Bonaventure

Art. 3. De remedio contra vanitatem imprudentiae, quod est acquisitio sapientiae, quae explicatur duabus partibus.

Quid habet amplius etc. Posuit supra remedium contra vanitatem malitiae et contra vanitatem avaritiae; hic tertio ponit remedium contra vanitatem imprudentiae⁴. Contra hanc autem remedium summum est acquisitio sapientiae; et quia nemo potest sapientiam acquirere, nisi habeat modum debitum addiscendi: ideo habet haec pars duas. In prima dat modum, in secunda explicat sapientiae documenta, ibi⁵: Melius est nomen bonum etc.

Primo explicatur modus acquirendi sapientiam triplici ratione.

Modus autem considerandi vel addiscendi ei qui vult esse sapiens, traditur hoc modo. Primo, ut addiscat utilia; secundo, ut relinquat abscondita; tertio, ut non inquirat⁶ sublimia.

(Vers. 8.). Primo ergo docet utilia quaerere et considerare, et hoc est, quomodo possit ad vitam gloriae pervenire. Propterea quaerit: Quid habet amplius sapiens stulto, et quid pauper? Bene coniungit ista duo: pauper et sapiens. Pauper enim dicitur per contemptum praesentium; unde Matthaei quinto⁷: « Beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum »; sapiens, per aeternorum saporem et rectam aestimationem; de quibus Proverbiorum tertio: « Gloriam sapientes possidebunt; stultorum exaltatio, ignominia ». Stultus vero dicitur homo mundanus, qui e contrario, contemptis aeternis, inhiat terrenis; de quo Iob quinto: « Vidi stultum firma radice, et maledixi pulcritudini eius statim ». Quid stulto amplius habet sapiens et pauper in hac vita? supple: modicum. Nisi ut pergat illuc, ubi est vita, scilicet aeterna, ad quam debet aspirare homo, non ad temporalia, quae teneri non possunt; propter quod hic parum habet in mortali vita, quia « moritur doctus pariter et indoctus », supra secundo⁸; sed in aeterna vita multo amplius habet, quia esse deliciosum, copiosum, securum, omnia obtinebit in visione aperta et fruitione summi boni; de qua vita Ioannis decimo septimo: « Haec est vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te solum Deum verum » etc. Ad hanc vitam pergunt sapientes, quia ad hanc oculos dirigunt, sicut dicitur supra secundo: « Sapientis oculi in capite eius »; et ideo ipse sequitur Christum, lucem, qui, ut dicitur Ioannis decimo quarto, est « via, veritas et vita »; sed stultus non pergit; unde infra decimo: « Labor stultorum affliget eos, quia nesciunt in urbem pergere ».

(Vers. 9.). Ad hanc vitam non potest recte sine cognitione perveniri; ideo subdit: Melius est videre p. 53 quod cupias, id est cognoscere vitam, quam desideras; quam desiderare quod nescias, id est velle illuc pervenire ignoranter; et ideo oportet circa illam considerationem suam ponere; Proverbiorum quarto¹: « Oculi tui recta videant, et palpebrae tuae praecedant gressus tuos ». Et hoc quidem est bonum scire, sed desiderare quod nescit, stultum. Ideo subiungit: Sed et hoc vanitas et praesumtio spiritus, scilicet desiderare quod homo nescit, sicut Iacobus et Ioannes desiderabant et petebant sedere ad dexteram, et praesumtuose quaerebant; ideo dicitur eis Matthaei vigesimo: « Nescitis, quid petatis ». — Potest etiam exponi ad commendationem cognitionis utilium, ut sit sensus, quod melius est cognoscere desiderabilia et utilia quam desiderare scire abscondita, quae scilicet prohibet considerare, quia hoc est praesumtio spiritus, velle scilicet cognoscere quae Deus in sua providentia disposuit.

(Vers. 10. 11.). Et hoc quidem prohibet perscrutari, consequenter dicens: Qui futurus est etc. Hic revocat a perserutando abscondita, ut est dispositio divina; ob quam dicit: Qui futurus est, iam vocatum est nomen eius, quantum ad aeternam electionem; ad Romanos quarto²: « Qui vocat ea quae non sunt, tanquam ea quae sunt ». Et scitur, quod homo sit, quantum ad parvitatem durationis vitae; Genesis tertio: « Pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris ». Et non possit contra fortiorem se in iudicio contendere, quantum ad conditionem iustitiae; nemo enim est adeo iustus, qui possit se iustificare in iudicio cum Deo; Iob nono³: « Scio, quod non iustificatur homo comparatus Deo. Si voluerit cum Deo contendere, non poterit ei respondere unum pro mille »; ideo dicebat Iob: « Quantus ergo sum ego, ut respondeam ei »; et ideo subditur: quia fortior; unde Iob nono: « Si fortitudo quaeritur, robustissimus est; si aequitas iudicii, nemo audet pro me testimonium dicere ». Hanc igitur absconditam dispositionem dicitur nobis non esse perscrutandam; quia in nostris verbis pauca invenitur veritas, maxime quando volumus ea disserere, quae nos latent. — Ideo subdit: Verba sunt plurima, id est, pauca sunt cognita; infra decimo⁴: « Stultus verba multiplicat ». Multamque in disputando vanitatem habentia, et paucam veritatem, supra tertio: « Mundum tradidit disputationi eorum, ut non inveniat homo opus, quod operatus est Deus ab initio usque in finem »; et propterea qui volunt de his perscrutari evanescunt, secundum illud Apostoli primae ad Corinthios tertio: « Deus novit cogitationes sapientium, quia vanae sunt ».

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Art. 3. On the remedy against the vanity of imprudence, which is the acquisition of wisdom, which is unfolded in two parts.

What hath the wise man more etc. Above he set down the remedy against the vanity of malice and against the vanity of avarice; here, thirdly, he sets down the remedy against the vanity of imprudence⁴. Now against this the highest remedy is the acquisition of wisdom; and since no one can acquire wisdom unless he has the due manner of learning, therefore this part has two parts. In the first he gives the manner, in the second he unfolds the teachings of wisdom, at⁵: A good name is better etc.

First is unfolded the manner of acquiring wisdom, by a threefold account.

Now the manner of considering or learning for him who wishes to be wise is handed down in this way. First, that he learn useful things; secondly, that he leave hidden things; thirdly, that he not inquire into⁶ lofty things.

(Vers. 8.). First, then, he teaches to seek useful things and to consider them, and this is, how one may come to the life of glory. Therefore he asks: What hath the wise man more than the fool, and what the poor man? Well does he join these two: the poor man and the wise man. The poor man is so called through contempt of present things; whence Matthew, the fifth chapter⁷: « Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven »; the wise man, through the savour of eternal things and right estimation; of whom Proverbs, the third chapter: « The wise shall possess glory; the promotion of fools, disgrace ». The fool, on the other hand, is called the worldly man, who on the contrary, eternal things being despised, gapes after earthly things; of whom Job, the fifth chapter: « I have seen a fool with a strong root, and I cursed his beauty immediately ». What hath the wise and poor man more than the fool in this life? Supply: little. But to go thither, where there is life, namely eternal, to which man ought to aspire, not to temporal things, which cannot be held; on account of which he has little here in the mortal life, because « the learned dieth in like manner as the unlearned », above, in the second chapter⁸; but in eternal life he has much more, because being is delightful, abundant, secure, he will obtain all things in open vision and fruition of the highest good; of which life John, the seventeenth chapter: « This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God » etc. To this life the wise go, because they direct their eyes to it, as is said above, in the second chapter: « The wise man's eyes are in his head »; and therefore he follows Christ, the light, who, as is said in John, the fourteenth chapter, is « the way, the truth and the life »; but the fool does not go; whence below, in the tenth chapter: « The labour of fools shall afflict them, because they know not how to go to the city ».

(Vers. 9.). To this life one cannot rightly come without cognition; therefore he adds: It is better to see p. 53 what thou mayest desire, that is, to know the life which thou desirest, than to desire what thou knowest not, that is, to wish to come thither ignorantly; and therefore one ought to set one's consideration upon that; Proverbs, the fourth chapter¹: « Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy steps ». And this indeed is good to know, but to desire what one knows not is foolish. Therefore he adds: But this also is vanity and presumption of spirit, namely to desire what a man knows not, as James and John desired and asked to sit at the right hand, and presumptuously sought it; therefore it is said to them in Matthew, the twentieth chapter: « You know not what you ask ». — It can also be expounded to the commendation of the cognition of useful things, so that the sense is that it is better to know desirable and useful things than to desire to know hidden things, which, namely, he forbids us to consider, because this is presumption of spirit, namely to wish to know the things that God has disposed in his providence.

(Vers. 10. 11.). And this indeed he forbids us to search into, saying consequently: He that shall be etc. Here he calls us back from searching into hidden things, such as the divine disposition is; on account of which he says: He that shall be, his name is already called, as to eternal election; to the Romans, the fourth chapter²: « Who calleth those things that are not, as those that are ». And it is known that he is man, as to the shortness of the duration of life; Genesis, the third chapter: « Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return ». And he cannot contend in judgment with him that is stronger than himself, as to the condition of justice; for no one is so just that he can justify himself in judgment with God; Job, the ninth chapter³: « I know that man is not justified compared with God. If he will contend with God, he cannot answer him one for a thousand »; therefore Job said: « How great then am I, that I should answer him »; and therefore it is added: because stronger; whence Job, the ninth chapter: « If strength be demanded, he is most strong; if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me ». This hidden disposition, therefore, is said to be not to be searched into by us; because in our words little truth is found, especially when we wish to discourse on the things that lie hidden from us. — Therefore he adds: Words are very many, that is, few things are known; below, in the tenth chapter⁴: « A fool multiplieth words ». And having much vanity in disputing, and little truth, above, in the third chapter: « He hath delivered the world to their disputation, so that man cannot find out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end »; and therefore those who wish to search into these things vanish away, according to that word of the Apostle in the first epistle to the Corinthians, the third chapter: « God knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain ».

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