Ambrose of Milan, on Judg 21:17

“And we must use all care, and provide with great diligence, that one tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.”

“But relenting at having laid so hard a sentence on their brothers, they moderated their severity so as to give them in marriage those maidens that had lost their parents, whose fathers had been slain for their sins, or to give them the means of finding a wife by a raid. Because of the villainy of so foul a deed, they who had violated another's marriage rights were shown to be unworthy to ask for marriage. But for fear that one tribe might perish from the people, they connived at the deceit.”

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