Scholia on Proverbs 1 part 3/5

But the souls of the effeminate will hunger. The effeminate man is he who is neither able to teach another nor willing to learn from another.

He who does not heal himself in his works is brother to him who destroys himself. And Paul says:

"If, then, anyone purifies himself, he will be a vessel useful to the master." — "From the greatness of strength is the name of the Lord;"

and the righteous, running to it, are exalted. The name of the Lord signifies the knowledge of God.

And it is through the upright life that the righteous run to it;

Before destruction the heart of a man is exalted, and before glory it is humbled. Just as destruction follows upon pride, so glory follows upon humility.

He who answers a word before he has heard it, it is folly and reproach to him. This saying is to be used against those who have not received knowledge from God, yet undertake to teach others.

"to hear the voice of your praise, and then to recount to others also your wonders."

And again Solomon says:

"What your eyes have seen, tell." — "A prudent servant calms the wrath of a man;"

But who will endure a faint-hearted man? Just as our Lord is said to become, toward those who transgress, a leopard lying in wait, and, toward those who disobey, a stone of stumbling, so too is the faint-hearted man toward those who sin.

One may also call "faint-hearted" the evil one, and every demon that has fallen away from virtue and knowledge.

A man's gift enlarges him and seats him among the mighty. Here he called the upright life "a man's gift," which enlarges him and renders him worthy of the fullness of God — which he calls the "seat of the holy powers";

for the seat of the mind is the best disposition, keeping him who is seated hard to move, or immovable.

and he defines it as being among the mighty powers. Knowledge puts an end to folly;

for this is the portion of rational nature.

Death and life are in the hand of the tongue;

...receptive of life — from which facts we conclude that it has come to possess self-determination.

He who has found a good wife has found graces;

1. But he who holds fast to an adulteress is foolish and ungodly. He who has found good wisdom has found graces;

but he who holds fast to vice is foolish and ungodly.

Wealth adds many friends;

but the poor man is abandoned even by the friend he has. The wealth of knowledge and wisdom adds to us many angels;

but the impure man is separated even from the angel given to him from childhood.

For spiritual friendship is virtue and the knowledge of God, through which we are joined in friendship to the holy powers, since indeed men who repent become a cause of joy to the angels.

Thus also the Savior calls his servants friends, when he once deemed them worthy of the greater contemplation.

Thus also Abraham, having grown rich in knowledge, set out that mystical table for the friends who appeared to him at noon.

But Saul, on account of his vice, is separated even from the friend he had;

for it is written: "and the spirit of God departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented Saul" — calling the angel "the spirit of the Lord";

"for," it says, "who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire." And that angels have been entrusted with human beings, the Lord teaches in the Gospels;

"See," he says, "that you do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels continually behold the face of my Father who is in heaven." And again, Jacob:

"The angel who delivered me from all evils."

"And the angel who spoke within me said..." "A false witness shall not go unpunished;"

"and he who accuses unjustly shall not escape." As many as, being ignorant of the principles concerning judgment and providence, blaspheme the Creator — these accuse unjustly.

And again, as many as, being troubled by their own passions, think that virtue is unattainable — these accuse unjustly him who gave the law.

A good conception will draw near to those who know it;

"but a prudent man will find it." Here he has named the knowledge of God "conception," and those who know it, those pure in heart.

"He who does much evil brings wickedness to completion;"

"but he who provokes with words shall not be saved." The passion-laden thoughts provoke the soul toward wickedness.

"Delight is not fitting for a fool." Neither the intelligible delight nor the sensible delight is fitting for the fool.

For the one he will trample underfoot, being a pleasure-loving swine;

but by the sensible delight his flesh will be stirred.

"but his boast comes upon the lawless." If he who boasts rightly boasts in the Lord, and our Lord is Wisdom, then he who boasts rightly boasts in Wisdom.

The boast, then, of the patient and merciful man — which is his wisdom and his knowledge — comes upon the lawless, delivering them from wickedness: now contingently, but necessarily in the age to come.

"A king's threat is like the roaring of a lion;"

"but as dew upon the grass, so is his cheerfulness." Our Lord becomes a consuming fire and a raging lion toward sinners, burning up wood, hay, and stubble, and consuming the flesh that wars against the spirit;

but light and dew toward those who act rightly, showing them the inner principles of created things, quenching the fiery darts of the evil one, and cooling the heat that arises from the practical life.

"Prayers from a harlot's wages are not pure." He has called the impure soul a harlot, and named her wage the "condition," from which prayers do not become pure.

"Fathers divide house and possessions among their children;"

"but the knowledge of God belongs to the fathers;"

but to give wisdom to the children belongs to the Lord.

For here he calls Wisdom "a wife";

"For love wisdom," he says, "and she will keep you;"

"Honor her, that she may embrace you." "He who keeps the commandment keeps his own soul;"

"but he who despises his own ways shall perish." The commandments, in relation to God who gave them, are called "commandments";

but in relation to the mind that walks in them, they are called "ways."

And again, since they were given with heaven and earth as witnesses, the commandments are called "testimonies";

therefore the mind that receives them is called a "witness," who, if he falsifies them, will not go unpunished.

"He who has mercy on the poor lends to God;"

"and according to his gift he will repay him." Here he has called "gift" the purity of heart;

for in proportion to our freedom from passion we are counted worthy of knowledge.

"A man of evil mind will suffer much loss;"

"but if he is corrupt, he shall forfeit his soul as well." I think that the "much loss" comprises the deprivation of the contemplation of created things, while the "forfeiture of the soul" signifies the effacement of the natural conceptions concerning God, the soul having fallen altogether into irrationality.

And the Savior too says in the Gospels:

"What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul and forfeits it?"

But here "loss" signifies ignorance of things corporeal and incorporeal;

while the "forfeiture" represents the ultimate irrationality.

"Hear, son, the instruction of your father, that you may become wise in your latter days." After right conduct comes knowledge.

For "in the latter days" here does not signify time, but the purity that follows the practical virtues.

"The fear of the Lord leads to life for a man;"

"but the man without fear will lodge in places where knowledge is not visited." If the fear of the Lord leads to life for a man, and the fear of the Lord is instruction and wisdom, then the life of the man is instruction and wisdom.

Christ, then, is instruction and wisdom.

To know instruction and wisdom, therefore, is to know Christ.

The man without fear, then, will be in wickedness and ignorance, in which Christ is not.

"He who unjustly hides his hands in his bosom will not even bring them to his mouth." He who does not live rightly hides his hands unjustly in his soul, unwilling to work his own land or to be filled with bread;

for the practical virtues hold the place of hands, offering to our mouth the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world.

"He who dishonors his father and rejects his mother shall be put to shame and become reproached." Through transgression of the law he dishonors God, and also rejects the mother, which is instruction — since indeed the righteous man is born unto life.

And righteousness consists of all the virtues.

"A son who neglects to keep his father's instruction will meditate on evil sayings." The impure thoughts are evil sayings, begotten in the soul of him who has not kept the commandments of the heavenly Father.

"Wine is intemperate, and drunkenness insolent." If the wine of dragons is wrath, and wine is intemperate, then wrath is intemperate, making men intemperate; and anger is insolent;

for this drunkenness naturally arises from boiling wrath.

But if the Nazirites, according to the law, abstain from wine, then it has been ordained by law that the Nazirites are to be free from wrath.

"The threat of a king does not differ from the wrath of a lion;"

"but he who provokes him sins against his own soul." Here he has plainly called Christ "king";

for he who provokes him through sins, sins against his own soul.

"The lazy man, when reproached, is not ashamed;"

— in the case of those who worked their own land for the six years and fed widows and orphans in the seventh year.

"He who conducts himself blamelessly in righteousness will leave his children blessed." Those, clearly, whom he has begotten according to virtue.

α. "Of him who reviles father or mother, the lamp will be extinguished;"

"and the pupils of his eyes shall see darkness." The same Christ can, according to a distinct conception, be both father and mother;

father of those who have the Spirit of adoption, but mother of those who need milk and not solid food.

For indeed Christ, speaking in Paul, became a father to the Ephesians, revealing to them the mysteries of wisdom, but a mother to the Corinthians, giving them milk to drink.

β. "A portion eagerly gotten at the beginning will not be blessed in the end." That which for a season makes your portion rich for your throat;

but later you will find it more bitter than gall.

"But wait for the Lord, that he may help you." Do not say, moved by pride:

"I alone will make war upon my enemies;"

but wait for the Lord, that he may help you.

"I will not hope in my bow, nor will my sword save me." And again:

"A horse is a vain hope for salvation." "And except the Lord build the house and guard the city..."

"A great and small weight, and double measures — both are unclean before the Lord." I think that the one called by some "the bold-coward" is a great and small weight; and, in general, I think every excess and deficiency is a great and small weight.

He who wishes to be treated well by another, but does not himself choose likewise to give rest to others, has double measures, not obeying the commandment that says:

"Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do you likewise to them." The ear hears and the eye sees—

—both are the works of the Lord. It is not the eye that sees wickedly that is the Lord's work, but the eye that sees;

and it is not the ear that hears wickedly that is the Lord's work, but the ear that hears;

and the same must be said likewise concerning the other members of the body.

You will use this saying against those who slander this body of ours and insult its Maker.

Do not love to speak evil, lest you be uprooted;

but open your eyes, and you will be filled with bread. Through the virtues we open the eyes of the soul;

and through wisdom we are filled with intelligible bread.

A double weight-stone is an abomination to the Lord, and a deceitful balance is not good before him. He calls the deceitful balance the intellect, which is by nature disposed to judge matters rightly, but inclines away through the impulse of free will.

By the Lord are a man's steps rightly directed;

but how could a mortal understand his ways? He who is still mortal, and has not died together with Christ, cannot understand the ways of the Lord.

It is a snare for a man to hastily consecrate something of his own;

for after the vow, repentance follows. Repentance over good things does not befall the righteous, but the unrighteous.

Let the unrighteous, then, promise nothing to God without due consideration;

for after the vow, repentance follows. A wise king winnows the wicked, and brings the wheel over them. Separating the chaff from the wheat—

Make them like a wheel. The breath of men is the light of the Lord—the lamp that searches the inward chambers of the belly. If the light of the Lord is the knowledge of the Lord, and the light of the Lord is the breath of men, then the knowledge of the Lord is the breath of men.

But he named 'lamp' the devil, who seems to shine in ignorance, emptying the mind of good things and transforming himself into an angel of light.

To do justice and to speak truth is more pleasing to God than the blood of sacrifices. This saying rejects sacrifice through irrational animals;

for pure and right are his works. If the works of God are pure and right, and the mind is one of his works, then the mind was created pure and right by the Lord.

It is better to dwell in an open corner than in whitewashed rooms with injustice and in a shared house. He set the open-air corner in opposition to the whitewashed and shared house.

But if the whitewashed and shared house is vice, then the open-air corner is virtue.

The open-air corner, then, is practice that touches upon contemplation and is illumined by the sun of righteousness.

And Paul rightly called the high priest of the Jews a whitewashed wall that was about to be struck by God.

And the Savior too, in the Gospels, called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs.

And it is well said 'at the corner,' where lies the stone which was rejected by the builders and became the head of the corner.

And he called 'common' that which does not belong to the one God.

A secret gift turns away wrath;

but he who spares gifts stirs up strong anger. A gift is secret so that what the right hand does, the left hand may not know.

A man who wanders from the way of righteousness will rest in the assembly of the giants. The assembly of the giants is vice and ignorance.

Better to dwell in a desert land than with a contentious, talkative, and irascible woman. And David also says:

'In a dry and trackless and waterless land—thus I appeared to you in the sanctuary.' The desert land, then, is virtue, which does not have dwelling in it the old men who are corrupted according to the desires of deceit.

Therefore the devil finds no rest in it, since he passes through waterless places seeking rest and does not find it;

for he is king of all that are in the waters;

'Narrow,' it says, 'are the dwellings of her house.' But if this is so, then the woman who is contentious, talkative, and irascible is vice, which makes the one who dwells with her contentious, talkative, and irascible.

A desirable treasure rests upon the mouth of the wise—upon the mouth of the wise:

but foolish men will swallow it up. The wisdom of the Lord rests in the heart of the wise;

but foolish men corrupt it.

The wise man scaled fortified cities and pulled down the stronghold in which the ungodly trusted. Wisdom is a fortified city, in which the wise dwell, casting down arguments and every height raised up against the knowledge of God.

He who guards his mouth and keeps watch over his tongue preserves his soul from affliction. 'Mouth' and 'tongue' signify soul and mind:

and by 'soul' they mean anger and desire, which some call the passible part of the soul.

The ungodly man desires evil desires all day long;

but the righteous man is merciful and shows compassion without restraint. It belongs to the angels never to desire evil desires;

it belongs to human beings sometimes to desire and sometimes not to desire evil desires;

and it belongs to demons always to desire evil desires.

For 'the whole day' signifies 'throughout life.'

Such also is the meaning of 'be in the fear of the Lord all the day,' instead of 'throughout life.'

A horse is made ready for the day of battle;

but help is from the Lord. He calls the mind a horse;

for, it says, 'you will mount your horses, and your riding is salvation';

and concerning Paul the Lord says, 'to bear my name.'

A good name is more to be chosen than great riches;

and good favor is better than silver and gold. He called 'a good name' the virtue signified by its own proper name;

for that name is good which possesses the good that it signifies.

Thus we shall not praise an unjust woman called 'Righteousness,' but rather the one who possesses righteousness, even if she is named 'Injustice.'

The rich and the poor met one another;

but the Lord made them both. The rich man, through acts of almsgiving, purifies his anger, acquiring love;

...and he is taught to be humble-minded.

The offspring of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and wealth and glory and life. 'These are the generations of Noah'; 'these are the generations of Abraham.'

Thorns and snares are in crooked ways;

but he who guards his own soul will keep far from them. And the Lord says to Adam:

'Thorns and thistles the earth will bring forth for you'—that is, the soul.

By 'thorns and thistles' he means sins, from which also the crown of Christ was woven;

for he himself took away the sin of the world.

The rich will rule over the poor, and servants will lend to their own masters. In the age to come, those who have been enriched in every way, with all knowledge and all wisdom, will rule over the impure and those deprived of this wealth.

Who the servants are, and who the masters, it is not necessary to make public at present, since the account concerning them is mystical and rather profound.

God blesses a cheerful man and a giver;

but he will bring to an end the futility of his works. The Lord brings the futility of works to an end through virtue and through knowledge.

He who gives gifts secures for himself victory and honor, yet takes away the soul from those who possess it. He calls man's gifts the virtues, by which, conquering the devil, he renders himself precious to God and takes his own soul away from the demons who had possessed it.

Cast the pestilent man out of the council, and strife will depart along with him;

"For whenever he sits in council, he dishonors all." By 'council' he means the worst condition, from which the wise Solomon wishes man to be cast out through spiritual teaching.

But 'strife' signifies contentiousness.

He may also mean by 'the pestilent man' the devil, whom one must drive out of the soul.

For if he sits within it, through impurity he dishonors all the right thoughts.

And the Apostle too shows the soul to be a council, in that he introduces thoughts accusing and defending;

for, it says, their thoughts meanwhile accuse or else excuse one another;

and where there is accusation and defense, there also is a council.

"With his lips a king shepherds;"

"but the eyes of the Lord will preserve understanding;"

"but the lawless man despises words." The Lord himself, who preserves our souls, also shepherds us through spiritual knowledge — knowledge which the one who transgresses his law despises.

It should be noted that Christ, though he is king, is said through condescension to shepherd us;

"for I," he says, "am the good shepherd." But if he is king of those who reign, and shepherd of sheep, then he will one day be king alone, when the sheep have passed over into royal rank.

"The slothful man makes excuses and says:"

"A lion is in the ways, and murderers in the streets." Our enemy the devil goes about like a lion seeking whom he may devour; fearing him, the slothful man shrinks back from the labor of the virtues.

"A deep pit is the mouth of the lawless man;"

"and he who is hated by the Lord will fall into it." Job did not fall into it because he was hated by the Lord, but for the sake of testing.

"Folly is bound fast to the heart of a youth;"

"but the rod and discipline are far from him." Far from the heart of the fool is the rod that comes from the root of Jesse.

"He who defrauds the poor multiplies his own evils,"

"but he gives to the rich to his own diminishing." Just as the devil defrauds us, taking from us the virtues which he did not give us, so also we defraud him, taking from him the evils which we did not give him.

And insofar as we take evils from him, we take them as from one poor in virtues;

but insofar as we give our virtues to him, to our own diminishing, we give as to one rich in evil.

One of the elders used to say that we are the defrauders who defraud Christ, who became poor for our sake and owes us nothing, taking much from him and giving it to Satan, to the debasement of our own souls.

"But apply your heart, that you may know that they are good." This man hears the words of God, who does the things commanded by them;

"for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified." "And you, write them down for yourself three times, unto counsel and knowledge, upon the breadth of your heart." He who widens his heart through purity will understand the words of God: the practical, the natural, and the theological.

For the whole undertaking of Scripture is divided threefold into the ethical, the natural, and the theological;

and to the first corresponds Proverbs, to the second Ecclesiastes, and to the third the Song of Songs.

"Do not give yourself as surety, out of shame before a person's face;"

"for if you have nothing from which to repay, they will take the covering that is under your ribs." Those who take on base thoughts, and by this honor the evil one, let them strive, as far as they are able, through good thoughts to repay the worse ones.

For if they are not able to do this, they will take the covering that is under the ribs of the soul, that is, virtue.

For this is called the garment of the mind that stands firm in righteousness;

but for the mind that has otherwise fallen through base thoughts, it is called a covering laid beneath.

"Do not remove the eternal boundaries which your fathers set." He who shifts the boundaries of piety makes it either superstition or impiety, and he who shifts the boundaries of courage renders it either rashness or cowardice.

And likewise it must be understood also concerning the other virtues, and concerning doctrines, and concerning faith itself.

But this must especially be observed concerning the Holy Trinity:

for he who does not confess the Holy Spirit as God dissolves baptism;

and he who names certain others as gods introduces a multitude of gods.

"If you sit down to dine at the table of a ruler, understand intelligently what is set before you."

"But if you are more insatiable, do not desire his foods;"

"for these belong to a false life." For not all can receive the more mystical sense of Scripture.

The divine Scripture must be understood intellectually and spiritually;

for the sensory knowledge that follows the historical sense is not the true knowledge.

"Do not dine with an envious man;"

"nor desire his foods;"

"for just as if one were to swallow a hair, so he eats and drinks;"

"nor bring him in to yourself and eat your morsel with him;"

"for he will vomit it up, and will ruin your good words." If the envious man eats the bread of impiety and gets drunk on lawless wine, and one ought not dine with him, then one ought not oneself be impious and lawless;

for these vices corrupt spiritual knowledge.

"Say nothing into the ears of a fool, lest he scorn your prudent words." Say nothing prudent, that is, deep and mystical, to a fool;

for one ought not cast pearls before swine.

"Do not move the eternal boundaries which your fathers set;"

"and do not enter into the possession of orphans." The possession of orphans is the vice on account of which they were deprived of the Father who is in the heavens.

"Let not your heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the Lord all the day." If it is by the fear of the Lord that everyone turns away from evil, he rightly exhorts us to turn away from all evil throughout our whole life.

"For if you keep these, you will have descendants;"

"and your hope shall not be cut off." By 'descendants' he means the right thoughts and the spiritual contemplations of the mind.

Therefore the soul that does not have these descendants — which by nature are born from the spiritual bridegroom — is also childless.

"For every drunkard and fornicator will become poor, and every sluggard will wear torn and ragged garments." A torn and ragged garment is not a wedding garment.

Having called the soul the mother of the mind —

for she, it says, brings the mind forth into the light through the practical virtues.

But by 'soul' he meant the passible part of the soul, which is divided into the irascible and the desiring.

For through courage, he says, and self-control, we acquire wisdom and the knowledge of God;

and courage and self-control are the virtues of the irascible part and the desiring part respectively.

"Is it not for those who linger over wine? Is it not for those who seek out where drinking-parties happen?" These wines are from the Sodomite vine.

"Do not be drunk with wine, but converse with righteous men, and converse in your walks." The mind that converses in its walks walks worthily of the calling with which it was called.

"For if you give your eyes to bowls and cups" — sin in thought resembles a bowl, but sin in deed resembles a cup.

"Afterward you will walk more naked than a pestle." The pestle strikes many times and does not open the place which it strikes.

But to the disciples the Lord says:

"Knock, and it shall be opened to you." "Your eyes, when they see a strange woman, then your mouth will speak crooked things." The mind that has received an alien thought will meditate on evil thoughts;

but he who guards himself will inherit life.

"And you will lie down as in the heart of the sea, and as a helmsman in a great storm." Carried about by every wind of teaching.

'When will it be dawn, that I may go and seek those with whom I shall associate?' The dawn of the soul is the recognition of sin.

'War is waged with piloting, and help comes with a counseling heart.' Those who are shipwrecked concerning the faith do not wage war with piloting against the spirits opposed to theology.

It is possible to say this same thing also concerning every virtue:

for there is shipwreck also concerning self-control, and concerning love, and concerning freedom from love of money;

and likewise concerning each doctrine of the catholic and apostolic Church, shipwreck occurs.

But if it is necessary to fight against the adversaries with piloting, then our life on earth is like a naval battle.

'Wisdom and good understanding are in the gates of the wise.' The gates of the wise are the practical virtues, through which the wisdom of God enters.

'Uncleanness will be defiled to a pestilent man, in an evil day and in a day of affliction, until it fails.' If vice diminishes virtue, then clearly virtue also destroys vice;

and this will happen in the age to come, until vice fails.

For he has put 'will be defiled' in place of 'will be destroyed';

and uncleanness is destroyed either by the practical life or by sharp punishment.

'Rescue those being led to death, and ransom those being slain; do not spare.' This saying must be applied to those who have been deemed worthy of knowledge and yet neglect the teaching, since many are being led away by vice to death.

'Eat honey, my son, for the honeycomb is good, that your throat may be sweetened.' He who is benefited by the divine Scriptures eats honey;

but he who draws the (inner) principles out from the very realities — the same realities from which the holy prophets and apostles also received them — eats the honeycomb.

And to eat honey belongs to everyone who wishes, but the honeycomb belongs only to the one who is pure.

'Do not bring an impious man to the pasture of the righteous, nor be deceived by the filling of the belly.' Do not betray God for the sake of pleasure;