Unstable Elements

Omnia flumina... Hic tangitur mutabilitas quantum ad naturam elementarem visibilem, scilicet aquam, quia non est ibi status; omnes enim aquae moventur ad mare; unde dicit: Omnia flumina intrant in mare, scilicet magnum oceanum, de quo dicitur Iob trigesimo octavo: Quis conclusit ostiiis mare, quando erumpebat, quasi de vuvla procedens? Et motus iste non terminatur, quia mare non impletur; ideo subdit: Et mare non redundat. Et quia istud videtur mirabile, ideo reddit huius causam: Ad locum, unde exeunt, flumina revertuntur, non ut ibi queiscant, sed ut iterum fluant. Flumina exeunt occulte, manifeste redeunt, quia meatus subterraneos et exolationes quasdam exeunt. Et sic omnia feruntur in circuitu et vanitati subiecta sunt; Hugo: Ecce, quomodo in circuitu feruntur omnia et vanitati subiecta sunt; et scimus, quia circulus finem non habet; quae ergo in circuitu currunt, currunt quidem, sed ad finem non perveniunt. Quae igitur requies sperari potest, ubi status nullus esse potest? Et ideo de impiis dictum est: Caput circuitus eorum,' et iterum: In circuitu impii ambulant, et iterum Deus meus, pone illos ut rotam. Sanctus Bonaventura, Commentarius In Ecclesiasten, Cap I Source: Here, p 13

All the rivers... 1 This touches on the great mutability of the visible elements, and indeed water because there is no stability there, for all waters move to the sea, whence he says: 'All the rivers flow into the sea,' that is, the great ocean, concerning which the thirty eighth chapter of Job says: 'Who closed the sea with gates, when it was bursting forth, as from a womb?' 2 And this motion has no end, because the sea is never filled, and so he adds: 'And the sea does not overflow.' And because this seems to be a wonder, therefore he gives the cause: 'To the place whence they came the rivers return.' Not that they find rest there, for they flow out again. Rivers that flow out unseen, openly return, because they flow out by a certain subterranean movement and extraction. And so everything is borne about in a circle and subject to vanity. 3 Hugo: 'Behold, how everything is borne about in a circle and is subject to vanity. And we know that a circle has no end, therefore what runs in a circle, certainly does run, but it never reaches an end. How, then, can there be hope of rest, when there is no stability?' 4 Thus concerning the impious it is said: 'Their heads in a circle.' 5 And again: 'In a circle the impious walk.' 6 And again: 'My God, place them as a wheel.' 7 Saint Bonaventura, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 1 1 Eccles 1.7 2 Job 38.8 3 Rom 8.20 4 Hugh of St Victor, In Salomonis Ecclesiasten, Migne PL 175.138d 5 Ps 139.10 6 Ps 11.9 7 Ps 82.14