Cap. 5, Vers. 12-19
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/5/q/bon-eccl-c5-v12-19
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#### Secondly, riches are to be despised, because frequently they are not handed down to posterity.

*There is also another infirmity* etc. Above he shows that riches do not enrich their possessors; here he adds, secondly, that they are to be despised because frequently *they are not handed down to posterity;* and this he does in this order. First is noted *the consideration of future want in the offspring.* Secondly, from this he *detests the laborious solicitude* of acquiring money. Thirdly, in detestation of this *he commends the enjoyment of present gladness,* adding that this is a gift of divine bounty.

(Vers. 12. 13. 14. 15.). He *considers,* therefore, first *the future want in the offspring of the rich,* because, when they are kept long by the father, they do not remain with the son. Therefore he says: *There is also another most grievous infirmity, which I have seen under the sun,* other, that is, than the aforesaid, which, I say, lies in the possession of riches; hence he says: *Riches kept to the hurt of their owner,* because they cannot

be gathered together without evil, both of *punishment* and of *fault;* Ecclesiasticus, the thirty-first chapter: « Blessed is the man that is found without blemish, and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in the treasures of money. Who is he? and we will praise him; for he hath done wonderful things in his life ». Or: *to the hurt,* for they make a man come to the evil of *punishment;* James, the fifth chapter: « Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you ». *Of their owner,* nay rather, in reality, *of their servant,* because avarice makes the covetous man a slave; hence Ephesians, the fifth chapter: « Avarice, which is the service of idols ». — These, I say, *perish with a very grievous affliction,* because it is necessary that he leave them with grief; Job, the twenty-seventh chapter: « The rich man, when he shall sleep, shall take nothing away with him ». Nor are they only *left behind* by the owner, but are even *lost* to the son, wherefore he adds: *He hath begotten a son, who shall be in extremity of want.* There is extreme want, and this of all goods, of which Proverbs, the sixth chapter: « Want shall come upon thee as a traveller » etc. — And so riches that are kept are not *left* to the heir, nor can they even be carried away by the owner; hence he adds: *As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return,* not into the womb, but into the earth. *And he shall take nothing away with him of his labour;* Job, the first chapter: « Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither ». — And this is greatly to be lamented; hence he adds: *A most deplorable infirmity: as he came, so shall he return;* hence the first epistle to Timothy, at the end: « We brought nothing into this world, and certainly we can carry nothing out ».

(Vers. 15. 16.). *What then doth it profit him?* Here, secondly, he *reproves the solicitude* of increasing money, by the consideration of the want that is to come; whence he infers, as it were from what has been said, that it is vain to afflict oneself with so great labours in the acquisition of things. Therefore he says: *What then doth it profit him,* that is, the rich covetous man, *that he hath laboured for the wind?* that is, in vain, if it is so that « as he came forth naked from the womb, naked shall he return », both he and his son, as if to say: nothing. Therefore in the Psalm: « O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? Why do you love vanity, and seek after lying »? Riches are compared to wind on account of vanity; whence Ecclesiasticus, the thirty-fourth chapter: « As one that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind, so is he that giveth heed to lying visions »; so he *laboured for the wind,* since he laboured to acquire riches. — And he adds the greatness of the labour: *All the days of his life he eateth in darkness,* on account of loneliness; *and in many cares,* on account of solicitude; *and in misery,* on account of the slenderness of his outlays; *and sorrow,* on account of the necessity of outlays. For he is sorrowful because he must eat something; Ecclesiasticus, the fourteenth chapter: « The wicked and envious eye shall not be satisfied with bread, and the needy man shall be in sorrow at his table ». Riches make a man to be in cares and miseries; for Matthew, the thirteenth chapter: « The care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word ».

(Vers. 17. 18. 19.). *This therefore hath seemed good to me.* Here, thirdly, *he commends the enjoyment of gladness* in detestation of the affliction of avarice. For since the covetous man afflicts himself, and nothing profits him, therefore it has seemed good to him to eat; and for this reason he says: *This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink,* as to outward pleasantness; *and enjoy the gladness of his labour, wherein he hath laboured under the sun; gladness,* as to inward pleasantness; and this while he can; wherefore he adds also: *By the number of the days of his life, which God hath given him,* as if he did not look for another time. *And this is his portion.* Of all these things, Isaias, the twenty-second chapter: « Behold joy and gladness, slaying rams, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die », as though that were his portion. — And this consideration he approves, as if it were pleasing to God; wherefore he adds also: *And every man to whom God hath given riches and substance;* for these things are from God; hence Ecclesiasticus, the eleventh chapter: « Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and honour, are from God ». *And hath given him power to eat thereof,* by delighting outwardly; *and to enjoy his portion,* by resting in them; *and to rejoice of his labour,* by spending gladly what has been acquired. *This is the gift of God,* for this power is from God; because John, the fifteenth chapter: « Without me you can do nothing ». And that it is a great gift, he shows, because the torments of cares and solicitudes, which are great pains, are tempered by delights. Therefore he adds: I say well that it is *the gift of God,* inasmuch as it frees from the torments of avarice. — *For he shall not much remember the days of his life,* that is, he will not be much afflicted by the cares which pertain to life; *because God entertaineth his heart with delight,* not spiritual, of which in the Canticle, the seventh chapter: « How beautiful art thou, and how comely, my dearest, in delights »! but carnal, of which it was said above, in the second chapter: « I made me singing men and singing women, and the delights of the sons of men ».

### Questions.

I. But a question falls in here, first, concerning what he says: *This hath seemed good to me, that he should eat.*

**On the contrary:** 1. Below, the tenth chapter: *Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and when thy princes eat in the morning:* he contradicts himself, therefore.

II. Moreover he says: *And let him rejoice.*

**On the contrary:** 1. Below, the seventh chapter: *It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting;* and again: *The heart of the wise is where there is sadness.*

2. Likewise, Truth herself says, Luke, the sixth chapter: *Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep:* therefore it is evil to rejoice, and the whole of Scripture reproves the gladness of the flesh; what, then, is the reason that he commends it here?

To this it is answered by the manner of proceeding in this book, singular among all the books of sacred Scripture. For he speaks as a preacher weaving his disputation, in which various opinions are adduced according to various persons, according to whom he speaks; hence in one way in the person of the carnal man, as here, in another in the person of the wise man, as below: *It is better to go* etc. But afterwards he speaks in his own person, where he says: *Let us all hear together the conclusion of the discourse,* where, as it were, he gives the verdict of those whose cause he had before sifted: *Fear God,* and that God will judge all things. Hence whatever is read in the book which is opposed to that verdict is overruled by that verdict; and such are all the things which are said in commendation of present pleasure; and so by one solution an answer is made to all.

Otherwise it can be said that Ecclesiastes himself, whatever he says, says in his own person; but yet for understanding what he says two things are to be attended to, namely the *reason* of speaking and the *mode.* The *mode of speaking* varies in two ways: for some things he says *truly,* some *ironically: truly,* as that saying: *Cast thy bread upon the running waters,* below, the eleventh chapter; *ironically,* as that: *Rejoice therefore, O young man, in thy youth.* And this is plain from what follows: *And know thou that for all these God will bring thee into judgment,* below, the eleventh chapter. — Another variation is attended to in the mode, because some things he says *approvingly*: *Speak not rashly anything* etc.; some *by reciting* that he himself *did so,* as he said above, in the second chapter: *I withheld not my heart, but that it enjoyed every pleasure* etc.; this he does not approve, but recites that he so did, as the Apostle also says of himself that he was a blasphemer. Likewise some things he says by reciting that he *so thought,* as when he said above, in the second chapter: *Is it not better to eat and drink?* etc. And of this kind of speech he makes much use in this little book, as if narrating his temptations; hence this book was as it were a kind of meditation of Solomon. And as a man falls from one meditation into another according to different considerations, as when one thinks that this is good, and afterwards falls into another estimate; so Solomon narrates, in this book also.

As to the *reason of speaking,* it is to be attended to that some things he says simply for *his own approval,* but some he says not in approval, but by way of *comparison with others* and *detestation of them,* as one who wished to censure avarice would praise prodigality; so in this book also he praised the dead by comparison with the living, pleasure in respect of avarice; because in avarice there is both punishment and fault. But this he does that he may call back from the one, not that he may draw to the other. — Further, as to the *reason of speaking,* it is to be attended to that some things he says to *all,* some to *some,* who suppose something, and from their supposition he argues against them, as he said above, that there is no *remembrance of the wise, as of the fool.* This he said to those wise men who set their whole reward in the praises of men.

This, therefore, is the rule to be attended to generally in his words: that what he says *truly* and *approvingly* he says commending it of itself, says to all, that is, truly and assertively, universally and absolutely; these indeed are to be adduced as authority. But what he says *ironically* and what he says *recitatively* he says for the detestation of others, or from some supposition, or by way of contrast. That saying, therefore, is said not *assertorically,* but *recitatively;* for he recites his own temptation, which he intends to narrate. — Or it is said not *absolutely,* but for the detestation of avarice.

III. Likewise it is asked concerning what he says, that this is the *gift of God, that he enjoy* riches; but this is a sin: therefore etc.

IV. Likewise he says that *God occupieth the heart with delights* in this life; but this again is a sin.

I respond: it must be said that goods of *fortune* as well as of *nature* and also of *grace* are gifts of God; but those of *fortune* are least, those of *nature* middle, but those of *grace* best. Among the gifts of *nature* are reckoned health and strength; among the goods of *fortune,* prosperity and rest. For God gives riches to some, to whom he gives neither health nor rest, and these do not enjoy the goods; to some he adds in addition rest and health, and such have the power of enjoying; and since those are gifts of God, so also is the power; but further, the abuse of the power is evil, and this is not from God.

III. As to what is asked, that God is said to *occupy* the heart of that man *with delights;* it is to be answered that some things God does mercifully, some by deserting in just judgment, as it is said that he *delivered up the wise of the world to a reprobate sense;* so also *to occupy* the heart *with delights* is said by permitting, in just judgment, that it be occupied and forget eternal things.

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