Allegorical Interpretation of Proverbs

A proverb is such as, 'Sweet is war to the inexperienced,' and, 'A woman penetrating hollows bores through rock.' The proverb is said to be such: for in the beginning, when the things now called 'milestones' by the Romans were still insignificant, then called 'signs,' the ancients used to set up places along a certain road, and upon these they wrote certain matters. For they did this for two reasons: to make known to the traveler the distance of the road, and for the one reading the inscription, becoming acquainted with its clarity, to be relieved of his fatigue. For a milestone is called the road.

To know words of prudence is, principally, to make virtue manifest, just as the other interpreters clarify, having handed down them as words not of prudence, but of understanding. Either he says 'words of prudence' regarding those which are sophistical and cunning.

The word rebuking those who are imitating righteousness, and saying they have it as is necessary, says: 'If then you truly speak righteousness, judge uprightly, you sons of men' (Prov 2:9).

I hear the interpretation of Theodotus, which Symmachus also handed down, that they have presented a problem. What then is the obscure saying? That which is poured together according to logos and intellect and phrase; such as that with the prophet Isaiah: 'Woe to the land of ships, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia! He who sends a ship by sea, and letter-books upon the water' (Isa 19:2). For none of these has the word clear either in parables, or a manifest narration of history. And of the enigma, it is to understand the spoken thing, but of the obscure saying, not even the spoken thing. An obscure saying is generally a sound; but a parable is particular; and obscure is not according to a deprivation of light, but the hidden one, as to be darkened for the one who is ignorant. And beautiful sayings are aphorisms; but an enigma is a word with an interpretation.

The signs lift up the truth: such is the meaning of, 'Open, O Lebanon, your gates, and let fire devour your cedars' (Song of Solomon 8:1).

Verse 6. For fear, that is piety according to reverence, is true; and understanding is good. This must be substantiated. For it is not sufficient for blessedness to know the good, unless one also does it; and piety toward God is the beginning of understanding.

Verse 7. God is the Father of the righteous. For everyone who does righteousness is from God. And our Mother is the Church, whose bridegroom is our Lord Jesus Christ. And the laws are the apostolic ordinances.

Even if the preceding words have an upward leading, they are also applied to parents according to nature, when they, being God-fearing, rear the children. And since there is a man, the teacher, who has fathered through the Gospel those being instructed, the Church is spouse to this man and mother of those born, or rather, the ecclesiastical opinion and way of life.

Therefore, says the proverbs-maker, if you, to me, now as a teacher and father, but now as wisdom and virtue instead of a mother you listen to, you shall be crowned with a crown of grace, and your neck shall be adorned with a golden collar, fashioned from intellectual gold and gems. For the head of the inner man, the domain of virtues, is revealed to be the material of a crown, which are called graces. In agreement with the crown, being intellectual, the golden collar placed upon the neck of the soul—that is, its submissive part—must also be included.

Verse 8. And regarding the head and neck, he speaks of the mind; and the golden collar, of knowledge and the intellectual adornment of the soul; or the golden collar, of the submission to God and the domain of the divine sayings.

Verse 9. And being with others indeed leads to sinning, it brings punishments; men indeed are impious, those perfect in wickedness.

Verse 10. Those whom they might persuade to think of earthly things, they hide in the earth; but a righteous man you will perceive to have a heavenly mindset. These things can also be understood in reference to Christ, and in reference to the...