Quando tacendum et quando loquendum
The Order of Silence Before Speech
The chapter opens by establishing that discernment in speech requires knowing when to speak and when to remain silent, grounding the priority of silence in the wisdom of Solomon and the discipline of not interrupting others.
The fourth distinction in speaking is knowing when something ought to be said. There is a time when nothing should be said, and there is a time when something should be said, but there is no time when everything should be said. There is a time when nothing should be said, because it is a time for silence; and there is a time when something should, because it is a time for speaking; but there is never a time when everything should, because, as Solomon himself says: A golden ornament on a silver couch is one who speaks a word at its proper time.✦ Every word, then, has its own time when it ought to be spoken, and a time when it ought to be kept silent. When it is better to speak, we shall show more clearly if we first demonstrate when it is better to stay silent. The time for silence ought to come before the time for speaking, because it is through silence that we first learn, in the season of quiet, what ought afterwards to be spoken in the season of speech. That is why Solomon does not say 'a time for speaking and a time for silence,' but 'a time for silence and a time for speaking' — because, as was said before, in silence the pattern of speech is first shaped, which is then held in the voice when the time for speaking comes.✦ Sometimes we ought to stay silent because someone else has begun speaking first, so that we do not cut off their discourse with our own words and thereby offend both the speaker and those who are listening.
When to Hold One's Tongue
Several occasions that call for silence are enumerated—the weakness of listeners, the danger of excessive talk, the unworthiness of the audience—each confirmed by scriptural testimony from Job, the Gospels, and Proverbs.
Sometimes we should keep silent because we realize that the minds of our listeners are not yet ready to receive what we want to say. Sometimes we should keep silent to avoid excessive talk, or again because we who are about to speak have not yet found within ourselves a fitting manner of speaking — for the minds of listeners are more easily offended if the speech that ought to build up is delivered in a confused and disorderly way. Sometimes we should keep silent because those who are present are by no means the sort of people to whom we ought to address our words. This can happen in two ways: either out of respect for the dignity of the person, or because their malice is judged incorrigible and therefore unworthy of correction. Each of these points we can prove from examples in Scripture, since we find that each one is confirmed not by a single testimony but by many testimonies of Scripture. That we should not interrupt the speech of those who began speaking before us, but should always reverently bear with and wait for others who are speaking — especially those who speak what is useful and right — for the sake of maintaining discipline, holy Job shows us. When he was speaking about his own conduct and about the respect others showed him, he said among other things: Those who listened to me waited for my opinion, and they held their peace attentively for my counsel. They dared add nothing to my words, and my speech dropped upon them.✦1 Likewise, that we should often keep silent because of the weakness of our listeners, the Lord teaches by his own example. When he saw that the apostles were still feeble and unequal to the training of higher doctrine, he said: I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now.✦2 Likewise, that we should sometimes keep silent to avoid the rashness of speaking, Solomon shows in Proverbs, saying: In much talk sin will not be lacking, but the one who holds back his lips is most prudent.✦3 Likewise: The lips of the righteous weigh what is pleasing, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perversity.✦4
Scriptural Counsel for the Silent Heart
The author draws on Sirach and Proverbs to teach that one must listen before answering, show reverence for elders, and refrain from speaking to those whose malice makes them incorrigible.
Likewise, anyone who answers before he listens shows himself to be a fool, utterly worthy of shame. Also, in the book of Sirach: Do not rush headlong into every wind, and do not go down every path — for that is how a person of double tongue is shown to be a sinner.5 Be gentle in hearing the word of God, so that you may understand it, and with all wisdom bring forth a true answer. If you have understanding, answer your neighbor; but if you do not, let your hand be over your mouth, lest you be caught in an undisciplined word.6 Likewise, that one must often be silent out of reverence for a person is shown in the same book, where it says: Before you question anyone, do not speak ill of them; and when you have questioned, rebuke justly.7 Before you have heard, do not offer a reply; and in the midst of your elders, do not push yourself forward to speak.8 Likewise, that one must often be silent because of the malice of one's hearers is taught by Solomon, who says: Do not speak in the ears of fools, for they will despise the teaching of your words.✦9 Likewise, do not argue with the worst people, and do not imitate the wicked.
The Balanced Discipline of Speech
The chapter concludes by warning against the folly of arguing with fools, urging the wise to discern the precise time for speech so that they neither neglect to speak when they ought nor indulge in unchecked loquaciousness, and transitioning to the next topic.
Likewise. If a wise person contends with a fool, whether they grow angry or laugh, they will find no rest.✦ Whoever has wished to beware of these hindrances to speaking will easily, perhaps and without difficulty, recognize when one ought to speak — if, however, they pay attention to this: because there is one time when speech is granted to the person who wishes to speak, and there is another time when it is reckoned as a fault to the person who has refused to speak. But the wise person is equally on guard, lest at the time when they ought to speak, they fall silent through negligence, or lest at every time when speaking is permitted, they fall into loquaciousness through unchecked license. Rightly, therefore, the time for speaking is distinguished: if a person neither keeps silent when they ought to speak, nor always speaks when it is permitted. It remains now that, after we have shown what, or to whom, and where, and when one ought to speak, we also show how one ought to speak.
Read the original Latin
Quarta loquendi discretio est quando quid dicendum sit attendere. Est tempus quando nihil, et est tempus quando aliquid dicendum est, nullum vero tempus est quando dicenda sunt omnia. Tempus est quando nihil dicendum est, quia tempus tacendi; et tempus quando aliquid, quia tempus loquendi, tempus vero quando omnia, nunquam, quia sicut idem Salomon ait: Mala aurea in lectis argenteis, qui loquitur verbum in tempore suo . Habet igitur omne verbum tempus suum quando proferri debeat, tempus quando taceri. Quando autem loquendum sit, melius ostendemus, si prius quando tacendum sit demonstremus. Tempus enim tacendi tempus loquendi debet praecedere, quia prius per silentium tempore tacendi discitur, quod postea per verbum tempore loquendi proferatur. Propterea non ait Salomon: Tempus loquendi et tempus tacendi, sed tempus tacendi et tempus loquendi , quia prius, sicut dictum est, in silentio forma loquendi sumitur, quae postmodum tempore loquendi in voce teneatur. Aliquando tacere debemus propterea quod alter prior loqui coepit, ne forte si sermonem ejus verborum nostrorum prolatione interrumpimus, et eum qui loquitur, et eos qui audiunt pariter offendamus.
Aliquando tacendum est propterea, quia ad id quod dicere volumus, animos auditorum paratos adhuc non esse consideramus. Aliquando tacendum est propter multiloquium vitandum, vel etiam propterea quod ipsi qui locuturi sumus, nondum apud nosmetipsos congruam loquendi formam invenimus, quia profecto animus auditorum magis offenditur, si sermo qui aedificare debet, confusus et inordinatus proferatur. Aliquando tacendum est propterea quod ii, qui praesentes habentur, nequaquam tales sunt, ad quos verbum debeamus facere, quod duobus modis fieri potest, scilicet dum vel reverentia dignitati personae impenditur, vel malitia incorrigibilis atque ideo indigna admonitione existimatur. Singula haec exemplis Scripturarum probare possumus, quia non uno sed multis singula quaeque confirmari Scripturarum testimoniis invenimus. Quod sermonem eorum qui priores nobis loqui coeperant, non debeamus interrumpere, sed semper loquentes alios et praecipue eos qui utilia et recta loquuntur, propter custodiam disciplinae reverenter sustinere atque exspectare, sanctus Job nobis ostendit, qui cum de sua disciplina et de aliorum erga se reverentia loqueretur, inter caetera sic ait: Qui me audiebant, exspectabant sententiam meam; et intenti tacebant ad consilium meum, verbis meis addere nihil audebant, et super illos stillabat eloquium meum . Item saepe propter infirmitatem auditorum tacendum esse, Dominus suo exemplo docet; qui, cum apostolos adhuc imbecilles et ad sublimioris doctrinae eruditionem impares aspiceret, ait: Adhuc multa habeo vobis dicere, sed non potestis portare modo . Item aliquando tacendum esse propter praecipitationem loquendi vitandam, Salomon in Proverbiis ostendit, dicens: In multiloquio peccatum non deerit, qui autem moderatur labia sua prudentissimus est . Item: Labia justi considerant placita, et os impiorum perversa .
Item: Qui prius respondet quam audiat, stultum se esse demonstrat et confusione dignissimum . Item in libro Ecclesiastico: Ne ventites te in omnem ventum, et non eas in omni via, sic enim peccator probatur in duplici lingua. Esto mansuetus ad audiendum verbum Dei ut intelligas, et cum omni sapientia proferas responsum verum. Si est tibi intellectus, responde proximo; sin autem, sit manus tua super os tuum, ne capiaris in verbo indisciplinato . Item saepe propter reverentiam personae tacendum esse, in eodem demonstratur cum dicitur: Priusquam interroges ne vituperes quemquam, et cum interrogaveris corripe juste. Priusquam audias ne respondeas verbum, et in medio seniorum ne adjicias loqui . Item saepe, propter malitiam auditorum tacendum esse, Salomon docet, dicens: In auribus insipientium ne loquaris, quia despicient doctrinam eloquii tui . Item: Ne contendas cum pessimis, et ne aemuleris impios .
Item. Vir sapiens si cum stulto contenderit, sive irascatur sive rideat, non inveniet requiem . Quisquis haec impedimenta loquendi cavere voluerit, facile fortassis et sine difficultate quando sit loquendum agnoscet, si tamen hoc attendit, quia aliud tempus est quando ei qui voluerit loqui conceditur, aliud est tempus quando ei qui noluerit loqui pro culpa reputatur. Sapiens autem aeque cavet, vel ne eo tempore quando loqui debet, per negligentiam sileat, vel ne omni tempore quando loqui licet, per licentiam concessam in multiloquium cadat. Recte ergo tempus loquendi discernitur, si homo nec unquam quando loqui debet, sileat, nec semper quando licet, loquatur. Restat nunc ut, postquam ostendimus quid vel cui et ubi et quando loquendum sit, etiam qualiter loquendum sit, demonstremus.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Eccl.10.1;Prov.25.11 — Dead flies make the perfumer's oil stink and ferment; so a little folly can outweigh wisdom and honor. Prov.25.11 — A word spoken at just the right time is like golden apples in silver settings.
- ↩Eccl.3.7 — a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak
- ↩Job.29.9-Job.29.10 — Princes refrained from speaking, and laid their hand on their mouth. Job.29.10 — The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongues clung to the roof of their mouths.
- ↩John.16.12 — I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
- ↩Prov.10.19 — When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is wise.
- ↩Prov.10.32 — The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, perversity.
- ↩Prov.9.8 — Do not rebuke a scorner, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
- ↩Prov.29.9 — A wise man judges a fool, and he rages and laughs, and there is no rest.
Notes
- 1 ↩The quoted passage echoes Job 29:9–10, 22 (Vulgate). Final resolution of quotation boundaries and verse attribution belongs to the Moses stage.
- 2 ↩The quoted words 'Adhuc multa habeo vobis dicere, sed non potestis portare modo' correspond to John 16:12 (Vulgate). Final quotation resolution belongs to the Moses stage.
- 3 ↩The quoted words 'In multiloquio peccatum non deerit, qui autem moderatur labia sua prudentissimus est' correspond to Proverbs 10:19 (Vulgate). Final quotation resolution belongs to the Moses stage.
- 4 ↩The quoted words 'Labia justi considerant placita, et os impiorum perversa' correspond to Proverbs 10:32 (Vulgate) or a close variant. Final quotation resolution belongs to the Moses stage.
- 5 ↩Quotation from Sirach/Ecclesiasticus; deuterocanonical, absent from Moses. Preserved without quote marks per deuterocanonical policy.
- 6 ↩The Latin closely echoes Sirach 5:12–13 (Vulgate). Deuterocanonical; preserved without quotation marks per policy.
- 7 ↩Quotation from Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 11:8 (Vulgate). Deuterocanonical; preserved without quotation marks per policy.
- 8 ↩Echoes Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 32:7–9 (Vulgate). Deuterocanonical; preserved without quotation marks per policy.
- 9 ↩Quotation from Proverbs 9:8 (Vulgate numbering) or a close parallel. Treated as candidate scripture allusion pending Moses resolution.
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