Commentary on Ecclesiastes

he who does not see harshly, that is, he who is adorned with a straight and peaceful mind (since he possesses nothing of harshness remaining from sin), shall see God. But he who meets at the gates is a miser: for as one seeking whom he might plunder and devour, he is said to meet and lurk, as it were, at the gates where justice was formerly spoken.

VER. 24. A throne of prudent understanding exists; but the heart of the foolish will be liable to execrations.

For his entire mind, because of the prudence in which he abounds, rests in him. Or, for this reason, it calls a prudent man the throne of judgment or understanding, because prudence is the queen of all senses and, as it were, their head. In short, as one who is full of malice or ignorance is wont to be called a seat of malice or ignorance, so he who knows all things is rightly called a seat of the senses or of knowledge. It is also called prudence, the beginning of sense, because it holds authority over it.

CAP. XIII. VERS. 21. He who frequently walks with the wise will become a man of wisdom; but he who associates with the foolish will put on foolishness.

Familiar intercourse with the wise brings no small utility; indeed, the very companionship of the journey is not without its own fruit. For of this alone, the older examples make mention; for not only do they read that "he who associates ^A with the wise, who is present with them, or is frequent among them, will be wise," but indeed, "the one who travels with them," that is, he who has made a journey with the wise, or who has taken them as companions of his journey, will be about to carry away no small reward in wisdom. And not without cause is this asserted; for if the appearance of an adorned man, and the smile of his teeth, and the gait of his feet, and other things of this kind provide no common indication of those things which exist within a man, much more will a journey—even if it is not very long—undertaken with a wise man, reveal what kind of person he is. But he who has entered into partnership with the ignorant and ungrateful will experience the opposite, but not even his character will be able to remain hidden for long, however much he may wish to conceal it.

OLYMPIODORI COMMENTARII IN ECCLESIASTEN

OLYMPIODORI COMMENTARII IN ECCLESIASTEN

Olympiodorus the monk, a Greek by nation and a philosopher of the Peripatetic school, whose famous Commentaries on the Meteora of Aristotle are extant, wrote in Greek, according to a triple sense, an explanation of Ecclesiastes—succinct, learned, brief, and elegant—which Zenobio Acciajolo of Florence translated into Latin; its beginning is: "Rerum certam cognitionem." Concerning Olympiodorus and others of the same name, consult the sacred *Apparatus* of Possevinus.

Argumentum primi capitis

Solomon, the son of David, having received from God the sure knowledge of things—not only by lineage of the flesh but by imitation of virtue—divided them into a threefold distinction: namely, into moral, natural, and those which are perceived by the intellect alone. And the moral indeed he delivered in Proverbs; the natural, however, in the sentiments of Ecclesiastes; but the intelligible, in the Canticle of Canticles. It is possible, however, to find both moral doctrine interspersed in Ecclesiastes, and that of natural things in Proverbs; though each has its own proper things distinct from the others. The Canticle of Canticles, ^{B C}

^A and it looks towards allegorical meaning. But it is possible to find things intellectual in Ecclesiastes and in Proverbs as well. Solomon called himself Ecclesiastes, that is, Preacher, as if calling all mortals into the assembly of the Church, and binding them into concord, and delivering to them in common the natural contemplation. It must also be known that our wise Ecclesiastes sometimes speaks from his own person, and sometimes takes on the person of one who is astonished at the things that are in this world. And let these things be said by us as in a preliminary survey. ^B The first chapter contains these things: it tells of the lineage and dignity of the Ecclesiastes, and then the city itself in which his royal throne was established. He declares all things in this world to be vanity; not condemning or blaming all things, but rather reproving the intent of men who are seen to have placed their hope in this world. He teaches also concerning the movement of the sun, speaking physically at the first encounter with the reading, while his mind and intent pertain to theological allegory. He says the same thing also concerning the rivers rushing into the sea and not filling it. From this he teaches that nothing of the created things is new or novel, but that they remain just as they were first appointed by the Creator; and that the eye will not be filled from seeing, and that we men do not know exactly the first of the things that have happened, nor the last of those that shall be, and that God has given a laborious occupation to the sons of men; ^C and that men do what they do by the choice of the spirit, that is, of free will, and not by some necessity; and that that which is twisted, while it is in its distortion, cannot be corrected. In order to make his discourse trustworthy, inasmuch as he affirms that all things in the world are vain, he teaches that he has been both wise and a king and wealthy, so that he might the more easily be acceptable in declaring all things vanity. He teaches also that in the multitude of wisdom there is a multitude of knowledge; he teaches also concerning the joy in the world, and provides exercise, if it be possible, for the flesh to be saved by the power of the rational substance that is in us.

CHAPTER ONE

VERS. 1, 2. ^D "The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, king of Israel in Jerusalem: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Words. All these words of the wise Ecclesiastes, teaching us to despise the vanity of this life, turn the listener and exhort him to the word of the faith which is in Christ our God. Ecclesiastes. As if those words of wisdom were guarded in the Church of God, Solomon called himself Ecclesiastes. Son of David. The Ecclesiastes relates his own lineage and dignity, so that, by attending to the authority of the person, we may become more ready to receive the instruction. But as regards the hidden meaning, understand it thus: David is interpreted as "sufficient in hand," and He who is "sufficient in hand" is God over all. And the Son of him is our Lord Jesus Christ, who from all the

nations and the two peoples has formed for Himself one Church, and who reigns in the true Israel. For Israel is interpreted as "a mind seeing God," having the kingdom in the vision of peace, according to that which is written: *And His place has been made in peace.* For Jerusalem is understood as "a vision of peace." He Himself clearly teaches us that the desire of men who are concerned with worldly things is vanity: which He also emphasizes by calling it "vanity of vanities."

*What profit has a man in all his labor in which he toils under the sun?* We are all men under the same sun; but of those who toil, some toil for things above the sun, that they may inherit the kingdom in heaven; while others toil for things under the sun, that they may acquire empty glory, or money, or honors. What then has one man more than another in toiling for things under the sun, ^B since, having left behind the life here, we all undergo a common death?

*A generation passes, and a generation comes; but the earth stands forever.* Of created things, some are without succession, co-extending with the present age, such as the heaven, and the earth, and the sun, and the stars; while others are corrupted and perish, but are preserved by the succession of generation, as man, and birds, and sea creatures, and plants. Why then do you toil, O men, for earthly things, since the earth, which is an insensible element, lasts for a long time, while you perish generation by generation? Or understand it thus: The earth stands forever, having become an accuser of you, on which you have committed unlawful deeds. But according to the spiritual understanding: *A generation passes*, that of the Jews, being cast out and rejected; *and a generation comes*, that of those who have believed in Christ. And the divine Scripture is called "earth" because of its immobility, and its fruitfulness, and its being all-encompassing; it remains forever upon the Old and New Testament, ^C having firm both the promises for the righteous and the punishments threatened against the sinners.

*The sun rises, and draws to its place.* He teaches the orderly course of the sun, sending us forward to the contemplation of Him who created the sun. It moves in a circular fashion, as some have noted from Ezra, who says this: *Great is the earth, and high is the heaven, and swift in its course is the sun, and it turns in the circle of the heaven, and in one day it comes to its place.* He says, therefore, that this great sun, when compared to the Sun of righteousness, is vanity. But according to the spiritual understanding, understand it thus: The sun rises ^D in the hearts of the faithful, guiding those who are just now progressing toward the things that are to be done; but it also sets in them when they inquire into the profundities of the doctrines, and

kindles a greater desire for knowledge. Otherwise: The Sun, the only-begotten Word of God, rises from the paternal bosom; He sets in the last days, having become incarnate at the sunset of this life, and in a way hiding His own divinity. For to the faithful, He was known as God, having become man without change; but to the unbelievers, He was thought to be a mere man. Again, He rises from the Theotokos Mary according to the flesh; He sets when He arrives in Hades; but He rises again when He is resurrected from the dead. And according to every mode of contemplation, He draws all the faithful into the kingdom of heaven, having truly said: "When I am lifted up, I will draw all things to myself."

^B VERSE 5, 6. "The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and it returns to its place; rising there, it passes toward the South, and turns about unto the North." He explains the climates through which the sun travels. But contemplating it symbolically, you can understand the South, which blows from the warm region of the world, for the rational prudence implanted in men, which never grows sluggish, but is fiery and burning; and the North for fortitude: for this wind is sharp and fleet; the South-West for temperance, which cools and dries up the pleasures of the body; and the East wind for justice itself, which passes through and extends over all virtues. Therefore, illuminating all the regions of the soul, the Sun of righteousness shines forth. Otherwise: The Word of God, having become man, went about the villages and cities situated in the South with His own feet; but through the apostles, He went about the northern regions, gathering the Church from the Gentiles, and traversing all things, He exhorts all toward salvation.

"The wind goes toward the south, and turns about unto the north; the wind whirleth about continually, and returneth again according to its circuits." In the literal sense, he calls the sun "wind" on account of the speed of its motion. Some, however, following the opinions of those outside the faith, interpret it thus, since they think that the sun is an animal endowed with a soul. But in the mystical sense, the Holy Spirit, infused into the divine apostles, caused them to go about everywhere and to preach the Gospel; but He also induced them, by returning on a reverse path, to visit those whom they had previously instructed in the doctrine of the faith, as you will find in the Acts of the Apostles.

VERSE 7. "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full." It is the custom of divine Scripture to take "all" for "the many," according to that which is written: "All have turned aside, together they have become unprofitable"; for neither the just nor the prophets turned aside. Therefore, it is fitting to marvel at the wisdom of the Creator, how it happens that with the majority of rivers entering the sea, it nevertheless stays within its own boundaries. But mystically, the rivers are the apostles, according to what is written: "And you shall make them drink of the torrent of your delight." The sea is understood to be the present life, according to that: "This sea, great and spacious." Therefore, the evangelical and apostolic discourses change the saltiness of this life into sweetness...

but they are not filled. And the sea is understood also as faith; for faith is not of all. Mentally, however, through that example, it intimates those men who suffer from the disease of insatiable avarice; for the insatiable desire of theirs is not filled, even if riches flow to them from every side like torrents.

"To the place from which the torrents go, thither they return that they may flow." Amos the prophet says: "Who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth." ^A He seems, therefore, to provide physical reasons here: that the water of the sea, being drawn up by the clouds and poured out upon the earth, makes the torrents. He says, therefore, that the torrents and rivers, having had their origin from the sea, go back into it again. In a mystical sense, however: "To the place from which the apostles went out, thither they brought it about that the believers should return: to God, namely, that they might afterwards walk in the light of the Lord. Alternatively: Those who fall from virtue into vice and malice, like torrents from some high place, are carried down into a steep, hollow, and earthly place. ^B Yet they are able, even when they have arrived at the very end of life, to repent, returning to penitence, and through conversion, return again to the way which leads to the paradise from which the first man was cast out.

VERS. 8. "All discourses are wearisome; man will not be able to express them in speech." The discourses concerning the accurate knowledge of things existing are wearisome, because not even those who are very strong in soul are able to possess the complete grasp of that knowledge. Alternatively: "All discourses"—both those pertaining to secular and those pertaining to divine wisdom—possess instruction with labor; but those from without, for the most part, ^C become causes of harm to those who are persuaded by them. But the divine word is always useful; which, however, not even one who is very prudent can express worthily, unless he has received the gift of doctrine and the word of wisdom. Alternatively: Teachers of the divine word always labor, and are for the most part restrained, gaining only labor because of the sloth of the hearers. The Scripture therefore strikes at those who listen carelessly. Alternatively: One must do first, and then teach. It is work, therefore, not common and small, but very dangerous, for anyone to teach others those things which he has not first achieved himself. For this reason, the perfect and prudent man, when he contemplates the magnitude of the matter, ^D recoils and holds back from preaching.

"And the eye will not be satisfied to see, and the ear will not be filled with hearing." According to the physical interpretation, neither can the eye encompass the whole sensible creation, nor can it receive all the discourses about it, since there is no man who speaks and teaches. Alternatively: Being slippery, the eye is always possessive and insatiable. But

those who suffer from an itching of the ears always desire to learn, yet never arrive at the knowledge of truth; for this reason, the discourses labor to make the eyes and ears of those learning temperate. Alternatively: The senses of hearing and seeing are the most sovereign and kingly, and are more rational than the other senses; they unceasingly perform their own necessary function. Taste, smell, and touch, however, tire more quickly and become weary.

^B V. 9. "What is that which has been? That which is to be. And what is that which has been made? That which is to be made." Some of created things are singular and without succession, such as the sun and the moon, and those things which are co-extended with time; but others are preserved by succession, those which are under the sun, such as animals and plants, which are subject to generation and corruption. The discourse, therefore, is about those things preserved by succession: a man has been from the beginning; when he has died, another is born. A plant has been, a plant is born.

V. 10. "And there is nothing new under the sun; nor is there one who shall speak and say, Behold, this is new; it has already been in the ages that have come before us." The word "age" (sæculum) sometimes signifies a human life, according to that which is said: "I will not eat flesh for the age," that is, for my whole life. And elsewhere: "He shall be a slave to you for the age," that is, until death. Sometimes it also signifies the temporal extension of this whole universe, that from the creation of the world until the end. He says, therefore, that there is nothing new in the successions of men, animals, and plants. Alternatively, too: Those who have been upright and dutiful in this life are crowned in the future age; but the wicked are punished. "What then is that which has been? That which is to be." As if he were to say: Has anyone lived dutifully? He will receive the rewards of virtue. Has another lived wickedly? He will pay the penalty for his wickedness. Therefore, the things that will come to us in the future life and age will be the rewards for those things which have preceded in this life and age.

V. 11. "There is no memory for the former, nor will there be any remembrance for those who are to be in the furthest; with those who are to be in the last." The particular deeds of individual men, which they performed in their whole life, are in a way infinite, so that we can by no means remember them; but neither do we know those things which our descendants and those who are to come will do; that is, we are ignorant of what all men have done individually from the beginning of the world. For we were neither with them in life, nor do we have knowledge of those who are to be after us. For we can perhaps know universals in a certain way, but we cannot know all particulars. There is, therefore, no memory of the first, nor of those who are to come last. Alternatively: Those who have lived in virtue, and are deemed worthy of the kingdom of heaven, when they are there, do not [original-script column: see facsimile]

^A retain in their consciousness the memory of the labors they endured in the present life; nor do they perceive by sense or soul the punishment of the condemned. There shall not, therefore, be for them a memory of those who are to be in the last things, that is, of those who are then punished. This is not because the souls are overcome by forgetfulness, but because, with the presence of enjoyment, there is oblivion, according to that which is said: "In the day of good things, there is oblivion of evil things."

VERS. 12. "I, Ecclesiastes, was king of Israel in Jerusalem."

VERS. 13. "And I gave my heart to seek, and to scrutinize in wisdom regarding all things that are done under the sun." And since I had received wisdom as a gift from God, he says, I gave my whole mind to the inspection of things that are under the sun. Observe, moreover, that Ecclesiastes does not contemplate the inaccessible things that are above the heaven, but those that are under the sun. He says, therefore: I have not scrutinized by human reasoning, but by using the wisdom that was granted to me from God.

"For God has given a grievous occupation to the sons of men, to be exercised ^B therein." He calls them "sons of men" who gape after these earthly and vain things, according to that which is read in the Psalm: "Sons of men, how long are you heavy-hearted?" See, therefore, in wisdom that God has given a laborious occupation to the sons of men; for it was done for their great utility that it is necessary to labor most of all in acquiring riches, and in acquiring empty glory, and even in those things which gratify the belly and the throat. For if we undergo and suffer such great labors and distresses that we may possess things that are vain, to what depth of disgrace and wickedness should we proceed if these ^C very things arrived to us of their own accord without effort? Therefore, this difficult distention or occupation was usefully given to men. But if virtue itself is also achieved with labor, this too is most useful to man. For if, wherever you turn, it is necessary to labor both regarding the good and regarding the evil—but regarding the evil there follows punishment, while regarding the good there follows fruition and ineffable pleasure—then with no comparison the labor and occupation regarding the good is to be preferred. Especially indeed, the diligent man who truly gives himself to virtue ought not to be occupied with many things, according to that saying of the Gospel: "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but few things are needed, or one"; by which he understands the commandments, or rather the charity ^D which contains all commandments. Therefore, the laborious occupation was usefully given to men.

VERS. 14. "I saw all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and agitation of spirit." Whatever, he says, men do, they do not perform for the sake of those goods which are above the sun, that is, for the sake of heavenly goods, but for the sake of those which are under the sun, of earthly and corruptible things; I saw that all is vanity; for near to the present

^A time, they both bring punishment upon themselves, because they do these things by choice and not by compulsion. And by "spirit" here he calls the soul, the rational one, which is also adorned with the power of free will.

VERS. 15. That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. If you take these words from the person of Ecclesiastes, understand it thus: He who is crookedly bound and has fallen into vice, as long as he remains in that vice, he cannot acquire virtue; but if he depart from it, then he receives virtue, according to that saying: "Turn away from evil and do good." But neither can he who is destitute of the grace of God, as long as he is in this state of deficiency and does not repent, be numbered among the pious. Alternatively: There have been some who said that the world was made by chance and happens to be imperfect, to whom the Wise Man turns, saying: ^B What is seen to be imperfect or crooked in the world, so that it might be straightened? And what is wanting to the whole, so that it might be added and numbered? But if the discourse is from the person of those who evaluate the nature of men, those who say that some are by nature evil and cannot be straightened, we refute their foolish opinion with many arguments. For no one is evil by nature. Therefore, Matthew was called from the toll booth to the dignity of an evangelist. But also, the things in the world that seem to the ignorant to be harmful and evil, such as serpents and lions and the like, serve as salutary medicines for men; they serve to make a man feel shame by the comparison of them, when he hears: "Go to the ant, you sluggard"; and they serve to make him feel ashamed when he feels himself compared to them, as ^C it is written: "He was compared to the senseless beasts." There is, therefore, no evil in the world, but all things are advantageous and useful. For God, he says, saw all that He had made, and behold, they were very good. Do not say, therefore, O you fools: That which is crooked cannot be straightened, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

VERS. 16-18. I spoke in my heart, saying: Behold, I have become great, and have added wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge, parables and sciences. I knew that this too is a choice of spirit, because in the multitude of wisdom is a multitude of knowledge, and he who adds knowledge adds sorrow. A person is said to speak in their heart when, applying their mind to thinking, they dispute and reason with themselves. I gathered, therefore, he says, and by rational deduction I saw that I had added wisdom above all who ^D preceded me in stature. Now, "I added" signifies that wisdom had grown in him by great progress. For wisdom is the knowledge of divine and human things, and of the causes of these; and knowledge is the contemplation of the nature of existing things. And those who have knowledge, them-

themselves and deliver themselves from ignorance; but those who learn the words of wisdom instruct other men as well in the truth. He said that wisdom and knowledge were no longer vanity, but an election of the spirit, warning us that wise men are not born or become such by some benefit of fate, but that they follow wisdom by desire and labor, and obtain it by asking it of the Lord God. And if anyone, he says, desires more knowledge, let him also add the labors associated with virtue. Or even thus: he who sins in knowledge is punished more severely; therefore he who adds knowledge, adds ^A sorrow. Since wisdom is more comprehensive than knowledge, he said that in the multitude of wisdom there is a multitude of knowledge.

CHAPTER II

VERS. 1, 2. “I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with gladness and with good things; and behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, it is madness; and of gladness, What do you do?” Considering worldly joys, he says, I examined whether they contained any good; and I saw that even to rejoice because of an abundance of riches, or for glory, or for any of the things in the world, is mere vanity. Indeed, I said to such gladness (for here he understands laughter as gladness), and said to such joy: Wander far from me and depart. “What do you do?” that is, Why do you entice me to rejoice in such things? For it is mere vanity, and there is nothing at all besides it in the pleasures derived from such things.

VERS. 3. “And I considered if my heart would draw my flesh as with wine.” The cup that we drink is taken from our sight and vanishes. ^B I considered, therefore, whether in worldly prosperity and pleasures the human mind could be so virile and strong that it might consume and destroy as if it were wine the desires of the flesh.

“And my heart preceded me in wisdom, that I might attain in gladness, until I should see what is the good for the sons of men, which they will do under the sun in the number of the days of their life.” Our Ecclesiastes, having received wisdom from God and a pouring forth of the heart like the sand of the sea, became most sharp in his discernment of mind; for he was able to handle divine discourses and to speak of great mysteries, as he is clearly seen to do. But he was also able, through the sharpness of his genius, to use it skillfully for whatever he pleased. For just as someone endowed with sharp vision uses the same power of the eyes sometimes for honest and necessary things, and sometimes uses them lasciviously—with no ^C fault or cause belonging to the eyes themselves, but because the affection and intention are sinful—so also he whose mind God has adorned with wisdom, if indeed he uses God’s gift as is fitting, contemplates divine matters appropriately; but if he is dragged down toward earthly things, he languishes and obscures the gift of God; yet he rightly and most perspicaciously perceives even earthly things, and attains them with his understanding. For it is not the sharpness of the mind, but the intention of the soul, which, as it uses the gift of God well or badly, is either praised or blamed. I have given

^A myself, therefore, he says, to my heart—that is, to my mind—and I pondered what might truly be the good among men, and what they who are in the world, by doing, can be in pleasure and gladness throughout the whole of their life. Having pondered such human things, and using a certain psychic wisdom, he gave himself to the doing of those things which he enumerates next. He says, therefore, "my heart," that is, my mind, and "I made for myself"—he uses it in the narration of the word. ^B

Vers. 4-6. "I magnified my work"—not the work of God, but my own. For no one is able to add anything to the divine works. "I built for myself houses." Having found an idiom in the dialect, "I built for myself," he spoke properly and very acutely. "I planted for myself vineyards." Using kingly power and an abundance of wealth, he was poured out into every kind of possession. "I made for myself gardens and paradises." A garden is strictly called that which bears vegetables, but a paradise is that which is planted with various trees. Therefore he says, "And I planted in them wood of every fruit." "I made for myself pools of water, to water from them the forest springing up with trees." Zealously working the paradises, he planted into them high-crowned trees, those which the earth nourishes spontaneously on the mountains—for instance, firs, or willows, or oaks, or pines. Therefore he also mentions a man-made forest, in which he also needed a great abundance of water. ^C

Vers. 7. "I acquired slaves and maidservants, and household-born were to me." For since the household-born did not suffice for the service of his possessions, he necessarily acquired bought servants as well. "And also I had a possession of cattle and herds, much beyond all those who were before me in Jerusalem." I surpassed, he says, all the kings before me in herds and cattle, or in all the aforementioned things; for it can be understood as referring to both.

Vers. 8. "I gathered for myself also silver, and also gold." Because many are accustomed to have stable possession, yet are destitute of stored-up money, he added the abundance of these as well. "And the substance of kings and of regions." But I also had kings, he says, as tributaries, and regions producing yields; for regions in holy Scripture are understood as fertile fields, according to what is read in the Gospel: "Lift up your eyes, and see the regions, for they are white for harvest." And from here, therefore, he says, I had a great abundance of things. ^D "I made for myself singing men and singing women, in the delights of the son of man." But not even, he says, did I postpose or neglect

^A to soothe my ears with songs; for it is not the sons of God who are delighted by such songs, but the sons of men.

"Cupbearers and female cupbearers." Or in order that, by the variation of those presenting the drink, he might provoke his appetite for the cups; or else as one who is extremely soft, and depicting the character of a man who is a lover of women.

VERS. 9. "And I was magnified, and I added more than all that were before me in Jerusalem; wisdom also stood by me." To such a degree, he says, was I exalted, that I never went astray in any counsel or manner of reasoning.

VERS. 10. "And all that my eyes desired, I did not take away from them; I did not withhold my heart from all joy." He says, therefore: I brought to execution every concupiscence of the eyes and appetite of the soul concerning pleasure (which he also calls joy). ^B

"For my heart rejoiced in all my labor." From the aforementioned labors, he says, I was finding this portion and lot: that of attaining the enjoyment that comes from them.

VERS. 11. "And I looked on all the works that my hands had made, and [on] the labor in which I labored to do; and behold, all is vanity and choice of spirit." Having accomplished all these things, he says, through my active and productive faculties, I found that all human pursuits are vanity, and nothing additional of profit is added to those who labor upon all things that are seen under the sun, because all undergo the common death, rich and poor alike. But those who labor for the things that are above the sun, transcending all that is seen, have something more, according to the voice of the Savior, saying: "I came that they might have life, and might have it more abundantly" (John X, 35), as if to say, that they might be free from ^C torments and might enjoy the promised beatitude. Note also, again, that those who are busy about vain things and devote themselves to pleasures cannot excuse themselves by the movement of blind chance, nor by the necessity of fate; for human actions proceed from choice, and from the free power that is innate in us.

VERS. 12. "And I looked to see wisdom, and circuit, and folly; for who is the man that shall go after counsel, whatever it has done?" Having stripped away the persona of the wealthy man and of one revolving around earthly things, he turns back to wisdom, and tests by laying out in parallel both wisdom and folly—which he also calls "circuit," either because of being carried about by every wind, or because it is a "paraphora" (paraphora), that is, madness. And he says: Let us seek if one who chooses folly is at all able to fulfill his own will; for this is what is meant by, "he shall go after counsel." Then he discovers that one rarely attains this. Therefore, the phrase is posited, "Who ^D [is the man...]"

who is rare. For neither does he who wishes to become rich always fully attain wealth; nor does he who longs for glory always attain it; and the same applies to other things. But he who has loved wisdom, being happily led by God, fully follows the counsel—that is, he will find what he was aiming for. ^A Alternatively: Astonished, he breaks into the question, saying, "Who is the man who can look back and turn from his desires, and examine the impulse of his choice, so that he may be able to discern whether he acts in wisdom or in folly?" Alternatively, "Raised," he says, "out of the body, and seeing through wisdom that after the end of this life no one can return to mortal life, and likewise enjoy the same things that he pursued with fixed purpose while he lived (for 'who,' is often taken to mean 'no one'), I preferred wisdom to folly."

VERS. 13. "And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, as the advantage of light over darkness." Darkness itself comes to be through the privation of light, so that light truly exists, while darkness is altogether nothing. Thus, he says, it is also with wisdom and folly: for the works of folly pass away, bringing eternal punishment to those who have engaged in them; but the works of wisdom endure forever, and eternally gladden their devotees. But what he says, "an advantage of wisdom over folly," is not said by way of comparison; for things which mutually cancel and destroy one another (such as light itself and darkness), are not compared with one another. Wisdom and folly are of this kind. ^B For joy is not to be placed in the category of evils, but by the affection of the one choosing, he joined to it the word "advantage," that is, he who prefers wisdom to folly does so much better, and incomparably so.

VERS. 14. "The eyes of the wise man are in his head: but the fool walks in darkness." The head is a certain eminence and the supreme part of the whole body; but the feet are the lowest, and touch the earth. ^C When, therefore, the ruling intellect has been purified, it contemplates heavenly things, and not those that are upon the earth, having its eyes truly in its head; but when the mind turns toward earthly things, it is seen to have its eyes in its feet, crawling upon the ground. Alternatively: The head of the Church is Christ, to whom if the wise man fixes his eyes as he walks, just as Christ also walked, he has his eyes in his head; but the fool walks in darkness, always looking downward, and having his ruling power darkened.

"And I also knew that one occurrence shall happen to them all." ^D [VERS. 15.] "And I said in my heart: As it happens to the fool, so it will also happen to me; and: Why have I become wise?" Meditating on everything within himself, our wise Ecclesiastes says from his own person what his adversaries could bring against him. Having therefore found diverse

^A things and various matters that are common to all, which he calls occurrences, such as being sick, being well, becoming rich, suffering poverty, and—preeminently—the death common to all, he assumes the persona of his adversary and says: "If these things are common to the foolish and the wise, what benefit will there be at last in having undertaken the diligent labors and becoming wise?" But then, having refuted this argument, he shows what profit we have from wisdom. He says, therefore:

"And I then spoke abundantly in my heart, because the fool speaks out of abundance, that this too is vanity." ^B Having introduced the inference of the fool, as if from his own personal perspective, he now dissolves the same inference by himself; for he says: "And I myself spoke more abundantly in my heart," meaning that such a thought is vain and superfluous, and it is the sign of an insane mind to utter such words. For the fool, seething and heating up in his intellect, pours out the words of folly through his mouth; for "the fool speaks out of abundance," that is, out of the foolishness overflowing within him. Then he also teaches the cause, refuting the inference of the fool; and he says:

"Because there is no memory of the wise man with the fool unto eternity." For even if the things in this life, he says, are diverse and yet happen to be common to the wise and the foolish alike, ^C nevertheless in the world to come the wise man has an eternal and endless enjoyment, whereas the memory of the fool is wiped away, according to what is said in the Psalms: "Their memory perished with a sound" (Ps. IX, 8); that is, they are not even considered worthy of memory before God.

"According to what in the days to come all things have been forgotten." In the world to come, he says, all the occurrences of this life—whether sickness, or health, or riches, or poverty—all come into oblivion. Then, bringing in the conclusion of the solution, he says:

"And how shall the wise man die with the fool?" How then, he says, can you say, O fools, that because of the death common to all men, the wise man has nothing more than the senseless one? Where, indeed, the memory of the wise man is everlasting before God, ^D while that of the fool is not? For even if the events in this life are common, nevertheless in the future life the works of each shall follow him.

"And I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun is evil upon me, for all is vanity and choice of spirit." For this reason the Wise Man says, "I hated the laborious life, and my own labor which I toil at under the sun," for he calls the laborious and wretched life of sinful men an "evil work." Here, however, the Wise Man also hates this fragile life and seeks that which remains forever; and, assuming the persona of the fool, he said: "For the work that is done under the sun is evil upon me," for the wise man does not deign to toil for the sake of things under the sun. For even if for the sake of the need of sustenance

the wise man also toils, he does not expend his primary effort upon these worldly and present things, but toils only for what is sufficient for the necessities of life; his highest zeal, however, he spends on virtue, holding these passing and temporary things in contempt, but striving for those which are eternal and invisible. ^A

VERS. 18, 19. "And I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? And will he be master over all my labor in which I labored and in which I have acted wisely under the sun? This also is vanity." Our Wise man sets forth with demonstration the reason for his hatred of the laborious collection of property and possessions, and of the toil expended upon this. First, indeed, because the possession of such things does not endure forever with the one who has them; but he himself departs from life taking nothing with him, while another receives to possess what he himself acquired with much sweat. A second memorable saying, he says, is that the rich man does not know what kind of man his successor will be in life: whether he will live intemperately and luxuriously, or spend his riches prudently and soberly. A third thing worthy of note is that, even if we know that the successor will eventually be temperate and wise, we are ignorant of whether he will be the perpetual possessor of the left-behind inheritance, since money is continually devolved to others and still others, exchanged through many and varied circumstances. ^B He says, therefore: Even if we concede that the heir will be prudent and that he will use sparingly what is left, this itself is also vanity. Why he says this, he left for us to consider, since clearly it is better for us ourselves, while we are in life, to dispense our riches for the needs of the poor and indigent, so that we may thus have an unfailing treasure in heaven, rather than to transmit the inheritance to others, whatever sort of men they may eventually turn out to be. ^C

VERS. 20. "And I turned to renounce my heart in all my labor in which I labored under the sun." Detesting the things that were mentioned above, Ecclesiastes turns to the evangelical life: as if he himself, with the Apostle Peter, were saying to the Savior: "Behold, we have left all and followed you"; then, however, he resumes the aforementioned cause of the indignation which he conceived against temporal things. He says, therefore:

VERS. 21. "For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in fortitude; and to a man who has not labored at it, he will give his portion; this also is vanity and a great evil." For what use, he says, is there for a man laboring in human wisdom, and prudence, and fortitude, and acting malignly—that is, not bestowing a portion of his things upon others, but always adding more to his own goods—when another who has not labored at all in that substance receives all his riches? We can also understand it this way: "I turned to renounce my heart in all my labor in which I labored under the sun," having realized that another ^D

labor is praiseworthy, which gathers the stable riches of the virtues. This is the kind of labor that a man performs, so that he may acquire wisdom, and knowledge, and fortitude. Preferring this labor to that one, therefore, I turned to renounce my heart in all the labor in which I labored under the sun—that is, regarding vain things.

^A VERS. 22, 23. "For what has a man in all his labor, and in the purpose of his heart, in which he labors under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his task is vexation; even in the night his heart does not rest; and this also is vanity." He says: the labor that a man performs comes from his own choice of counsel, whether it be good or bad. For if the labor is expended upon virtues, it is praiseworthy; but for one who does not labor for the sake of what is good, all his days are full of sorrows, and anger, and vexation, and sleeplessness. For these all accompany those who are occupied with the vain pursuits of this life; wherefore this too is vanity.

^B VERS. 24, 25. "And there is no good for a man except that he should eat and drink, and show his soul good in his labor. And this also I saw, that it is from the hand of God; for who eats and drinks except by Him?" Intermediate things are indifferent and are supplied to men by God, such as wealth, health, and reputation. So, taking on the persona of an opponent, Ecclesiastes asks: if these things are given to men by God, then there is found no good in men, except the enjoyment of food and drink. Then, solving the objection, he continues:

^C VERS. 26. "For to the man who is good in his sight, He has given knowledge, and wisdom, and joy; but to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and heaping up, that he may give it to him who is good in the sight of God; for this also is vanity and a striving of the spirit." Do not say, he says, O you people, that the impassioned enjoyment of food is a good thing. For to the good man, God has given knowledge and wisdom, that he might delight in these before the face of God; that is, being protected and covered by the providential power of God. ^D To sinful man, however, He has given the vexation concerning sensible things, so that he might be worked to exhaustion in laboring and gathering. And if he persists in laboring and gathering, this too is vanity and a striving of the spirit. One must know, however, that God gave this vexation to the sinner and the gatherer, not so that he might sin and gather, but rather that, by reflecting upon and becoming weary of this worldly vanity, he might come to a realization of this laborious life, and might desire the ageless and painless life which is stored up for the saints in the age to come.

CHAPTER III

^A Ver. 1. "To everything there is a time, and a season to every matter under the sun." Of created things, some are temporal, others eternal; the eternal, indeed, are invisible and above the sun. But this discourse concerns things under the sun, which are subject to time, since they too began in time, coming to pass at the proper season. Now time is the interval in which something is done, but the season is the opportune time for a task. Thus, time can be a season, but the season is not merely time; rather, it is the opportuneness of what is being done, occurring within time. And all things which God has made have come to pass opportunely, such as summer, autumn, winter, and spring; but those things that are ours, if they occur at the opportune time, are praiseworthy; if, however, they occur before the time or beyond the time, they are blameworthy. One has intercourse with his own wife at the opportune time when he desires to beget children; but he who does so for the sake of pleasure and concupiscence does so out of season. ^B He who sows in summer sows before the time; he who prepares for the harvest in winter acts out of season. From the discipline of these words, we are taught to avoid in every matter both deficiency and excess, because all things virtually possess bordering and nearby enormities. For he who falls short of the middle state of fortitude slips into timidity; he who exceeds it becomes reckless. Therefore, one may also understand time and season in another sense: time as the very rule of the mean, and season as the opportune time. For he who regulates all his actions both according to the rule and at the proper time, using this as if it were a standard and a plumb line, will easily be perfected in every virtue.

Ver. 2. "A time to be born, and a time to die." Often the times for contrary things are distinct; yet it happens sometimes that both occur at the same time. Thus, the physical birth and generation usually have one time, and physical death another; but the spiritual birth, through the laver of regeneration, has one and the same time for both birth and death. For they who are reborn in the divine laver have been buried together with Christ in baptism. And indeed, to be born and to die ^C corporally is not in our power, but we are born and we die by the will of God; but the spiritual birth and death depend upon us, for there is need of our choice alongside the divine operation and grace, so that we may indeed die to sin but be born to justice. And wisely and significantly did Ecclesiastes begin with birth and death, admonishing us of this temporary life. For this reason, Moses (as they say) also titled his first volume Genesis, and immediately named the second Exodus, so that in the narrative he might figuratively describe to us this temporary life in this world.

"A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted." Beyond the literal, sensible, and manifest understanding, understand it mystically thus: one often plants and plucks up at one and the same time, as when one plucks up ^D the weeds, while planting the genuine seeds of the Word; plucking up wickedness...

zizania, but He plants the genuine seeds of the Word; cutting away wickedness, planting virtue. Often, indeed, this is done at another time, as when Paul cuts off the fornicator from the communion of the Church, but plants him again through his correction by penance. ^A

VERS. 5. "A time to kill, and a time to heal." To kill sin, but to heal one's own soul with the medicines of penance. Such an action always has its time, and is always done opportunely; most of all now, as Paul cries out: "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Concerning bodily matters, it is the time for a ruler to kill a murderer, but to heal and cherish one who has done well, or even to correct more leniently one who has sinned more lightly. ^B

"A time to break down, and a time to build up." Divine building is divided into practical and contemplative virtue. He, therefore, who works diligently and out of virtue builds the moral and practical house, but he who contemplates intelligible beauties builds the [contemplative] house; he always builds well for himself a house not made with hands in the heavens. He who does penance demolishes and destroys the sin of his past life; and it is good and beautiful for us indeed to be removed far from sin, but to be built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. ^C

VERS. 4. "A time to weep, and a time to laugh." There is a time which is not taken from the measure of time, but from the matter itself. For he who weeps not in the depths of his heart, but superficially on the surface of his face, will hear said of himself what was said of old to Jerusalem: "With her voice she has lamented late, and her tears are upon her cheeks." But he who weeps at the right time, and does penance from a settled disposition, will be heard, as it is written: "Jerusalem has wept with weeping, and when He saw the cry of thy tears, He had mercy on thee." There is also a time to weep in this present life, in order that we may laugh in the future; and we weep opportunely over the falls of disciples or brothers, while we laugh opportunely over their progress. ^D

"A time to mourn, and a time to dance." They mourn who give themselves to penance; they dance who are girded with temperance, adorned with prudence, moved by fortitude, and perfected by justice. David also danced, and not without reason, before the Lord. Therefore the prophets, being as children in the marketplace of this life, because of their infantile simplicity—since they were children in malice—said to the Jews: "We have piped/mourned to you, and you have not lamented," that is, we foretold to you sad things, and you did not do penance. And the apostles also to...

the same said: "We have played the pipe to you, and you have not danced," that is, we have proclaimed the kingdom of heaven, shouting like a pipe for all to hear, and you have not danced, nor have you leaped for joy at the gift. For the evangelical parable of the Saviour teaches us these things. ^A

VERS. 5. "A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together." He who has sinned mortally without any purpose of amendment and penance is cast out of the spiritual house, as is the leprous stone, concerning which it is written by Moses symbolically; but he who sins so as to wish to be healed is gathered through penance into the building of the apostles and prophets. And every one who is of a stony heart is cast out; but the precious stones are gathered. And the law also commanded that the adulteress be stoned. And the master indeed strikes the sinning disciples with stones, that is, with corrective discourses; but when he has sufficiently instructed and reproved them, he ceases from his corrective discourses, and gathers those stones which he had seemed to throw. ^B

"A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces." According to the letter, it is a time to embrace one's own wife when prayer does not interfere, or some other honest necessity. It is a time, I say, and it is lawful for us to do this, whether for the sake of begetting children, or that we may take thought for our own frailty and innocence, lest, inflamed by lust, the cunning enemy provoke us to adultery; but there is a time to abstain from embraces, either for the sake of pouring out prayers to God, or that we may spare a pregnant wife. ^C

Otherwise: There was a time to embrace at the beginning of the created world, so that by multiplying we might fill the earth; now, however, is a time to abstain from embraces, since the last hour of the day has overtaken us, and the world is hastening to the end of the ages. But understand it spiritually and mystically thus: Honour wisdom so that she may embrace you; and this embrace is always opportune. Since in the holy Scriptures, the law is signified by the left hand, but evangelical doctrine by the right, and the mind is indicated by the name of the head, while by the appellation of the whole body the Church is understood, the Bride in the Song of Songs rightly sings: "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me." This is to say: the law indeed helps the intellect only of certain wise men; but evangelical doctrine, with a certain divine embrace, comprehends the whole Church; from this embrace, there is no time at all to abstain. When, however, the ark had already been built, and the floods were imminent upon the earth, it was a time to be far from the embraces of matrimony: and therefore on this side the males, and on that side the females, separately disjoined, entered into the ark; but after the waters of the flood had already subsided, Noe is narrated to have gone out with his wife: for then it was a time of conjugal embrace. But there is always a time to be far from vice and sin, and to be agglutinated to God, and to adhere to Him perpetually. ^D

VERS. 6. "A time to seek, and a time to lose."

If you look at the literal sound and order, this sentiment seems to be understood as having an inverted order; for no one seeks except that which he has previously lost. But in a mystical sense, without changing the reading, you should understand it thus: He who is established in ignorance has a time to seek the truth; when it is found, another time arrives for him, that he might destroy and leave behind the darkness of ignorance. Otherwise: One seeks his own soul which has perished; and having found it, and having become sober from error, he ought, as far as relates to his former iniquity, to perish and die altogether. Yet when martyrdom is pressing, it is a time to lose the soul, so that we might find it.

^B "A time to keep, and a time to cast away." He who is a dispenser of money knows at what time he should keep his coins or spend them. Mystically, however, it is a time to keep sacred doctrine, so that we do not rashly pour it out to just anyone without any discrimination. But it is a time to pour it out when the hearers are docile and well-disposed; for it is necessary, he says, to cast my money to the bankers, but not to give what is holy to the dogs, nor to cast pearls before swine. Otherwise: It is a time for keeping the evangelical precepts; and that same time is also for casting away the shadows of the law.

VERS. 7. "A time to rend, and a time to sew." Whoever reconciles the enemies and adversaries of the Church and brings them to the unity of the catholic faith, he is without a doubt said to sew; but he who casts out from the Church him who has his father's wife, he rends opportunely. Otherwise: He who rends his own heart before the Lord through contrition and penitence, he stitches himself into the Church of the firstborn of the faithful.

^C "A time to keep silence, and a time to speak." He who in silence and under the discipline of the monastery has been taught the sacred doctrine, when he has attained the authority to speak and preach, then the Lord provides him with the tongue of learning at an opportune time, so that he may know when it is necessary for the word to be proposed; and thus it happens that he speaks at his own time. For to the people who are about to hear, it is said in the old law: "Hear, O Israel, and be silent"; but the prudent senior is provoked to speak thus: "Speak, old man, for it is fitting for you."

VERS. 8. "A time to love, and a time to hate." The woman who was a sinner in the city kissed the feet of the Savior with great love, that is, having entered upon the paths of piety and true faith, she turned herself away with great zeal altogether from iniquity, so that now the one same time was for both things and their effect. Otherwise: The soul indeed ought always to be engaged in love, and in hatred, so that it may indeed love its Spouse according to His works, and say: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." But may it hate the enemy of men, that is, the devil, who supersows ^D the tares.

"A time of war, and a time of peace." He who wages war against the spiritual powers of wickedness has peace with God. And in this life, indeed, it is a time for fighting assiduously against principalities and powers; who

^A wins the palm, will in the age to come happily delight in the abundance of peace.

VER. 9. "What has a man more in all that he labors for?" After he has pursued those things which pertain to the times and seasons of action, he returns again to contemplate the person of man, and teaches that he who labors about human things will have nothing more than the rest, since pleasant and painful things happen to everyone alike, and especially because of the death that prevails over all. Only the wise man, therefore, has something extra, in that he knows these things, which the rest of men do not possess.

VER. 10, 11. "I saw therefore the occupation which God has given to the sons of men, to be occupied in it: all things that He made are good in their time." It has been said above that God gave occupations and difficulties to the sons of men—that is, to those living according to the passion of the flesh—but not to the wise, so that while they are occupied with things that are, in a certain sense, intermediate and indifferent both to evil and to good, they might not slide completely into the other side (that is, the way of iniquity). Therefore, all intermediate and indifferent things are good, provided they are practiced at their proper time and for necessary uses, just as it is to till a field, to study to acquire wealth, to eat and drink, and (to put it briefly) there is always a time for doing good; just as, conversely, there is always a time for abstaining from flagrant sins. Otherwise: Here "time" denotes the use of the things themselves—that is, when someone uses things as much as the laws and rights of nature permit. So Ecclesiastes says: "I have contemplated human morals, and how they are occupied and turned away from those things which nature permits, to those things which are against nature." Here, he says, considering it prudently, I saw that nature itself is nothing evil, but all things that are moved and done according to nature are in themselves good. For the eyes are good, which behold something without a perverse intention, but when they are occupied and turned from the simple operation of nature to curious spectacles, they are no longer good. Therefore, all things are good in their time, that is, if they are employed and done according to the simple operation of nature and as is fitting.

^C "And He has delivered the world into their hearts, so that man should not find the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end." God, he says, permitted the wise men of this world to be anxious and occupied, lest, if they had applied themselves assiduously and with a tranquil mind to the fabric and structure of this world, having perceived and known its beauty, they might have judged these visible things to be God or gods. Nevertheless, in their manifold occupation, He did not leave them destitute of His providence, but joined to human nature the common thought of death, so that, knowing we are not to be here forever, we might have care for eternal life. Otherwise: "World" (saeculum) signifies a temporal space, and encompasses all things that have been in it. Therefore he says: God has given to the sons of men the knowledge of the present age, namely, that the heaven and the earth and whatever we behold had a temporal beginning, and that these same things are changed in time. But of those things which were before the beginning of time, or which are to follow after this age, we have not received certain and manifest knowledge, for which reason we are also told by other Scripture:

^A “Seek not things that are too high for thee, and search not into things that are too deep for thee.”

VERS. 12. *And I knew that there is no good in them, but to rejoice and do good in his life.* The wise man knows what is good by nature; but by nature, God alone is good, who brought all things forth out of His own innate goodness. Yet he who does good to the extent of his ability, and keeps love toward God and neighbor, he rejoices with an ineffable and true joy. I knew, therefore, he says, that there is nothing good in life except this very thing: to do good and to rejoice in the doing of good.

VERS. 13. *And also every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good in all his labor, this is the gift of God.* The wise man indeed knows what truly is good; but every man, that is, the common and vulgar person, who has strayed from the knowledge of the true good, and who defines and measures the good by pleasure alone, ^B supposes that to eat and drink is good. And that the supply of sensible things is given to men by God is manifest; not, however, that we should abuse the things granted by God, but that we should be communicative and bountiful in moderation, and partake of the gifts provided by God with thanksgiving. Ecclesiastes has therefore interwoven the persons: namely, the one who is truly wise, who knows what is properly good, and the one who, led into error, is deceived concerning the knowledge of that very good.

VERS. 14. *I have known that whatsoever God hath made, it shall be for ever: nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken away from it, and God hath made it that they should fear before him.* Among existing things, some are visible and others are invisible. This discourse, however, concerns visible things; of these, some always remain the same, such as the earth, and the heaven, and the sun, and the moon; others are preserved by succession in species, such as men, plants, and the like. I knew, therefore, he says, that there is nothing to be added to the arrangement of God, which is perfect and deficient in nothing; but neither is anything to be taken away from the whole as superfluous. Those, however, who apply themselves to the contemplation of created things, and who find the reason of each thing as far as is possible, are possessed by the fear of God and are moved to astonishment, ^C admiring the wisdom of the Creator of all. Therefore, there is naturally stored up in common common thoughts the fear of God, or a certain legitimate reason, which from the harmony of created things stirs the faithful toward the power of Him who made them. We must know that the things that are seen are symbols of certain intelligible things; so that, according to the reason for which they were generated, they are deficient in nothing. For whether anything was made by God primarily, or whether according to a secondary reason, it is not possible to add to them, and from them it is not possible to take away. ^D Therefore all the works of God are good, all are perfect, and all are lacking in nothing.

^A

VERS. 15. “That which is done, is already there: and whatever is to be, has already been: and God shall seek him that suffers persecution.” If anything, he says, has happened, it is now; a man has become, he is a man; a tree has become, it is a tree; but also things yet to be have already been. Men are going to be after us, and there have already been others before them. ^B And the phrase, “God shall seek that which is driven away,” and He shall seek him who works no harm, and He shall save him.

VERS. 16, 17. “And I saw moreover under the sun the place of judgment, there the wicked; and the place of the just, there the righteous. I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, for there is a time for every work.” Lifting us from these sensible things to the spiritual, he says that he contemplated with prophetic foresight and with the pure eye of the mind the place of judgment which is laid up for the wicked under the sun, as if he were to say, hell; but he also commemorates having seen the place of the just. He added to this, moreover, the particle, "under the sun." If this be understood simply according to the letter, there is no doubt that the just are to be in paradise and in the heavens. But if you apply "under the sun" to both, namely to the just and to the impious, understand that he contemplated those who now depart from this life, who have not yet arrived at the kingdom of the heavens. It is truly a thing worthy of inquiry, where under the sun those who have finished their lives in righteousness are placed. It is certain, however, that it is in paradise, since Christ said to the thief: “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.” And it must be known that history teaches that paradise is on earth. Some, however, have said that paradise is also in hell, that is, in a subterranean place: to which opinion of theirs they accommodate that evangelical passage: The rich man saw Lazarus, but he himself was plunged into the lower place, while Lazarus was in a more eminent place, where Abraham was. But however these things may be, this is beyond doubt certain, both from the present passage of our Ecclesiastes and from all divine Scripture, that the pious shall be in prosperity and peace, but the unjust in fitting punishments and torments. Others have been pleased to think that paradise is in the heavens: but the good and ingenuous Ecclesiastes will follow the sense of history rather. Then, furthermore, examining matters, he infers, saying: ^C

“I said in my heart: Shall the just be condemned with the wicked?” These words surely have an ambiguous inquiry, not an absolute affirmation. For once he has taught that the place of the just is one, and that of the wicked another; but afterwards he admonishes us and brings us into fear, since God is to judge all men, and to discuss all our affairs with diligent examination. He says, therefore: “There shall be a time for every thing and for every work.” This is, there shall be a time of universal judgment. But take it also in a mystical sense: I saw under the Sun of justice, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is surely going to come to judge the living and the dead; I saw, I say, the place of the impious, constituted namely on the left: and I saw likewise the place of the just, which is on His right, and I said in my heart that God shall call all to judgment, distributing to each according to his worth, defining and determining that time ^D

^A in which our every action and operation shall be weighed under strict examination.

VERS. 18. « I said in my heart concerning the speech of the sons of men, that God shall judge them. » This is similar to what is read in the Gospels: « Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment. » Understand, moreover, that when this passage speaks of speech, it implies also the internal word of the mind and hidden thought: for an account of these, too, is strictly required of us.

VERS. 19. « And to show that they are beasts, and to show that the occurrence of the sons of men and the occurrence of the beast is one occurrence. As is the death of the one, so is the death of the other. And the spirit is in all; and man has nothing more than the beast. » Therefore, he says, I saw and considered the reasons of the judgment which is exercised under God, so that I might show—that is, so that I might teach men—that they do not differ at all from beasts, namely, according to the standard of the body and the life that is devoted to the body. For we all breathe the same air as the beasts; we undergo the same death; and in these things, man has nothing more than the beast. Therefore, the bestial and flesh-loving life is mere vanity. Ecclesiastes instructs us by these things not to indulge our body, but to attend to the soul which is endowed with reason, by which we commune with the angels; for according to our sensible substance ^B we are like the beasts, but according to our invisible and rational substance, we are like the holy angels.

VERS. 20, 21. « All things go to one place: all things are made from dust, and all things return to dust. And who knows if the spirit of the sons of Adam ascends upward, and if the spirit of the beast descends downward into the earth? » The Manichaeans, in teaching the transmigration of souls, say that they are indeed immortal, but that they undergo all bodies, as much those of men as of beasts, of reptiles, and of plants. But we Christians, who are instructed in better things by the divine Scriptures, have learned to understand "beasts" as those men who, not using the gift of reason, are compared to senseless animals. We recognize those as men, however, who are distinct from the bestial manner of living and regulate themselves according to reason. Who, therefore, knows whether those who to many seem more prudent are judged worthy, in the very time of judgment, of the kingdom of heaven, or are rather cast down into the abyss of hell? Or who, on the contrary, knows whether those who seem in some way to lack reason are not, by the hidden judgment of God, lifted up to the things above? For that the rational soul is immortal, while the soul of beasts dies with the body, is manifest to anyone who is even in the slightest degree a participant in reason. Otherwise: In many places, Ecclesiastes, assuming the persona of the pleasure-loving man, speaks words appropriate to the person assumed, as if to say: Who knows what is to come? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. And the Apostle, clarifying the matters concerning life here ^{C D}

says: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." Everywhere, therefore, the Ecclesiastes, teaching us this through riddles, transmits us to another life. Another has said: "If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are more wretched than all men." ^A

VERS. 22. "And I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works: for that is his portion. For who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?" If the saying is from the person of the pleasure-seeker, you shall understand it thus: I saw, says such a person, that there is nothing good in life, save to rejoice in one's own works and desires, and that this is the portion and good inheritance of man. Then the Ecclesiastes teaches whence such thoughts arise in those who are lovers of the body: because, he says, no one can show those who are blinded in their understanding what things are to follow after these, that is to say, the eternal punishments. But if the saying is from the Wise Man, you shall contemplate it more highly. There is not, he says, anything good for man, save the joy which shall receive him hereafter, from his own good works here. For his joyful action, that is, his virtuous action, ^B this shall be his portion. For it is not possible for him who has not lived according to virtue to return again after life here, and come to repentance. For to him who has not lived dutifully, it will not happen that, his life completed, he should return hither again to amend by penance those things which he did wrongly.

CHAPTER IV

VERS. 1. "And I returned, and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter." To other examinations, he says, I turned; and contemplating men, I beheld the slanderers acting unjustly, and those who were slandered weeping from weakness, because no one was able to strengthen them, nor provide them consolation against those who oppressed them. Slanderers are, some indeed in matters of money, others in the opinions of sects, as for instance heretics against the faithful. And even the arch-evil demon himself, and the apostate powers, are always slandering and weaving falsehoods. ^C

VERS. 2, 3. "Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun." He counts the dead more blessed than the living. Why? Because the just have finished their labors; and the sinners have been checked from their impulse toward sinning. For profitably does the common death come to both. But in a mystical sense, understand it thus: Those who are dead to sin, living in

Christ, are incomparably better than those living in sins. Then he adds:

^B “And happy is he above both of these who has not yet been born, and has not seen this laborious life,” which indeed he also calls an evil work. From these words of Ecclesiastes, some have been led to say that the soul pre-exists before the formation of the body. For how, he says, can it be called good or happy for one who does not even exist? To whom we reply: If the soul pre-exists, and because of sin committed in its disembodied state it was cast into the body as into a prison in order to be corrected (for this is what you say), how was it happy while sinning and not being corrected? And yet, *whom the Lord loves, he corrects, and lashes every son whom he receives.* But if to be loved by God is a good thing, and to be corrected is also a good thing, and the soul comes into the body in order to be corrected, then life in the body ^C is good for the soul that was sinning in its previous life and was not deemed worthy of divine turning. This argument, therefore, is overturned, and the soul did not pre-exist the body. The "good above these two" who has not yet been born refers to the human person who has never come into existence at all, so that he may say, according to the word of the Savior: *It is good for him if he had not been born.*

Another question then succeeds for us: if it is better not to be born than to be born, then it is to the detriment of human beings to have come into existence; therefore, God, who created man, is the cause of evils. How then did God see all that He made, *and behold they were very good*? To this we reply that since our Ecclesiastes has introduced two persons in this place—the one who commits slander and the one who is slandered—he has not simply posited the one who is slandered, but has assigned him tears ^D for the things in which he is treated unjustly. Therefore, the person introduced is not that of a philosopher, nor truly of a Christian, but of someone who is fond of the world. For the philosopher, when treated unjustly, does not weep; on the contrary, he rejoices and is glad, as the Apostle also wrote: *And you accepted the seizure of your possessions with joy.* The Ecclesiastes, therefore, having posited two unphilosophical persons—one the person of the perpetrator, and another that of the victim who, because of excessive grief and ignorance, is weeping—added that, by comparison of these two unphilosophical men, it is better not to have come into existence. And experience of the reality itself will bear witness to what has been said. For if anyone were to ask the holy martyrs, or prophets, or apostles, or all those who have lived in virtue: “Tell us, holy men, if the option were laid before you of being born by God or not being born, what would you choose?” do you not think they would immediately answer that we are indeed grateful to God who created us in His goodness and anointed us for the struggles of virtue, and wove for us these blessed crowns? It is shown, therefore, that this discourse of Ecclesiastes concerns those who are sinners. Indeed, tell us this, holy men: if the option were set before you of being born, under God,

^A according to His goodness, to compete in the gymnasium of virtue, so that He might weave and bestow upon us these crowns of eternal glory? It is, therefore, sufficiently shown that Ecclesiastes speaks of sinners and imperfect men.

Verse 4. *And I saw all labor and all the strength of work, that it is emulation to a man; this is vanity and the election of spirit.* Fortitude and industry are deemed worthy of censure when one directs his forces toward vanities and yet becomes master of his desire. The emulation which has envy as its neighbor is blameworthy. I saw, therefore, he says, the labor of men concerning vain works, and I saw others envying them. For example, if someone unjustly acquires wealth for himself, behold, others immediately begin to envy him; or, desiring to attain similar riches, they themselves pursue the same effort. Such an occupation of men, therefore, is vanity; and, as we have often said, the election of spirit.

Verse 5. *A fool folded his hands and ate his own flesh.* Hands are given to a man so that he may perform with them things that are useful and fitting for himself. An idle sluggard, therefore, keeping his hands closed and folded, when he is subsequently touched by repentance and wastes away with grief, is said with merit to devour his own flesh. In a mystical sense: he who does not exercise the operations of his soul in virtues devours his own flesh, since he is himself the mediator and proxy of his own punishments and torments. Otherwise: to fold one’s hands signifies to embrace for the sake of affection, and to flatter in greeting. The fool, therefore, since he loves his own base actions and embraces them, devours his own flesh, preparing for himself the just punishment. ^B

Verse 6. *Better is a fullness of a handful with rest, than the fullness of two handfuls with labor and election of spirit.* Better is the little to the righteous, than the many riches of sinners. In a mystical sense, the handful is the unfailing faith that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Two handfuls are to be understood when someone strives to serve two masters, namely God and Mammon, and suffers those reproaches which the prophet commemorates: *How long do you limp between two opinions?* It is better, therefore, without any controversy, which is placed first here. Otherwise: one handful is unity itself, which lacks material; two handfuls are material things which can be divided. Furthermore, this duality itself is held in the sacred Scriptures to be unclean and impure. For unclean animals went into the ark of Noah by twos. It is better, therefore, to follow unity and to lead an active life with quiet—that is, without the veneer of empty glory—than to be occupied with duality, that is, material things. Otherwise: we can contemplate that man was once a handful, when clearly God, taking dust from the earth and enclosing it as if in a handful, fashioned man. The woman was also a handful; for from the side of Adam, God, taking hold of the rib with His hand, fashioned Eve. Celibacy is therefore better than two handfuls, that is, [better] than duality and the conjugal union. For although marriage is not to be condemned, celibacy is certainly praiseworthy and free from trouble. ^{C D}

^A "And I returned, and saw vanity under the sun." Turning around, he says, the eye of the heart, I saw nothing done by men for the sake of this world, which is not mere vanity; and by "works" he means wicked deeds.

"There is one, and there is not a second, nor son, nor brother; and there is no end to all his labor, and his eye is not satisfied with riches; and for whom do I labor, and deprive my soul of good? This also is vanity, and a wicked distraction." Further, he says, looking around at human affairs, I saw some who have not even lawful heirs, yet who are insatiably occupied with riches, having an eye that is empty and insatiable. Then, having contemplated this, he introduces the person of this insatiable man becoming penitent and saying: "And for whom do I labor, and deprive my soul of good things?" Rightly, therefore, he attributes vanity to this labor.

Otherwise: Mystically understand it thus: "There is one." By "one" in this place he signifies the self-lover, who does not wish to have a brother or a son. For those who are willing, and who live according to God, even if they do not happen to be related by nature, nevertheless all are to them brothers and sons; according to the text, "Be as a father to orphans, and instead of a husband to their mother." This "one," therefore, who wishes to have neither brother nor son, owing to a wicked choice, deprives his ^B soul of good, neither desiring the good things to come, nor doing anything good in life. Vanity, therefore, is added to this one as well.

"Two are better than one, for they have a good reward for their labor." He praises the concord of two, when it happens for the sake of what is good; for this also obtains a reward from God. And the Savior sent his apostles out two by two, well-concordant. But those who agreed for evil in the building of the tower, God divided and scattered.

But according to the spiritual sense: Good is the concord upon what is good between soul and body; this is also rewarded by God. But how are two better than one? If the body acts temperately, but the soul is vainglorious, the temperance of the body is vain. And conversely, if the soul is humble, but the body commits fornication, the humility is vain. For when one part of the composite [man] sins, whether soul or body, of necessity the other is also involved.

^C Good, therefore, is the concord of the two, unto the account of the reward of virtue, because if they fall, the one will raise up his fellow. "And woe to the one when he falls, and there is no second to raise him up." Those who agree upon what is good are a help to one another. For even if the one, as a man, overlooks something that ought to be done, he will have the other to set him right. As to [the phrase] "when they fall,"

it is not to be understood of both at the same time, but sometimes of this one, sometimes of that one.

^A VERS. 11. « And if two lie together, they shall have heat; but how shall one be warm? » From what occurs bodily, he teaches something spiritual. For those who lie down and sleep together grow warmer than one who lies alone; so also those who agree and concord according to the Spirit: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them," says the Lord, granting, clearly, to his faithful the fire and heat of the Holy Spirit.

VERS. 12. « And if someone prevails against one, two shall withstand him. » Again, through those things which occur perceptibly, he imparts to us a spiritual contemplation. For just as if ^B two are walking in one mind through a marketplace or the desolate places of the desert, and someone might approach them, the two are safer to repel the one who has attacked; so you will understand it also in a spiritual battle. For since Ecclesiastes wishes to instruct us in things pertaining to the body and soul, just as the Apostle Paul also did, in which place he himself makes mention of the three things that are in man, when he says: "May your whole spirit and soul be preserved" (I Thess. v, 23), he proposed for us to contemplate three things latently, namely, that if some one [adversary] rises up against us, that is, the pride of the flesh, then the soul, joined in friendship to the spirit, may restrain and bridle the flesh, so that it may be subjected to the spiritual movements of the soul, and obey. ^C For it must be known (which pertains to this passage) that a human consists of three things, soul, namely, body, and spirit: not that the spirit is something else besides the soul according to its essential force, nor indeed are there two rational parts in a human; but according to thought alone, considering them separately, we say that the spirit is one thing and the soul another, calling the more easy-moving and higher [part] of the soul the spirit. This, I think, is also the intellect, as we have noted in the book of Esdras. Or thus: Spirit is the spiritual charisma which illuminates and brightens our soul, which we have received from the divine in-breathing. And if we preserve what is in us made according to the image of God, we have the spiritual charisma whole; but if we decline into the paths of sins, we violate in us the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is, I think, what the Apostle ^D prays for us: to remain whole as we were from the beginning, having an immaculate body and soul, and keeping the spiritual charisma pure. Otherwise it can also be understood thus: The movements of the soul are divided into the rational, the irascible, and the concupiscible. If, therefore, these three should agree in virtue and function, then according to the right norm of nature, anger burns against evil affections and demons,

^A and the concupiscible power desires only what is better. Whence Daniel also was called a man of desires. The rational part, however, governs all things justly, curbing the irascible and concupiscible forces. But if the contrary happens, so that one of those powers, either anger, that is, or appetite—pursuing what naturally delights—acts contrary to the law of reason, then the two remaining parts, preserving purity under a covenant of concord (the rational and the concupiscent, for example), suppress anger and compel it to obey them; or conversely, anger, joined to reason, settles the concupiscible. Thus it happens that two who are in accord bring the third who is resisting into servitude.

^B « A threefold cord is not quickly broken. » Again, Ecclesiastes, by the example of a triple cord, leads us to spiritual contemplations; and first, he teaches us charity, calling us into a bond of concord. And he says: If soul, body, and spirit agree in good, they are not easily dissolved by the enemy’s assault. Otherwise: When the rational force of the soul, and the powers of irascibility and concupiscence preserve the purity of unity, they keep the soul entirely unharmed. Otherwise: Those who believe in the consubstantial Trinity, Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, cannot be conquered by resisting heretics and adversaries.

^C VERS. 13, 14. « Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king, who knows not how to provide for the future. For out of the house of prisoners sometimes a man comes forth to reign; and even in his kingdom he was born poor. » Boys are generally not considered worthy of as much honor as old men; nor do we venerate the poor as we do a king. Ecclesiastes, therefore, comparing foolishness with wisdom, shows how much the latter excels. For he says that a boy and a poor man (provided he is wise) are far better than one who is old and adorned with royal power, but foolish. For the foolish man does not understand that wisdom is able, even from a servile condition and from a man cast into chains, to raise him to royal sovereignty. And the proof of this can be taken from Joseph, whom the wisdom bestowed by God—existing in him as a youth, though he was bought for a price and cast into prison—constituted the ruler of all Egypt. ^D If this same wisdom resides in a king, it teaches him to maintain modesty and frugality; so that he is in no way puffed up or swollen with pride by the royal dignity which he possesses. For by the grace of God and the knowledge of himself, he understands that he is poor, and neither in the kingdom nor in the abundance of riches does he cast off the humility of poverty; so that he may also be blessed, just as those who are poor in spirit. Otherwise: An aging and foolish people can be called the people of the Hebrews, to whom succeeded a younger people called from the nations into the knowledge of God, truly wise and redeemed from diabolical servitude, and through faith in Christ the Savior having obtained a royal priesthood, poor in spirit, but decorated with evangelical beatitude. The exemplar, however, of such poor men is Christ our Savior himself, who is the wisdom of God the Father, but young if you consider the time of his bodily birth. The same is also a king by divine dignity, having become poor for our salvation, although he is of himself most rich. He escaped the chains of death, and

freed us, teaching us by his own example to pursue moderation, when he said: *Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.* 87

VERSES 15, 16. I saw all the living who walk under the sun, with the second youth who shall rise up in his stead. There is no end of all the people, of all, I say, who were before them; and those who come last shall not rejoice in him; but this also is vanity and a striving of spirit.

This entire passage should be considered to relate to an allegorical and mystical understanding, since there is no one who can see with bodily sight all the men who walk under the sun. But since some contend that the mystical sense should be referred to one thing and others to another (for some wish the "second youth" to be understood as Christ the Lord, others as the son of perdition, Antichrist), we shall pursue both expositions. ^B "I saw," he says, "all the living who walk under this visible sun," that is, sinners themselves, "with the second youth," that is, Antichrist, who shall rise up in his stead—that is, in place of our Lord Jesus Christ. "And there was no end" of the multitude of sinners, namely those who had existed from the beginning of the age; but "those who come last"—that is, those who in the times of Antichrist shall believe in him—"shall not rejoice in him," for impiety cannot save those who cling to it. And in order to teach that this error of infidelity will come upon peoples not by necessity, nor by chance, but by the election of free will, he added, saying: *But this also is vanity and a striving of spirit.*

Another interpretation: He says he saw those walking under the sun of justice, namely all who truly live by faith, "with the second youth," who is without doubt our Savior, the man from heaven, the heavenly one, who was born for us and rose up in place of the first youth, Adam, who was a man of earth, earthly. 88 "And they were infinite," he says, "who under this sun" were progressing forward; that is, according to the discipline of the living faith, forgetting the life past, as though dead to sin, but extending themselves to the things that are before, 89 always directing the eyes of the mind to the glory of eternal life proposed to them. But who are the "last" of them who shall not delight in the second youth, our Lord Jesus Christ? They are, clearly, either the Jews, who, though they were first, became last, or those who at the end of the age shall believe in the Antichrist; or, generally, all those who, after the first ones living dutifully and piously, chase after the enticements of sense and pleasure; these are deservedly to be held and called last and latest. ^D But he shows that these latest ones, too, will not rejoice in the second youth by the election of their own will, and therefore he has brought in that phrase already worn for him: *But this also is vanity and a striving of spirit.*

It should be known, however, that it pertains to the explanation of the aforesaid that Adam, the first man, is called a youth, according to the understanding of that time when, recently created, he was still in the paradise of pleasure, vigorous in the prime of his youth by practicing virtues. Christ the Savior is also called a youth, on account of the great strength of divine power; and Antichrist is also called a youth, because of his propensity for innovation and his always being fresh in wickedness.

VERS. 17. Keep thy foot when thou goest

into the house of God, and be ready to hear. ^A By a certain figure of speech, the members of the outer man are predicated of the soul and the inner man, such as the eyes, the hands, the feet, and the remaining members. And yet it does not happen conversely that the parts of the soul and the inner man are habitually used to describe the outer man; for wings and pinions are spoken of regarding the soul, according to that saying: "If you sleep among the midst of the lots, the wings of a dove are covered with silver." 60 He says therefore: Keep the foot of thy soul in every work wherein thou goest, that you may come into the sight of the house of God, that is, the heavenly Jerusalem. But he who keeps the foot of his soul is near to hearing, that is, to obeying the word of divine precept, and by progressing, he performs the commandments of the Law. But if you should understand what is said as referring to the physical foot: Keep, he says, thy whole body (for by a part he signified the whole), so that we may not use the same instruments in evil which we use in good. As if he were to say: Do not, I pray, with the same feet with which you frequent the temple of God, visit theatrical plays and obscene spectacles. Understand that the same must be done regarding the other members of the human body. And indeed, those who enter the church of God with an undefiled foot must keep themselves entirely from impious and profane places, as being contrary to God.

^B “Above the gift of fools is thy sacrifice, because they do not know what evil they do.” Because fools also sometimes offer a gift to God, as those who perform almsgiving out of vain glory; just as Cain, who indeed offered correctly, but did not divide correctly. Therefore, he says, let thy sacrifice be made with discernment and with knowledge. For fools do not even know that they offer wrongly, because they do not have knowledge and discernment. For he who performs that which is good with knowledge, also avoids the opposite with knowledge. But he who is ignorant of the former will easily be ignorant of the latter. Therefore, understand the phrase "Because they do not know what evil they do" as follows: They are held by ignorance, and their minds are covered in darkness. But he spoke properly and distinctly when he called the offering of fools a "gift," while he understood only the sacrifice of the wise.

CHAPTER V.

Vers. 1. “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any word before the face of God; for God is in heaven above, and thou upon earth ^D below.” ^C He exhorts that a prompt tongue be restrained; then, indeed, because wrong-headed sentences are suggested to the foolish tongue by an impulsive and rash heart, in order that he might block up the very fountain and source of foolish words, he says: "Let not thy heart be hasty to utter any word before the face of God." As if to say: Because God is present everywhere, He beholds all things, even detecting the hidden thoughts of the soul and heart, even if they do not emerge through the evidence of speech: for God, who has His seat in the highest watchtowers of the heavens, beholds all things that happen below. Otherwise: Do not rashly pour forth words concerning divine mysteries, nor as it happens; for, being mortal and wearing flesh, and being weighed down below, you cannot [fathom] the essence of God who is invisible and supercelestial.

^A Therefore, let your words be few. For all the reasons stated above, let your words be not only few in number, but also weighed with careful examination.

VER. 2. *For a dream comes in the multitude of temptation, and the voice of a fool in the multitude of words.* If you take this saying proverbially, absolutely, and freely, understand it thus: Just as those who are agitated by many temptations and cares during the day are subsequently disturbed by dreams during their rest, so too the fool who sins in many words is convicted by his own voice. Otherwise: just as a dream that tempts someone in sleep, whether toward avarice or toward lust, flies away and immediately vanishes into nothingness, so that nothing of what he seemed to be doing turns out to be real, so too the voice of a foolish man, concluding nothing useful or advantageous, appears much like a dream. As if to say: The speech of a foolish man is compared to dreams. But if you wish to bring forward these words as though Ecclesiastes were confirming by reason what he brought up previously, namely, that *a dream comes in the multitude of temptation, and the voice of a fool in the multitude of words*, you shall take it in this way, as if he were warning us, saying: Do not be a babbler or a trifler, nor display your innate foolishness through your own speech, because many temptations happen to babblers, not only in sensible experience and by day, but they also terrify them ^B in their sleep during the night.

VER. 3. *As you have vowed a vow to God, do not delay to render it, for there is no will in fools. You, therefore, whatever you have vowed, render.* Prayer is the petitioning of good things from God; but a vow is when we promise to God that we will give something. We vow and promise to God not merely money, but also abstinence from food, and chastity, and things of that kind. Since, therefore, fools repent after having made a promise, being unwilling to fulfill the vow, he exhorts us to render what we have promised to God quickly and with speed.

VER. 4. *It is better for you not to vow, than after a vow not to render the things promised.* It is, without doubt, an evil and a detestable thing if you are never willing to grant anything to God; yet it is much worse if you promise that you will give something to God and do not pay it. Between two proposed evils, therefore, he called the one that is the lesser evil a good. Understand this also in another sense: Beware that you do not promise anything rashly in the sight of God, because as soon as you have become liable for a vow, a multitude of temptations will surround you, ^C blocking you from fulfilling the promise, so that not even when you are sleeping will you be free of trouble. As, for example, if some greedy man vowed that he would give money to God, then he is not only tormented and distracted by day—as he calculates his accounts here and there, setting poverty and want before his eyes—but, as is fitting, he is also hindered in his sleep by the same images from fulfilling his vow. How great, moreover, is the punishment with which those are to be tormented who disdain to fulfill their vows, is taught to us by Ananias and Sapphira in the Acts of the Apostles, who were taken away by sudden death. ^D

"Do not give your mouth to make your flesh sin." ^A A babbling tongue defiles the whole body; especially when unguarded speech is engaged in with women, it stimulates the flesh toward sin. "And do not say before the face of God that it is ignorance." If you have sinned, he says, through an unbridled mouth, repent, and do not offer a pretext, saying that "I sinned in ignorance." Otherwise: Those who have driven themselves into the depth of wickedness and have come to contempt, do not deign, they say, for God to know the sins among men; you, therefore, he says, do not say this; for nothing has escaped the divine eye. "Lest God grow angry at your voice, and destroy the works of your hands." Do not sin, he says, by your tongue, lest you also destroy the acts performed in accordance with virtue. For God, being angered by rash words, obliterates whatever good we seem to have done. Otherwise: Do not say that God is ignorant of the sins among men; for God is angered at such speech, and he does not approve of our actions. But those who are duller he kills, and at times he brings poverty upon them, destroying the works of their hands. "Because in the multitude of dreams, and vanities, and many words." He has set forth three things similar to one another: the non-existent phantasms of dreams, the vain labors of men, and the untimely trifling of many words. For the words of a babbler are like dreams; and the vain strivings of men differ not at all from dreams. In a multitude, therefore, of dreams—that is, of those who are dreaming, and laboring in vain, and babbling—God is angered. By a multitude of words do not understand verbosity, but rather idle talk; for even Paul, extending his speech until midnight, was insatiable to those who heard him. But he who speaks many things, without having made the matter clear as divine, is said to have said nothing; for he who speaks beyond what is necessary, even by a single word, is said to be a babbler. And teaching a general safeguard for all the virtues, he adds: "Fear God." For the fear of the Lord surpasses everything. "If you see the oppression of the poor and the robbery of judgment in the province, do not marvel at the matter, for a higher than the high keeps watch, and there are higher ones above them; and the abundance of the land." He calls it "robbery of judgment" when the rich bribe the judges to give unjust verdicts; and otherwise, he who violently claims for himself and extorts judgments that in no way pertain to him also practices a robbery of judgment. If, therefore, he says, you see the poor oppressed by the rich and by slanderers, do not marvel, meaning, do not...

be ill-tempered, nor indignant, nor think that the world is ^A without providence. For God, who is high above all, being above all things and observing each of the deeds done by him who seems high, and rich, and vainglorious, will render to each according to the worth of his deeds. And the high ones over them, that is to say, those who are proud of themselves, are nothing else but a superfluity of the earth, or, in other words, useless earth. For why do you boast, he says, O earth and ashes 63?

VERS. 8. But the King of the tilled field is over all.

Otherwise: Since God is the King of the field that has been beheld and most skillfully tilled, let us not destroy His vineyard with lawless deeds, or ungodly dogmas, or pestilential teachings. For the Lord and possessor of the tilled field is over all, and observes all things.

Otherwise: Divine Scripture itself is a kind of fragrant and fruit-bearing ^C field, as it were a paradise planted with the best trees, and having a hidden treasure. It is right, therefore, that those who seek to have this treasure should strive to please the King of this field, that is, God Almighty. They will please Him if they have renounced all the delights of the world, and if they do not follow the sense of the dead letter only, in the manner of the Jews, nor again search out allegories and mysteries from all the words of Scripture, in such a way that (holding the truth of the letter as useless) they root up and pull out the plants of this field; since it is rather fitting clearly to search what is written, and with the Spirit as guide to turn the earth with hoes, while we search out how we may please God, the Lord of this field, and render a spiritual paradise tilled for Him.

VERS. 9. He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; and who has loved fruits in the multitude thereof? And this also is vanity.

VERS. 10. In the multitude of good things they are multiplied that eat them. And what strength and fortitude have they? For power...

is to him that he may see with his eyes. Symmachus the interpreter translates the latter part thus: "For what utility is there to him who possesses these good things, unless that he may merely gaze upon them with his eyes?" The sense, however, is this: You may find someone who, with the greatest striving of soul and labor of body, sets about a base deed—as the miser is wont to do—who gathers money by whatever means he can; and this fortitude and, as it were, energy is to be condemned. But those who are so impudently avaricious propose this to themselves as if it were the highest good: that they might move about amidst cups and platters, and that they might enjoy the spectacle of the money they have amassed. In the multitude of good things, therefore—that is, in the abundance of money which is constantly being multiplied for them—they exult no differently than if they were feeding upon those goods and riches. And what benefit, finally, accrues to them from this kind of exertion and virtue? For he possesses the mastery over his money by mere contemplation alone, being seized by such avarice; as if to say, he is master of them for no other use than that he contemplates them as they are laid out before him. Alternatively: To those who increase their wealth and riches by the legitimate right of honor, those who may use them are also multiplied. For those who truly desire that probity be increased for themselves, share their wealth with many, that is, with the poor. Therefore, that he might dissuade us from tenacity and turn us toward mercy, he says: What profit is there, he asks, to the impudent miser and the tenacious man, in this base manliness and fortitude of his, which permits the rich man to use his money only by the gaze of the eyes? ^C VERS. 11. Sweet is the sleep of a servant, whether he eat little or much; but the one filled with riches has no one to let him sleep. By the comparison set forth, he shows that it turns out more happily for a man subject to the condition of a servant than for him who, though he be free, is nevertheless a slave to avarice. For the servant, leading a carefree life, on whatever food he is nourished, is refreshed by sweet sleep. But he who is a slave to money has an importunate master who does not permit him to sleep: namely, the care of increasing his gain, a thing full of anxieties. Mystically, however: Those who serve God bear with a calm mind, and rejoice in, the transition from the temporary life of this age to the eternal one; which translation of the present life he has ^D beautifully and aptly called sleep. But as for the misers, not sleep receives them, but a horrible death, which does not permit them to rest but delivers them to eternal punishment. ^D VERS. 12, 13. There is an infirmity which I have seen under the sun, riches kept for their owner to his hurt: and those riches perish in an evil occupation. All species of iniquity are diseases of the soul itself. And so grave and intense is the disease of avarice that it is deservedly called the root of all evils. He says, therefore: I saw wealth kept for the destruction of its possessor; for the miser either loses his wealth while still alive, when on account of them he sometimes suffers the ambushes of brigands and ravishers, or if he escapes these other inconveniences, he at length departs from life and is then deprived of his money. And he clearly understands that he has labored for an uncertain and unstable thing, to have gathered money which he was entirely to be without; for this is what he signifies when he says, in an evil occupation. But because many accumulate wealth under the pretext of their children and heirs, he deservedly adds:

^A And he has begotten a son, and there is nothing in his hand. As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he return, to depart even as he came. But if the miser makes the excuse of his children, let him examine the hand of the newborn infant; and when he finds that he was not born with money, let him examine him as he dies; for he will find him returning to the earth naked, having departed from the womb of his mother, and naked departing from life. Then he adds:

^B [VERS. 15, 16.] And he shall take nothing in his labor that he may carry in his hand; and this, too, is an evil sickness. For even as he came, so shall he go. And what is his profit, that he labors for the wind? And all his days are in darkness and in mourning, and in much wrath, and in infirmity, and in anger. If, therefore, neither the miser himself, nor his son whom he establishes as his heir, nor indeed any man at all can carry away with him when he dies any of his sensible possessions, is greed not an evil sickness of the soul? Why, then, do you labor for the wind, when wealth is altogether unstable and like bubbles on water, which vanish away when they burst? But greed itself also languishes in darkness, that is, in ignorance and mourning. For the miser has no mercy even on himself, using his accumulated wealth sparingly and with difficulty, but is also stimulated by a sad wrath besides, and on the slightest occasion rises into contention and flares up, being occupied by a grave sickness of the mind. See, therefore, how many inconveniences encompass gold; after which, when he has finished his life, the darkness of hell will also receive him, repelled from the sight of God, to be punished most severely according to His wrath.

^C [VERS. 17-19.] Behold, I have seen a good; this is, that one should eat and drink and see the good in all his labor which he labors under the sun, the number of the days of his life which God has given him. For He gave him riches and substance, and the power to eat thereof, and to receive his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied in the joy of his heart. ^D Having set forth the person of the miser, and having used an onslaught against him, Ecclesiastes, because he has struck him severely, now attempts to heal him and quietly to draw him away from the passion. Then, since he cannot accommodate the highest virtue, with much wisdom he introduces things pleasant to men to be performed, intermingling with his teaching that one must not give everything over to the belly, and that life here is short. Therefore, he exhorts the miser for the time being to make use of his possessions, so that through what seems pleasant, he may draw him away from the passion of greed, saying, that It is good for you, O avaricious rich man, to eat, and to drink, and to be merry, as long as you consider what is under the sun; for you must also be mindful that you have received limited days from God, and the time of life which God has given you has been thus apportioned to you—that is to say, allotted. Having received, therefore,

^A wealth from God, and the power to use it, take thought not only of eating and drinking, but also of seizing your own portion. Observe, too, the admirable method of his teaching: after he has drawn the miser out from his passion—by the [prelude of] enjoyment of food and drink—he then gently teaches that this enjoyment of food is not [truly] man's portion, but rather that he should take his portion, that is, that which remains with him: to scatter wealth upon the poor and truly to rejoice in such ministry. For this is indeed a gift of God, to take up a merciful and poverty-loving disposition. Then, urging him to be persuaded to take his portion—that is, to spend his money well, so that it may become his own—he reminds him of the brevity of life, saying that he will not remember many days of his life. ^B Such engagement and occupation is both dear to God and gladdens the heart of the merciful.

That this exhortation is directed to the miser, he shows again by adding what follows against misers. These things are as to the literal meaning. But he who is able to hear the great Ecclesiastes more divinely, hearing in the Gospels, "He that has ears to hear, let him hear," knows who the one good is; that it is God; and that he who eats and drinks the flesh of the Lord becomes a partaker of the good things to come. He labors well and exercises the virtues as long as he is under the sun—that is, in this life here—calculating that his days are numbered and that it is not fitting to lose any of them or to let them pass by fruitless. For this, which is concerned with virtue alone, is truly the portion of man, causing God to be our portion, according to the words of the father of Ecclesiastes in the Psalm, "Thou art my portion, O Lord." ^C And that this is the true wealth, concerning which the Apostle said, "That in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge," is clear.

For he who eats and drinks these spiritual goods and rejoices in them knows that these are the gifts of God, and he yearns for eternal life, despising this [life of] short duration. For those who, through the grace of God, are occupied with spiritual things and turn their minds away, despise the things here. For, if sensible wealth were the primary good, why would God—being impartial—not grant it to all? And yet, he has distributed the true goods equally to all—I mean, the practicing of the virtues. Thus, even if wealth is given to the virtuous in some measure, it is not of its nature either good or evil. ^D Rather, as one of the middle or indifferent things, it is transformed according to the disposition of those who handle it, whether well or ill.

CHAPTER VI

^A VERS. 1, 2. "There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is frequent among men: a man to whom God will give riches, substance, and glory, and there is nothing lacking to his soul of all that he desires; yet God will not give him power to eat thereof, for a stranger will eat it. This also is vanity and a grievous infirmity." The literal understanding of this text is directed against the avaricious and those bound by excessive greed. Furthermore, the statement "God will not give him power to eat thereof" is similar to what the Apostle says in writing to the Romans: "God gave them up unto vile affections"; not that God himself compels any human being to pursue avarice or intemperance, but that He permits those things which men undertake by the choice of their free will, while preserving the nature and faculty of free choice. ^B In a mystical sense, however, it must be understood thus: it often happens that someone accumulates great riches for himself in the abundance of eloquence and in the knowledge of the Scriptures, and in the cognition of other matters; yet because the foulness of his morals subsequently dissents from his words and his doctrine, it happens that those who encounter his books and traditions gain great profit for themselves, while the author himself perceives no profit, for the reason that he did not possess morals corresponding to his words. The Savior understood such men when He said: "All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works." Otherwise: the people of the Jews were once rich, honored by the Law, by prophets, and by the priesthood; yet they did not reap the fruit from these riches, having been seized by the grave malady of the sin committed against their Savior. On this account, strangers came and ate its goods—namely, the people from the nations called into the Church, of whom it is written: "Alienated from the government of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise."

^C VERS. 3-5. "If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, and the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with the good of his substance, and there be no burial for him; I say that an untimely birth is better than he: for he came in vanity, and departs into darkness, and in darkness his name shall be hidden; he hath not seen the sun, nor known it: he has rest above this one." Regarding the statement, "If a man beget a hundred children," understand it as spoken by hyperbole. Scripture makes use of this mode of speech when it deviates from a small amount into something immense. For a hyperbole is a statement exceeding the truth so that it might set something more expressively before the eyes, just as the Apostle also says: "And yet show I unto you a more excellent way: though I speak with the tongues of angels, and though I have all knowledge, and understand all mysteries, and have not charity, I am nothing." And yet it is impossible to possess those things apart from charity.

^A But how we are to understand what he says, he himself, anticipating us, taught us when he stated: "I show you a more excellent way." Ecclesiastes therefore says: Even if one were fruitful to the number of a hundred children, which is impossible; and even if he lived to a ripe old age; yet if he led a wicked life, and not one of virtue, and lived so dissolutely that once dead he is not even deemed worthy of burial (since this very thing happens quite often), I would easily say that an abortive child is far better than such a man. For this man truly came into vanity, and goes into darkness, living in ignorance; and his name shall be hidden in darkness, being blotted out from the book of the living, and not being deemed worthy of the Sun of righteousness. But as for the question regarding abortive children, why some are born dead, and others live for a day or two, this must be left to the inscrutable and just providence of God. ^B Mystically, however, understand what has been said above in this way: Judas Iscariot was also an Apostle, and by the words of his teaching he begat many children; but because he was not filled with good things so as to persevere to the end, but turned to iniquity and was filled rather with the spirit of Satan, he even lacked burial: that is, he did not die into the burial of the Savior. For those who are buried together with the Savior in baptism, and keep the gift while living in virtue, they indeed both rightly rise again with Christ. If, therefore, such a teacher—having brought many disciples to perfection (for this is what that hundredfold number signifies), and having remained in teaching for a long time—is not deemed worthy of the aforementioned burial because he did not mark off the evils, he goes into darkness and shall not see the Sun of righteousness. But the divine Paul, who says of himself: "And last of all he was seen by me also as by one born out of due time," ^C was deemed worthy of burial, having fought the good fight, desiring to depart and to be with Christ. Regarding him who lived badly, Jeremiah also wrote: "He shall be buried with the burial of an ass," which is to say, he shall not be deemed worthy of the rest of rational beings, having ended his life in irrationality.

VERS. 6. And if he should live a thousand years, he never saw the return of goodness: do not all things go to one place?

VERS. 7. All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet his soul shall not be satisfied.

nourishment, that which is from the Word and the virtues. Otherwise: Wickedness is something incomplete and insatiable; the soul, therefore, that lives in company with it, always brings forth wicked things through the mouth, reviling, weaving deceits, and yet it is not satisfied, because of the incomplete and insatiable nature of wickedness. ^B

VERS. 8. “For what has the wise man more than the fool? For the poor man knows how to walk before the face of life.” What has the wise man, he says, more than the fool? Much in every way; for the fool surrenders himself to pleasures; but the wise poor man, who is poor in spirit, walks before the face of Life, that is, he makes his way through the virtues until he arrives at the ultimate object of desire. For he desires to depart and to be with Christ, for He is the eternal life. Otherwise: The foolish and ignorant people of the Jews suspended our Life on wood; but the Gentile people, once poor and empty of the graces of God, ran to the Crucified, ^C walking before the face of Life, and became enriched with faith in Him.

VERS. 9. “Better is the sight of the eyes than the walking according to the desire of one’s soul; but this also is vanity and a choice of spirit.” The Apostle says: “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit.” And natural is he who uses the irascible and the concupiscible faculties contrary to what is right. And it is written in the Gospels: “If your eye be clear, your whole body will be clear;” that is, if your rational faculty, that is, the intellect, is enlightened, it is able to use both the irascible and the concupiscible faculties rightly and according to nature. It is therefore incomparably better to have the eyes of the soul discerning and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, than to walk according to the desire of the soul; that is, in the manner of the natural man, who walks in darkness. ^D For such a man is to be considered nothing else but vanity and a choice of spirit, since with a certain choice of counsel he has become a natural man, and has migrated toward vanities. But from the words of the Gospel which we have brought for the comparison of this passage, a doubt may arise, since there mention was made of one eye only, while here mention is made of two. We say, however, that in that place the intellect is indeed marked by the name of the one eye; but here, the spiritual operations of the intellect, namely the practical and the theoretical, are shown by the duality of the eyes: he who uses them piously and dutifully will indeed have a discerning intuition of the eyes. Furthermore, this is most worthy to be known, that it is the custom of Divine Scripture to present to us at times the whole soul by means of one faculty alone; as from the concupiscible, when it says: “And he may eat grapes so as to fill the soul,” that is, the appetite. Or from the irascible, when it says: “A blessed soul is altogether simple, but an irascible man is not shapely.” For by the irascible part, it said the whole soul. When it says again, “Having purified your souls in the obedience of truth,” since the rational part in us is purified through sanctification, from this it called the whole soul; and when it calls the whole soul, it speaks along with the parts, as, “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers.” And here, therefore, from the rational,

power, which it expressed by the duality of the eyes, it says that it is far better for a man to be spiritual than animal. ^B

Vers. 10, 11. “If what was, its name has already been called; and it is known what is man; and he will not be able to be judged with one stronger than he: for there are many words that increase vanity.” There are many words, he says, that increase vanity, which are impudently brought forward against the providence of the Creator. For there are very many who inquire indiscreetly, why God oppressed this man with poverty, but to that one, on the contrary, poured out great riches? Why did He will this one to be beautiful, and this one deformed? And other such inquisitive trifles. Which, in order that our Ecclesiastes might remove from the midst, he says that the reasons for all things that have been made, why they were made so, are stored up with their author, God, who is of such wisdom that He not only knew them to be future before they happened, but also had their names hidden in the counsels of His foreknowledge. For if God brought anything into generation, He already had its reason and its name summarized within Himself. Knowing, therefore, also what was to be profitable to each man, He thus brought him into life; and the conditions of man were foreknown to Him, that he would be mutable, mortal, and weak. Let no one, therefore, speak against Him who knows all things before they come to pass, and who brings each thing into the world in its appropriate way, according to the reasons which He alone knows. For no one will be able to be judged with Him who is truly strong; for the strong will win without any doubt, according to that which is said by the ^C David, “That thou mightest be justified in thy words, and mightest prevail when thou art judged.”

CHAPTER VII

Vers. 1. “What is more to a man? For who knows what is good for a man? What will it be for him? And He made them in shadow; for who shall declare to man what shall be after him under the sun?” He criticizes not an upright life, but the vain life of men, when he says: What more has he who is occupied with vain and perishing things? Will you say that he has a beautiful wife? But to whom is it sufficiently certain whether he will grieve on account of this same wife, or not, or whether she may be caught in adultery or otherwise bring causes of grief? Will you say that he has money? Yet money drove Judas to the noose. Or rather a vineyard? As if it were not on account of a vineyard that Naboth underwent snares and death? For who shall declare to man what is going to happen to him, while he is in this life? Now this present authority of our Ecclesiastes overthrows from the foundation all superstition of divination, and vain astrological ^D inquiries.

For we have learned through the prophets, and through the apostles, and through our Lord, what we know. For the things that shall happen to us in this life are altogether uncertain; but the things in the life to come are very manifest: because punishments await the sinners, and eternal life awaits the just. ^A

Verse 2. “A good name is better than good oil, and the day of death better than the day of his birth.”

Verse 3. “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, because this is the end of all men.”

Verse 4. “And the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart will be made better.”

^A Migne calls good. But anger that is stirred up not from hatred of sin but from a desire for vengeance for injuries sustained is to be condemned. It is better, therefore, to be angry in this way than to be dissolved in listless laughter. For a grave countenance, neither dissolute nor slack, is an index of correction and prepares the soul for true joy in virtue. In another way, he can be said to be angry who corrects those who sin with severe rebuke. It is better, therefore, for a teacher or master to constrain those under him with speech, than to endure their minds languishing through laughter and flattery; for in the austerity of the countenance—which he calls a vice, though it is quite the opposite—he will himself be improved, and he renders those under his hand good. In the austerity of the countenance, which he calls evil, he himself will reach excellence, and he will convert his subordinates to the way of probity.

^B “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, and the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” A wise man, reflecting within himself on the griefs that come from this, that he was born of corruptible flesh and is soon to depart from this life, pursues other mortals who are born under the same condition with pious affection; but he despises whatever things appear before his eyes, as subject to collapse and death. The fool, however, with the dullness of his mind, thinks that those things which are in the world are stable, and does not understand their changeability, and therefore is secure as to the outcome of the future, flowing with luxuries and indulging in pleasures. Observe, moreover, what I have admonished you at the beginning and often repeated by the way, that our Ecclesiastes (not speaking ingenuously from his own opinion, but from the persona of a voluptuary, which he sometimes assumes as it suits him) discourses about dishes and cups in such a way that it might appear to those who do not understand the oblique course of his speech that he is like a certain Epicurean, measuring the good of man by pleasure. But he clearly shows the counsel of his own mind in many places, and then immediately in the place just set out by us, where he says that the mind of the wise dwells in the house of mourning, but that of the fool in the house of mirth.

“Better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than a man hearing the song of fools.” For this softens the soul; but the rebuke of the wise suppresses and strengthens it.

“For as the sound of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of fools.” Boiling laughter and guffawing, he says, seems very like thorns which, crackling under the bottom of a pot, burn up: first, because just as that crash of burning thorns is clearly perceived by hearing, although it is not seen by the eyes, so also the immodest sound of guffawing easily betrays fools; but then, because from the mass of thorns smoke arises, here also a certain darkness of the mind is recognized from such laughter; there the thorns set fire to the pot, here laughter, not lacking the filth of sin, prepares ^C the soul of the fool for eternal fire: for the wise man scarcely relaxes his face with a slight and modest smile.

“And this also is vanity, that calumny vexes the wise, and destroys the heart of his strength.” He teaches another type of vanity. But if you think the one whom he calls wise here is the perfect man, understand it thus: The senseless in heart who are not confirmed by the grace of God suffer scandal not only in themselves but in the providence of God, so that they cannot abstain from calumnies and blasphemies, because they cannot behold the divine in human affairs.

^A Observe how he has slackened the tensions of the soul, and has suffered something of vanity. But since he was a perfect sage, filled with the Spirit, he brought forward the final end of those who commit sin—how they became a desolation, suddenly failed, and perished because of their iniquity. But if you consider one who has just laid hold of divine instruction, realize that for such a newly-planted soul, the slanders of heretics, diabolical temptations, and what I mentioned above, do slacken the tensions of the soul; and if he does not quickly recover his sobriety, vanity will be added to him as well.

Verse 9. Better is the end of a speech than its beginning.

Better is the long-suffering than the one who is high in spirit.

Verse 10. Do not be quick in your spirit to be angry, for wrath will rest in the bosom of fools.

Verse 11. Do not say: What has happened, that the former days were better than these? For it is not in wisdom that you have inquired about this.

neither sees any difference in days, ^A but also understands the words spoken beforehand.

VERS. 12, 13. Good is wisdom with an inheritance, and it is more to those who see the sun, because wisdom is in its shadow, as the shadow of silver; because the abundance of the knowledge of wisdom will make them who have it live.

Otherwise: "wisdom," he says, "with an inheritance"—that is, faith with works—possesses something more than others; what is this "more"? The sun. And silver in Scripture is taken in a mystical sense as the word itself. Therefore, just as the clear and explanatory word teaches us the disciplines of wisdom, so the shadow of wisdom, which is practical virtue—being a kind of shadow—transfers us to perfect wisdom, to the contemplation and understanding of things more divine. And such a possession of wisdom grants us eternal life. [By the shadow of silver, that is, the enunciation of words which is as it were a shadow of things, we arrive at the things themselves and at knowledge. By the shadow of wisdom, that is, the practical life which is as a preliminary introduction to the theoretical, we arrive at contemplating the sublimity of divine things. Thus, indeed, you shall compose the literal sense: "Wisdom is in its shadow," that is, the sublime contemplation of mysteries is in the practical life of its possessor; and because of this, he who first possesses this shadow shall presently also hold wisdom: "As the shadow of silver," that is, acts in relation to the disciplines of wisdom; this is, as words are preliminary and bring one to the disciplines of wisdom.]

^C

VERS. 14. See the works of God, for who shall be able to straighten what God has turned aside, in the day of his prosperity?

^A Ver. 15. "Live in good, and look to the day of evil; look, I say, for this is congruous. To this God has joined a dissertation, so that man may find nothing after him." Live, he says, according to virtue (for this is to live in good), and observe when temptations and misfortunes befall you, in order to see whether God has not done all things harmoniously and fittingly, and has wisely hidden the teaching concerning these things. And he calls it a "dissertation," so that man may not know the things that are about to befall him. For it is done harmoniously, even that which seems to be an evil, after the thing which seemed to be good; and conversely: for instance, someone is in health, and this while living according to virtue; later he falls ill; he is wealthy, then he becomes poor. And why? What is the reason for this? That if we humans were to foresee the things that are about to befall us, divine fear would not subsist. But, being enclosed by uncertainty, we both fear God, and we know that the resolution of evils is from Him and Him alone. And no one can heal the perversity that is in humans, except Himself. That which seems to be disharmonious is therefore harmonious, and that which seems to be unequal is equal, driving all people equally toward divine fear through uncertainty. Then he adds:

^B Ver. 16. "I have seen all things in the days of my vanity." I have examined these things, he says, as a wise man, in the days of vanity. He calls the present life the day of vanity: first, because the majority of men do not pursue what is just and pious in it; and then, because it also passes away. For this reason, urging us toward the desire for the future and unending life, he says:

Ver. 17, 18. "Do not be excessively just, and do not be excessively wise, lest you be amazed; do not be excessively impious, and do not be hard, lest you die before your time." Each virtue, being measured, has vices sitting on either side through excess and defect. Do not be, he says, "excessively just"—that is, by an excessive hatred of vices, do not cast away all benevolence toward those who sin, becoming rigid and inhuman. Nor should you be "excessively wise," or inquire into more than is necessary, ^C lest you be amazed. Things that are beyond the limits of divine doctrine are superfluous and excessive. Do not, therefore, he says, seek for those things which the divine Word has wisely hidden from us for our benefit. For to seek these things is a kind of stupor and a sickness of a frenzied mind. And do not be "excessively impious"—that is, excessively—concerning the dogmas and opinions of sects; but strive to find the truth, and to wash away your faults through repentance. And do not be, he says, "hard," that is, unyielding and resisting the teaching of the Spirit. Then he adds generally: "Lest you die before your time." A man dies before his time if he is not perfected in virtues, but

who lives and dies in sin. He, however, who has attained the fullness of virtues, like a grain of wheat that is ripe, falls in his own time.

^B

Vers. 19. "It is good that you should take hold of this; but do not defile your hand with this, for he who fears God shall come forth of them all."

Vers. 20, 21. "Wisdom will help the wise man, above ten that are mighty in the city. For there is not a just man upon earth, that works good, and does not sin."

Vers. 22, 23. "Also apply not your heart to all words that are spoken, lest perhaps you hear your servant cursing you; for often your own heart knows that likewise you also have cursed others."

that you too have frequently reviled and cursed others; and therefore, coming to a better frame of mind, clothe yourself in the oblivion of all curses and injuries.

VERS. 24, 25. *All these things I have tested in wisdom. I said: I will become wise; and she was far removed from me, far more than she was. It is a deep depth, who shall find her?* When Ecclesiastes had touched upon the knowledge of spiritual and sensible things, and had from one part glimpsed the great mysteries of wisdom, and looked upon its vast open sea—noting that the further one progresses, the greater the spaces that are left behind—he erupted into such utterances: an experience we see happened long after to the Apostle Paul when he exclaims with admiration: ^B *Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!*

VERS. 26, 27. *I turned myself, and my heart, to know, and to consider, and to seek wisdom, and the reckoning; and to know the foolishness of the wicked, and the turbulence and error. And I find the woman to be more bitter than death, who is the hunter's snare, and her heart a net, her bands are hands. He that is good before God shall be delivered from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.*

The wise man, when he directs his powers toward understanding something, surveys all things in a circuit with a collected mind, ^C observing and weighing himself and his own faculties. Then he also best consults the object placed before him, the matter to be understood, and does not stray from the truth through a perverse judgment of the mind. Nor is he carried in a straight line to look upon sensible things, but with the windows of his senses closed and retreating into the recesses of his own mind, he walks in a circuit: there, through a hidden reflexive action, the intellect returns to itself, examining itself and that which is presented for understanding. In this way, therefore, gathering myself together (says Ecclesiastes), I sought to know what the wisdom of worldly things might be, and the reasoning for it: whether he understands by that reasoning the calculation which is performed by set tallies and numbers, ^D as happens in the art of arithmetic; or rather the numbers serving for genethliacal observations, or simply all the reasonings that are gathered through numbers by secular students and Gentile philosophers. I sought, therefore, to know what this foolishness and turbulence, and inconstant error, and the circuitous wandering of the mind of many sophists might be; and I finally found that this wisdom of theirs is like an adulterous woman. For just as she entices young men with bland and deceitful words, so also this one hunts the foolish, weaving a net of syllogisms. And just as she breaks the soul with soft touch, and once broken binds it fast, so also does this one, bringing the same evil with the tickling concept of oratory. The sinner, therefore, is without any contest or defense easily drawn into her captivity; but the pious and faithful man, supported by the help of God, is drawn out of her snares. He asserts, moreover, that such wisdom—or rather, as it ought to be called, foolishness—is even worse than death; and it is more detrimental to our soul to the degree that it is worse to deliver the soul over to death (which this wisdom performs) than to set the same soul free from the bond of the body, which is the function of temporary death.

VERS. 28-30. "Ecce hoc inveni," saith Ecclesiastes, "one by one to find the account, which my soul sought, and I found not: a man among a thousand I found; but a woman among all these I found not. Nevertheless, behold, this have I found, that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." This whole passage should be interpreted in a mystical and moral sense; that is to say: As I was examining, he says, the universal female race—not by corporeal sex, but by an enervated and effeminate female disposition—in none of the women did I find the account which my soul sought, that is, a manly one; for this is what the wise man seeks. But when I made an inquiry even into those who appeared not to be effeminate, I found it rare to discover a truly human and virtuous man. Then, reflecting whence such a difference arose, I found that God indeed made every man upright and unperverted, but they themselves have been divided by many inventions; as one is mastered by fornication, another by avarice, and another by some other passion.

CHAPTER VIII.

"Who knoweth the wise men? and who knoweth the solution of a word? A man's wisdom will illuminate his face, and the impudent in countenance shall be punished." It is impossible to recognize the wise, the truly wise, unless one has been fashioned according to wisdom and has received this gift from God; for he who has received this gift of discernment knows who are the truly wise, and who are they that are not, but only appear so. This man also solves problems and the subtleties of words. This man has the face of his soul illuminated by the brilliance of divine wisdom; but he who is not truly wise, yet is impudent in countenance—that is, he who offers contentious arguments—is hated when he is refuted.

"Keep the king's mouth, and do not be hasty concerning the word of God's oath; and you shall walk from his face." (Other books have "to walk.") It is considered good for a man to be obedient and subject to the earthly and mortal king; but it is better for him to guard and keep the mouth of the King of all, God, even as the Scriptures command us to keep it. Moreover, to keep the mouth of the King, God, is to conceal divine mysteries in silence, and not to set them forth to unworthy and profane listeners. It is also good for a man to faithfully observe the commandments of the law which God pronounced with His own mouth. It is likewise good to take heed not to use the holy name of God in swearing rashly and lightly, and not to be eager to walk apart from the face of God, but to perform all our works as if God were watching us, as a present judge and inspector. According to the other reading, you should punctuate these words thus, namely: "And concerning the word of God's oath do not be hasty," instead of "Do not run to oaths, but even from his face,"—that is, from the oath—"you shall walk,"

^A nor endure to admit an oath into your mouth. Nor stand in an evil word, for whatsoever he shall desire, he doeth. As a king having power, he speaks, and who shall say to him: What have you done?"

Simply and absolutely, it is a good thing for the soul not to be seized by any evil prejudice, nor to offer resistance to things that are in any way base, whether spoken or imagined. But since the following passage makes mention of commandments (as you shall soon be able to see), you should understand the matters I have just proposed to be expounded in this way: namely, that since the King of all, God, who has authority over all things, has legislated, and it is not permitted to anyone to speak against Him, do not stand there passing judgment on the commandments, wondering "Why did He ordain this, and not that?" For this is wickedness; rather, in fear and faith, fulfill what has been ordained.

^B VERS. 5, 6. "He who keeps the commandment shall not know an evil word. And, The heart of the wise man knows the time of judgment, because for every matter there is a time and judgment." He who keeps, he says, the commandment of God shall not know an evil word; that is, he shall not do an evil deed. For knowledge is twofold: the one is generic, in the pure understanding and apprehension of the mind; the other is that which proceeds and emerges into action, according to what is written: "Adam knew Eve his wife"; not that he did not know her before, but when he had approached her for carnal union, then he is said to have known her in deed. Therefore, he who keeps the commandments according to this knowledge in action is, ^C beyond doubt, ignorant of evil, because he does not perform it. But according to the former, simple, and latent knowledge in the intellect, he who knows the good immediately knows also what evil is, and conversely, he who is not ignorant of evil knows what the good is. (For the knowledge of opposites is the same, not indeed by use, but by the power and faculty of knowing.) Therefore, the wise man, he says, who performs and disposes every matter in judgment and at the appropriate time, knows that there will be a time of universal judgment in which God, the just Judge, will allot to each person according to his merit.

"Because the knowledge of man is great upon him; [VERS. 7] because there is no one who knows what is to come. For who shall announce to him how it shall be?" Since knowledge itself is immense, it presses upon and overwhelms man. For if he wishes to know everything, it rushes upon him with a vast weight, constricting and suffocating his mind. There are, however, certain things necessary for salvation, from the knowledge of which man is by no means barred: such as man being a rational, mortal animal, whose soul is immortal; that there are rewards prepared for the good and the evil; and those things which finally pertain to the instruction of faith. Furthermore, that man was created in the image of God, and that it is his duty to preserve that image pure and immaculate. But as for the things that shall come to pass after him, to know this belongs to God alone, ^D and to those to whom the same God has willed to make them known. But because Ecclesiastes makes mention in this place primarily of the final judgment, you should understand all these things thus: "Great is the knowledge concerning the reasons of the judgment; and no one has announced to man the precise reasons concerning it"—such as when it is, or where the judgment seat is established, or how God examines the life of each individual; or how those who are at the eleventh hour are the first to receive their reward[.]

[.] ^A And those, too, whom we deem evil are recognized by God as good, and vice versa. Therefore, do not be overly subtle about all these things, lest you be confounded.

"There is no man that has power over the spirit to restrain the spirit; and there is no power in the day of death." The meaning of "spirit" ^B is widely applied; for the soul is called spirit, and the wind, the air we breathe, and the gift of the Holy Spirit are all signified by this term. In all these aforementioned senses, no one has power over the spirit except God alone. For it is not the power of any other but of God only to animate a body, or to render a soul lifeless, or to rouse the winds—the south or the north, for instance—or to bestow or take away a spiritual charism, or to corrupt the air or render it temperate. There is no one, then, who has power over the spirit to restrain it. And there is no one who has power ^C in the day of death.

"And there is no release in the day of battle." Literally, when a war has seized a city and country, it is not opportune to be sent out or to sail abroad. In a mystical sense, understand it thus: him whom God has ordered to die in battle, there is no one who can send back or recall to this life here. Otherwise: when someone begins to feel the battles of his own sins in the judgment of conscience, there is no one who can say, "Send me back to life that I may repent." Nor, while about to die, can one say, "Grant me leave to live, that I may repent." For there is no one with power in the day of death.

"Neither shall impiety save him who is subject to it." That is, he who is tyrannized and held captive by impiety. Knowing then that there is no one with power in the day of death, and that there is no release in the day of battle, let us not be impious.

"And I saw all these things." ^D The Master declares that he has known these things accurately, so that, as one conscious of and experienced in all things, we might have faith in his words.

"And I applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun, that I might see all things that man has potently wrought upon man, to afflict him. And then I saw the wicked brought into their graves, even from the holy place." Attentively, he says, I applied my mind to know the works of men, and by what reasoning man harms man. Then, because it is often considered unjust that the wicked are powerful and prosperous, having examined it more deeply, I saw the fall of the wicked and the death of the soul. For "into their graves" is now used in place of "into punishments." And nothing shall profit them.

nothing of the fact that they were once considered just and holy, nothing that they performed sacred ministries and offices in the temple of God. Ecclesiastes therefore teaches us not to be scandalized, because we perceive an enormous discrepancy of status and condition in the lives of men; since we ought instead to look toward that retribution which is in the future age. ^A

• And they proceeded, and were praised in the city, because they had done so. • "These men," he says, "who seemed to be pious and holy, yet walked and proceeded in their impiety, nonetheless received praise from men, whether because they were ignorant of their impiety, or because they were deceitfully flattering them." But the pretense of piety or the praise of sycophants profited them nothing; for this whole business ended in vanity, since the wretched men fell into their graves. And as for what he says: And this also is vanity; it could be distinguished from the preceding sentences and aptly transmitted to the following verses, so that it might be read as follows: ^B

VERS. 11. ‹ And this also is vanity. Because there is no contradiction to those who do evil, quickly, therefore the heart of the sons of men has been filled in them, to do evil. › This, he says, is what increased and confirmed the vanity, because there are none who contradict those who do evil, "quickly," nor any who refute them; so that "quickly" here may be referred to those who contradict, signifying that they [should] contradict assiduously and vehemently and restrain them with sharp reproof: or else [that] "quickly" refers to those doing evil, as if they were sinning swiftly and studiously. Therefore he says: Because the wicked are not refuted, but are rather lifted up by praises and applause, for this reason the heart of the sons of men, established in an evil habit, has been filled, so that they strive to do evil. ^C He fittingly said, "of the sons of men": for the sons of God do not do evil.

VERS. 12. ‹ He who has sinned, has done evil from then, and from his youth. › Sin has been introduced into the world by the deceit and fraud of the devil: on this account we conclude the Lord's Prayer, praying, *But deliver us from the evil one*: that is, from the devil. He, therefore, who sins, executes the command and will of the devil. But the devil from then and from his youth, that is, from the beginning, was the leader and author of sin. Alternatively: Sin is not, he says, recent, but very ancient. Hence it is that even Noah heard God saying that the mind of men had already sat down and been confirmed in being diligent in sins, and in vehemently doing evil. ^D Understand "youth" in this place, not as referring to age, but by a certain likeness to rash manners, and by a youthful disposition toward those who lightly wander from the path of reason: which manners can be said to be those of the devil, the authors of sin, and the wicked and sinful men who follow in their footsteps. Alternatively: He who has already contracted a habit of sin, and has already proposed in his mind to sin; he begins to sin from the moment he gave the assent of his will; even if he later brings that proposal into action much later, or even does not produce what he had planned, perhaps being delayed not by a change of counsel, but by some intervening impediment. Alternatively: He who sins and does evil, even if he is known to us only from the result, yet to the eyes of God’s foreknowledge he was known from of old to be a sinner.

^A

And I know that it will be well for those who fear God, so that they may fear from his presence. And it will not be good for the wicked, and he will not prolong days in shadow, who does not fear from the presence of God.

There is a vanity that is done upon the earth, that there are just men, whom it reaches as the work of the unjust: I said that this also is vanity.

And I praised with joy, that there is no good for man under the sun, except to eat and to drink, and to be joyful: and this itself will accompany him in his labor during all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun: in which I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to see the occupation that is done upon the earth: for day and night there is no one who sees sleep with his eyes. If you still think that a pleasure-loving person is speaking, he considers and declares that the joy of man is stored up in the pleasure and use of sensible things. But if anyone proposes to hear the Ecclesiastes speaking to him, he will immediately perceive what is the true food and drink, since we faithful Christians have already received in the present life the earnest of the Spirit. As for what he says: "I gave my heart to know wisdom," our Ecclesiastes, having contemplated with the most acute eye of his mind, understood and saw that no man is devoid of occupation and anxiety, and that none ^D

^A is praiseworthy for being occupied with divine things; but he is blameworthy who labours for human things. And the just man gives no sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his eyelids, but he watches while it is day, and does not fall into the darkness of ignorance; neither by day, that is, in a time of prosperity; nor by night, that is, in a time of temptations. But the unjust man, joining the ensuing night to the days, does not take sweet sleep, being anxious either about how he may acquire the things he desires, or fearing the loss of those he has already acquired.

Vers. 17. « And I saw all the works of God, that a man shall not be able to find the work that is done under the sun: how much so ever a man shall labour to seek, and he shall not find: yea, and if the wise man shall say to know it, he shall not be able to find it. » That hidden knowledge of God, according to which all things were made, can be comprehended by God alone. But we mortals, whatever we write or say, or think we understand about these matters, we know in part, being illuminated by a certain participation in His grace. No one, therefore, whether instructed in worldly science or divine wisdom, or even as far as is permitted to man, can perfectly understand the substances of things, nor the measure of heaven, earth, and sea, or how these very things have coalesced, or by what supports they stand. But if perchance any wise man should seem to offer probable reasons, he will nevertheless be utterly unable to find the inmost truth itself.

CHAPTER IX

Vers. 1. « All this I have laid to my heart, and my heart saw all this, that the just and the wise, and their works are in the hand of God. » He said above that the knowledge of certain things is abstruse, so that he might avert us from the useless and vain solicitude of searching; but now he sets forth in what matter the gaze and knowledge of the wise man can satisfy itself: namely, that just and wise men, together with their works, rest under the shadow of God and the protection of His right hand. For God does not permit them to be devastated by the powers of the violent. For upright men and their commendable works are protected by God: but regarding the impious it is written: « And they themselves have been thrust away from Thy hand. »

« There is no man who knows love and hatred: all things are before his face, vanity in all. » Symmachus, instead of what we have brought forward, « vanity in all, » interpreted it thus: All things are uncertain in their sight: that is, man does not know whether he whom he now most hates will, with the changing of fortune, prove a friend and benefactor; and conversely, whether he should fear at some time from him whom he now pursues with love. But by a higher understanding: whoever still savours of the things of man, and does not fully surrender himself to God, does not know by a discerning judgment what things are worthy of love, and what are worthy of hate. For arduous and difficult virtue is worthy of love, but pleasure in sensible things is worthy of hate. He who perversely and inversely understands things, has all things as vanity before his face, not perceiving the things that are as they are in truth, but as pleasure suggests.

^A VERS. 2, 5. "Eventus unus justo et impio, et bono et malo, mundo et immundo, sacrificanti et non sacrificanti: sicut bonus, sic et peccator; sicut jurans, sic qui jusjurandum timet. Hoc malum est inter omnia quæ sunt sub sole, quod videlicet et idem cunctis sit eventus." It has often been set forth in the preceding pages that those things which are intermediate are indifferent—sickness and health, wealth and poverty, and things of the same kind—happening commonly to both the just and the sinner, insofar as all are mortal animals. However, in that they are rational beings, they differ greatly from one another, since by the free choice of their will, some perform what is pious and right, while others are carried away toward impiety. Note, however, that he has placed the person who swears among the sinners. But that he designated this commonality and equality of events as "evil" is to be understood in such a way that these words are spoken from the perspective of those who judge perversely of things themselves; since on account of equal and common casualties, they think nothing differentiates the just from the impious. For both alike endure labors as long as they are under the sun; but after the course of this life, to each is rendered what is according to his deserts.

^C "Ipsum quoque cor filiorum hominis impletum est malitia, et circuitus in corde ipsorum, et posteriora ipsius ad mortuos. [VERS. 4.] Quoniam quis communicat ad omnes viventes?" The heart of the sons of men is filled with malice, wandering hither and thither, and they do not cease to be weary until they themselves also reach the dead; for there is no one who can have a perpetual and unfailing society with the living. For the common end awaits everyone, whoever he may be. Otherwise: "Sons of men," that is, the common and vulgar sort, seeing the just and the unjust vexed by a common lot, are filled with iniquity and malice, and their mind is carried away in wicked labors until, being dead in their deeds, they are numbered among the dead, having no communion with those who lived according to virtue, who are now called living in the proper and true sense, because they have arrived at the eternal life laid up for them.

^D "Est spes, quoniam melior est canis vivens leone mortuo." The beggar who lives according to God has a better hope than the proud and arrogant man who is dead in his sin. Otherwise: The people from the Gentiles, who were once a dog and unclean, having come to the faith, and being regenerated in the Lord, have a better hope than that royal people of the Jews.

"Viventes noscent se morituros esse, mortui vero penitus nihil cognoscunt." Those whose intellect is irrigated by the living moisture of understanding, when they consider the temporal course of this life, live diligently, being confirmed by the hope of eternal life; but those who are dead in sin, occupied by the nebula of ignorance, live without reason, in the manner of brute beasts. "Neque est amplius illis pretium, quoniam desiit

^A memory of them." For what reward is there for sinners, of whom it is said that God does not even remember them? For the Lord knows only those who are his own. This ought to be applied also to the Jewish people.

VERS. 6. "Amor quoque ipsorum et odium et zelus jam perierunt." Those who are dead in their trespasses, of which number the people of the Jews also are, neither keep their love toward God anymore, nor their hatred toward wickedness; nor are they able to say, according to that saying of Phinehas: "I have been very zealous for the Lord." "Neither have they any more a portion in anything that is done under the sun." The Jewish people lost the land of promise, which fell to them by lot, and the city of Jerusalem itself, and the dignity of the priesthood, so that they have no portion ^B even in this present life upon the earth.

"Vade ergo, et comede in lætitia panem tuum, et bibe in corde bono vinum tuum, quoniam approbavit Deus opera tua." In the literal sense, one is said to use in gladness and a good heart the goods granted to him by God, when he uses them modestly and according to the needs of nature: for this is the proper use of a rational creature. Therefore he says, "eat your bread." For those who serve their gullet and belly with insatiable desire, follow rather the life of beasts. In the mystical sense, however, the bread and wine of the rational creature are the very virtues by which souls are nourished. ^C Otherwise: The Word made flesh encourages the human race to the mystical participation of his body, which was brought about properly for our sake, since he who was without flesh assumed it for our salvation. He therefore approves that this should occur, and rejoices in the mysteries and rites of the Church.

VERS. 8. "In omni tempore candida sint vestimenta tua." This signifies the actions and works that follow the norm of virtue; as well as the garments handed down to us through the laver of regeneration, which are beyond doubt kept white for all time as long as we abstain from the filth of sins. One is also said to have white garments who washes his bed every night, and waters his couch with his tears, thus cleansing the stains of sin ^D through penance.

"Et oleum tuo in capite non deficiat." In the literal sense, the Word intends that those who exercise virtues should be mild and most human, so that they do not emaciate and discolor their faces with the feigned austerity of hypocrisy. By mystical understanding, however, oil provides these two things: that it fosters light, and strengthens weary limbs. Both of these are brought by the anointing of the Holy Spirit; for it illuminates the mind of the faithful and establishes them in solid tranquility. We shall surely have this anointing, unless we resist the Holy Spirit himself in a troublesome and ungrateful manner. Otherwise: Our head is called Christ in the holy Scriptures; and he accepts as if offered to himself whatever alms are given to the poor. Let us not cease, therefore, from anointing our head, that is, from undertaking a merciful disposition toward those in need.

^A Ver. 9. "Enjoy life with the wife whom you have loved." If you take these words simply, understand them mystically: With the beloved wife—that is, the Church, which is the bride of Christ—in her, indeed, eternal life will be found. But if you refer this to the wife of any man, then in the literal sense it will admonish us that, according to the law of monogamy, we should be content with one wife. For conjugal chastity and observance is also for us a conciliator of eternal life. "Enjoy life," therefore, and live with the wife whom you have loved; as if he were to say: Beware lest you be deceived by your wife, just as Adam was deceived by his wife Eve; do you, on the contrary, strive to turn the weaker part of the association (that is, the woman) for the better yourself, in order that you may turn it toward life eternal. In the mystical sense, however, our wisdom is called a wife: if we live with her, we shall undoubtedly enjoy eternal life.

^B Ver. 10. "Whatever your hand finds to do, work according to your ability; for there is no work, nor reason, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the underworld, to which you are going." He exhorts us to set about the practical virtues with all exertion and zeal, yet not laboring beyond our capability. For whoever practices what he can in these things lives according to congruent knowledge, and is found worthy of the gift of knowledge and wisdom, as much as God imparts according to one's usefulness. But in the underworld, since practical operations, which we exercise by means of the senses, cannot exist, those who have lived in sins—being buried in the underworld, not being able to perform the practical virtues anymore—can neither become wise nor otherwise dutiful and upright; for they have been brought to the underworld only for this: to be tormented with eternal punishments.

^C Vers. 11, 12. "I turned, and I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the prudent, nor grace to the knowledgeable; because time and chance will happen to them all; nor does man know his time." "I turned," he says, that is: I contemplated another thing; that to win the prize in the race is not for just any light and nimble person, nor is it for all who are powerful to show themselves outstanding and invincible in war, nor do riches devolve upon the wise and prudent men and the industrious, nor yet do those who know many things necessarily obtain grace; for the chances—that is, the uncertain outcomes of things—happen to all in common. ^D And there is nothing ever sufficient for men, nothing perfect on every side, nothing equal, and almost all things are terminated by a dissimilar end. For all things pass by and are changed by the unapproachable judgments of God. But neither does man, he says, know the time of his own end; therefore it is necessary to be vigilant and to work at virtues. But in the mystical sense, whoever is agile and nimble in virtue, and whoever is powerful, who is wise, who is rich, must by no means trust in themselves. On the contrary, indeed, they ought to say what those who are truly wise testify: "Unless the Lord build the house, in vain have they labored..."

For truly, no one possesses grace from God if he does not receive it from Him, nor does he know the time for action unless he be enlightened by the divine light.

"As fish are caught in an evil net, and as birds are caught in a snare, so are the sons of man snared in an ^A evil time, when it falls upon them suddenly." An evil net is the net woven from manifold wickedness. But there is also a good net, namely the seine, which is woven from the ancient and new precepts of our Savior. Therefore, those of mankind who plow the flowing and unstable sea of this life, following various allurements of pleasure, like fish lacking reason, are entangled in evil nets. Those, too, who are proud and puffed up because of the vain opinion of knowledge, appearing to themselves to be elevated and walking on air like flying birds, are hunted by the snares of ^B demons, and they fall into the evil time of infernal punishments when sudden destruction comes upon them.

VERS. 13. "I have also seen this wisdom under the sun; and in my judgment it is great: there was a small city, and few men in it; and a great king came against it, and surrounded it, and built great fortifications against it; and he found in it a poor wise man, and he saved the city by his wisdom; yet no man remembered that poor man. Then I said: Wisdom is better than strength; yet the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not ^C heard." This passage pertains to the person who suffers scandal, who, as if speaking to himself, says he has seen a great wisdom under the sun: a certain small city inhabited by few men, which was besieged by a great king, but was saved by one of those within—a poor man, indeed, yet wise—by whose ingenious counsel the arms of the besieger were defeated. Yet the citizens were ungrateful toward that humble and poor wise man. For men are usually unmindful of benefits, and they make light of the counsels of lowly men, however useful they may be, while they flatter the rich and powerful and carry their words to heaven with ^D praises. "But I," says the wise man, "abhorring the vulgar opinion, shall say otherwise: that wisdom is far better than power." And these things indeed pertain to the literal understanding. But by a higher, mystical sense, you shall understand it thus: the small city is the Church militant on earth, small, I say, in comparison with that which triumphs in the heavens. Few in this city are the men, namely the holy and elect of God; the great king, the head of iniquity, is the devil. He assiduously circles this city, that he may reduce its citizens to servitude. But the poor and wise man in this city, by whose counsel it is saved, is Christ, the wisdom of God the Father, who says to his holy citizens: "Take courage; I have overcome the world."

^A And the words of this poor man are not heard by foolish Gentiles and perfidious Hebrews; but the wise Ecclesiastes, understanding in the spirit that God, not by the power and virtue of His divinity alone, but by using the fellowship of wisdom, and by making the Word flesh, was about to cast down the tyrant devil, leaving him no excuse for refuge, so that just as once he had overcome the ancient man Adam, so at last under the new man he might be broken by Adam and fall. Therefore, now inspired by the Spirit, he revealed this mystery long before, breaking out into these words:

"Good is wisdom over power. The words of the wise are heard in rest, over the clamor of those ruling in folly." Do not take what is said as a comparison; for wisdom and folly are not compared. For the comparison is of like things, not of opposites. He says, therefore, that the words of the wise are heard in rest, that is, when the listeners joyfully accept what is said, and rest is produced in the souls of those who hear; but the clamor of the foolish is worthy of condemnation, even if they possess great power. For a soul that is filled with folly brings forth words with clamor and turbulence, without peace or any order or stability. ^B Otherwise: The divine apostles, the ministers of wisdom, gave rest to the souls of those who heard them; but the discordant clamor of the foolish Jews, of those who cried, "Take, take, crucify him," destroyed both them and those who followed them.

"Good is wisdom over weapons of war." Good is every prudent counsel, above the assistance derived from arms. And by way of anagogical interpretation, the power of the Wisdom Itself, of our Lord Jesus Christ and God, was shown, casting down the weapons of war, that is, the devil and the demonic phalanxes; and demonstrating that all forms of wickedness are ineffectual.

"And one who sins will destroy much goodness." Adam sinned, and caused sin and death to be passed on to the entire human race, and he himself lost the image of the good God, and made many others like himself. And one who sinners simply, both loses his own goodness, which he perhaps acquired through previous virtues, and draws many into a similar imitation.

^C

CHAPTER X

"Dead flies corrupt the preparation of sweet oil." "Prepared oil" is the ointment, as Aquila also has rendered it; but the fly is an unclean animal, settling on wounds and rotting places, and seeking out the cuts of the body. The fly destroys the perfumed oil by throwing itself into it. For it dies itself, and extinguishes the power of the oil. The Jews, therefore, having become delirious regarding their own souls, are dead flies, having been eager to rot the sweet-smelling word of the Savior, and desiring to find pretexts against him.

^A

<A little wisdom is more precious than the glory of great folly.> Many have gained glory through folly: he who is clever with his tongue in an unjust defense; he who is worldly-rich and appears illustrious; those who are endowed with secular wisdom and have labored over useless questions. But incomparably better is he who begins the wisdom that is according to God, and is introduced into it, and begins to touch it, and—demented regarding the glory that is in folly—begins to taste it, regarding all the glory of the foolish as of little account.

VERS. 2. <The heart of a wise man is on his right, and the heart of a fool is on his left.> By "heart" should be understood the mind; for the physical, fleshy heart is situated in everyone in that part of the body called the thorax. Thus, the mind of the wise man always inclines toward the right and praiseworthy paths of virtue; but the mind of the fool is carried toward the left, and toward those things which can easily be blamed. ^B

VERS. 3. <And also when a fool travels on the road, and his heart will be sluggish, all things are folly.> In this life, which you might truly call a road, the fool, walking while having his heart on the left, always lags behind, not pursuing toward the goal for the prize of the upward calling; nor stretching himself toward what lies before, nor hastening toward the end. But even if he seems to make progress, he will lag behind, doing and thinking everything imperfectly and irrationally. And if he should also attempt the road of justifications, or pretend to practice it—that is, the divine commandments—since he has not inclined his heart to the right, he fails, neither understanding what has been commanded, nor doing anything according to the will of the lawgiver. ^C

VERS. 4. <If the spirit of the one having power should rise up against you, do not leave your place, for healing will cause great sins to cease.> The "spirit of the one having power" is the devil, the prince of this world and lord of the sons of disobedience, who, not by forced necessity, but by the election of free will, have subjected themselves to his dominion and tyranny. He says, therefore: If, while you are lifted up in thought and study toward the blessedness of the heavenly fatherland, the spirit of the one having power rushes upon you from the contrary side, trying to drive you down to the lower paths of this world, preclude all access; block all the operations of the senses, so that he is not admitted through the ears, or the tongue, or from any other quarter. For when the primary principles of the passions are removed, the effects are groundless. But if, even regarding your mind, he should suggest something, do not abandon your place, closing off fornication through temperance, and repelling hatred through love; and similarly fortifying every place of the virtues. ^D For if, he says, you allow the spirit of the one having power to settle in you—that is, to rest upon you—you will bring many and great sins upon your soul. Otherwise, if you provide beforehand for your soul through the care of the virtues,

you will calm most of them; for such is the cure of the virtues, that it can restrain the spirit that has power, so that it does not come upon you and trample you underfoot.

^A Verses 5, 6. *There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were a non-spontaneous departure from the face of the ruler. The fool is set in great heights, and the rich shall sit in lowliness.* ^B In the literal sense, he says he has seen another evil in human affairs: that princes and magistrates, often even against their will, as if constrained by the fear of some greater power, honor those who are foolish with glory, while the fortunes of wealthy citizens are confiscated through involuntary decrees; for often, princes of the state and magistrates are compelled to obey royal edicts against their own will. In the mystical, however, men who have once entered upon the path of pleasure by their own will and choice are soon compelled to do many things against their will, urged on by the devil, who has power over the children of disobedience, so that they detest and accuse the most just providence of God as if it were unjust, asking foolishly: "Why are the senseless elevated to sublime ranks of dignity, while those who were perhaps nobly born and wealthy by family possession are cast down into poverty?" Since, therefore, we blind mortals fall into this state, first by our own will, as if drunk after having drained the cup of pleasure, that crafty one who has power then creeps in and subjects us to things we do against our will, possessed by the mist of drunkenness; of this kind are being defiled by base desires, quarreling, and striking. For those who get drunk do not think they will do such things, but once they have become drunk, they are compelled even against their will to perpetrate such outrages. So too, those who are given over to the pursuit of pleasure are often scandalized by the inaccessible judgments of God, and rashly wag their tongues against divine wisdom.

^C Verse 7. *I saw servants on horses, and princes walking like servants upon the earth.* He sets before us for contemplation the mutability and changeableness of life, that he may turn us from unstable, worldly things to that stable, heavenly blessedness.

Verse 8. *He who digs a pit shall fall into it.* This passage belongs entirely to mystical interpretation. For it does not always happen in history that he who digs a pit falls into it. He says, therefore, that the sinner first torments his own soul: *For he who loves iniquity, hates his own soul*, and each one is punished by that from which he has sinned. The lawgiver Moses indeed decreed that this should be done in the case of a murderer, namely: *Do to him in the same manner as he acted maliciously against his neighbor.*

^D *And he who breaks down a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.* The hedge of the soul is the divine law and fear, and the true knowledge of legal meanings. He, therefore, who despises the fear of God and transgresses the commandments, or falls into sin through falsely named knowledge, of which the crafty serpent himself is the artisan—he, being unguarded and stripped of divine grace, shall suffer the bite of the serpent.

^A Ver. 9. "He who extracts stones shall be troubled by them." He who builds his house through the virtues gathers stones and builds well; but he who destroys what has already been built, out of laziness and slackness, extracts stones, and he becomes distressed, suffers, and is in danger. Otherwise: Holy stones, according to the prophet Zechariah, are called holy men. He who extracts these—that is, persecutes or even kills them—is troubled, which means he draws destruction upon himself, just as Herod did when he slew John the Baptist.

Ver. 10. "He who splits wood shall be endangered by it, if the iron should fall out, and he himself has troubled his face, and he shall strengthen forces, and the surplus is the wisdom of the brave man." Through symbols and sensible things, he leads us toward things perceived by the mind. He says, therefore: He who uses the discourse of doctrine as a kind of iron, attempting to split and divide the divine Scriptures—those fragrant woods—if he falls away from the goal ^B of the Holy Spirit and does not interpret them correctly and faithfully according to the mind of the Lawgiver, but wanders far from reason, he is in great danger of falling into pernicious heresies, and he confuses the face of his own teaching and the souls of those who hear him. And "he shall strengthen forces"—which is to say, he makes those who dispute against him more robust; for through the errors that some interpreter and master may admit into the doctrine of the word, those who argue from an opposing position become stronger. But the man who is brave in word and deed, bringing forth his discourse with wisdom, has something of a surplus, namely, not being endangered in splitting the wood. For he who is powerful in speech and has a versatile tongue, but is merely a sophist and has not been enriched with divine wisdom, will—when the iron falls out—be endangered in the cutting of the woods mentioned above.

^C Ver. 11. "If a serpent should bite in silence, there is no surplus for the charmer." He who sins secretly and not with a loud voice—that is, with boldness—either by doing wrong or by harboring a tenet of impiety, provided he has not become openly shameless, is able to attain correction. And it is not for nothing that the teacher labors, charming him with the things of salvation. Or, understand it thus: If the serpent of sin bites in silence, that is, if the sinner is unwilling to come to confession, he who attempts to charm him will bring no profit to one who is unwilling to confess and repent.

Ver. 12, 13. "Words of the mouth of a wise man are grace, and the lips of a fool shall drown him. The beginning of the words of his mouth is folly, ^D and the end of his error is evil; and the fool shall multiply words." Paul the Apostle, desiring that those whom he instructed in the faith be wise, wrote to them thus: "Let your speech always be in grace, seasoned with salt." For the word of the wise man is neither harsh and inhuman, nor soft and dissolute; rather, it is both...

^A gracious and seasoned, so that it might be cultivated in equal measure and not allow its hearers to slip away. But the lips of the fool—that is to say, his words—become the occasion of death for him. For he harms both his own soul and that of those who are persuaded by him. For the "sinking" here spoken of refers to eternal punishments, according to that word: "Precipitate, O Lord, and divide their tongues." The fool, beginning from the words of his folly and being carried about in his own lack of understanding, then possesses an evil word. But, he says, the fool also "multiplies words"—that is, he chatters in vain, whether he speaks much or little. For "multitude" in this place is used in place of folly; for he who speaks nothing good, speaks nothing useful, and even in a few words he engages in folly. ^B And even if he seems to say something useful, if he does not have deeds that harmonize with his words, he is in this way engaging in folly, knowing neither what he says nor about what things he is making assertions. For it is necessary that he who speaks should first do, and then teach. "Multiplies words," therefore, means that whether he speaks much or little, he is troublesome in his discourse.

VERS. 14, 15. "A man knows not what has been, and what will be after him; who shall announce it to him? The labor of fools will weary them: he knows not to go to the city." Although we know many of the things that have happened before us, having heard them from men filled with God, such as the statement, "In the beginning God created heaven and earth," and many other things; and although we also have knowledge of things to come, ^C regarding the just and the unjust, knowing that these will rise to eternal life and those to eternal punishment; yet even if we know some things, we do not know everything. "For we know in part," says Paul, "and we prophesy in part." But who will announce to us the things that are yet to come? That is: such things as whether we shall have children, or whether we shall lose the children we have already borne; whether we are to die in our homeland or in a foreign land; whether we are to live for many years or for few. Wherefore, those who are anxious to pry into these things through the passing of the ages, and through astrologers and false prophets, or those who are eager to learn other such things—since we have not received the knowledge—they labor in vain and take up fruitless and unavailing toils. ^D These things, however, happen to fools because they have not known how to go to the city; that is, they have not taken up the best way of life, nor followed the simple faith of the Church, nor journeyed to the beautiful city, the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the builder and creator is God.

VERS. 16, 17. "Woe to thee, O city, whose king is younger, and whose princes eat in the morning. Blessed art thou, O land, whose king is the son of free men, and whose princes eat at the proper time in strength, and shall not be ashamed." According to the literal sense, it considers a city miserable whose king possesses an unstable character, after the manner of the young, and whose princes, having dismissed political duties and cares, abandon themselves to drinking and carousing at the first break of dawn.

^A For those who cram themselves with undiluted wine and gluttony, and who are light-minded and little consistent with themselves, are fit neither for carrying on a kingdom nor for holding other principalities. But he considers that region blessed whose king is "the son of free men"—that is to say, one who has been carefully and liberally educated, and who maintains the customs of an upright education, so that he may desire nothing at all that is servile, nor illiberal, nor shameful; and whose region’s princes concern themselves with every endeavor to see to those things which pertain to the well-being of their subjects. Furthermore, they eat modestly and at the proper time—not those things which are prepared for the gratification of the belly and throat, but those which bring forth and preserve the manly strength and good health of the body; that is to say, those things which are necessary. For such princes, bearing justice implanted in their hearts and rendering righteous judgment, shall never be confounded with any ignominy. Mystically, however, and figuratively, the rational soul is a city; the king of this city is the intellect: if he should be youthful, light, and inconstant, and should have his motions—which are as it were princes—indulging in the pleasures of gluttony, he will undoubtedly have woe annexed to him. But if the soul and its king, the intellect, be nurtured by sacred disciplines, he is truly a son of free men, and has motions of the reason which perform all things at the proper time, both those things which pertain to the care of the body and those things which are fitting for the soul and the quickness of the mind. And if a soul such as this—which is figuratively called a land and a city—should live in this way, and should thus govern itself, and be strengthened by good progress, it will never be defiled by any shameful mark or ignominy. ^B

VERSE 18, 19. "In slothfulness the structure is humbled, and in the hands' idleness the house will drip; in laughter they make bread, and wine gladdens the living, and money obeys all things."

By this parable ^C he instructs us, urging us not to neglect to perform good, so that the structure of our spiritual house (that is, the soul)—which is to say, its firm and connected reasonings—may not be humbled and fall, in such a way that the house itself drips, being disturbed by the vices flowing in from all sides; and thus, if we possessed any virtues before, we might lose them through sloth and inertia. We ought, therefore, to inspect this house of ours assiduously, and not only look upon those things which we have accomplished well up to now, but raise our eyes to the structure—that is, to the ultimate end. For those who are sluggish in laying hold of the virtues look with their eyes and mind only toward pleasure, and occupy themselves with that which most men think to be sweet and joyful, and they openly boast that one must acquire money, saying that all things are subject to silver. Otherwise: Slothful and idle men allow their house to drip; but those who are led by the holy institutes of the Church are sustained by a certain mystical bread and ^D wine; strengthened by the power of which, they can easily laugh at the snares of the opposing demon, knowing that the machine of the entire world is subject to silver: that is, to the Word of God incarnate for us, whom Holy Scripture calls by the name of silver. Indeed, it must be known that by the name "bread," the same Scripture is accustomed to designate all dry food, just as it calls wine or water "moist" because it has an inherent humidity. Moses wished to signify this when he was receiving the law, for he said, "Forty days I did not eat bread, and I did not drink water"—meaning instead that he had partaken of no food, neither dry nor moist.

^A VERS. 20. "In your conscience do not curse the king, and in the secret of your bedchamber do not curse the wealthy; for a bird of the air will carry your voice, and that which has wings will report your speech." By the "bird of the air," some say, is meant the soul itself, or the spirit implanted in us; and by "that which has wings," either the Holy Spirit who appeared in the form of a dove and who fills all things and knows all things, or the holy angels themselves. Others, on the contrary, take "that which has wings" to be the devil, and the "birds of the air" to be his aerial demons. But according to the understanding of all, the sense is such: Do not curse, he says, a king or a wealthy man, not even in a hidden place; for report, spreading abroad, brings your reproach to the ears of the one whom you have cursed. To curse someone, we say, is to ask for evils, whether for oneself or for one's neighbor. ^B

CHAPTER XI.

VERS. 1. "Cast your bread upon the face of the water, because in the multitude of days you will find it." It is written: "Break your bread for the hungry." But by the name of "bread," every kind of almsgiving is signified. Therefore Ecclesiastes says: Do your almsgiving with tears—that is, with a merciful and compassionate disposition—for the fruit of this will remain with you forever. Alternatively: Scripture is accustomed to call the gatherings and congregations of men "waters," according to that text: "Deliver me from many waters, from the hand of foreign sons." Therefore, he says, O you who are a teacher and doctor of divine doctrine, impart the nourishment of the Word, which the grace of the Holy Spirit has liberally given to you, without any intermission to the poor and needy, that you may receive the reward of this ministry and live united with God the Word for all ages. ^C

VERS. 2. "Give a portion to the seven, and also give to the eight, because you do not know what evil will be upon the earth." He who accepts the Old Testament, because of the Sabbath observance contained in the old law—which is then fulfilled by spiritual sanctification when we desist from sins and rest—has given a portion to the seven. But he who receives the New [Testament], according to which the Sunday of the Savior’s resurrection is both the eighth and the first, having the beginning of the age to come, has given a portion to the eight. Accept, therefore, he says, both Testaments. Alternatively: The present life is divided into a week. For God rested, he says, from all His works which He had done on the seventh day. But the beginning of the age to come is the eighth day, of which the Sunday of the resurrection is the symbol. Live, therefore, he says, with dignity in the present life, and treasure up for yourself for the age to come through the performance of good works, providing a portion both to the seven and to the eight. Alternatively: Isaiah knows seven energies of the Spirit. Therefore, the people of Christians can also be called "the seven" in an inverse sense, because they have been enriched by the energies of the Spirit. And "the eight" [is] that of the Jews, ^D

^A Give a portion to these seven, and also to these eight. Otherwise: Isaiah counts seven gifts of the Spirit. The Christian people may therefore be designated by the number seven, since they have been enriched with the seven spiritual gifts. By the number eight, however, the people of the Jews shall be designated, who received the sign on the eighth day of circumcision. He says, therefore: Bestow alms upon all people. And that which he says, "because you do not know what evil will happen upon the earth," can be applied to all the expositions which I have just brought forward, namely this: Receive the two Testaments, so that you may drive the darkness of ignorance and of wickedness far from you. Or, conduct yourself modestly in the things that pertain to the duties of this life, thinking assiduously also about the future age; for you do not know how heavy are the torments reserved for those who have given their portion neither to those of the seven nor to those of the eight. Bestow alms upon all in the simplicity of your heart; for you do not know which of these men is truly in need, or who might be asking under a pretense of poverty through avarice.

Vers. 3. "If the clouds are filled with rain, they pour it out upon the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, in the place where it falls, there it will remain." The first part of this passage can be referred in a literal sense to almsgiving: for just as clouds by divine command shower rain upon all people, so it is fitting that alms be distributed to all men. However, in a mystical and more sublime sense, the clouds are taken to signify holy men, one of whom was Moses, who says: "Let my speech be expected as the rain." Sanctified, therefore, and filled with the divine Word, in the way that it came to Hosea and other holy men, they pour out the fruitful rain, not upon Judea alone, but upon all the earth into which their sound has gone out. This, then, regarding the first part of this passage that pertains to the rain. Trees, however, are signified in the Holy Scriptures to mean sometimes just men, and sometimes sinners; the south is understood as the bright and luminous place, or as that most true light which is our Lord Jesus Christ, our God; conversely, the north is taken for the murky place full of darkness, and for the devil himself who dwells in darkness. Therefore, in whatever place—whether bright or dark, that is, whether in an unseemly state of sins or in an honorable state of virtues—a man is found when he dies, in that grade and order he remains forever. For he either rests in the light of eternal happiness with the just and with Christ, the King of all, or he is tormented in darkness with the wicked and with the prince of this world, the devil. ^{B C}

Vers. 4, 5. "He who observes the wind does not sow, and he who considers the clouds will not reap. Just as there is no one who knows what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones are knit together in the womb of the pregnant woman: so you will not know the works of God, whatever he is about to do." Those who observe the winds do not sow. For it often happens that the wind blowing today will be quiet on the morrow; or on the contrary, that which is quiet today will be raging tomorrow; if it rains today, tomorrow the air will be serene. Therefore, one ought not to observe the winds, but to sow in good hope, trusting in God, the author of all good things. For if, through the observation of clouds and winds, we delay, we do not reap. We cannot, however, accurately observe the state of the air, since we are ignorant of the way of the spirit.

^A Migne's rendering of this passage signifies that God wisely and variably directs all things concerning us. Thus, we are as ignorant of God’s dispensations toward us as we are of the bones being formed within a pregnant woman. For who knows whether the child being carried is male or female, or if it is formed whole or imperfect in some part of its body? And if we do not know what it is that is being knit together in the mother’s womb, much more are we ignorant of how that mass which they call an embryo coalesces and is fashioned into the body of an animal; and likewise, how the bones are assembled, and how the harmony of the whole body is fitted together. Therefore, he says, do not be so anxious by curiously inquiring to whom you ought to give alms and to whom you ought not—supposing, for instance, whether one is a believer or an unbeliever, a just man or an unjust one. For if you hesitate in your mind while investigating these things, you will lose the time for sowing, and you will not find anything to reap at harvest time. Therefore, without any delay of time, bestow your alms in simplicity of heart; for you do not know whether the Spirit may vivify someone whom you perhaps consider unjust, or conversely, repel someone whom you consider just.

^B **Vers 6.** "Sow your seed in the morning, and do not let your hand rest in the evening, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that: and if both tend to the same end, this is good." He who drives the darkness of ignorance far from his intellect, when he is in the very beginning of virtues, sows in the early morning, according to the text: "Work while it is day." But if he also remains until the end, pursuing active virtue, his hand has not left off, nor has it ceased doing good works. Therefore, having begun a virtue, remain in it until the end; you do not know which of your good works will please the Judge, those which you performed near the beginning, or those performed when you have already arrived at the goal. But if both are approved in the same way, such an activity will be considered full of goodness and perfection.

Alternatively, understand it this way: Practice virtue from your earliest youth, and do not say, "Now, while I am younger, I will enjoy the delights that life has to offer; but later, when I have reached old age, I will convert to repentance." For you do not know at all what will happen to you, or when the end of your life will be. It is therefore worth the effort to always practice virtue and to strive with the greatest intensity to attain it. ^C It is also necessary to often pray to God, so that the things we ourselves do may be pleasing to His majesty and goodness.

**Vers. 7, 8.** "The light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun: if a man lives for many years, he will delight in all of them, and he will remember the days of darkness, for they will be many, and everything that comes is vanity.” By this passage, Ecclesiastes teaches us what that morning is in which he has exhorted us to sow—that is, a morning entirely mild and sweet to the eyes of the intellect itself; a morning, I say, which the Sun of righteousness produces, illuminating our souls with internal splendor. For just as those who see this sensible sun observe ^D visible things by its light, and thus apply themselves to their various tasks, whereas those who do not see the sun cannot even act, because they do not see those things that are beneath

^A they are enlightened; thus, those who look upon the intelligible sun are enlightened by it, so that they may see and perceive what they must do according to His will, and what they must avoid. He who lives according to the will of the Word, even if he passes many years in this life which seems difficult to all, has his soul flooded with pleasure and joy, since he not only understands and grasps in his mind what he must do in the practical course of life, but also, with a most peaceful mind, gazes upon those most beautiful forms which, separated from matter, are perceived by the intellect alone. ^B Such a person speculates upon these things, being illuminated by the most radiant brightness of the Sun of justice. Nor does he gaze only upon these things, but he considers in his mind the days of darkness that are to overtake the impious in the world to come. And when he remembers that those days will be everlasting, and that sinners themselves will receive emptiness—that is, eternal punishments—he avoids evil with all his zeal and effort and performs good.

VERS. 9, 10. *Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart blameless, and in the sight of your eyes.* When he says: *Walk blameless in the ways of your heart*, he clearly indicates that he is here exhorting the young man to spiritual joy. By "young man," he understands one who is robust and strong in spirit, and who can safely and fearlessly descend into the field against the wrestlings of the devil, putting off the old man and putting on him who was made in the image of God. ^C He who walks blameless in the ways of his heart, that is, keeping his soul in a safe place and purifying his mind, certainly also has the senses of his body pure, and becomes most fit for contemplating admirable beauties, perceiving supreme joy in spiritual youth and in the clear vision of his internal mind. But because Scripture very often uses the masculine nomenclature in those places where it exhorts women equally with men to virtue, it must be known that it addresses the discourse from the more principal part and sex; for the head of the woman is the man; but the substance of the soul is one for both, and we are all one in the Lord, since the difference between the female and male sex pertains only to the body. Wherefore, even if you see only a young man receiving the exhortation in this place, consider that by the law of this exhortation, women are equally comprehended as are men themselves. Think that the words of the Apostle Paul, by which he says: *I have betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ*, pertain as much to men as to women. And know in all these things that God will lead you into judgment.

CAPUT XII. ^D *And remove anger from your heart, and put away wickedness from your flesh, for youth and foolishness are vanity.* [VERS. 1.] *And remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of affliction come, and the years in which you will say: There is no pleasure.*

mea in eis. » ^A At this point he brings the divine judgment back to our memory, and says, as one endowed with free will: "Remove anger from your heart"; for you are able, by using your reason, to bridle anger. And he takes "malignity of the flesh" to mean every sin. For the Apostle calls the works of sin the works of the flesh. Especially, however, the malignity of the flesh is lust itself; and the passions that we speak of are the motions of an inconstant and youthful mind. To this youthful mind, madness is almost always annexed, which is nothing other than vanity. ^B Therefore, he says, if you wish to put off this youthful mind, and to restrain the motion of petulant pride with a bridle, keep an indelible memory of God. The "days of youth" signify the days of the present life: truly, days of foolishness, if they are compared to the perfection of the future life. For if in the present life you cast away the memory of God and do things according to inclination, the time of punishment hangs over you, which he calls the "day of affliction," since sinners are to be punished then; and then you will say: "There is no will of mine in them." For no one, when he is being tormented, would not want to be free from torments. He, therefore, who in this life has not followed the Lord's commandments but his own desires, out of madness and imperfection of mind, does those things which he wills: in the time of punishment he is tormented, in such a way that he does not will it.

[VERS. 2-4.] « Antequam obtenebrescat sol, et lumen, et luna, et stellae, et revertantur retro nubes a pluvia, in die in quo commovebuntur custodes domus, et in obliquum depravati fuerint viri fortitudinis, et cessaverint molentes, quoniam ad paucitatem redactae fuerint, et obtenebrescent quæ aspiciunt per foramina, et occludent januas in platea in infirmitate vocis molentis. » I have heard someone who thought that the words of this passage pertained to the particular death of each individual; another, who thought they pertained to the universal consumption of the world; and another still, who referred them to a higher sense; ^C all of which I will explain to you briefly. Think, he says, O you who are being admonished, as long as you have free will, and can incline yourself toward virtue for your own salvation. For after the present life, you will be punished, not as you will, but as you do not will. Therefore, take thought for yourself before the day of your death, before the sun, and the moon, and the stars grow dark for you—which things happen at the death of each person, as he is seized by a state of invisibility—and before you are dissolved into the kindred water and earth. For this body, which now lies upon the soul like a cloud, is dissolved into the kindred elements, the earth and the water. ^D On the day of death, the "keepers of the house," that is, of the soul, are shaken, and the intense reasonings—called "men of strength"—are turned aside, while they agonize over the fearful departure of the body. It is possible also to understand the "keepers of the house" as the physical eyes, which lay aside their power of sight at the time of death. Then also the "grinders" cease, that is, the teeth which grind the food: not that they will necessarily be diminished in number, but because they will lay aside their proper activity. And the pupils of the eyes...

which look out as if through certain apertures, are shrouded in darkness, when all the passages and paths of the operations which we have used in life are completely closed. For then man begins to speak with a thin thread of voice and a feeble sound, with difficulty and distress, as he draws his final breath. Before these inconveniences of death take hold of you, take care to be in your duty, and practice virtue. ^B Otherwise, you will be able to apply these things to the universal faith of the world. Just as by the Word of God the creature of the world was created, so also by the divine command it will eventually be dissolved. For when the world has reached the end of the ages, the use of the luminaries will be superfluous; then there will be no need for rain to irrigate the earth, but the clouds will in a certain way be turned back from the rain—that is, they will yield no rain, or will be dissolved together with the rain, and will vanish, since there will be no future use for clouds or showers: or else they will then obey the Lord God for some other ministry, perhaps becoming vehicles to carry the saints. Then also the guardians of the house will be shaken: that is, the saints, called men of fortitude in this place, who will then incline a little bit into the oblique and withdraw on account of the Antichrist, not because they are going to abandon the rectitude of justice entirely or fall away. For they are the guardians of the Church and of this world, by whose protection it stands and is preserved. Then also the grinders will be reduced to ^C a small number. By the grinders we must understand the Jews themselves, who, like those grinding in a mill, draw the heavy and laborious yoke of the law. They will be reduced to a small number, because, except for a few, all the others will have been converted to the faith of Christ. For then "all Israel shall be saved," that is, the majority of Israel. Then those few who have not approached the faith of Christ, who can now be said to see something small through the apertures of the legal letter, will grow dark and blacken with the ultimate blindness, when they have been completely confirmed in error itself, and living in obstinacy and stubbornness have closed the door of salvation to themselves. Understand the "street" or "forum" as the present life. The Jews suffer what was said above because they have remained stubborn in the weakness of the grinding voice, that is, the legal letter. For the law is heavy and also weak and feeble, since it can justify no one; as the Apostle also says: "For the weakness of the law, in which it was weakened on account of the flesh" [Rom. VIII, 3], and what follows. ^D "And it shall rise at the voice of the little bird, and all the daughters of song shall be humbled [Vers. 4], and they shall see from the height, and there shall be wonder in the way." In this place our wise Ecclesiastes speaks of the final day of judgment, when the dead will rise at the command and voice of the trumpet of the archangel [1 Thess. IV, 15; 1 Cor. XV, 52]. The command, however, is that of the sparrow, that is, the Word who assumed a fleshly body, who on account of his solitary dwelling on the cross said of himself through the prophet David: "I have become like a sparrow solitary on the housetop" [Ps. CI, 8]. Then the daughters of song will be humbled: that is, the rational souls of mortal men, which in this life have enjoyed luxury and indulged in revelry, as much in the sound of instruments and songs

^A have been distracted. Or, understand by this the souls of those who teach falsehoods, the teachers and lying prophets, who with the sonorous volatility of words, as if with some sweet song, have occupied the ears and soul of the hearers with pernicious pleasure. But even the souls of the Jews themselves, who are daughters of the song of the prophets, shall be humbled, because they did not listen to the prophets singing and calling them to the faith of Christ, as Isaiah sang: "I will sing to my beloved a song of my beloved"; and things of that kind. And all the aforementioned souls of sinners—but perhaps even the souls of the just—shall marvel and be stupefied when they are led into the way of judgment and behold the Son of Man coming from on high upon the clouds in the glory of His Father.

^B “The almond shall flourish, and the locust shall grow fat, and the caper shall be dissipated.” Solomon, having reflected in his mind upon the present life, says in the Song of Songs: “The winter is past,” denoting the sadness and turbulence of this life; but he called the future life in the splendor of glory the spring; for it follows: “The flowers have appeared in our land.” Therefore, the same thing enters his mind here also, and he says that then, in the glory of the resurrection, the almond shall flourish, the locust shall grow fat, and the caper shall be opened—for so another interpreter has rendered it. But these things are naturally wont to occur ^C in the spring. He says, therefore, that the life to come is like the spring. Otherwise: Those skilled in agriculture say that the almond tree flowers before all other trees, and is the last of the rest to shed its leaves, so that it might appear in a certain way to be evergreen with leaves. Now, we know that almond nuts are triple in nature; for on the outside they have a green bark placed over a wooden shell or a harder casing, within which is the kernel that we eat. Such, indeed, is man, composed of body, soul, and spirit. He says, therefore: Then the just shall flourish like almonds, having in vigor and glory the body, soul, and spirit. Otherwise: The rod of Aaron, which we believe to have blossomed, was a nut tree and bore nuts, ^D bearing the sign of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who as a rod grew out of the root of Jesse. He says, therefore, that in the age to come the priestly word shall flourish, providing perfect doctrine to worthy hearers. Since, then, the just are in these things, he says, the locust grows fat—that is, hell shall feed upon the bodies of sinners, and in a way it grows fat. For the locust in this place signifies torment and punishment, because by locusts God punished the Egyptians. With these things thus brought to pass—the just, I say, flourishing, and the sinners delivered unto eternal punishment—the caper is dissipated and vanishes; which, since it has a certain bitterness and saltiness, signifies anxiety and the disquietude of sin. For evil, being something that does not exist—a privation—and which will surely proceed to non-existence, shall be reduced to nothing and shall cease, when, with the judgment completed, men shall no longer sin in this world.

“Because man has gone into the house of his eternity.” “Woe is me,” says the prophet David, “that my sojourning

^A is lengthened,” ^B calling not his dwelling, but his temporary sojourn, the present life. Then therefore, he says, man migrating from this current sojourn, goes unto his eternal home, that is, the age to come.

“And mourners go about the street.” Then also those who have been sinners in this life weep and beat themselves. The street, or marketplace, is called the present life, on account of the frequent dealings and commerce within it.

VERS. 6. “Before the silver cord is broken.” He turns his discourse toward the listener whom he has undertaken to admonish, and says: Take care, young man, to appease and soothe with pious works and your own integrity the severe judge who is to come, before the riches of this world are destroyed by the supreme flame of the judge, and the cord of avarice is severed, which provides the substance for all sins to ensnare men; for the love of money is said to be the root of all evils. Therefore, before you depart from this life in which deceitful money and the pursuit of avarice flourish, dispose all your actions so that you may depart secure of the future judgment.

“And before the flower of gold is broken.” By the flower of gold, understand beauty, or the chest and repository in which we are accustomed to store gold. He says therefore: Before the precious material goods of this world perish, approach virtue. Otherwise: Silver is accepted in many places of Scripture for the divine Word, but gold for the intellect and mind. By the flower of gold, we understand the ^C principle of our soul. Thus, therefore, these words are to be explained: Before the doctrine of Holy Scripture passes away from you, which like a triple cord and whip drives away our evil affections and vices, while you are able to purify your mind, and as long as you are in this life, take great account of yourself.

“And before the pitcher is broken over the fountain.” In this passage, our Ecclesiastes philosophizes about the mass and globe of the human body. For that no one might think that this body of ours, which is resolved in death, is to go into nothingness forever, he shows us symbolically its reparable permanence. For just as when a pitcher is broken near a fountain, the water does not perish nor vanish, but returns into its own fountain, and again, when one wishes, he will be able to draw water from the fountain; so also the body, which is resolved into the elements, returns into its own fountain (namely, the earth itself), ready to be composed again into members when that Author wills it who from the beginning fashioned it. Otherwise: The water of the pitcher poured into the fountain does not perish, but attains its own fullness and integrity existing in the fountain itself. When, therefore, that which is in part shall have been made void, according to the Apostle, then that which is perfect shall come. Therefore this particular knowledge of ours which is now in us, then receiving its perfection, will be as the water of the pitcher arriving at the fullness of the fountain, with the part then added to the fountain which the fountain previously lacked.

“And the wheel is rolled over the cistern.” He expressed the same opinion in other words. For to be rolled ^D

^A over the cistern, is for the wheel to be broken by its revolving, and to fall into the cistern or pit together with the earthen water-pot. For here he understands by “wheel” the one placed over the cistern, by which the drawing of water is performed. Similarly, here too, he understands water to be poured into the cistern, just as he spoke above of its being poured into the fountain. Otherwise: This “wheel” is called life, because of its revolutions and motions, according to the saying: “The voice of thy thunder was in the wheel.” He says, therefore, “Before this wheel, that is, life, rolling along, shall roll us into the cistern,” let us take thought for our own salvation. And “cistern” is named for Hades, according to the passage: “Thou hast saved me from the lowest pit,” and “from them that go down into the pit.”

“And the dust shall return to the earth as it was.” For the body is dissolved into its kindred element, according to the passage: “Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return.” ^B

“And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” If the word “spirit” is read in conjunction with “soul,” we understand by “spirit” the force joined to the soul; but if it is placed simply and absolutely as it is here, we understand the soul itself as the “spirit.” He says, therefore, that upon the body being dissolved into the earth, the soul returns to God, to give an account of the things done in life, to Him who created it. For the soul of man is not from the earth; but as its Creator alone knows, it is brought into subsistence and is bound to this earthy body, just as it is also brought forth by Him alone who bound it. ^C

“Vanity of vanities, said the Ecclesiastes, all is vanity; and that besides, since the Ecclesiastes was wise, and taught the man knowledge. And the ear shall investigate the elegance of parables.” He resumes the argument frequently used above, and declares that all things in the world are vanity; and he says that the Ecclesiastes possessed this surplus—that is, a preeminent and peculiar possession of wisdom; for indeed, wisdom is truly the possession of the wise man alone. And that he did not grudge this to the rest of mankind, having acquired it; but that whatever he learned from it, that he handed down to men: namely, the knowledge of both sensible and intelligible things. Then he says, “And he that has [a purified ear], clearly, such as he was who said, ‘He hath added to me an ear to hear,’” is able to investigate the things of the world spoken in parables. Or also in this way: “He that has a clean ear,” gilded by the Word, like that of Rebecca, which received the earrings of the servant of Abraham, he can hear the things spoken parabolically. ^D

“The Ecclesiastes sought much to find out acceptable words, and written words of uprightness of truth. The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails well fastened, which from the collections were given”

^A *Sermons of the will*—by this, he understands discourses conformable to the divine will, which whoever follows, that man shall lay hold of the life of eternal felicity. Or he understands the discourses to contain mysteries, concerning which the Savior said in the Psalms of David: *To do thy will, O my God, I have been willing* (Ps. xxxix, 9). The will of the Father, moreover, was the incarnation of his Only-begotten. Therefore, of the discourses of the divine will and of wisdom itself—which is rightly called uprightness and truth—the Ecclesiastes says he sought them from those monuments which the prophets left behind for us. For it is not enough merely to have willed, unless we also search with much diligence. For *he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened* (Luc. xi, 10). When Ecclesiastes had sought these things, he recognized that the words of the prophets and of the Fathers who piously think of God are very much like the goads of oxen. For just as goads prick oxen and urge them to cut a furrow with the plow, so also the words of theologians rouse us, who with good hope are plowing, to cut the furrow of the soul, and to cleanse it, and to plant therein the fair shoots of virtue. They are also like ^B heated nails, which are driven more deeply and easily into wood; so too the words of these wise theologians are driven more deeply into the innermost recesses of our intellect. But these words, he says, were given through the "constitutions"; other copies, however, have "compositions." By constitutions or compositions, understand the works of God, which are disposed and established with an admirable and supreme order and harmony, from which, by a certain proportion and likeness, we are led to some knowledge of God the Creator. You may also take "constitutions" in this place to mean both Testaments, the Old, that is, and the New. From whence, however, was knowledge given to us that we might contemplate both sensible things and understand what are intellectual? From one Pastor, indeed. From what pastor? From him who feeds the rational creatures both in heaven and on earth; who also said: *I am the good shepherd* (Joan. x, 11). But it follows: *and superfluous from them.* What is the surplus? Surely, from the knowledge of these things; for we know wide and very great things, as, for example, that our inheritance is future eternal life: that the good Pastor himself has deigned to become our teacher; and (which finally must be placed in supreme felicity) that we who have been deemed worthy of this imperfect knowledge, which is partial while we live, shall come to the perfect hereafter in the future age, to be purely and clearly illuminated by the holy and consubstantial Trinity. ^C VERS. 12. *Fili, cave tibi a faciendis multis libris, quoniam non est finis; et meditatio multa, carnis labor.* Many books and many discourses which do not tend to one and the same proposed end trouble and confuse the soul of the reader. But whenever anyone makes a discourse concerning true religion, even if he draws it out over a long space of time, as the divine apostle did (Act. xx, 1 seqq.), who in the school of Tyrannus taught concerning the mysteries of Christ for the space of three nights; he does not speak many things, nor is he burdensome

but rather he cannot satisfy his hearers. Such ^A also are the volumes of the Holy Scriptures, which, being written in many verses, are yet by no means called "many," but the law of the Lord; since there is one Lawgiver for both Testaments, and all things look toward one goal, as our Lord himself, the great Ecclesiastes, the Wisdom of the Father, has taught us, saying: *Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself; for on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets* (Matt. XXII, 37-40). Do you see, then, how multi-voluminous books and complex arguments are gathered into one discourse and an abbreviated word, and for this reason they are not "many"? What books, then, does Ecclesiastes discourage us from composing? The volumes and monuments of the Gentiles, who overturn and malign one another’s opinions, and always wage a most serious war among themselves. Likewise, he deters us from the books of the heretics, who disagree among themselves, and from the secondary and endless, myth-filled volumes of the Jews. For while they pretend to interpret the Scriptures, they have turned aside into fables and genealogies and certain traditions not according to the will of the Lawgiver. ^B The intense study in such books is the labor of the flesh, wearying only the body and bearing no fruit. But the study of the divine books, in which the holy David exhorts us to be occupied day and night, saying: *And in his law will he meditate day and night* (Ps. I, 2), is no labor of the flesh, but the exultation of the spirit. For even if we sow in sweat and tears, laboring for what is good, we shall reap in exultation the glorious fruit of virtue. For the fruit of good labors is glorious (cf. Sap. III, 15). Ecclesiastes calls the one he admonishes his "son"; therefore, it is fitting that we preserve this fatherly kindness by not transgressing the paternal commandments. And the words, *There is no end*, mean either that he who occupies himself with vain things has no end, or that those empty things have no goal and fruit which we might attain by pursuing them; or that there is an infinite multitude of books carried about throughout the world.

Verses 13, 14. Hear the supreme end of the discourse: Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole man. God shall bring every work into judgment, in everything that has been omitted, whether it be good or evil.

I, he says, point out to you a concise and most brief way of salvation: Fear God and keep his commandments. But understand by "fear" not that which is exceedingly imperfect and as it were servile—by which beginners and the timid are led into the way of virtue and piety (for this fear is not free from anxiety because of the impending threats and dreaded punishments); ^C but understand the holy and sanctifying fear of the Lord, which we owe out of charity and pious affection toward Him who enacted the laws and instituted that His commandments be observed. For if we do not commit fornication out of the fear of punishment, it is clear that if the threat of punishment were not set before us, we would have committed it, having a fornicating disposition. And think the same concerning each of the forbidden acts. But if, not because of the threat of punishment, but because we have come to hate the evil things themselves...

let us check ourselves by the fear of punishment, not by the love of the One who commands; who would doubt that if the terror of judgment and punishments were removed, we would slip into foul lusts, since we hold the desire for vice in our breast? This must be understood also concerning the other shameful acts which are forbidden to us by law. But if we do not wish to sin not because of the fear of threats and punishment, but because of a hatred of vices, then, pursuing the Lawgiver with love, we keep his commands and take care diligently lest we fall away. For to holy fear operation is joined, just as he who works also fears lest he should despise and neglect any command. This holy fear, therefore, since it proceeds from honesty, sanctifies our souls and is equivalent to love. He who has this fear, and keeps the commands of God, this is a "wise" man, that is, upright and perfect in every respect. ^A Therefore, he says, work securely, certain that God will bring every human work, having proceeded from the faculty of free will, into judgment, demanding from us an account of those things which we have done in life, and also those which we have omitted doing, whether they be good or even evil. For many things are omitted often even when we are diligent and willing, and many things, conversely, against our will. For if, when I am able to do something good, I nevertheless omit and neglect it, knowing it to be good, this is a voluntary omission; but if through ignorance of the good I have omitted to perform the good which I could have done, this very omission happens against the will. It happens, however, that sometimes we do good against our will, but often knowingly and by design; and again, by the contrary reasoning, we often approach evil, conscious of what we are doing and despising our own conscience: this is truly a voluntary sin. Sometimes, however, through ignorance we perform something which the divine law forbids to be done: this sin, indeed, must be thought to have happened against our will. Concerning sins of this kind the blessed David also prayed, saying: "Who will understand faults? Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord" ^B—that is, those which I have committed through ignorance, not knowing them to be evil. But we, having now been well taught by Ecclesiastes, let us fear God and keep his commands with all our exertion and study; for the sum of our salvation is placed in the mercies of the Lord and the kindness of the Judge: with whom, and through whom, to God the Father is glory, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Let us refrain from these things, through love for the One who legislated this, and let us perform the commandments, and fear ^B lest we fall away. For in fearing, we work, and in working, we fear lest we disregard any of the things enjoined. This fear happens to be pure, being produced for the sake of the good itself, and it purifies our souls, being equal in power to love. He who possesses this fear, and keeps the commandments, is what the scripture calls "a wise man," that is, perfect and lacking in nothing. These things, he says, perform securely, knowing that God will bring every rational work, which has also been honored with free choice, into judgment, ^C asking us for accounts of the things done, or even the things overlooked, whether they be good or evil. Things overlooked are often voluntary, but often also involuntary. There is a time when, being able to do good, I overlook it and put it off; yet, being in knowledge of the good, this is a voluntary oversight. If, being able to do good, I did not do it because of ignorance, this is involuntary. There is a time when we even do good against our will, but often also willingly, and again from the opposite; there is a time when we do some evil thing knowingly, setting at naught our own conscience: this is a voluntary oversight. There is a time when we even do some of the things forbidden through ignorance: this is an involuntary oversight. Concerning such things the blessed David also prayed, saying: "Who will understand faults? Cleanse me from my secrets," clearly the transgressions committed through ignorance. Knowing these things, then, let us fear God, and let us keep his commandments ^D according to our own strength. For the whole of our salvation lies in the mercies and the philanthropy of the Judge, through whom, and with whom, to the Father is glory, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

EJUSDEM OLYMPIODORI FRAGMENTA IN JEREMIAM.

CHAPTER FIRST.