Moreover, in the days of Hezekiah, there were some of the books selected for use, and others set aside. Whence the Scripture says, These are the mixed proverbs of Solomon, which the friends of Hezekiah the king copied out. And from where did they take them but out of the books containing the three thousand parables and the five thousand songs? Out of these, then, the wise friends of Hezekiah took those portions which bore upon the edification of the church.

Solomon frequently mentions friend and friendship. Therefore, it is fitting now to look into what he means by friendship. He says [in effect] that grace and friendship liberate. Also, the Savior in the gospels says to the Jews who had believed in him, If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.^[1] Again, Paul writes, Christ freed us from the curse of the law.^[2] Hence, if friendship sets free and truth sets free and the Savior sets free, then Christ is both truth and friendship. Therefore, all who possess the knowledge of Christ are friends to each other. Therefore, the Savior calls his disciples friends,^[3] and John the Baptist is a friend of the bridegroom,^[4] and so are Moses^[5] and all the saints. And it is in virtue of that friendship alone, that his friends are also friends to each other.

Humility therefore is the teacher of all virtues; it is the surest foundation of the heavenly building; it is the special and splendid gift of the Savior. For anyone who follows the gentle Lord not in the grandeur of his miracles, but in the virtues of patience and humility. can perform all the miracles which Christ worked without danger of pride. But anyone who aims at commanding unclean spirits, or bestowing gifts of healing, or showing some wonderful miracle to the people, even though when showing off invokes the name of Christ, yet that person is far from Christ, because in pride of heart he does not follow his humble teacher. . . Christ did not say: If you do signs and miracles . . . , but if you love one another. Certainly no one can observe this but the meek and humble.

Therefore our predecessors never considered those monks to be good or free from the fault of pride who professed themselves exorcists or proclaimed boastfully among admiring crowds the grace which they had obtained or which they claimed to be theirs. . . . And so if any one does any of these things in our presence, he ought to be commended by us not out of admiration of his miracles, but for the beauty of his life, and we should not ask whether the devils are subject to him, but whether he possesses those features of love which the apostle describes.^[1]

He that has been struck by a stone goes to a physician, but sharper than a stone are the strokes of calumny. For, as Solomon has said, A false witness is a war club, and a sword, and a sharp arrow, and its wounds truth alone is able to cure. If truth is set at naught, the wounds grow worse and worse.

The apostle Paul teaches us in the clearest possible way that alms are to be distributed to everybody, when he says, Let us be tireless, while we have the time, in doing good to all, though supremely to those at home in the faith.^[1] This indeed makes it plain enough that in works of this kind the just are to be given preference. Who else, after all, are we to understand by those at home in the faith, since elsewhere it is stated plainly, The just person lives by faith?^[2] That doesn’t mean, though, that we must close our hearts to other people, even sinners, not even if they adopt a hostile attitude toward us. The Savior himself says, after all, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.^[3] Nor is the point passed over in silence in the books of the Old Testament; one reads there, you see, If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink, a text the apostle also makes use of in the New.^[4]

This [scriptural passage] seems to prescribe a crime or a vice; therefore, it is a figure of speech directing that we are to participate in the Lord’s passion and treasure up in grateful and salutary remembrance the fact that his flesh was crucified and wounded for us. Scripture says, If your enemy is hungry, give him food; if he is thirsty, give him drink. This undoubtedly prescribes a kindness, but the part that follows—For by so doing you will heap coals of fire upon his head—you might suppose was commanding a crime of malevolence. So, do not doubt that it is a figurative expression. Although it can have a twofold interpretation, by one intending harm, by the other intending a good, charity should call you away from the former to kindness, so that you may understand that the coals of fire are the burning lamentations of repentance by which that person’s pride is healed and he grieves that he has been an enemy of the one who relieves his misery.

The Holy Spirit speaks in the same manner through Solomon: If your enemy is hungry, give him to eat; if he is thirsty, give him to drink; in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head. At this point we must watch carefully, lest, perchance, we make wounds out of the remedies for us if we do not understand it well. Some people are even inclined to take this precept as if to satisfy their wrath. Indeed, they say within themselves, Behold, I will feed my enemy, so he may burn forever. May God keep an idea of this sort far from our minds! This point ought to be accepted as the saints and ancient fathers have explained it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. . . . When you piously do good to your enemy, however wicked and cruel, savage and unfeeling he may be, he at length sometimes blushes and grieves, beginning to repent of what he has done. Then, when he has begun to do penance, his rational sense, that is, his head, begins to be kindled with the fire of charity. One who before was inclined to harbor wrath against you like a cold maniac now begins to love you with his whole heart through being kindled with spiritual warmth arising from your kindness.

This can be understood both of corporeal food and of spiritual nourishment.

What necessity rests upon me to run the risk of the wife I marry proving good or bad? It is better, [Solomon] says, to dwell in a desert land than with a contentious and passionate woman.^[1] He who is married knows how seldom we find a wife without these faults. Hence that sublime orator, Varius Geminus, says well, The man who does not quarrel is a bachelor. [In fact], it is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a contentious woman in a house in common. If a house common to husband and wife makes a wife proud and breeds contempt for the husband, how much more if the wife is the richer of the two and the husband but a lodger in her house!

She begins to be not a wife but mistress of the house; and if she offends her husband, they must part.

Just as waters are pleasant to the thirsty soul, as Scripture says, so to the mind that loves instruction is the life-giving knowledge of the mysteries of our Savior. Let us, therefore, draw from the sacred springs the living and life-giving waters, even those that are rational and spiritual. Let us take our fill, and weary not in the drinking; for in these things more than enough is still for edification, and greediness is great praise.

We have learned from the story in sacred Scripture how pleasing to a man is good news from a far country. And what other better news could we expect than the love of Christ, than the spotless profession and propagation of the catholic church, than the pure lives, successful work, and faithful doctrine of the friends of God and the bishops and priests of Christ? These, most blessed father, we confess that we vehemently yearn for and thirstily desire to learn.

The illustration and image in the passage quoted shows, by comparing it to a city that is destroyed and without walls, how injurious the absence of [self-control] is in a monk. Herein lies wisdom, herein lies intelligence and understanding without which our inward house cannot be built and spiritual riches cannot be gathered together. As it is written, A house is built with wisdom, and again it is set up with intelligence. With understanding the storehouses are filled with all precious riches and good things.^[1]