They are corrupt, they do abominable things, no one does what is right.^[1] Listen to these corrupt people. They in fact have spoken among themselves, reasoning unsoundly. Corruption begins with bad faith. From there it passes to depraved habits, later leading to the most violent injustice. This is, in general, the ladder one climbs. What, then, did they say among themselves, thinking badly, our life is short and sorrowful? From this mistaken conviction proceeds what the apostle also spoke of: Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we die. But in the book of Wisdom this wantonness is described more thoroughly: Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither. Let us leave signs of our enjoyment. And after this more thorough description of wantonness, what do we read? Let us kill the poor, just person,^[2] which is as much as to say, God does not exist.^[3]

Our thought, which originates and is formed in the memory, is rightly called an interior word. Indeed, what is thought, if not an interior discourse? Thus it is written, What you speak in your hearts on your bed, reflect on and be silent.^[1] In fact, in the Gospel, when the Lord said to the paralytic he had healed, Your sins are forgiven you,^[2] Luke the Evangelist adds, The scribes and the Pharisees began to ask themselves, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, responded, ‘What are you thinking in your hearts?’^[3] Whereas Luke said, the scribes and the Pharisees began to ask themselves, Matthew says, Then some scribes began to think, ‘This man blasphemes!’ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil things in your hearts?’^[4] The book of Wisdom also says of some, They spoke among themselves, reasoning unsoundly. It is therefore clear that to think is the same as to speak within oneself. Thus, thought is invisible. That is, thoughts are said without the sound of the voice of the body, but they reach another’s hearing only through bodily speech.

When you say to yourself, The happiness of this world is false, though you dare not express it, I nevertheless see in your heart that perhaps you wrinkle up your nose, mockingly, and say to yourself, Maybe it will go well for me here! What comes after, I don’t know. And it is not a small thing that you at least say that you do not know, so as to not perhaps also say, Our life is short and sorrowful, and there is no remedy when a person dies. No one has been known to return from Hades.^[1] At least you say, I don’t know. Recognizing one’s ignorance is a step toward knowledge. I speak to you, therefore, as if you were to say to me, I don’t know what there could be after death. I simply don’t know whether the righteous will be blessed and sinners unhappy, or if both will cease to exist. Even not knowing, you would nevertheless not have the audacity to say that after death sinners will be blessed and the righteous unhappy. You cannot say, even if you suppose that both will no longer exist, that after death the godless will enjoy a better state and the righteous will suffer. Not even your ignorance can lead you to speak like that. Say, therefore, I don’t know if after death it will go well for the righteous and badly for the godless, or if both the one and the other will exist insensibly.

In Wisdom it says, He who created the world from formless matter,^[1] and the opposite, We were made from nothing. The sense of Scripture affirms that God created the elements all at once, and they were all mixed together, with darkness mixed in with them. And God called this confusion of elements (that is, air, fire, water, land, darkness) formless matter, as it says in Genesis, The earth was a formless waste.^[2] He created the universe from this confusion, establishing the firmament, so that, once the waters were gathered in it, in a single place,^[3] the dwelling of the human race would be created. After having distinguished and separated the elements, he made an inhabitable dwelling in the cavity that remained.

All these things will be left behind. No one will take anything with him, except what he has received through the pleasure of the body. Therefore I have arrived at this conclusion, and there is none truer except the one that says that the good is what is gentle and cheerful. Therefore you must give credit to philosophy, or rather to the Wisdom of Solomon.

These are the words of people who despair of eternal life and, hoping in the ephemeral corruption of the flesh, it is as if they put their hopes in the sand in a stream.

May it therefore never happen that we say to you, Live as you like! Don’t worry! God will never condemn anyone—it is enough that you keep the Christian faith. He redeemed you, he shed his blood for you—he will not damn you. If the desire to go and enjoy a show comes over you, do that too! After all, what is so bad about that? And these festivals that they celebrate in the whole city, with people rejoicing and feasting and (so they think) amusing themselves—while they are actually ruining themselves—at public tables . . . you go too, celebrate, do not worry! God’s mercy is so boundless, he will let everything slide! Crown yourselves with rosebuds before they wither! And in the house of your God, feast there too, whenever you want! Stuff yourselves with food and drink along with your friends. Indeed, these creatures were given that you might enjoy them. Can God have given these things to the godless and the pagans, and not to you? If we were to make speeches like this to you, perhaps more people would join us. And if some perhaps noticed that we were saying things that were not entirely correct, we would alienate those few, but we would gain the favor of the great majority. If we were to act in this way, however, we would be proclaiming to you not the words of God and of Christ but our own words. We would be shepherds who pasture themselves, and not the sheep.