Proverbs 25:28 - Exposition

A proverb like the last, concerned with self-control. In the Hebrew it runs thus (see on Proverbs 25:11 ): A city that is broken down without wall—a man on whose spirit is no restraint . "A city broken down" is explained by the next words. "without wall," and therefore undefended and open to' the first invader. To such a city is compared the man who puts no restraint on his passions, desires, and affections; he is always in danger of being carried away by them and involved in sin and destruction; he has no defence when temptation assaults him, having lost self-control (comp. Proverbs 16:32 ). The old gnomes hold always true—

θυμοῦ κρατῆσαι κἀπιθυμίας καλόν .

Desire and passion it is good to rule."

ταμιεῖον ἀρετῆς ἐστι σωφροσύνη μόνη

"Virtue's true storehouse is wise self-control."

A Chinese maxim says. "Who can govern himself is fit to govern the world." Septuagint, "As a city whose wails are broken down and which is unwalled, so is a man who does aught without counsel." St. Jerome, by the addition of the words, in loquendo , applies the proverb to intemperance in language, "So is he who is not able to restrain his spirit in speaking." Commenting on this, St. Gregory ('Moral,' 7.59) says, "Because it is without the wall of silence, the city of the mind lies open to the darts of the enemy, and when it casts itself forth in words, it exhibits itself exposed to the adversary, and he gets the mastery of it without trouble, in proportion as the soul that he has to overcome combats against its own self by much talking" (Oxford transl.).