Expositio in Proverbia

 the things that have fallen, that is, from the pretext of Uriah. How then does Solomon say before: “He who rejoices 17.165 at another's destruction wi

 would have difficulty, just as the desire for money a pure mind draws near to wisdom since it knows well but the impure will be far from it. Adam i

 but here, that he names the mind a good gift, on account of the one who unjustly receives gifts in his bosom, and is not prospered for those unjust g

 of virtue And this persuades me, in a small way, that the rich man being judged in Hades for his wickedness was not completely given over to every ev

 to you, You shall not be angry. It must be noted here that he calls the natural harmonious movement of the ant, wisdom for indeed one wiser than a wi

 for he was the lamp that was burning and shining a light, the New Testament For I, he says, am the light of the world a refutation of evil things,

 of the kemphos fish in the sea, flying in schools here and there which the sailors, having baited a many-hooked line, catch and not only does it not

 come to the introductions but when they become wise, and are strengthened, reprove them. And Christ, when his disciples were still young, did not rep

 of the evil one. But the impious who sin will not only fall from the kingdom, but they will inhabit the fire and not the earth. Instead of, he is full

 be not silent to me, says David, and I will be like those who go down into the pit. A lawless man will be passed over in silence by God, that is, he w

 sinning. Here he calls the senses ways but he who guards them, keeps his own soul from death unto life for life is the Holy Trinity that gives life

 afflicted, distressed? And how will the unbeliever not have an obol, when many unbelievers are clothed with much wealth, I mean kings and rulers of th

 the love of God for humanity which also brings us to God the Father himself, as sons weaned, and desiring spiritual solid food so that just as his S

 your eyes, say: for many, even without having begun virtue, not only advise others to act rightly, but also compel and exhort them. Here he says man

 body is profitable to the foolish man for he will trample it underfoot, being a pleasure-loving pig and by sensible luxury his flesh will be moved t

 that is, to imitate the virtues of the righteous and prophets who shone in the six ages before the coming of Christ, who also feed the widow and orpha

 of the Lord, is the knowledge of the Lord, and the light of the Lord is the breath of men, therefore the knowledge of the Lord is the breath of men b

 He calls the mind a horse, which is warred against by the devil, and which wars in return For you will mount, he says, upon your horses and your rid

 he slanders us to God, taking from us the virtues which he has not given us, so also we slander him taking from him the vices which we have not given

 But do not enter into the land of those who have orphaned themselves from God, who possess wickedness as the property of demons, on account of which t

 but vice diminishes virtue, and virtue obviously corrupts vice and this will happen in the age to come, until vice ceases for shall be defiled, in

 earth-born nations, and having strengthened them with virtues in faith in him, Christ the God, and having stored up the heavenly water that which flo

 is, the law given to us by him in righteousness and those who gouge out the eyes of the impious, he called ravens but those who devour him whole, he

 of lands, he keeps his own justly. Cast a precious sardius into a golden earring, and the wisdom of the Lord into a dispassionate and obedient mind to

 defines servants or those under his hand for the rod is a symbol of punishment. From his own feet, etc. Here he calls servants 'feet' and from them

 to the devil who made it, to yield as to a brother, so as to be destroyed with him. -Better is he who is joined to me through true knowledge, than he

 lawless, are the doctrines of demons, which the instructed son does not obey and by son he means the mind but he who restrains his mind from being c

 of blood are the demons, who killed those living in Christ by the shedding of blood but the upright will seek out his soul these are they who wish t

 a soul of abundance for its bodily house. He says that the soul of the diligent man has the Church as a tree of knowledge and a tree of life of knowl

to you, You shall not be angry. It must be noted here that he calls the natural harmonious movement of the ant, wisdom; for indeed one wiser than a wise man is called wiser; how is it not under a master, if indeed all things are servants of God? Or perhaps God is called master in two ways, as creator, and as the one who is known? Therefore Paul also writes; But now having been freed from sin, and enslaved to God (clearly through virtue and knowledge) you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, eternal life; but if the ant, being irrational, is without a share in such an end and in such knowledge, it is clear that it is also free from such servitude; well therefore is it said that the ant is not under a master, according to this mastery; but again it is said to be under a master, under God, as under a creator. Through the ant, Solomon seems to outline for us the practical way; but through the bee, he signifies the contemplation of things that have come into being and of him who made them, which both the clean and the unclean, and the wise and the foolish, apply for the health of the soul; and it seems to me that the wax holds the place of the things themselves; while the honey stored in it is a symbol of the contemplation of them; and the wax indeed will pass away; For heaven, he says, and earth will pass away; but the honey will not pass away; for neither will the words of our Savior Jesus Christ pass away; about which Solomon says: Good words are honeycomb; their sweetness is the healing of the soul; and David, How sweeter, he says, are your oracles to my throat than honey to my mouth; but the result of the labor of virtues and of knowledge, he named labor; and kings and private citizens, he means not those who have the diadem, or the poor on the dunghill, but those who have a mind made wise toward God and strengthened by virtues, he calls kings. This sleep is of a nature to befall only the rational soul; for here it signifies [igno]rance and unknowing; from which wakefulness makes one like a sparrow alone on a housetop. It must be considered here lest perhaps through such movements of the body the adversaries know their own thoughts turning within us; since we have believed that only God is the knower of hearts. Everyone who eats the flesh of Christ and drinks his blood acquires righteous blood; of which a rational 17.180 soul being deprived is said to die; For the soul, he says, that sins, it shall die; but if there is righteous blood, there is clearly also unrighteous blood; which those who eat the food given to the Ethiopian peoples, and nourished by the bread of falsehood, gather in themselves; and those sacrificing to foreign gods consume their own righteous blood; but those offering a sacrifice for themselves to the only God destroy the unrighteous blood; but it will in any case follow the destruction of the unrighteous blood; but this is now of a nature to happen in any case, but from the beginning it was not so; for the health of children is not according to the destruction of disease, since they are born with health from the beginning. Slandering falsehood to one another, it brings them to divisions and disputes; or brothers are those who have the grace of adoption, and are under the same father, Christ; whom the witness of injustice attempts to separate, casting turmoil and judgments among them; and "it kindles," as I think, is added because of the passionate thoughts, which ignite anger, on the one hand, to wrath and hatred, and desire, on the other, to shameful deeds; these thoughts Saint Paul also named the flaming darts of the evil one, wounding the soul and working death. He commands to bring on the mother, who is the wisdom that begets, that is, according to God; and yet he ought to have said the father; for this one is more suitable for being with the son; but since it is not possible to know God himself before the contemplation of things that have come into being, for this reason he commands to bring on the mother and not the father; so that through the mother the son may see the father; for if she does not give birth, he does not see the light, which is the knowledge of God himself. Because the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light; and perhaps the lamp is the Old Testament;

ὑμῖν, Οὐκ ὀργισθήσῃ. Σημειωτέον ἐνταῦθα, ὅτι τὴν τοῦ μύρμηκος φυσι κὴν ἐναρμόνιον κίνησιν, σοφίαν καλεῖ· καὶ γὰρ ὁ σοφώτερος σοφοῦ, σοφώτερος λέγεται· πῶς δὲ καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπὸ δεσπότην, εἴ γε τὰ σύμπαντα δοῦλα τοῦ Θεοῦ; ἢ μήποτε ὁ Θεὸς λέγεται δεσπότης διχῶς, ὡς δημιουργὸς, καὶ ὡς γινωσκόμενος; ∆ιὸ καὶ Παῦ λος γράφει· Νυνὶ δὲ ἐλευθερωθέντες ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, δουλωθέντες δὲ τῷ Θεῷ (δηλονότι κατ' ἀρετὴν καὶ γνῶσιν) ἔχετε τὸν καρπὸν ὑμῶν εἰς ἁγιασμὸν, τὸ δὲ τέλος ζωὴν αἰώνιον· εἰ δὲ τοῦ τοιούτου τέλους καὶ τῆς γνώσεως ἄμοιρός ἐστιν ὁ μύρμηξ, ἄλογος ὢν, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ τῆς τοιαύτης δου λείας ἐλεύθερος· καλῶς οὖν λέγεται μὴ εἶναι ὁ μύρ μηξ ὑπὸ δεσπότην, κατὰ ταύτην τὴν δεσποτείαν· εἶναι δὲ πάλιν ὑπὸ δεσποτείαν λέγεται, ὑπὸ τὸν Θεὸν, ὡς ὑπὸ δημιουργόν. ∆ιὰ μὲν τοῦ μύρμηκος ἔοικεν ὁ Σολομῶν τὴν πρακτικὴν ὁδὸν ἡμῖν ὑπογράφειν· διὰ δὲ τῆς με λίσσης, τὴν θεωρίαν τῶν γεγονότων σημαίνει καὶ αὐ τοῦ τοῦ ποιήσαντος, ἥντινα καὶ καθαροὶ καὶ ἀκάθαρ τοι, καὶ σοφοὶ καὶ ἀνόητοι, πρὸς τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ὑγείαν προσφέρονται· καὶ φαίνεται μέν μοι ὁ κηρὸς, αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων λόγον ἐπέχειν· τὸ δ' ἐναποκεί μενον αὐτῷ μέλι, σύμβολον εἶναι τῆς θεωρίας αὐ τῶν· καὶ ὁ μὲν κηρὸς παρελεύσεται· Ὁ οὐρανὸς γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσεται· τὸ δὲ μέλι οὐ παρ ελεύσεται· οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ λόγοι παρελεύσονται τοῦ Σω τῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· περὶ ὧν λέγει ὁ Σολο μῶν· Κηρία μέλιτος, λόγοι καλοί· γλύκασμα δὲ αὐτῶν, ἴασις ψυχῆς· καὶ ὁ ∆αυῒδ, Ὡς γλυκύτερα, φησὶ, τῷ λάρυγγί μου, τὰ λόγιά σου ὑπὲρ μέλι τῷ στόματί μου· τὸ δὲ ἀποτέλεσμα τοῦ πόνου τῶν ἀρε τῶν καὶ τῆς γνώσεως, πόνον ὠνόμασε· βασιλεῖς δὲ καὶ ἰδιώτας, οὐ τοὺς τὸ διάδημα ἔχοντας, ἢ τοὺς ἐν κοπρίᾳ πένητας λέγει, ἀλλὰ τοὺς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν νοῦν σεσοφισμένον καὶ ἐῤῥωμένον ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ἔχον τας, βασιλεῖς λέγει. Ὁ ὕπνος οὗτος μόνῃ πέφυκεν ἐπισυμβαίνειν ψυχῇ λογικῇ· σημαίνει γὰρ ἐνταῦθα [ἄγνοι]αν καὶ ἀγνω σίαν· ὧν ἡ ἀγρυπνία ποιεῖ τινα, ὡς στρουθίον μονάζον ἐπὶ δώματος. Προσεκτέον ἐνταῦθα μήποτε ἄρα διὰ τῶν τοιού των κινημάτων τοῦ σώματος γινώσκωσιν οἱ ἀντικεί μενοι τοὺς αὑτῶν λογισμοὺς ἐν ἡμῖν στρεφομένους· ἐπειδὴ καρδιογνώστην μόνον τὸν Θεὸν πεπιστεύκαμεν εἶναι. Πᾶς ὁ τρώγων τὰς σάρκας τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ πίνων τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ, κτᾶται αἷμα δίκαιον· οὗ στερι 17.180 σκομένη ψυχὴ λογικὴ, λέγεται ἀποθνήσκειν· Ψυχὴ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα, αὕτη ἀποθανεῖται· εἰ δέ ἐστιν αἷμα δίκαιον, ἔστι δηλονότι καὶ αἷμα ἄδικον· ὅπερ συνάγουσιν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς οἱ κατεσθίοντες τὸ δεδο μένον βρῶμα λαοῖς τοῖς Αἰθίοψι, καὶ τρεφόμενον τῷ ἄρτῳ τοῦ ψεύδους· καὶ οἱ μὲν θύοντες θεοῖς ἀλλο τρίοις, τὸ δίκαιον ἑαυτῶν αἷμα καταναλίσκουσιν· οἱ δὲ ἑαυτοῖς θυσίαν τῷ μόνῳ Θεῷ, τὸ ἄδικον διαφθεί ρουσιν αἷμα· ἀκολουθήσει δὲ πάντως τῇ μὲν φθορᾷ τοῦ ἀδίκου αἵματος· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν πάντως νῦν πέ φυκε γίνεσθαι, ἀπ' ἀρχῆς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως· οὐ γὰρ κατὰ φθορὰν νόσου ὑγεία τῶν παίδων, μετὰ τῆς ὑγείας ἀπ' ἀρχῆς τικτομένων. ∆ιαβάλλων τὸ ψεῦδος ἀλλήλοις, αὐτοὺς εἰς διακρί σεις φέρει καὶ ἀντιδικίας· ἢ ἀδελφοί εἰσιν οἱ τὸ τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἔχοντες χάρισμα, καὶ ὑπὸ τὸν αὐτὸν ὄντες πατέρα Χριστόν· οὓς χωρίζειν ἐπιχειρεῖ ὁ μάρτυς τῆς ἀδικίας, ταραχὰς ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐμβάλλων καὶ κρί σεις· τὸ δὲ «ἐκκαίει,» ὡς οἶμαι, προστίθεται διὰ τοὺς ἐμπαθεῖς λογισμοὺς, ἀνάπτοντας θυμὸν μὲν, πρὸς ὀργὴν καὶ μῖσος ἐπιθυμίαν δὲ πρὸς αἰσχρὰς ἐργα σίας· τούτους τοὺς λογισμοὺς καὶ ὁ ἅγιος Παῦλος ὠνόμασε τοῦ πονηροῦ βέλη πεπυρωμένα, τιτρώ σκοντα τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ θάνατον ἐργαζόμενα. Τὴν μητέρα ἐπάγεσθαι προστάσσει, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ σοφία γεννῶσα, ἡ μὲν κατὰ Θεόν· καίτοι ἐχρῆν αὐ τὸν εἰπεῖν τὸν πατέρα· οὗτος γὰρ πρὸς τὸ συνεῖναι τῷ υἱῷ μᾶλλον ἐπιτηδειότερος· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ οὐ δυνατὸν, αὐτὸν γνῶναι τὸν Θεὸν πρὸ τῆς τῶν γεγονότων θεω ρίας, τούτου χάριν τὴν μητέρα καὶ οὐ τὸν πατέρα προστάσσει ἐπάγεσθαι· ἵνα διὰ τῆς μητρὸς ὁ υἱὸς ἴδῃ τὸν πατέρα· ἐὰν γὰρ αὐτὴ μὴ γεννήσῃ, οὐ βλέπει τὸ φῶς, ὅπερ ἐστὶ γνῶσις αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὅτι ἡ ἐντολὴ τοῦ νόμου λύχνος ἐστὶ καὶ φῶς· καὶ τάχα λύχνος, ἡ Παλαιὰ ∆ιαθήκη ἐστίν·