Gregory of Elvira, on Song 2:15

“Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines: for our vineyard hath flourished.”

“It calls these foxes "little" because there are also greater ones. Indeed, the ruling powers of the world are greater at raging than the fallacies of the heretics are at seducing. They are both equally evil, but their respective powers to punish are unequal, for the heretic coaxes to destroy, but the Gentile rages to conquer, the former being peacefully deceptive and the latter being cruel in persecution. But the Lord commands that both receive appropriate dispositions from the keepers of the vineyards, that is, from the leaders of the churches.”

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