Speaking And Hearing

Et quidem in omnes sermones, quos loquentur, ne dederis cor tuum, quia non audies servum tuum maledicentem tibi. Etenim frequenter scit cor tuum, quia et tu maledixisti aliis. Fac quae praecepta sunt et sapientiae auxilio confortatus, vel ad mala, vel ad bona praepara cor tuum et non cures, quid de te loquantur inimici, qualis foris opinio sit. Quomodo enim prudentis uiri est, murmurantem famulum non audire, nec curiosam aurem apponere, quid de se loquatur absente; si enim hoc fecerit semper in tribulatione erit, et ad mussitationem servi iracundia commovebitur. Sic et sapientis hominis est, sapientiam praeviam sequi et vanos non considerare rumores. Sed et alio exemplo docet penitus non curandum iusto homini, quid homines loquantur, dicens: quomodo novit conscientia tua, quod tu de multis locutus es, et saepe aliis detraxisti; sic et aliis debes ignoscere detrahentibus. Et simul docet, non facile iudicandum et habenti trabem in oculo, de festuca alterius non loquendum. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarius Ecclesiasten, Cap VII Source: Migne PL 23.1069c-1070a

Do not give your heart to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant speaking ill of you. Your own heart knows that even you have often spoken ill of others. 1 Do only those things commanded and strengthened by the help of wisdom, prepare your heart for things good or bad, and care not what your enemies may say about you, or what report may be abroad. For as it is of the prudent man not to hear his servant murmur, so he should not turn a curious ear to what is said about him when he is not present; for if he did this he would always be troubled and incensed to anger by a servant's muttering. Therefore it is of the wise man to follow the lead of wisdom and not to ponder empty rumours. And again he teaches by another example, that the righteous man should have no great care about what men say about him, saying, 'As your conscience knows what you have often said about many others, and that you have often maligned them, so forgive others when they speak ill of you.' And at the same time he teaches that judgement is not easy for one who has a plank in his eye, that he should not speak about the straw of another. 2 Saint Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chap 7 1 Eccles 7.22-23 2 Mt 7.3-5