REPENTANCE OF THE WICKED
THEY shall say within themselves repenting:
‘Verily we went astray from the way of truth,
We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction,
And we journeyed through trackless deserts,
But the way of the Lord we knew not.
What did our arrogancy profit us?
And what good have riches and vaunting brought us?
Those things all passed away as a shadow,
As a ship passing through the billowy water,
Whereof, when it is gone by, there is no trace to be found,
Neither pathway of its keel in the billows:
Or as when a bird flieth through the air,
No token of her passage is found,
But the light wind, lashed with the stroke of her pinions,
And rent asunder with the violent rush, is passed through by the motion of her wings,
And afterwards no sign of her coming is found therein:
So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be;
And of virtue we had no sign to show,
But in our wickedness we were utterly consumed.
Because the hope of the ungodly man is as chaff carried by the wind,
And passeth by as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day.
‘But the righteous live for ever,
And in the Lord is their reward,
And the care for them with the Most High.’
WISDOM OF SOLOMON 5. 3, 6–11, 13–15.
WISE COUNSEL
I
THE soul, when accustomed to superfluous things, acquires a strong habit of desiring others which are necessary neither for the preservation of the individual nor for that of the species. This desire is without limit; whilst things which are necessary are few, and restricted within certain bounds. Lay this well to heart, reflect on it again and again; that which is superfluous is without end (and therefore the desire for it also without limit). Thus you desire to have your vessels of silver, but golden vessels are still better; others even have vessels studded with sapphires, emeralds, or rubies. Those, therefore, who are ignorant of this truth, that the desire for superfluous things is without limit, are constantly in trouble and pain. When they thus meet with the consequences of their course they complain of the judgements of God; they go so far as to say that God’s power is insufficient, because He has given to this Universe the properties which they imagine cause these evils.
MOSES MAIMONIDES.
II
PREFER one in hand to two in hope; a little certainty is better than a great perhaps. Sooner a servant among the noble than leader among thecommon; for some of their honour will stick to you, while you must share the contempt of your contemptible followers.
The proud cedar is felled, the lowly bush is untouched; fire rises and dies away, water flows down and for ever. If for what beauty or riches you have, you raise your head above neighbour or brother, you feed hateful envy, and the beggar whom you despise may yet triumph over you. Better enough in freedom than plenty at the table of another.
Love thy children with impartial love; the hope oft errs that you place on the more promising, and all your joy may come from him that you have kept in the background.
BENEDICT OF OXFORD, 1195.
(Trans. Joseph Jacobs.)
III
THERE are seven marks of an uncultured, and seven of a wise, man. The wise man does not speak before him who is greater than he in wisdom, and does not break in upon the speech of his fellow; he is not hasty to answer; he questions according to the subject-matter, and answers to the point; he speaks upon the first thing first, and upon the last, last; regarding that which he has not understood, he says, ‘I do not understand it’, and he acknowledges the truth.
ETHICS OF THE FATHERS.