It is time to examine what Ecclesiastes now teaches us. We have learned at the outset that he who summons every creature, seeks the lost, gathers the scattered into one and ponders over this earthly existence which lies under heaven. This region, as Ecclesiastes states [1.13], is the realm of [J.315] deception, vanity and insubstantiality. We have learned in the second homily through the person of Solomon about his condemnation of pleasure and passion that we may worthily relinquish both their strong ability to excite us and their forms which men eagerly pursue.
What do we learn from this third homily? I think it especially applies to the Church and the failure of its members to live up to their confession, for the passion of shame gives birth to innumerable unbecoming activities. However, shame can be a great, powerful shield to ward off sin. I think that God bestowed this shield upon our nature to keep our souls from evil conduct. Shame and disgrace have a certain compatibility which serves to deflect sin, provided that they are used for the soul's disposition. Shame, not fear, often instructs us to shun unbecoming behavior, but it rightly chastens persons who have fallen into disgrace [J.316] not to commit this sin again. If we wish to describe [M.652] the difference between shame and disgrace, we may call the latter is an intensification of the former, whereas shame is somewhat milder than disgrace. We see both their difference and similarity in the color of a person's face which manifests the various passions. Red indicates shame, a natural sympathy between soul and body, where the heat around one's heart boils up to manifest itself on the face. This bright, red, livid color appears when a person commits a fault, for fear combines with bile to produce blushing. Passion of this kind belongs to persons who admit their improper behavior yet no longer indulge in it. If this is so and if the book [of Ecclesiastes] says that passion can prevent us from transgressions [J.317], we should consider the Church's teaching as expressed through the confession of sins because this practice arms the soul against falling by mean of the shield offered by shame. Just as gluttony collects ill humors in oneself and a hot iron cures inflammation resulting from a cut as though it were a teaching for the next life while keeping in mind the body's cauterized wound, so the shame produced by passion will instruct a person for this future life if he accuses himself and reveals the secrets of his memory.
Such are the Church's teachings which we now find in the book of Ecclesiastes. The Church freely proclaims them before everyone as though they were written on a column so that ignorance and silence of them may be more glorious than speaking. Ecclesiastes says that it is impossible to accurately state whether or not these [doctrines] he has in mind are for our benefit. He utters words about virtue, yet a person considering them does not willingly [J.318] appropriate them. But if from personal experience Ecclesiastes condemns the apparent existence [of vanity] to make us avoid a similar situation, or if he freely rejects the enjoyment coming from pleasure in order to diligently train his senses through unpleasant experiences, let us willingly pay attention to his words and draw our own conclusions. We will now respond to anyone who claims that Ecclesiastes' experience results in pleasure. Persons who traverse the sea and explore its depths in the hope of finding pearls exert themselves in profitable labor, not in pleasure. If Solomon [M.653] resembles these men and devotes himself to fishing, he becomes submerged in pleasure; he is not filled with sea salt which to me represents pleasure but seeks that which is profitable for his mind in these depths. In my opinion this example may blunt our bodily inclinations by [J.319] restraining our desires because nature always has in store more vehement movements to hinder this process. A teacher faithful in such matters feels that people are no longer prone to detestable behavior once he has taught them the vanity of their experiences. He says that physicians are especially inclined to this when they diagnose illnesses in different bodies. Doctors who impart more sound advice for healing know that they have already been cured and conduct themselves as a result of this experience.
Let us now see what he who had suffered in his own life now says for our healing. "I enlarged my work, I built my houses" [2.4]. The text begins with a condemnation, for God does not perform this work but my own work which "I enlarged," that is, the one delighting my senses. This work is of one general kind yet is subtly divided into many to serve pleasure. Once a person has immersed himself in material things, his eye rushes to every place where pleasure comes to birth. Just as water flows through many channels from one fountain and does not diminish by dividing into many channels [J.320], so one pleasure with its various manifestations flows everywhere in life's different pursuits when united to the necessities of any given circumstance.
Life has provided a necessary a habitation for human nature; it is more feeble than the irregularities of warmth and cold, thereby requiring that we have a house in which to live. However, pleasure does violence by transgressing the bounds of its usefulness. If a person does not provide for his body's needs but has his eyes fixed on pleasure, he suffers as a consequence for it because he did not allow heaven to come under his roof; no longer can he have the sun's rays within his dwelling. Therefore he extends the circumference of his house as much as possible, making its area as big as the earth itself. He makes his walls exceedingly high and arranges the house's interior with various kinds of furniture to enhance its beauty. Whether or not a stone comes from [J.321] Lacaena, Thessalos, or Carystos, or iron in the floor is from Nilica and Numidia, Phrygian rock is included whose purple hue combines with marble's whiteness. It provides various delights for greedy eyes [M.656] by being an enormous diffusion of color depicted in white. How numerous must be the shapes and forms cut both by water and iron and by mens' hands who spent day and night sawing these objects! None of their efforts has satisfied their craving for creating vain ornaments; furthermore, they use various dyes for tainting the purity of glass in order to enhance its visual appeal. How can anyone claim that the skillful work [J.322] of carving tools can change trees back into trees again which yield branches, foliage and fruit? I will remain silent with regard to the gold included in this ornamentation and the light, thin material used as a coating. Greedy eyes look upon such work along with the vain adornment of ivory above entrances where nails or similar devices serve to fasten gold or silver. Who call tell of the house's floors resplendent with various colored stones which provide pleasure for one's feet? This is unnecessary for living, but greed is still not satisfied despite its search for such useless things. Some buildings are made for public walkways; still others are for strolling around in while others include [J.323] gates. Flamboyant doors and brightly colored gates are useless except for making an impression. Splendid lavers provide abundant water; the gymnasium is lavishly constructed with different kinds of marble; colonnades support the entire house with pillars from Numidia, Thessalika, or Soenita; copper on statues is fashioned into as many forms as greed desires; marble idols and pictures on tablets induce the eyes to commit fornication; art reveals through [J.324] imitation that which is invisible and whatever can then be seen is a cause for admiration and beauty.
How can anyone individually recount all the more endeavors which are preferable and to which man applies himself and are subject to condemnation and reproach? The more material structures abound in their magnificence, the more the soul's ugliness is censured. A person who attends to himself truly adorns his own dwelling so that when God abides there, he has various kinds of material which contribute to this [M.657] building. I know that gold shines in such works when unearthed by insights from scripture and that purified silver represents divine eloquence whose splendor shines forth through the truth. The splendor of the various stones adorning this temple's walls and pavement are the virtues, a true image of the beauty adorning this house. Let self-control lay down the pavement since it does not allow the building's inhabitant to be troubled by the dust of earthly mindedness. Let the hope for heaven adorn the roof. The soul's eye does not gaze upon images fashioned by chisels [J.325]; rather, it will see the archetypal beauty adorned with something of greater value than gold and silver.
If we must describe the masonry, then let incorruptibility and impassibility mold the house which justice and freedom will adorn. Let humility and patience shine in another part of the house along with piety befitting God. Let love [ agape ], the noble craftsman, fashion all these virtues in a marvelous way. If you desire baths in your house for cleansing the stains of your soul, you can use that bath which the great David delighted in each night [Ps 6,7.2]. Let the columns supporting the soul's courtyard not be of Phrygian marble or porphyry but stability in every good which is far more precious. This house forbids statues and pictures which [J.326] are deceptive imitations of truth because it already has an abundance of images of the truth. If you desire a place in which to walk about, you have the commandments. Wisdom says "I walk in the ways of righteousness and am conversant with the paths of judgment" [Prov 8.20]. How lovely it is when such [adornments] arouse the soul to carefully examine the commandments, to be trained in them and make us return to the place from which we started! This occurs when we fulfil the commandments which spur us on both a second and a third time, for the least detail of their piety never wearies us. The person who adorns his own dwelling cares little about earthly affairs. He is unconcerned with metals, does not traverse the sea to India to purchase ivory nor does he hire skilled workmen; rather, one's own house furnishes such material whose wealth consists in the exercise of free will. [NB: the Migne text does not resume until J.328.12] Our human nature yoked to the flesh offers healing provided that it is not deprived of any need. If necessary, we must warm this [J.327] chamber [the body] alone and provide it with shade when the sun burns us. A garment provides covering for the naked body; it does not have to be purple, scarlet, gold thread nor silk from Seres whose garments are woven from gold and purple. Similarly, food relieves hunger and provides pleasure by means of culinary techniques. If we are content with few advantages, our needs are cared for while we glorify God's work, not our own, so we need not make public our vanity as we learn from the words, "I enlarged my work" [2.4], not God's. Compelled by vain desires instead of need, I enlarged the dwelling of my flesh.
We correctly assume that the text [Ecclesiastes] offers further elucidation to what we have just read, that is, mental incoherence and the indignity of drunkenness. "I enlarged my work, built my houses" to which Ecclesiastes adds "I planted [J.328] my vineyards." The words "I enlarged" and what follows commonly mean abundance. The text does not mean the expansion of personal needs by the planting of vines. "I planted my vineyards," that is, I have provided material to burn fuel through the increase of pleasures because my mind sank low just as strong drink covers the mind with earth. "I planted my vines." I have not exercised self-control, Ecclesiastes says, like the drunken Noah [Gen 9.20+] because this lovely plant is both an object of pity and ridicule after it is stripped. [NB: the Migne text resumes here]
The more well-disposed sons of Noah pitied their father's indecency while others laughed and ridiculed him. Vineyards contain an entire list of passions which are [M.660] aggravated by wine, for who does not know that an immoderate use of wine fuels undiscipline? It includes a multitude of pleasures, youthful outrage, unbecoming old age [J.329], disgrace for women, a drug for madness, insanity, obnoxiousness for the soul, death to the mind and alienation from virtue. Drunkenness produces unreasonable laughter and crying, spontaneous tears, hollow boasting, irrational fear, indifference to fear, no reason for arrogance, thoughtless generosity and the promise of unfulfilled work. We may omit further unbecoming behavior such as indecent drowsiness, drunken stupor, unsteady feet and the twisting of one's neck which cannot remain steady. What kind of abomination makes a person commit incest with one's daughter? How was Lot deceived [Gen 19.30-38] to perpetrate a deed of which he was unaware? What new names were mysteriously given to those children? How did the mothers of such a polluted birth become sisters of their own children? How did a son have both a father and grandfather? Did not wine, which makes the mind irrational, cause this tragedy of disobedience? Did not inebriation form the subject of this story [J.330] and its excesses contribute to the invention of fables? The text says that Noah's children made him drunk [Gen 19.33,35]. The story refers this tragedy to life, namely, that drunkenness can rob us of our senses. Oh, how those women carry off wine with evil intent from the Sodomites! What miserable friendship they offer their father from such a wicked cup! How much better it would have been to corrupt that wine along with the Sodomites before the tragedy occurred! With so many examples of evil stemming from wine each day, Ecclesiastes shamelessly admits that he not only used wine but made certain to have it in abundance. "I have planted my vineyards." "I did not lack flourishing vines, that is, a spiritual, fruitful vine entwined with the branches of life and tendrils of love united to my own; they are adorned with graceful habits and nourished with the sweet, mature clusters of virtue instead of leaves" [2819]. [J.331 & M.661] As Proverbs says [12.11], he who plants these vines in his own soul tends the wine which gladdens the heart and works his own land [Sir 40.20]. The law requires from this farmer of wine-producing thoughts that he eliminate spurious roots planted with virtues, irrigate his soul with doctrine and cut away with a critical mind anything superficial or unreasonable. Blessed is this man who, because of his husbandry, presses his cluster in the cup of wisdom!
But the person whose mind is fixed on earth does not know about this and what it includes. He lavishes exquisite beauty upon these gardens and orchards [Eccl 2.5]. What need is there need for so many orchards instead of one? What use to me is a garden's produce whose food is for the sick? If I had been in paradise [ paradeisos ], I would not desire many orchards [ paradeisoi ]. If I lived well and ate solid food, I would not bother with vegetables, food appropriate for those who are sick. But once pleasure unites itself to necessity, desire transgresses its bounds [J.332] by possessing extravagant homes with expensive roofs and open air enclosures whose space provide delight. Cultivated trees are always green and bushy; they take the place of thatching in order that the the enclosure might enhance the home along with every kind of skillfully cultivated herb which clothes the earth's surface. Thus each room in the house strikes one's eyes as pleasant. At all times and in every season one may see delightful things: vegetation in the winter, flowers blossoming before their season, climbing vines entwining themselves to other branches and elegant ivy growing around trees and blending with other growth. The pleasure offered to eye and tongue signify a union obtained from different plants. All these plants to which horticultural skill is applied are not required to support life but are for our undisciplined desires.
Ecclesiastes says that he cultivated [J.333] these plants in gardens and orchards. "I have planted every kind of fruit tree" [2.5], that is, many kinds of trees. The delights of this open enclosure and roofed in space are irrigated to yield fruit which their respective habitats require: on earth that which belongs to it, in the air through trees and in the water whatever belongs to the sea. In order to both delight and deceive one's eyes, [M.664] the pool is constructed for swimming and washing while the overflow is put at the service of making orchards blossom. "I have made pools of water to water timber-bearing wood" [2.6]. If the orchard's fountain were mine, that is, the teaching of virtues which irrigate the soul, I would hold in contempt the transient waters of this world whose pleasures pass away. Therefore, nothing can be better than the divine fountain which irrigate and make the soul's virtues grow. It flows in a narrow channel [J.334] to make a grove of good deeds flourish in our souls through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.