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Chapter 17ViaRegia.1.17

De non gloriando in divitiis, sed in humilitate

The True Treasure of Humility

The king is exhorted to reject worldly riches and embrace humility, following the example of Christ.

So those riches that are stored up in the heavenly treasury last forever; and those that are held in this fleeting world pass away and perish. Don't boast in perishable riches or put your trust in them; instead, rejoice and glory in good and great virtues. For because the rich must not boast in their riches but in humility, James bears witness, saying: Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, and the rich in his humility.✦ So do not boast in riches, O king, but in humility. Be humble and rooted in humility. Even though you are exalted, great, and supreme, hold on to humility. For so it is written: The greater you are, humble yourself in all things, and you will find grace before the Lord; for great is the power of God alone, and he is honored by the humble.1 So you see, O king, that if you hold on to humility, you will have grace, and you will have glory as well; and beyond that, you will find rest for your soul. For so your Lord—your Redeemer and Teacher, your Creator and Governor—teaches you whom you ought to follow, and shows you what you yourself must learn, saying: Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls.✦2

God's Gaze Upon the Lowly

Scriptural examples and prophetic witness confirm that God favors the humble and exalts those who acknowledge their own smallness.

The Lord himself cries out through the prophet, saying: But to whom will I look, except to the lowly poor one, the one crushed in spirit, and the one who trembles at my words?✦ If you want God to look upon you, lift you up, glorify you, and exalt you, then humble yourself in his sight. As the apostle James says: Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.✦ For along this royal road of humility, David—that strongest of kings, robed in purple and wearing the fillet, both king and priest—ran steadily and cried out: Lord, my heart is not lifted up, nor are my eyes raised high; I have not walked in great things, or in wonders beyond me.✦3 If I did not think humbly, but exalted my soul.✦4 Humility is a great virtue, the marvelous mother and nurse of all the virtues. But this virtue is not taken up by anyone through human will; rather, the Lord mercifully bestows it on whom he wills. That is why it rises most honored among the outstanding virtues: because the divine majesty deigned to take it on. The deeds of the ancient kings bear witness that this is a royal virtue. Humbling proud Saul, the Lord said: When you were little in your own eyes, you became the head of the tribes of Israel; and the Lord anointed you king over Israel.✦

The Royal Path of Exaltation

Through the contrasting fates of Saul and David, the king is urged to remain humble in his own eyes to ensure his exaltation before God.

And you should also understand this: when you thought yourself great in your own eyes, you became small and despised in mine.✦5 For when Michal, Saul's daughter, rebuked David because he had humbled himself, he said: I will play, and I will become even more lowly than I am, and I will be humble in my own eyes.✦ So you see, king, that one of them was cast down from the throne of the kingdom through pride, and the other was raised to the glory of the kingdom through humility. And so in them it was fulfilled: For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.✦ One of them, when he had been lifted up in his own eyes, was justly humbled in the Lord's eyes; the other, when he had humbly held himself of little account in his own eyes, was fittingly exalted in God's eyes.6 So humble yourself, King, in your own eyes, so that you may be exalted in the Lord's eyes; for the humbler you are in your own sight, the more glorious you'll be in the sight of the Most High.

Read the original Latin

Ergo illae divitiae quae in coelesti conduntur thesauro, permanent in aeternum; et istae quae tenentur in saeculo caduco, transeunt et pereunt. Non gloriandum est, sicut nec confidendum in perituris divitiis, sed potius laetandum et gloriandum est in bonis magnisque virtutibus. Nam quia oportet divites non in divitiis gloriari sed in humilitate, Jacobus testatur dicens: Glorietur autem frater humilis in exaltatione sua: dives autem in humilitate sua. Noli ergo in divitiis gloriari, rex, sed in humilitate. Esto humilis, esto in humilitate fundatus; quamvis sis sublimis, magnus et summus, humilitatem tene. Sic enim scriptum est: Quanto magnus es, humilia te in omnibus, et coram Domino invenies gratiam quoniam magna potentia Dei solius, et ab humilibus honoratur. Vides ergo, rex, quia si humilitatem tenueris, habebis gratiam, habebis et gloriam, insuper et animae tuae invenies requiem. Sic enim Dominus tuus redemptor et doctor tuus, creator et guberuator tuus, te quem sequi debeas docet, et quid discere debes tibimet ostendit, dicens: Discite a me quia mitis sum et humilis corde; et invenietis requiem animabus vestris.

Idem ipse Dominus per prophetam clamat et dicit: Ad quem autem respiciam, nisi ad pauperculum, et contritum spiritu, et trementem sermones meos?

Si vis ergo ut ad te respiciat Deus, sublimem faciat, glorificet et exaltet, humilia te in conspectu illius. Sic enim Jacobus apostolus ait: Humiliamini in conspectu Domini, et exaltabit vos. Per hanc enim regiam humilitatis viam purpuratus et infulatus fortissimus rex David et sacerdos firmiter currens clamabat: Domine, non est exaltatum cor meum, neque elati sunt oculi mei; neque ambulavi in magnis, neque in mirabilibus super me. Si non humiliter sentiebam, sed exaltavi animam meam. Magna enim est virtus humilitas, et mirabilis genitrix omnium et educatrix virtutum. Sed non haec virtus humana voluntate a quoquam sumitur, sed misericorditer a Domino cui voluerit largitur: quae ideo inter virtutes eximias maxime honorata consurgit, quia eam majestas divina dignanter assumpsit. Nam quod et haec virtus regia sit, priscorum regum acta testantur. Saulem superbum humilians Dominus ait: Cum esses parvulus in oculis tuis, caput in tribubus Israel factus es; unxitque te Dominus in regem super Israel.

Et est subauditio; Cum tu te magnum existimasti in oculis tuis, parvus et abjectus factus es in oculis meis. Nam David cum Michol filia Saulis, eo quod se humiliasset reprehendit, ait: Ludam, et vilior fiam plusquam factus sum, et ero humilis in oculis meis. Vides ergo, rex, quia unus ex illis de regni solio per superbiam est dejectus, et alius ad regni gloriam per humilitatem est evectus. Unde et in illis impletum est: Quia omnis qui se exaltaverit, humiliabitur: et qui se humiliaverit, exaltabitur. Unus ex illis cum in oculis suis fuisset elevatus, in oculis Domini juste est humiliatus: alius cum in oculis suis humiliter fuisset despectus, in oculis Dei decenter est exaltatus. Humilia te ergo, rex, in oculis tuis, ut exalteris in oculis Domini; quia quantum humilior fueris in conspectu tuo, tantum gloriosior eris in conspectu Altissimi.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Jas.1.9-Jas.1.10 — But let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation. Jas.1.10 — but the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.
  2. ↩Matt.11.29 — Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
  3. ↩Isa.66.2 — And all these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one I will look to: the poor and contrite in spirit, and the one who trembles at my word.
  4. ↩Jas.4.10 — Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
  5. ↩Ps.132.1 — A Song of Ascents. Remember, O LORD, for David all his afflictions
  6. ↩Ps.132.2 — what he swore to the LORD, what he vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob
  7. ↩1Sam.15.17 — And Samuel said, "Are you not, though small in your own eyes, the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD has anointed you as king over Israel."
  8. ↩1Sam.15.17 — And Samuel said, "Are you not, though small in your own eyes, the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD has anointed you as king over Israel."
  9. ↩2Sam.6.22 — I will be even more lightly esteemed than this, and I will be humbled in my own eyes; but with the maidservants of whom you have spoken, with them I will be honored.
  10. ↩Luke.14.11;Matt.23.12 — For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Matt.23.12 — Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Vulgate-style Sirach cadence: 'magna potentia Dei solius, et ab humilibus honoratur' rendered as God's unique power and his being honored by the humble; exact clause boundary is slightly dense.
  2. 2 ↩Source reading 'guberuator' treated as 'gubernator' (governor/ruler); almost certainly a scribal or print variant.
  3. 3 ↩purpuratus et infulatus marks royal purple and the infula (fillet/headband); rendered to keep both royal and priestly dignity without archaism.
  4. 4 ↩Continues the psalm fragment as a conditional self-check; anima rendered 'soul' per lexeme policy.
  5. 5 ↩subauditio: medieval sense of an implied further reading or continuation of the divine rebuke; rendered as 'this is also to be understood' rather than a technical term.
  6. 6 ↩humiliter... despectus: self-despising as a posture of humility, not mere social contempt; rendered 'humbly held himself of little account'.

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