Chapter VII.
Second, he takes a reason for exhorting to wisdom from his own example.
For I myself am etc. Above he admonished rulers to acquire and love wisdom through a reason taken from the danger of their office; here from his own example. And first he shows how he received wisdom, namely in this chapter; second, how much he loved it, namely in the eighth chapter; third, how devoutly he sought it from the Lord, namely in the ninth chapter.
First he shows how he received wisdom.
In the first part, in order to descend to his purpose, first he describes the misery of human frailty; second, he shows that this occasion provoked him to acquire wisdom: Therefore I wished etc.; third, he shows by whom he was instructed: But to me.
First, on the misery of human frailty.
In the first, first he touches on the defectibility of human nature; second, the vileness of human conception: And in the womb; third, the condition of birth: And I; fourth, the labor of upbringing: In swaddling clothes; fifth, the commonality of misery: For no one etc.
(Verse 1.). For I myself am etc. Thus I admonished you to receive the discipline of wisdom "through my words": and this you can do not only through my words, but also by my example, because I myself also am: indeed, that is, certainly: a mortal man, just as you are: mortal, I say, that is, able to die from the first condition, but having the necessity of dying from the first transgression; for man, according to Boethius, is a rational, mortal animal; likewise Romans 8: "The body indeed is dead because of sin," that is, subjected to the necessity of dying. Like all others in this condition of mortality; 2 Kings 14: "We all die, and like waters slip away into the earth, which do not return." And of the race of that earthly one, namely Adam the transgressor, who was first made, from the earth namely; whence Genesis 2: "God formed man from the slime of the earth"; likewise 1 Corinthians 15: "The first man was of the earth, earthly"; likewise in the same place: "As was the earthly one, such also are the earthly ones." And in the womb of my mother I was formed into flesh. For according to Augustine in the book of Eighty-three Questions, in the first six days the seed is like milk; in the remaining nine the milk is converted into blood; in the remaining twelve it is formed into flesh; in the remaining eighteen it is formed into an organic body. And then around the forty-fifth or forty-sixth day the soul is infused into the body. And during the entire remaining time after the infusion of the soul, the body is nourished and grows.
(Vers. 2.). In the time of ten months I was compacted in blood from the seed of a man, according to the natural philosophers, as the Gloss says: "The seed of the woman is sanguineous, the seed of the man is white: from the commingling of these, the one as passive and the other as active, coagulation occurs": Job 10: "Did you not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese"? This coagulation occurs in the first part of the ten months: but the entire duration of formation itself is a period of nine months.
But to the contrary: Because the common time of formation is nine months: whence 2 Maccabees 7: "Have pity on me, my son, who bore you nine months in my womb."
I respond: As the Gloss says, "some are born in the seventh month, some in the eighth, some in the ninth: but those born in the tenth are said to be more perfect, healthier, and more vigorous." But Christ, according to the Gloss, was in His mother's womb "nine months and six days": whence what he says, ten months, is taken synecdochically: "for it was from the eighth of the Kalends of April to the eighth of the Kalends of January."
And with the pleasure of sleep concurring, or of concurring [sleep], that is, by the pleasurable act of the common sleeping together of a man with a woman. This pleasure is compared to the pleasure of sleep, because it binds reason and quickly passes, just as the pleasure of sleep.
(Vers. 3.). And being born I received the common air, for the necessity of breathing: Ecclesiastes 3: "All things breathe alike." And in like manner I fell, from the womb of my mother, upon the earth that was made, namely by God, Genesis 1: and this with respect to the necessity of life and sustenance. And the first voice, like all others, namely those being born, I uttered, crying. Augustine says that "a child from his crying begins to be a prophet of his own calamity"; "but they report, that is, they say, that Zoroaster alone, king of the Bactrians, laughed when he was born." John the Baptist alone also, contrary to the law of those being born, anticipated his own birth with joy and exultation; Luke 1: "The infant leaped for joy in my womb."
(Vers. 4. 5. 6.). In swaddling clothes, namely of cloths, I was nurtured: Luke 2: "She wrapped him in swaddling clothes." And with great cares: 2 Maccabees 7: "For three years I gave you milk and brought you up to this age."
For no one among kings had a different beginning of birth, because in natural things there is no difference between kings and subjects, but only in the goods of fortune.
Therefore there is one entrance into life for all, namely through temporal birth so lowly, as has been said: and a similar departure, namely through death so harsh, as is described in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes. Likewise, there is one entrance, namely through a poor birth; and a similar departure, namely through a most impoverished death: Job 1: "Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither": Ecclesiastes 5: "A most wretched infirmity: as he came, so shall he return."
Second, he shows that, prompted by this occasion toward wisdom, he says.
For this reason I desired, etc. Here he shows that this occasion prompted him to acquire wisdom: and first he touches on the attainment of the desired wisdom; second, the estimation of what was attained: And I preferred her; third, the love of what was esteemed: Above health; fourth, the communication of what was possessed and loved: Which I learned without pretense.
(Verses 7–8). For this reason, that is, struck by the consideration of the aforementioned miseries, I desired, namely wisdom. And understanding was given to me, that is, wisdom: Proverbs 10: "The desire of the just shall be granted." And I called upon, the Gloss says: "the Lord"; James 1: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God." And there came into me, as I called upon him, the spirit of wisdom, according to that verse of the Psalm: "I opened my mouth," namely in prayer, "and drew in the spirit"; likewise Ecclesiasticus 15: "In the midst of the church he opened his mouth, and the Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom."
And I preferred her, namely in estimation of value, to kingdoms, that is, to the dignities of kings, and to thrones, that is, to the dignities of judges: and rightly so, because she says: "By me kings reign," Proverbs 8. And I counted riches as nothing in comparison with her: Proverbs 3: "She is more precious than all riches." "For what does it profit a fool to have riches, when he cannot purchase wisdom?"
(Verse 9). Nor did I compare to her, that is, to her price or power, any precious stone: in the Psalm: "I have loved your commandments above gold and topaz"; likewise Job 28: "It shall not be compared with the dyed colors of India, nor with the most precious sardonyx stone, or the sapphire." "Neither shall the topaz of Ethiopia be equal to it." For, etc., as if to say: and rightly so, because all gold, that is, all the gold that is in the world, in comparison with her is sand, that is, unfruitful earth: Bernard says: "What is gold but red earth "? of small account, that is, of little weight: Job 28: "Fine gold shall not be given for it." And as clay, that is, of no value, shall silver be esteemed in her sight: Job 28: "Silver shall not be weighed in exchange for it": Proverbs 3: "The gaining of her is better than the trading of gold and silver," etc.
But silver is compared to clay because it stains the hands and the soul: Habakkuk 2: "How long does he heap up against himself thick clay?"
It should be noted that wisdom is preferred to silver and gold and every worldly treasure, first by reason of origin, because worldly treasure is from the earth: Job 28: "Silver has the beginnings of its veins, and there is a place for gold where it is refined," indeed "it is earth," according to blessed Bernard: but wisdom is from heaven, as is clear from James 3.
Second, by reason of nature, because worldly treasure is a corporeal thing, but wisdom is a spiritual thing: whence Isaiah 11: "The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom," etc.
Third, by reason of power, because treasure is finite, but wisdom is infinite: whence below in this same chapter: "She is an infinite treasure to men, which they that use are made partakers of the friendship of God."