The Right And The Left

Cor sapientis in dextra ejus, et cor stulti in sinistra illius. Sed et in via, cum stultus ambulat, cor ejus minuitur: et dicit, omnis insipiens est. Et in Evangelio praecipitur, ut nesciat sinistra quid faciat dextera sapientis. Et quando percutimur in maxillam dexteram, non jubemur sinistram genam percutienti praebere, sed alteram dexteram. Justus enim sinistram in se non habet, sed totum in eo dextrum est. Et cum ad judicandum Salvator venerit, agni stabunt a dextris: haedi vero a sinistris erunt. Et in Proverbiis scribitur: Dextras vias novit Dominus: quae autem perversae sunt, a sinistris sunt. Qui ergo sapiens est, semper de futuro saeculo cogitat, quod ducit ad dextram. Qui vero insipiens, de praesenti, quod positum est in sinistra. Quae quidem secutus idem philosophus et poeta, ait Dextera quae magni ditis sub moenia ducit. Hac iter Elysium nobis: at laeva malorum. Exercet poenas, et ad impia tartara mittit. Firmianus quoque noster in praeclaro Institutionum suaruam opere Y litterae meminit, et de dextris ac sinistris, hoc est, de virtutibus et vitiis plenissime disputavit. Nec putemus huic sententiolae illud esse contrarium, in quo dicitur: Ne declines in dexteram, neque in sinistram. Hic enim part dextera pro bono accipitur: ibi vero non tam dextera, quam declinatio dexterae accusatur: ne plus sapiamus quam sapere nos necesse est: quia virtutes in medio sunt, et nimietas omnis in vitio est. Sequentis autem versiculi in quo ait: sed et in via cum stultus ambulat, cor ejus indiget, et dicit: omnis insipientia est, sive insipiens, hic est sensus: Stultus ut ipse peccat, sperat omnes peccare similiter, atque ex suo ingenio universos judicat. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarius Ecclesiasten, Cap X Source: Migne PL 23 1090-1

The heart of the wise man is in his right hand, and the heart of the fool in his left. But when in the way the fool walks, his heart diminishes, and he says, 'All is foolish.' 1 And in the Gospel it is commanded that the left hand should not know what the right hand of the wise does. 2 And when we are struck on the right cheek, we are not commanded to offer the left cheek for striking, but another right one. 3 For the righteous man does not have the left in himself, but all in him is the right. And when the Saviour comes to judge, the sheep shall be on the right and the goats shall be on the left. 4 And in Proverbs it is written: 'The Lord knows the ways on the right, those which are crooked are on the left.' 5 He who therefore is wise, is always thinking of the future age, which leads to the right. He whoever who is foolish, thinks only of the present and is placed on the left. Which certainly the philosopher and poet similarly follows, when he says: The right way leads beneath the walls of great Pluto,  There our way to Elysium; for the left is for the wicked, Where punishment is given to the impious to Tartarus sent. 6   Lactantius also in his famous work 'The Institutes' recalls the letter Y and he disputes plentifully concerning the left and right, that is, virtue and vice. 7 And lest we think the adage to be contrary, which says , 'Stray neither to the right nor the left' 8 let it be understood that previously the right is understood as the good, but here it is not so much the right, but the veering to the right which is culpable, that we should know no more but that which it is necessary for us to know, because virtue is in the middle, and excess in everything is vice. For the following line says, 'But in the way when the fool walks, his heart is empty and he says, 'All is foolishness', or 'foolish' with this sense, that the fool is the man who sins, and he assumes that all sin similarly and therefore from himself he judges all things. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chap 10 1 Eccles 10.2-3 2 Mt 6.3 3 Mt 5.39 4 Mt 25.35 5 Prov 4.27 6 Aeneid 6.541-543 7 Lactantius Inst 4.3 8 Prov 4.27