Bonaventure, on Wis 11:20

“Whereof not only the hurt might be able to destroy them, but also the very sight might kill them through fear.”

“For even without these etc. Nor could you punish them only in this way, for even without these, that is, without the aid of these beasts, they could have been killed by a single breath: Gloss: "That is, by a single indignation or command." So breath is understood where it is said in Genesis 6: "My spirit shall not remain in man," that is, my indignation, etc. Or: by a single angelic breath, as happened to Sennacherib and his army, as is clear from Isaiah 37. Having suffered persecution, namely as from a meritorious cause, from their own deeds, so that they would be destroyed by their own works, just as a viper perishes by its own offspring: Luke 3: "Offspring of vipers," etc.; in the Psalm: "Render to them according to the works of their hands." And scattered, namely through diverse places outside their own land, by the spirit of your power. This can be understood intransitively, and then it is understood of the uncreated Spirit; or transitively, that is, effectively, and then it can be understood of a created spirit: Job 4: "I saw those who work iniquity perish by the blast of God, and be consumed by the spirit of his wrath." But all things etc. Here he shows that he punished out of mercy and punished less than he could have: and first by this, that he did not punish beyond what the magnitude of the fault required, because in measure; second by this, that he did not punish beyond what the multiplicity of the fault required, because in number; third, because not beyond what the condition or quality of the sinner required, because in weight. I have rightly said that you do not punish according to the immensity of your power, that is, to the extent that you could; but all things etc., as if to say: not only the creatures themselves, but also their retributions and penalties or punishments, you have disposed in measure, so that they do not exceed the magnitude of the fault; and in number, so that they do not exceed the multiplicity of the fault; and in weight, so that they do not exceed the condition of the sinner or the circumstance of the sin. That he punishes according to measure: Revelation 18: "As much as she glorified herself in delights, so much give her torment and mourning"; likewise Isaiah 27: "In measure against measure, when she shall be cast off, you shall judge her"; likewise Luke 6: "With what measure you measure, it shall be measured back to you." That according to number: Revelation 18: "Double unto her double according to her works"; likewise Isaiah 40: "She has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins," that is, a twofold punishment, namely the punishment of loss and the punishment of sense, or exterior bodily punishment and interior spiritual punishment, that is, the remorse of conscience. That according to weight is clear from above, chapter 6: "To the little one mercy is granted, but the mighty shall suffer torments mightily." Otherwise it can be explained thus: all things, namely corporeal things with respect to their nature, you have disposed in measure, number, and weight, because the measure of all corporeal things is the four elements, which have number, weight, and measure, as is evident. Or otherwise: weight refers to the power of the one operating; number to the wisdom of the one ordering; measure to the clemency of the one preserving; Romans 11: "From whom are all things," with respect to the power of the Father; "through whom are all things," with regard to the wisdom of the Son; "in whom are all things," with regard to the clemency of the Holy Spirit. According to the Gloss of Rabanus: "In measure, quality; in number, quantity; in weight, reason." According to Augustine, the measure of a creature is its determinate quantity by which it is called great or small or middling; number, a determinate quality by which it is distinguished from another; weight, the property by which it rests in its own place; whence according to Augustine, measure is the same as mode; species is the same as number; order is the same as weight. "These three," namely mode, species, and order, "where they are great, are great goods; where small, small; where none, none," as he himself says. Or this can be explained concerning measure, number, and weight in uncreated things thus: in measure, that is, in you measuring all things, that is, prefixing a mode to each thing; in number, that is, in you numbering all things, that is, bestowing upon each thing its proper species; in weight, that is, in you weighing all things, that is, assigning to all things their proper and certain order. With this agrees a certain exposition of Augustine, who says: "In measure, that is, in yourself, who are measure without measure, prefixing a mode to each thing; number without number, furnishing a species to every thing; weight without weight, drawing every thing to stability." The first in the nature of the efficient cause, the second in the nature of the exemplar, the third in the nature of the final cause. Morally thus: In measure, against the vice of superfluity; in number, against the vice of singularity; in weight, against the vice of levity. But it is objected: if he disposed all things in measure, number, and weight, then he disposed measure in measure, etc., and so on to infinity. It can be said that, speaking of number, weight, and measure in uncreated things, the distribution is universal; but speaking of created things, the distribution is accommodated, namely such that the distribution is understood to be made for things measured, numbered, and weighed. Or: All things, that is, complete beings, not concreated in another. But measure, number, and weight are not such things; rather they are concreated in other things, since they are not beings subsisting by themselves and complete.”

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