Jerome, on Isa 18:1

“Woe to the land, the winged cymbal, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,”

“(Verse 1) I have placed both editions in the most obscure prophecy so that nothing may seem to be lacking to those who want to understand what is written. At the same time, I greatly admire those who think that our faith and Christian hope are satisfied with simplicity, because it is written: The commandment of God is a clear light, enlightening the eyes (Ps. XIX, 9): and that we should not seek more than what is commanded, but that what is commanded should be done: for this reason, both the whole Scripture and the Prophets are specifically involved in the mysteries of the future, so that they may provoke us to understanding and to what is said in the Gospel: Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. Therefore, since I have explained the history and what is contained in Hebrew in the fifth book, now I will explain what seems to me according to the allegory. Perhaps a discerning reader may inquire what the Vision, or the Burden of Damascus, the sounding cymbal, and the other things that follow mean. After the calling of the Gentiles was mentioned, along with the objection of the Jews and their election, those who believed through the Apostles, and then the multitude of the Gentiles and the persecutors who were compared to the waves of the sea: it followed that the prophetic discourse would also announce the heresies that have troubled and continue to ravage the Church, which, while the master of the household slept, sowed weeds in the field of the Church (Matthew 13). And they are called cymbals, lacking the love of God, according to the saying of the Apostle: 'If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal' (1 Corinthians 13:1). And not only a cymbal with its harsh resounding sound, but because of the lightweight heretical discourse that flows in different directions, they are called cymbals of wings, or according to the Septuagint, wings of ships, who, promising great goods, sail in the waves of this world. But understand the wings of the ships, the sails by which they are suspended and drawn. And beautifully he called them the wings of the ships, for every heretic promises lofty things and boasts of having wings, yet he clings to the salty waves and does not depart far from land, and in the middle of his course he suddenly suffers shipwreck. Hence the Eagle, as a symbol of the ship, interpreted the shadow of the wings, for eagles do not have wings, but a resemblance to wings. And he brings forth the fact that which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, signifies that all heretics are conquered by their impiety. For example: Epicurus says that there is no providence, and that pleasure is the greatest good. By comparison, Marcion is even more wicked, and all heretics who tear apart the Old Testament. For when they reject providence, they accuse the Creator, and assert that He has erred in most of His works, and has not done them as He should have. For what benefit do serpents, scorpions, crocodiles, fleas, bugs, and mosquitoes bring to human beings?”

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