And I set my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is like grasping the wind.
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Errors. Septuagint, "parables and science. "But to discern the mistakes of men is a part of wisdom, (Calmet) and Grabe substitutes "wanderings "instead of "parables "after Theodotion, as Hebrew ealluth (Haydock) means "errors "(Calmet) or "follies. "(Montanus)
It is Solomon who speaks these words. This Solomon was the third king of Israel, after King Saul and David, the chosen of the Lord. He succeeded his father on the throne and was proclaimed king when the power of the Israelites had already reached its height; he did not go on wearing his people out with war and fighting but lived in peace as far as lay in his power, making it his task not to acquire what did not belong to him but to enjoy what he already had in abundance.… Such is the order he adopts in his account, that first in the early years of his life he devotes his time to education and does not take the easy course in the face of the hard work such study involves but uses the choice of his spirit, that is, his natural impulse, for the accumulation of knowledge, even though his goal was achieved by hard work. And thus, when he has matured in wisdom, he does not merely theoretically observe the passionate and irrational deception of mankind in the matter of bodily enjoyments but t...
