Wisdom And Salvation

Sed et hanc vidi sapientiam sub sole, et magna est apud me. Civitas parva et viri in ea pauci: et venit ad eam rex magnus et circumdedit eam, et aedificavit adversus eam magnam machinam. Et invenit in ea virum pauperem et sapientem, et salvavit hic civitatem in sapientia sua: et homo non recordatus est hominis pauperis illius. Aliis omnia incerta dicentibus et justum ab injusto nihil amplius habere; ego sapientiam etiam in hoc maximam comprobavi: quod crebre evenit, ut parva sit civitas, et habitores in ea pauci, et innumerabilium hostium cingatur excercitu, et obsidione et fame populus intus necetur: et repente contra omnium suscipionem inveniri virum humilem et pauperem, qui quia habet sapientiam majorem cunctis divitibus, magnis et potentibus et superbis in periculo positis, et ad obsidionem paventibus, cogitat et inquirit, et invenit quomodo a malis eruat civitatem. Et, O ingrata hominum oblivio, postquam fuerint liberati, et soluta captivitas, et reddita partiae libertas, nemo meminit sapientis illius pauperis, nemo refert gratias pro salute: sed omnes honorant divites, qui in periculo nihil subvenire potuerunt. Aliter Hebraeus ita hunc locum interpretatus est: Civitas parva, homo est, qui etiam apud philosophos minor mundus vocatur. Et viri in ea pauci, membra de quibus homo ipse contexitur. Cum autem venerit adversus eam rex magnus diabolus, et quaesierit locum per quem possit irrumpere, invenitur in ea humilis et sapiens, et quieta cogitatio interioris hominis, et servat urbem quae obsessa ab hostibus cingebatur. Cumque homo de periculo sive persecutionis, sive angustiarum, sive cujuscunque adversae rei atque peccati fuerit erutus: homo ille exterior, qui inimicus est illius pauperis hominis, et sapientis, non recordatur interioris hominis, nec subdit se consiliis ejus: sed rursum sua fruitur libertate. Aliter: Parva civitas est, et viri in ea pacui, ad comparationem totius mundi, Ecclesia est: adversus quam saepe consurgit rex magnus diabolus, non quod magnus sit, sed quod magnum se esse jactitet, et circumdat eam obsidione sive persecutionis, sive alio angustiarum genere. Et invenit in ea virum pauperem et sapientem, Dominum Jesum Christum, qui pro nobis pauper factus est, et est ipsa sapientia: et ille vir pauper liberat urbem in sapientia sua. Quoties vidimus sedentem leonem in insidiis cum divitibus, hoc est, cum senatoribus et principibus hujus saeculi, et adversus Ecclesiam molientem, pauperis istius sapientia corruisse? Cumque pauper hic vicerit, et urbs paci fuerit restituta, vix aliquis ejus meminit, vix iliius mandata considerat: sed totos se luxuriae et voluptatibus concedentes, quaerunt divitias, quae in necessitate non liberant Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarius Ecclesiasten, Cap IX Migne PL 23 1088-89

But even this wisdom I saw beneath the sun and great is is to me. A small city and the men in it few and a great king came to it and encompassed it and he built against it a great machine. And there was found in that place a man poor and wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom and no man remembers the name of this poor man. 1 With it said that it is all uncertain whether there is much difference between the righteous and the unrighteous, I found great wisdom in this, that being pressed, like a little city, and the inhabitants in it few, and a countless host surrounding it and the siege and famine slaying the people within, suddenly against all expectation is found a man humble and poor because he has that wisdom which is greater then all the rich and the highly placed and the powerful and the proud, who are placed in danger and distressed by the siege, he thinks and ponders, and he finds how to relieve the city from evil. And then, O ingrate forgetfulness of man, after they are free and released from captivity, and returned to their former liberty, no one recalls the name of this poor wise man, no one gives thanks for salvation, but all honour the rich who were not able to help at all in danger. A Hebrew gives this interpretation of the passage: 'The little city is a man, who among the philosophers is called a little world. And the men in it who are few are the members by which a man is knit together. And when the great king the devil comes against it and he seeks a place where he may break in, there is found in him humility and wisdom and the tranquil thought of the interior man, and this protects the city which is surrounded by the siege of the enemy. And then a man from peril or persecution or trial or whatever adverse thing, even from sin, may be saved, but that exterior man who is the enemy of the poor man, or of wisdom, does not recall the interior man, nor does he listen to his counsel, but again he enjoys his own liberty.' Another interpretation is: 'Small is the city and the men in it few, and this is the Church in relation to the world against which often rises the great king the devil, not that he is great but this is his boast, and he surrounds it with a siege, or persecution, or some other sort of trial, and there is found in it a man poor and wise, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who for us was made poor 2 and He is wisdom, and that poor man frees the city by his wisdom. How many times do we see the crouching lion plotting with the rich, 3 that is, with the senators and princes of this world,  working against the Church, that they might throw down the wisdom of the poor? And when the poor man conquers, and the city is restored to peace, scarcely do any remember Him, scarcely any pay heed to His commandments, but all return to their luxuries and pleasures and the seeking of wealth, that which in time of trial will not free them. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chap 9 1 Eccli 9.13-15 2 2 Cor 7.9 3 cf Ps 9.30