Proverbs 11:29

He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool [shall be] servant to the wise of heart.

Ver. 29. He that troubleth his own house.] Either by prodigality, or excessive parsimony. Prodigi singulis auribus bina aut terna dependent patrimonia, saith Seneca. We have known great rents soon turned into great ruffs, and lands into laces. For parsimony and cruelty, See Trapp on " Pro 15:27 "

Shall inherit the wind.] That is, Shall bring all to nothing, as he did that, having wasted his estate, vainly vaunted that he had left himself nothing, praeter coelum et caenum. a His substance shall fly up like smoke into the air, and nothing be left to maintain him on earth. And when all his goods are gone, his liberty must go after - for this "fool shall be servant to the wise in heart" - if not, his life; as that notorious unthrift, Apicius, who having eaten up his estate, and finding by his account that he had no more than two hundred thousand crowns remaining, thought himself poor, and took down a glass of poison. b

a Livius.

b Dio.