint Thomas often speaks: the intellect (λογισμὸς), the concupiscible faculty (ἐπιθυμία), and the irascible faculty (θυμός); the acts of each faculty are sufficiently known from elsewhere.
and were shown proper respect by men, and fell into shame; they were deceived, because they would not escape the spiritual and bodily danger laid up for them. He, however, who trusts in the A almighty God, and despises human fear, will rejoice, being delivered from harm of soul and body; for indeed, he who confesses his own sin before the trials [come], is delivered not only from spiritual danger, but also from bodily [danger], if it be impending.
Impiety gives a man a fall; but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be saved. Not to honor God—that is, failing to prefer His pleasure above all things, or failing to trust in Him in all undertakings—causes the man who steadfastly applies himself to contemplation or action to falter in attaining knowledge or virtue, B or to be led astray from the truth or the good. From the truth, if the undertaking be theoretical, since truth is the end of things known, as an unerring object of knowledge; from the good, if it be practical, since the good is the end of practical things, as the final object of desire. But he who trusts in the God who is lord of all, preferring Him in all things and hastening to please Him in all, shall partake of His supernatural gifts, which is salvation as the end of faith; having escaped all ignorance and wickedness, for he has not missed God, but has attained Him in accordance with knowledge and virtue—He who is the Truth and the Good: the former when it is understood as of His essence, the latter when it is seen [as proceeding] from His activity; for truth is immutable, but the good is what is pleasing.
C VER. 26. Many court the faces of leaders, but justice for a man comes from the Lord. Most men endeavor to court the faces of those in authority, so that, appearing to be favorable to them, they may draw their goodwill to themselves; but from the Lord God, who knows all things, the reward proportioned to his disposition is rendered to each man; and there shall be no benefit to anyone from hypocrisy.
VER. 27. An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous; and one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked. God, who renders to each according to his works, hates the man who does not conduct himself according to His laws, as a transgressor of His divine commandments; and the virtuous life, which leads unerringly to salvation, D is hated by him who transgresses these, as it is rough and laborious.
CHAPTER XXX
1. My son, fear my words, and receiving them, repent. Do not, my child, despise my commandments; but receiving them into your ears, repent of the sins you have committed. This the man says to those who believe in God, and I cease. These things the Only-begotten Son of God and the Word, having truly become man, teaches those who believe in Him as God. And I shall completely cease to think of carnal things.
2. For I am the most foolish of all men, and human prudence is not in me. For of all [men], those who think on carnal things, the most foolish—
I am, since to one who thinks on the things of the Spirit, there exists in him no carnal and human prudence. B
VERS. 3. *God has taught me wisdom, and I have known the knowledge of the holy.* God has made me a participant in His divine teaching; and I have grasped divine mysteries, such as those who are pure in mind have known.
VERS. 4. *Who has ascended into heaven, and descended?* Who has been raised from earth to heaven? He who first descended to our clay, so that He might lift it up to His supercelestial height. *Who has gathered the winds in his bosom?* And all the energies of the Spirit in the storehouse according to the soul. *Who has bound up the water in a garment?* And He carried about all the Words in the flesh which He put on, embracing all by the mystery of the economy according to it. *Who has established all the ends of the earth?* And as Lord of all creation, having spread abroad His own Gospel even to the ends of the earth, He brought the nations inhabiting up to these [limits] under His own lordship, they having willingly received from this [time] to be reigned over by Him.
VERS. 5. *What is his name? or what is his son's name? for all the words of God are purified.* What is the summary appellation expressive of His quality? And what again is that of His disciples? Christ, strictly, and Christians; the former, as He anointed humanity with His divinity, through the union of such natures in Himself according to hypostasis; the latter, as [they are] participants in Him, and through Him have received the grace of the Spirit, and have been adopted by God and Father. For all the things spoken are words of God, C purified in the fire of the knowledge of God, which burns up all ignorance and wickedness; and to those held by these, they are untouchable. D But He Himself protects those who revere Him. He renders aid to those who fear Him against those who war against them.
VERS. 6. *Add not to his words, lest he convict thee, and thou be found a liar.* Do not wish to know more than what has been taught to you by Him, lest, since He Himself is the Truth, He convict you of lying, as you are falling away from the truth itself. But praying to Him, he says this:
VERS. 7. *Two things I ask of thee, take not grace from me before I die.* These two things, O Word of God, I entreat to receive from Thee: the gift of the all-holy Spirit, the intellectual light which illuminates the contemplative powers of my soul, [my] intellect and mind; do not take [it] from me through the whole time of my life.
VERS. 8. *Remove far from me vain word and lying.* But as if in the light convicting the useless and lying reasoning [arising] from the suggestion of the evil one, cast it far away from my soul. *Give me neither riches nor poverty.* Do not concede to my free will, whether uselessly
A to overstep virtue, or deceptively to fall short of it. *Appoint for me what is necessary and sufficient.* At the same time, appoint for me the true contemplations that are fitting for the intellectual part of my soul, and for its salvation, the labors that are sufficient for the strength of my body regarding the practice of the virtues.
9. *Lest I be full and become a liar, and say, "Who sees me?" or become poor and steal, and swear by the name of God.* So that I may neither, by exceeding the limit and measure of the value of virtue, miss the true goal according to God—laboring excessively B about the practice of virtue for the sake of human praise and not for the sake of God, and thereby, by concealing the evil disposition of my soul, appear to be hidden—nor, by falling short of the limit and measure of such value, according to my own choice, plunder the worship owed to God, serving the flesh and the world, and delight in the care of the belly and the lower parts, considering the belly as God.
10. *Do not deliver a servant into the hands of his master, lest he curse you, and you be destroyed.* Do not deliver to the tyrant of our souls, the devil, one who serves him in sin and makes an attempt to flee from it through repentance, casting him into despair, and thereby preparing him to be punished by the Lord of all, God; lest you hear from Him: *Depart from me, you cursed,* and be cast into the outer darkness; as you mercilessly allowed him who was hungering for his salvation and thirsting to hear the word of salvation to perish.
11. C *An evil descendant curses his father, and does not bless his mother.* For a hateful son is one who does not turn through repentance to God, who adopted him at his creation after His own image and likeness; but rather slanders his own father as harsh; and the nurse of his soul—His divine teaching—he does not praise, as if it were supposedly difficult to keep.
12. *An evil descendant judges himself righteous, and has not washed his exit.* Such a son deems himself virtuous; but he has not yet cleansed the exit of his life from the stains of sin.
13. *An evil descendant has lofty eyes, and is lifted up by his eyelids.* Such a son, not recognizing his own weakness, possesses unbridled observation; and he examines and judges the slightest faults of his fellow men as if with his eyelids, and is lifted up over them as if they were very small.
14. D *An evil descendant has teeth of swords, and his molars are knives, so as to consume and eat up the humble from the earth, and the poor of them from among men.* Such a son brings forth words like swords to the gatherings
and his mind carries them about like the teeth of those who secretly snap, cutting into the bond of those of the same nature, so as to corrupt and devour the lowly among men, and thence to make them disappear entirely from the earth.
VERS. 15. The horseleech had three daughters, beloved by love, and these three did not satisfy it; and the fourth was not content to say, It is enough. After the first transgression, the irrational and base desire of whatever kind brought forth, as it were, three most desirable daughters: ignorance, in the reasoning part of the soul; self-love, in the concupiscible part; and, in the irascible part, tyranny against those of the same nature. These are three great things, hanging from one another, most evil, and, to express it simply, the cause of all wickedness; since they are failures concerning God: ignorance, as regarding the infallible Knower; self-love, as regarding the ultimate Object of desire; and tyranny, being mutual destruction, is in turn a failure of the bodily constitution, for which it seems to contend excessively. Reasonably, therefore, it cannot sate the irrational desire that bears these, existing as it does, like the horseleech, insatiable. Consequently, she who, with her daughters, completes the number four, is not satisfied, so that she might abstain from the movement contrary to nature, until reason, having subdued her, persuades her to be borne toward the goods that are above nature, where she will finally be satisfied when the human being sees the glory of God.
VERS. 16. The underworld, and the love of a woman, and tartarus, and the earth which is not satisfied with water, and water and fire will not say, It is enough. For neither the state of souls which follows their separation from their bodies, and is called the underworld (as being invisible), C because in it they neither operate nor suffer anything either pleasant or painful in conjunction with bodies; nor that irrational craving according to sense, which sends the souls down into the underworld and dissolves the bodies into the four elements, as if because of it man has been condemned to death; nor, indeed, will the air that is moved and disturbs the waters, coming from those very four elements, or the dry earth not watered by the rains and casting off its proper dryness, or water itself, or fire, be satisfied by mutual corruption, until, in the universal resurrection, incorruption and stability and immunity from all change shall arrive.
VERS. 17. The eye that mocks at a father and despises the old age of a mother, let the ravens of the torrents pluck it out, and the young eagles eat it. The intellectual eye of the soul, which contemns God the Creator of all, and despises the ancient wisdom coeternal with Him—the cause of the universe—by lingering upon the appearances of natural and temporal things and not ascending to their rational principles, D which God established before the ages by a saving counsel, and according to which He brought into being from nothing both the visible and the invisible creation (for He made and makes all things by reason and wisdom at the opportune time)—such an eye will be blinded by unclean and vicious thoughts of earthly things, rising up from the flesh, hollowed out by the flow of many passions and torn away from the coherence and connection with the soul
A according to the law of God who joined them together; they consume the thoughts by the excess of the virtues which evil spirits bring forth in the soul, in the manner of eagles flying high, uplifted into the height of arrogance. For these speculative thoughts exhaust the powers of the soul with vain meditation.
B VERS. 18, 19. "There are three things difficult for me, and the fourth I do not know at all: the tracks of an eagle flying, and the ways of a serpent on a rock, and the paths of a ship sailing, and the ways of a man in his youth." Just as it is impossible for me to grasp these three things—the tracks of an eagle flying, the ways of a serpent creeping on a rock, and the paths of a ship sailing—because these things have no existence; so also the fourth is unknown to me: the unstable thoughts of a mind that has not yet attained to spiritual maturity.
VERS. 20. "Such is the way of an adulterous woman; when she has acted, having washed herself, she says she has done nothing wrong." Similar to this is the operation which wanders far from reason and, with the nodding consent of the flesh, strays towards sensible things; which flesh, after sin, when it has washed away the filth of sin through penance, shows itself to be free from sin. The mind receives stability through true contemplation of the truly good.
VERS. 21. "By three things the earth is moved, and the fourth it cannot bear." By these three things, as by a kind of earthquake C disjoining those things which were coherent, the soul is torn apart by spiritual discernment—the soul which had become thickened by the wickedness that proceeds from the pleasure and pain that mutually contend against one another in vice. But the fourth, which it can in no way bear, is to depart from evil altogether.
VERS. 22. "If a servant should reign." If he who is a slave to the flesh in irrational desires should lawfully preside over it in his actions, and purify it through the fear of God from every sinful thought.
"And if a fool should be filled with food." And if he who knows not God should be filled with His spiritual contemplations, having passed beyond the sensible appearances of visible things; and being illuminated by the reasons of these as if by the rays of the Sun of justice, should have understood from His works God Himself, the Cause of all.
D VERS. 23. "And if a handmaid should cast out her mistress." And if the soul, which was a slave to sin in its mind, should drive this out from itself.
"And a hated woman, if she should happen upon a good husband." Furthermore, and if, when she has reached maturity, she should happen upon her good bridegroom, the Word of God; having been joined to Him, and having become one spirit with Him who had previously rejected her on account of her concentration upon evil thoughts—if she can no longer admit any thought at all that is subject to the passions, because she has become entirely of the spirit, and has turned the whole of her yearning appetite towards God.
VERS. 24. "There are four things that are least upon the earth, and these are wiser than the wise." These four things on the earth
A show themselves to be more wise than men who, having received from God the power of wisdom as rational beings, live as it happens.
VERS. 25. "The ants, which have no strength, and prepare their food in the harvest." And the ants, being altogether weak, yet in summer prepare food for the winter; so that when the season for the gathering of fruits has passed, they might not suffer hunger.
VERS. 26. "The conies, a people not strong, who have made their houses in the rocks." And the hedgehogs, being a feeble race, and making their dwellings in the rocks, that they might be kept protected by them.
VERS. 27. "The locust has no king, and goes out in an array by a single command." The locust, which does not have a wise organizer and lacks reason, yet moves in order as if by a single command of the Lord.
VERS. 28. "And the lizard, leaning on its hands and easily captured, dwells in the palaces of kings." And the lizard, which takes hold of whatever comes before it with its forefeet as if with hands, and by this is supported B and directs its steps, and is easily captured on account of its own weakness, yet dwells in the very strongest houses of kings. Look therefore to these things, O man, even though they are unreasoning animals—you who have been honored with reason and have been commanded to look as an image of God toward the archetype—and do not plead the weakness of the flesh as an excuse for rejecting the commandment of God. But in the present time of work, prepare for yourself the enjoyment in the future; and in the incursions of temptations, flee for refuge under the protection C of the spiritual rock, which is Christ. Clothed in the armor of the Holy Spirit, fight in good order against the enemy who is the author of evils; first of all, be cleansed by the fear of God; then, being illuminated by the hope of future blessings, you will finally attain to perfection through charity. Relying on the practical powers of your soul—namely, the concupiscible and irascible appetites—as if on certain hands, walk rightly in the commandments of God, so that although you might easily be captured by the enemy because of the infirmity of the flesh, you may remain unassailable by him in the divine precepts, in which those wise thoughts that legitimately preside over the aforementioned powers abide.
VERS. 29, 30. "There are three things that go well, and a fourth that walks happily: a lion’s whelp, most strong of beasts, which does not turn back nor fear any beast." Just as these three things proceed without hindrance, D and the fourth walks happily: the lion’s whelp, being stronger than the beasts and neither fearing a beast nor being defeated by one; and the cock, walking fearlessly among the hens; and the goat, leading a herd of goats to pastures in higher places; and furthermore, also a king, teaching the people of a nation subject to him—so also the word, which the lion, whose sovereignty the mind shows, brings forward, proceeds into virtue, and does not fear the passions.
under the appearance of the lion, the spoken word as it is being born, passing A through virtue, undaunted by the passions which present themselves to it either by way of deficiency or excess; and it finds the good, which is the end of actions.
31. "And the cock that walks among the hens, bold of spirit." The mind itself, which like a certain cock envisions the rays of the Sun of righteousness, dwelling in the senses, and passing on to the reasons for things that exist, and finding the truth as the end of things to be known, does not fear the appearances of visible things that distract one by the attachment to material things. "And the goat leading the herd; and the king addressing the nation." He who thus in a sensible word, and by action and contemplation, fashions virtue and knowledge, and possesses firm assurance of the good, and unforgetting knowledge of the truth, leads those who, on account of sin, belong to the portion on the left; leading them up from what is lowly and carnal to things spiritual and heavenly. And the speculative and appetitive faculties of the multitude he teaches, he regulates according to reason, and persuades them not to be moved rashly and at random.
32. "If you cast yourself into merriment, and stretch out your hand with a quarrel, you will be dishonored." If, according to the appetitive part of your soul, you surrender yourself to carnal pleasures, and arm the efficacious part of anger against your fellowmen, having become like irrational beasts, you will be dishonored, having made your reason a slave to the passions.
33. "Milk the milk, and it will be butter." Receive as milk, with simple faith, the teaching of the divine oracles; and for the mind that gathers this up in the spirit, it will turn out to be solid and rich food for you. "But if you force the nostrils, blood will come out; and if you draw out words, judgments and wars will come forth." Just as if you force the nostrils, blood will be brought forth, so if you waver concerning the faith, and demand reasons dialectically, disputes and strifes will be brought forth.
CHAPTER XXXI
1, 2. "My words have been spoken by God, the admonition of the king whom his mother instructed. What, my son, will you keep? What?" The oracles which I myself declare to you, I have learned from God; these are my riches, I who have been allotted by right to preside over men on account of wisdom, as a mother D who nurtures. What else will you keep, my son? Keep my words. "Sayings of God, firstborn, I speak to you, my son: What, son of my womb? Are not all words of God?" To you I address the word, my son, whoever you may be, who have been born of me according to the first and spiritual generation. "What, my son, whom I have begotten with the labor of my thoughts by teaching?"
3. "What, my son, of my prayers? What, my son, will you keep, such as I have prayed to God to obtain?" "Do not give your wealth to women." Understand
A that you should not spend the riches of your intelligence upon the irrational cravings of sensory pleasure; for you are merely considering the varied modes of this. And [apply] your mind and your life to a delayed change of counsel. Neither surrender your mind’s contemplation, nor your practical conduct in the flesh and in the world, to an experience of evil, for which you will one day have to repent.
VERS. 4. "Do all things with counsel; drink wine with counsel." With rational discretion, accept the natural contemplation of existing things, which, like wine, spiritually gladdens the heart. He who is unbridled causes his mind to fall from the truth and is carried over a precipice.
VERS. 5. "The powerful are irascible; let them not drink wine, lest when they have drunk they forget wisdom, and cannot judge the weak rightly." Those who have subdued the passions and correctly observe moral philosophy are armed against the spiritual serpent. Nevertheless, let them not receive the praises of men, which gladden them like wine, lest, having received them, they turn away from wisdom, whose property it is to show forth exaltation in humility; lest, blinded by the elevation from praises, they become unable to examine those clothed in infirmity, and to judge them rightly and deem them worthy of fitting service.
VERS. 6. "Give strong drink to those in sorrows." Provide the joy that comes from praises to those who fail to attain transitory glory and the perishing wealth of desire. "And [give] wine to drink to those in pain." Deign to bestow praises upon those who are in bodily pains. C
VERS. 7. "That they may forget their poverty and remember their labors no more." That the former may fall into forgetfulness of the need for necessities which crushes them, and that the latter may not remember the pains of the flesh.
VERS. 8. "Open your mouth to the word of God, and judge all things rightly." Open the intellect, which is as the mouth of your mind, to the commandments of God, that it may receive the bread that descended from heaven, and judge all things rightly.
VERS. 9. "Open your mouth, and judge justly." Open also your visible mouth to the utterance of divine words; and render to each what is fitting for him. "And judge the poor and the weak." I exhort you to judge rightly the need of the indigent and the need of him who is afflicted with bodily pains, and thence provide the remedy that is suitable for either. D
VERS. 10. "Who shall find a valiant woman?" A companion—as perfect wisdom, which endures the involuntary temptations of pain courageously and does not fall to voluntary [temptations] of pleasure—the human mind will rarely acquire; for the acquisition of the good is rare and difficult, even if a great force invites and entices it.
A Such a one is more precious than costly stones. She is incomparably better than all the precious and bright things of this life. 11. The heart of her husband trusts in her. The mind of him who lives with her is without fear in her; for having acquired her as a helper, and trusting in her, he knows that he will be deceived neither by pleasures nor overcome by hardships. 12, 13. Such a one will not lack for beautiful spoils; for she works good for the man during all his life, spinning wool and flax, she has made useful things for her hands. Such a one, in the contests of her companion against the intelligible enemies, will abound in virtues as though they were goodly spoils; for she secures these for him in the trophies [won] over them. Throughout the whole of the present life, working both what is rough like wool, from the various exercises of the life according to God, and refining that which is like flax in the spirit, for the contemplation of the nature of the intelligible realities within existing things, she made use of these duly, in the activities of her own virtue and knowledge, for the full expression of the good and the apprehension of the truth. 14. She became like a merchant ship from far away. She was made like a ship sailing through the sea of life, and trading in the present time of the festival for the good things laid up for the just in the future. 15. She gathers the life, and rises from the night; and she gave food to those in the house, and works to her maidservants. B Such a one gathers into her mind the spiritual wealth of the knowledge of the Creator from His works; and she is aroused toward the desire of Him out of the concerns for these things, in which she had been asleep as in the night; while the intellect was neither moved toward knowledge nor working the virtues. And thus, having been awakened toward the divine desire, she provided for her own dwelling, the mind, the food of diverse spiritual contemplations of the divine Word which strengthens the souls; and to the powers that minister to the Word, as though they were compliant to it—namely to desire and to anger—she provided the works of the commandments of God; having persuaded desire, indeed, to reach for what these command, and anger to turn away from what they forbid. 16. Having considered a field, she bought it; and from the fruits of her hands she planted a possession. Having cognized the divine Word cultivated in the whole of nature and in Scripture, she acquired it as a habit; depositing her disposition according to the soul as if it were a drachma. And from the ways in which the practical faculties of the soul, which are moved by her, bear fruit, she planted the body like a field, through a virtuous way of life. 17, 18. Having girded her loins strongly, she made her arms firm for work; and she tasted that it is good to work, and her lamp is not extinguished all night. Having wisely restrained desire from the...
A transitory, and having girded it up courageously in spirit, she strengthened these practical powers set in motion by her, in accordance with prudent reason, in the performance of the commandments of God; moving the appetitive faculty persistently toward love for God and neighbor; and moving the irascible faculty against the intelligible serpent that plots against her in various ways. And she tested by her thoughts that the keeping of divine commandments is good; and she keeps unquenched the word of knowledge, which is kindled in her soul by action in the Spirit; that is, the law of the Spirit, shining with the flashes of the works of righteousness, and dispersing entirely the darkness of the earthly mindset of the flesh.
19. She stretches out her arms to profitable things, and she braces her hands to the spindle. She extends her own judgments toward the virtues that contribute to the salvation of souls, and with these discernments she measures, as with certain cubits on the right and on the left, the symmetries of the virtues, removing the excesses on the right and the deficiencies on the left. She strengthens the practical powers set in motion by her, so that they may not be carried along unreasonably, B by anchoring them to that reason which, like a spindle, weaves perception together with the intellect, by bringing the types perceived by sense up to the truth known by the intellect through its own revolutions.
20. She has opened her hands to the poor; she has stretched out fruit/palm to the needy. Liberally, by her actions performed according to the knowledge of ways of virtue, she imparted of the wealth of moral conduct to the flesh that was reared in need of this through irrationality, having regulated it according to reason and raised it up from pleasure-seeking that causes corruption. And the contemplative faculty, on which the practical depends like a hand on fruit, she extended toward knowledge for the intellect which had fallen into ignorance of the truly good due to its attachment to material things, having called it back and raised it from its fall, as his helper.
21. Her husband is not concerned about those in the house, whenever he happens to stay a long time; for all who are with her are clothed. The intellect, which dwells with her, is not solicitous about the sufferings in the flesh which is its house, whenever it is occupied with spiritual contemplations; for all the thoughts belonging to it are clothed C through prudence and courage against the burning of voluntary temptations according to pleasure, and against the chill of involuntary sufferings according to pain, remaining impassible.
22. She made double garments for her husband. She prepared for the intellect, which dwells with her, double wrappings, having woven them with the reasons of existing things and with the modes of the virtues. And garments of fine linen and purple for herself. For herself, as it were, she fashioned vestments consisting of the dogmas concerning the Incarnation and the Theology that is beyond the intellect; for the fine linen, because it has its origin from the earth, signifies the dogmas concerning the economy of the Word of God in the flesh; and the purple, because of its royal nature, signifies those concerning the tri-hypostatic Deity, the sovereign of all.
23. Her husband becomes well-known at the gates D
her [the one who sits] in council with the elders of the land. The intellect that dwells with her becomes conspicuous, when it sits in council concerning these matters—among the perceptions, which are, as it were, the introductory gates to the imagination of visible things—along with desire and anger, which are, as it were, the primeval powers of logical activity from birth; it subjects them by means of prudent reasoning through self-control and patience. These psychic powers remain with the passionate part of our earthy flesh, as the soul by nature, in its bodily composition, longs for desire, and in its spirit turns away from corruption. 24 She made fine linen and sold it to the Phoenicians; and girdles to the Canaanites. She fashioned coverings for the mortification of passionate thoughts; and to those who had been cleansed from the passions in action, but were still blushing in their understanding, she sold them, for they had laid down for her a kind of price—an act of choice that has practiced self-control over the passions in action. Having fashioned self-control and patience—the harsh training according to God—which encompass the passionate part of the soul, she, according to prudent reasoning, gave them to those who had been humbled by their sinful actions (for "Canaanites" is interpreted as "humbled"), making their desire and anger obedient to reason. Her mouth she opened attentively and lawfully; and she established order for her tongue. The mouth that utters her teachings she restrained from uttering whatever thoughts happened to fall in, and she ordered it to speak the commandments of God; and from there she arranged for the tongue to speak appropriate things at the appropriate time. 25 She put on strength and comeliness, and she rejoiced in the last days. She clothed herself in power and beauty, through the intellectual habit of the good in the soul, and through activity in the flesh. For since that which is innate in the tripartite soul is good (and that innate good is faith), she possesses this as an active power in the body, displaying it by the ways of the virtues, and in these ways she demonstrates it before others. She exulted at the end of their present life, as they had completed their course according to God. Compact are the dwellings of her house. Being concerned for her intellectual dwelling in the soul, and for her sensory one in the body, she purifies them, by her movements in them according to theory and practice, of every slack and cowardly thought, and of an effuse and muddy life. And she did not eat the bread of idleness. She did not in any way accept thoughts that nurture the soul toward virtue without examination; she was on guard against those things that, by neglect due to laziness, deceive the soul from the right path. 26 She opens her mouth wisely and lawfully. She teaches true doctrines and divine commandments. Her alms raised up her children, and they were enriched; and her husband praised her.
27-28. "And her charity has raised up her children, and they have become rich; and her husband has praised her." And the distribution of this teaching from her raised those who are taught by her out of their want; and hence they acquired spiritual wealth according to knowledge and virtue; and the mind that dwells with her praised her, having considered these things concerning her.
29. "Many daughters have wrought power." Many sciences of human affairs have strengthened the nature of men. "Many have acquired wealth." Many have procured for it, in abundance, the things needful for the body. "But you overtop and have surpassed them all." This wisdom, as the science of sciences, exists above all the sciences of human affairs, as it is the cause of them, and by its operations according to knowledge and virtue it has surpassed them all, existing as the science of divine things.
30. "False graces, and vain is the beauty of a woman, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised." For you do not take pleasure in things that are not, but only seem to be beautiful; and there is not in you that useless elegance of wisdom which consists in word and a turning of phrases, bewitching the hearing through an art of eloquence for the sake of pleasure—since you, the true wisdom, destroy all vainglory. For a sensible woman is blessed. Thus the mind that dwells within her praised her, since wisdom—which makes the appetitive powers of the soul incline toward the words and ways of the commandments—is praised; for the mind, by the experience of the divine commandments, understands that her divine doctrines benefit it, as they deliver it from soul-destroying passions and bring it into the imperishable kingdom of God. "And let her praise the fear of the Lord." Let it praise in you the holy fear of the Master of all, God, which remains for ever and ever, so that you may not fall into contempt of Him.
31. "Give her of the fruits of her lips." Becoming perfect from this point, as you have become wholly of wisdom and remain unshaken, bring to her also others who are benefited through her teachings, showing them the way of salvation by deeds and words. "And let her husband be praised at the gates." And let the mind that dwells with her, belonging to you the teachers, be praised at the sense-perceptions of those being taught by you, which act as gates—those who see your good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.