PROOEMIUM
COMMENTARY ON WISDOM
General Introduction.
1. Love the light of wisdom, all you who lead peoples, Wisdom 6. Since a thing must be formed and what has been deformed reformed by the same principle, and all things are read to have been made through wisdom, according to that verse of the Psalm: You have made all things in wisdom: it is necessary that all things be reformed through wisdom. Therefore the image of the rational soul, which "is read to have been made after the likeness of all wisdom" in the book On the Spirit and the Soul, but afterward deformed through sin to such an extent that it may rightly be asked: Whose is this image and inscription ? must necessarily be reformed through wisdom. Likewise, because two things are necessary for its reformation, namely the expulsion of malice and the introduction of perfect good, so that it may be informed by it and expressly conformed to him whose image it is: wisdom, however, is expulsive of malice, whence Wisdom 7: Wisdom overcomes malice: likewise it is introductive of perfect good, because "wisdom is that in which the form of perfect good consists," as Hugh says in the book On the Origin of the Arts. And since the divine image, deformed through sin in the soul, needs reformation according to all three of its parts, which according to Augustine are understanding, memory, and will: therefore the Wise Man draws and invites to wisdom in a threefold manner, namely to the studious acquisition of wisdom, and this with regard to understanding; to the firm retention of acquired wisdom, and this with regard to memory; to the love of acquired and memorially retained wisdom, and this with regard to will.
2. To the studious acquisition of wisdom: Proverbs 27: Study wisdom, my son. He calls son whomever he instructs with paternal affection, whether young or old. Augustine: "No age can seem too late to me for learning what is needful: because, even if it is more fitting for the old to teach than to be taught, yet it is more fitting for them to learn than to be ignorant of what they should teach." Study, he says, and this suggests that vehement diligence must be applied to the acquisition of wisdom. "For study, as Cicero says, is the vehement application of the mind with the greatest pleasure to accomplishing something." This vehement application of the mind, however, requires freedom from external occupations. "For he who with a confused mind is divided among many things is rendered unequal to each one," as Gregory says. On account of which, Ecclesiasticus 38: Write wisdom in a time of leisure, that is, of freedom from external work: for he who is less occupied in action, namely external action, will receive wisdom, as it says in the same place.
3. For the firm retention of wisdom: Ecclesiasticus fourteenth, where it says: Blessed is the man who shall abide in wisdom: likewise Proverbs third: Inscribe her upon the tablets of your heart, that is, in the three parts of the divine image, and especially in the memory, by retaining her firmly. For which reason he says: Inscribe, for what is written is retained more firmly and for a longer time: Proverbs twenty-second: Behold, I have described her to you in threefold manner, that is, in the understanding through diligent acquisition, in the memory through firm retention, in the will through love: to which he exhorts in the words set forth, saying: Love the light of wisdom, etc.
On the fourfold cause of this book.
4. In these words four causes of this work are indicated to us, namely the efficient cause from the person who speaks, saying: Love: the formal, that is, the manner of proceeding, is indicated by light: the material is expressed by the name wisdom; the final can be understood from the relation or comparison of the speaker to the person to whom the discourse is directed, when it is said: All you who rule over peoples.
5. Concerning the first, it should be noted that the efficient cause of this book is threefold: the first by way of inspiring, namely God: whence Job thirty-second: The inspiration of the Almighty gives understanding: likewise Ecclesiasticus first: All wisdom is from the Lord God, just as all essence is from his essence, and from his truth all truth, and from his goodness all goodness. "For the first in any genus is the cause of those things which come after it": and every perfect thing is caused by a perfect thing, according to Boethius.
6. The second efficient cause, by way of discovering, is Solomon himself: whence in the ecclesiastical history, "the whole chorus of the ancients declared the book which is entitled Wisdom to be Solomon's." Whence the book itself is inscribed the Wisdom of Solomon, and according to ecclesiastical custom, the readings taken from this book are prefaced with: "Solomon said to the children of Israel," because, namely, this book was compiled from his sayings.
The proximate efficient cause, by way of compiling, was Philo, the most learned of the Jews, who lived in the times of the Apostles, as the ecclesiastical history relates: who from his love of wisdom was not undeservedly called Philo, Rabanus also asserts that this book was rather written not by Solomon, as is supposed, but by Philo, the most learned of the Jews, that is, compiled.
7. The formal cause, that is, the mode of proceeding, as has been said, is indicated through light, because, just as light has the concealment of its radical origin, a clear manifestation in its going forth, and a continuation in its flowing: so also this book of Wisdom has in its sentences a profound difficulty and concealment of origin, according to that passage in Job twenty-eight: Wisdom is drawn from hidden things; in its discourses a clear manifestation, Wisdom six: Bright is wisdom, which never fades, bright, I say, through the beauty of eloquence; "for the style of this book, according to Jerome, has the fragrance of Greek eloquence"; and in the progression of its arguments a consequent and ordered continuation, Ecclesiasticus twenty-one: The knowledge of the wise shall abound like a flood, flowing continuously, not dripping; and his counsel remains like a fountain of life.
8. The material cause is expressed by the name wisdom. "Wisdom, according to Augustine, is the knowledge of divine things": and divine things are God's power, wisdom, and goodness, which are treated in this book, although wisdom is principally intended. It makes known God's power in the punishment of the rebellious, as is evident in the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth chapters; wisdom in the illumination of the humble, as is evident in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters; goodness in the bestowal of benefits upon both groups, as is evident from the tenth chapter onward. Moreover, here it treats not only of uncreated wisdom, dwelling upon its praises, but also of created wisdom, showing its benefits; whence below in chapter six: What wisdom is, that is, what it is like, namely uncreated; and how it was made, namely created, I shall relate, etc.; although that whole passage can be understood of uncreated wisdom as its subject. Rightly therefore is it entitled the Book of Wisdom, because in it wisdom is principally treated as its subject or as its matter, just as the book On the Soul, because in it the soul is principally discussed.
9. The final cause can be understood from the relation of the person speaking to those to whom the discourse is directed, who are indicated there: All you who rule over peoples. For just as in angelic illuminations, the ray of divine light, according to blessed Dionysius, is first received by the angels of the first hierarchy, secondly by those of the middle, and lastly by those of the lowest —
"for the law, as he himself says, has been divinely promulgated to lead back the last through the middle, and the middle through the first" — whence in the Psalm: You shine wonderfully from the eternal mountains, that is, the superior angels illuminating the inferior ones
just as we also see in bodily illuminations, because first the illumination of the sun is derived to higher places nearer to heaven, then to the middle ones, and lastly to the lowest, Ecclesiasticus forty-three: For the sun, burning the mountains in three ways, breathes forth rays, namely into the valleys: so also it ought to be in human illuminations, that first into the highest, that is into prelates, then into the middle ones, that is into their ministers, thirdly into the lowest, that is their subjects, the light of wisdom is diffused, according to that of the Psalm: Let the mountains receive peace for the people, etc. For this is the procession of wisdom. For it reaches from one end, namely the highest, to the other end, the lowest, and disposes all things,
namely the middle things, sweetly, below in chapter eight. On account of this Plato used to say, "commonwealths would be blessed or good if wise men ruled them, or if their rulers devoted themselves to wisdom," as Boethius says in the book On Consolation. For according to the judge of the people, so are his ministers: and as the ruler of the city is, such also are its inhabitants: where he touches upon three orders, namely of judges, ministers, and subjects. On account of the aforesaid, this author first and principally intends to diffuse the light of wisdom into high places, that is into superiors and through them into inferiors. Whence it is clear that the final cause of this teaching is the exhortation or provocation of princes and prelates, and consequently of all, to the pursuit and love of wisdom.
Prologue of St. Jerome to the Book of Wisdom.
The Book of Wisdom is nowhere found among the Hebrews. Whence its very style savors more of Greek eloquence. The Jews affirm this to be the work of Philo: which is accordingly called Wisdom, because in it the coming of Christ, who is the Wisdom of the Father, and His passion are clearly expressed.
Exposition of the Prologue.
The Book of Wisdom etc. This is the prologue which Jerome prefixes to the Book of Wisdom: and first he shows the origin of this book, saying: The Book of Wisdom is nowhere found among the Hebrews. Whence its very style, that is, the composition itself, namely, because it is so elegant, savors more of Greek eloquence, that is, has the flavor of Greek rather than Hebrew. For the Greeks are more eloquent and more profound in their judgments than the Hebrews. Whence since this book has a most elegant style and the greatest profundity of judgments, it is clear that it was handed down in the Greek language rather than the Hebrew.
Second, he names its author, saying: This, namely the Book of Wisdom, the Jews affirm to be of Philo, namely as its compiler, but to be of Solomon as its originator, as has been said. This Philo, although he was a Jew, was nevertheless very skilled in the Greek language. Concerning him, Jerome says in the book On Illustrious Men that "he was a Jew, Alexandrian by nation, of priestly lineage." Third, he assigns the reason for the title, saying: Which book, namely of Wisdom, is therefore named Wisdom, because in it the coming of Christ, who is the Wisdom of the Father, and his passion are evidently, that is, carefully, expressed.
COMMENTARY
ON THE BOOK OF WISDOM.
General Division.