John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 10:2

Verſ. 2. A wiſe mans heart is at his right hand] Hee doth his buſineſs diſcreetly and dexterouſly, hee is handy and happy at it.Pſal. 110. And as hee ordereth his affairs with diſcretion, ſo hee doth his affections too, reigning them in with his right hand, and not ſuffering them to run riot, as the fool doth oft to his utter ruine. As the wiſe mans eyes are in his head, chap. 2.14. ſo his heart is at his right hand; hee hath it at command, to think of what hee will, when hee will; it is as an hawk brought to the Faulkners lure; or as an horſe that is taught his poſtures. Hence hee keeps his credit untainted, hee retains the reputation of a wiſe man, hee rightly owns that honour that the Italians arrogate to themſelves, in that proverbial ſpeech of theirs; Italus ſapit ante factum, Hiſpanus in facto, Germanus poſt factum, i. e. The Italian is well adviſed before the deed done, the Spaniard in, the German after it.

But a fools heart at his left] At his left ſide (ſo it may bee rendred) where nature placed it; hee never yet ſorrowed (as thoſe Corinthians did, 2 Epiſt. 7.9.) to a tranſmentation, to a thorow change both of mind and manners; [non-Latin text not transcribed]. his heart is yet ſtill in the old place, hee follows the courſe of depraved nature, hee is a perfect ſtranger to the life of God.

Or his heart is at his left hand] i. e. Hee raſhly ruſheth upon buſineſs without due deliberation; and doth it aukwardly, as with the left hand, and like a bungler, invita Minerva, & collachrymantibus Muſis, he brings it to no good upſhot. See an inſtance of this in Hanun and his Counſellors, 2 Sam. 10. Ahab and his claw-backs, 1 King. 22. Antichriſt and his adherers. Bellarmine bewails it in theſe words: Ab eo tempore, quo per vos Papa Antichriſtus eſſe coepit, non modo non crevit ejus imperium, ſed ſemper magis ac magis decrevit. Lib. 3. de Pap. Rom. c. 2, 3. Ever ſince you Proteſtants have made the Pope to bee Antichriſt, his authority hath not onely not encreaſed, but ſtill more and more decreaſed. Or thus, his heart is at his left hand, that is,Ut quae averſantur homines fere ſiniſtra depelluntur. hee puts away reaſon and wiſdome from himſelf; as, for the moſt part, thoſe things which men diſlike, are put away with the left hand. Thus Junius expounds it.