Cap. 9, Vers. 4-10
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/9/q/bon-eccl-c9-v4-10
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#### Secondly it is shown how pleasure is born from it.

*There is no man that always liveth.* He has already shown how the vanity of security is born from indistinction; here, secondly, he shows how *pleasure* is born from security; and this indeed he does in this order. First is noted *the certainty of death;* second, through death, *the worsening of state;* third, *the commendation of pleasure;* fourth, *the confirmation of the commendation.*

(Vers. 4.). First, then, *the certainty of death* is noted through this, that no one escapes its judgement. Therefore he says: *There is no man that always liveth;* therefore in the Psalm: « Who is the man that shall live, and not see death »? And into this condemnation Adam fell with his posterity, when it was said to him, Genesis, the third: « Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return ». *And who hath confidence in this thing,* supply: there is no man; *in this thing,* that is, hope of always living; Job, the seventh: « My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver, and are consumed without any hope, because my life is wind, and it shall not return » etc.

*A living dog is better* etc. Here, secondly, it is shown that through death there is *the deterioration of state;* and this he proposes under a metaphor: *A living dog is better than a dead lion.* Although the lion exceeds the dog, yet death renders it inferior, because the living dog can do something, the dead lion can do nothing, and yet the living one is more powerful than the dog; Proverbs, the thirtieth: « A lion, the strongest of animals, shall fear the meeting of none ». So he means to say by metaphor that any living man, however vile, is better than a dead one, however good.

(Vers. 5. 6.). And he proves it first as regards the act of *cognition. For the living know that they shall die;* at least of this they are certain; the second of Kings, the

fourteenth: « We all die, and like waters that glide away into the earth, which return not ». *Or: that they shall die,* that is, given over to the necessity of death; to the Romans, the eighth: « The body is dead because of sin ». *For the dead know nothing more,* because cognition presupposes life; and so the living excel the dead in the act of cognition; for they have neither motion nor sense. As regards the act of *recollection* he says: *Neither have they a reward any more,* namely of fame in the memory of others; *for the memory of them is delivered to oblivion;* above, the second: « There shall be no remembrance of the wise, as neither of the fool, for ever, and the times to come » etc. *Or:* because their memory has no act of recollection; Job, the seventh: « He that goeth down to hell shall not come up, nor shall he return any more into his house, neither shall his place know him any more ». — As regards the act of *affection* he says: *Their love also, and their hatred, and their envies are perished together,* because they are not affected as before in life. As regards the act of *outward operation* he says: *Neither have they any part in this world,* and he explains as regards what: *and in the work that is done under the sun,* because they cannot work, according to that of John, the ninth: « The night cometh, when no man can work ».

(Vers. 7. 8. 9.). *Go then, and eat* etc. Here the third is touched upon, namely *the commendation of present delight,* to embrace which he exhorts first according to *taste;* whence he says: *Go then, and eat thy bread with joy*; by *bread* is understood everything that pertains to food. *And drink thy wine with gladness;* by *wine,* everything that regards drink. *Because thy works please God;* as if to say: thou art not certain whether they displease; therefore presume that they please, and therefore eat and drink securely, according to that of Isaias, the twenty-second: « Behold, joy and gladness, to eat flesh and to drink wine; let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die ». — Then according to *sight* he says: *At all times let thy garments be white,* that thou mayest appear comely in thy clothing; *and let not oil depart from thy head,* that thou mayest appear comely in thy countenance. In this way those adorn themselves who wish to please in the sight of men. An example of Judith, who, when she wished to please the eyes of Holofernes, adorned herself, according to what is said in Judith, the tenth; but she did it for good, because otherwise it is reprehensible; Ecclesiasticus, the eleventh: « Glory not in apparel at any time ». — Then according to *touch* he says: *Enjoy life to the full with the wife whom thou lovest.* This full enjoyment is described in Proverbs, the seventh: « Come, let us be inebriated with the breasts, and let us enjoy to the full the desired embraces, till the day appear ». And this not only once, but *all the days of the life of thy unsteadiness, which are given to thee under the sun.* Truly our life is unsteady, according to that of Job, the fourteenth: « It never continueth in the same state ». And for greater expression he says: *All the time of thy vanity.* Our life is a time of vanity; whence in the Psalm: « Man is like to vanity; his days pass away like a shadow ».

(Vers. 9. 10.). *For this is thy portion* etc. Here the fourth is touched upon, namely *the confirmation of the commendation,* and the confirmation is in this, that man awaits no other reward nor has any other fruit, therefore he ought to take what he can; therefore he says: *For this is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherewith thou labourest under the sun,* namely to take delight in the present; Wisdom, the second: « Let us everywhere leave tokens of our joy, for this is our portion, and this is our lot ». — And since no other is to be awaited, a man ought to take of this as much as he can; therefore he says: *Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly,* that is, while thou hast time, do not wait for the future; and therefore there is added: *For neither work,* in things to be done; *nor reason,* in things to be deliberated; *nor knowledge,* in things to be known; *nor wisdom,* in things to be loved, *shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening;* these are not there, because, as is said in Job, the tenth, « that land is dark and covered with the mist of death, where no order, but everlasting horror dwelleth ». Thither sinners *are hastening,* and all before the coming of Christ, as regards limbo; Job, the seventeenth: « All that is mine shall go down into the deepest hell ». Thither sinners *are hastening,* drawing near day by day; Deuteronomy, the thirty-second: « The day of destruction is at hand ».

But this can be expounded *spiritually,* so that he exhorts first to *the joyfulness of contemplation;* and second, to *the earnestness of action.* Now for *contemplative* men there are necessary *the meditation of sacred Scripture, the purity of conscience, the embrace of inward devotion.* — As regards *the meditation of sacred Scripture* he says: *Eat bread and drink wine: bread* as regards difficult things, and *wine* as regards easy things; in Proverbs, the ninth, Wisdom says: « Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which

I have mingled for you ». — As regards *the purity of conscience* he says: *At all times let thy garments be white,* that is, a clean conscience; Apocalypse, the third: « They have not defiled their garments; they shall walk with me in white ». Against which it is said in Isaias, the ninth: « The garment mingled with blood shall be for burning and food for fire ». And since inward gladness follows upon the cleanness of conscience, therefore he says: *And let not oil depart from thy head;* whence in the Psalm: « That he may make the face cheerful with oil »; Matthew, the sixth: « But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head » etc. — As regards *the embraces of inward devotion* he says: *Enjoy life to the full with the wife whom thou lovest.* This *wife* is religion, in which one must be free for contemplation; Proverbs, the fifth: « Rejoice with the wife of thy youth, dearest hind » etc. This beloved wife is figured by Rachel, for whom « Jacob served seven years », Genesis, the twenty-ninth.

Then as regards *the active* he says: *Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly. To work earnestly* is to work *swiftly,* against negligence; Ecclesiasticus, the thirty-first: « In all thy works be quick, and no infirmity shall come to thee »; *fervently,* Proverbs, the eighteenth: « He that is soft and slack in his work is brother to him that wasteth his own works »; *continually,* so that he grow not lukewarm; Ecclesiasticus, the twenty-seventh: « If thou hold not thyself earnestly in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown »; *perseveringly;* the second to Timothy, the second: « He that striveth in the contest shall not be crowned, unless he strive lawfully », that is, perseveringly. And the reason is added why one must work well earnestly in the present: because the time of merit is short; whence: *In hell there is no work,* for exercising oneself unto piety; John, the ninth: « I must work, whilst it is day ». And therefore it is said to the Galatians, the last: « Let us work good, whilst we have time, to all, but especially to those of the household of the faith ». *There is no reason,* for inquiring and discerning what is good, what is evil; Job, the twelfth: « They shall grope as in the dark, and not in the lumen, and he shall make them stagger as men that are drunk »; Isaias, the nineteenth: « And the Lord hath mingled in the midst thereof the spirit of giddiness ». *There is not wisdom and knowledge: knowledge,* namely for contemplating God in his works, *nor wisdom,* for contemplating him in himself; of these, Isaias, the thirty-third: « The riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the treasure itself ».

### Questions.

I. It can be asked about what he says: *The dead know nothing more.*

It seems to be false: because the soul separated from the body is freer; but a substance, the freer it is from the body, the more fit it is for cognition: then the dead are more apt for knowing: either, therefore, the soul perishes, or it knows.

II. Likewise there is doubt about this, that *they have no reward any more.* — This is manifestly heretical, because it takes away the divine justice.

III. Likewise about what he says, that *love and hatred are perished together.* — *On the contrary:* An evil will always remains: then if an evil will is through love and hatred: then etc.

IV. Likewise about that exhortation: *Go then, and eat thy bread, and drink wine* etc.

If we wish to respond to these that this is said in the person of Epicurus, then the response is plain; but if we wish to maintain that it is said in his own person, it must be said that when he says that *the dead do not know,* it is understood as regards the things that are in this world; because they do not know these worldly things, nor are they in the memory of the worldly, nor have they affection toward worldly things. And this is plain from the letter, because it says: *Neither have they any part in this world*.

As to what is objected about that exhortation, I say that that exhortation is not said absolutely, but is a conclusion inferred from the vanity spoken of before. Whence he says: *Go then,* that is to say: if a man cannot distinguish whether in the present he ought to please God and in the future be rewarded; if, I say, he cannot know this, nor can he always live: then he can rejoice securely. But that does not hold, except on this supposition, that the Lord does not reward otherwise in the future than in the present; which is the vanity spoken of before, which he will destroy below in the eleventh.

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