Bonaventure

Art. 2. De remedio contra vanitatem avaritiae, cum divitiae contemnendae sint triplici ratione.

Avarus non implebitur pecunia. Supra posuit remedium contra vanitatem malitiae; hic subiungit secundo remedium contra vanitatem avaritiae. Remedium autem contra avaritiam est contemptus bonorum terrenorum; ideo hic persuadet contemptum divitiarum. Et hoc quidem facit per triplicem rationem: primo enim ostendit, divitias non esse appetendas, quia non ditant possessores suos; secundo, quia non transmittuntur frequenter ad posteros, ibi²: Est alia infirmitas pessima; tertio, quia frequenter devolvuntur ad extraneos, ibi: Est et aliud malum, quod vidi sub sole etc.

Primo contemnendae divitiae, quia non ditant possessores suos, et hoc ob triplicem rationem.

Primo igitur avaritiam detestatur, quia divitiae, quae appetuntur, non adiuvant nec ditant possessores, quia non sufficiunt; secundo, quia non prosunt; tertio, quia affligunt.

(Vers. 9.). Detestandae sunt ergo divitiae et aspernandae, quia avaro non sufficiunt, et hoc avarus primo appetit, scilicet sufficientiam. Propterea dicit: Avarus non implebitur pecunia; Ecclesiastici decimo quarto³: « Insatiabilis oculus cupidi ». Unde Hieronymus: « Avaro deest tam quod habet, quam quod non habet »; et Seneca: « Si vis te divitem facere, non pecuniae est addendum, sed cupiditati subtrahendum ».

(Vers. 9. 10.). Et qui amat divitias etc. Hic secundo dehortatur ab amore divitiarum, quia non prosunt. Ideo dicit: Et qui amat divitias fructum non capiet ex eis, et ita non prosunt; Ecclesiastici decimo⁴: « Nihil est iniquius quam amare pecuniam. Hic enim animam suam venalem habet »; et ita nihil prosunt avaro divitiae, quia animam dat pro pecunia; unde Matthaei decimo sexto: « Quid prodest homini, si universum mundum lucretur, animae vero suae detrimentum patiatur »? quasi dicat: nihil. Et ex hoc infert vanitatem in amando eas: Et hoc ergo vanitas, tam culpae quam poenae; de prima, Psalmus⁵: « Filii hominum, usquequo gravi corde » etc.; de secunda, Psalmus: « Defecerunt in vanitate dies eorum » etc. Psalmus: « Ecce homo, qui non posuit Deum adiutorem suum, sed speravit in multitudine divitiarum suarum et praevaluit in vanitate sua ». — Et quod nihil prosint divitiae possidenti, ostendit: quia consumuntur, et nihil plus habet dominus servo; ideo dicit: Ubi multae sunt opes, multi et qui comedunt eas; sic omnia consumuntur. Unde Seneca⁶: « Cadavera lupi, muscae mel; praedam, non hominem sequitur turba ista »; Iob trigesimo nono: « Pulli eius lambunt sanguinem, et ubi fuerit cadaver, statim adest »; quia, secundum quod dicitur Proverbiorum decimo nono, « multi colunt personam potentis et amici sunt dona tribuentis ». Et quid prodest p. 47 possessori, nisi quod cernit divitias oculis suis? quasi dicat: nihil plus sibi quam aliis, quia tantum comedit quilibet aliorum, quantum ipse solus; et ita non habet fructum prae aliis, immo damnum, quia peccatum habet plus; unde Ecclesiastici undecimo: « Si dives fueris, non eris immunis a delicto. Si secutus fueris, non apprehendes » etc.

(Vers. 11.). Dulcis est somnus. Hic tertio ostendit divitias aspernandas, quia affligunt et hominem quiescere non permittunt; unde auferunt somnum quietis. Propterea dicit: Dulcis est somnus operanti, sive parum, sive multum comedat. Et ita operans et laborans aliquando quiescit; Ecclesiastici trigesimo primo¹: « Somnus sanitatis in homine parco; dormiet usque mane, et anima illius delectabitur cum illo ». Sed econtra de divite: non quiescit; unde subdit: Saturitas autem divitis non sinit eum dormire; vel, quia multas habet divitias, multas habet curas, quae auferunt somnum; Iob decimo quinto²: « Sonitus terroris semper in auribus, et cum pax sit, ipse insidias suspicatur »; unde supra secundo: « Cuncti dies eius laboribus et aerumnis pleni sunt, nec per noctem mente requiescit ». Vel etiam, quia multum comedit et bibit et non laborat, ideo non quiescit; unde Ecclesiastici trigesimo primo: « Vigilia et cholera et tortura viro infrunito », et sic prae satietate non quiescit.

Quaestiones.

Sed quaeritur de hoc quod dicit, quod divitiae non prosunt possessori.

1. Nam infra septimo³: Utilior est sapientia cum divitiis et magis prodest videntibus solem.

2. Item, Proverbiorum decimo tertio⁴: Redemptio animae viri, divitiae eius: ergo valent ad redimendum animam.

Contra: 1. Omne illud, quod melius est simpliciter dimittere quam tenere, est simpliciter inutile, quia, si absentia alicuius est utilis, praesentia est damnosa; ergo si dimittere divitias est bonum, tenere eas est inutile.

2. Item, omnis utilitas attenditur secundum ordinationem ad finem ultimum: ergo quod praestat impedimentum deveniendi in finem non est utile, sed inutile; sed divitiae sunt huiusmodi, quia amantem divitias impossibile est introire in caelum⁵, et difficile est habere eas et non amare: ergo divitiarum possessio impedit: ergo non prosunt, sed obsunt.

Respondeo ad hoc, quod, sicut dicit Bernardus⁶, « temporalia ista de se nec bona sunt nec mala, quorum usus bonus, abusio mala, sollicitudo peior, quaestus turpior ». Si igitur quaeratur, utrum divitiae sint utiles, vel inutiles; dico, quod bene utenti utiles sunt, sed reservanti sunt inutiles, male utenti damnosae; unde dicitur infra eodem⁷: Divitiae conservatae in malum domini sui; bene vero utenti valent, cum scilicet distribuit in opera pietatis. — Sic enim valent ad redemptionem culpae; Danielis quarto: Peccata tua eleemosynis redime. Valent ad augmentum gratiae; primae ad Timotheum quarto: Exerce temetipsum ad pietatem etc. Valent ad adeptionem gloriae; Lucae decimo sexto: Facite vobis amicos de mammona iniquitatis, ut cum defeceritis, recipiant vos in aeterna tabernacula.

1. Quod obiicit, quod inutiles, quia bonum est dimittere; dicendum, quod dimittere est Deo donare, et hoc est divitiis bene uti; unde utiles sunt ad dimittendum, ad dandum pauperibus, ad emendum regnum.

2. Quod obiicitur, quod difficile est habere et non amare; respondeo, quod ex hoc non sequitur, quod impediant, quia « omnis virtus est circa difficile⁸ », et tamen virtus non impedit, sed adiuvat. Tamen utilior et securior usus est semel totum dimittere quam paulatim dare, propter vitanda pericula, quae accidunt.

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Art. 2. On the remedy against the vanity of avarice, since riches are to be despised for a threefold reason.

A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money. Above he set down the remedy against the vanity of malice; here he adds, secondly, the remedy against the vanity of avarice. Now the remedy against avarice is contempt of earthly goods; therefore here he urges contempt of riches. And this he does by a threefold reason: for first he shows that riches are not to be sought, because they do not enrich their possessors; secondly, because they are not handed down frequently to posterity, where he says²: There is also another grievous evil; thirdly, because frequently they pass to strangers, where he says: There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun etc.

First, riches are to be despised because they do not enrich their possessors, and this for a threefold reason.

First, then, he detests avarice, because riches, which are sought, do not help nor enrich their possessors, since they do not suffice; secondly, because they do not profit; thirdly, because they afflict.

(Vers. 9.). Riches, therefore, are to be detested and spurned, because to the covetous man they do not suffice, and this is what the covetous man seeks first, namely sufficiency. Therefore he says: A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money; Ecclesiasticus, the fourteenth chapter³: « The eye of the covetous is insatiable ». Hence Jerome: « The covetous man lacks as much what he has as what he has not »; and Seneca: « If you wish to make yourself rich, you must not add to your money, but subtract from your desire ».

(Vers. 9. 10.). And he that loveth riches etc. Here, secondly, he dissuades from the love of riches, because they do not profit. Therefore he says: And he that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them, and so they do not profit; Ecclesiasticus, the tenth chapter⁴: « There is not a more wicked thing than to love money. For such a one setteth even his own soul to sale »; and so riches profit the covetous man nothing, because he gives his soul for money; hence Matthew, the sixteenth chapter: « What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul »? as if to say: nothing. And from this he infers the vanity in loving them: So this also is vanity, a vanity as much of fault as of punishment; of the first, the Psalm⁵: « O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart » etc.; of the second, the Psalm: « Their days were consumed in vanity » etc. The Psalm: « Behold the man that made not God his helper, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and prevailed in his vanity ». — And he shows that riches profit their possessor nothing, because they are consumed, and the master has nothing more than the servant; therefore he says: Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them; thus all things are consumed. Hence Seneca⁶: « Wolves follow the carcass, flies the honey; this crowd follows the prey, not the man »; Job, the thirty-ninth chapter: « Her young ones shall suck up blood, and wheresoever the carcass shall be, she is immediately there »; for, according to what is said in Proverbs, the nineteenth chapter, « many honour the person of him that is mighty, and are friends of him that giveth gifts ». And what doth it profit p. 47 the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes? as if to say: nothing more for himself than for others, because any one of the others eats as much as he alone; and so he has no fruit above the others, nay rather loss, because he has more sin; hence Ecclesiasticus, the eleventh chapter: « If thou be rich, thou shalt not be free from sin. If thou pursue after, thou shalt not overtake » etc.

(Vers. 11.). Sleep is sweet. Here, thirdly, he shows that riches are to be spurned because they afflict and do not allow a man to rest; hence they take away the sleep of rest. Therefore he says: Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat little or much. And so the one who works and labours rests at some time; Ecclesiasticus, the thirty-first chapter¹: « Wholesome sleep in a temperate man: he shall sleep till morning, and his soul shall be delighted with him ». But on the contrary, of the rich man: he does not rest; hence he adds: But the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep; either because he has many riches, he has many cares, which take away sleep; Job, the fifteenth chapter²: « The sound of dread is always in his ears, and when there is peace, he suspecteth treason »; hence above, in the second chapter: « All his days are full of sorrows and miseries, even in the night he doth not rest in mind ». Or also because he eats and drinks much and does not labour, therefore he does not rest; hence Ecclesiasticus, the thirty-first chapter: « Watching, and choler, and gripes are with an intemperate man », and so for surfeit he does not rest.

Questions.

But it is asked concerning what he says, that riches do not profit their possessor.

1. For below, in the seventh chapter³: Wisdom with riches is more profitable, and bringeth more advantage to them that see the sun.

2. Likewise, Proverbs, the thirteenth chapter⁴: The ransom of a man's life are his riches: therefore they avail to ransom the soul.

On the contrary: 1. Everything which it is better simply to let go than to keep is simply useless, because, if the absence of something is useful, its presence is harmful; therefore if to let go of riches is good, to keep them is useless.

2. Likewise, all usefulness is reckoned according to ordering to the last end: therefore what presents an impediment to arriving at the end is not useful, but useless; but riches are of this kind, because it is impossible for one who loves riches to enter into heaven⁵, and it is difficult to have them and not love them: therefore the possession of riches impedes: therefore they do not profit, but hurt.

I respond to this that, as Bernard says⁶, « these temporal things are of themselves neither good nor evil; their use is good, their abuse evil, anxiety over them worse, gain from them more shameful ». If, then, it is asked whether riches are useful or useless, I say that to one who uses them well they are useful, but to one who hoards them they are useless, to one who uses them ill harmful; hence it is said below in the same chapter⁷: Riches kept to the hurt of the owner; but to one who uses them well they avail, namely when he distributes them in works of piety. — For thus they avail for the redemption of fault; Daniel, the fourth chapter: Redeem thou thy sins with alms. They avail for the increase of grace; the first to Timothy, the fourth chapter: Exercise thyself unto piety etc. They avail for the attainment of glory; Luke, the sixteenth chapter: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.

1. As to the objection that they are useless because it is good to let them go, it must be said that to let go is to give to God, and this is to use riches well; hence they are useful for letting go, for giving to the poor, for buying the kingdom.

2. As to the objection that it is difficult to have them and not love them, I respond that it does not follow from this that they impede, because « every virtue is about the difficult⁸ », and yet virtue does not impede, but helps. Yet a more useful and safer use is to let go of the whole at once than to give little by little, for the sake of avoiding the dangers which befall.

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