Jerome

"Then I
returned and contemplated futility beneath the sun: a lone and solitary man who
has neither son nor brother, yet there is no end to his toil, nor is his eye
ever sated with riches, nor does he ask himself, 'For whom am I toiling and
depriving myself of goodness.' This too
is futility, indeed, it is a sorry task." I turned to
other people and I saw that they work more than is necessary and amass wealth
by good and bad means and do not use it once accumulated; they have all things,
brood over their riches, keep it for another, and do not enjoy their work. Then at the end of their life they have
neither son nor brother, nor close friend so that the pious work seems reserved
for necessities only. And so I
discovered nothing more vain than that man, who collects riches, or to whom an
ignorant man bequeaths them. We are even
able to understand this in a religious interpretation, and understand it as
those, who write books and leave them to fastidious readers. Some say that this passage from where it says
"there is one, but there is not a second" is about the Saviour,
because he came down to save the world alone and without any companion. And although there are many sons of God, they
are called his brothers by adoption, though not one remains worthy, who should
be joined to him in this work. There is
no end to this work, for those carrying our faults and sins and suffering for
us; and his eye will not be filled by riches, but always with those desiring
our safety, and the more you see his sins, the more he encourages him to
repent.

"Two are
better than one, for they get a greater return for their labour. For should they fall, one can raise the
other; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and there is no one to raise
him! Also, if two sleep together they keep warm, but how can one be warm
alone? Where one can be overpowered, two
can resist attack; A three-ply cord is not easily severed!"
After the misfortunes of loneliness in which he has been seized, and he
who torments himself in acquiring wealth without a definite heir, now the
subject of companionship is treated. And
it asks what good ther is in a tent of friends and what comfort there is in
company, since one man's distress or domestic strife is lifted by another's
help, (any man who has a faithful friend will sleep better all that night, than
he who sleeps only with his wealth which he has amassed. And if a stronger enemy rises up against one
man, the weakness of one is sustained by the comfort of friends. And just as two differ from one if they are
joined in love, so the tent of three is stronger. For even true charity, which has been
violated by no envy increases as much in number as it grows in strength. And this idea is conveyed in relatively few
words. But since previously we have
placed the discussion of the intelligence of certain men before Christ, those
things which are still left must be discussed by the same order. It is better for two to be equal, than
one. For it is better for a man who
lives alone to have Christ, than alone to leave himself vulnerable to
ill-intentioned plots. Since the reward
of the tent is shown at once in the very usefulness of society. For if one man fell, Christ would raise up
his partner. Woe indeed to him who
collapses, he will not have Christ rising up in him. For if one sleeps, that is, if he had been
dissolved by death and had Christ with him, he will revive more quickly having
been made warm and given life once again.
And if the devil, being stronger in his attack, should attack a man, the
man will stand, and Christ will stand in place of this man, in place of his
companion. Not because virtue is weak
(the virtue of Christ alone) against the devil, but because the decision of man
is left free and for us, who are dependent, but virtue itself will become
stronger through fighting. And even if
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit should come, that friendship is
not broken easily. But although it is
not broken easily, it will be broken nonetheless at some point. And the cord from the apostle to Judas was
threefold: but after the breaking of the bread Satan entered him and that cord
was broken. More precisely what he says
above is, "and even if two are sleeping, then they will be warm: and how
will one keep warm on his own?" We
can take an example from Elisha, because he is in a pact with a lad, and slept
with him and warmed his body, and in this way revived the recovering boy. [Cfr IV Reg. 4, 32-36.] Unless therefore Christ sleeps with us and rests
in death, we are not able to receive the heart of eternal life.

"Better
is a poor but wise youth, than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how
to take care of himself; because from the prison-house he emerged to reign,
while even in his reign he was born poor.
I saw all the living that wander beneath the sun throng to the
succeeding youth that steps into his place.
There is no end to the entire nation, to all that was before them;
similarly the ones that come later will not rejoice in him. For this too is futility and a vexation of
the spirit." Symmachus translates this passage in this
way: "better a poor man who has wisdom, than an old and foolish king who
does not know to beware of change".
For the one leaves the body to reign in heaven, and the other indeed,
although he had been born a king, is restricted by poverty. I saw all men living, who grow up under the
sun in propitious adolescence, which increases in them. Each and every nation that was before is
unending, and those that come after do not rejoice in the previous. But this too is empty and a vexation of the
spirit. My Hebrew tutor, whose teachings
I often refer to, bore witness while he was reading Ecclesiastes with me, that
Bar Akiba wrote these things above the present passage, and he is greatly
admired by other scholars: better is the inner part of man, which arises in us
after the fourteenth year of puberty, than the outer, physical man, who is born
from his mother's womb, and he does not know how to abstain from vice because
it comes to this that he rules over his vices from the house of chains, that is
from his mother's womb. For he is made
poor because of his power and by carrying out all wicked deeds. I saw those men, who lived as those former
men, and were changed afterwards into that second man, in him that has been
born in place of the former. And I
understood that all men sinned in that prior manhood, before the second is
born, when they become two men. But once
these men have changed for the better, and after the learning of philosophers,
they leave the left path and hurry towards the right, and they follow the
second man, that is the newest man, and do not rejoice in him that is the
former. The apostle agrees with these
two types of men [Cfr Rom, 7, 15.]
and Leviticus also mentioned them: "Man, man" [Cfr Lev. 17, 13; 19, 20; 21, 17. etc.]
who desired this or that. That saintly
man Gregorius Pontus the bishop, to whom Origen preached, understands the
passage in the following way in his"
Metaphrasis of Ecclesiastes:" "I however prefer a youth who is poor yet
is growing wise, to an old king who is foolish, to whom it never occurs that it
is possible for someone from those whom he has conquered, will leave the body
to reign in heaven; and then he destroys himself from his unjust power. For it happens though that those who were
growing wise at the time of youth are without sadness; but that they changed
before the time of becoming an old king.
For those that have been born afterwards, since they do not know the
wickedness that has gone before, they are not able to praise youth, which
arises afterwards, and are led astray by perverse ideas and by the force of the
opposing arguments." [Grego. Neocaesar. Metaphr. In Eccl. -PG 10, 1000 A] Laodicenus has asserted that great matters
are expressed in this short passage, and he wrote here in his accustomed
fashion: "Ecclesiastes now speaks about the change of good men into
wicked, expressing the foolish man as he who tries, and who not thinking of the
future, enjoys the transient and failing things as if they are great and
perpetual. And after the many things
which usually happen (or change) to men in their life, he asserts something of
a general opinion of death, since the great number perishes and little by
little is consumed and pass across, with each one leaving the other in his
place, and another's successor dying." [Apollinarius Laodic.]
Origines and Victorinus [Origenes. Victorinus Poetouion]
did not think very differently on this matter.
After the general statement that reveals to all that the poor yet wise
youth is better than an old king who is foolish, and that it often happens that
the lad leaves the prison of the king because of his wisdom, and commands in
place of a cruel dictator, and as a foolish king loses all his power, which he
had obtained. They saw this passage in
relation to Christ and the devil, because they wished to view the poor and wise
boy as Christ. The poor boy is the same
as that one in "it is great for you to be called my boy" [Is. 49, 6. According to LXX],
but the poor man, since he has been made poor [cfr II Cor. 8, 9.],
when once he was rich and wise, because "he was proficient in age and
wisdom and thankful to God and men." [Luc. 2, 52.] That man is born in the reign of an old man
and therefore he says, "if this was my rule in the world, that my servants
struggle on my behalf so that I am not handed over to the Jews. But now it is not my rule." [Ioh. 18, 36.] So in the reign of that foolish old man who
displays all the rule of the whole world and his glory, the most excellent boy
comes from the house of chains, about which Jeremiah speaks in Lamentations,
saying, "so that he lowers to the feet of that man all those who have been
conquered in the world." [Thren. 3, 34.] And that boy goes on to rule and goes away to
a far off region, and as king after some time is turned against those, who do
not want to rule. So with some insight
Ecclesiastes saw that all men who are alive and who are able to be part of
youth, say, "I am life" [Ioh. 14, 6.],
having left behind them that old foolish king, to follow Christ. At the same time the two nations of Israel
are to be understood here. The first,
which was before the arrival of the Lord, and the next, which will support the
Antichrist in place of Christ, for the first is not deep down despondent, since
the first church was formed from Jews and the apostles; and in the end the
Jews, who will support the Antichrist, will not rejoice in Christ.

"Be not
rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter a word before
God; for God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. For a dream comes from much concern, and
foolish talk from many words." Several men think that this teaches here
that we should not promise something too quickly in the presence of God, and
without due consideration of our strengths we vow things, which we cannot then
fulfil. God though is present in heaven,
but we seem to be on earth, yet he hears what we say and accuses that our
foolishness comes from our love of speech.
But some men understand this better, affirming that this teaches that,
either speaking or thinking more about God than we are able, we hold to our opinions;
but we know our stupidity, since, as much as the heavens differ from the earth,
so our thoughts are separated from His character. And therefore our words ought to be
checked. Just as he that is much in
thought frequently dreams about those things about which he thinks during the
day; thus he, who wanted to teach more from divinity, falls into
foolishness. Or indeed it could mean
this: our words ought to be few therefore, since even those things, which we
think we know, we see through a mirror and in mystery, and as we understand a
dream, which we think we can grasp.
Although we have done many things, as it appears to us, the end of our
argument is foolishness. For we do not
escape sin by too much speaking [Cfr Prov. 10, 19.].

"When
you make a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for He has no liking for fools;
what you vow, pay. Better that you not
vow at all, than that you vow and not pay.
"A simple man
does not need understanding by interpretation.
It is better not to promise than not to keep promises, since they
displease God and are numbered among fools, who do not fulfil their vows. But since he says, "There is no will in fools"
underneath we hear "of God", like the word of the apostle, who says,
"and just as there was no will, that I should now come to you" [I Cor. 16, 12.]. For even if we want to say something more
inquiring, it is taught to a Christian, that he should fulfil his faith by
work, and not be like the Jews, who pledge and say, "we will do all that
God commands" [Ex. 24, 3.],
and yet worship idols. And afterwards
they beat those slaves and cast stones at them, and immediately killed the very
son of the father of their house. It is
better therefore to hold a doubtful opinion for a while, which is easy to say
in words, but difficult to put into practice.
For the slave, who knows the will of his God and will not do it will be
defeated by many. " "

"Let not
your mouth bring guilt on your flesh, and do not tell the messenger that it was
an error. Why should God be angered by
your speech and destroy the work of your hands?
"What the Hebrew
means is that if you are not able to do these things, do not promise to do
them. For the words do not transgress to
the spirit but are carried at once to the Lord by the angel present, who sticks
to one man only as a companion. You who
think to disregard God, since you have promised, you will anger Him, with the
result that all your work will be destroyed.
But in that place where he says: "to bring guilt upon your
flesh" and he understood this, though not caring diligently, as if he had
said "let not your mouth cause you not to sin." But there seems to me however another
meaning, which is argued by those, who complain about the strength of the flesh
and say they are compelled by the necessity of the body to do those things that
they don't want to do, according to the apostle: "for I do not do what I
want, but what I do not wish" and so on. [Rom. 7, 15.] And so he says, 'don't seek vain excuses and
give occasion to your flesh to sin'.
Then in that place where he says "and do not tell the angel that it
was a madness" Aquila takes the Hebrew word "segaga" to mean ignorance, and translates it with the Greek word "akousion", that is, not of ones
will. For if you say this, he says, you
provoke God, as if to say He is like the creator of evil and sin, and anger
Him, so that if you seem to have anything good, He will take it from your
possession. Or indeed he translates such
things with the meaning of reproof, so that you do those things, which are not
appropriate.

"In
spite of all dreams, futility and idle chatter, rather: Fear God! "The Hebrews explain this passage in great detail, and
in the following way: and you should not do the things detailed above, about
which he has already spoken, lest you believe too readily in dreams. For when you see different things, your mind
will be troubled by many fears throughout your night's rest, or aroused by
promises, you despise those things that are dream-like. You should only fear God. For he, who believes in dreams, gives himself
over to vanities and nonsense. Another
meaning of this passage is, since I have said and admonished, "you should
not let your mouth bring guilt on your flesh", and to seek this or that
excuse; I introduce this now, since in the dream of that life, and in the
appearance, shade, cloud in which we live, we are able to find many things,
which seem true to life to us and excuse our sins. Therefore I advise that you beware that
alone, lest you think God is absent, but fear Him, and know He is present in
all your toil, and do not force yourself to be hidden in free will, but want
whatever it is that you do.

"If you
see oppression of the poor, and the suppression of justice and right of the
State, do not be astonished at the fact, for there is One higher than the high
Who watches and there are high ones above them.
The advantage of land is supreme; even a king is indebted to the
soil." Christ's garment, woven on top, was not able to be torn
by those who crucified him; and the Saviour threw him from that demon, and
advised him to go away having put on the clothes of the apostles. So we believe that the clothes of our
Ecclesiastes are not to be torn, nor should we sew on here and there patches in
place of our free-will of opinion, but use the one text itself in dispute, and
follow the same meaning and arrangement all the way through. Above this he had said: "do not tell the
messenger that it was a madness, lest God become angry over your speech",
and regarding the remaining things, he had spoken against those, who do not
know that providence rules over human affairs.
Since therefore the question arises many times about the precept, why
the righteous sustain disaster, and why the unjust become judges over all the
world, but God is not vengeful: now he introduces and finishes this argument,
saying, 'if you see the calamity of a pauper, who is said to be blessed in the
Gospel, and the situation is assessed according to his strength and not in
justice, do not be astonished or let anything seem new to you. God, who is highest above the high, sees
these things, He that placed His angels above the judges and kings of the
earth, to prevent injustice and they are more important on earth, than any of
man's potentates. But since he will be
the Saviour at the end of the judges, and in the end of the world when the
cornfield will be ripe, and the harvesters will come, he will be ordered that
the wheat be separated and the darnel thrown on the fire. Therefore he now awaits and differs in
opinion, although the field of the world is cultivated carefully more
fully. But since that field is
interpreted as the world, the Lord expounds about them in the parable of darnel
and wheat. [Cfr Matth. 13, 24-30.]

"A lover
of money will never be satisfied with money; a lover of abundance has no
wheat. This too, is futility! As goods increase, so do those who consume
them; what advantage, then, has the owner except what hi eyes see?" Wherever we read 'silver', according to the ambiguity
of the Greek term, it can be translated as 'money', since each has the meaning
of the Greek "argurion. "More precisely Tullius is said to have
called these men 'pecuniary', who have many small savings, that is wealth in
cattle. [(because the Latin for cattle is pecus)] For they were called this in antiquity. But little by little the word devolved into
the one used here through misuse.
Therefore he is described as greedy because he is never sated by wealth,
and the more he has, the more he desires.
Horace also agrees with this sentiment, who says, "always the miser
is wanting" [Horat. Epist. I. 2, 56.],
and too the noble historian, since "avarice is diminished neither by
possessions, nor by lack of them" [Sallust Catil. 11, 3.]. Nothing therefore, says Ecclesiastes can aid
a man who possesses riches, unless only this: that he sees what he
possesses. For the greater his wealth,
the more he will have a larger number of servants, who use up his amassed
wealth. But if he will only see what he
has, he will be able to take more than the food of one man.

"There
is a sickening evil that I have seen under the sun; riches hoarded by their
owner to his misfortune, and he loses those riches in some bad venture. If he begets a son, he has nothing in
hand. As he had come from his mother's
womb, naked will he return, as he had come; he can salvage nothing from his
labour to take with him. This too, is a
sickening evil: Exactly as he came he must depart, and what did he gain in exchange
for toiling for the wind? Indeed, all
his life he eats in darkness; he is greatly grieved, and has illness and
anger." Take what follows as linked to what is written above:
while Ecclesiastes describes wealth, even he is not able to enjoy his riches and
on many occasions endangers himself on account of them. Nor to his heir does he leave what he has
amassed; but even he and his son, just as they came nude, will return nude to
the earth and nothing of their toil will accompany them. Surely apathy is the worst, to be tortured by
thought on account of riches, and wealth will perish. And are we able to take it with us when we
die, in sadness, in mourning, in indignation, in laws or to seek it in vain
toil? And all this is according to the
apparent simple meaning of the text. But
as we are lifted higher, it seems to me that it speaks about the philosophers,
or the heretics, who amass riches of doctrines into their wickedness, and nor
are authors able to follow any usefulness, nor leave perpetual fruit for their
followers. But even they and their
disciples return to the earth and lose their riches, from him who said, "I
will lose the wisdom of the wise men, and I will reprove the prudence of the
careful." [I Cor. 1, 19.]
Truly
in fact, just as they left their mother's womb, (apparently as from a heretical
church), contrary to this about which it is written: "but Jerusalem which
is above is free, which is the mother of all." [Gal. 4, 26.]
Thus
they go nude to become a spirit, and work for nothing. Those who examine, lack examination, and they
are carried on every wind of doctrine, nor do they have the light, but eat
their sacraments in the darkness. They
are always ill, and are easily moved to anger, storing up anger for themselves
for the day of anger, and they do not have the favour of God.

"So what
I have seen to be good is that it is suitable to eat and drink and enjoy
pleasure with all one's labour that he toils beneath the sun during the brief
span of his life that God has given him, for that is his lot. Furthermore, every man to whom God has given
riches and possessions and has given him the power to enjoy them, possess his
share and be happy in his work: this is the gift of God. For he shall remember that the days of his
life are not many, while God provides him with the joy of his heart." This is in comparison to him, who consumes his wealth
in the darkness of his worries, and carries those things which are about to die
throughout the great tedium of his life, and says that that man is better, who
enjoys what he has. For here there is
but a small desire of enjoyment, but there in the latter indeed there is a
great magnitude of worries. He also
gives the reasons why the gift of God is to be able to enjoy riches. Since "he will not remember much of the
days of his life". For God turns
him to the happiness of his heart's desire: he will not be sad, he will not be
worried by thought, since he is led away by happiness and desire for present
things. But it is better understood as according to the apostle [Cf I Cor. 10, 2-4.],
seen as spiritual food and spiritual drink which is given by God and I
understood to see goodness in all of his toil, since we are only able to
consider true good things with great toil and enthusiasm. For what is permitted to be good, though,
until Christ appears in our life, is not yet openly considered good. And therefore God will not remember much of
the days of our life. We should also
note that here "perispasmos" is used in
a better way, in the place of the occupation of the spirit and true
happiness.

<h2>CHAPTER 6</h2>

"There
is an evil I have observed beneath the sun, and it is prevalent among mankind;
a man to whom God has given riches, wealth and honour, and he lacks nothing
that his heart could desire, yet God did not give him the power to enjoy it. This is futility and an evil disease. If a man begets an hundred children and lives
many years - great being the days of his life - and his soul is not content
with the good - and he even is deprived of burial; I say: the stillborn is
better off than he. Though its coming is
futile and it departs in darkness, though its very name is enveloped in
darkness, though it never saw the sun nor knew; it has more satisfaction than
he. Even if he should live a thousand
years twice over, but find no contentment - do not all go to the same
place?" He describes the riches of misers and asserts that this
evil is often in men, since none of those things, which are thought to be good
in the world, is lacking in him, and nonetheless he torments himself with the
most inane sparing, saving those things to be devoured by others. Nor does he say this in exaggeration, for
even if he produced an hundred books and lived longer than Adam, that is almost
one thousand years, but lived two thousand years, he would rot his mind with
desire and avarice. He is born
prematurely in a worse state that dies, as soon as he seems born. For he did not see evil things or good
things; but although he used to possess good things, he was tormented by
thoughts and sadness, and having been born prematurely he has more rest, than a
greedy man who is old. But both however
are seized by the same fate, while both the first and the last are taken away
by the same death. This could also refer
to Israel, because God gave Israel the law, which speaks about the prophets,
the testament, the Promised Land and the Saviour: "let the reign of God be
removed from you and given to a nation that brings forth his fruit" [Matth. 21, 43.]. All these things have been given to a foreign
and pilgrim people from peoples who see their good yet do not enjoy it. They say we are of much better condition, who
are considered to be as new-born and premature by those, who praised themselves
in antiquity, finding glory in their fathers, saying: "our father was
Abraham" [Ioh. 8, 39.],
but however both we and they hasten to one place, that is to the judgement of
God. But what Ecclesiastes says in the
middle is this: "but there was no tomb for him". This either means that that rich man does not
think of his death, and while he possesses all, is greedy even in building a
tomb; or that often he is killed on account of those riches, by plots against
his life, and is left unburied, or, what I think is a better interpretation, he
needs nothing of good deeds, from which he is able to obtain for himself memory
among those who come after him. And so
that he will not pass through life in silence, just as cattle, although he had
a means, by which he was able to show that he had lived.

"All
man's toil is for his mouth, yet his wants are never satisfied. What advantage then has the wise man over the
fool? What less has the pauper who knows
how to conduct himself among the living?
"All that men
toil at in this world is consumed by the mouth and taken to be digested in the
stomach after it has been ground down by the teeth. And when a little bit has pleased the
palette, it seems to create a desire, so long as it is held in the mouth. But when it has passed down to the stomach
the difference between foods is no longer distinguishable. And after all these things the spirit of a
man who eats is not filled up; or then he desires again what he has eaten, and
is as wise as the fool without food, who does not know how to live, and the
poor man asks for nothing else but for how he is to sustain the organs of his
meagre body, and not die through starvation.
Or because the spirit takes no gain from the food of the body, and food
is of equal use to a wise man and a fool, and the pauper wanders therefrom, to
where he has seen wealth to be. This is
better understood regarding a man of the church, who learned in the heavenly
Scriptures, holds all his toil in his mouth yet his spirit is not filled, for
he always desires to learn. And in that
respect the wise man has more than the fool, since when he feels himself to be
poor, he presses that pauper, who is called blessed in the Gospel, to
understand those things which are of life, and walks the restricted and narrow
path, which leads to life, and he is poor from wicked deeds and knows where
Christ, (who is life) is to be found.

"What
has been was already named, and it is known that he is but a man. He cannot contend with one who is mightier
than him." Clearly this is predicting the arrival of
the Saviour, since he writes 'he will be'; before he was seen in body his name
was already written in the Scriptures and was known by prophets and holy men of
God, since he was a man; and similar to this, since he is a man, he is not able
to walk with his Father. And in the
Gospel it says: "the Father, who sent me, is greater than me." [Ioh. 14, 28.] In the following passages it teaches not to
ask more than is written for us by Him, so that a man may not wish to know more
than is attested in the Scriptures. For
although we are ignorant of our condition and our life passes us by like a
shadow, and our future is undecided, it is not useful for us to strive for more
than we are able to attain. Some think
that this passage means that God already knows the names of all the men, who
will be in the future, and who will be enclosed within the body of
mankind. Nor is a man able to reply to
his creator, and ask why he has been made in this way or that. For however much more we seek, our vanity and
our unnecessary words are exposed all the more.
Our choice does not come free from the foreknowledge of God, but precedes
the causes, why any one thing is done in a particular way.


<h2>CHAPTER 7</h2>