CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER 3
ECCLESIASTES 3:1-15
THE VANITY OF CHANGEABLE
NATURE FROM THE VIEWPOINT
OF TIME 1. All things have their season, etc. Ecclesiastes has already dealt with the vanity of things by showing there is in them a changeableness because of movement. Now in a second part he wants to show their vanity in relation to their boundary and variety in time.1 He shows the changeableness of things and their variety, not in contempt of them, for they are works of God, but in so far as we love them. So in this part he shows, first, the variety of times, and, second, he blames our curiosity where verse 9 reads:
What advantage does a human being have from his labor?
Third, he shows the permanence of the divine works where verse 14 says: I have learned that the works of God, etc.
ECCLESIASTES 3:1-8
THE VARIETY OF TIMES
2. The first section has two headings because he deals, first, with the variety and changeableness of things in time in general, and, second, in particular, by persuasion and proof, where verse 2 says: A time to be born.
1Part One dealt with Ecclesiastes 1:3-2:26.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
ECCLESIASTES 3:1
CHANGEABLENESS OF THINGS IN
TIME IN GENERAL
3. (Verse 1). He makes a general proposal by saying: All things have their season, that is, a variety of times, because Romans 8:20 states: "The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly." And in their times all things pass under the sun,2 to the boundary of a fixed time. Wisdom 11:21 reads: "You have ordered all things in number, weight, and measure."3 1 Corinthians 7:31 states: "The figure of this world is passing away," especially in the space of time fixed for it. Job 14:5 says: "You have appointed his bounds that cannot be passed."4
QUESTIONS 9
I. A question is asked about the meaning of the words: All things have their season.5
1. An objection is that, according to Jerome, "spiritual substances are contained in neither place nor time."6
2The Vulgate reads sub caelo ("under the heaven") whereas Bonaventure has sub sole ("under the sun").
3I translate the Vulgate: "measure, and number, and weight."
4Job 14:5 reads: "The days of a human being are short, and the number of his months is with you. You have appointed his bounds that cannot be passed."
5Ecclesiastes 3:1.
6See his Commentarius in Ecclesiasten on 3:1 in CCSL lxxii, 273:
"For all spiritual substances are contained in neither heaven nor time."
It may well be that Bonaventure is quoting Jerome through Hugh of St. Cher, for their wording of "Jerome" is the same. See Hugh of St.
Cher, 78v, a: "For spiritual substances are contained in neither place nor time." On p. 28 n. 3 QuarEd cite Jerome's Commentarius in Epistolam ad Titum on 1:3. See PL 26:594B: "How great must one think the eternities . . . were, in which the Angels . . . served God and at God's command existed without changes or measures of time." The editors also refer to Book II, d. II. c. 3 of Peter Lombard's Sentence
Commentary.
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2. Also, everything that is in time and has time is corporal.7 But spiritual substances are not corporal, and therefore, they are not in time nor do they have a place. That they are in time seems to be the case, for first, Augustine said to Dardanus: "Uncreated spiritual substance does not move in time nor place. Created spiritual substance moves in time, but not in place. A corporal created substance moves in time and place."8 Second, what is in place is also in time, but "only God is uncircumscribed," as Damascene says.9 Therefore, only God is outside time, and all other things have their season.
I reply: This verse has a limited application,10 as when a person says that the sky covers all things, he is referring to what is under the sky. And so it does not apply to a spiritual substance. – But if we extend the application, we
7On p. 28 n. 4 QuarEd refer to Book IV, n. 12 of Aristotle's Physica.
See WAE, vol. 2, 221b: "For time is by its nature the cause of decay since it is the number of change, and change removes what is."
8On p. 28 n. 5 QuarEd state that this is the reference and citation given in the manuscripts, but Augustine's Letter 187 deals with the omnipresence of God. They quote from what they believe is a better reference among the works of Augustine, that is, Question 40 of Dialogus
Quaestionum LXV sub titulo Orosii percontantis et Augustini respondentis in PL 40:746: "God moves without time or place. A created spirit moves in time without a place. A corporal creature moves in time and place. Substance that moves only in time takes precedence over a substance that moves in time and place. Therefore, a substance that does not move in time or place takes precedence over a substance that moves only in time."
9See Book I, chapter 13 of De fide orthodoxa in PG 94:854B. See Saint John of Damascus, Writings, 198-199: "Now, to be circumscribed means to be determined by place, time, or comprehension, while to be contained by none of these is to be uncircumscribed. So the Divinity alone is uncircumscribed, who is without beginning and without end, who embraces all things and is grasped by no comprehension at all."
10Technically Bonaventure is referring to an "accommodated distribution." See Tractatus XII n. 26 of Peter of Spain, Tractatus, 225226: "It is customary to posit an accommodated distribution, as 'the heaven covers everything,' that is, all other things apart from itself and 'God created all things,' that is, all other things than God."
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
will say that time is used in three ways: commonly and properly and more properly. Commonly, as in saying that the transition from non-being to being is a measure. And in this manner time is in all, because all things had a beginning. And the text seems to imply this, because it says that all things have their season, but not that all things make a transition except under the sun. – In another way time is used properly, as when it implies a variation either in substance or in affection. And so a spiritual substance has time in changing affections. – In the third way, more properly, as when it is a surpassing measure and thus of what is corruptible, but not of all things.
So what has been asked, namely, whether spiritual substances have time, is solved in the first sense with regard to substance. In the second with regard to some affections.
But in the third they do not have time. – And in this way the contraries of both parts are reconciled.11
II. Concerning the second part of the proposition, And in their times all things pass under the sun,12 one asks whether the elements pass away. It seems that this is so.
1. Revelation 21:1 states: I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Therefore, the old had passed away.
2. Furthermore, 1 John 2:17 says: The world passes away and the concupiscence thereof. And Matthew 24:35 reads:
Heaven and earth will pass away.
Contra: Elements are of the constitution of the earth, and so if the universe endures, it is clear that the elements also endure.
11On p. 29 n. 1 QuarEd refer to Book II d. 2 p. 1 n. 1 and 2 of Bonaventure's Sentence Commentary.
12Ecclesiastes 3:1.
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I reply: To say that something passes away in its space has a threefold meaning: in relation to the corruption of the whole substance as when brute animals corrupt; or in relation to a partial corruption of something as when elements are generated and corrupted along the end by which they touch one another; or to pass, that is, to be moved across from the state of corruptibility to another state, and in this way this sensible world is renewed. – So what is said here, namely, that all things pass away, is to be understood in the second of these three ways.13
Relative to the second objection – The world and the concupiscence thereof is passing away – it is solved by the clarification that this applies to the world as an occasion of pleasure.
Relative to the first objection – I saw a new heaven – a Gloss has: "that is, renewed."14
A Gloss explains what is said in Matthew – Heaven and earth will pass away – by stating that they will pass from a changeable form to an unchangeable one.15
13On p. 29 n. 5 QuarEd refer to Book III, n. 6ff. of Aristotle's De caelo.
See WAE, vol. 2, 302b-307b and to Book II, n. 2 of his De generatione et corruptione. See WAE, vol. 2, 329b.
14On p. 29 n. 5 QuarEd quote the Glossa Interlineris apud Lyranus:
"That is, a renewed air." They also refer to Book III, chapter XXI of Bede's Explanatio Apocalypsis, Epistola ad Eusebium in PL 93:194C:
"Then the figure of this world will pass away through the conflagration of heavenly fire, so that, heaven and earth having been changed for the better, the appropriate quality of their change may correspond to the incorruption and immortality of the bodies of the saints."
15See the Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 24:35 in PL 114:162B:
"Heaven and earth will be renewed, having put aside the previous form, but permanent in substance. For it is said: The earth will stand forever."
The Glossa Ordinaria cites Ecclesiastes 1:4 and reads stabit ("will stand") instead of stat ("stands"). The editors also refer to Book IV of Jerome's In Matthaei Evangelium Expositio on Matthew 24:35. See PL
92:104CD: "For heaven and earth through the change of renovation
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
ECCLESIASTES 3:2-8
CHANGEABLENESS OF THINGS IN
TIME IN PARTICULAR
4. A time to be born. Ecclesiastes has put forward a general proposition, and he now proves it in detail by showing the different kinds of times in things. First, he treats of the kinds of times in beginning and ending. Second, he treats of the different states where verse 4 states: A time to weep and a time to laugh. Third, he treats of use where verse 5b reads: A time to embrace and a time to be far from embraces. And fourth, he considers the manner of correct speech in verse 7b says: A time to keep silence.
ECCLESIASTES 3:2-3
TIMES WITH BEGINNINGS AND
ENDINGS 5. So first he introduces the kind of time regarding the beginning and ending of things. He sees four differences here. First, for the living. Second, for vegetable matter.
Third, for sensible creatures. Finally, for the work of artisans.
6. (Verse 2). Concerning the beginning and ending of living creatures he sees a difference when he says: A time to be born and a time to die, and this is true for all the living, because they move from birth to death. Job 14:1 states: "A human being, born of woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries." Sirach 40:1 reads: "Great labor is created for all human beings, and a heavy yoke is upon the children of Adam from the day of their coming will pass away, but the word of the Lord will in no way pass away without its successful completion." They also refer to Bede. For Bede's commentary on Mark 13:31 see CCSL cxx, 602: "But if heaven and earth will pass away, the question can be raised how Ecclesiastes says:
One generation passes away, and another generation comes, but the earth stands forever. But the reason is that heaven and earth pass from the image that they now have, but they exist without end according to their essence. For the figure of this world is passing away (1 Cor 7:31)."
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out of their mother's womb until the day of their burial into the mother of all." And so Wisdom 5:13 says: "Having been born, we continually cease to be."16 Sirach 14:19 has:
"Some grow, and some fall off. Thus is the generation of flesh and blood. One comes to an end, and another is born."
7. Concerning the beginning of vegetation he says: A time to plant. And for the ending: A time to pluck up what has been planted. Genesis 2:8 reads: "The Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning." But there is a time to pluck up what has been unfruitful. For Luke 13:7 states: "Behold, for three years I came seeking fruit on this fig tree17 and have found none. Therefore, cut it down."
8. (Verse 3). Concerning the beginning and ending of sensible creatures he adds: A time to kill. He puts first: A time to kill and then adds: A time to heal, because of the state of corrupt nature that becomes so engrained that sound health has no place.18 Of this kind of time we read in Deuteronomy 32:39: "I will kill, and I will make to live."19
And further, 2 Samuel 8:2 says: "He measured the two lines: one to put to death and one to save alive."20
9. Fourth, concerning the beginning and ending of the work of artisans he adds: A time to destroy, that is, their end.
And a time to build, that is, the restoration of what was destroyed. What must be destroyed are things falling into 16On p. 29 n. 7 QuarEd accurately mention that the Vulgate reads desivimus ("ceased") while Bonaventure has desinimus ("cease").
17On p. 29 n. 8 QuarEd correctly indicate that the Vulgate reads ficulnea ("fig tree") whereas Bonaventure has ficu ("fig tree").
18On p. 29 n. 9 QuarEd cite Book II, n. 3 of Aristotle's Ethica nicomachea. See WAE, vol. 9, 1105a: "Again it (pleasure) has grown up with us all from our infancy; this is why it is difficult to rub off this passion, engrained as it is in our life."
19Hugh of St. Cher, 79d also cites Deuteronomy 32:39.
20This is what David does to defeated Moab.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
ruins. Luke 19:44 reads: "One stone upon a stone will not be left in you."21 A time to build, when an abundance of goods is available. Luke 12:18 states: "I will pull down my barns and build greater." Haggai 1:8 has: "Bring timber.
Build the house. And it will be acceptable to me." And so there was no permanence in the ending of things.
ECCLESIASTES 3:4-5A
VARIETY OF TIMES IN THE
STATE OF THINGS
10. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. After considering the variety of times in the way things begin and end, he now treats of the variety of times in the state of things, for example, in prosperity and misfortune. He notes a triple difference in this, namely, prosperity, joyfulness, and security and their opposites.
11. (Verse 4). Thus, concerning a time for prosperity, that is, a time for laughing, and for adversity, that is, for weeping, he says: A time to weep, in adversity. 1 Maccabees 1:28 reads: "Every bridegroom took up lamen-tation, and the brides that sat on the marriage bed mourned." And Lamentations 1:2 states: "Weeping, she has wept in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks." And a time to laugh, in prosperity. Esther 8:16 has: "To the Jews a new light seemed22 to rise and joy . . . and dancing." He puts weeping before laughing either because it comes first in fallen nature, as Wisdom 7:3 comments: "The first voice that I uttered was crying, as all others do." Or because we should weep first, for Luke 6:21 states: "Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh." On the contrary, we read of evil21The Vulgate reads non relinquent in te lapidem super lapidem ("they shall not leave in you a stone upon a stone") while Bonaventure has non relinquetur in te lapis super lapidem.
22The Vulgate reads visa est ("was seen") while Bonaventure has videbatur ("seemed/was seen").
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doers in Proverbs 14:13: "Laughter will be mingled with sorrow."
12. Concerning the state of rejoicing and its opposite he says: A time to mourn and a time to dance. There is a difference between mourning and weeping, laughter and dancing, because weeping is in tears while mourning is in the voice, and laughter is in a sign23 while dancing is in the elevation of the body. About mourning we read in Genesis 50:11: "This is a great mourning to the Egyptians," for the occasion was a burial.24 But dancing is for wonderful solemnities, as when it is said in Mark 6:21 that on the birthday of Herod the daughter of Herodias entered to dance.
13. (Verse 5a). Concerning a time for security and its opposite, the text says: A time to scatter stones, namely, when there is security. Micah 4:3 reads: "Man shall not take up a sword against man."25 A time to gather, so as to build fortifications, namely, when there is fear of an enemy. 2
Chronicles 32:5 says: "He built up . . . all the wall that had been broken down and built tower. . . ."
ECCLESIASTES 3:5B-7A KINDS OF TIME WITH RESPECT
TO USE 14. A time to embrace, etc. Ecclesiastes has already dealt with the variety of times in the beginning and ending of things and their state. He makes a third point here with 23Bonaventure gives a masked indication here of his theory of laughter.
24Joseph is burying his father Jacob. Genesis 50:10 reads: ". . . where celebrating the exequies with a great and vehement lamentation, they spent seven full days."
25On p. 30 n. 3 QuarEd rightly mention that the Vulgate reads non sumet gens adversus gentem gladium ("nation shall not take up sword against nation") while Bonaventure has non sumet vir contra virum gladium ("man shall not take up a sword against man").
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
regard to use. And there is a fourfold difference, namely, in the use of wives, possessions, treasures, and clothes.
15. (Verse 5b). So the use of wives consists in carnal union for the generation of children. Of this he says: A time to embrace and a time to be far from embraces. 1 Corinthians
7:29 says: "It remains that they also who have wives, be as if they had none." And again: "Defraud not one another, except, perhaps by consent, for a time, that you may give yourselves to prayer, and return together again."26
16. (Verse 6). With regard to the use of possessions he says:
A time to get and a time to lose. We get by industry, but lose by laziness. Proverbs 14:1 reads: "A wise woman builds27 her house, but the foolish will also pull down with her hands what is built."28 – Or we acquire in life and lose in death. Job 20:15 says: "The riches which he had swallowed, he will vomit up," etc.29 – Or we get when we are joined to God, but lose when separated from God. Psalm
106:38-39 has: "He blessed them, and they were multiplied exceedingly. . . .And they became few."
17. Concerning the use of treasures the text continues: A time to keep, when there is abundance. And a time to cast away, when there is need among the poor. See the example of Joseph in Genesis 41:47-57, who gathered in the fertile years and distributed in the barren years. For riches are to be kept for this purpose, namely, to be distributed, for Psalm 111:9 reads: "He has distributed. He has given to the poor."
261 Corinthians 7:5 in the context of spouses' rendering to one another their conjugal rights.
27The Vulgate reads aedificavit ("has built") while Bonaventure has aedificat ("builds").
28The Vulgate reads instructam (built "through instruction") while Bonaventure has exstructam ("what is built").
29Job 20:15 concludes: ". . . and God will draw them out of his belly."
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18. (Verse 7a). With respect to the use of clothing he adds:
A time to rend, when worn out. And a time to sew, because our clothes wear out by day and are not renewed other than by a divine miracle, as in Deuteronomy 8:4: "Your raiment, with which you were clothed, has never worn out because of age."30 But our clothes wear out quickly, and this should not cause us to worry. 1 Timothy 6:8 advises:
"Having food and wherewith to be clothed, we are content with these."
ECCLESIASTES 3:7B-8
KINDS OF TIME WITH REGARD
TO SPEECH
19. A time to keep silence, etc. This is the fourth kind of time and deals with the correct manner of speaking. In this there is a triple succession of acts, namely, an act of reasonable virtue, which is to speak; an act of desire, which is love; an act of anger, which is to make war, and their opposites.31
20. (Verse 7b). With regard to the alternative acts of speaking, he says: A time to keep silence, and a time to speak, because one should not speak at all times or be silent all the time. Sirach 20:7 admonishes: "Wise persons will hold their peace till they see an opportunity, but a babbler and a fool will keep no time." For a wise person will remain silent and speak at the right time. Thus, Proverbs 21:11 states: "To speak a word in due time is like apples of gold on beds of silver." And he prefers silence to speech, because one must weigh what one says. Proverbs 13:3 counsels: "The person who keeps his mouth, keeps his soul, but the person who has no guard on his speech will meet with evils."
30The addressees are the people of Israel who journeyed in the desert for forty years.
31On p. 31 n. 1 QuarEd refer readers to Opera Omnia 3:579.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
21. (Verse 8). Concerning the succession of acts of desire he says: A time of love, when the object is good. And a time of hatred, when it changes to evil. Psalm 118:163 reads: "I have hated and abhorred iniquity." Romans 12:9-10 says:
"Hating that which is evil, cleaving to what is good, loving one another with the charity of brotherhood."
22. Relative to succession of acts of anger the text continues: A time of war, against an attacking enemy. 2 Samuel
11:1 reads: "And it came to pass at the return of the year, at the time when kings go forth to war, that David sent
Joab," etc. And a time of peace, when fighting stops. 1
Maccabees 14:4 states: "All the land of Judah was at rest during the days of Simon," etc. And Micah 4:3 has: "Nation shall not take the sword against nation.32 Neither shall they learn war any more."
23. In the spiritual sense this fourfold difference refers to the four states of people living in the Church. First, the reborn. Second, the penitents. Third, the just. Fourth, the prelates. – First, among the baptized there is a time to be born and a time to die, for they are born unto God. John
3:5 states: "Unless a person be born again of water and the Holy Spirit," etc. As they die to the world, see Romans
6:4: "We have been buried together with him by baptism into his death." – Second, there is a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted, because the virtues are planted in them. Psalm 127:3 says: "Your children are as olive plants." But vices are pulled up. Wisdom 4:3 reads:
"Bastard slips33 will not take deep root," for Matthew 15:13
32In his commentary on Ecclesiastes 3:5a (#5) above Bonaventure quoted a different version of Micah 4:3.
33The Vulgate reads spuria vitulamina ("spurious shoots") while Bonaventure has adulterinae plantations ("bastard slips"). On p. 31 n.
6 QuarEd quote Book II, chapter 12 n. 18 of Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana on the proper derivation of vitulamina ("shoots") which does not come from vitulus ("calf").
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says: "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up." – Third, in the baptized there is a time to kill the movement of concupiscence. Colossians 3:5 states: "Put to death your members which are upon the earth." And there is a time for healing the force of nature.
Jeremiah 30:17 has: "I will close up your scar and will heal you from your wounds." – Fourth, there is a time to destroy and to build in the baptized, because the dwelling of the devil is destroyed, and it is made a dwelling for Christ.34 1 Peter 2:4-5 says: "Coming to him as a living stone, . . . may you also be built up . . . into spiritual houses."35 Jeremiah 1:10 states: "I have set you this day over the nations and over kingdoms to root up and to destroy and to lay waste . . . and to build and to plant."
24. The second kind of time refers to penitents from three points of view, namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction. A time to weep and a time to laugh, in contrition, in which there is joy and sorrow. Proverbs 14:10 notes: "The heart knows its own bitterness of soul. The stranger will not mix in with his joy." – A time to mourn and a time to dance, in confession during which one must confess with mourning. Job 10:20 states: "Suffer me that I may lament my sorrow a little." One should confess in a naked manner and openly. 2 Samuel 6:14 reads: "David danced . . . girded . . . before the ark."36 – There is a time to scatter
34Hugh of St. Cher, 79ef comments: "In the moral sense a time to destroy Babylon and Jericho, that is, confession and instability of mind that the devil builds in us, is now, f. and a time to build the temple of God, that is, purity and stability of conscience, which the devil destroys wherever he can."
35The Vulgate reads domus spiritalis ("a spiritual house") while Bonaventure has in domus spiritales ("into spiritual houses").
362 Samuel 6:14 reads: "And David danced with all his might before the Lord, and David was girded with a linen ephod." The comments of Michal, Saul's daughter, to David in 2 Samuel 6:20 indicate
Bonaventure's point: "How glorious was the king of Israel today,
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
stones and a time to gather, in satisfaction. Stones on which a person stumbles are occasions of sin. Sirach 21:11 reads:
"The way of sinners is leveled with stones, and in their end is hell and darkness and pains." These stones are collected through reflection and scattered by cautious avoidance and mortification of the flesh. Few are freed from these occasions unless they are preserved by the Lord.
Psalm 90:12 says: "In their hands they will bear up you, lest you dash your foot against a stone."
25. The third kind concerns the just in their twofold state, namely, active and contemplative. Concerning contemplatives he says: A time to embrace and a time to be far from embraces, because at one time they need to act, and at another they should be taken up with contemplation.
Of such an embrace we read in Proverbs 4:8: "You will be glorified by her, when you will have embraced her." They should be far from embraces of the flesh, of which Proverbs 7:18 cautions: "Come, let us be inebriated with . . . the desired embraces." – Concerning active just people who should be busy in works of mercy, he adds: A time to get and a time to lose, that is, to distribute as alms what has been gotten. Sirach 29:13 counsels: "Lose your money for your brother and friend and do not hide it under a stone. .
. ." – This verse refers to perfect justice, but to give away all is a work of supererogation. The words, a time to keep and a time to cast away, refer to such a giving away of everything. Matthew 19:21 says: "If you will be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor." – He says further to active people: A time to rend and a time to sew, and this applies to clothing. Job 31:19-20 states: "If I have uncovering himself before the handmaids of his servants, and was naked, as if one of the buffoons should be naked."
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abandoned37 . . . the poor person who has no clothing and if his sides have not blessed me," etc.38
26. The fourth kind refers to prelates. First, in their teaching when the text says: A time to keep silence and a time to teach,39 for a person must first learn and later teach. Sirach
18:19 reads: "Learn before you speak." Sirach 32:9 advises:
"Hear in silence." – A time of love and a time of hatred, in repelling evil by hating sin and loving nature. 2
Thessalonians 3:15 reads: "Do not consider him40 as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." And Psalm 138:22 says: "I have hated them with a perfect hatred." – A time of war and a time of peace. Of war, against the incorrigible who are to be struck with the sword of excommunication.
Sirach 7:6 states: "Do not seek to be made a judge, unless you have strength enough to extirpate iniquities." Of peace, for those returning. Luke 10:6 has: "If a child of peace be present in that house,41 your peace will rest upon him.
But if not, it will return to you."
QUESTIONS 10
A question is asked about the number of these times. It seems that he has listed an insufficient number in the varieties of time, because they are many that cannot be listed under the ones mentioned, such as a time to eat and a time to fast and so on. If you answer that they are just examples, then they are superfluous, because far fewer would have been sufficient.
37The Vulgate reads despexi ("have despised") while Bonaventure has dimisi ("have abandoned").
38Job 31:20 concludes: ". . . when they were warmed by the fleece of my sheep."
39Ecclesiastes 3:7 actually deals with "speaking."
40On p. 32 n. 2 QuarEd correctly intimate that the Vulgate does not read illum ("him").
41On p. 32 n. 2 QuarEd rightly intimate that the Vulgate reads ibi ("there") while Bonaventure has in domo illa ("in that house").
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
I reply: It has to be said with Augustine that any change in the universe, when considered in itself, is an imperfection, but in the context of the whole universe the result is a perfect song.42 Solomon, therefore, wanted to state variety in such a way that he might show the imperfection in single things, but the perfection of the whole. So he used numbers that include everything and its perfection. He lists twenty-eight times and fourteen differences, because twenty-eight is a perfect number and includes a seven, that is, the whole of time. Although a passage of six is perfect, it does not include a seven.43 Therefore, Ecclesiastes could use many numbers, not fewer, to embrace universality, but 42On p. 32 n. 4 QuarEd point to three passages in Augustine. See, for example, Book VI, chapter 11, n. 29-30 of his De Musica. See "On Music," trans. Robert C. Taliaferro in Saint Augustine, The Immortality of the Soul, The Magnitude of the Soul, On Music, The Advantage of Believing,
On Faith in Things Unseen, FC 4 (New York: CIMA Publishing Co., 1947), 355: "So terrestrial things are subject to celestial, and their time circuits join together in harmonious succession for a poem of the universe. And so many of these things seem to us disturbed and perturbed, because we have been sewn into their order according to our merits, not knowing what beautiful thing Divine Providence purposes for us."
43On p. 32 n. 5 QuarEd refer to two passages from Augustine. See Book IV, chap. 2, n. 2-5 of his De Genesi ad Litteram and On Genesis,
242-244: "So then we find the number six to be the first perfect number for the reason that it is completed by its parts . . . .So more numbers are to be found of any of these sorts, than of those which are called perfect in that they are completed by their parts of this kind being added up together. I mean, after six the next one we find is twentyeight, which likewise consists of the total of its parts. Of these, you see, it has five; a twenty-eighth, a fourteenth, a seventh, a quarter, a half; that is, one and two and four and seven and fourteen, which added up together complete twenty-eight." See also Augustine's Sermon 31 n. 4 of his Enarratio in Psalmum 118 in Avrelii Avgvstini Enarrationes in Psalmos CI-CL, CCSL xl (Turnhout: Brepols, 1956), 1771: "To say seven times a day means always. The number seven is customarily used as an indication of all. For this reason, to the six days on which God worked there is added a seventh day of rest. And by seven days coming and being repeated, all times are included."
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not too many, for universality also is to be found in perfection.44
ECCLESIASTES 3:9-13
OUR CURIOSITY IS BLAMED
27. What advantage do human beings have from their labor? He has shown the variety of things in their diverse times and now he condemns human curiosity over this.
He does this as follows. First, he suggests the futility of curiosity, and second, he commends present pleasure while despising curiosity.
28. (Verses 9-11). He condemns our curiosity for its futility, saying: What advantage do human beings have from their labor? Supply: other than being subject to change and variation and therefore, to vexation. – And he makes it clear that he has this vexation: I have seen the trouble which God has given human beings to be exercised in it.
God has given, that is, allowed to be given, according to what Romans 1:8 states: "God delivered them up to a reprobate sense." Human beings, that is, sinners. Ecclesiastes
2:26 above says: "God has given to the sinner vexation and superfluous care." To be exercised, namely, with various worries. Sirach 11:10 reads: "My son, meddle not in many matters." And he explains that this vexation is one of reflection, and that is why he continues: He has made all things good in their time. For Sirach 39:39-40 says: "All the works of the Lord are good, and he will furnish every work in due time. It is not to be said: This is worse than that, for all will be well approved in their time." And although God made all things good, God did not give us knowledge of everything, but God did give us the ability to study. Wherefore, he adds: And God has delivered the 44A basic and helpful book on the meaning of numbers in the Middle
Ages is Vincent Foster Hopper, Medieval Number Symbolism: Its Sources, Meaning, and Influence on Thought and Expression (Mineola,
NY: Dover, 2000 [1938]).
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
world to their consideration, that is, to their inquiry. We read in Sirach 17:5: "God gave them counsel, and a tongue, and ears, and a heart for careful consideration," but not to finish the inquiry. Thus he continues: So that human beings cannot find out the work which God has made, that is, so that he may not come to perfect knowledge because of doubts. From the beginning to the end, namely, of his life. Job 36:24 reads: "Remember that you do not know his work, about which men have sung." And Ecclesiastes 8:17 below states: "I understood that I could find no reason for the works of God."45
29. (Verses 12-13). And I have known, etc. In his second point he commends present pleasure, and he does this to censure curiosity. For he says: And I have known that there was no better thing. Supply: in these transitory things.
Than to rejoice and to do well in one's life, namely, to rejoice in one's heart, and to do well in work. – Or to rejoice by enjoying things. Wisdom 2:9 reads: "Let us everywhere leave tokens of our joy."46 To do well in preparing delights.
Luke 12:19 states: "My soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry." – He adds the reason for this by saying: For all, who eat and drink, see good in their labors, have a large abundance in this. The meaning then is that the person who eats and drinks and sees good in his labor has received an immediate reward. So he says: This is a gift from God. In Ecclesiastes 5:18 below he says: "To every person, to whom
God has given riches . . . and has bestowed on him the power to eat thereof . . . is a gift from God."
45On p. 33 n. 1 QuarEd rightly indicate that the Vulgate reads possit homo ("a human being could") while Bonaventure has possem ("I could").
Further, the Vulgate reads omnium operum ("all the works") while Bonaventure has operum ("works").
46Bonaventure has added nostrae ("our") to the text.
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30. A Gloss explains this in a spiritual sense.47 And I have known that there was no better thing, that is, more useful, than to rejoice, namely, with joy of the mind. Sirach 30:23 reads: "Joyfulness of the heart is the life of men and women and a never failing treasure of holiness." And to do well in his life, namely, through meritorious actions. Galatians
6:10 states: "Therefore, while we have time, let us perform good for all." – For every person, who eats and drinks. Supply: from the Scriptures. That person eats what is difficult and drinks what is easy. Wisdom says in Proverbs 9:5:
"Come and eat of my bread, and drink from the wine which I have mixed for you." This is the gift of God, because to understand the Scriptures is a gift from God. 2 Corinthians
3:5 says: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything [we do], as from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God."
ECCLESIASTES 3:14-15
THE UNCHANGEABILITY OF
DIVINE WORKS
31. I have learned that all the works of God, etc. He has shown earlier the changeableness of works, and from that he censured human curiosity. Here in a third point he shows the unchangeability of divine works while above he was showing changeablness.
47On p. 33 n. 3 QuarEd refer their readers to the Glossa Ordinaria (from Jerome) and the Glossa Interlinearis apud Lyranum. They go on to cite Rupert of Deutz' interpretation which is especially close to that of the Glossa Interlinearis. See Rupert's commentary on Ecclesiastes
3:12-13 in his In Librum Ecclesiastes Commentarius in PL 168:1230D1231A: "He teaches that there is nothing better than to rejoice during one's life and be busy in doing good. . . .Moreover, because the flesh of the Lord is true food. . . .According to the anagogical interpretation, then the only good we have in this world is to eat his flesh and drink his blood, not only in the mystery, but also in reading Scripture. For the true food and drink, taken from the Word of God, is knowledge of the Scriptures."
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
32. (Verses 14-15). So he says: I have learned that all the works which God has made continue forever. This perpetuity is the reason why our reflection can change nothing.
Thus he continues: We cannot add anything, nor take away from those things which God has made with the result that God may be feared. And so they are not in our power. Proverbs 30:6 reads: "Do not add anything to his words, lest you be reproved and found a liar." – And he shows this, because God himself neither diminishes nor increases.
Thus he says: That which has been made, the same continues. No need to add these. He makes the inference: Things that will be have already been, because similar things have gone before. Wherefore, he also states: And God restores what is past, because "the corruption of one thing is the generation of another."48 Ecclesiastes 1:10 said earlier:
"There is nothing new under the sun. Nor is any person able to say . . . this is new." Genesis 2:2 reads: "God rested on the seventh day."
QUESTIONS 11
The question arises here: While he aims to show the vanity of what is changeable, how does he decide on what is continually permanent?
1. This seems to be outside his stated aim.
2. Also, the question is asked about perpetuity itself, because he says: The works which God made continue forever.49 But corporal things do not endure forever. Therefore, God made no corporal things. This is to return to the 48On p. 33 n. 5 QuarEd refer to Book I, n. 3 of Aristotle's De generatione et corruptione. See WAE, vol. 2, 319a: ". . . in substances, the coming-tobe of one thing is always a passing-away of another, and the passingaway of one thing is always another's coming-to-be."
49Ecclesiastes 3:14.
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heresy of the Manichees who claimed that what is corruptible was not made by a good God.
3. Moreover, it seems that he contradicts himself, because he adds immediately: God restores what is past. Therefore, some of the works of God corrupt and are restored.
So it is wrong to say that all the works which God has made continue forever.
But it seems that all the works of God are incorruptible, as he says in the text:
1. Since there is a proportion between cause and effect,50 the effect of an incorruptible cause should itself by incorruptible. But God remains for all eternity and is incorruptible. Therefore, the works of God are incorruptible.
2. Furthermore, since all the works of God are very good, as stated in Genesis 1:31 and since what is incorruptible is better than what is corruptible, it seems that what is corruptible cannot be created by a good God.
I reply to the first question about why Ecclesiastes deals with perpetuity here by stating that he does this not to examine perpetuity in itself, but because he is talking about changeability. He does so for a triple reason.
First, to remove error, because already in 1:2-11 above he has spoken of the changeability of creatures. And lest it be believed that the works of God are completely faulty, he adds that in some way they are perpetual. A further reason is to limit curiosity. He does this because we are not able to examine the changeableness, cause, and origin of things. He also wishes to restrain curiosity, because
50On p. 34 n. 1 QuarEd refer to Book II, n. 3 of Aristotle's Physica. See WAE, vol. 2, 194b-195b where Aristotle treats the four causes and their effects.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
we are not able to change or increase the substance of things.51 A third reason is to curb pride, because it seems that although the works of the Lord are weighed down by being changeable, he again returns to imply continual permanence in them, lest anyone condemn God as their author.
I reply to what is asked about continual permanence, that there is a triple existence of things, namely, in their own kind, in a living being, and in divine foreknowledge.
He has shown above in 1:3-11 that what is changeable exists in its own kind and in so far as it is a living being.
Here he treats of its continual permanence in divine foreknowledge.
This can be answered in another way, that is, by speaking of things according to their own proper existence in two ways: either according to their common existence or their individual existence. According to their individual existence many things are corruptible, but according to their common existence they are continually permanent.
For God by generation continually preserves their existence. "For although they are distant from the principal source in a lasting way, God completed their existence by effecting continual generation in them."52
1. To the objection that things are incorruptible in proportion to their cause, I reply that this applies when there is
51See his comments on Ecclesiastes 3:14-15 (#18) above.
52On p. 34 n. 6 QuarEd refer to Book II n. 10 of Aristotle's De generatione et corruptione. See WAE, vol. 2, 336b: "Now 'being' . . . is better than 'not-being': but not all things can possess 'being', since they are too far removed from the 'originative source'. God therefore adopted the remaining alternative, and fulfilled the perfection of the universe by making coming-to-be uninterrupted: for the greatest possible coherence would thus be secured to existence, because that 'coming-tobe should itself come-to-be perpetually' is the closest approximation to eternal being."
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a univocal generation, that is, when a cause produces something similar to itself. This, however, is not the case between the Creator and creatures, because in fact God with infinite power made great and small, corruptible and incorruptible.
2. To the objection about goodness, I reply that all things are good in themselves, but very good in an order. Where there is an order, there is more and less good. And so some things are corruptible, some are incorruptible. Moreover, goodness is in things not only as more or less good, but also by opposition and likeness. Therefore, the world is compared to a most beautiful song.53 Hence it is fitting that some things be corruptible and some not.
PART II
ECCLESIASTES 3:16-7:23
PROOF OF THE VANITY OF SIN
AND THE REMEDY AGAINST IT
33. I saw under the sun, etc. He has dealt with the vanity of nature, and now treats of the vanity of sin. And since this is dangerous, it needs a remedy. So first, he states the vanity. Second, he provides the remedy against it where
4:17 below says: Keep your foot.
53 See n. 40 above. On p. 34 n. 7 QuarEd cite chapter 10 n. 3 (sic) of Augustine's Enchiridion de fide, spe, et caritate. See chapter 3 n. 10-11 of Faith, Hope and Charity, trans. Bernard M. Peebles in Saint
Augustine, Christian Instruction, Admonition and Grace, The Christian Combat, Faith, Hope and Charity, FC 2 (New York: CIMA Publishing
Co., 1947), 376: "By this Trinity supremely, equally, and unchangeably good, all things were created; yet these are not supremely, equally, and unchangeably good, but good they are, even taken separately, while together they are very good, because it is of all things that the wonderful beauty of the whole consists. In this whole even that which is called evil, well-regulated and confined to its own place, serves to give higher commendation to the good, making it, in comparison with the evil, more pleasing and worthy of praise."
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
ECCLESIASTES 3:16-4:16
THE VANITY OF SIN
34. Now there is a triple kind of vanity. First is a vanity of malice. Second is a vanity of avarice where 4:7 reads: Considering, I found. Third is a vanity of imprudence where
4:13 states: Better is a child. Now vanity is found in both rulers and subjects. He treats first of the vanity of malice in rulers and judges. A second consideration focuses on subjects where 4:1 says: I turned myself.
ECCLESIASTES 3:16-22
VANITY OF MALICE IN RULERS
35. So first the vanity of malice in rulers is described in this order. First, he introduces a reflection on this vanity.
Second, this leads to a meditation on future judgment.
Third, it leads to a reflection on the present state. Fourth, there is a consideration of how he fell into an erroneous opinion.
36. (Verse 16). So first he states that he has considered the malice of judges: I saw under the sun in the place of judgment wickedness, in examining cases, and in the place of justice iniquity, in pronouncing sentence. Isaiah 1:21-23 states: "How has the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? Formerly,54 justice dwelt in it, but now murderers . . . . Your princes are faithless, companions of thieves. They all love bribes. They run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come forward to them." For Psalm 25:10 says: "In whose hands are iniquities. Their right hand is filled with gifts."
37. (Verse 17-18a). And I said in my heart: God will judge both the just and the wicked. He shows here in a second
54On p. 34 n. 11 QuarEd accurately indicate that the Vulgate does not read olim ("formerly").
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point how he came to meditate on future judgment. So he adds: And I said in my heart: God will judge the just, for a reward, but the wicked for punishment. Job 34:10-12 reads:
"Far from God be wickedness and iniquity from the Almighty. For he will render a person his work, and he will reward them according to the ways of each one. For truly
God will not condemn without cause. Neither will the Almighty pervert judgment." And therefore, God will judge them according to their works which will then be made manifest. For the text adds: And then will be the time of every thing,55 that is, a time of judgment of every person, when every thing is seen. 2 Corinthians 5:10 states: "For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the proper things of the body . . . whether it be good or evil." – Another meaning is this: the time of every thing, that is, of making all things manifest. 1 Corinthians 4:5 says: "Do not judge before the time, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of hearts." – Yet another meaning is: the time of every thing, that is, for the retribution of every thing. Romans
8:22 has: "Every creature groans," etc.56 – From the viewpoint of the present wickedness Ecclesiastes was waiting for this time to be in the future. Isaiah 59:14-17 reads:
"Judgment is turned away backward, and justice has stood far off, because truth has fallen down in the street and equity could not come in. . . .And the Lord saw, and it appeared evil in his eyes . . . because it is not manifest,57 and 55The Vulgate reads tempus omni rei ("a time for every thing") while
Bonaventure has tempus omnis rei ("a time of every thing").
56Romans 8:22 reads: ". . . and travails in pain, even until now." On p.
35 n. 2 QuarEd cite Homily 29 n. 2 of GGHG. See PL 76:1214B: "In the word 'human being' every creature is indicated. . . ."
57The Vulgate does not read quia non est manifestum ("because it is not manifest"). Rather it has quia non est iudicium ("because there is no judgment").
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
the just one was clothed with the breastplate and the helmet of salvation."58
38. I said in my heart concerning the children of men and women, etc. Third, he treats here of how this came from a reflection on the present condition. That is, why did the Lord want humans to be miserable in this present life?
The Lord did this to test them, and so made the life of humans like the life of beasts.
39. (Verses 18-21). For this reason he says: I said in my heart, that is, I knew. Concerning men and women, in their nature.59 That God would prove them and show them to be like beasts, that is, by making them like beasts God would test who were truly good or evil. Evil people, seeing their likeness to beasts in their lives, want to be like them in customs and to live in a bestial way. But the good want to live spiritually. So Psalm 48:13 says: "Human beings, when they were held in honor, did not understand. They are compared to senseless beasts and have become like them."60
He shows how humans and beasts are alike in death and life and in matter. There are no such clear differences in spiritual substances. – With respect to death he says: Therefore, the death of humans and of beasts is one, and the condition of them both is equal, namely, to test humans because just as a beast does not live forever but dies at some time, so too with humans. Ecclesiastes 9:4 below reads: "There is no person who lives forever nor hopes for this." So he shows that there is a likeness in death: As a human being dies, so they also die.
58The Vulgate reads indutus est iustitia ut lorica et galea salutis in capite eius ("he put on justice as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation upon his head").
59On p. 35 n. 3 QuarEd state: "According to the Hebrew and Syriac (Peschitto) text, the sense is: I thought as human beings do."
60Hugh of St. Cher, 81v, a also cites Psalm 48:13.
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40. Nor is the likeness only at the end of life, but also in the act of living. So he adds: All things breathe alike, namely, by drawing breath. And human beings have nothing more than beasts, that is, in the act of living. Wisdom 7:6 states:
"Human beings61 have one entrance into life, and a similar exit." Thus, a likeness in life is clear. – He adds the likeness in matter and says: All things are subject to vanity, namely, because they were made from nothing and so are vain. Romans 8:20 reads: "Creation was made subject to vanity."62 He does not say that matter is nothing, but he wants to say that creatures do not have uncreated matter or essence. Rather they have created matter, which is understood from the word earth. – Wherefore, he continues: And all things go to one place, namely, to the matter from which they were made. Of earth they were made, and into earth they return together, equally, like one another. In this way he notes a likeness in matter.
Sirach 40:11 says: "All things that are made63 of the earth will return to the earth again. Similarly64 all waters will return to the sea."65
41. There is a clear likeness only in these three things, while there does not seem to be a difference in the soul.
Who knows if the spirit of the children of Adam ascends upward, to heaven for a reward, or downward in corrup61On p. 35 n. 6 QuarEd rightly indicate that the Vulgate reads omnibus
("for all") while Bonaventure has hominum ("human beings").
62Hugh of St. Cher, 81v, k cites Romans 8:20 in its entirety: "Creation was made subject to vanity – not by its own will but by reason of him who made in subject – in hope."
63On p. 35 n. 7 QuarEd correctly mention that the Vulgate does not read facta ("made").
64On p. 35 n. 7 QuarEd accurately point out that the Vulgate does not read similiter ("similarly").
65Hugh of St. Cher, 81v, n also cites Sirach 40:11 in a version that agrees with the Vulgate. The text of Hugh of St. Cher erroneously refers to this text as Sirach 20.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
tion. Likewise on the other hand, who knows if the spirit of the beasts descends downward, by corruption, or upward like humans for the pronouncement of judgment. Few have known this. Many have erred and stated that the spirits of humans and beasts are uniform. But the faithful have known this. In their name Ecclesiastes states in 12:7: "The body66 returns to its earth from which it was.
And the spirit returns to God who gave it." Carnal people do not know this. In their name he says in 9:5: "The dead know nothing more. Neither do they have a reward anymore."
42. (Verse 22). And I have found, etc. In a fourth place he adds that because of this likeness he fell into an erroneous recommendation of pleasure, as if there is nothing better. For this reason he continues: And I have found that nothing is better than for people to rejoice in their work, that is, to rejoice in the present moment as carnal people do. About these Isaiah 56:12 says: "Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness. And it will be as today, so also for tomorrow and much more." And this advice is wrong, because it sees no other reward and no other life.
So he adds: And that this is their portion, as if there is nothing else for which one may hope. Speaking in the name of such people, Isaiah says: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die." And Wisdom 2:9 reads: "Let us everywhere leave tokens of joy, for this is our portion, and this is our lot." And this wrong opinion comes from an uncertainty in judgment. Therefore, he says: For who will bring them to know the things that will be after them, that is, who will show them that some good things are in the future, things for which we have to wait? This is like saying:
66On p. 36 n. 1 QuarEd rightly mentions that the Vulgate reads pulvis ("dust") while Bonaventure has corpus ("body").
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No one. Certainly people will not be convinced unless they are raised up to contemplate spiritual matters. 2
Corinthians 4:18 states: "While we look not at things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal." Since carnal persons see only what is temporal, they do not wait for what is eternal. 1
Corinthians 2:14 reads: "The sensual person does not perceive the things that are of God."67 So whoever wants to know future goods must put aside what is carnal.
QUESTIONS 12
I. What does he mean by saying: Human beings have nothing more than beasts since the condition of both is equal?68
That this is false is seen from:
1. Genesis 2:20 states: For Adam no helper was found like himself. Therefore, no beast is like a human being, and so a human being is more than a beast.
2. Likewise, it is certain that human beings plan for the future, discern the past, and express ideas. But a beast does not do these things.69 Therefore, etc.
3. Moreover, human beings tame beasts, but no beast tames a human. Therefore, humans have something more than beasts.
But it seems that this is not a valid point, because a human being is born, lives, dies, and goes to the earth just like a beast.
67 On p. 36 n. 3 QuarEd accurately indicate that the Vulgate reads sunt Spiritus Dei ("are of the Spirit of God") while Bonaventure has
Dei sunt ("are of God").
68See Ecclesiastes 3:19.
69On p. 36 n. 5 QuarEd refer to three texts from Aristotle, e.g., Book II n. 3 of his De anima. See WAE, vol. 3, 415a: "Lastly, certain living
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
I reply: Some say that he is speaking here as a carnal person would speak, that is, a person who believes humans have no more than beasts. – Or it can be said that he is speaking in his own name and speaks truthfully according to his understanding. He wants to show the uncertainty of a reward for the soul based on the likeness to beasts. He states and understands this likeness in relation to what is visible, to what can be observed by the senses. From this he does not conclude to a likeness in what is spiritual, but he comes to doubt. Thus, he says:
Who knows if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend upward, etc. – So it must be concluded that it is true that humans have the power to reason more than beasts, but are similar in being corruptible, in life, and in breathing.
But because the power to reason is not something tangible, but understandable, he is speaking of what is tangible. And so there is no objection to this at all.70
II. There is a doubt about his words: Who knows71 if the spirit of the children of Adam ascends upward?72 That this is true is seen from:
1. First, from the disposition of the body, which is arranged and organized with a view to its suitability towards what is above. If, then, "he gave to humans an uplifted face to beings – a small minority – possess calculation and thought, for (among mortal beings) those which possess calculation have all the other powers above mentioned, while the converse does not hold . . . ."
70On p. 36 n. 6 QuarEd call their readers' attention to d. 19. a. 1. q. 1 of Bonaventure's Second Book of the Sentences. See Opera Omnia 2:461 where Bonaventure cites Ecclesiastes 3:19 and argues that men and women do not die as beasts because of their souls. Opera Omnia 2:461462 will also provide background for what follows.
71The Vulgate reads novit ("knows") while Bonaventure has scit ("knows).
72Ecclesiastes 3:21.
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turn their eyes to heaven,"73 they also look for what is above.74 Therefore, the spirit goes upward.
2. Furthermore, by nature all long for happiness, but it is certain that no one can be happy while in misfortunes, especially the person to whom death comes unwanted.
Therefore, if one cannot have happiness in this life, one is born to have it after this life when the spirit is separated.
Wherefore, etc.
3. Moreover, our mind is unmixed and so understands everything,75 and thus does not depend on the body to be able to act and consequently, much less is it dependent upon it for its existence. Therefore, while the body goes downwards, it is possible that the spirit goes upward.
4. Also, from the argument of Ecclesiastes himself: For some have good things and others bad things, and we see
73On p. 36 n. 7 QuarEd refer to Book I, verses 85-86 of Ovid's Metamorphoses. See Ovid, Metamorphoses I, trans. Frank J. Miller, LCL
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966), 8-9: pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram, os homini sublime dedit caelumque videre iussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus ("And, though all other animals are prone, and fix their gaze upon the earth, he gave to man an uplifted face and bade him stand erect and turn his eyes to heaven").
Hugh of St. Cher, 81v, a also quotes Ovid: Os homini sublime dedit coelumque videre jussit ("He gave to humans an uplifted face and commanded them to look to heaven.") Bonaventure's Latin text is: Os homini sublime dedit caelumque tueri.
74On p. 36 n. 7 QuarEd also allude to Part II, chapter X of Bonaventure's Breviloquium. See Omnia Opera 5:228: "In order that the human body might be conformed to a soul tending upward toward heaven, it possessed rectitude of stature and a head lifted high. In this way bodily rectitude might give witness to mental rectitude."
75 On p. 36 n. 8 QuarEd quote Book III n. 4 of Aristotle's De anima.
See WAE, vol. 3, 429a: "Therefore, since everything is a possible object of thought, mind in order, as Anaxagoras says, to dominate, that is, to know, must be pure from all admixture; for the co-presence of what is alien to its nature is a hindrance and a block. . . ."
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
that in the present life bad things happen to good people and good things to bad people. Therefore, if it is necessary to have one judge, there must also be another time for giving a reward, during which God will judge both the just and the wicked. Since our faith holds this, Ecclesiastes seems to have been a heretic who doubted this.
But that soul goes downwards is seen:
1. From Scripture, because it is said in Wisdom 9:15: The corruptible body is a load upon the soul. Therefore, if the soul is corrupted bodily, it is completely corrupted.
2. Also, when a person suffers, the suffering dies with the person. But the soul suffers with the body. Therefore, etc.
3. Furthermore, no substance is idle,76 and so everything that takes away from it the ability to work, takes from it its very existence and continuance. But every soul loses the ability to work when a body is injured. This is clear in the instance of a mind which is able to do less such as in people who are out of their mind. Wherefore, as the body corrupts, its substance is lost.
I reply: 1.Our faith says and presumes that good souls go upward to be rewarded and that the souls of beasts go downward into corruption. Reason and philosophy agree with this. However, reason and philosophy are both ob76On p. 37 n. 2 QuarEd cite Book II, chapter 23 of John Damascene's
De fide orthodoxa. See Saint John of Damascus: Writings, 252: "One should note that all the faculties heretofore discussed are called acts, whether they be the cognitive, the vital, the natural, or the technical.
Act is the natural force and movement of any substance. Again, natural act is the innate movement of every substance. Whence it is clear that those things that have the same substance have also the same act, whereas those that have different natures have different acts. For it is inconceivable that a substance should be devoid of natural act."
CHAPTER III
scure and provide many grounds for doubt. Hence, almost no one or but a few were able to be sure of the immortality and happiness of the soul unless helped by faith. So Plato, who held the immortality of the soul, erred in its happiness as he argued that the bodies of beasts shelter souls.77
– Ecclesiastes does not deny or doubt this, but says it is difficult to prove. And this is indeed true for an unbeliever.
2-3. To what is objected on the basis of work and suffering, it has to be said that something can be united with something else in two ways. It can be simply a moving force, and it then can be separated without any change to it. Or it can be a moving force that perfects, and this is in two ways. Either it does not have its own operation as in a soul of a beast, or it has its own operation as in the soul of a human being. Since the soul of a person is joined as a moving power that perfects, it suffers with the body that suffers and is hindered as the body is hindered. But since it is joined as something separate, it is not necessary for it to corrupt. As the union is dissolved, the soul goes away.
77On p. 37 n. 3 QuarEd refer to three passages in Plato. Plato takes up the immor-tality of the soul extensively in his Phaedo. See, for example, Phaedo 80E-81A in Plato I, trans. Harold North Fowler, LCL
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982), 281: "But the soul, the invisible, which departs into another place which is, like itself, noble and pure and invisible, to the realm of the god of the other world in truth, to the good and wise god, whither, if God will, my soul is soon to go, – is this soul, which has such qualities and such a nature, straightway scattered and destroyed when it departs from the body, as most men say? Far from it, dear Cebes and Simmias, but the truth is much rather this: – if it departs pure, dragging with it nothing of the body, because it never willingly associated with the body in life, but avoided it and gathered itself into itself alone, since this has always been its constant study – but this means nothing else than that it pursued philosophy rightly and really practiced being in a state of death: or is not this the practice of death?"
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES