CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER 5
ECCLESIASTES 5:1-6
REMEDY AGAINST FOOLISH
SPEECH 1. Do not speak anything rashly. He now gives a remedy against foolish or disordered speech. Now speech is disordered by being thoughtless, either because it is false. And he forbids this here: If you have vowed anything, etc. Or because it is wrong. And he forbids this here: Give not your mouth to cause your flesh to sin, etc. – Relative to thoughtless speech he forbids being hasty with rash speech and gives the reason for this and provides an example to confirm the reason.
2. (Verse 1). So he forbids being hasty: Do not speak anything rashly, that is, without thinking. Sirach 9:25 states:
"The person who is rash in his word will be hateful." And again Sirach 28:29 reads: "Make a balance for your words and a just bridle for your mouth." And since a person cannot think all that fast, he adds: And let not your heart be hasty to utter a word.1 A person should deliberate for a long time. Proverbs 29:20 counsels: "Have you seen a person hasty to speak? Folly is rather to be looked for than
1For some reason Bonaventure does not finish this verse with coram Deo ("before God"), which is the reading of the Vulgate.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
his amendment." For there must be a distance between the mouth and the heart. Sirach 21:29 has: "The heart of fools is in their mouth." Thus, it is said in James 1:19: "Let every person be in haste to hear and2 slow to speak." And Seneca says: "I want you to be slow of speech."3
3. He adds as the reason divine judgment which sees all:
For God is in heaven. Supply: seeing everything. Thus, we read in Psalm 101:20: "From heaven the Lord has looked upon the earth." And you upon the earth, standing in the open before God, so that you are not out of God's sight.
Sirach 23:28 reads: "The eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun, looking roundabout into4 all the ways of men and women." Therefore, let your words be few, because when you speak before God, God will demand an account of all.
Matthew 12:36 states: "For5 every idle word that men and women will speak, they will render an account for them on the day of judgment."
4. And it can hardly be that the person who says much to God does not displease God. He makes this clear by an example from something similar: Dreams follow many cares, and so it is stupid to pay attention to them. Sirach
34:7 says: "Dreams have deceived many." And in many 2On p. 43 n. 2 QuarEd rightly suggest that the Vulgate reads autem
("but") while Bonaventure has et ("and").
3On p. 43 n. 2 QuarEd cite Seneca, Epistulae Morales 40. See Letter 40:14 in Epistulae Morales I, 270: Tardilocum esse te iubeo ("I bid you be slow of speech"). Bonaventure's quotation is: Tardiloquum te esse volo ("I want you to be slow of speech"). Hugh of St. Cher, 84v,
Introduction: Et Senec. Tardiloquum te esse volo. . . . ("And Seneca says:
I want you to be slow of speech").
4On p. 43 n. 3 QuarEd correctly mention that the Vulgate does not read in ("into").
5On p. 43 n. 3 QuarEd accurately intimate that the Vulgate does not read de ("For").
6Hugh of St. Cher, 84v, g also cites Proverbs 10:19.
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words will be found folly. Sirach 20:8 reads: "The person who uses many words will hurt his own soul." And Proverbs 10:19 states: "In the multitude of words sin will not be absent."6 But on the other hand, Ecclesiastes 10:14 has:
"A fool multiplies words."
5.( Verses 3–4). If you have vowed anything, etc. Second, he treats of false speech by which one promises something that is not fulfilled. – So he exhorts people to fulfill what they promise: If you have vowed anything to God, that is, you have promised by means of a vow. Do not defer to pay it. Thus, we read in Psalm 75:12: "Vow and pay to the Lord your God. All you who are round about him bring7 presents." And a Glossa comments: "To vow is voluntary, but to pay is necessary," because otherwise a person makes a false promise.8 So he adds: For an unfaithful and foolish promise displeases God. Unfaithful, because truth is not in it. Foolish, because there is no discernment in it, and a foolish promise should not be made. For Isidore says: "In evil promises you annul the faith; in a base vow you change a decree."9 So he adds that truth consists in keeping a 7The Vulgate reads omnes . . . afferent ("all will bring") while
Bonaventure has omnes . . . affertis ("all you bring").
8Bonaventure seems indebted here to Hugh of St. Cher. See Hugh of St. Cher, 84vi: "This is what is said in the Gloss about what Psalm
75[12] has: Vow and pay, that is, if you have vowed, pay. For to vow is voluntary, but to pay is necessary." On p. 43 n. 5 QuarEd track this
Gloss back to Peter Lombard's commentary on Psalm 75:12. See PL 191:709A: "To vow is a well-considered decision. After the promise of the vow it of necessity demands to be carried out. So he does not say simply: Vow and be unwilling to vow, but vow and pay. That is, if you vow, pay. Otherwise, you are held by the vow in the matter and have damnation, because they have made void their first faith, as the Apostle says (1 Timothy 5:12)."
9On p. 43 n. 6 QuarEd point to Book II n. 58 of Isidore's Synonyma de lamentatione animae peccatricis. See PL 83:858C where Isidore has quoted Ecclesiastes 5:4 in the previous sentence. The translation has turned imperatives into indicatives for easier comprehension in this
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
promise: But whatsoever you have vowed, pay it and do not change it. Leviticus 27:9–10 states: "A clean animal that can be sacrificed to the Lord, if anyone should vow, shall be holy and cannot be changed, neither for a better animal or for a worse one."10
6. Otherwise, it would be better not to vow, as he says:
And it is much better not to vow, that is, it is a lesser evil because it is without sin, than after a vow not to perform the things promised. We read in 2 Peter 2:21: "It had been better for them not to have known the way of justice than after they had known it, to turn back. . . ."11 For Luke 9:62 states: "No one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God."12
7. (Verses 5–6). Give not your mouth, etc. In a third point he forbids wrong speech, speaks against error in speaking, and adds the reason for this. Afterwards he shows the source of the error. – He speaks against error in speech by saying:
Give not your mouth to cause your flesh to sin, that is, do not utter a wrong word by which you may be led into sin.
He specifies what he means by adding: And do not say before the angel: There is no providence, that is, say it not in secret or in a hidden place, because the angels hear you context of Isidore's exhortatory style. The editors also point to Book III distinction 39, chapter 9 of Peter Lombard's Sentence Commentary. See
Sententiae in IV Libris Distinctae II, 225 where Peter Lombard cites the same opinion from Isidore's Synonyma.
10On p. 43 n. 6 QuarEd correctly indicate that is more a summary of the Vulgate than an exact quotation. Duoay translates: "But a beast that may be sacrificed to the Lord, if anyone shall vow, shall be holy and cannot be changed, that is to say, neither a better for a worse nor a worse for a better."
112 Peter 2:21 concludes: ". . . .from that holy commandment which was delivered to them."
12Hugh of St. Cher, 85d quotes Luke 9:62 and 2 Peter 2:21, that is, in reverse order from that found in Bonaventure.
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even when you are in a hidden place and are commissioned to guard you. He says later in 10:20: "Speak no detraction against the king in your thought, and speak no evil against the rich person on your private couch13 because even the birds of the air will carry your voice."14 He adds the reason for the exhortation: Lest God be angry at your words and destroy all the works of your hands, that is, render them useless. Be angry, not from a disturbance in the mind, but from a strict punishment for sin. God was angry in this way at the words of Rabsaces,15 and at night an angel destroyed all the works of the kings of Assyria.16 Isaiah 37:4 reads: "It may be the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians . . . , has sent to blaspheme the living God." Proverbs 20:26 says: "A wise king scatters the wicked," etc.17
8. And he goes on to state the source of such speech. It does not come from right thinking, but from an illusion of dreams. For this reason he says: Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, because a dream is a vanity. Isaiah 29:8 states: " . . . the person who is hungry dreams and eats, and afterwards when he is aroused,18 his soul is empty." And words without number follow dreams, because
13On p. 43 n. 8 QuarEd accurately mention that the Vulgate reads in secreto cubiculi tui ("in your private chamber") while Bonaventure has in secreto cubili tuo ("on your private couch").
14The Vulgate reads avis caeli portabit ("a bird of the air will carry") while Bonaventure has aves caeli portabunt ("birds of the air will carry").
15This name is not given in the Hebrew.
16See Isaiah 37:36: "And the angel of the Lord went out and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. . . ."
17Proverbs 20:26 concludes: ". . . and brings the wheel over them."
18On p. 44 n. 2 QuarEd rightly point to variation(s). The Vulgate reads cum autem fuerit expertus ("but when he is awake") while Bonaventure has et postea, cum expergefactus fuerit ("and afterwards, when he is aroused").
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
nothing certain can be known from dreams. For Sirach 34:5 reads: "Deceitful divinations and lying omens and the dreams of evildoers are vanity."19 No attention should be paid to such dreams, but to God. So he continues: But do you fear God, who is the only one able to destroy and to save. Do not fear dreams or auguries. Luke 12:5 has: "I will show you whom you should fear. Fear the person who after he has killed has power to cast into hell."
ECCLESIASTES 5:7-8
REMEDY AGAINST WRONG
THINKING 9. (Verses 7–8). If you shall see the oppressions, etc. Third, he holds one back from wrong thinking, namely, that when human malice is seen, one does not think that providence is not present. So he says: If you shall see the oppressions of the poor. He has already said in 4:1: "I saw the oppressions that are done under the sun and the tears of the innocent." And violent judgments, which he had seen as he stated earlier in 3:16: "I saw in the place of justice wickedness." And justice perverted in the province. This is similar to what he had seen and expressed earlier in 3:16: "I saw in the place of judgment iniquity." Faced with this it is no wonder, I say, that one would think that no one is ruling or correcting. And so he says: Do not wonder at this matter, as if there were no ruler, for there is one who orders all things. Wherefore, he adds: For the person who is high has another higher, and there are others still higher than these. Thus, the centurion said in Matthew 8:9: "I also am a person subject to authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this one: Go, and he goes."
10. Moreover, there is the king who reigns over all the land subject to him. Therefore, although they may not serve
19Hugh of St. Cher, 85n also cites Sirach 34:5.
20On p. 44 n. 4 QuarEd correctly indicate that the Vulgate reads habet ("has") while Bonaventure has habebat ("had").
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another nor keep order among themselves, they are kept in order by God who knows how to use evil for good. Genesis 41:44 says: "I am Pharaoh. Without your commandment no one will move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt."
Thus, Revelation 19:16 states: "He had20 on his garment and on his thigh is written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords." And in no way does he himself pervert justice.
Deuteronomy 10:17-18 reads: "The Lord our21 God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, a great Lord,22 mighty, terrifying, who accepts no person nor takes bribes. He does justice for the fatherless and the widow." And so if he rules,justice is not perverted.
QUESTIONS 15
I. It is asked what he means by the words: If you have vowed anything to the Lord, defer not to pay it?23 Is a person bound by a vow made indiscreetly, presuming that the person intended the vow to be binding? If this is not true, then:
1. Then the person derives a benefit from his indiscretion.24
21On p. 44 n. 4 QuarEd accurately mention that the Vulgate reads vester ("your") whereas Bonaventure has noster ("our").
22On p. 44 n. 4 QuarEd rightly advise that the Vulgate has Deus ("God") while Bonaventure reads Dominus ("Lord").
23Ecclesiastes 5:3.
24On p. 44 n. 5 QuarEd offer this reference: "Cap. Intelleximus (7.) X.
(Decret. Gregor. Lib. II. tit. 1.) says this about judgments: Lest a benefit seem to derive from one's own malice." See Book II, Titulus I, De judiciis, capitulum VII in Decretales D. Gregorii Papae IX, suae integritati una cum glossis restitutae Ad exemplar Romanum diligenter recognitae,
Editio ultima (Tavrini: Apud Nicolaum Beuilaquam, 1621), 527: Ne videatur de sua malitia commodum reportare. The opening word to the case cited in chapter 7 is: Intelleximus.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
2. Likewise, a person must do the truth.25 But a person who does not keep a promise does not do the truth. Rather the person is lying. Therefore, the person is bound to do what was vowed.
3. Also, Jephthah, who made an imprudent vow and kept it, is commended by the Apostle in Hebrews 11.26 Therefore, we should keep and fulfill indiscreet vows.
Contra: 1. If it is indiscreet to say something, it is also imprudent to do it. If, then, a person vows imprudently, by reason of what is said the person is indiscreet. If the vow is fulfilled, the person is even more imprudent and sins the more. Therefore, by not fulfilling the vow, the person acts well.
2. Also, one evil does not excuse another. Therefore, if a person makes and carries out a foolish vow, he or she is no less blameworthy than if the same thing were done without a vow. Nor is the vow less blameworthy if it is not carried out. Therefore, etc.
3. Likewise, Isidore says: "In evil promises you annul the faith; in a base vow you change a decree."27
I reply: Such a vow is not binding. Indeed, if the person keeps the vow, sin is added to sin. Jephthah, by keeping his vow, sinned more than if he had not kept it, be25On p. 44 n. 6 QuarEd refer to John 3:20-21. See also Ephesians
4:15: "Rather we are to do the truth in love, and so grow up in all things in him who is the head, Christ."
26The scriptural references are: Judges 11:29-39: Jephthah ends up keeping his vow and sacrificing his daughter, his only child; Hebrews
11:32.
27See Book II n. 58 of Isidore's Synonyma in PL 83:858C. Bonaventure quoted this passage earlier in his commentary on Ecclesiastes 5:3-4
(#4) above.
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cause he was stupid in making the vow and was wicked in keeping it, as Augustine says.28
3. To the objection that Jephthah is commended, it has to be said that he is commended neither for the vow nor for keeping it. In the text the Apostle is commending faith,29 and he commends the faith of Jephthah who believed that he would conquer his enemies with the help of the Lord.
1. When it is objected that this brings a benefit, I say that this is wrong, because the person immediately sins in the vow itself and is worthy of punishment.
2. To the objection about doing the truth, it has to be said that truth underlies judgment. Because the vow was made without proper judgment, it cannot be fulfilled in truth.
And for this reason truth cannot be present in such a vow, and there is no obligation.
II. It is asked whether a person may change a vow. – That the answer is no is clear from what Leviticus 27:10 states:
It cannot be changed . . . neither for a worse animal nor for a better animal.30
That the answer is yes is clear, because it is lawful to choose the better part of the Lord. Therefore, although it is not lawful to choose what is worse, it is lawful to choose what is better.
28Of two passages from Pseudo-Augustine referred to by QuarEd on p. 44 n. 9 the closer parallel is found in Question 43 of Quaestiones
Veteris et Novi Testamenti in PL 35: 2242: "And Jephthah was still so insensitive that even after he had realized that his vow was stupid, he did not correct the error which his actions had initiated." See also PL
34:812.
29See Hebrews 11:33: "who by faith conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions."
30On p. 45 n. 1 QuarEd correctly mention that the Vulgate has a different text. See Ecclesiastes 5:3-4 (#4) and note 9 above.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
I reply: It must be said that a vow can be changed into something completely wrong or into something better that includes the lesser good, as in the example of someone, who has made vows in a less perfect religious institute, entering a more perfect religious institute that includes both goods. To change is to take on something better not included in the present state as, for example, to change one's land journey to Rome into a journey there by sea.
The first option, to vow what is completely wrong, is forbidden. The second option, to vow something good, is lawful in itself. The third option, to vow something more perfect, is lawful, but it is only lawful with permission of a higher authority. For since I am committed to God, I cannot change without God's permission. And since God does not speak to me other than through a minister who represents God, I cannot change without the permission of the superior, unless the Lord himself were to inspire me interiorly in a most certain way. This is the answer to the objection.31
III. What does he mean by saying: Do not say before the angel: There is no providence?32
Contra: It would seem that there is no providence:
1. First, because providence gives a proper order to things.
But such an order does not exist in the world. Ecclesiastes 10:7 below reads: I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking on the ground as servants.
2. Second, because providence provides a due reward. But this does not happen in the world. Ecclesiastes 9:3 below states: The same things happen to all people.
31On p. 45 n. 4 QuarEd refer to Book IV, d. 38. a. 2 q. 2 of Bonaventure's Sentence Commentary. See Opera Omnia 4:816.
32Ecclesiastes 5:5.
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3. Third, because providence provides a fitting length of time. But this is simply not found in the world. Ecclesiastes
7:16 below says: The wicked live a long time in their wickedness.33
But the following necessary points should be considered:
1. Since it is characteristic of a wise person to provide for his household, this is even more so the case with the One who is most wise.
2. Moreover, it is characteristic of the wise worker not only to fashion an object, but also to preserve it.34 Therefore,
God preserves and governs in like manner. But God is wise, and a wise person governs everything that he governs by providence. Therefore, etc.
3. Furthermore, since God is most wise, God cannot act without seeing our evils. Therefore, since God is most just, he cannot but avenge evil and reward good. Therefore, there is reward for all. Therefore, there is providence too.
IV. It is also asked who sins more: One who denies providence or one who blames divine providence?
It would seem to be that the greater sinner is the one who denies providence, for the person who believes in providence acts well in very fact of believing and has some ele33On p. 45 n. 7 QuarEd correctly indicate that the Vulgate reads malitia ("malice") while Bonaventure has impietate ("wickedness").
34On p. 45 n. 8 QuarEd quote from Book IX n. 7 of Aristotle's Ethica nicomachia. See WAE, vol. 9, 1167b: "This is what happens with craftsmen too; every man loves his own handiwork better than he would be loved by it if it came alive." The editors also cite n. 2 of Philo's De opificio mundi. See Philo I, trans. F. H. Colson and G. H. Whitaker,
LCL (London: Heinemann, 1929), 11: "For it stands to reason that what has been brought into existence should be cared for by its Father and Maker."
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
ment of good. But the person who outright denies providence has no good, and so is more blameworthy.
Contra: Jerome maintains that a person sins more who accepts providence and accuses God than the person who simply denies providence.35
I reply to the first that there is providence.
1. To the objection about proper order, I reply that there is a twofold order, namely, particular and universal. Something can be lacking in a particular order, but not in the universal order, as Boethius says.36 Universal order covers everything, as when someone falls from the order of nature and enters the order of punishment. Augustine gives the example of a cloud that becomes a whirlwind. It is turned around in itself in a disordered way, but in fact it is ordered for the benefit of the fruit of the earth.37
35On p. 45 n. 10 QuarEd point to Pars I, inquisitio 1, tractatus 5, sectio 1, quaestio 3, titulus 1, capitulum 8 of Alexander of Hales, Summa
Theologica I (Quaracchi: College of St. Bonaventure, 1924), 304: "Contra: a. Isaiah 18:1: Woe to the land, the winged cymbal! The Glossa of Jerome:
'Epicurus says that there is no providence and pleasure is the greatest good. But they are worse who acknowledge providence, yet accuse its author, as if the Lord by mistake made things that are useless.'" Jerome's opinion is not found in PL 113:1259, namely, the Glossa Ordinaria on Isaiah 18:1. See Jerome's commentary on Isaiah 18:1 in PL 24:254D:
"Epicurus says that there is no providence and that pleasure is the greatest good. By comparison with this one Marcion and all the heretics, who cut parts out of the Old Testament, are more wicked. For although they acknowledge providence, they accuse the Creator and assert that he has erred in many works and has not done what he should have done."
36On p. 45 n. 11 QuarEd quote from Book IV, Prosa 6 of Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae. See PL 63:820A and Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, trans. H. F. Stewart, LCL (London:
Heinemann, 1926), 351: "For a certain order embraces all things, so that even that which departs from the order appointed to it, though it falls into another, yet that is order also, lest confused rashness should bear any sway in the kingdom of Providence."
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2. Likewise, it has to be said about reward that in the present life good things come to sinners in a just way in that they are rewarded here and will be tortured for all eternity in the future. Also bad things come to good people, so that they might be purified here and rewarded for all eternity.
3. I reply to the objection that sinners live for a long time for the aforementioned reason, but the good die. For it is said of Enoch that he was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding.38 Divine judgments in the present are hidden to test us. And since simple and uneducated people do not notice what is hidden, everything seems to them to be in disorder. So Ecclesiastes teaches us to look to the One under whom all things are in order.
37On p. 45 n. 12 QuarEd cite Book III, chapter 10 n. 14 of Augustine's De Genesi ad litteram. See On Genesis, 224 where Augustine distinguishes between two areas in the atmosphere. In the lower area
"it is still air but now intertwined with a fine humidity. This causes winds when stirred up, and lightning and thunder when more vehemently roused; clouds when contracted and rain when thickened even more; snow when the clouds freeze, hail when the denser clouds freeze more turbulently; fair weather when it is stretched out; and all this at the hidden orders and working of God controlling from its heights to its depths the universe he created. So that psalm, after mentioning fire, hail, snow, ice, spirits of the tempest, lest such things should be thought to come about and run their course apart from divine providence, adds straightaway, that carry out his word (Ps 148:8)." The editors also cite Augustine's commentary on Psalm 148 in Sancti Avrelii
Avgvstini Enarrationes in Psalmos CI-CL, CCSL xl (Turnhout: Brepols, 1956), 2173: "Fire, hail . . . all of which to certain fools seem to be disturbances . . . he adds which fulfill his word. You should not think that these are moved by chance since they serve the word of God in all they do. To where God wants fire, clouds, rain, snow, and hail, there they go."
38See Wisdom 4:11. Cf. Sirach 44:16: "Enoch pleased God and was translated into paradise. . . ."
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
When it is asked who sins more, I reply that providence can be denied in two ways. One way is to believe that God is ignorant, while the other way is to believe that God does not care about mortal affairs. Similarly, we can accuse in two ways: either by saying that God does not care or by saying that God destroys. Each of these ways of accusing providence is worse, since each is not only wrong, but also blames God and blasphemes. In this way the sin is greater, and knowledge is no excuse here. Indeed, it increases guilt.
ECCLESIASTES 5:9-6:7
REMEDY AGAINST AVARICE
11. A covetous person will not be satisfied with money.
Ecclesiastes has given a remedy against the vanity of malice, and he now goes on to a remedy against the vanity of avarice. Now the remedy against avarice is to despise earthly goods. So here he encourages us to despise riches.
He does this in three ways. First, he shows that riches are not to be desired, because they do not enrich their owners.
Second, because often they are not handed on to the heirs where verse 12 reads: There is also another grievous evil.
Third, because frequently they fall into the hands of strangers where 6:1 states: There is another evil that I have seen under the sun, etc.
ECCLESIASTES 5:9-11
DESPISE RICHES, FOR THEY DO
NOT ENRICH THEIR OWNERS
12. So first, riches are to be despised, because the riches that are desired do not help and do not enrich their owners. The reason is that they are insufficient. Second, because riches bring no benefit. Third, because they afflict.
13. (Verse 9a). Riches are to be despised, because they are not sufficient for an avaricious person. And the first thing desired by the avaricious is sufficiency. So he says: A covetous man will not be satisfied with money. Sirach 14:9
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states: "The eye of the avaricious person is insatiable."
Thus, Jerome observes: "The avaricious lack both what they have and what they do not have."39 And Seneca comments: "If you want to make yourself rich, it is not necessary to accumulate money, but to curb greed."40
14. (Verses 9b-10). And the person who loves riches, etc.
Second, he speaks against the love of riches, because they bring no benefit. So he says: And the person who loves riches will reap no fruit from them, and so bring no benefit. Sirach
10:10 states: "There is no more wicked thing than to love money, for such a person puts his own soul up for sale."
Wherefore, riches are of no benefit to the covetous, because they exchange their soul for money. Thus, Matthew 16:26 reads: "For what does it profit a person, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?" As if to say, nothing. From this he draws the conclusion that it is vanity to love riches: So this also is vanity, both of sin and punishment. That it is a vanity of sin is stated in Psalm
4:3: "O you children of men and women, how long will you be dull of heart," etc.41 That it will be punished is stated in Psalm 77:33: "Their days were consumed in vanity." And Psalm 51:9 has: "Behold the person, who made not God his helper, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and prevailed in his vanity."
39On p. 46 n. 3 QuarEd refer to Epistula 100 n. 15. This is Jerome's translation of the Letter of Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria to all the bishops of Egypt. See PL 22:826: "A covetous person is always in need, knows no measure; a person for whom as much is lacking as is already possessed."
40Hugh of St. Cher, 85z comments: Et Sen. Si te vis divitem facere, non divitiis addendum est, sed cupiditati subtrahendum ("And Seneca says: If you want to make yourself rich, it is not necessary to accumulate riches, but to curb greed"). Bonaventure's text is: Et Seneca: 'Si vis te divitem facere, non pecuniae est addendum, sed cupiditati subtrahendum ("If you want to make yourself rich, it is not necessary to accumulate money, but to curb greed"). It seems clear that Bonaventure
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
15. He shows that riches bring no benefit to their owner, because they are used up and the owner no longer has anything to serve him: Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them, so that they are used up. For Seneca observes: "Wolves corpses, flies honey, this crowd follows booty, not the person."42 Job 39:30 says: "Her young ones will suck up blood and where43 the carcass will be, she is immediately there." For according to what is said in Proverbs 19:6: "Many honor the person who is mighty and are friends of the person who gives gifts." And what does it profit the owner, but that he sees the riches with his eyes?
As if to say: nothing more than it profits others, because others eat as much as he eats and so he has no more fruit than others. Rather he has damnation, since he sins more.
For Sirach 11:10 reads: "If you are rich, you will not be free from sin. If you pursue riches, you will not overtake them." adapted his quotation of Seneca from Hugh of St. Cher. On p. 46 n. 3
QuarEd provide a lengthy quotation from Seneca's Epistula moralis 119 as a possible source for Bonaventure's citation. See, for example,
Seneca ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales III, trans. Richard M. Gummere, LCL (London: Heinemann, 1925), 375: "Money never made a man rich; on the contrary, it always smites men with a greater craving for itself."
41Psalm 4:3 concludes: " . . . and why do you love vanity and seek after lying?"
42On p. 46 n. 6 QuarEd cite "Excerpt. II. (e libris Senecae) de Remediis fortuitorum." See Seneca, De remediis fortuitorum liber, Opera Omnia
2 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1892), 451: Mel muscae sequuntur, cadavera lupi, frumenta formicae, praedam sequitur ista turba, non hominem ("Flies follow honey, wolves corpses, ants grain, this crowd follows booty, not the person"). Hugh of St. Cher, 85v, d observes: "Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them: just as where they are many corpses, there is a multitude of vultures and crows and dogs. And where there are plentiful harvests, there are birds aplenty. . . .For this reason
Seneca says about the families of the rich: This crowd follows the booty, not the person." It seems that in this instance Bonaventure and Hugh of St. Cher adopt Seneca's dictum independently.
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43On p. 47 n. 6 QuarEd accurately indicate that the Vulgate reads ubicumque ("wherever") while Bonaventure has ubi ("where").
16. (Verse 11). Sweet is sleep. Third, he shows that riches are to be despised, because they afflict and allow a person no quiet. So he continues: Sleep is sweet to laborers, whether they eat little or much. And so working and laboring, they at last take their rest. Sirach 31:24 states: "Sound and wholesome sleep with a moderate person: he will sleep till morning, and his soul will be delighted with him."44 It is different for the rich person who does not rest, and so he adds: But the fullness of the rich will not allow them to sleep. Or whoever has great wealth has many worries that drive sleep away. We read in Job 15:21: "The sound of dread is always in [his] ears. And although there is peace, he . . . suspects treason."45 Thus, Ecclesiastes 2:23 above says: "All his days are full of labors46 and miseries. Even in the night he does not rest his mind." Or, because he eats and drinks much, but does not labor, he does not rest. Thus, Sirach
31:23 states: "Sleepless nights and stomach ache and twisting and turning are the intemperate man's lot,"47 and so he does not rest because of satiety.
QUESTIONS 16
But it is asked what he means by saying that riches do not profit their owner.48
44On p. 47 n. 1 QuarEd correctly mention that the Vulgate has cum ipso ("with him") while Bonaventure reads cum illo ("with him"). Hugh of St. Cher, 85v, f also cites Sirach 31:24 and reads cum ipso ("with him").
45On p. 47 n. 2 QuarEd rightly point out that Bonaventure's citation from Job 15:21 is not verbatim, for example, he does not read semper
("always") in the second sentence. Hugh of St. Cher, 86a also quotes Job 15:21 and quotes the entire verse.
46The Vulgate of Ecclesiastes 2:23 reads doloribus ("sorrows") while Bonaventure has laboribus ("labors").
47Hugh of St. Cher, 85v, f also quotes Sirach 31:23, although he erroneously refers to it as Sirach 41.
48See Ecclesiastes 5:10.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
1. For Ecclesiastes 7:12 below states: Wisdom with riches is more useful and brings more advantage to those who see the sun.
2. Also, Proverbs 13:8 reads: The ransom of a man's life are his riches.49 Therefore, riches are able to redeem a life.
Contra: 1. Everything that it is simply better to throw away than to keep is simply useless, because if the absence of something is useful, its presence is harmful. Therefore, to throw riches away is good; to keep them is useless.
2. Also, something is profitable because of its relation to the final end. Therefore, what prevents a person from reaching the end is not useful, but useless. But riches are this kind of obstacle, because it is impossible for their owner to enter heaven,50 and it is difficult to have riches and not love them. Therefore, the possession of riches is an obstacle, and they do not benefit, but obstruct.
I reply to this by saying with Bernard: "Temporal things of themselves are neither good nor evil. Their use is good, their abuse evil. To worry over them is worse. To seek them is more shameful."51 If it is asked are riches useful or useless, I say that to a person who uses them well they are useful. But to one who hoards them, they are useless. And to those who use them in a wrong way, they are harm49On p. 47 n. 4 QuarEd correctly indicate that the Vulgate reads divitiae suae ("his riches") while Bonaventure has divitiae eius ("his riches").
50See Matthew 19:23: "Amen I say to you: with difficulty will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven." Mark 10:23 and Luke 18:24 also have "with difficulty."
51On p. 47 n. 6 QuarEd quote Book II, chapter 6 n. 10 of Bernard's De Consideratione. See SBOp 3.417-418: "Now the things themselves, in as far as they relate to the good of the soul, are neither good nor evil.
But their use is good, their abuse evil. To worry over them is worse. To seek them is more shameful."
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ful. For he says in Ecclesiastes 5:12 below: Riches kept to the harm of the owner. But they are good for a person who uses them well, for example, when distributed in works of mercy. – For riches are able to redeem sin. Daniel 4:24 reads: Redeem your sins with alms. They are able to augment grace. 1 Timothy 4:7–8 states: Train yourself unto godliness, etc.52 They are valid for receiving a glorious reward. Luke 16:9 says: Make for yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity that when they fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.
1. To the objection that they are useless, because it is good to throw them away, I say that to throw them away is to give them to God, and this is a good use of riches. Hence, they are useful for throwing away, for giving to the poor, and for buying the kingdom.
2. To the objection that it is difficult to have riches and not love them, I reply that it does not follow from this that riches are an obstacle, since "every virtue is about what is difficult."53 Virtue does not impede, but helps. However, a more useful and safer use is to give them all away at one time than to give them bit by bit. To give all away avoids the dangers that occur.
52On p. 47 n. 7 QuarEd accurately mention that the Vulgate reads Exerce autem te ipsum ("But train yourself in godliness") whereas
Bonaventure has Exerce temetipsum ("Train yourself"). 1 Timothy 4:8 reads: "For bodily training is of little profit, while godliness is profitable in all respects, since it has the promise of the present life as well as that which is to come."
53On p. 47 n. 8 QuarEd cite Book II n. 3 of Aristotle's Ethica Nicomachea: "But art and virtue are always concerned with what is more difficult." See WAE, vol. 9, 1105a: "But both art and virtue are always concerned with what is harder; for even the good is better when it is harder."
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
ECCLESIASTES 5:12-19
RICHES ARE TO BE DESPISED,
BECAUSE OFTEN THEY ARE NOT
HANDED ON TO HEIRS
17. There is another grievous evil, etc. He has shown that riches do not enrich their owners, and he now moves to his second point, namely, that riches are to be despised, because often they are not passed on to their heirs. He proceeds in the following manner. First, he notes the thought of a future need in an heir. Second, from this he detests the worry and work in getting the money. Third, through this detestation he commends the enjoyment of present joy, adding, that this is a gift of divine generosity.
18. (Verses 12–15a). So first, he considers a future need for riches in an heir, because, although these riches were guarded for a long time by the father, they do not last for the son. So he says: There is also another grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, that is, an evil different from the preceding one that I said dealt with the possession of riches. Thus he says: Riches kept to the harm of the owner, because they cannot be accumulated without the evil of both punishment and sin. Sirach 31:8–9 reads:
"Blessed is the man54 who is found without blemish and who has not gone after gold nor put his trust in the treasures of money.55 Who is he? And we will praise him. He has done wonderful things in his life." Or: to the harm, for they make a person come to the evil of punishment. James
5:1 states: "Come now, you rich, weep and howl in the miseries, which will come upon you."56 Of their owner. In fact,
54On p. 48 n. 1 QuarEd correctly mention that the Vulgate has Beatus dives ("Blessed is the rich person") while Bonaventure reads Beatus vir ("Blessed is the man").
55On p. 48 n. 1 QuarEd rightly indicate that the Vulgate reads in pecunia et thesauris ("in money and treasures") while Bonaventure has in pecuniae thesauris ("in the treasures of money").
56Hugh of St. Cher, 86a also cites James 5:1.
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of the servant of the money, since avarice turns a covetous person into a slave. For Ephesians 5:5 has: "Avarice,57 which is the serving of idols."
19. Such riches, I say, are lost with very great affliction, because it is necessary that the rich person give us his wealth with sorrow. Job 27:19 says: "The rich person, when he falls asleep, will take away nothing with him."58 Not only does the owner lose them, but the son also loses them.
So he adds: He has begotten a son who will be in extremity of need. There is an extreme want, namely, the loss of all good things. Of this we read in Proverbs 6:11: ". . . Want will come . . . like a traveler," etc.59 – So riches hoarded are not60 handed on to the heir nor can the owner take them away. So he continues: As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return, not into the womb, but into the earth. And will take nothing away with him of his labor, as we read in Job 1:21: "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither." – And this is to be deeply lamented. Thus, he adds: A most deplorable evil: As he came, so shall he return. For 1 Timothy
6:7 reads: "We brought nothing into this world, and certainly we can carry nothing out."61
57On p. 48 n. 2 QuarEd accurately notice that the Vulgate has avarus ("the avaricious person") while Bonaventure reads avaritia ("avarice").
Hugh of St. Cher, 86o writes: "For avarice is idolatry, as the Apostle says in Ephesians 5."
58Hugh of St. Hugh, 86vi, cites Job 27:19 in its entirety.
59Proverbs 6:11a reads: "And want will come upon you, like a traveler, and poverty like a man armed."
60On p. 48 n. 3 QuarEd state that they have supplied this negative ("not") from MSS E and give this sense: "Riches hoarded by a father, then given in a will to a son, are lost by the father and not [yet] handed on to the heir."
61Hugh of St. Cher, 86v, f also quotes Job 1:21 and 1 Timothy 6:7 in sequence.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
20. (Verses 15b–16). What then does it profit? Second, he condemns anxiety to increase money by means of a reflection upon future want. He comes to this conclusion from the preceding, namely, that it is vain to afflict oneself with such labor in acquiring goods. So he says: What then does it profit him, that is, the rich, covetous person, that he has labored for the wind, that is, in vain, if it be true that as he came forth naked form his mother's womb, so shall he return, not only he himself, but also his son? This is equivalent to saying: It profits nothing. We read in Psalm 4:3: "O children of men and women, how long will you be dull of heart? Why do you love vanity and seek after lying?" Riches are compared to wind on account of vanity. Sirach 34:2 states: "The person who gives heed to lying visions is like a person that catches at a shadow and follows after the wind." Therefore, the person who had labored for the wind is the one who has labored to acquire wealth.
21. He adds the extent of the work: All the days of his life he eats in darkness, because of solitude. And in many cares, because of the worry. And in misery, because of the tenuous nature of his income. And in sorrow, because of cost for necessities. For he is sad because he must have something to eat. Sirach 14:10 says: "A person with an evil . . . and envious eye62 will not have his fill of bread, but will be needy63 and sorrowful at his own table." As people become rich, they are worried and in misery, for Matthew
13:22 states: "The care of this world64 and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word."
62The Vulgate reads oculus malus ad mala ("A person with an evil eye toward evil things") while Bonaventure has Oculus nequam et invidus ("A person with an evil and envious eye").
63The Vulgate does not have indigens ("needy").
64On p. 48 n. 6 QuarEd accurately indicate that the Vulgate reads saeculi istius ("of this world") while Bonaventure has huius saeculi ("of this world").
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22. (Verses 17–19). This, therefore, seemed good to me. Third, he commends the enjoyment of delight while despising the torment of avarice. For since the covetous torment themselves and get no profit from it, it seems good to eat. And so he says: This, therefore, seemed good to me that people should eat and drink with regard to external pleasure.
And enjoy the fruit of the labors, wherewith they have labored under the sun. This enjoyment refers to internal pleasure. People have to do this while it is possible, that is, all the days of the lives which God has given them, that is, not waiting for another time. And this is their portion. About all these things Isaiah 22:13 reads: "Behold, joy and gladness . . . slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die," as if that were the portion.
23. And he approves this statement, as it pleases God. So he adds: And all to whom God has given riches and substance, for these are from God. Sirach 11:14 says: "Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches, are from God." And has given them power to eat thereof, delighting exteriorly. And to enjoy their portion, being at rest in them.
And to rejoice in their labors, joyfully showing openly what he has acquired. This is the gift of God, for this power is from God, because John 15:15 states: "Without me you can do nothing." He shows that this is a great gift, because the torments of cares and worries, which are significant punishments, are tempered by pleasures. And so he adds: I say well that this is a gift of God, in so far as it frees one from the torments of avarice.
24. For they will not remember much of the days of their lives, that is, not being afflicted greatly by worries about life, because God entertains their hearts with delight. The reference here is not to spiritual delights, concerning which The Song of Songs 7:6 sings: "How beautiful are you and
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
how comely, my dearest, in delights!" Rather it refers to carnal pleasures. About these we read in Ecclesiastes 2:8 above: "I made for myself singing men and singing women and the delights of the children of men and women."
QUESTIONS 17
I. The first question concerns what he means by: This seemed good to me that people should eat.65
Contra: 1. He says later in Ecclesiastes 10:16: Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child and when your princes eat in the morning. Therefore, he contradicts himself.
II. Moreover, he says: And should rejoice.
Contra: 1. He says in Ecclesiastes 7:3 below: It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting and again in 7:5 he states: The heart of the wise is where there is mourning.
2. Also, Truth himself says in Luke 6:25: Woe to you who now laugh, for you shall . . . weep. Therefore, it is wrong to rejoice, and all of Scripture condemns carnal pleasure.
What is it then that he is commending here?
I reply to this by pointing out that the singular method used in this book is distinct from all the other books of Scripture. For he speaks as a preacher, who weaves his argument in such a way that different persons present diverse opinions. Thus, one person speaks as a carnal person while another as a wise person, as in Ecclesiastes 7:3 below: It is better to go, etc.66 But later he speaks in his
65See Ecclesiastes 5:17.
66Ecclesiastes 7:3 reads: "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting."
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own person and says in Ecclesiastes 12:13: Let us all hear together the conclusion of the discourse, where he passes sentence on those whose arguments he had earlier presented: Fear God, and God will judge everything.67 So anything read in the book that is contrary to that sentence is made void by that sentence. Such are all the things said to recommend present pleasure. And in this way the objections are answered by one solution.
Another reply can be offered, namely, that Ecclesiastes speaks in his own name in whatever is said. However, to understand what he says, attention must be paid to two things, namely, the reason for speaking and the style of speaking. Further, he uses two styles of speaking, for he says some things plainly, others ironically. A plain statement is found in Ecclesiastes 11:1 below: Cast your bread upon the running waters. An ironic statement occurs in Ecclesiastes 11:9 below: Rejoice therefore, O young man, in your youth. That this statement is ironic is clear from what shortly follows in 11:9: And know that for all these
God will bring you into judgment.
There is another variation in the style of speaking, because Ecclesiastes says some things to approve them: Do not speak anything rashly, etc.68 He says some things to report what he has done, as, for example, in Ecclesiastes
2:10 above: I withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure, etc. He does not approve this, but reports that he acted in such a way, just as the Apostle says of himself that he was a blasphemer.69 Likewise, he says some things
67See Ecclesiastes 12:13.
68Ecclesiastes 5:1.
69On p. 49 n. 6 QuarEd helpfully point to 1 Timothy 1:13: "For I formerly was a blasphemer, a persecutor and a bitter adversary."
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
to report what he has thought, as when he said above in Ecclesiastes 2:24: Is it not better to eat and drink? He often uses this style in the book as if to report his temptations. Hence this book is a kind of meditation by Solomon.
Just as a person moves from one meditation to another depending on diverse circumstances, as when someone thinks that this is good, and afterwards begins another line of thought. This is how Solomon speaks in this book.
With regard to his reason for speaking, it must be noted that he says some things simply to approve them. Other things he does not approve, but speaks about them to condemn them by comparing them to other things. An example of this occurs when a person wants to condemn avarice by praising generosity. Thus in this book the author praised the dead in comparison with the living,70 pleasure in comparison with avarice,71 for in avarice there are punishment and sin. Now he does this to call us back from avarice, not to draw us to avarice.
A further point is to be noted about his reason for speaking. That is, he addresses some words to everyone, some to a single group, whose members take something for granted.
He argues against this latter group on the basis of their supposition. An example is found in what he said above in Ecclesiastes 2:16 that there is no remembrance of the wise and of the foolish. He said this to those wise men and women who place all their reward in human praise.
Therefore, there is a general rule to be observed in his words. The rule is this: when he speaks plainly and gives approval, he is giving his own personal approval, is speak70See Ecclesiastes 4:2.
71See Ecclesiastes 5:17.
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ing to everyone. The things that he says plainly and assertively, universally and absolutely are to be taken as authoritative. But when he speaks ironically or is reporting, he is speaking to condemn others or to condemn some presupposition or to contradict others. Such statements are not assertions, but reports. For example, when he tells of his own temptation, his intention is to report. – Or something is said not absolutely, but to condemn avarice.
III. What does he mean by saying that it is a gift of God to enjoy riches.72 But this is a sin. Therefore, etc.
IV. He also says that God entertains the heart with delight during life. But this also is a sin.
I reply to III: Goods of fortune, nature, and grace are gifts of God. Goods of fortune are the least gifts, gifts of nature the middle gifts, but gifts of grace are the best gifts.
Among the gifts of nature are counted health and courage. Among the gifts of fortune are prosperity and quiet.
God gives riches to some who do not enjoy health or quiet, and such do not enjoy their goods. To some God adds quiet and health, and such people have the ability to enjoy their gifts. And since they are gifts of God, so too is the ability to enjoy them. But to abuse the ability to enjoy is evil and is not from God.
I reply to IV: When he says that God entertains the heart with delight, the answer should be that God does some things in mercy, other things by abandoning people
72Ecclesiastes 5:18.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
to a just judgment as it is said to deliver up the wise of the world to a reprobate sense.73 In this way God is said to entertain the heart with delights74 by allowing it to be entertained by a just judgment and to forget eternal realities.
73On p. 49 n. 10 QuarEd accurately intimate that Bonaventure has adapted Romans 1:28: "God has delivered them up to a reprobate sense."
A major change is to read sapientes mundi ("the wise of the world") for the Vulgate's illos ("them").
74Ecclesiastes 5:19.