Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram, Vol. 11: Prolegomena (prefaces and canons)
Second, the ethical symbols of the Pythagoreans are notable, which he drew from the Hebrews and Chaldeans: for Solomon also delivered his Ethics by symbols; whence he too entitled it Proverbs and Parables. The more illustrious in this kind of Pythagoras are these. First: “Do not step over the yoke or the balance,” that is, do not transgress the rule of equity and justice. So St. Jerome and Plutarch, though Cyril of Alexandria expounds otherwise. Do not step over the balance, he says: that is, be not avaricious. Second: “Do not keep swallows as familiars,” that is, do not converse with babblers and triflers, cultivate the silent and silence. Third: “When you have set out, do not return, do not look back,” that is, when you have changed your life for the better, do not go back to your desires. Fourth: “Seek by the public road.” Fifth: “Do not add fire to fire, and do not stir fire with a sword,” that is, do not contend with an angry man, especially a rich one, do not whet his bile. So Clement of Alexandria, book 6 Stromata. Sixth: “Do not keep animals with crooked claws,” that is, beware lest you have thieves or rapacious persons at home. Seventh: “Do not wear a narrow ring,” that is, do not live anxiously, do not entangle yourself in servitude or other obligation from which you cannot afterward extricate yourself. So St. Jerome. Eighth: “Abstain from beans,” that is, from casting a vote (for this was done by beans) and from judgments, that is from magistracy; or, as Cicero, book On Divination: “Pythagoras forbade beans to his people, because the bean causes great flatulence (whence it is also said to incite to lust, and therefore this food is contrary to tranquillity of mind) for those seeking.” Ninth: “Do not eat the heart,” that is, do not vex yourself, do not consume yourself with cares. So Cyril. Tenth: “Add salt,” that is, use discretion and prudence everywhere. Eleventh: “Do not break teeth,” that is, do not detract from anyone or curse. Twelfth: “Do not pluck a garland,” that is, do not carp at or provoke princes and magistrates. Thirteenth: “In the ashes of the pot confuse the trace,” that is, after enmity keep no trace of anger, but abolish all memory of it. Fourteenth: “Do not make water facing the sun,” that is, preserve modesty and shame in every place. Fifteenth: “Do not speak facing the sun,” that is, do not shout against manifest truth. Sixteenth: “Do not cut wood on the road,” that is, do not disturb what is common and public. Seventeenth: “Do not roast what is boiled,” that is, do not irritate the gentle; for their anger is slow, but long and implacable. Eighteenth: “Turn aside the sharp sword,” that is, abstain from danger. Nineteenth: “What has fallen, do not pick up,” that is, be not too ardent a lover of your own things. Twentieth: “A wife is not to be taken on account of wealth,” for account is rather to be had of morals and virtue. Twenty-first: “Echo is to be adored when the winds blow,” that is, one must serve occasion and time, and not blow against the winds. Twenty-second: “Do not injure or cut down a tame tree,” that is, do no injury to the cultivated and useful. Twenty-third: “Do not stand upon a bushel,” that is, flee idleness. Twenty-fourth: “Do not defile a seat with oil,” that is, do nothing that disturbs anyone’s rest. Twenty-fifth: “Do not eat the cuttlefish,” that is, do not undertake entangled matters. Twenty-sixth: “Never point the finger at a star,” that is, speak nothing rashly of the highest men. Twenty-seventh: “Do not converse in a reed-bed,” that is, have no familiarity with the lightest of men. Twenty-eighth: “Do not apply a candle to the wall,” that is, do not lend the praises of wisdom to slow and cold men. Twenty-ninth: “Do not write on snow,” that is, entrust nothing to stupid and soft minds. Thirtieth: “The vulture is the most unlucky bird in augury,” that is, noxious men are easily unhappy. Thirty-first: “A man whose eyes are closed dies more easily,” that is, that a man himself through negligence easily falls into misery.
Moreover, the hieroglyphs, parables, proverbs and riddles of the several Prophets I collected and set down in order at the beginning of this work: from which it will be clear that Pythagoras, Plato and the other Philosophers drew from these fountains.
“Let the reader know,” says St. Jerome on Ezechiel 40, “that almost all the Hebrew words and names which are set down in the Greek and Latin translation have been corrupted by great age and depraved by the fault of copyists; and while they are copied from uncorrected exemplars, they become still more uncorrected, so that the Hebrew words have been turned into Sarmatian, indeed into the speech of no nation at all, since they have ceased to be Hebrew and have not begun to be foreign.” So in Ezechiel 40:1 and following, for the Hebrew word that means chambers, the Septuagint reads it corruptly; and in Genesis 41:45, for the Hebrew, or rather Egyptian, tsophnath paneach, that is, Saviour of the world (the name which Pharao gave to Joseph), the Septuagint reads it corruptly. So for the Hebrew name of Eve we say in Latin and Greek Eva; for pesach, pascha; for Jescua or Jehoscua, Jesus; for Maschiach, Messias; for Tsor, Tyre; for Casdim, Chaldea.
That is, a chronological table by the years of the world and of Christ, setting down the several oracles of Isaias and of the other Prophets, in agreement with the one which I prefixed to Genesis as probable. I know that various writers set these things down in various ways, but the few years by which one chronology differs from another being added or taken away, this table will serve for any of them.
The Kings of Juda succeeding one another continuously, under whom the Prophets prophesied. Ozias or Azarias reigned 52 years; Joathan 16; Achaz 16; Ezechias 29; Manasses 55; Amon 2; Josias 31; Joachaz 3 months; Joakim 11 years.
From the end of the 11th year of Joakim, that is, from his death and the transmigration of his son Joachin to Babylon, begin the 70 years of the Babylonian captivity, of which Jeremias speaks, chapter 25, verse 11. Hence from this point Ezechiel begins and marks the years of his prophecy throughout the whole of it.
In the 11th year of Sedecias, in the 18th year of his reign, Nabuchodonosor overthrew the kingdom of Juda and Jerusalem.
After the destruction of Jerusalem Nabuchodonosor reigned 26 years. In all, he reigned 44 years.
He was succeeded by his son Evilmerodach, or Baltasar, who reigned 34 years. When Babylon was taken, Darius and Cyrus killed Baltasar.
And so after Baltasar, Darius reigned in Babylon one year, and after Darius, Cyrus three years.
In the 3rd year of Cyrus the prophecies of Daniel come to an end; he was the last of all the four prophets to prophesy.
In the year of the world 3136, before Christ 814, which was the 1479th year from the flood, the 1187th from the birth of Abraham, the 682nd from the departure of the Hebrews out of Egypt, and the 814th before the birth of Christ, Ozias, or Azarias, king of Juda, began to reign, and reigned for 52 years. Under him prophesied Osee, Joel, Amos and Isaias, who, if we believe Eusebius, began to prophesy precisely in the 17th year of Ozias, which was the 797th year before Christ. Again, under Ozias the Olympiads began. For the 40th year of Ozias, which was 774 before Christ, was the 4th year of the first Olympiad.
In the year of the world 3187, before Christ 763, which was the 52nd and last year of Ozias, Isaias, chapter 6, saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated, and two Seraphim crying: “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts”; by whom, purged by a burning coal borne by a Seraphim, he is sent to prophesy, and to foretell the unbelief and desolation of the Jews that would come in the time of Christ, and the calling, faith and multiplication of the Gentiles.
In the year of the world 3198, before Christ 751, which was the 4th year of Joatham son of Ozias, Rome was founded by Romulus, who began to reign in it and reigned 39 years.
In the year of the world 3207, before Christ 743, which was the year of Achaz son of Joatham, Dejoces reigning among the Medes, Isaias foretold the birth of Christ from a Virgin, saying in chapter 7: “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.” And he adds that the kingdom of Israel, as also that of Syria, would shortly be destroyed, which also came to pass: for in the same year Phacee, king of Israel, when he had reigned 20 years, was slain by the captain of his horsemen, namely by Osee, who succeeded him in the kingdom. Again, Teglath Phalasar, king of the Assyrians, in the same year laid waste the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Syria, and slew its king Rasin, who with Phacee had conspired against Achaz and the Jews.