John Trapp on Proverbs 17:24

Verſ. 24. Wiſdome is before him that hath underſtanding] Or,Vultut index animi. Profecto oculis animus inhabitat. Plin. the face of an underſtanding man is wiſdome, his very face ſpeaks him wiſe, the government of his eyes, eſpecially, is an argument of his gravity. His eyes are in his head, Eccleſ. 2.14. hee ſcattereth away all evil with them, Prov. 20.8. Hee hath oculum irretortum, as Job had, chap. 31. and Joſeph had oculum in metam (which was Ludovicus vives his Motto) his eye fixt upon the mark; hee looks right on, Prov. 4.25. hee goes through the world as one in a deep muſe, or as one that hath haſte of ſome ſpecial buſineſſe, and therefore over-looks every thing beſides it: Hee hath learned out of Iſa. 33.14, 15. that he that ſhall ſee God to his comfort, muſt not onely ſhake his hands from taking gifts (as in the former verſe) but alſo ſtop his ears, from hearing of blood, and ſhut his eyes from ſeeing of evil. Vitiis nobis in animum per oculos eſt via, ſaith Quintilian; Quintil. declam. ſin entereth into the little world, thorow theſe windows, and death by ſin, as fools finde too oft by caſting their eyes into the corners of the earth, ſuffering them to rove at randome without reſtraint, by irregular glancing, and inordinate gazing. In Hebrew the ſame word ſignifies both an eye and a fountain; to ſhew (ſaith one) that from the eye, as from a fountain, flows both ſin and miſery. Shut up therefore the five windows, that the houſe may be full of light, as the Arabian Proverb hath it. Wee read of one, that making a journey to Rome, and knowing it to bee a corrupt place, and a corrupter of others, entred the City with eyes cloſe ſhut; neither would hee ſee any thing there but Saint Peters Church, which hee had a great mind to go viſit. Alipius in Auſtin being importuned to go to thoſe bloody ſpectacles of the gladiatory combats, reſolved to wink, and did; But hearing an out-cry of applauſe, looked abroad, and was ſo taken with the ſport, that hee became an ordinary frequenter of thoſe cruel meetings.