Love Of Wisdom

Super salutem et speciem dilexi illam, et proposui pro luce habere illam, quoniam inextinguibile est lumen illius. Hic ostendit sapientiae aestimatae dilectionem. Et primo ostendit huius dilectionis magnitudinem; secundo, rationem: Venerunt autem mihi omnia bona pariter cum illa...Super salutem; Glossa: Corporis, scilicet interiorem; Psalmus: Quia vana salus hominis; et speciem, Glossa Rerum corporalium, scilicet exteriorem pulcritudinem, quia, Proverbiorum trigesimo primo: fallax gratia, et vana est pulcritudo; dilexi eam, sciliect sapientiam, quia quanto spiritus melior corpore et magis care diligendus, tanto spiritualia meliora sunt corporalibus et magis diligenda. Et eam in tantum dilexo, quod proposui pro luce habere illam, quae, inquam, lux est pulcherrimum et delectabilissimum et optimum inter corporalia, secundum Augustinum; sic sapientia inter spiritualia lux est animae; Ecclesiastici ultimo: In sapientia eius luxit anima mea, et ignorantias meas illuminavit; infra eodem: Speciosior est sole. Sequitur: Quoniam inexstinguibile est lumen illius, scilicet quantum est de se: infra eodem: Luci comparata, invenitur prior, illi enim succedit nox. Sanctus Bonaventura, Commentarius In Librum Sapientiae, Caput VII Source: Here, 383c-d

'I loved her above health and beauty, and chose to have her instead of light, for her light cannot be extinguished.' 1 Here he shows love for the wisdom that he has valued. Firstly he shows the greatness of this love, secondly the cause: 'All goods came to me together with her...' 2 'Above health.' Gloss: 'of the body' that is, the interior. The Psalm: 'For vain is the help of man.' 3 And above beauty, Gloss: 'Of what concerns the body',that is, exterior beauty, because, in the thirty first chapter of Proverbs: 'Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain' 4 'I loved her,' that is, wisdom, because as much as the spirit is better than the body, so she should be loved more dearly, and likewise spiritual things should be loved better and more than bodily things. And I loved her so much that 'I chose to have her instead of light,' she who is, I say, the most beautiful, most delightful and best compared to bodily lights, according to Augustine. 5 In this way wisdom, in spiritual matters, is the light of the soul. In the last chapter of Ecclesiasticus: 'In its wisdom my soul lamented and it enlightened my ignorance,' 6 And in the same chapter of Wisdom below: 'She is more beautiful than the sun.' It follows: 'For her light cannot be extinguished,' that is, as much as it is from herself. In the same chapter below: 'Being compared with the light, she is found before it, for night succeeds the former.' 7 Saint Bonaventura, Commentary On Wisdom, Chapter 7 1 Wisd 7.10 2 Wisd 7.11 3 Ps 59.13 4 Prov 31.30 5 Aug Confes 10.34 6 Sirach 51.26 7 Wisd 7.29-30