Chapter XVI.

Due measure must be observed in liberality, that it may not be expended on worthless persons, when it is needed by worthier ones. However, alms are not to be given in too sparing and hesitating a way. One ought rather to follow the example of the blessed Joseph, whose prudence is commended at great length.

76. It is clear, then,459    Cic. de Off. II. 15, § 55. that there ought to be due measure in our liberality, that our gifts may not become useless. Moderation must be observed, especially by priests, for fear that they should give away for the sake of ostentation, and not for justice’ sake. Never was the greed of beggars greater than it is now. They come in full vigour, they come with no reason but that they are on the tramp. They want to empty the purses of the poor—to deprive them of their means of support. Not content with a little, they ask for more. In the clothes that cover them they seek a ground to urge their demands, and with lies about their lives they ask for further sums of money. If any one were to trust their tale too readily, he would quickly drain the fund which is meant to serve for the sustenance of the poor. Let there be method in our giving, so that the poor may not go away empty nor the subsistence of the needy be done away and become the spoil of the dishonest. Let there be then such due measure that kindness may never be put aside, and true need never be left neglected.

77. Many pretend they have debts. Let the truth be looked into. They bemoan the fact that they have been stripped of everything by robbers. In such a case give credit only if the misfortune is apparent, or the person is well known; and then readily give help. To those rejected by the Church supplies must be granted if they are in want of food. He, then, that observes method in his giving is hard towards none, but is free towards all. We ought not only to lend our ears to hear the voices of those who plead, but also our eyes to look into their needs. Weakness calls more loudly to the good dispenser than the voice of the poor. It cannot always be that the cries of an importunate beggar will never extort more, but let us not always give way to impudence. He must be seen who does not see thee. He must be sought for who is ashamed to be seen. He also that is in prison must come to thy thoughts; another seized with sickness must present himself to thy mind, as he cannot reach thy ears.

78. The more people see thy zeal in showing mercy, the more will they love thee. I know many priests who had the more, the more they gave. For they who see a good dispenser give him something to distribute in his round of duty, sure that the act of mercy will reach the poor. If they see him giving away either in excess or too sparingly, they contemn either of these; in the one case because he wastes the fruits of another’s labours by unnecessary payments, on the other hand because he hoards them in his money bags. As, then, method460    Cic. de Off. II. 15, § 54. must be observed in liberality, so also at times it seems as though the spur must be applied. Method, then, so that the kindness one shows may be able to be shown day by day, and that we may not have to withdraw from a needful case what we have freely spent on waste. A spur, because money is better laid out in food for the poor than on a purse for the rich. We must take care lest in our money chests we shut up the welfare of the needy, and bury the life of the poor as it were in a sepulchre.

79. Joseph could have given away all the wealth of Egypt, and have spent the royal treasures; but he would not even seem to be wasteful of what was another’s. He preferred to sell the corn rather than to give it to the hungry. For if he had given it to a few there would have been none for most. He gave good proof of that liberality whereby there was enough for all. He opened the storehouses that all might buy their corn supply, lest if they received it for nothing, they should give up cultivating the ground. For he who has the use of what is another’s often neglects his own.

80. First of all, then, he gathered up their money, then their implements, last of all he acquired for the king all their rights to the ground.461    Gen. xlvii. 14–20. He did not wish to deprive all of them of their property, but to support them in it. He also imposed a general tax,462    Cic. de Off. II. 21. that they might hold their own in safety. So pleasing was this to all from whom he had taken the land, that they looked on it, not as the selling of their rights, but as the recovery of their welfare. Thus they spoke: “Thou hast saved our lives, let us find grace in the sight of our Lord.”463    Gen. xlvii. 25. For they had lost nothing of their own, but had received a new right. Nothing of what was useful to them had failed, for they had now gained it in perpetuity.

81. O noble man!464    Cic. de Off. II. 23, 83. who sought not for the fleeting glory of a needless bounty, but set up as his memorial the lasting benefits of his foresight. He acted so that the people should help themselves by their payments, and should not in their time of need seek help from others. For it was surely better to give up part of their crops than to lose the whole of their rights. He fixed the impost at a fifth of their whole produce, and thus showed himself clear-sighted in making provision for the future, and liberal in the tax he laid upon them. Never after did Egypt suffer from such a famine.

82. How splendidly he inferred the future. First, how acutely, when interpreting the royal dream, he stated the truth. This was the king’s first dream.465    Gen. xli. 17 ff. Seven heifers came up out of the river well-favoured and fat-fleshed, and they fed at the banks of the river. And other bullocks ill-favoured and lean-fleshed came up out of the river after the heifers, and fed near them on the very edge of the river. And these thin and wretched bullocks seemed to devour those others which were so fat and well-favoured. And this was the second dream.466    Gen. xli. 22 ff. Seven fat ears full and good came up from the ground. And after them seven wretched ears, blasted with the wind and withered, endeavoured to take their place. And it seemed that the barren and thin ears devoured the rich and fruitful ears.

83. This dream Joseph unfolded as follows: that the seven heifers were seven years, and the seven ears likewise were seven years,—interpreting the times by the produce of cattle and crops. For both the calving of a heifer takes a year, and the produce of a crop fills out a whole year. And they came up out of the river just as days, years, and times pass by and flow along swiftly like the rivers. He therefore states that the seven earlier years of a rich land will be fertile and fruitful but the latter seven years will be barren and unfruitful, whose barrenness will eat up the richness of the former time. Wherefore he warns them to see that supplies of corn are got together in the fruitful years that they may help out the needs of the coming scarcity.

84. What shall we admire first? His powers of mind, with which he descended to the very resting-place of truth? Or his counsel, whereby he foresaw so great and lasting a need? Or his watchfulness or justice? By his watchfulness, when so high an office was given him, he gathered together such vast supplies; and through his justice he treated all alike. And what am I to say of his greatness of mind? For though sold by his brothers into slavery,467    Gen. xxxvii. 28. he took no revenge for this wrong, but put an end to their want. What of his gentleness, whereby by a pious fraud he sought to gain the presence of his beloved brother whom, under pretence of a well-planned theft, he declared to have stolen his property, that he might hold him as a hostage of his love?468    Gen. xliv. 2 ff.

85. Whence it was deservedly said to him by his father: “My son Joseph is enlarged, my son is enlarged, my younger son, my beloved. My God hath helped thee and blessed thee with the blessing of heaven above and the blessing of the earth, the earth that hath all things, on account of the blessings of thy father and thy mother. It hath prevailed over the blessings of the everlasting hills and the desires of the eternal hills.”469    Gen. xlix. 22, 25, 26. And in Deuteronomy: “Thou Who wast seen in the bush, that Thou mayest come upon the head of Joseph, upon his pate. Honoured among his brethren, his glory is as the firstling of his bullocks; his horns are like the horns of unicorns. With his horn he shall push the nations even to the ends of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.”470    Deut. xxxiii. 16, 17.

CAPUT XVI.

Modum in liberalitate servandum, ne profundatur in indignos quod dignioribus debebatur; non tamen nimis parce ac timide ministrandas eleemosynas: sed imitandum beatum Joseph, cujus prudentia prolixioribus verbis commendatur.

76. Liquet igitur debere esse liberalitatis modum, ne fiat inutilis largitas. Sobrietas tenenda est, 0123B maxime sacerdotibus, ut non pro jactantia, sed pro justitia dispensent. Nusquam enim major aviditas petitionis. Veniunt validi, veniunt nullam causam nisi vagandi habentes, et volunt subsidia evacuare pauperum, exinanire sumptum: nec exiguo contenti, majora quaerunt, ambitu vestium captantes petitionis suffragium, et natalium simulatione licitantes incrementa quaestuum. His si quis facile deferat fidem, cito exhaurit pauperum alimoniis profutura compendia. Modus largiendi adsit, ut nec illi inanes recedant, neque transcribatur vita pauperum in spolia fraudulentorum. Et ergo mensura sit, ut neque humanitas deseratur, nec destituatur necessitas.

77. Plerique simulant debita. Sit veri examen. 0123C Exutos se per latrocinia deplorant: aut injuria fidem faciat, aut cognitio personae, quo propensius juventur. Ab Ecclesia relegatis sumptus impartiendus, si desit eis alendi copia. Itaque qui modum servat, avarus nulli, sed largus omnibus est: non enim solas aures praebere debemus audiendis precantium vocibus, sed etiam oculos considerandis necessitatibus. Plus clamat operatori bono debilitas, quam vox 0124A pauperis. Neque vero fieri potest ut non extorqueat amplius importunitas vociferantium: sed non semper impudentiae locus sit. Videndus est ille, qui te non videt: requirendus ille, qui erubescit videri. Ille etiam clausus in carcere occurrat tibi; ille affectus aegritudine mentem tuam personet, qui aures non potest.

78. Quo plus te operari viderit populus, magis diliget. Scio plerosque sacerdotes, quo plus contulerunt, plus abundasse; quoniam quicumque bonum operarium videt, ipsi confert quod 89 ille suo officio dispenset, securus quod ad pauperem sua perveniat misericordia: nemo enim vult, nisi pauperi proficere suam collationem. Nam si quem aut immoderatum aut nimis tenacem dispensatorem viderit, 0124B utrumque despiciet: si aut superfluis erogationibus dissipet alieni fructus laboris, aut recondat sacculis. Sicut igitur modus liberalitatis tenendus est, ita etiam calcar plerumque adhibendum videtur. Modus ideo, ut quod benefacis, id quotidie facere possis; ne subtrahas necessitati, quod indulseris effusioni: calcar propterea, quia melius operatur pecunia in pauperis cibo, quam in divitis sacculo. Cave ne intra loculos tuos includas salutem inopum, et tanquam in tumulis sepelias vitam pauperum.

79. Potuit donare Joseph totas Aegypti opes, et effundere thesauros regios; noluit tamen de alieno effusus videri: maluit frumenta vendere, quam donare esurientibus; quia si paucis donasset, plurimis defuisset. Eam liberalitatem probavit, quo abundaret 0124C omnibus. Patefecit horrea, ut omnes emerent subsidium frumentarium (Gen. XLI, 56, 57), ne gratis accipiendo, cultus terrarum relinquerent; quoniam qui alieno utitur, suum negligit.

80. Itaque primum omnium coacervavit pecunias, deinde instrumenta caetera, ad postremum jura terrarum regi acquisivit, non ut omnes exueret suo, sed fulciret: publicum tributum constitueret, quo 0125A sua tutius habere possent. Quod ita fuit gratum omnibus quibus terras ademerat; ut non venditionem sui juris, sed redemptionem salutis putarent. Denique dixerunt: Sanasti nos, invenimus gratiam in conspectu Domini nostri (Gen. XLVII, 14 et seq., 25). Nam et de proprietate nihil amiserant, qui jus receperant: et de utilitate nihil perdiderant, qui acquisierant perpetuitatem.

81. O virum magnum, qui non largitatis superfluae temporalem captavit gloriam, sed perpetuam commoditatem constituit providentiae! Fecit enim ut tributis populi se juvarent suis, nec in tempore necessitatis aliena subsidia desiderarent. Melius enim fuit conferre aliquid de fructibus, quam totum de jure amittere. Quintam portionem collationis statuit et in providendo 0125B perspicacior, et in tributo liberalior. Denique nunquam postea Aegyptus hujusmodi famem pertulit.

82. Quam praeclare autem collegit futura! Primum quam argute regalis interpres somnii veritatem expressit! Somnium regis primum hoc fuit: Septem juvencae ascendebant de flumine, visu decorae, et pingues corpore, et ad oram pascebantur fluminis. Aliae quoque vitulae visu deformes ac jejunae corpore, post illas juvencas 90 ascendebant de flumine, et juxta eas in ipso riparum thoro pascebantur: et visae sunt hae vitulae tenues atque exiles devorare illas quae praestabant et forma et gratia. Et somnium secundum hoc fuit: Septem spicae pingues, electae et bonae de terra surgebant: et post eas septem spicae exiles et vento corruptae ac marcidae se subjicere 0125C moliebantur: et visum est quod laetas et uberes spicas steriles spicae et tenues devoraverunt.

83. Hoc somnium ita aperuit sanctus Joseph, eo quod septem juvencae septem anni forent, et septem spicae similiter septem anni forent, ex fetu et fructu interpretatus tempora. Fetus enim juvencae annum exprimit, et fructus segetis annum consummat integrum. Quae ideo ascendebant de flumine, quod dies, anni, ac tempora fluminum praetereunt modo, et cursim labuntur. Annos itaque septem priores uberis terrae fertiles ac fecundos declarat futuros: posteriores autem alios septem annos steriles atque infecundos, quorum sterilitas absumptura foret ubertatem superiorum. Qua gratia prospiciendum admonuit, ut uberioribus annis congregaretur subsidium frumentarium, 0125D quod sustentare posset inopiam futurae infecunditatis.

84. Quid primum mirer? Ingenium quo in ipsum 0126A veritatis descendit cubile: an consilium quo tam gravi atque diuturnae prospexit necessitati: an vigilantiam atque justitiam; quarum altera, imposito sibi tanto munere, congregavit tam multiplices commeatus: alteraque aequalitatem per omnes servavit? Nam de magnanimitate quid loquar; quod venditus a fratribus in servitutem, non retulit injuriam, sed famem depulit? Quid de suavitate, qua dilecti fratris praesentiam pia fraude quaesivit, quem simulato per elegantiam furto, reum statuit rapinae, ut obsidem teneret gratiae (Gen. XLIV, 2 et seq.).

85. Unde merito ei a patre dicitur: Filius ampliatus meus Joseph, filius ampliatus meus, zelotes filius meus adolescentior . . . . Adjuvit te Deus meus, et benedixit te benedictione coeli a summo, et benedictione 0126B terrae, terrae habentis omnia, propter benedictiones patris tui et matris. Praevaluit super benedictiones montium manentium, et desideria collium aeternorum (Gen. XLIX, 22 et seq.), et in Deuteronomio: Qui visus es, inquit, in rubo, ut venias super caput Joseph, et super verticem ipsius. Honorificus inter fratres: primitivus tauri decus ejus, cornua unicornui cornua ipsius. In ipsius cornu gentes ventilabit simul usque ad extremum terrae. Ipsi decem millia Ephraem, et ipsi millia Manasses (Deut. XXXIII, 16 et seq.).