^5:2 Anger kills the foolish man, and envy slays the little one.
^5:3 I have seen the fool with a firm root, and immediately I cursed his beauty.
^5:4 His children will be far from salvation and will be crushed at the gate, and there will be no one to rescue them.
^5:5 The hungry will eat his harvest, and the armed man will seize him, and the thirsty will drink his riches.
^5:6 Nothing happens on earth without cause, and sorrow will not arise from the ground.
^5:7 Man is born to labor, and the bird to fly.

93. Anger kills the foolish man, etc. Because in the revelation which Eliphaz recalled as having been made to him, among other things this was contained, that men who have an earthly foundation are consumed as by a moth, he wishes to show this through the diverse conditions of men: for there is no condition of men to which there is not present a proneness to some sin. Now there are two conditions of men: for some are great and of exalted mind, and these are easily provoked to anger, because anger is the appetite for vengeance arising from a preceding offense; but the more someone is of an exalted mind, the more he thinks himself offended by a slighter cause, and therefore he is more easily provoked to anger. And this is what he says: Anger kills the foolish man. But he calls one who is of a proud and exalted mind foolish, because through pride man especially exceeds the limits of reason, and humility prepares the way of wisdom,

according to that saying of Proverbs 11:2: Where there is humility, there is wisdom; at the same time, foolishness also befits anger: for the angry man, as the Philosopher teaches, indeed uses reason when he intends vengeance for an offense, but perversely, when in vengeance he does not preserve the measure of reason; and perversity of reason is foolishness. But some are fainthearted, and these are prone to envy; hence he adds: and envy slays the little one. And this is said reasonably: for envy is nothing other than sadness over someone’s prosperity, insofar as that prosperity is judged to impede one’s own prosperity; but it pertains to littleness of soul that someone does not think he can prosper among others who prosper. Thus, therefore, it seems manifest that man, of whatever condition he may be, is prone to some sin; for similar things could easily be brought forward concerning other sins.

94. Thus, therefore, through all the things said above, Eliphaz intends to prove that adversities in this world do not come upon anyone except for sin.

Against this there seem to be two objections,

one of which arises from the fact that many just persons seem to be subject to adversities; but he seemed to resolve this objection by showing that men are prone to sinning.

The second objection is that some wicked persons prosper in this world. He consequently intends to answer this by showing that their prosperity redounds to their own evil; hence he says: I have seen the fool, that is, a man proud in riches, with a firm root, that is, firmly established in the prosperity of this world, as it seemed, but I did not approve his prosperity; rather, I immediately cursed his beauty. Here it must be considered that he speaks of a man under the metaphor of a tree, which, when its root has been firm, has beauty in its branches and fruits. Therefore he compares the prosperity of a man firmly established in riches to the beauty of a tree, which he curses, that is, pronounces to be evil and harmful, according to that saying of Ecclesiastes 5:12: There is also another very grievous infirmity that I have seen under the sun: riches preserved to the harm of their owner. But he added immediately to show that he in no way doubts this judgment.

95. Now he shows what evils come from the prosperity of the fool, first with respect to his children. For it frequently happens that when someone rich and powerful raises his children without discipline, which is proper to a fool, his children fall into many dangers: and sometimes, because of the hatreds they stir up against themselves, they are destroyed without trial, or even, when they do not guard themselves, they lose their life by making disorderly use of pleasures; and with respect to this he says: His children will be far from salvation. Sometimes, however, when they bring calumnies and injuries upon others, they are summoned before judges and condemned there; and with respect to this he says: and they will be crushed at the gate, that is, by the sentence of judges, for judges of old were accustomed to sit in the gates. And because foolish men in prosperity hesitate to offend no one, in adversities they find no helper, and therefore he adds: and there will be no one to rescue them.

96. But because someone could say, I do not care whatever happens to my children, so long as I enjoy prosperity in this world, therefore, second, he sets down the evils that come upon the fool himself, both in his possessions and in his person, saying: The hungry will eat his harvest. For frequently foolish men abounding in riches oppress the poor, who, often unable to sustain such burdens, are compelled by a certain necessity to seize the goods of the rich. And because men of this sort, living delicately, are accustomed through the delights of life to lose vigor of soul and to be unwarlike, they are easily destroyed by warlike poor men; hence there follows: and the armed man will seize him, as though without any resistance. And so that what he had said about harvests may be understood generally, he adds: and the thirsty will drink his riches, that is, covetous men.

97. Therefore, having removed the aforesaid objections, he finally introduces a reason to prove his principal intention, namely, that adversities in this world do not come upon anyone except for sin; and the reason is this: whatever things happen on earth proceed from proper and determinate causes. Therefore, if adversities happen to someone in this world, this has a determinate cause, which seems to be nothing other than sin. This, then, is what he says: Nothing happens on earth without cause; for we see all effects proceed from determinate causes. From this, as though concluding, he adds: and sorrow will not arise from the ground. This is a metaphorical expression: for certain herbs are produced without seed, of which it is said that the ground brings them forth of itself. Therefore whatever happened without its proper cause, as though without seed, could by a certain metaphorical likeness be said to arise from the ground;

but sorrow, that is, adversity, will not arise from the ground, that is, it is not without cause. But what he had said, Nothing happens on earth without cause, is made especially manifest from the fact that all things have a natural disposition suited to their proper operation, from which it appears that the natural dispositions of things are not without cause but for a determinate end; and therefore he says: Man is born to labor, and the bird to fly. For it is manifest that, because the proper motion that the nature of a bird required is flight, the bird had to have from its nature instruments suited for flying, namely, wings and feathers. But man, because he had reason, by which through his own labor he could procure for himself all necessary helps, was naturally produced without all the helps that nature gave to other animals, namely, without covering, without weapons, and without other things of this kind, which he could prepare for himself by his own labor through the ingenuity of reason.