^28:1 Silver has the beginnings of its veins, and there is a place for gold where it is refined.
^28:2 Iron is taken from the earth, and stone, loosened by heat, is turned into bronze.
^28:3 He has set a time for darkness, and he himself considers the end of all things. The stone also of darkness and the shadow of death
^28:4 the torrent divides from the pilgrim people, and those whom the foot of the needy man has forgotten and who are trackless.
^28:5 The earth, from which bread was arising, has been overturned by fire in its place.
^28:6 The place of sapphire is its stones, and its clods are gold.
^28:7 The bird has not known the path, nor has the eye of the vulture looked upon it.
^28:8 The sons of merchants have not trodden it, nor has the lioness passed through it.
^28:9 He has stretched out his hand to the flint; he has overturned mountains from the roots,
^28:10 he has cut channels in the rocks. And his eye has seen every precious thing;
^28:11 he has also searched the depths of rivers and has brought hidden things into the light.

381. Silver has the beginnings of its veins, etc. Above, Job had shown how fragile and perishable is the portion of the impious that they receive from God; but now, on the contrary, he intends to show the dignity of the spiritual good that just men receive from God even in this world, and this spiritual good he comprehends under wisdom. And therefore he intends to prefer wisdom to all bodily things, both with respect to origin and with respect to preciousness. And he begins first to show that all things that seem precious among bodily things have their origin in certain places, and he begins with metals, which are held precious among men. Now it must be considered that metals are generated from moist vapors dissolved from the earth by the power of the sun and the other stars and retained in the earth—whence metals are both ductile and liquefiable—just as, on the contrary, stones and other things of this kind that are not hammered or melted are generated from dry exhalation retained beneath the earth. But the species of metals are diversified according to the greater or lesser purity of the vapor dissolved and according to the difference of the heat digesting it; among these gold seems the purest, and after this silver, and beneath this bronze, but iron the lowest. And according to greater or lesser purity, metals for the most part have different origins: because gold is purest, it is found for the most part generated in its purity among the sands of rivers, because of the abundance of evaporation and the heat of the sand; but silver is found for the most part in certain veins either of earth or even of stones; bronze is found as incorporated into stones; but iron is found, as it were, in drossy earth, not yet having perfect digestion so that it might arrive at the generation of stone.

Therefore, enumerating the different places of metals, he says: Silver has the beginnings of its veins, namely, in certain determined places, from which such vapors are dissolved as are apt for the generation of silver; and thus, when the aforesaid vapors are mingled with earth or stone, silver veins are made there. But with respect to gold he adds: and there is a place for gold where it is refined, because, namely, from many sands certain grains of gold are gathered, which are melted into one; and this indeed does not happen in every place, but in some determined place where the due proportion of active power concurs with matter proportioned to such a species. Then with respect to iron he adds: Iron is taken from the earth, because, namely, it is found in earth that is, as it were, undigested. Then with respect to bronze he says: and stone, with which, namely, vapor proportioned to its nature is mixed, loosened by heat, namely, of a vehement fire, is turned into bronze, while, namely, that which is there of the nature of bronze is extracted by the heat of fire.

382. Then he proceeds concerning other things that have a determined time and place from the divine disposition, whence many of them, which are hidden from men, are subject to divine knowledge. Now the sun and many other things are hidden from us by the darkness of night, but this happens by divine disposition, whence he says: He has set a time for darkness. Certain things are also hidden from us by their corruption, when they are resolved into their principles, which are known to God but hidden from us, whence he adds: and he himself considers the end of all things, that is, the term of the resolution of things. There are also some things hidden from men because of a trackless place, as sometimes there are certain inaccessible mountains in which there are things unseen by men; and with respect to this he adds: The stone also of darkness, that is, some crag of a lofty mountain that is, as it were, always covered by the darkness of clouds, and the shadow of death, that is, some shaded place among the valleys of the mountains to which the life-giving heat of the sun never reaches, the torrent divides from the pilgrim people: for at the roots of certain mountains impassable torrents are accustomed to flow, so that on one side of the torrent there is a way by which pilgrims pass, and access to the other side of the bank does not lie open. But it sometimes happens that in inaccessible places of this kind certain rare men dwell, to whom even the poor, who go about everywhere, do not presume to approach because of the difficulty of access, whence he adds: and the torrent divides from the pilgrim people those men whom, dwelling in inaccessible places, the foot of the needy man has forgotten, so that, namely, it does not approach them, and who are trackless, that is, because no way lies open to them.

383. There are also some places inaccessible not because of their situation but because of certain accidents, for example, because they are overthrown by some alteration, as is read in Genesis 19:24 concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, whence he adds: The earth, from which bread was arising, in its place, that is, as though in its proper and suitable place, has been overturned by fire, namely, the cause of its overturning proceeds from an overabundance of heat. But when heat is overabundant, it follows that both dry and moist exhalations arrive at great digestion, so that from them certain precious things are generated, for example, stones or metals; hence, with respect to precious stones, which are generated from dry exhalation, there is added: The place of sapphire is its stones, namely, of the earth overturned by fire; but with respect to precious metals, which are generated from moist evaporation, he adds: and its clods are gold. But such places, thus overthrown, are avoided not only by men but also by brute animals because of the corruption of the air from the abundance of sulphur; hence, first with respect to birds, concerning which it seems less likely, he says: The path, namely, of that land, the bird has not known, because, namely, it does not dare to fly over it because of the corruption of the air, nor even to approach it, whence he adds: nor has the eye of the vulture looked upon it, although it is accustomed to see from very far away. Or it can be explained otherwise: that land has not known, that is, has not experienced, the path of the bird, because, namely, not even a bird passes through it, nor has the eye of the vulture looked upon it, namely, any vulture in that land. Then with respect to men he says: The sons of merchants have not trodden it, that is, of traders, who nevertheless are accustomed to approach difficult places for the sake of gain. Then with respect to quadrupeds he adds: nor will the lioness pass through it, which, namely, inhabits wild places.

384. But although these things are hidden from men, they are nevertheless not hidden from God, who exercises his power both in mountains and in rivers, whence he adds: To the flint, that is, to stony mountains, he has stretched out his hand, that is, his power.

And he makes this manifest in two effects:

first, by the fact that mountains are sometimes utterly demolished, and this is what he adds: he has overturned mountains from the roots;

but the second is that waters pass through the midst of mountains, as though by divine power a way had been cut for them by God in the rocks, whence he adds: he has cut channels in the rocks, that is, the passageways of streams. And just as his power extends to doing all magnificent things, so his wisdom extends to knowing all precious things, whence he adds: And his eye has seen every precious thing: for if he can overturn mountains, if he can cut through rocks and exercise a similar power over the whole earth, it follows that he sees the precious things that lie hidden there, although the eye of man cannot see them. And not only does his eye see the things that lie hidden in the earth, but he has also searched the depths of rivers, that is, he knows perfectly the things hidden in the depths of rivers, as though he were searching them out; and the sign of this is that he brings hidden things into the light, that is, into manifestation to men.