Cap. 2, Vers. 18-26
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/15/d/2/q/bon-eccl-c2-v18-26
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#### In particular he reproves his curiosity, secondly, as regards the study ordered to wealth, again by a fourfold reason.

. *Again I hated* etc. Above he reproved his curiosity concerning the works of *wisdom*; here secondly he reproves his curiosity concerning the works of human industry ordered to *wealth*, that is, the artificial works of the mechanical arts. And this indeed he does in this order. First he reproves his curiosity because of *the uncertainty of a good successor*; secondly, because of *the toilsome solicitude*; thirdly he prefers to this *present pleasure*; fourthly he condemns that solicitude itself by *the equity of the divine judgement*.

(Vers. 18. 19. 20. 21.). He argues, therefore, first that he was curious about acquiring earthly things because of *the uncertainty of good offspring*, since he himself could not always possess them and feared to have a useless successor. Therefore he says: *Again I hated all my industry*, that is, my curious diligence, *wherewith I laboured most studiously* *under the sun*, namely for the increasing of these goods; Jeremias, the sixth chapter: « From the least even to the greatest, all study after covetousness ». — And the ground of the hatred is brought in: *Being to have an heir after me, whom I know not whether he shall be wise or foolish.* To the letter, Solomon had as heir Roboam, a foolish son, who by following the counsel of the young men caused the kingdom to be divided, in the third book of Kings, the twelfth chapter. *And he shall have rule over my labours, with which I have sweated*, as regards the body; *and been solicitous*, as regards the soul. Of this *sweat*, Genesis, the third chapter: « In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread »; of *solicitude*, Matthew, the sixth chapter: « Be not solicitous for your soul, what you shall eat, or for your body, what you shall put on ». And that is exceedingly vain; whence he says: *And is there anything so vain?* supply: as to labour solicitously for a foolish and idle man, as if he should say: no. — From the consideration, therefore, of this vanity he ceased from curiosity, whence he says: *Wherefore I ceased, and my heart renounced labouring under the sun*, that is, for temporal goods.

*I ceased*, in work; *and my heart renounced*, in will. But the covetous man does not cease on this account, below, the fourth chapter: « There is one, and he hath not a second, and yet he ceaseth not to labour ». — And he repeats the reason why he ceased: *For when another laboureth in wisdom*, in the heart; *and in teaching*, in the mouth; *and in solicitude*, in work; *he leaveth what he hath gotten to an idle man.* And from this he concludes vanity: *and this therefore is vanity and a great evil*; *vanity* indeed, because riches are left to a useless man, but *a great evil*; whence Hugh: « It is a great evil that, whereby one man is worn down with toil, another should abuse it idly and unlawfully »: *an evil*, because it is for a squanderer; Jeremias, the fifty-first chapter: « Their works are vain » etc.; Deuteronomy, the twenty-eighth chapter: « Let there be no strength in thy hand; let a people whom thou knowest not eat the fruit of thy land and all thy labours ».

(Vers. 22. 23.). *For what shall it profit* etc. Here secondly he reproves the curiosity of acquiring because of *the toilsome solicitude*; on account of which he says: *What shall it profit a man of all his labour*, in the body, *and vexation of spirit*, in the mind, *wherewith he hath been tormented under the sun*, as if he should say: nothing; whence Proverbs, the twenty-third chapter: « Labour not to be rich, but set bounds to thy prudence ». It does not profit, namely him who labours for the having of these visible things. Whence Bernard: « With others are the fruits of riches, but to the rich fall only the name and the solicitude »; and therefore it does not profit; whence below, the fifth chapter: « What doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes »? — And not only does it not profit, but it even harms; whence he adds: *All his days are full of labours and miseries*, outwardly; *nor doth he rest in mind through the night*, inwardly. Therefore it is said in Job, the seventh chapter: « Empty months and wearisome nights have I numbered to myself »; and in Proverbs, the fifteenth chapter: « All the days of the poor are evil. A secure mind is like a continual feast ». And from this he concludes that so to labour is vain, because useless; therefore he says: *And is not this vanity?* as if he should say: yea indeed; below, the fifth chapter: « He that loveth riches shall take no fruit from them; and this therefore is vanity », because they harm. Whence in the same place: « There is another infirmity which I have seen under the sun, riches gathered together » etc.

(Vers. 24. 25.). *Is it not better* etc. Here thirdly he prefers to the aforesaid solicitude of curiosity *the pleasure of the flesh*. And therefore he says: *Is it not better to eat and drink and to shew his soul good things of his labours?* supply: than to labour continually and always; as if he should say: it is better, that is, less evil, because that is an evil of fault and of punishment, this is an evil of fault, but it has joyfulness; Isaias, the twenty-second chapter: « Behold joy and gladness, to slay rams » etc. And that it is *better*, he makes plain: because this is the gift of God; whence he says: *And this is from the hand of God*; Jeremias, the fifth chapter: « I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery » etc. — And he sets himself forth as an example of this for the confirming of it: *Who shall so devour*, as regards concupiscence; *and abound with delights*, as regards abundance; *as I?* as if he should say: no one; the third book of Kings, the fourth chapter: « Now the provision of Solomon for each day was thirty cors of fine flour and sixty cors of meal, ten fat oxen and twenty out of the pastures » etc.

(Vers. 26.). *To the man that is good* etc. Here fourthly he condemns solicitude by *the equity of the divine judgement*, since such solicitude is not given to the good but to the evil, and this by the divine judgement. Therefore he says: *To the man that is good in his own sight*, namely, who pleases himself, not men, as the hypocrite does; the Psalm: « Let the just feast » etc. *God hath given wisdom*, as regards eternal things; *and knowledge*, as regards the dispensing of temporal things; *and intelligence*, as regards the things to be understood or considered; Job, the thirty-eighth chapter: « Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts of man, or who gave the cock intelligence »? This according to the largeness of mercy. But according to the equity of justice he adds: *But to the sinner he hath given affliction and superfluous care*, that is, he permitted it to be given by a just judgement; *that he may add and gather together and deliver it to him that hath pleased God*; Proverbs, the thirteenth chapter: « The substance of the sinner is kept for the just »; Proverbs, the twenty-eighth chapter: « He that gathereth together riches by usury and interest, gathereth them for him that is liberal toward the poor ». And from this he infers vanity: *But this is vanity and a fruitless solicitude of the mind*, because Proverbs, the eleventh chapter: « The expectation of solicitude shall perish ».

Note that there is a study directed to *the acquiring of wisdom*; Proverbs, the twenty-seventh chapter: *Study wisdom, my son, that thou mayest be able to answer a word to him that reproacheth.* To *the exercise of justice*; Jeremias, the seventh chapter: *Now make your ways and your studies good.* To *the fulfilling of concupiscence*; Proverbs, the twenty-third chapter: *To whom is woe? to whose father is woe? is it not to them that tarry over wine and study to drink off their cups?* To *the rule of covetousness*; Jeremias, the sixth chapter: *From the least even to the greatest, all study after covetousness.* — The first two studies are good, the two following evil, and in these the goodness of a man is discerned; whence

Proverbs, the twentieth chapter: *By his studies a child is known, if his works be clean and right.* Since, therefore, Ecclesiastes had not yet studied after these things, but after covetousness and gluttony, he therefore reproved his own studies.

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