Wealth And Wisdom

Magnificavi opera mea: aedificavi mihi domos, plantavi mihi vineas, et caetera usque ad eum locum, in quo ait; Sapientis oculi in capite ejus, et stultus in tenebris ambulat. Antequam de singulis disseram, videtur mihi utile brevi cuncta sermone comprehendere, et quasi in unum corpus sensum redigere, ut possint facilius intelligi quae dicuntur. Omnia quae putantur in saeculo bona, quasi rex et potens habui. Aedificavi mihi in excelsum palatia, vitibus montes collesque conseri. Et ne quid deesset ad luxum, hortos mihi pomariaque plantavi, diversas arbores instituens, quas collectae in piscinas aqua desuper irrigarent, ut longius viror humore perpeti nutriretur. Servorum quoque sive emptorum sive vernaculorum fuit innumerabilis multitiduo, et quadrupedum greges multi, boum scilicet et ovium, quantum nullus ante me rex habuit in Jerusalem. Sed et thesauri argenti et auri innumerabiles condebantur, quos mihi diversorum regum munera et gentium tributa contulerant. Unde et accidit, ut nimiis opibus ad majores delicias provocarer, et musicarum artium chori, mihi tibia, lyra, voce concinerent et uterque sexus in conviviis ministraret: sed quanto ista crescebant, tanto sapientia deerat. Nam in quamcunque voluptatem me cupido traxisset, infrenis ferebar et praeceps, putabamque hunc esse fructum laborum meorum, si ipse in libidine luxuriaque consumerer. Tandem in memet reversus, et quasi de gravi somno evigilans, aspexi ad manus meas, et opera mea plena vanitatis, plena sordium, plena spriitu erroris intuitus sum. Nihil, enim, quod in mundo putabatur bonum, bonum potui reperire. Reputans igitur, quae essent sapientiae bona, et quae stultitiae mala, consequenter in laudem illus hominis erupi, qui post vitia se refrenans, virtutum possit esse sectator. Magna quippe distania est inter sapientiam et stultitiam, et quantum dies distat a nocte, tantum virtutes a vitiis separantur. Videtur mihi itaque, qui sapientia sequitur, oculos in coelum semper erigere, et in sublime, os habere surrectum, eaque, quae supra suum verticem sunt, contemplari. Qui vero stultitiae et vitiis deditus sit, versari in tenebris, et in rerum ignorantia volutari. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarius Ecclesiasten, Cap I Source: Migne PL 23.1025a-1026a

'I vaunted my works, I built houses for myself, I planted vines...' and the rest even until that place where it is said: '...the wise man has eyes in his head, the fool walks in darkness. 1   Before I discuss each part, it seems to me useful to give in brief words a summary of the whole, as to bring it under one body of sense, that the things which are said are easier to understand. Everything, then, he says, which is thought good in this world, as a king and a powerful man I have. I have built myself palaces on high, I have covered mountains and hills with vines. And lest some luxury be lacking to me, I have planted apple orchards for myself, and I have planted other trees, which set by fish pools may be irrigated by them, being continually nourished with moisture. Also I have a countless number of servants, bought or born in the house, and many herds of cattle, cows and sheep, much more than any king ever had before in Jerusalem. And even treasures of untold silver and gold are mine, to which are brought the gifts of many different kings and tribute peoples. Whence it happens, that with such excessive wealth I am provoked to great pleasures, choirs of musicians on the flute and the lyre and singing with the voice, and both sexes minister to me in feasts, and yet as much as these things grow greater, so much less is my wisdom. For in whatever pleasure I desired myself to be drawn, borne off without bridle and headlong, I thought that to be consumed in pleasure and luxury was the reward of my labours. Until at last I returned to myself, as waking from a heavy sleep, and I looked at my works, and I understood that they were full of vanity, full of filth, full of the spirit of error. Indeed nothing which in the world is accounted good, I was able to discover as good. Reflecting, then, on the nature of the goods of wisdom and the evils of foolishness, it followed that I was taken up by the praise of a man, who after the curbing of vices was able to be a pursuer of virtue. Great indeed is the distance between wisdom and foolishness, and as much as the day differs from the night, so is the separation between virtues and vices. So it seems to me, who follow wisdom, eyes ever directed to the heavens, and to the heights, having a mouth uplifted, in contemplation of things above. However he who is given to foolishness and vice is turned to the darkness and is embroiled in ignorance of things. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chap 1 1  Eccl 2.4-14