Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Proverbs 6:26

Western Saints

Jerome

I will hope in Him, for He Himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters. In this world there are many hunters who long to capture our souls, just as is said by the prophet: "Our soul has been snatched away like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters." Now that hunters are taken in a sinister sense in the holy Scriptures, we have already said often. For that Nimrod, the giant, always a rebel against God, was a hunter. Esau too was a hunter. For He Himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters. …

Homily 68, on Psalm 90 (Alternate Series) ↗

Bede

For the price of a harlot is hardly a loaf of bread. Remember that the pleasure of fornication is brief and the punishment for the fornicator is perpetual. Just as one loaf of bread only dispels hunger for a day, and nevertheless he who has been satisfied by the eaten bread will hunger afterward, so he who goes into a harlot may indeed dispel his lust for a moment, but afterwards returns with greater fervor.

Commentary on Proverbs ↗

Bonaventure

Just as by following the glorious Virgin we become precious and holy, so by following Eve we become wicked and worthless. Whence in Proverbs: "The price of a harlot is scarcely one loaf of bread; but a woman captures the precious soul of a man." O foolish Eve, for the eating of one fruit you sold yourself and your husband and all of us! O son of Eve! Beware, lest you be an imitator of Eve; but for whatever pleasure you give your soul, you are an imitator of Eve.

Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 6 ↗