1 [Attingit ergo a fine usque ad finem fortiter, et disponit omnia suaviter.] 2 [Hanc amavi, et exquisivi a juventute mea, et quæsivi sponsam mihi eam assumere, et amator factus sum formæ illius. 3 Generositatem illius glorificat, contubernium habens Dei; sed et omnium Dominus dilexit illam. 4 Doctrix enim est disciplinæ Dei, et electrix operum illius. 5 Et si divitiæ appetuntur in vita, quid sapientia locupletius quæ operatur omnia? 6 Si autem sensus operatur, quis horum quæ sunt magis quam illa est artifex? 7 Et si justitiam quis diligit, labores hujus magnas habent virtutes: sobrietatem enim et prudentiam docet, et justitiam, et virtutem, quibus utilius nihil est in vita hominibus. 8 Et si multitudinem scientiæ desiderat quis, scit præterita, et de futuris æstimat; scit versutias sermonum, et dissolutiones argumentorum; signa et monstra scit antequam fiant, et eventus temporum et sæculorum. 9 Proposui ergo hanc adducere mihi ad convivendum, sciens quoniam mecum communicabit de bonis, et erit allocutio cogitationis et tædii mei. 10 Habebo propter hanc claritatem ad turbas, et honorem apud seniores juvenis; 11 et acutus inveniar in judicio, et in conspectu potentium admirabilis ero, et facies principum mirabuntur me: 12 tacentem me sustinebunt, et loquentem me respicient, et sermocinante me plura, manus ori suo imponent. 13 Præterea habebo per hanc immortalitatem, et memoriam æternam his qui post me futuri sunt relinquam. 14 Disponam populos, et nationes mihi erunt subditæ: 15 timebunt me audientes reges horrendi. In multitudine videbor bonus, et in bello fortis. 16 Intrans in domum meam, conquiescam cum illa: non enim habet amaritudinem conversatio illius, nec tædium convictus illius, sed lætitiam et gaudium. 17 Hæc cogitans apud me et commemorans in corde meo, quoniam immortalitas est in cognatione sapientiæ, 18 et in amicitia illius delectatio bona, et in operibus manuum illius honestas sine defectione, et in certamine loquelæ illius sapientia, et præclaritas in communicatione sermonum ipsius: circuibam quærens, ut mihi illam assumerem. 19 Puer autem eram ingeniosus, et sortitus sum animam bonam. 20 Et cum essem magis bonus, veni ad corpus incoinquinatum. 21 Et ut scivi quoniam aliter non possem esse continens, nisi Deus det; et hoc ipsum erat sapientiæ, scire cujus esset hoc donum: adii Dominum, et deprecatus sum illum, et dixi ex totis præcordiis meis:]
Wisdom of Solomon · Clementine Vulgate
Wisdom of Solomon 8 Clementine Vulgate
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
that was a point of wisdom also to know whose gift she was." For by continency are we bound up and brought into one, whence we were scattered abroad into many.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… also their form, not from without, but from the secret and profound might of the Creator, who said, "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" and whose wisdom it is that "reacheth from one end to another mightily; and sweetly doth she order all things." Wherefore I know not what kind of aid the angels, themselves created first, afforded to …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Therefore it is said that he was born "according to the flesh,"--not because such births are not the gifts of God, nor His handiwork, whose creative wisdom "reaches," as it is written, "from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth she order all things," but because, in a case in which the gift of God, which was not due …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)