Understanding And Teaching

Quid est quod ait: Appone cor ad doctrinam meam.? Et paulo post subjungit: Ecce descripsi eam tripliciter, in cogitationibus et scientia ut ostenderem tibi firmitatem et eloquia veritatis? Quomodo descripsit tripliciter doctrinam et scientiam? Aut quid est cor apponere ad doctrinam? Cor apponere est intelligere doctrinam sanctam et justam. Tripliciter vero descripsit suam doctrinam, quia unicuique praecepit ut eam studeat implere cogitatione, locutione, et opere. De quibus terminis dicit: Ne transgrediaris terminos antiquos, quos posuerunt patres tui? Terminos antiquos dicit terminos veritatis et fidei, quos habuerunt ab initio catholici doctores. Hoc ergo praecipit, ut sacrae fidei veritatem et evangelicae doctinae nemo aliter suscipiat, quam a sanctis Patribus est tradita, sive hoc praecipit, ut eloquia sacrarum Scipturarum nemo aliter interpretetur, nisi juxta uniuscujusque scribentis vel docentis sancti Spiritus veritatem et intentionem. Honorius Augustodunensis, Quaestiones Et Ad Easdem Responsiones In Duos Salomonis Libros, In Proverbia, Caput XXII Source: Migne PL 172.324a-b

Why does he say. 'Apply your heart to my teaching.' ? And a little after, 'Behold, I have described it in three ways, in thought and in knowledge, that I might show to you the firmness and elegance of truth.' ? 1 How has he described teaching and knowledge in three ways? Or what is it to apply the heart to teaching? To apply the heart is to understand holy and righteous teaching. But he describes his teaching in three ways, because he commands each one of us to strive to fulfill it in thought and speech and deed. Of what boundaries does he speak of with: 'Do not pass beyond the ancient boundaries that your fathers have established.' 2 He calls the ancient boundaries the boundaries of truth and faith that the catholic teachers had from the beginning. This, therefore, he commands, that no one should take up the truth of the holy faith and the teaching of the Gospel in any other way than according to the tradition of the Holy Fathers, or that no one should interpret the words of Holy Scripture in any other way but writing and teaching according to the truth and intention of the Holy Spirit. Honorius of Autun, Questions and Answers on Two Books of Solomon, On Proverbs, Chapter 22 1 Prov 22.17, 20-21 2 Prov 22.28

Matthew Made Righteous

Ἐν τόποις ἀσεβῶν στένουσι δίκαιοι ἐν δὲ τῇ ἐκείνων ἀπωλείᾳ πληθυνθήσονται δίκαιοι Εἀν ἀποθῶνται οἱ ἀσεβεῖς τὸ εἶναι ἀσεβεῖς, γενήσονται δίκαιοι· ἡ γὰρ ἀπώλεια νῦν τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῆς ἀσεβείας σημαίνει· οὕτω καὶ Ματθαῖον τοῠ τελωνείου ἀπολέσας ὁ Κύριος, δικαιοσύνην αὐτῷ ἐχαρίσατο· πληθύνονται γὰρ οἱ δίκαιοι, ὅταν οἱ ἀσεβεῖς καταλείψωσι τὴν ἀσέβειαν, καὶ σὺν τοῖς δικαίοις γενήσονται δίκαιοι· στένουσι δὲ καὶ οἱ δίκαιοι καὶ ὀδυνῶνται, ὁρῶντες τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς ἐν τόπῳ τῆς ἀσεβείας ἰσταμένους, καὶ μὴ μετανοοῦντας. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Παροιμίας, Κεφ ΚΗ' Source: Migne PG 17.245b

In the places of the impious the righteous groan, but in their ruin the righteous shall increase. 1 If the godless cast off their impiety, they are made righteous. For the ruin here signifies the extinction of iniquity. So the Lord ruined Matthew in respect of his booth, gifting to him righteousness. 2 The righteous are multiplied when the impious are rid of their impiety and they become righteous men by righteousness. Meanwhile the righteous groan and grieve while they see the godless standing in their impiety here, and they do not repent. Origen, On Proverbs, Fragment 1 Prov 28.28 2 Mt 9.9

Knowing The Unknown

Τρία δέ ἐστιν ἀδύνατά μοι νοῆσαι καὶ τὸ τέταρτον οὐκ ἐπιγινώσκω, ἴχνη ἀετοῦ πετομένου Τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν ἀνάληψιν. Kαὶ ὁδοὺς ὄφεως ἐπὶ πέτρας. Ὁ διάβολος οὐχ εὗρεν ἴχνος ἁμαρτίας ἐν τῷ σώματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Kαὶ τρίβους νηὸς ποντοπορούσης Τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ὡς ἐν πελάγει τῷ βίῷ τούτῳ, τῇ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐλπίδι διὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ κυβερνωμένης. Kαὶ ὁδοὺς ἀνδρὸς ἐν νεότητι. Τοῦ ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ τῆς Παρθένου γεγεννημένου· ἰδοὺ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀνὴρ, Ἀνατολὴ ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἅγιος Ἱππόλυτος Ρώμης, Εἰς Τας Παροιμίας Source: Migne PG 10.624a-b

Three things I cannot understand, and the fourth I do not know: the path of an eagle flying...' . 1 Christ's ascension. 'And the ways of a serpent on a rock...' The devil did not find a trace of sin in the body of Christ. 'And the ways of a ship crossing the sea...' The Church, which in this life is as in a sea, directed by hope in Christ through the cross. 'And the ways of a man in his youth...' Of Him born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin. For behold, it says, a man whose name is the Dawn. 2 Saint Hippolytus of Rome, Fragment On Proverbs 1 Prov 30.18-19 2 Zech 6.12

On a Proverb

Bos lassus fortius figat pedem Divus Hieronymus oppido quam elegens adagium usurpavit ad beatum Aurelium Augustinum scribens eumque deterre cupiens, ne juvenis senem provocet. Propterea quod tardius quidem ad pugnam excitantur hi, qui jam sunt aetate quasi fessi, verum iidem gravius saeviunt atque urgent, si quando senilis illa virtus irritata recaluit: Memento, inquit, Daretis et Entelli et vulgaris proverbii, quod bos lassus fortius figat pedem. A veteri triturae more ductum apparet, cum circumactis a bubus super manipulos plaustris grana excutiebantur, partim a rotis in hoc armatis, partim a taurorum ungulis. Et lex illa Mosaica, quam citat apostolus Paulus ad Timotheum, vetat, ne bovi trituranti os obligetur. Itaque bos lassus, quoniam gravius figit pedem, magis est ad trituram idoneus. At non item equus ad cursum. Potest allusum videri et ad hoc, quod juvenes corporis agilitate praepollent, senes in stataria pugna ac viribus superiores sunt, id quod et Vergilius in Daretis et Entelli congressu declarat. Nec admodum hinc abludit illud, quod in Graecorum collectaneis positum reperio, Ἀρτέμας Βοῦς, id est, Lente bos, subaudiendum movet pedem. Nam sensim quidem movet, at gravius premit. Adagia,I,47, Erasmus

The weary ox fixes a firmer foot. Saint Jerome with more utility than elegance took up the adage when he wrote to the Blessed Aurelius Augustine wishing to deter him lest youth provoke old age. Accordingly those who are already wearied with years are more slowly roused to fight but greater is their violence and drive when the strength of their old age is warmed by anger. 'Remember,' he says, 'Dares and Entellus and the common proverb that the weary ox fixes a firmer foot.' It seems that of old it was the custom to use oxen to thresh the bundles of the threshing floor, partly by binding them to a millstone and partly by use of the hooves of the creatures. And the Mosaic Law, which the Apostle Paul cites to Timothy, prohibits the binding of the mouth of the ox so used. Thus a weary ox, because he treads more heavily is better able to thresh the wheat. One does not use the same horse for every race. It seems that for games that the body of a youth would excel but in a toe to toe fight the elder man is superior, which is what Virgil declares in the encounter of Dares and Entellus. Nor does he sing out of tune in that, for in the Greek collections I find it is given as 'Slowly the Ox', by which should be understood its step, for prudently it moves and it presses down mightily.  The Adages, I, 47, Erasmus

Advice to a Younger Scholar

Absit autem a me, ut quidquam de libris tuae beatitutidinis attingere audeam. Sufficit enim mihi probare mea, et aliena non carpere. Caeterum optime novit prudentia tua, unumqueque in suo sensu abundare, et puerilis esse jactantiae, quod olim adolescentuli facere consueverant, accusando illustres viros, suo nomini fama quaerere. Nec tam stultus sum, ut diversitate explanationum tuarum me laedi putem: quia nec tu laederi, si nos contraria senserimus. Sed illa est vera inter amicos reprehensio, si nostram peram non videntes, aliorum, juxta Persium, manticam consideremus. Superest, ut diligas diligentem te; et in Scripturarum campo, juvenis senem non provoces. Nos nostra habuimus tempora, et cucurrimus quantum potuimus: nunc te currente et longa spatia transmeante, nobis debetur otium: simulque (ut cum honore tuo et venia dixerim) ne solus mihi de Poetis aliquid proposuisse videaris, memento Daretis et Entelli, et vulgaris proverbii: quod bos lassus fortius figat pedem. Tristes haec dictavimus: utinam mereremur complexus tuos, et collatione mutua vel doceremus aliqua, vel disceremus. Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistola CIII, Ad Augustinum

Far be it from me to dare to attack anything which your Grace has written. It is enough for me to present my own views without reviling those of others. But it is well known to one of your intelligence that every one delights in his own opinion and that it is puerile boastfulness, which young men are accustomed to fall into when seeking fame for their own name, to reproach famous men. I am not so stupid that I think myself harmed by the difference of your explanations, since neither are you harmed if you have felt ours to be contrary to yours. But it is true reproof between friends when not seeing his own pouch, he considers, as Persius says, the wallet borne by the other. Rise up that you may love one who loves you, and in the field of Scripture let not a youth provoke an elder. We have had our time and we have run as far as we were able, now we should rest while you run and cover great distances. At the same time, with your favour and without disrespect, lest it should seem to me that to quote from the poets is something which you alone can do, recall Dares and Entellus, and the common proverb, 'The weary ox fixes a firmer foot.'  With sorrow I have dictated this; would that I merited your embraces, and that by converse we might teach and learn. Saint Jerome, Letter 103, To Augustine