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1 For the ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright, Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of a man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave. 2 For we are born at all adventure: and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been: for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart: 3 Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air, 4 And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, that is driven away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof. 5 For our time is a very shadow that passeth away; and after our end there is no returning: for it is fast sealed, so that no man cometh again. 6 Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth. 7 Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us: 8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered: 9 Let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness: let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place: for this is our portion, and our lot is this. 10 Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged. 11 Let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth. 12 Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous; because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraideth us with our offending the law, and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our education. 13 He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the child of the Lord. 14 He was made to reprove our thoughts. 15 He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion. 16 We are esteemed of him as counterfeits: he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness: he pronounceth the end of the just to be blessed, and maketh his boast that God is his father. 17 Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him. 18 For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies. 19 Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience. 20 Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected. 21 Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own wickedness hath blinded them. 22 As for the mysteries of God, they kn ew them not: neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness, nor discerned a reward for blameless souls. 23 For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. 24 Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.
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[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Wisdom 2:1
“They are corrupt, they do abominable things, no one does what is right.” Listen to these corrupt people. They in fact “have spoken among themselves, reasoning unsoundly.” Corruption begins with bad faith. From there it passes to depraved habits, later leading to the most violent injustice. This is, in general, the ladder one climbs. What, then, did they say among themselves, thinking badly, “our life is short and sorrowful”? From this mistaken conviction proceeds what the apostle also spoke of: “Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we die.” But in the book of Wisdom this wantonness is described more thoroughly: “Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither. Let us leave signs of our enjoyment.” And after this more thorough description of wantonness, what do we read? “Let us kill the poor, just person,” which is as much as to say, “God does not exist.”

Source: EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 52:3
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Wisdom 2:1
When you say to yourself, “The happiness of this world is false,” though you dare not express it, I nevertheless see in your heart that perhaps you wrinkle up your nose, mockingly, and say to yourself, “Maybe it will go well for me here! What comes after, I don’t know.” And it is not a small thing that you at least say that you do not know, so as to not perhaps also say, “Our life is short and sorrowful, and there is no remedy when a person dies. No one has been known to return from Hades.” At least you say, “I don’t know.” Recognizing one’s ignorance is a step toward knowledge. I speak to you, therefore, as if you were to say to me, “I don’t know what there could be after death. I simply don’t know whether the righteous will be blessed and sinners unhappy, or if both will cease to exist.” Even not knowing, you would nevertheless not have the audacity to say that after death sinners will be blessed and the righteous unhappy. You cannot say, even if you suppose that both will no longer exist, that after death the godless will enjoy a better state and the righteous will suffer. Not even your ignorance can lead you to speak like that. Say, therefore, “I don’t know if after death it will go well for the righteous and badly for the godless, or if both the one and the other will exist insensibly.”

Source: SERMON 301:4.3
[AD 533] Fulgentius of Ruspe on Wisdom 2:1
Our thought, which originates and is formed in the memory, is rightly called an interior word. Indeed, what is thought, if not an interior discourse? Thus it is written, “What you speak in your hearts on your bed, reflect on and be silent.” In fact, in the Gospel, when the Lord said to the paralytic he had healed, “Your sins are forgiven you,” Luke the Evangelist adds, “The scribes and the Pharisees began to ask themselves, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, responded, ‘What are you thinking in your hearts?’ ” Whereas Luke said, “the scribes and the Pharisees began to ask themselves,” Matthew says, “Then some scribes began to think, ‘This man blasphemes!’ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil things in your hearts?’ ” The book of Wisdom also says of some, “They spoke among themselves, reasoning unsoundly.” It is therefore clear that to think is the same as to speak within oneself. Thus, thought is invisible. That is, thoughts are said without the sound of the voice of the body, but they reach another’s hearing only through bodily speech.

Source: BOOK TO VICTOR AGAINST THE SERMON OF FASTIDIOSUS THE ARIAN 15
[AD 9999] Pseudo-Augustine on Wisdom 2:2
In Wisdom it says, "He who created the world from formless matter," and the opposite, "We were made from nothing." The sense of Scripture affirms that God created the elements all at once, and they were all mixed together, with darkness mixed in with them. And God called this confusion of elements (that is, air, fire, water, land, darkness) formless matter, as it says in Genesis, "The earth was a formless waste." He created the universe from this confusion, establishing the firmament, so that, once the waters were gathered in it, in a single place, the dwelling of the human race would be created. After having distinguished and separated the elements, he made an inhabitable dwelling in the cavity that remained. - "Questions from the Old Testament 2.20"
[AD 9999] Pseudo-Augustine on Wisdom 2:2
In Wisdom it says, “He who created the world from formless matter,” and the opposite, “We were made from nothing.” The sense of Scripture affirms that God created the elements all at once, and they were all mixed together, with darkness mixed in with them. And God called this confusion of elements (that is, air, fire, water, land, darkness) formless matter, as it says in Genesis, “The earth was a formless waste.” He created the universe from this confusion, establishing the firmament, so that, once the waters were gathered in it, in a single place, the dwelling of the human race would be created. After having distinguished and separated the elements, he made an inhabitable dwelling in the cavity that remained.

Source: QUESTIONS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT 2:20
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Wisdom 2:6
All these things will be left behind. No one will take anything with him, except what he has received through the pleasure of the body. Therefore I have arrived at this conclusion, and there is none truer except the one that says that the good is what is gentle and cheerful. Therefore you must give credit to philosophy, or rather to the Wisdom of Solomon.

Source: CAIN AND ABEL 1:4.14
[AD 9999] Pseudo-Augustine on Wisdom 2:6
These are the words of people who despair of eternal life and, hoping in the ephemeral corruption of the flesh, it is as if they put their hopes in the sand in a stream.

Source: SERMON 392:4
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Wisdom 2:8
May it therefore never happen that we say to you, Live as you like! Don’t worry! God will never condemn anyone—it is enough that you keep the Christian faith. He redeemed you, he shed his blood for you—he will not damn you. If the desire to go and enjoy a show comes over you, do that too! After all, what is so bad about that? And these festivals that they celebrate in the whole city, with people rejoicing and feasting and (so they think) amusing themselves—while they are actually ruining themselves—at public tables … you go too, celebrate, do not worry! God’s mercy is so boundless, he will let everything slide! “Crown yourselves with rosebuds before they wither!” And in the house of your God, feast there too, whenever you want! Stuff yourselves with food and drink along with your friends. Indeed, these creatures were given that you might enjoy them. Can God have given these things to the godless and the pagans, and not to you? If we were to make speeches like this to you, perhaps more people would join us. And if some perhaps noticed that we were saying things that were not entirely correct, we would alienate those few, but we would gain the favor of the great majority. If we were to act in this way, however, we would be proclaiming to you not the words of God and of Christ but our own words. We would be shepherds who pasture themselves, and not the sheep.

Source: SERMON 46:3.8
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Wisdom 2:12
The Lord reproaches the Jews, “I made myself poor for you, I suffered for you, and you have raised impious hands, saying, ‘Let us rid ourselves of the righteous one, because he is useless to us.’ ”

Source: EXPOSITIONS ON THE PSALMS 35:3
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Wisdom 2:12
Though they had arrested the all-powerful Lord, they bound him nonetheless, the very one who came to free us from the snares of the devil and to loose the bonds of sin. They led him to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, about whom it can be argued that, in a certain way, he was the designer and instigator of the crime against Christ. It is likely that it was from him that the traitor, who had been paid off with money, requested the cohort to arrest Christ. Christ was therefore first brought to him. It seemed that he wanted to render true and actually present what had been said through the words of the prophet, “Let us bind the righteous one, because he is useless to us.” And in fact Christ truly was useless to the Jews, not because he really was useless but because, lovers of sin and pleasure that they were, it seemed that he brought them nothing good. Rather, he brought a righteousness that exceeded the Law, clearly explaining what was pleasing to God, who loves virtue. The Law offered no such way, only indicating through shadows and darkness, indirectly and with difficulty, what might be of benefit to its hearers. Thus, as sunlight is in a certain way useless for one with a disease of the eyes, and he receives no benefit because his illness prevents it; and as healthy food seems more useless to sick people than to others, though by it they would recover the health they desire; so also the Lord seemed useless to the Jews, though he was the author of salvation. They, in fact, did not love salvation.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11:12
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Wisdom 2:13
We see that all the powerful manifestations of God’s judgments ring out through the words of the prophets, which, it seems to me, are here called cascades. “Deep calls unto deep, in the roar of the cascades.” After the preaching of the prophets came the judgments of God, as though echoing back to the voice that had predicted their coming. The voice of one cascade was, “Let us plot against the righteous one, because he is an embarrassment to us and opposes himself to our actions, calling himself a child of the Lord.” Another sound of the cascade is, “He was like a lamb led to the slaughter, as a sheep mute before his shearers, and he did not open his mouth.” There is another voice, also: “They have pierced my hands and my feet, I can count all of my bones.” Then the voice, “They divide my garments among them, for my clothing they cast lots, and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink.” And what need is there now to recall all the voices of the cascades, since the prophetic books are full of the insults directed at the Lord and of his passion?

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 41:12
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Wisdom 2:15
If you … want to love the beauty of the house of God and the place where his glory dwells, seek vessels for noble use. And do not say, “I looked for them but did not find them.” If you have sought and have not found them, it means that you have not sought. The similar tends toward the similar, the dissimilar flees the dissimilar. If you are a vessel for common use, it is natural that the vessel for noble use is annoying to you, even to look at. Have you not heard how some people said of such a one, “It is unbearable for us just to look at him”? If merely to look at him is unbearable for you, how could he appear to you plainly, so you might find him? Because these vessels are found in the realm of the interior man. Certainly, when someone gives the impression of being righteous, it does not mean that he is righteous. The righteous and the unrighteous both have the same face. Both are human beings, but both are not God’s house, even if they both call themselves Christians. One is a vessel, and so is the other, but both are not for noble use. Rather, one is for noble use, and the other for common.

Source: SERMON 15:2.2
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Wisdom 2:15
“Since the wicked went away from me, I did not know him.” What, then, does “I did not know him” mean? Does it refer to the fact that when a scoundrel meets a righteous person on a narrow street, the words from the Wisdom of Solomon run through his mind, “It annoys us just to see him,” and he crosses the street, so as to not see that undesired person? But how many rascals there are, and how difficult it is for us to see them! They see us, and not only do they not depart from us, but also they run after us, hoping (at least sometimes) to carry out their wicked plans with our collaboration! This happens all the time. In what sense, then, do they go away? The person who is not like you departs from you. What does “he departs from you” mean? He does not follow you. And what does “He does not follow you” mean? He does not imitate your conduct. Or, “Since the wicked was far from me,” that is, since he was not like me, neither did he want to imitate my conduct (he did not want to live according to the model that my life offered for his imitation), and thus, “I did not know him.” What, then, does “I did not know him” mean? That I did not approve of him, and not that I did not actually know him.

Source: EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 100:7
[AD 450] Quodvultdeus on Wisdom 2:17
Joseph is sent by his father to visit his brothers and the sheep. Our Joseph, as well, Christ the Lord, says, “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” It is said, “The brothers hated Joseph because of his dreams.” And our Joseph, too—Christ—cried out concerning his brothers the Jews, “They hated me without reason.” Seeing Joseph, the brothers said, “Here comes the dreamer. Come, let us kill him, and see what becomes of his dreams.” The godless, as Solomon says, said about our Joseph, “Come, let us kill the righteous one, because he is displeasing to us.” And they continue, “He claims to possess knowledge of God and declares himself a son of God. Let’s see if his words are true, and let’s find out what will happen in the end.” He confirms what is in the Gospel, when he says about the son sent to the vineyard workers, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” After seizing Joseph, the brothers stripped him of his many-colored tunic and threw him in a ditch. Our Joseph, by the mouth of the prophet, says the same of his passion: “They threw me in the outer ditch, in darkness and the shadow of death.” By the Gospel’s authority we are told how he was stripped of his tunic, which was woven from top to bottom and which the soldiers refused to divide among themselves, thus confirming the unity of the church. Heretics are excluded from this casting of lots, because it was to be that only one would possess it, that is, unity. “Taking,” Scripture says, “a kid from the goats, Joseph’s brothers dipped the tunic in its blood” and took it to their father, falsely saying that a wild beast had torn him to pieces.

Source: THE BOOK OF PROMISES AND PREDICTIONS OF GOD 1:26.36-37
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Wisdom 2:20
My Lord Jesus Christ, when he assumed the flesh of the Virgin for our salvation, was surely glorified, because “he came to seek what was lost,” though he was not “glorified gloriously.” In fact, it is said precisely of him, “We saw him, and he had neither beauty nor splendor, and his face was more to be despised than all the sons of mortals.” He was glorified also when he went to the cross and suffered death. Do you know why he was glorified? He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you.” For him, therefore, even the passion of the cross was glory. This glory was not glorious, however, but humble. Finally, it is said of him, “He humbled himself even to death, death on a cross,” and of this also the prophet had foretold, “Let us condemn him to a shameful death.” But Isaiah also says of him, “He bore his judgment in humiliation.” Thus in all these events the Lord was glorified, but humbly, so to speak. He was not “glorified gloriously.”

Source: HOMILIES ON EXODUS 6:1
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Wisdom 2:20
“Since, when he sees the death of the wise, he will not see death.” He who has wearied himself endlessly and will live to the very end, “will not see death, when he sees the death of the wise.” What do these words mean? He will not understand what death is when he sees the wise die. In fact, he says to himself, hasn’t the one who was so wise, who was intimate with Wisdom, who worshiped God with such piety—hasn’t he died also? I will therefore do what I like while I live. Indeed, if those who have wisdom could do something about it, they would not die. He sees the one who dies, yet fails to see what death is. “When he sees the death of the wise, he will not see death.” In the same way, the Jews saw Christ hanging on the cross and mocked him, saying, “If he is the Son of God, he would come down from the cross.” They did not see, in short, what death is. O, if they had seen what death is, they would have understood it! He died in time, so as to live again forever. They lived in time, so as to die forever. But since they saw him die, they did not see death, that is, they did not understand what true death is. What, in fact, do they say in Wisdom? “Let us condemn him to a shameful death, because, according to his own words, he will be protected. If he is truly a son of God, God will help him, and free him from the hands of his adversaries.” That is, he will not allow his Son to die, if he truly is his Son. But when they saw him on the cross being insulted, and he did not descend from the cross, they said, “He was truly a man.” It had already been said that one who could rise from the grave certainly could have descended from the cross. He taught us, however, to bear insults, to be patient before the tongues of people, to drink the bitter chalice44 now so as to later receive eternal life. You who are sick, drink the bitter chalice if you want to be healthy, because now your viscera are not healthy. Do not tremble with fear, because the doctor drank it first, that you might not tremble. The Lord, that is, drank the bitterness of the passion first. The one who had no sin drank, the one who had nothing to be healed of. Drink, therefore, until the bitterness of this world passes, until that world comes where there will be no scandal, no anger, no sickness, no bitterness, no fever, no deceit, no enmity, no old age, no death, no quarrels.

Source: EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 48:1.11
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Wisdom 2:21
Because Jesus was crucified and not freed, they believed he was not the Son of God. Thus, insulting him as he hung on the cross, they shook their heads, saying, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. He saved others, but he cannot save himself.” With these words, as one reads in the book of Wisdom, “they thought thus but were mistaken. Their wickedness blinded them.” What would have been so amazing about coming down from the cross, for one who rose from the grave without difficulty? But why did he want to be patient to death? To flee from the presence of Saul into the cave. “Cave,” here, can be understood as a lower part of the earth. It was attested, in fact, and known to all, that Jesus’ body was placed in a grave that had been hewn out of rock. This grave, then, was the cave, and Christ took refuge there from Saul. The Jews, in fact, persecuted him until he was placed in the cave. How can we show that they persecuted him until he had been put in the cave? They wounded him with a lance, when he was already dead on the cross. But when, after the funeral practices, the corpse was wrapped in linen and placed in the cave, by then they had nothing to do with his flesh. It was then that the Lord arose, unharmed and incorrupt, from the cave where he had taken refuge to flee the presence of Saul. He hid himself from the godless, whom Saul prefigured, and showed himself to his members. Once risen, his bodily members were touched by his members, the apostles. They touched the risen one and believed. Thus, Saul’s persecution came to nothing.

Source: EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 56:4
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Wisdom 2:21
The third way in which sin itself is also the punishment for sin can be seen in the one who says, “I do the evil that I do not want to do.” To this third type also belong all those evil actions one does through ignorance, believing them not evil or even good. In fact, blindness of heart, if it were not a sin, would be unjustly reproved, and yet it is reproved justly where it says, “Blind Pharisee!” as well as in a great many other passages of the Word of God. Moreover, if blindness itself were not a punishment for sin, it would not be said, “Their wickedness has blinded them.” And if this did not happen by a judgment of God, we would not read, “Their eyes are darkened so they would not see; he weakens their backs forever.” Indeed, who would blind his heart by his own choice, when no one would want to be blind in his body?

Source: UNFINISHED TRACTATE AGAINST JULIAN 1:47
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Wisdom 2:22
Though such a great light had arisen, and though the Logos had been made manifest, declaring, “Here is a man whose name is Orient,” they did not see the light, because “their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the mysteries of God.” Something paradoxical took place with that people and with the pagan nations. The Jews did see a lamp in each of the prophets, but they did not recognize the Sun of righteousness13 that arose. Therefore, even though it seemed that they had a lamp, this was taken from them. On the other hand, “the people”—the pagans—“who were in darkness saw a great light.” Not a small light, as with Israel (though each of the prophets was actually not a small light), but “the people who were in darkness saw a great light,” our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His light shines, “extending from one end of the earth to the other with power and governing” the churches “with goodness,” since his Spirit fills the whole earth. Thus the prophecy is fulfilled that says, “In the last days the mountain of God will be visible.” And now, “all the nations stream toward it.” This mountain is Jesus Christ.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 16:3
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Wisdom 2:23
If, because of the sorrows the soul has conceived by its love of the world, we are not yet able to taste how sweet the Lord is, let us at least believe what the divine authority wanted said in the holy Scriptures regarding his Son, “born,” as the apostle says, “of the seed of David according to the flesh.” In fact, as it is written in the Gospel, “Everything was made through him, and without him nothing was made.” He is the one who had compassion on our weakness, a weakness that we merited, not by his work but by our will. “Indeed, God created human beings for immortality” and gave them free will. A person would not be excellent if he were to observe God’s commandments out of necessity and not through his own will.

Source: CHRISTIAN COMBAT 10:11
[AD 99] Clement of Rome on Wisdom 2:24
Every kind of honour and happiness was bestowed upon you, and then was fulfilled that which is written, "My beloved ate and drank, and was enlarged and became fat, and kicked." [Deuteronomy 32:15] Hence flowed emulation and envy, strife and sedition, persecution and disorder, war and captivity. So the worthless rose up against the honoured, those of no reputation against such as were renowned, the foolish against the wise, the young against those advanced in years. For this reason righteousness and peace are now far departed from you, inasmuch as every one abandons the fear of God, and has become blind in His faith, neither walks in the ordinances of His appointment, nor acts a part becoming a Christian, but walks after his own wicked lusts, resuming the practice of an unrighteous and ungodly envy, by which death itself entered into the world. [Wisdom 2:24]

For thus it is written: "And it came to pass after certain days, that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth a sacrifice unto God; and Abel also brought of the firstlings of his sheep, and of the fat thereof. And God had respect to Abel and to his offerings, but Cain and his sacrifices He did not regard. And Cain was deeply grieved, and his countenance fell. And God said to Cain, Why are you grieved, and why is your countenance fallen? If you offer rightly, but do not divide rightly, have you not sinned? Be at peace: your offering returns to yourself, and you shall again possess it. And Cain said to Abel his brother, Let us go into the field. And it came to pass, while they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." [Genesis 4:3-8] You see, brethren, how envy and jealousy led to the murder of a brother. Through envy, also, our father Jacob fled from the face of Esau his brother [Genesis 27:41-45]. Envy made Joseph be persecuted unto death, and to come into bondage. [Genesis 37:18-28] Envy compelled Moses to flee from the face of Pharaoh king of Egypt, when he heard these words from his fellow-countryman, "Who made you a judge or a ruler over us? Will you kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?" [Exodus 2:14] On account of envy, Aaron and Miriam had to make their abode without the camp. [Numbers 12:14-15] Envy brought down Dathan and Abiram alive to Hades, through the sedition which they excited against God's servant Moses. [Numbers 16:33] Through envy, David not only underwent the hatred of foreigners, but was also persecuted by Saul king of Israel. [1 Samuel 21:10-15]

Source: Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapters 3-4
[AD 258] Cyprian on Wisdom 2:24
The devil, seeing that human beings were made in the image of God, fell through malicious envy into jealousy and, compelled by this envy, caused another to be lost, not hurling down another by the instinct of his jealousy before he himself was hurled down by his own jealousy. He was made a prisoner before he imprisoned another. He was lost before he caused another to be lost, when, compelled by envy, he took from human beings the grace of immortality that had been given to them. He himself had in fact first lost what he once was. Beloved brothers, how great is the evil into which the angel fell by which that sublime and splendid nobility was deceived and subverted, by which the deceiver himself was deceived! From then on envy raged throughout the earth, since the one who will perish through the devil’s spite pays homage to the master of perdition, and the one who is jealous imitates the devil, as it is written, “Death entered the world through the envy of the devil.” Consequently, “those who belong to his party imitate him.”

Source: Treatise X. On Jealousy and Envy 4
[AD 384] Pseudo-Ambrose on Wisdom 2:24
From envy comes hatred, grumbling, disparagement, joy over the difficulties of one’s neighbor and affliction over his prosperity. O perverse progeny, which, if it penetrates the soul and begins to dominate it, destroys every bud of holiness. One who envies or hates kills no one before he kills himself. One who murmurs and disparages tears out his own roots before those of others. The one who exults in his neighbor’s difficulties and is tormented by his success strikes himself first with a foreign sword. This second branch of pride was first born when the one about whom it is written, “Death entered the world through the devil’s envy,” convinced Cain to shed his brother’s blood, moved by the hatred brought about by envy. But certainly Cain, through his envy, killed his own soul before he killed the other’s flesh. Indeed, it is written, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.”

Source: PRAYER 2:4
[AD 384] Pseudo-Ambrose on Wisdom 2:24
Envy says, “In what way are you inferior to this one or that one? Why then aren’t you equal or superior to them? How many things are you capable of that they aren’t? So, they can be neither superior nor even equal to you.” Fraternal love, however, responds, “O mortal, if you think yourself better than others because of your virtues, you would be more secure in the lowest place than in the highest. The worst ruin always comes from the highest place. If, as you say, some are superior and others equal to you, what harm is it to you? How does it hurt you? As you envy the lofty position of others, be careful rather that you do not imitate him of whom it is written, ‘Death entered the world through the devil’s envy. Those who belong to his party imitate him.’ ”

Source: THE CONTEST BETWEEN VICES AND VIRTUE 6
[AD 384] Pseudo-Ambrose on Wisdom 2:24
Death is the sword of the devil. “Death entered the world through the devil’s envy.” This is the sword with which he killed the first man, and then the human race, until it was redeemed by Christ. When we sin, we fall under this sword. Christ, however, did not have this sword, because “he committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” He was not subject to original sin, because he was not born of sexual intercourse involving a man—a man who necessarily could not be without sin.

Source: ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION 6:7
[AD 384] Pseudo-Ambrose on Wisdom 2:24
The man, who was formed by the initiative of divine action, was made lord of this earthly creation, so that in observance of the divine order he would respect only the will of him who, from nothing, had made him lord of all things. And from the beginning—not out of ignorance but corrupted by envy and wanting the creature to surpass what had been granted by God—he lost what nature had not given him, that is, grace, which had been granted him by the benevolence of the Creator. From then on, the transgressor, having received the sentence of death through the jealousy of the devil’s deception, passed this sentence on to the descendents who would originate from him in the future.

Source: SERMON 35:3
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Wisdom 2:24
Christ descended and died and by his death freed us from death. Dying, he destroyed death. And you, brothers, know that death entered the world through the envy of the devil. Scripture says that “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the death of the living. He created all things that they might exist. But, by the devil’s envy, death entered the world.” Human beings would not have died at the hands of the devil, had it been a matter of being compelled by force. The devil did not have the power to force them, only the shrewdness to seduce them. Without your consent the devil would have remained impotent. It was your consent, O man, that led you to death. Born mortal from a mortal, we became mortal from the immortals that we were. By their origin in Adam all human beings are mortal. But Jesus, the Son of God, the Word of God through whom all things were made, the only-begotten Son, equal to the Father, became mortal. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.”

Source: TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12:10
[AD 435] John Cassian on Wisdom 2:24
We must be convinced that the evil of envy is healed with more difficulty than the other vices. In fact, I would dare to say that if someone allows himself to be taken in only once by the plague of that poison, he will be without remedy. Envy is the scourge of which the prophet said figuratively, “See, I will send you poisonous snakes, against which no charm will work, and they will bite you.” Rightly, therefore, the bite of envy was compared by the prophet with the fatal poison of the basilisk, from the effect of which the author and initiator of all poisons himself perished and caused others to perish. In fact, even before he poured forth the poison of death on the man, whom he envied, that murderer had already ruined himself. Indeed, “death entered the world through the devil’s envy, and those who belong to him experience it.” Just as he who was first corrupted by the plague of that same evil was unable to accept the remedy of penitence and the provision for the cure, so also those who offer themselves to be struck by the same poisonous bites preclude any help from the divine enchanter.

Source: CONFERENCES 3:18.16
[AD 455] Julian of Eclanum on Wisdom 2:24
Generation is properly attributed to the sexes, whereas imitation is always carried out by souls. This inclination of the soul to imitate, if it can, what it wants to, at times accuses a person and at times is to his credit, depending on the situation. Thus, in the good, imitation is spoken of regarding God, the angels and the apostles. Of God, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Of the angels, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Of the apostles, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” In evil, by contrast, people imitate the devil, as it is written, “Those who belong to him imitate him.” People also imitate other people: “Do not assume a melancholy air, like the hypocrites who disfigure their faces.” They imitate animals, as is implied in the warning, “Do not be like the horse or the mule, without intelligence.” By these words, both of persuasion and dissuasion, the inclination to imitation is indicated. Surely, if this were not possible, it would not be suggested to avoid it.

Source: TRACTATE (VIA UNFINISHED TRACTATE AGAINST JULIAN 2:52)
[AD 533] Fulgentius of Ruspe on Wisdom 2:24
Believe with the firmest faith, not doubting in any way, that Christ, the Son of God, will come to judge the living and the dead. With his coming he will raise, glorify and, according to his promise, make equal to the holy angels those who in this life are freely justified by faith through the gift of his grace. To these same justified ones he gives perseverance until the end in the faith and love of holy mother church. He will lead them to the state in which they are perfectly good, in the measure in which God grants to each. After this they will no longer be able to lose that perfection in which the glory of the saints will differ, but the eternal life of all will be the same. The devil and his angels, however, Christ will send into the eternal fire, where they will never be free of the punishment prepared for them by the divine justice48 and with the devil godless and wicked people, of whom Scripture says, “Those who are of his party imitate him.” They have imitated him in evil actions and have not done adequate penance before the end of this life—those godless and wicked people who are destined to burn in the torment of the eternal flames, after reassuming their bodies.

Source: LETTER TO PETER ON THE FAITH 71:28