Bonaventure

Art. 3. De vanitate imprudentiae, quae primo detestanda propter malum praesens.

Melior est puer etc. Egit supra de vanitate malitiae et avaritiae; hic agit de vanitate imprudentiae; et quia vanitas imprudentiae est culpabilis et detestanda; ideo contra ipsam invehitur dupliciter: primo, propter malum praesens; secundo, propter malum succedens sive consequens, ibi: Vidi cunctos viventes.

(Vers. 13. 14.). Malum praesens et concomitans imprudentiam est, quod regem divitem et senem subiicit puero pauperi, habenti prudentiam, et hoc

p. 41 quidem magna vanitas. Et propterea dicit: Melior est puer pauper et sapiens rege sene et stulto, quamvis iste excedat potentia, excedat pecunia, excedat etiam aetate; infra decimo¹: « Pretiosior est sapientia parvaque gloria ad tempus stultitia »; et Proverbiorum duodecimo: « Melior est pauper et sufficiens sibi quam gloriosus et indigens pane ». Et explanat quod dixit: stulto, quia defectum habet providentiae de futuro, quae est una pars prudentiae; unde dicit: Qui nescit praevidere in posterum, scilicet rerum eventum; Deuteronomii trigesimo secundo²: « Utinam saperent et intelligerent ac novissima providerent ». — Quod de carcere catenisque interdum quis egrediatur ad regnum; Sapientiae decimo: « Venditum iustum in vinculis non dereliquit, sed a peccatoribus liberavit, donec afferret illi sceptrum regni ». Et alius, natus in regnum, inopia consumatur, et hoc propter suam superbiam; Ecclesiastici decimo: « Sedes ducum superborum destruxit Dominus, et sedere fecit mites pro eis ».

Secundo est detestanda propter malum succedens.

(Vers. 15. 16.). Vidi cunctos viventes. Hic tangitur secundo malum sibi succedens propter suam imprudentiam, quia ipse deprimitur, et alius exaltatur; unde dicit: Vidi cunctos viventes, qui ambulant sub sole, id est multos vel innumerabiles, hyperbolice, cum adolescente secundo, id est, qui eum sequitur in regno; unde dicit: qui consurget pro eo. Et ita alii sequuntur adolescentem succedentem, contemnendo senem. Exemplum de David, qui consurgit in regnum Saul, quem consecuti sunt filii Israel, relicta domo Saul, sicut dicitur secundi Regum quinto³, quod omnes venerunt ad David. — Et ratio, propter quam sequuntur adolescentem, relicto sene, est, quia nulli benefecit senex stultus; et hoc innuit littera sequens: Infinitus numerus est populi omnium, qui fuerunt ante eum, id est, ante adventum adolescentis sub rege fuerunt stulto et adhaeserunt ei. Et qui postea futuri sunt, supple: cum sene illi adhaerentes, non laetabuntur in eo, hoc est in sene stulto, quia nulli benefecit nec faciet, quia nescit; Ecclesiastici vigesimo⁴: « Fatuo non erit amicus, nec erit gratia in bonis illius; neque enim quod habendum erat directo sensu distribuit ». Et ex hoc concludit vanitatem; unde dicit: Sed et hoc vanitas et afflictio spiritus, alia scilicet vanitas a praedictis, supra primo: « Vidi cuncta, quae fiunt sub sole, et ecce, universa vanitas »; et subiungitur ratio: « Perversi difficile corriguntur, et stultorum infinitus est numerus ». — Et sic terminatur pars de vanitate culpae.

Spiritualiter hoc etiam potest exponi de Christo. Puer pauper et sapiens Christus est, qui puer propter innocentiam; unde Isaiae quadragesimo secundo⁵ secundum aliam litteram: « Ecce, puer meus, electus meus, complacuit sibi in illo anima mea ». Pauper, quia pro nobis factus est inops; secundae ad Corinthios octavo: « Scitis, fratres, gratiam Domini nostri Iesu Christi, quoniam propter vos factus est egenus, cum esset dives ». Sapiens, immo Sapientia; primae ad Corinthios primo: « Christum dicimus Dei virtutem et Dei sapientiam »; et infra nono: « Inventus est in ea vir pauper et sapiens ».

Senex rex et stultus diabolus est, qui est senex; Iob quadragesimo⁶: « Ipse est principium viarum Dei »; unde « inveteratus est dierum malorum » Rex est, quia regnat in malis; unde Iob quadragesimo primo: « Ipse est rex super omnes filios superbiae ». Stultus, quia aggressus est quod non potuit; unde Isaiae decimo quarto dixit: « Ascendam in caelum, super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum ». Hic etsi sit callidissimus ad decipiendum, nescit tamen praevidere, quod de carcere quis egrediatur ad regnum, ut Christus de carcere carnis et de vinculis passionis egrediatur ad regnum gloriae caelestis; ad Hebraeos primo⁷: « Sedet ad dexteram maiestatis in excelsis ». Etiam diabolus, natus in regnum, id est ad percipiendum regnum, inopia consumatur, ut ad Colossenses secundo dicitur: « Spolians principatus et potestates traduxit confidenter ».

Et hoc quod sequitur, est explanatio praecedentis. Et vidi cunctos viventes sub sole cum adolescente secundo, id est Christo; Ioannis duodecimo⁸: « Ecce, totus mundus post eum abiit ». Iste consurgit, pro eo quod diabolum eiecit de regno; Ioannis duodecimo: « Nunc iudicium est mundi, nunc princeps huius mundi eiicietur foras ». Infinitus

p. 42 numerus virorum, qui fuerunt ante eum, id est adventum Christi; et fideles, qui post futuri sunt, non laetabuntur in eo, id est in rege stulto, id est diabolo, quia non laetati sunt nisi in Christo; unde Apostolus ad Philippenses ultimo: « Gaudete in Domino semper ». In Domino est laetandum, non in diabolo.

---

Art. 3. On the vanity of imprudence, which is first to be detested on account of the present evil.

Better is a child etc. He treated above of the vanity of malice and of avarice; here he treats of the vanity of imprudence; and since the vanity of imprudence is culpable and to be detested, he therefore inveighs against it in two ways: first, on account of the present evil; secondly, on account of the evil succeeding or consequent, at: I saw all men living.

(Vers. 13. 14.). The present evil, the one accompanying imprudence, is that it subjects a king rich and old to a child poor and having prudence, and this

p. 41 is indeed a great vanity. And therefore he says: Better is a child that is poor and wise than a king that is old and foolish, although the latter exceed him in power, exceed him in wealth, exceed him even in age; below, the tenth chapter¹: « Wisdom, and a little glory, is more precious than folly for a time »; and Proverbs, the twelfth chapter: « Better is the poor man that is sufficient for himself than he that is glorious and wanteth bread ». And he explains what he said, foolish, because he has a defect of providence regarding the future, which is one part of prudence; hence he says: Who knoweth not to foresee for hereafter, namely the outcome of things; Deuteronomy, the thirty-second chapter²: « O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end ». — Because out of prison and chains sometimes a man cometh forth to a kingdom; Wisdom, the tenth chapter: « She forsook not the just man that was sold, in bonds, but delivered him from sinners, until she brought him the sceptre of the kingdom ». And another, born into the kingdom, is consumed with poverty, and this on account of his pride; Ecclesiasticus, the tenth chapter: « The Lord hath destroyed the thrones of proud princes, and hath made the meek to sit in their stead ».

Secondly, it is to be detested on account of the evil succeeding.

(Vers. 15. 16.). I saw all men living. Here is touched, secondly, the evil succeeding upon him on account of his imprudence, since he himself is brought low and another is exalted; hence he says: I saw all men living, that walk under the sun, that is, many or innumerable, hyperbolically, with the second young man, that is, the one who follows him in the kingdom; hence he says: who shall rise up in his place. And so others follow the succeeding young man, despising the old one. An example is David, who rises up into the kingdom of Saul, whom the children of Israel followed, leaving the house of Saul, as it is said in II Kings, the fifth chapter³, that all came to David. — And the reason on account of which they follow the young man, leaving the old one, is that the foolish old man did good to no one; and the text following intimates this: The number of the people, of all that were before him, is infinite, that is, before the coming of the young man they were under the foolish king and adhered to him. And they that shall come afterwards, supply: adhering to that old man, shall not rejoice in him, that is, in the foolish old man, since he has done good to no one nor will do so, because he does not know how; Ecclesiasticus, the twentieth chapter⁴: « A fool shall have no friend, nor shall there be thanks for his good things; for what was to be had he hath not distributed with right understanding ». And from this he concludes the vanity; hence he says: But this also is vanity and affliction of spirit, namely another vanity than those aforesaid, above, the first chapter: « I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity »; and the reason is added: « The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite ». — And so is ended the part on the vanity of fault.

Spiritually this can also be expounded of Christ. The child poor and wise is Christ, who is a child on account of innocence; hence Isaias, the forty-second chapter⁵, according to another text: « Behold my child, my elect; my soul hath been well pleased in him ». Poor, because for us he became needy; II Corinthians, the eighth chapter: « You know, brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he became poor, being rich ». Wise, nay rather Wisdom; I Corinthians, the first chapter: « We call Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God »; and below, the ninth chapter: « There was found in it a man poor and wise ».

The old and foolish king is the devil, who is old; Job, the fortieth chapter⁶: « He is the beginning of the ways of God »; hence « he is grown old in evil days ». King he is, because he reigns among the wicked; hence Job, the forty-first chapter: « He is king over all the children of pride ». Foolish, because he attempted what he could not; hence, Isaias, the fourteenth chapter, he said: « I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God ». Although he be most cunning at deceiving, he knoweth not, however, to foresee that out of prison a man cometh forth to a kingdom, as Christ from the prison of the flesh and from the chains of the passion comes forth to the kingdom of heavenly glory; Hebrews, the first chapter⁷: « He sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high ». The devil too, born into the kingdom, that is, to receive the kingdom, is consumed with poverty, as is said to the Colossians, the second chapter: « Despoiling the principalities and powers, he hath exposed them confidently ».

And what follows is an explanation of what precedes. And I saw all men living under the sun with the second young man, that is, Christ; John, the twelfth chapter⁸: « Behold, the whole world is gone after him ». He rises up in that he cast the devil out of the kingdom; John, the twelfth chapter: « Now is the judgment of the world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out ». The number

p. 42 of men that were before him is infinite, that is, before the coming of Christ; and the faithful, who shall come afterwards, shall not rejoice in him, that is, in the foolish king, that is, the devil, because they have rejoiced in none but Christ; hence the Apostle to the Philippians, the last chapter: « Rejoice in the Lord always ». In the Lord one is to rejoice, not in the devil.

---