Ix.—: He who troubles his own house, shall inherit the wind

We have here that distinction between the character of good and evil men, which usually takes place after death. For in the case of good men, when envy, that pursues them while alive, is extinguished, their name presently flourishes, and their fame increases every day. But the fame of bad men, though it may remain for a while, through the favor of friends and faction, yet soon becomes odious, and at length degenerates into infamy, and ends, as it were, in a loathsome odor.

This is a very useful admonition, as to domestic jars and differences. For many promise themselves great matters from the separation of their wives, the disinheriting of their children, the frequent changing of servants, etc., as if they should thence procure greater peace of mind, or a more successful administration of their affairs; but such hopes commonly turn to wind; these changes being seldom for the better. And such disturbers of their families often meet with various crosses and ingratitude, from those they afterward adopt and choose. They, by this means, also bring ill reports, and ambiguous rumors upon themselves. For as Cicero well observes, “All men’s characters proceed from their domestics.” And both these mischiefs Solomon elegantly expresses by the “possession of the wind”: for the frustration of expectation, and the raising of rumors, are justly compared to the winds.