Bonaventure, on Wis 8:9

“I purposed therefore to take her to me to live with me: knowing that she will communicate to me of her good things, and will be a comfort in my cares and grief.”

“Secondly, this is shown from the resolve to acquire it. I resolved therefore etc. Above he showed how much he loved wisdom, and this from his desire of possessing it: here from his resolve to acquire it, and this on account of the goods which come forth from it, and first on account of goods pertaining commonly to both lives: secondly, on account of those pertaining to the active life: I shall have through her: thirdly, on account of those pertaining especially to the contemplative life: Entering into my house. First, on account of goods pertaining to both lives. (Vers. 9.). Therefore, because she is such, I purposed, that is, I firmly resolved in my heart: her, namely divine wisdom, not another adulterous one, such as the poetic disciplines, which Boethius in the Consolation calls "meretricious": to bring to myself, not only to another, against those who only teach others but do not teach themselves, whom the Apostle reproves, saying in Romans 2: "You who teach another, do you not teach yourself?" To feast together, that is, to refresh, namely the affection, not only to illuminate the intellect, as many who are in no way moved by sacred Scripture: Fourth Kings 7: "You shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it": likewise to feast together, he says, that is, to be refreshed in common and together: because in the goods of wisdom we are fed and refreshed: whence Proverbs 9: "Eat my bread, and drink the wine that I have mingled for you": and she in our goods: whence Proverbs 8: "My delights are to be with the children of men." We ought to serve her the first course, as if from herbs prepared, from the lilies of uprightness: Song of Songs 2: "He who feeds among the lilies, until the day breaks," etc. The second, of kid's flesh, that is, the detestation of all sin and iniquity, both carnal and spiritual: on these two kids she willingly feasts, as did Isaac, Genesis 27. The third, of roasted fish of patience and tribulation: "They offered him a piece of roasted fish," Luke 24. The last, of the fruit of the spirit, that is, of the works of devotion: Song of Songs 5: "Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees." Knowing that she will share with me of goods, namely her own. This is the symbolic invitation of Revelation 3: "I will sup with him, and he with me": and he says: of goods, in the plural, because both of present and future goods. And there shall be comfort: Gloss: "That is, alleviation": of thought, that is, of affliction in thinking, as regards the intellect, according to that passage of Ecclesiastes, last chapter: "Frequent meditation is an affliction of the flesh." And of my weariness, in working, and this as regards the affection: Second Corinthians 1: "We were pressed out of measure above our strength, so that we were weary even of living."”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.