Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Proverbs 4:27

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

Mark well the counsel which the Holy Spirit gives us by Solomon: "Make straight paths for your feet, and order your ways aright. Turn not aside to the right hand nor to the left, but turn away your foot from the evil way; for the Lord knows the ways on the right hand, but those on the left are perverse. …

Letter 215:5 ↗

Bede

Do not turn to the right or to the left. The right way is taken as good, the left as reprobate. Therefore, we are forbidden to turn to the right way, but not to decline to the right. One turns to the left who is unjust; one turns to the right who arrogates to himself that he is just; one turns to the right who presumes on his own strengths; one turns to the left who, because of his frailty, despairs of being able to be saved; one turns to the left who serves folly; one turns to the right who wishes to be wiser than he ought to be. …

Commentary on Proverbs ↗

Hippolytus of Rome

Virtue occupies the middle position; whence also he says, that manly courage is the mean between boldness and cowardice. And now he mentions the "right," not meaning thereby things which are right by nature, such as the virtues, but things which seem to thee to be right on account of their pleasures. Now pleasures are not simply sensual enjoyments, but also riches and luxury. And the "left" indicates envy, robberies, and the like. …

Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments ↗