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And the inscription refers to the leader of the church. For who else could be the true Preacher, the one gathering the scattered into one fullness and assembling into one congregation those who have been led astray in many places by various deceits, if not the true king of Israel, the Son of God, to whom Nathanael said, "You are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel"? If therefore these words are of the king of Israel, and this same one is also the son of God, as the gospel says, therefore the same one is also called Preacher. And perhaps it is not without reason that we refer the meaning of the inscription to this thought, so that through this we may learn that the power of these words refers to him who established the church through the gospel. For "the words," it says, "of the Preacher, the son of David." Thus also 5.281 Matthew names him at the beginning of the gospel, calling the Lord the son of David. Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, all is vanity. Vain is understood as that which has no substance, which has its being in the mere utterance of the word; but a substantial reality is not indicated by the meaning of the name, but it is some idle and empty sound, uttered in the form of some word through syllables, striking the ear at random without meaning, such as some people invent when playing, the meaning of which is nothing. This then is one kind of vanity. And another vanity is called the uselessness of things done with some effort toward no purpose, like the constructions of children in the sand and archery against the stars and the hunting of the winds and the runner's contest against his own shadow, when he strives to step on the head of the shadow and if we find any other such thing among things done at random, all of which fall under the word of vanity. And often that is also called vain in common usage, when someone looking toward some purpose and, as something profitable for the matter at hand, pursues and does each thing with effort, then when something contrary has happened the labor comes to be useless, and then the fact that the effort 5.282 advanced to no successful outcome is signified by the word of vanity. For in such cases common usage says, "I have labored in vain" and "I have hoped in vain" and "For a vain cause I have undergone many toils." And so that we do not go through each case individually, in which the name of vanity is properly used, we will summarize in brief the concept of this word. Vanity is either a word without thought or a useless matter or an insubstantial plan or an effort having no end or generally that which has no existence in any profitable thing. If therefore we have now understood the concept of the vain, it should be examined what is meant by the vanity of vanities. But perhaps the sought-after meaning would become more familiar to us, if we were to examine together the scriptural usage concerning things understood in a better sense. The doing of necessary and expedient things is called a work by scripture, but the surpassing among earnest things, as many as look to the worship of God itself, is called a work of works, as history shows, the Word showing us, I think, through some analogy from the work of works, what is more preferable among earnest things. For what relation the effort in works has to complete idleness, the same relation to the remaining works has the activity towards the higher and more preferable of earnest things. Thus also something is called holy by scripture; and again 5.283 holy of holies, so that by an equal measure the holy surpasses the profane in holiness, and in turn the holy of holies surpasses this, being considered as transcendent in sanctification. Therefore, what we have been taught concerning the better case of scriptural usage, that by such a form it signifies the intensification of the underlying meaning, if we understand this also in the case of the vanity of vanities, we will not be mistaken. For it says not simply that the things that appear among existing things are vain, but that they are so according to a certain excess of the meaning of "vain," as if one were to say of the

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καὶ πρὸς τὸν καθηγεμόνα τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ βλέπει. ὁ γὰρ ἀληθινὸς ἐκκλησιαστὴς ὁ τὰ ἐσκορπισμένα συνάγων εἰς ἓν πλήρωμα καὶ τοὺς πολλαχῇ κατὰ τὰς ποικίλας ἀπάτας πεπλανημένους εἰς ἕνα σύλλογον ἐκκλησιάζων τίς ἂν ἄλλος εἴη εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀληθινὸς βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, πρὸς ὃν εἶπεν ὁ Ναθαναήλ, ὅτι Σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, σὺ εἶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ; εἰ οὖν τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα τοῦ βασιλέως ἐστὶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς οὗτος καὶ θεοῦ υἱός ἐστι, καθὼς λέγει τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ἄρα ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ ἐκκλησιαστὴς ὀνομάζεται. τάχα δὲ οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος εἰς ταύτην τὴν διάνοιαν τὴν τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς ἀναφέρομεν σημασίαν, ἵνα διὰ τούτου μάθωμεν, ὅτι εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν πηξάμενον ἡ τῶν ῥημάτων τούτων ἀναφέρεται δύναμις. Ῥήματα γάρ, φησίν, ἐκκλησιαστοῦ υἱοῦ ∆αβίδ. οὕτω δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ 5.281 Ματθαῖος ἐν ἀρχαῖς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου κατονομάζει, υἱὸν ∆αβὶδ λέγων τὸν κύριον. Ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων, εἶπεν ὁ ἐκκλησιαστής, τὰ πάντα ματαιότης. μάταιον νοεῖται τὸ ἀνυπόστατον, ὃ ἐν μόνῃ τῇ τοῦ ῥήματος προφορᾷ τὸ εἶναι ἔχει· πρᾶγμα δὲ ὑφεστὸς τῇ τοῦ ὀνόματος σημασίᾳ οὐ συνεμφαίνεται, ἀλλ' ἔστι τις ψόφος ἀργὸς καὶ διάκενος, ἐν σχήματι λέξεώς τινος διὰ συλλαβῶν προφερόμενος, εἰκῇ προσπίπτων τῇ ἀκοῇ χωρὶς σημασίας, οἷα δὴ παίζοντές τινες ὀνοματοποιοῦσιν, ὧν τὸ σημαινόμενόν ἐστιν οὐδέν. ἓν μὲν οὖν τοῦτο εἶδος τῆς ματαιότητος. ἄλλη δὲ ματαιότης λέγεται τῶν κατά τινα σπουδὴν πρὸς οὐδένα σκοπὸν γινομένων ἡ ἀχρηστία, ὡς τὰ ἐν ψάμμῳ τῶν παίδων οἰκοδομήματα καὶ ἡ κατὰ τῶν ἄστρων τοξεία καὶ ἡ τῶν ἀνέμων θήρα καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν σκιὰν τοῦ δρομέως ἅμιλλα, ὅταν φιλονεικῇ τῆς τοῦ σκιάσμα τος κορυφῆς ἐπιβῆναι καὶ εἴ τι τοιοῦτον ἕτερον ἐν τοῖς εἰκῇ γινομένοις εὑρίσκομεν, ἅπερ πάντα τῷ τῆς ματαιότητος ὑπάγεται ῥήματι. ἔστι δὲ πολλάκις κἀκεῖνο μάταιον ἐν τῇ συνηθείᾳ λεγόμενον, ὅταν πρός τινα σκοπόν τις ὁρῶν καὶ ὥς τι λυσιτελὲς τῷ προκειμένῳ κατὰ σπουδὴν μετιὼν ἕκαστα πράττῃ, εἶτά τινος ἐναντίου γεγενημένου εἰς ἀνόνητον περιέλθῃ ὁ πόνος, καὶ τότε τὸ ἐπὶ μηδενὶ κατορθώματι τὴν σπουδὴν 5.282 προχωρῆσαι τῷ ῥήματι τοῦ ματαίου διασημαίνεται. λέγει γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἡ συνήθεια τὸ Μάτην ἐκοπίασα καὶ Μάτην ἐπήλπισα καὶ Ἐπὶ ματαίῳ τοὺς πολλοὺς ὑπέστην καμάτους. καὶ ἵνα μὴ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον διεξίωμεν, ἐφ' οἷς τὸ ὄνομα τῆς ματαιότητος κυρίως λέγεται, ἐν ὀλίγῳ τὴν ἔννοιαν τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης περιληψόμεθα. ματαιότης ἐστὶν ἢ ῥῆμα ἀδιανόητον ἢ πρᾶγμα ἀνόνητον ἢ βουλὴ ἀνυπόστατος ἢ σπουδὴ πέρας οὐκ ἔχουσα ἢ καθόλου τὸ ἐπὶ παντὶ λυσιτελοῦντι ἀνύπαρκτον. Εἰ οὖν ἤδη νενόηται ἡμῖν τοῦ ματαίου ἡ ἔννοια, ἐξεταστέον ἂν εἴη, τί βούλεται ἡ ματαιότης τῶν ματαιοτήτων. τάχα δ' ἂν ἡμῖν γνωριμώτερον τὸ ζητούμενον νόημα γένοιτο, εἰ τὴν γρα φικὴν συνήθειαν ἐπὶ τῶν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον νοουμένων συνεξε τάσαιμεν. ἡ τῶν ἀναγκαίων τε καὶ συμφερόντων πρᾶξις ἔργον παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς ὀνομάζεται, ἀλλὰ τὰ ὑπερβαίνοντα τῶν σπουδαζομένων, ὅσα εἰς αὐτὴν ὁρᾷ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ λατρείαν, ἔργον ἔργων λέγεται, καθὼς ἡ ἱστορία δηλοῖ, δεικνύντος, οἶμαι, τοῦ λόγου διά τινος ἀναλογίας ἡμῖν ἐκ τοῦ ἔργου τῶν ἔργων, τί τὸ ἐν τοῖς σπουδαζομένοις ἐστὶ προτιμότερον. ὃν γὰρ ἐπέχει λόγον πρὸς τὴν καθόλου ἀργίαν ἡ περὶ τὰ ἔργα σπουδή, τὸν αὐτὸν ἔχει λόγον πρὸς τὰ λοιπὰ ἔργα ἡ πρὸς τὰ ὑψηλότερα καὶ προτιμότερα τῶν σπουδαζομένων ἐνέργεια. οὕτως καὶ ἅγιόν τι παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς λέγεται· καὶ πάλιν 5.283 ἁγίων ἅγιον, ὡς ἴσῳ τῷ μέτρῳ τοῦ τε ἐξαγίστου τὸ ἅγιον ὑπερέχειν ἐν ἁγιότητι καὶ τούτου πάλιν τὸ τῶν ἁγίων ἅγιον, τὸ καθ' ὑπέρθεσιν ἐν ἁγιασμῷ θεωρούμενον. ἅπερ οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ κρείττονος ἐδιδάχθημεν λόγου τῆς γραφικῆς συνηθείας τῷ τοιούτῳ εἴδει τὴν ἐπίτασιν τοῦ ὑποκειμένου νοήματος σημαινούσης, τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν ματαιοτήτων ματαιότη τος νοοῦντες οὐ σφαλησόμεθα. λέγει γὰρ οὐχ ἁπλῶς εἶναι μάταια τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὖσι φαινόμενα, ἀλλὰ καθ' ὑπέρθεσίν τινα τῆς κατὰ τὸ μάταιον σημασίας εἶναι τοιαῦτα, ὡς εἴ τις λέγοι τοῦ