Gregory the Great, on 1Sam 15:1

“And Samuel said to Saul: The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over his People Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the Lord:”

“We said above that Amalek designates the vice of lust, which as it were licks, since it suggests pleasure by flattering. Progress in the way of life is therefore shown, in that above he is declared to have been struck by Saul, and now he is not simply commanded to be struck, but all his possessions to be destroyed. First indeed the teacher strikes him, when through his word it is brought about that chastity is maintained in the hearts and bodies of the converted. For lust is as it were struck when the flesh has been in some manner subdued by the weapons of chastity, yet has not been perfectly subdued. For he who already abandons the defilements of lust, but still feels shameful impulses rising from himself against himself, no longer practices the wicked deed, yet nevertheless cannot drive it from his thought. Often unwillingly and unguardedly he is dragged to impure thoughts, and those things which he carelessly thinks within stir the flesh outwardly, so that it rises to the shameful impulses of pleasure. What then does it mean that Amalek, already struck, is commanded to be struck again and destroyed, except that the preacher must advance those whom he instructs for a chaste life toward the perfection of virtue? Amalek is therefore commanded to be struck again, because not yet well slain he still lives. Amalek is struck again when by the words of the teacher even those impulses that assail the flesh are crushed, when the teacher instructs his subjects to be crowned for this purpose: that they should so tame the body that it in no way rises to enticing impulses. But because the flesh is never restrained in this way if the mind slips into impure thinking, after the striking, Amalek is commanded to be demolished. He is therefore struck in the body and demolished in the heart, while the flesh is worthily worn down through abstinence and the mind is restrained from all impure thoughts. In this passage the preceding words must also be considered, which Samuel speaks in the person of the Lord, saying: "I have reviewed all that Amalek did to Israel, how he opposed him on the way when he was going up from Egypt."”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.