Cassiodorus

In his own words on Wisdom of Solomon

• Wisdom of Solomon 3:1

  "My life is always in your hands, but I do not forget your law." Because the soul of the righteous is persecuted by the wickedness of thieves, who want to seduce it with various traps, it very wisely says that it is placed "in the hands" of God. No violence of its adversaries can reach there, as it says, "The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God, and no fatal torment will touch them." And also, "My sheep listen to my voice," and a little later, "No one will steal them from my hand." He added "ever," so that it would be understood that at no time is the soul left to the mercy of its foes. When it then says "in the hands," it means that God acts with power, since he keeps safe those who show themselves to have acted according to his judgments. Why then does he say that his soul is placed "in the hands" of the Lord? Because his law is not taught to someone who forgets. Therefore, we are under his protection if we do not stray in anything from the saving precepts. This is what is asked of us at all times and what we are commanded in particular here: to return to the law, and not to stray from the law. - "Explanation of the Psalms 118.109"

• Wisdom of Solomon 3:7

  "Like the moon, eternally perfect and a faithful witness in the sky." First he spoke of the sun, and we said that this referred to the soul of the righteous. Now he speaks of the moon, which is here appropriately compared with the human body, because it waxes and wanes with time. But he adds that it is "perfect" so that, by referring to that spiritual body, you would understand that he is not speaking of something temporal but only of that eternity that will never fail. Our very body, in fact, will be filled with light "forever," like "the perfect moon." And this moon, that is, the structure of our body, will be a "faithful witness," because in it the promises will have been fulfilled. And see that he has placed it "in the heavens," that is, in a holy person. The bodies of those whose souls shine with divine light will shine in the same way, as Solomon says, "The righteous will shine forth and, like sparks in the stubble, run here and there." - "Explanation of the Psalms 88.37"

• Wisdom of Solomon 3:7

  God said earlier that those who sincerely repent will be saved and that after they have received the remedy of forgiveness, we must think of them as stars. Indeed, those who have merited to be numbered among the saints shine like the nighttime stars of this creation. But as much as it might seem to us that there are many, many of these in the church, God has counted every one of those who will have the joy of participating in his kingdom. The fact that we can think of the stars as holy people is attested to in the passage of Genesis that says, "I will make your descendents as numerous as the stars of heaven." And Solomon says, "The righteous will shine like the stars of heaven."

  EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 146:4

• Wisdom of Solomon 5:3

  After the light disappears, there remains only the recompense for merits. "Who in the underworld sings your praises?" must be understood to refer to forgiveness. As Solomon says of the godless, "Repentant, they will say to one another, groaning in anguish of spirit," etc. In fact, it is clear that the rich man who saw Lazarus at rest confessed his sins, but his plea was not granted. That is because confession is to be made in this world, in which one also finds forgiveness.

  EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 7:6

• Wisdom of Solomon 5:6

  "And he will remain with the sun, and before the moon, from age to age." This speaks of the honor of the Incarnation, who remains united to the Word. He in fact sits at the right hand of the Father, reigning forever in glory. By "sun" is certainly meant the Word of the Father, the Son of God, who is God made man. Christ is one, out of two: two distinct natures, each perfect. Indeed, of him the godless will say, "For us the sun has not risen, and the light of righteousness did not shine on us." Then, "And before the moon, from age to age," and by this must also be understood what was said earlier, "He will remain." Christ in fact remains before the moon, which is to say before the church, which perceives him at all times thanks to the lights of the heart. Rightly the moon can be compared with the church, which does not have a splendor of its own but in some way receives the light of the sun. Astronomers accurately explain this, among other things. - "Explanation of the Psalms 71.5"

• Wisdom of Solomon 5:8

  The proud despise the humble when they hear them speak of things that they reject. Because the proud love the things of this world, they do not concern themselves with future things and, in their malicious wickedness, attack with greater violence those who try to follow the Lord's precepts. But at the future judgment they will experience an exchange of roles. Those who are rich and proud will be despised and the object of reproaches, as Solomon says of them: "What good has our pride done for us? What has our wealth and its boasting brought us?" It is clear that normal human speech would have required that it be said, "Our soul is full of the reproaches of the rich and the despising of the proud." But by saying, "Our soul is full. It is a reproach to the rich and a despising of the proud," this seems to be a way of speaking proper to the divine Scripture, which must not be considered mistaken but as something that has not yet been contemplated by human thought.

  EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 122:4

• Wisdom of Solomon 8:2

  "Your wife like a fertile vine within your home, and your sons like olive plants around your table." Once again the literal sense must be avoided here. We see in fact that many very holy men have neither wife nor sons and that the wicked have all that. How then can this part of the blessing be applied, which you know often does not pertain to the good but to the bad? "Wife" has the sense of sister. For this reason, as the wife of the blessed man one must understand wisdom, as Solomon says, "Who sought to take her as a wife." And elsewhere, "Love her, and she will watch over you. Do not abandon her, and she will care for you." She is therefore the wife of the righteous, who captivates her husband with a chaste embrace.

  EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 127:3

• Wisdom of Solomon 9:7

  "You who give salvation to kings, who redeemed David your servant from the sword of the wicked." He calls kings those righteous and true individuals who, as we have said, rule their bodies with the Lord"s help. The Lord gives salvation to these kings, since he has freed them from the vices of the flesh. Of them it is said in Wisdom, "He gives kings their rule." - "Explanation of the Psalms 143.10"

• Wisdom of Solomon 10:8

  "They will see the death of the wise. The foolish and the senseless will perish as well, and they will leave their riches to others." He thus arrives at the second way of teaching when he says that the sinners of this world will die along with the wise and that their riches, which they loved exceedingly, will be given as an inheritance not to their own but to strangers, which hurts even more. Not even their own heirs would enjoy the possession of those things for which they committed every kind of sin, as Solomon says: "Not even in the things in which they sinned were they able to rejoice." The sinner sees that the wise of this world, like, for example, Solon of Athens, Philo of Lacedemonia, Aristippus, and all the others who were highly praised for worldly wisdom, are not free from death. Rather, he sees that they die, like all those whom he considered to be partakers of divine Wisdom. It then says that "the foolish and the senseless will perish together." It is indeed necessary that the foolish and the senseless perish in desperation, knowing that their wise ones die. Nevertheless, these things must be understood in a more spiritual way. The senseless are those who did not want to listen to the proclamations of the prophets. Rightly called foolish are those who did not want to receive Christ the Lord, even when he came in person. They will perish together, because they will be condemned in the future judgment. The Jews left their riches to strangers, since, having despised the Lord and Savior, the rewards of their salvation passed to other peoples. - "Explanation of the Psalms 48.11"

• Wisdom of Solomon 11:20

  The writers of secular letters held that arithmetic was the first among the disciplines, given that music, geometry and astronomy, which follow it, have need of arithmetic for the explanation of their laws. For example, the relationship between simple and double, which is proper to music, has need of arithmetic. Geometry, since it has the triangle, the rectangle and other similar figures for its object, needs arithmetic. Astronomy as well, since it calculates the positions and movement of the stars, needs arithmetic. However, no one would affirm that music, geometry and astronomy need to exist for there to be arithmetic. One therefore concludes that arithmetic is the source and mother of the other sciences. We know that Pythagoras celebrated this to the point of recalling that everything was created by God under the laws of number and of measure, also saying that some things were created in motion, others at rest, though in such a way that nothing has substance except the things mentioned above. I think that Pythagoras, like many philosophers, took his cue from the prophetic saying that "God arranged all things by measure, number and weight."

  THE INSTITUTES 2:4.1