Bonaventure

Capitulum VI.

Tertio detestatur avaritiam, quia divitiae frequenter devolvuntur ad extraneos.

Est et aliud malum etc. Supra ostendit, divitias esse contemnendas, et quia non ditant possessores suos, et quia frequenter non transmittuntur ad posteros. Hic tertio ostendit esse contemnendas, quia frequenter devolvuntur ad extraneos; hoc quidem facit hoc ordine. Primo quidem insinuatur divitiarum conservatarum translatio; secundo vero, tenacitatis detestatio, ibi: Si genuerit quispiam etc.; tertio subiungitur detestationis ratio, ibi: Frustra igitur venit etc.

(Vers. 1. 2.). Primo igitur Ecclesiastes consideravit vanitatem consequentem divites et proponit eam, assumit et concludit. Proponit dicens: Est et aliud malum, quod vidi sub sole; et aggravat ex circumstantia: Et quod est frequens apud homines, id est apud infirmos mundi dilectores et divites, de quibus Psalmus¹: « Filii hominum, usquequo gravi corde? Ut quid diligitis vanitatem et quaeritis mendacium » etc. — Et assumit vanitatem, quae attenditur in hoc, quod divitias conservat, et alius devorat; ideo dicit: Vir, cui Deus dedit divitias, quantum ad mobilia; et substantiam, quantum ad immobilia; et honores, quantum ad sublimia. Omnia enim a Deo: divitiae a Deo; Proverbiorum tertio²: « Longitudo dierum in dextera eius, et in sinistra illius divitiae et gloria ». Et substantia a Deo, maxime illa, de qua Ecclesiastici decimo tertio: « Bona est substantia, cui non est peccatum in conscientia ». Similiter honoratio a Deo; unde Danielis quinto dixit Daniel Balthasar: « O rex! Deus altissimus regnum et magnificentiam et honorem dedit patri tuo ». Et ut consummet perfectam abundantiam bonorum fortunae, subiungit: Et nihil deest animae suae ex omnibus, quae desiderat, quia sufficienter habet. Animam vocat hic vitam carnalem, de qua Ioannis duodecimo³: « Qui amat animam suam perdet eam ». Ita habet abundantiam ad possidendum, et tamen habet avaritiam ad retinendum, quae aufert ei potentiam ad fruendum; ideo subiungit: Nec tribuit ei potestatem Deus, ut comedat ex eo, quia illud continue conservat et frustra; unde Ecclesiastici decimo quarto⁴: « Viro cupido et tenaci sine ratione est substantia; et homini livido ad quid aurum »? Nec ipse utitur nec posteri, sed alieni; unde addit: Sed homo extraneus vorabit illud; unde Ecclesiastici decimo quarto: « Qui acervat ex animo suo iniuste aliis congregat, et in bonis illius alius luxuriabitur »; et Proverbiorum decimo tertio: « Custoditur iusto substantia peccatoris ». — Et ex hoc infert vanitatem: Et hoc vanitas et miseria magna est: vanitas, quia ipse non laetatur; miseria, quia, alio auferente, tristatur; Isaiae primo: « Regionem vestram coram vobis alieni devorant » etc.

(Vers. 3.). Si genuerit quispiam etc. Hic notatur tenacitatis detestatio ratione praedictae translationis, et reprehendit ipsam tenacitatem, quantumcumque habeat successivam prosperitatem. Propterea subdit: Si genuerit quispiam centum liberos, hyperbolice dictum est, id est multos liberos; quia mali frequenter generant filios malos, de quibus non est gaudium, etiam si sint multi; Ecclesiastici decimo sexto⁵: « Non iucunderis in filiis impiis; si multiplicantur, non oblecteris super illos ». Abundare filiis prosperitas est temporalis; et sequitur alia prosperitas temporalis: Et vixerit multos annos, id est per multos annos; et plures dies aetatis habuerit, scilicet prae aliis hominibus; et haec quidem prosperitas est temporalis. Hanc prosperitatem frequenter habent impii; unde infra septimo⁶: « Longo tempore impius vivit in impietate sua », si his prosperitatibus abundaverit. Et anima illius non utatur bonis substantiae suae, id est, tenax fuerit et avarus in vita; sepulturaque careat in morte, secundum quod de Ioachim dicitur Ieremiae vigesimo secundo: « Sepultura asini sepelietur Ioachim, putrefactus et proiectus extra portas Ierusalem ». — His conditionibus prosperitatis et tenacitatis praemissis, subiungit detestationem: De hoc ego pronuntio, tanquam iudex terrae; quod melior illo sit abortivus, propter miseriam et vanitatem multam, quibus abortivus caret; unde dicitur Iob tertio⁷: « Quare non in vulva mortuus sum? Quare egressus de utero non statim perii? Quare exceptus genibus? Cur lactatus uberibus »? Et iterum decimo: « Quare de vulva eduxisti me »?

(Vers. 4. 5. 6. 7.). Frustra enim venit etc. Hic subiungitur tertio detestationis ratio, scilicet quod isto modo tenaci melior sit abortivus, quia, sicut abortivus frustra venit et pergit ad tenebras, quia statim moritur, sic et iste; ideo dicitur: Frustra enim venit et pergit ad tenebras, scilicet ipse tenax; Iob tertio⁸: « Viro cuius abscondita est via, p. 51 et circumdedit eum Deus tenebris »? Et quod frustra veniat in hunc mundum talis avarus et tenax, ostendit, et propter deletionem nominis in morte et propter inexperientiam boni in vita et propter inexpletionem desiderii in utroque statu. Propter deletionem nominis dicit: Et oblivione delebitur nomen eius, id est, non permanebit nec re nec nomine, secundum quod comminatur Dominus Babyloni Isaiae decimo quarto¹: « Perdam Babylonis nomen et reliquias et germen et progeniem, ait Dominus »; et Sapientiae secundo in persona malorum: « Nomen nostrum oblivionem accipiet per tempus, et nemo erit memor operum nostrorum ». — Propter inexperientiam boni subiungit: non videt solem, in quo scilicet est delectatio et experientia boni, secundum quod dicitur infra undecimo²: « Dulce lumen et delectabile est oculis videre solem ». Hunc non vidit vir avarus, quia errat; Sapientiae quinto: « Erravimus a via veritatis, et iustitiae lumen non luxit nobis; et sol intelligentiae non est ortus nobis » etc. Et ita non vidit solem, hoc est, non habuit cognitionis lumen; neque cognovit distantiam boni et mali, quia scilicet non est expertus. — Ideo dicit: Etiam si duobus millibus annis vixerit, quia non habemus cognitionem per diuturnitatem, sed per experientiam; Ecclesiastici trigesimo quarto³: « Qui non est expertus pauca recognoscit », secundum quod dicit Philosophus: « Experientia fecit artem, inexperientia casum ». Propter incompletionem desiderii subdit: Nonne ad unum locum properant omnia? quasi dicat: ex parte corporis cedent in terram; Ecclesiastici quadragesimo primo⁴: « Omnia, quae de terra facta sunt, in terram convertentur »; et supra tertio: « Cuncta subiacent vanitati, et omnia pergunt ad locum unum ». Ex parte igitur corporis est incineratio, ex parte autem animae desiderii sui incompletio. — Propterea dicit: Omnis labor hominis in ore illius; os dicitur inhiatio desiderii; qui enim desiderat quasi os aperit; laborem igitur esse in ore, hoc est laborare ad desiderii completionem; unde Proverbiorum decimo sexto⁵: « Anima laborantis laborat sibi, quia compulit eum os suum ». Et licet hoc ad desiderium complendum faciat, non tamen completur; ideo dicit: Sed anima illius, scilicet divitis tenacis, non implebitur bonis, sicut dictum est supra quinto: « Avarus non implebitur pecunia »; unde Habacuc secundo: « Dilatavit quasi infernus animam suam, et ipse quasi mors non adimplebitur ». Ita verum est de avaris, de pecunia; ita etiam de scientia; secundae ad Timotheum tertio: « Semper discentes, et nunquam ad scientiam veritatis pervenientes ».

Quaestiones.

I. Quaeritur de hoc quod dicit: Non dedit ei Deus potestatem, ut fruatur bonis. — Contra: Haec est liberum arbitrium; sed dedit liberum arbitrium: ergo et potestatem.

Respondeo: dicendum, quod potentiam habet ad fruendum, scilicet qua potest frui; sed iusto Dei iudicio impeditur aliqua poena, quia incurrit sollicitudinem superfluam et timorem et dolorem; et quia potestas dicit potentiam expeditam⁶, et haec iusto iudicio impedita est: ideo etc.

II. Item quaeritur de hoc quod dicit, quod nihil deest animae suae ex omnibus, quae desiderat.

Contra: Supra quinto⁷: Avarus non implebitur pecunia; et rursus Hieronymus: « Avaro deest tam quod habet, quam quod non habet »: male ergo dicit, cum ait: Et nihil deest.

Respondeo: dicendum, quod deesse aliquid, hoc potest esse dupliciter: vel quantum ad sufficientiam secundum rem et naturam, vel secundum opinionem. Dico ergo, quod bene potest esse avarus ita dives, quod nihil desit ei secundum rem et naturam; sed tamen nunquam ita dives, quin aliquid ei desit secundum suam aestimationem, quia semper plus cupit habere; et ita sibi deest.

III. Item de hoc quaeritur, quod abortivum ei praefert. Videtur, quod male:

1. Quia abortivus nullarum rerum habuit cognitionem, iste autem habuit; item, avarus, cum peccat mortaliter, fruitur utendis⁸.

2. Item, quomodo dicit, quod non cognovit distantiam boni et mali, nisi fuerit perfruitus bonis? Ergo videtur, quod abortivus sit melior omnibus, qui non delectantur in bonis praesentibus et qui non sunt carnales; hoc autem est haereticum.

Respondeo: dicendum, quod secundum illam viam, quodsi hoc dicatur in persona carnalis, facilis est responsio; sustinendo tamen, quod hoc dicat secundum veritatem, dico, quod tali diviti tenaci abortivum praeponit, quia ille, quamvis non sit expertus bona, tamen non sustinuit mala; hic autem p. 52 sustinuit mala et non gustavit bona; ideo ille potior, et quantum ad hoc intelligit¹.

1. Quod obiicitur de ratione, quia non est perfruitus bonis; dicendum, quod frui uno modo dicit dilectionem alicuius cum quietatione in illo; alio modo quietationem et delectationem. Dico ergo, quod qui diligit Deum habet, sicut dicit Augustinus in libro Octoginta trium Quaestionum², et ideo qui Deum diligit in eo delectatur. Sed pecunia vel res temporalis, cum diligitur et non habetur ad votum, parit tristitiam. Ideo potest esse fruitio harum rerum, id est dilectio summa, et tamen delectatio modica et tristitia magna. Ideo non sequitur, quod quamvis talis avarus peccet, quod delectatione requiescat, sed tamen quiescit amore, quia propter se diligit.

2. Quod obiicitur, quod non cognovit distantiam; dicendum, quod simplici notitia ille qui habet semper bona, cognoscit bona et mala; similiter et ille qui semper habet mala; sed tamen non notitia experientiae, nisi habeat bona et mala. Et quia talis semper habet mala, nunquam bona³; ideo etc. — Quod obiicitur de viro spirituali, dico, quod ipse non est sine delectatione spirituali, ideo videt solem et cognoscit distantiam. Sed avarus tenax, quia peccator, non habet delectationem spiritualem; quia tenax, non habet carnalem: et ideo non cognoscit distantiam boni et mali.

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Chapter VI.

Thirdly, he detests avarice, because riches frequently devolve upon strangers.

There is also another evil etc. Above he showed that riches are to be despised, both because they do not enrich their possessors and because frequently they are not handed down to posterity. Here, thirdly, he shows that they are to be despised because they frequently devolve upon strangers; and this he does in this order. First, indeed, is intimated the transfer of riches that have been kept; secondly, the detestation of niggardliness, at: If a man beget etc.; thirdly is added the reason for the detestation, at: In vain therefore he came etc.

(Vers. 1. 2.). First, then, Ecclesiastes considered the vanity that attends the rich, and he proposes it, assumes and concludes. He proposes, saying: There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun; and he aggravates it from a circumstance: And that frequent among men, that is, among the weak lovers of the world and the rich, of whom the Psalm¹: « O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? Why do you love vanity, and seek after lying » etc. — And he assumes the vanity which is attended to in this, that one keeps riches and another devours them; therefore he says: A man to whom God hath given riches, as to movables; and substance, as to immovables; and honours, as to lofty things. For all are from God: riches are from God; Proverbs, the third chapter²: « Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and glory ». And substance is from God, above all that of which Ecclesiasticus, the thirteenth chapter: « Substance is good to him that hath no sin in his conscience ». Likewise honouring is from God; whence, in Daniel, the fifth chapter, Daniel said to Baltasar: « O king! the most high God gave to thy father a kingdom and magnificence and honour ». And that he may complete the perfect abundance of the goods of fortune, he adds: And his soul wanteth nothing of all that it desireth, because he has sufficiently. Soul he calls here the carnal life, of which John, the twelfth chapter³: « He that loveth his soul shall lose it ». So he has abundance for possessing, and yet he has avarice for retaining, which takes from him the potency for enjoying; therefore he adds: Nor doth God give him power to eat thereof, because he keeps it continually, and in vain; whence Ecclesiasticus, the fourteenth chapter⁴: « To a covetous and niggardly man substance is without reason; and to an envious man, to what purpose is gold »? Neither does he himself use it, nor his posterity, but strangers; whence he adds: But a stranger shall eat it up; whence Ecclesiasticus, the fourteenth chapter: « He that heapeth up unjustly from his own mind gathereth for others, and another will live riotously in his goods »; and Proverbs, the thirteenth chapter: « The substance of the sinner is kept for the just ». — And from this he infers the vanity: And this is vanity and a great misery: vanity, because he himself does not rejoice; misery, because, when another takes it away, he is sorrowful; Isaias, the first chapter: « Your country strangers devour before your face » etc.

(Vers. 3.). If a man beget etc. Here is noted the detestation of niggardliness by reason of the aforesaid transfer, and he reproves that very niggardliness, however much successive prosperity a man may have. Therefore he adds: If a man beget a hundred children, it is said hyperbolically, that is, many children; because the wicked frequently beget wicked sons, in whom there is no joy, even if they are many; Ecclesiasticus, the sixteenth chapter⁵: « Rejoice not in ungodly children; if they are multiplied, be not delighted in them ». To abound in sons is a temporal prosperity; and there follows another temporal prosperity: And live many years, that is, through many years; and have more days of age, that is, more than other men; and this prosperity indeed is temporal. This prosperity the impious frequently have; whence below, the seventh chapter⁶: « The impious man liveth a long time in his impiety », if he has abounded in these prosperities. And his soul make no use of the goods of his substance, that is, he be niggardly and covetous in life; and he be without burial in death, according to what is said of Joakim in Jeremias, the twenty-second chapter: « With the burial of an ass shall Joakim be buried, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem ». — These conditions of prosperity and of niggardliness having been set down, he adds the detestation: Of this man I pronounce, as judge of the earth, that the untimely born is better than he, on account of the misery and the great vanity which the untimely born lacks; whence it is said in Job, the third chapter⁷: « Why did I not die in the womb? Why, coming forth from the womb, did I not straightway perish? Why received upon the knees? Why suckled at the breasts »? And again, in the tenth: « Why didst thou bring me forth out of the womb »?

(Vers. 4. 5. 6. 7.). For he came in vain etc. Here, thirdly, is added the reason for the detestation, namely that the untimely born is better than a niggard of this kind, because, as the untimely born came in vain and goeth to darkness, since it dies at once, so also does this man; therefore it is said: For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, that is, the niggard himself; Job, the third chapter⁸: « To a man whose way is hidden, p. 51 and God hath surrounded him with darkness »? And that such a covetous and niggardly man comes in vain into this world he shows both on account of the blotting out of the name in death, and on account of the inexperience of good in life, and on account of the unfulfilment of desire in both states. On account of the blotting out of the name he says: And his name shall be blotted out by oblivion, that is, he will remain neither in reality nor in name, according to what the Lord threatens to Babylon in Isaias, the fourteenth chapter¹: « I will destroy the name of Babylon, and the remains, and the bud, and the offspring, saith the Lord »; and in Wisdom, the second chapter, in the person of the wicked: « Our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall be mindful of our works ». — On account of the inexperience of good he adds: he seeth not the sun, in which, that is, there is delight and the experience of good, according to what is said below, in the eleventh chapter²: « Sweet is the lumen^tr., and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun ». This the covetous man has not seen, because he errs; Wisdom, the fifth chapter: « We have erred from the way of truth, and the lumen of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding rose not upon us » etc. And so he hath not seen the sun, that is, he has not had the lumen of cognition; nor known the distance of good and evil, because, that is, he has not experienced it. — Therefore he says: Although he lived two thousand years, because we do not have cognition through length of time, but through experience; Ecclesiasticus, the thirty-fourth chapter³: « He that hath no experience knoweth little », according to what the Philosopher says: « Experience made art, inexperience chance ». On account of the incompletion of desire he adds: Do not all make haste to one place? as if to say: on the side of the body they will go into the earth; Ecclesiasticus, the forty-first chapter⁴: « All things that are made of the earth shall return to the earth »; and above, in the third chapter: « All things are subject to vanity, and all things go to one place ». On the side of the body, therefore, there is incineration, but on the side of the soul the incompletion of its desire. — Therefore he says: All the labour of man is in his mouth; mouth is called the gaping of desire; for he who desires as it were opens his mouth; labour therefore to be in the mouth, that is, to labour for the completion of desire; whence Proverbs, the sixteenth chapter⁵: « The soul of him that laboureth, laboureth for himself, because his mouth hath obliged him to it ». And although he does this for completing his desire, yet it is not completed; therefore he says: But his soul, that is, of the niggardly rich man, shall not be filled with good things, as was said above, in the fifth chapter: « A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money »; whence Habacuc, the second chapter: « He hath enlarged his soul as hell, and he himself, like death, shall not be filled ». So it is true of the covetous, of money; so also of knowledge; the second epistle to Timothy, the third chapter: « Ever learning, and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth ».

Questions.

I. It is asked concerning what he says: God hath not given him power to enjoy good things. — On the contrary: This is free choice; but he gave free choice: therefore also power.

I respond: it must be said that he has the potency for enjoying, that is, by which he can enjoy; but by the just judgment of God it is hindered by some punishment, because he incurs superfluous solicitude and fear and grief; and since power signifies potency unhindered⁶, and this is hindered by just judgment: therefore etc.

II. Likewise it is asked concerning what he says, that his soul wanteth nothing of all that it desireth.

On the contrary: Above, the fifth chapter⁷: A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money; and again Jerome: « The covetous man lacks as much what he has as what he has not »: he speaks ill, therefore, when he says: And wanteth nothing.

I respond: it must be said that to lack something can be in two ways: either as to sufficiency according to the thing and nature, or according to opinion. I say, therefore, that a covetous man can well be so rich that nothing is lacking to him according to the thing and nature; but yet never so rich that something is not lacking to him according to his own estimation, because he always desires to have more; and so he lacks to himself.

III. Likewise it is asked concerning this, that he prefers the untimely born to him. It seems that he does so ill:

1. Because the untimely born had cognition of no things, but this man had; likewise, the covetous man, when he sins mortally, enjoys things that are to be used⁸.

2. Likewise, how does he say that he hath not known the distance of good and evil, unless he has fully enjoyed good things? Therefore it seems that the untimely born is better than all who do not delight in present goods and who are not carnal; but this is heretical.

I respond: it must be said that according to that way, if this is said in the person of the carnal man, the answer is easy; holding, however, that he says this according to the truth, I say that he puts the untimely born before such a niggardly rich man, because the former, although he has not experienced goods, yet has not suffered evils; but this man has p. 52 suffered evils and has not tasted goods; therefore the former is preferable, and as to this he understands it¹.

1. As to what is objected from reason, that he has not fully enjoyed goods: it must be said that to enjoy in one way signifies the love of something with quieting in it; in another way quieting and delight. I say, therefore, that he who loves God has him, as Augustine says in the book of Eighty-three Questions², and therefore he who loves God delights in him. But money or a temporal thing, when it is loved and is not had as one wishes, gives birth to sorrow. Therefore there can be enjoyment of these things, that is, the highest love, and yet slight delight and great sorrow. Therefore it does not follow, although such a covetous man sins, that he rests in delight; but yet he rests in love, because he loves it for its own sake.

2. As to what is objected, that he has not known the distance: it must be said that by simple knowledge he who always has goods knows goods and evils; likewise also he who always has evils; but yet not by the knowledge of experience, unless he has goods and evils. And since such a man always has evils, never goods³; therefore etc. — As to what is objected about the spiritual man, I say that he is not without spiritual delight, and therefore he seeth the sun and knoweth the distance. But the niggardly covetous man, because he is a sinner, has not spiritual delight; because he is niggardly, he has not carnal: and therefore he does not know the distance of good and evil.

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