Commentaria in Tobiam
The same teaches St. Augustine, On the Order of Life, book 2, chapter 8, and Christian Doctrine book 3, chapter 14; nay the Emperor Alexander, though a Gentile, as Lampridius testifies, “often cried what he had heard from some, whether Jews or Christians, and held, and when he corrected anyone he ordered it to be proclaimed by a herald: What thou wouldst not have done to thee, do not to another;” nay Christ himself established this rule of virtue, Matthew 7:12: “All things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them.” The Greek here adds: Drink not wine to drunkenness, and let not drunkenness go with thee in thy way, because it will make thee stumble and fall into pits and precipices, and thence into hell. The Hebrew: Guard thyself from drunkenness; and let no vanity ever smile on thee.
18. “LAY OUT THY BREAD AND THY WINE UPON THE BURIAL OF A JUST MAN.”—In Hebrew and Greek: Pour out thy bread and thy wine upon the tombs of the just. Munster takes “tombs” for mouths, as if to say: Take thy wine, and put bread in the mouth of the just, that they die not of hunger; but everyone sees that this is inept, foreign and twisted. Note therefore that it was formerly the custom among Christians (at Rome especially and in Africa) for the faithful to carry feasts to the tombs and memorials of the martyrs, which, sanctified as it were by the martyrs’ touch, they and their friends first tasted, and then distributed to the poor, who were called together in the Church to the agape on the birthdays of the martyrs, and this in honour of the martyrs; and that St. Monica his mother was accustomed to do this St. Augustine relates, Confessions book 6, chapter 2.
Note secondly that they did the same at the burial of their dead, whose salvation or glory was doubtful, namely arranged alms, or a banquet, or this agape, in cemeteries or churches; both to console the mourners, and that by this alms and the prayers of the poor they might expiate the soul of the departed, if it were detained by the pains of purgatory. But because this funeral rite recalled the customs of the Gentiles, who in this way made offerings to their manes (so they called the souls of the departed, and their genii, or presiding gods), as though the souls of the dead fed on those feasts, as is clear from Virgil, Aeneid 6, Pliny, book 8, chapter 12, Macrobius, Cicero and others, which are therefore called by Festus feralia and inferiae, by the poets Hecate’s supper, by Livy visceratio, by Plautus pollinctura, by Nonius silicernia; which the Japanese and Peruvians still use, as is clear from the Indian epistles. Likewise on account of the abuses of feastings and drinkings St. Ambrose at Milan abolished this rite of banqueting in churches, and the African Church followed his example, as St. Augustine afterwards taught, and alms for the dead began to be distributed at home, as is still done, although in some places, as in Spain, loaves are still offered at the burial, which go to the priests, that they may pray for the soul of the departed, says Sanchez. All this is clear from St. Augustine, Confessions book 6, chapter 2, and epistle 64, and St. Paulinus, on Matthew. Tobias therefore here signifies that the same was customary among the Jews, and perhaps the Christians borrowed this rite from them, as they did many others. The sense, then, is: Distribute thy bread and wine to the faithful poor, that they may pray for the deceased already buried. Hence he adds: “AND DO NOT EAT AND DRINK THEREOF WITH THE WICKED,”—namely with unbelievers and perverse men, both because their prayers avail little with God for freeing the soul of the departed from its pains, and lest thou learn from them to drink and act impiously. For, as Epictetus says, “he who consorts with the defiled becomes defiled.”
But join thyself to the good, and from these thou shalt learn many good things. Living with the wicked, thou too shalt be wicked.
“He that toucheth pitch,” says our Siracides, chapter 13, “and he that communicateth with the proud, shall put on pride.” A little before he had said, chapter 12, verse 13: “Who will pity an enchanter struck by a serpent, or any that come near wild beasts? So also he that keepeth company with a wicked man, and is wrapped up in his sins.” Moreover St. Gregory, Pastoral Care part 3, chapter 25, explains thus: “He gives his bread and wine to sinners who bestows aid on the wicked because they are wicked. Whence some rich men of this world, while Christ’s poor are tormented with hunger, nourish players with lavish gifts.”
Hence therefore it is clear that there is Purgatory, and that the alms and suffrages of the pious profit the souls detained in it. See Bellarmine, book 1 On Purgatory, chapter 3. More on this matter I have said on Ecclesiasticus 30:18, on that: “Messes of meat set about a grave.”
19. “SEEK COUNSEL ALWAYS OF A WISE MAN,”—both because even the wise are blind in their own affairs: for affection blinds reason. Whence Proverbs 3:5 it is said: “Lean not upon thy own prudence,” and because the wise give counsels from wisdom, and from the wise thou shalt learn wisdom; whence the Greek here has: Seek counsel of every prudent man, and despise no useful counsel. The Hebrew: “Hear and take from anyone who gives thee good counsel.” The same Hesiod advises, whose verses Aristotle cites and praises, Ethics book 1, chapter 4:
He again is good who obeys one advising rightly. But he who knows nothing of himself, nor lends his ears to anyone, to gain good things, that man is foolish and useless.
“Son,” says Ecclesiasticus, chapter 32, verse 24, “do thou nothing without counsel, and thou shalt not repent when thou hast done.” And Solomon, chapter 19, verse 20: “Hearken to counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.”
20. “BLESS GOD AT ALL TIMES: AND DESIRE OF HIM TO DIRECT THY WAYS,”—saying with the Psalmist, Psalm 118: “O that my ways may be directed” (O Lord); and Psalm 24: “Shew, O Lord, thy ways to me, and teach me thy paths.” The Hebrews have more fully in this place: At all times ask of the Lord that he himself direct thy steps and thy counsel: for no counsel is in the hand of man, but in the hands of God, who is blessed: for whatever he will he shall do, and the just he shall humble. But the Greek: Bless the Lord God at all times, and ask of him that thy ways be made straight, and all thy paths and thy counsels prosper. For no nation has counsel: but the Lord himself gives all good things, and humbles whom he will, as he will.
Nay Isocrates to Demonicus: “Good deliberation,” he says, “is from men, its prosperity (prosperous execution, prosperous effect) from the gods.”
23. “FEAR NOT, MY SON: WE LEAD INDEED A POOR LIFE (in Greek we beg, or are beggars), BUT WE SHALL HAVE MANY GOOD THINGS, IF WE FEAR GOD.”—“We shall have,” not only in the future life, but also in the present, and especially the honour and merit of virtue and piety. Cicero saw this as through a shadow, who in Tusculan Disputations book 5, says: “Who can doubt that riches are placed in virtue, since no possession, no abundance of gold and silver is to be reckoned of more value than virtue? For if shrewd valuers of things reckon certain meadows and farms of great value, because that kind of possession can hardly be harmed: how much is virtue to be valued, which can neither be taken away nor stolen, is not lost by shipwreck nor fire, nor changed by change of times or storms? They who are endowed with it are alone rich; for they alone possess things both fruitful and everlasting.”
The Hebrew has: Act manfully, and be strong, for the Lord will be with thee to help thee and make thee prosper, if thou seek him with all thy heart and all thy soul. And afterwards: If thou fear the Lord, and keep thyself from all sin, he will give thee great riches. “I say to you,” says St. Augustine, sermon 7 On the Season, “poor ones, who beg, who live on the alms of Christians: Be comforted, be comforted, your tribulation shall be turned into joy, and your sorrow into gladness. Let it not be ungrateful to you that you beg, nor say anything in your heart against God on that account: for he is just and holy in all his works. And he made you poor that by enduring brief want you might gain eternal life. And he made the rich man rich that by giving of his superfluity he might gain a remedy for his sins. And therefore be patient and wait for the Lord.” The Angel Raphael offers himself to Tobias as guide to Rages, and promises the father that he will lead him there and bring him back safe.