Commentary on the Song of Songs (Commentarium in Canticum Canticorum)

THE VOICE OF THE BRIDE.

VERSE 1. MY BELOVED HAS GONE DOWN INTO HIS GARDEN, TO THE BED OF SPICES, THAT HE MAY FEED IN THE GARDENS, AND GATHER LILIES.

— The Arabic has, that he may gather lilies together: for areolam ["bed"], the Hebrew is ערוגות arugoth, which Aquila and Symmachus render πρασιάς, that is, furrows, beds; Pagninus, rows of furrows; but the Septuagint render it bowls (phialas), by which Nyssen, homily 15, understands holy souls, which bring forth the spices of the virtues: for these are of such a kind that, having become the mixing-bowls of wisdom, they receive into themselves the divine and incorrupt wine, through which they attain to all joy; whence St. Jerome, on Psalm XLI, 1, in place of what the Septuagint render, as the hart desires the fountains of waters, so does my soul desire thee, O God, translates, as a bed prepared for the watering of waters, so is my soul prepared for thee, O God. See what was said at chapter V, verse 13. The Bride, to the young maidens asking whither the Bridegroom had gone, answers that he had gone into his garden: so St. Gregory of Nyssa, Theodoret, and others. She names first the garden, then gardens in the plural, because just as in one great and vast garden there are many smaller ones, so in the one general Church there are many particular ones: so Gregory, Bede, and others.

Furthermore, the Bride, having indicated to the young maidens the Bridegroom's place, namely that he was in his garden, at once set out thither with them, and finding the Bridegroom there, was received and praised by him, when he said: "Thou art all fair," as we shall hear at verse 3; for in a verbal drama the actions are passed over in silence, and are left to be understood by readers from what follows.

THE FIRST AND ADEQUATE SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Church.

Christ, his faith and piety having been shut out by the Arians and other impious men in the East, transferred it into the West, from Greece into Italy, from Africa into Spain, from Asia into India; but especially, at the end of the world, he will transfer it from all the provinces into Judea, when he shall convert it through Elijah and Enoch, as I said at the end of the preceding chapter: for Judea is properly the garden of Christ, inasmuch as he himself, born and raised there of Abraham, David, and the rest of the faithful kings, first founded the Christian faith and religion in it; whence in it the apostles and the first faithful flourished with wondrous sanctity, yet the greater part of the Jews remained obstinate in Judaism, and hostile to Christ; whence at the end of the world Christ, shut out by wicked and impious nations, will migrate to the Jews, and will convert them through Elijah, and then "all Israel shall be saved," Rom. XI, 26; hence too the Antichrist will fix the seat of his kingdom at Jerusalem, that he may be held to be the true Messiah and Christ, son of David and Solomon, but he will be convicted by Elijah of falsity and heresy: wherefore the Jews will transfer themselves from Antichrist to Christ. Here, then, the Church speaks, so that the young maidens, that is, pious souls, may seek Christ the Bridegroom, and his faith and worship exiled from the East and other provinces, in the West, as it were in his own garden — namely at Rome in Italy, in Spain, in Germany, and at the end of the world in Judea — and may thence summon forth reformers of faith and religion into the other provinces, disfigured by unbelief and wickedness, that they may restore them to their pristine beauty and splendor.

The beds of spices, therefore, are the Church and the faithful devoted to prayer, mortification, and the other virtues, by which, as by spices, Christ is delighted and fed, and there he gathers the lilies of the chaste and of virgins. See what was said at chapter V, verses 1 and 13, where note that the proper and peculiar dowry and flower of faith and the Christian religion is the lily, that is, chastity and virginity: wherefore where faith fails, there chastity soon fails also, and lust reigns; on the contrary, where faith flourishes, there chastity too flowers, as I have shown more fully elsewhere.

Now the Chaldee, in his own Jewish manner, takes this of the return of the Jews from Babylon: for this reformation of the Jews and the Synagogue was a type of the reformation of the Church: "The Ruler of the age," he says, "willingly received their prayer, and went down into Babylon to the council of the wise, and gave rest to his people, and led them out of their captivity by the hand of Cyrus, and of Ezra, and of Nehemiah, and of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and of the elders of the Jews, and they built the house of the sanctuary, and appointed priests over the oblations, and Levites over the keeping of the word of holiness; and he sent fire from the heavens, and willingly received the oblation and the incense of spices, and as a man who nourishes his beloved son in delights, so he delicately nourished them; and as a man who gathers roses from the valleys, so he gathered them together out of Babylonia."

Mystically, St. Jerome, toward the end of his Commentary on Zechariah, takes the garden to mean the holy Scripture: "The garden," he says, "and paradise into which the Bridegroom goes down to the Bride, is the reading of the holy Scriptures, from which he plucks lilies, and violets, and roses, and various spices, that he may fill the bowls of the souls of believers, and pour forth from them lilies to the Lord."

THE SECOND, PARTIAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

The garden and paradise of Christ is the holy soul, which often occupies itself in meditation in the bed of spices, that is, in the Passion of Christ, most abundantly furnished with every virtue; but the paradise of Christ, above all, is the company of holy souls, such as is found in monasteries and religious families: for there are the beds of spices, that is, the ranks of all the virtues, and the lilies of chastity, whereas in the world and in secular life everything is full of the thorns of vices and the nettles of lusts; whence Christ transfers himself from these to religious, and is delighted and fed by their chastity and virtues. Wherefore the religious who consecrates himself wholly, and gives himself to God, can say: "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine"; hence too Christ is accustomed to reform the old age of a declining Church through the flourishing youth of religious in spirit, as I said above, and then that is fulfilled, Psalm CII, 5: "Thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's" (nay, thy old age): wherefore God, when he wills to reform the Church, institutes a new religious order fervent with the apostolic spirit, or reforms one already instituted, and brings it back to its original observance and fervor; lilies too, that is, companies of virgins, he institutes, or renews and polishes those already instituted: for the reformation of the Church consists chiefly in the reformation of the clergy, of religious, and of virgins: for these afterward reform the laity and the Christian people. Examples are found in Saints Basil, Augustine, Benedict, Romuald, Bruno, Bernard, Dominic, Francis, Ignatius.

THE THIRD, PRINCIPAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The Blessed Virgin is the garden of delights, and the paradise of Christ, whence in her body he dwelt bodily for nine months, and in her soul and mind he dwelt spiritually, continually, as it were in his own temple: wherefore Nyssen, Theodoret, and Justus of Urgel say that Christ went down into his garden, when he came down from heaven into the womb of the Virgin, and took flesh from her. Christ therefore, while he lived on earth, fed among the lilies of virgins, because he delighted in the virginity of the Blessed Virgin, of St. Joseph, and of St. John the Apostle, and in turn fed them with the most chaste loves and delights of virginity and of the heavenly life; let him, then, who desires to imitate their chastity, and so to entice Christ to his own soul, as it were to a virginal bridal chamber, cultivate and invoke these.

A memorable example is found in St. Edward, king of England, who, by their inspiration and gift, cultivated and preserved perpetual virginity with his wife Editha, even unto death; he was, therefore, wondrously devoted to St. John, so much so that he denied alms to no one who asked in his name. St. John himself put the king's disposition to the test, and, appearing to him alone in the guise of a poor man, asked of him alms in the name of St. John, and when the king had nothing else at hand, he gave him a ring taken from his finger, wherefore he received from him an immense reward for his liberality: for St. John, appearing to two Englishmen making pilgrimage to Jerusalem, sent back the ring to the king through them, and said: "For love of your king, I will keep my eyes fixed upon you on all your way. For I am John the Apostle of Christ, who embraces your king with the greatest love on account of the merit of his chastity. Carry back, then, this ring, which he gave me when I appeared to him in the guise of a pilgrim, announcing to him that the day of his death is at hand, whom, visiting within six months, I shall visit, that he may follow the Lamb with me wherever he goes." So it was done, for the king, summoned from this life by St. John, in the year of the Lord 1066, on the 5th day of January, ascended into heaven: so Aelred the abbot, in his Life, in Surius, who also relates many great miracles wrought by him after his death.

Furthermore, Philo of Carpasia and Luke the abbot understand by Christ's descent into the garden the descent of Christ into the underworld; for concerning this Christ said to the thief, Luke XXIII, 43: "Today thou shalt be with me in paradise." The beds of spices were the ancient patriarchs and saints, as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, David, etc. Philo adds: "Thence it came to pass, that God himself was fed in the most fragrant gardens of human minds, burning with Christian faith and charity, and from these he gathered the whitest perfumes of lilies, and the garlands of apostles, martyrs, and all the blessed, to adorn the heavenly bridal chamber."

Anagogically, Christ gathers the lilies, when he plucks virgins, and pure and perfect souls, out of this life, as it were out of an earthly garden, and transfers them into the heavenly paradise, where, joined to the angels, they may shine forth with wondrous splendor in eternal glory.

VERSE 2. I AM MY BELOVED'S, AND MY BELOVED IS MINE, WHO FEEDS AMONG THE LILIES.

I explained this verse in chapter 2, verse 16. The Chaldee renders it: "and in that day I served the Lord of the age, my beloved, and my beloved made his majesty dwell in the midst of me, and nourished me with delights." For the bride, because she was full of love for the bridegroom, repeats and impresses him again and again, especially here, where she was going with the maidens to the garden to seek the bridegroom; whence perhaps, having seen him, and having shown him to the maidens, she burst forth into these words of love toward him. Nyssen, in his last homily (for here he himself ends his Commentary on the Canticle), teaches that the bride conforms herself to the bridegroom in all things, so that she plainly expresses his likeness in herself, and puts on his form, to such a degree that whoever sees her thinks he sees the bridegroom: just as one who beholds an image thinks he beholds the model to which the image was made to conform; and one who looks upon a likeness in a mirror thinks he sees not merely the thing represented, but in fact does see it: for there the thing itself displays itself through its appearance, and by a ray not direct, but reflected from the mirror: wherefore whoever desires to receive this image of Christ in his mind must erase from it all images of other things, so that, like a clean and polished mirror, he may receive in himself the colors and rays of Christ illuminating him. Such was Paul, who says in 2 Corinthians 3:18: "But we all, with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image," that is, after the manner of mirrors we receive the image of Christ in us, and give it back. And Galatians 2:20: "And I live, now not I: but Christ lives in me," that is, with everything that does not belong to the nature of Christ scraped away as though by polishing, I have nothing in me that is not in him, and for that reason Christ is life to me, who is sanctification, and purity, and immortality, and light, and truth, and the like. Whatever other things feed my soul, they do so not in grass or shrubs, but in the splendors of the saints; for this is what the lilies signify, since they are adorned with a certain splendid color." Thus far Nyssen.

The mystics or contemplatives take this of ecstasy and rapture, in which the soul, as if struck by lightning by the irradiating light of God, beholds through it, as through a shadow, the immense beauty, goodness, wisdom, etc. of God, and is stupefied at it, so that it is wholly caught up into it and absorbed, to such a degree that it can attend to no other thing; whence it does not see present things, does not hear, nor makes use of any sense: so St. Thomas, II-II, Question 175, article 2.

Further, Richard of St. Victor, book 5 On Contemplation, chapter 5 and following, teaches that the soul is led into this ecstasy, or alienation, by three causes, namely: first, by reason of the greatness of devotion — for vehement love produces ecstasy, says St. Dionysius; second, by reason of the greatness of admiration; third, by reason of the greatness of exultation. Ecstasy therefore arises from great devotion, when the soul is so kindled by the fire of heavenly desire and divine love that it melts after the likeness of wax, and, as if moved from its own state, and thinned like smoke, ascends to the things above: to which devotion and love a greatness of light is sometimes joined, and sometimes the affection of devotion alone produces the alienation. It arises next from immense admiration, when the soul, irradiated by the divine light, and held in suspense by the knowledge of the highest beauty and divine perfection, is shaken with so vehement an amazement that, after the likeness of flashing lightning, with the senses passed over, it is raised up to the heights; and this admiration and perfect knowledge sometimes comes upon a soul not forewarned; sometimes it rushes upon the soul as it inclines toward affections of love or toward deep meditation; sometimes, beginning from light, it ends in the most ardent fervor. It arises finally from ineffable exultation, when the soul, given to drink of the abundance of interior sweetness, indeed fully inebriated, utterly forgets what it is and what it has been, and by the excess of its gladness is carried into an excess of alienation;

such was the rapture of St. Francis, of whom St. Bonaventure writes thus in his Life, chapter 10: "He was seen at night, with his hands stretched out after the manner of a cross, raised up from the ground with his whole body, and surrounded by a certain shining little cloud, so that a wondrous radiance about the body might bear witness to a wondrous illumination within the mind." Something like this happened to St. Dominic, who, when at Mass he raised the Body of Christ on high with most pure hands, while all who were present looked on and were amazed, was himself likewise raised from the ground to the height of one cubit, his earthly and heavy body being lifted upward by devotion of soul and by the spirit of grace. Such too was the ecstasy of St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, of whom Maffei writes thus in his Life, book 1, chapter 7: "It happened once that, alienated from his senses from the compline of the Sabbath to the compline of the following Sabbath, he remained in a certain most profound excess, in which he was instructed concerning the Most Holy Trinity by an intellectual vision to such a degree that, though still unlettered, he dared to write a book about it." Such too was Blessed Teresa, of whom we read thus in her

Life, chapter 74: "Her prayer was not only assiduous, but so fervent that, as soon as she betook herself to prayer, she was immediately caught up out of herself, often even without any preparation, struck by the power of the Spirit, she was withdrawn from the use of her senses: sometimes too she returned from these raptures with the loudest cries and tears, on which she spent a great part of the night." The same woman used to say that the soul of one who perfectly loves and contemplates becomes one spirit with God, in the manner and likeness in which rain falling from heaven into a river is mixed with its water, and becomes one thing with it; or in which two lamps pour forth two lights, which, meeting in the same chamber, produce one light; where it should be noted that these are not alike in every respect, for the union of these things is, as it were, essential; but the union of the soul with Christ is accidental, through contemplation and love. For it was the error of Amalric and of unlearned contemplatives in the time of Ruysbroeck, that in ecstasy the soul is annihilated, and passes over into the essence of God, as Gerson relates and refutes in his treatise On Contemplation.

THE FIFTH PART OF THE DRAMA, THE LAST PART OF THE BOOK, IN WHICH THE REFORMATION, RENEWAL, AND PERFECTION OF THE AGING CHURCH, AND AT LAST HER HAPPINESS AND GLORIFICATION, OR RATHER HER LONGING FOR ETERNAL HAPPINESS AND GLORY, IS DESCRIBED.

See what was said in the Proem, chapter 3.

THE VOICE OF THE BRIDEGROOM. VERSE 3. THOU ART BEAUTIFUL, MY FRIEND, SWEET, AND COMELY AS JERUSALEM: TERRIBLE AS AN ARMY SET IN ARRAY.

For the sequence and fittingness of the drama, note that the bride, as soon as she found the bridegroom in the garden, or met him on the way to the garden, greeted him reverently and lovingly, and told him with how much sorrow and zeal she had sought him; how many insults, blows, and spoils she had accordingly suffered from those who go about the city; with what marks and praises she had described him to the young maidens who were to seek him — all of which, as already recounted, are here passed over in silence: having heard these things, the bridegroom consoles her, and in turn confirms the praises and gifts assigned to her in chapter 4, and moreover adds still others besides. He says therefore:

THOU ART BEAUTIFUL, MY FRIEND, SWEET AND COMELY. — For "sweet," in Hebrew it is נאוה כתרצה ketirtsa, which, first, you may render plainly and fittingly, along with the Hebrews, Pagninus, Vatablus, Marinus, and others, as "like Thirtsa" — as if the bridegroom were saying: Thou art beautiful as Thirtsa, and comely as Jerusalem: for Thirtsa, or Thersa, as Our translator renders it in 3 Kings 15:33, was a very beautiful city in the tribe of Manasses, situated on a high mountain; whence Jeroboam, the first king of Israel, or of the ten tribes, set his throne in it, and made it the capital of the kingdom. Jeroboam was followed by his descendants and successors down to Amri, the father of Achab, who, having built a city on Mount Somer, and named from it Samaria — which was afterward called Sebaste, that is, Augusta, in honor of Caesar Augustus, by Herod — transferred to it the capital and seat of the kingdom, as appears in 3 Kings 14:17, and 16:6, 8, 9, 15, 23, and 24. For although Thirtsa, in the time of Solomon, was not yet the capital of the kingdom of Israel, nevertheless it was exceedingly beautiful and pleasant; whence shortly after, under Roboam, it was made

the capital by Jeroboam, and this the Holy Spirit, who dictated these things to Solomon, foresaw would soon come to be. Second, the Septuagint renders תרצה tirtsa as εὐδοκία, that is, good pleasure, complacency, benevolence: for רצה ratsa is to will, to be pleasing, to be a good pleasure; whence it is rendered, "thou art beautiful, my friend, as a good pleasure"; Symmachus, "well accepted"; the fifth edition, "until I well approve"; the Syriac, "thou art beautiful according to my will"; hence Our translator renders "sweet," because things that are well pleasing to someone are, to him, agreeable, sweet, and delightful; others render "sweetness," in the abstract, as if to say: Thou art so sweet that thou seemest to be sweetness itself, that is, thou art most sweet and most delightful. Moreover, our interpreter and the Septuagint alike often render, in place of proper names, their meanings, when these agree with the matter under discussion, or when some mystery lies hidden in them; thus for Simon the Chananite he renders Simon the Zealot; for Thomas he renders Didymus; for Cephas he renders Peter; for Boanerges he renders sons of thunder; thus in 1 Paralipomenon 4:22, for the proper names Joachim, Chozeba, Joas, and Saroph, he renders: "and, He who made the sun stand still, and the men of Lying, and the Secure, and the Burning, who were princes in Moab."

AS JERUSALEM. — For Jerusalem was most beautiful, whether you regard the temple, or the royal palace, or the walls, or the streets, or the buildings, market-places, and quarters, or the people, and especially the women and brides. The Hebrews are accustomed to compare men to trees, gardens, cities, and in turn cities to men and gatherings of men; whence the heavenly Jerusalem is compared to a bride, Apocalypse 21:2: "I saw," he says, "the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Moreover the Chaldean paraphrast takes this of the twofold temple of the Jews: "Thou art beautiful," he says, "today, in the time of the second temple, as thou wast accepted formerly in the time of the first." But in the time of Solomon there was not yet a second temple.

TERRIBLE AS AN ARMY SET IN ARRAY. — The Syriac, "as chosen," as if to say: The bride is, to me the bridegroom, sweet and lovable, but to her enemies fierce and terrible, according to that saying, chapter 1:9: "I have compared thee, my friend, to my company of horsemen in Pharaoh's chariots." In Hebrew, כנדגלות cannidgaloth, that is, "as bannered," namely, battle-lines and cohorts, that is, "as an army set in order," as Our translator renders it: for under standards cohorts and battle-lines are set in order, and in their right disposition and order consist the strength and fortitude of camps: for a few soldiers rightly disposed and ordered will rout many who are badly disposed, straggling, and disordered. The Septuagint, reading אימה aiumma, that is, "terrible," with other points as אימה ema, render θάμβος, that is, dread, stupor, wonder; whence the Vatican copies render, "dread as ordered battle-lines"; dread, that is, striking dread and terror into enemies. The translator of the Nyssene, as well as of St. Athanasius in the Synopsis, renders, instead of "dread," "stupor": for dread begets stupor, and silent, stupefied men. St. Ambrose, in the book On Virgins,

renders, "wonder set in order," "because," he says, "she holds all the mysteries of the eternal city, and is an object of wonder to all who behold her, since she is full, as equity, and is perfect, and has borrowed her radiance from the light of the Word, while she ever strains toward it; and she is also terrible, by a certain order, having been raised to the height of the virtues.

FIRST SENSE, THE ADEQUATE ONE. Of Christ and the Church.

The Church has been made beautiful, as well as strong and terrible as an army set in order, when she rooted out the errors and vices introduced among her faithful by the Arians and other impious men, through zealous emperors and princes, popes and bishops, in the Councils of Nicaea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Lateran, Florence, Trent, and other councils, both ecumenical and provincial; and restored the Church, whether universal or provincial, to the pristine splendor of faith and virtue: for here the Holy Spirit begins to describe the renewal of the aging Church, which has been accomplished often and in various ways, at different times and places, by outstanding bishops and kings, whom God raised up as reformers of the Church. Thus St. Athanasius reformed the Church of Alexandria, so that it flourished in all holiness, and seemed to be the paradise of God. Thus Lucifer of Cagliari reformed Sardinia, Eusebius of Vercelli reformed Italy, St. Hilary reformed Gaul, Dionysius and afterward St. Ambrose reformed Milan (a little before deformed by Auxentius, the Arian bishop), St. Paulinus reformed Trier; thus in other centuries they restored the fallen morals of particular Churches.

But this will be done above all at the end of the world by Elijah and Enoch with their followers, as I said a little before; whence then the Church will be beautiful as Thersa among the Gentiles, and comely as Jerusalem among the Jews: for Thersa was the capital of the Samaritans, who were despised by the Jews as Gentiles and idolaters; but Jerusalem was the capital of the Jews. For the Church is like the cities of Thersa and Jerusalem, because just as in these there was a gathering and multitude of citizens, so in the Church there is a multitude of the faithful. Again, Thersa is the same as complacency, sweetness, comeliness, beauty, such as is in the Church of the Gentiles once reformed. Jerusalem is the same as vision of peace, such as will be in the Jews, when they, converted to Christ, shall conspire peacefully with the Gentiles into one Church, and therefore shall be transferred into one heavenly Jerusalem. Hence the Church is called Jerusalem by St. Paul, Galatians 4:26, and by St. John, Apocalypse 21:1, for the reasons which I have recounted in that place. Hear St. Gregory: "Beautiful and a friend, sweet and comely as Jerusalem, the Synagogue converted is declared to be, because at some time she will follow the holy four Gospels, just as the Church does: for Jerusalem indeed is interpreted vision of peace; by which the holy Church is well figured, because while she always suffers affliction in the world, disdaining the way, which

is the peace of the heavenly homeland, contemplates it as she runs, trusting in him who said to his disciples, John 16:33: In the world indeed you shall have affliction: but have confidence, I have overcome the world. Worthily, then, is the converted Synagogue called, like Jerusalem, beautiful, and a friend, and sweet, and comely, because while she imitates the holy Church, she carries out the precepts of the four Gospels, from which she receives beauty of morals, that she may please; she gathers the exercise of holy work, that she may abide in friendship; she learns the sweetness of gentleness, that she may persevere; she shows forth the appearance of comely conduct, that she may draw others by example."

Moreover, the beauty of the Church, as well as the fortitude which makes her terrible to demons, heretics, and the impious, consists in the hierarchical order, whereby bishops are subject to and serve the pope, priests to bishops, deacons to priests, and the rest of the clergy and laity to deacons, each in his own order and rank. For the pope rules and directs all these through the bishops, just as the angel of the first heaven, which is called the primum mobile, moving it from east to west, likewise consequently moves the lower heavens subject to the first; whence no force can resist it, or hinder this motion. So great is the power of obedience and order; on account of it, indeed, the Church is called terrible as an army. This is what Isaiah foretold, chapter 26, verse 1: "The city of our strength is Sion the saviour: a wall and a bulwark shall be set in it." He gives the reason, chapter 54, verse 11, saying: "Behold I will lay thy stones in order, and I will found thee in sapphires, and I will make thy bulwarks of jasper: and thy gates of graven stones, and all thy borders of desirable stones," and he explains who these stones are, adding: "All thy children taught of the Lord: and a multitude of peace to thy children."

Again, for "as an army set in order," in Hebrew it is "as bannered," namely phalanxes and battle-lines, because in the universal Church there are many particular churches, and in the particular churches many ranks of clergy and laity, many orders of religious, who, although all distinguished by particular banners, nevertheless all fight under the banner of the cross of Christ: wherefore from him, that is, from Christ crucified, flows all their beauty, as well as their fortitude; whence St. Anselm: "Thou art terrible," he says, "because I fight in thee, and thou fightest in my service, as one fights in camps, and thou art ordered by institution": for in the Church there are the strong wedges of martyrs, the brave hosts of virgins, the unconquered hosts of doctors, etc.

Cassiodorus adds that the Church is called beautiful and sweet in her virtues, terrible in her dominion, which she extends even to the ends of the earth. Moreover, this order unites all the faithful among themselves, as well as with Christ their head; and this is the reason why the Church is most strong and terrible to her enemies as an army set in order: namely, because she is supremely united through charity, and the union of so many faithful is unconquered, and overcomes all things: hear St. Gregory: "It is known to those who have experience, that when soldiers advance in formation against the enemy, if they march closely and in harmony, they are feared by the enemies coming against them, because since the enemies see no opening among them through any gap, they cannot find, however much they hesitate, how to penetrate them; and this becomes for them an impenetrable defense, that being arranged in harmony they protect themselves by themselves. For while they make of themselves a rampart for themselves, they leave the enemies no opening to enter among them; and though sought out to be slain, they themselves the more easily slay. So it happens in the multitude of the faithful, which, while it does not cease to fight against evil spirits, must be bound together by the peace of charity, by which it is kept safe: for if it holds peace, it appears terrible to its enemies; but if it is split by discord, it is easily penetrated on every side by its enemies. Let it therefore fortify itself with peace, bind itself with unity, unite itself with charity, so that, while it suffers no harm within itself through division, it may always follow its leader, exulting, without confusion."

SECOND SENSE, THE PARTIAL ONE. Of Christ and the holy soul.

The holy soul is beautiful through grace, sweet through kindliness, charity and benevolence, terrible through zeal, because in all things she conforms herself to the will of God, and strives to promote his glory; such a soul is terrible, says Bede, because she has the whole battle-line of the virtues drawn up within her; if, therefore, gluttony should tempt her, temperance will resist; if lust, chastity will resist; if anger, patience will resist; if pride, humility will resist; if avarice, liberality will resist; if sloth, zeal will resist. Hear Hugh of St. Victor, Erudit. Theol., from Miscell. II, book I: "She is," he says, "a success to men, comely to the divine powers, terrible to demons: why? because she walks as an army set in order, not scattered by envy, but drawn close by charity. It is a battle-line through gathering, of camps through preparation, set in order through agreement. Penance makes the gathering, watchfulness sets the preparation, concord provides the agreement;"

whence the Chaldean paraphrast renders: "How beautiful thou art, my beloved, in the time when thou dost wish to do my will! Beautiful is the house of the sanctuary, which thou hast built for me, like the former house of the sanctuary, which Solomon, king of Jerusalem, built for me; and thy terror was upon all peoples in the day when thy standards marched through the desert."

Note, the strength of the Church and of the pious soul arises from her beauty, for this is why she is terrible to her enemies, because she is comely as Jerusalem, that is, as a vision of peace; peace, therefore, makes her terrible, for peace composes and orders all her movements and affections according to the law and the will of God, so that they are, as it were, an army set in order, that is, dense, harmonious, and composed, which no force can break through. Hence the soul that is composed and peaceful is unconquered and unsurpassable.

Moreover the Nyssene reads, "thou art beautiful, my neighbor, as

a good pleasure or benevolence, comely as Jerusalem, a wonder as an army drawn up," and thus he explains it: The pious soul, he says, first, is like the benevolence of Christ, because he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and gave himself as a price for the life of the world; so the pious soul spends herself for the salvation of her neighbors, as Paul did, and in this consists her beauty. Second, she is fair as Jerusalem, namely the heavenly one, because since she has God dwelling within her, who bestows all comeliness on the heavenly Jerusalem, she too is declared to be like it in comeliness. Third, likewise she is a wonder as an army drawn up, because since, he says, she does all things in order and comeliness, she excites such admiration of herself as does the army of angels, who are most orderly in all their ministries. So too Theodoret, who nevertheless renders εὐδοκίαν, that is, good pleasure, as "proof" — so that just as the bride called the bridegroom, chapter 5:16, "desire," that is, supremely desirable, so the bridegroom here in turn calls the bride "proof," that is, supremely proved, pure, and perfect. But three Anonymous writers hold that the pious soul is called "wonder," because, in contemplating the immense beauty of God, she is struck with astonishment in admiring it, as the angels do.

THIRD SENSE, THE PRINCIPAL ONE. Of Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The Blessed Virgin is beautiful with good pleasure, because uniquely, before all creatures, she pleases the whole Holy Trinity, the angels and the saints, according to that word of Gabriel, Luke 1:30: "Thou hast found grace with God, O blessed Virgin," says Rupert, "thou art sweet and comely as Jerusalem, in that thy soul ever beholds the peace above, and from visiting thee very many souls learn to lead a heavenly manner of life; whence they are also called, or are, daughters of Jerusalem, because they choose the best part, according to that word, Psalm 45:11: Be still, and see that I am the Lord, etc. Thou also art terrible to demons, heretics, and the impious, as an army set in order, in which there is the utmost concord of all; and therefore no opening is given to the enemy in it through discord." Wherefore all heretics who assail Christ, and likewise the Blessed Virgin, are crushed by her; whence the Church sings of her: "Thou alone hast destroyed all heresies in the whole world." Sophronius adds, in his sermon On the Assumption: "The Blessed Virgin," he says, "is as an army set in order, because she is thronged with countless hosts of angels and saints;" hence Damascene, Oration 1 On the Nativity: "O most holy daughter," he says, "who art nourished with the milk of a mother's breast and art encircled on every side by angels!" hence also St. Bonaventure, in the Mirror of the Blessed Virgin, chapter 3: "Mary," he says, "is interpreted lady: this also fits very well the empress who is truly lady of things heavenly, earthly, and infernal: lady, I say, of angels, of men, and of demons," etc. Whence St. Augustine says: "Michael, leader and prince of the heavenly army, with all the ministering spirits, obeys thy commands, O Virgin, in defending, in the body, and in receiving, from the body, the souls of the faithful who specially serve thee, O Lady, and who day and night commend themselves to thee." The same, in the Canticle: "We praise thee, Mother of God; to thee," he says, "all angels and archangels, to thee thrones and principalities faithfully do service; to thee all powers and all virtues of the heaven of heavens, and all dominations, obey." Blessed Gertrude, book 4 of the Revelations, chapter 30,

speaking of the angels whom she saw before the Mother of God, bringing those who had prepared themselves for the feast of the Assumption, and defending them from the snares of evil spirits, adds: "Because at the command," he says, "of the Mother of God, a multitude of angels protects on every side, defending, all who invoke the glorious Virgin." Finally, St. Germanus, in his oration On the Girdle of the Mother of God: "Thou," he says, "by the most holy invocation of thy name alone repelling the invasions of the most wicked enemy against thy servants, keepest them safe and unharmed." See what was said at chapter 1, verse 9, on those words: "I have compared thee, my friend, to my company of horsemen in Pharaoh's chariots."

VERSE 4. TURN AWAY THY EYES FROM ME, FOR THEY HAVE MADE ME FLY AWAY. THY HAIR IS AS A FLOCK OF GOATS, THAT APPEARED FROM GALAAD.

TURN AWAY THY EYES FROM ME (in Hebrew, from before me, or from over against me), FOR THEY HAVE MADE ME FLY AWAY. The Hebrew הרהיבוני hirihibuni, that is, they have prevailed over me; Pagninus, they have been stronger than I; Vatablus, because they conquer me; the Tigurine version, turn away thy eyes, lest thou look directly upon me, because they make me too proud; R. Solomon and the Anonymous, they have exalted and made me proud; Aben-Ezra, they are more powerful than I, they take from me strength and dominion; R. David, they have strengthened me in love; St. Ambrose, book On Isaac, chap. VIII, they lift me up, and he explains it thus, as though Christ were asking the perfect soul not to detain itself in lofty contemplation, but to let itself descend to the instruction and salvation of the less learned: "And if thou," he says, "art perfect, yet other souls still remain to be redeemed, others to be supported: wherefore turn away thy eyes from me; for thou dost lift me up by looking at me; but I have descended for this reason, that I might lift up all. For the more one is intent upon the Lord, the more he lifts up the Lord, and is himself lifted up."

Learn from all these versions how powerful are the sincere, chaste, and lovable eyes of the bride, in that they prevail over the bridegroom, rule him, and, as it were, take him captive and enslave him to themselves: for the sense is, as if to say, So great is the beauty of thy eyes, O bride, so great and so fiery is the power in them, that they carry me away into love of themselves, that they rule over me, that I succumb to love, that they, as it were, snatch away my mind, that through the excess of love my fleeing heart, as it were, flies away and flies across into thee, according to that word, chap. IV, vers. 9: "Thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes;" in Hebrew, thou hast unhearted me. See what I have said concerning the power and allurement of feminine eyes, chap. IV, vers. 1 and 9. That law is well known, found in Euripides' Hecuba, received from the custom of the ancients: "Let no woman look the men in the face." He shows what he said, "thou art beautiful and comely," from the beauty of the eyes, which is so great that they snatch away the heart of the bridegroom into love of themselves, so much so that the bridegroom, unable to master his own heart, sees it fly away into the bride, as if to say, Thine eyes are so beautiful that I cannot bear their light and power; turn them therefore a little away, and aside, so that, given back to myself, I may gaze upon them more freely and more slowly, as it were, from the side: wherefore the Chaldee's exposition is a cold one, which runs thus: "Cause thy wise teachers to recline, a great assembly round about, in my sight; for they took counsel with me in captivity, and established a school for the teaching of my law."

FIRST, ADEQUATE SENSE. Concerning Christ and the Church.

Many think that here the boldness and curiosity of the Church, or of a devout soul, is noted and checked, which wishes to fix the eyes of the mind too deeply in contemplating the essence and majesty of God, so as, as it were, to penetrate and comprehend the incomprehensible, when it ought rather to attend to the business of the house with Martha and the salvation of one's neighbors: in which matter it makes no progress, but rather the keenness of its eyes is blunted and dulled, just as one who gazes with fixed eyes upon the sun is blinded, according to that word, Proverbs XXV, 27: "He that is a searcher of majesty shall be overwhelmed by glory:" so hold St. Gregory, Cassiodorus, Theodoret, Philo, Bede, Anselm, Rupert, and St. Ambrose, whose words I have already cited. To this Justus of Orgel adds his voice, who takes this concerning the contemplation of the humanity of Christ, as if to say: "Do not always seek to behold me in the body, whom thou dost better discern by the spirit through faith. For this reason I ascended into heaven, that I might not always appear to thee as confined to a place, I who so fill all things with the presence of my divinity that I am present everywhere, and contain all things, and am contained by no place."

But this sense agrees but little with the context, nor with the Hebrew phrase: for the bride is not here reproved for curiosity, but praised for the beauty and allurement of her eyes, by which is signified the pure intention and love of the Church toward Christ, as I said at chap. IV, vers. 1: for this intention of pleasing and cleaving to Christ alone wonderfully pleases Christ and snatches away his heart, so that he loves in return her who loves him, and gives his whole attention to her who is intent upon him. Christ signifies, therefore, that he is conquered by the charity of the Church, so that he marvelously loves in return her who loves him so much, and that for love of her he determines to complete the course and the time of the world, whereby the remnant of Israel may be saved: for he treats of these things in what follows, so that by this being accomplished the Church may be joined to Christ her Bridegroom forever, and may most happily enjoy him in heavenly glory, where the consummation of the marriage of both shall take place.

SECOND, PARTIAL SENSE. Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

What I said concerning the Church, say concerning the soul, the name being changed: further, the explanation of Nyssen here is new and paradoxical, homily 15, the last one (for Nyssen ends here), and the one who follows him, or rather is his abbreviator, Michael Psellus: for they hold these to be the words not of the bridegroom, but of the bride to the bridegroom; and what the Septuagint renders, ἀπόστρεψον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς σου ἀπεναντίον ἐμοῦ, they translate thus, turn away my eyes from what is contrary to me (the interpreter of Nyssen translates "from me," so that τὸ ἀπεναντίον is the same as "over against me," that is, "from me," but that Nyssen's meaning is otherwise is clear from what he adds): for they render ἀνεπτέρωσαν με as, they have made me fly away; but Nyssen, pressing τὸ ἀνα, translates it, they have again given me wings, as if to say, Turn away, O Christ, thy eyes from that which is contrary to me, and turn them to me, because the light of thy eyes has again given back to me the wings of grace, which I had lost through sin, so that, winged and freed from earthly desires, I may fly up to heaven.

THIRD, PRINCIPAL SENSE. Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

Some explain this of the Blessed Virgin conceiving and bringing forth Christ, as if to say: O Virgin, who art engaged in the loftiest and purest contemplation of the divinity, turn away from it the eyes of thy mind, and turn them to contemplate the mystery of the incarnation of the Word, which is being accomplished in thee: for these eyes of the purity of thy mind have, as it were, stolen me from myself, and made me fly from the bosom of the Father into thy womb.

But because, according to the letter, this passage treats of the reformation of the Church and the conversion of the Synagogue, you should rather explain it thus, as if to say: Thy pure and ardent intention, O Virgin, by which thou dost most ardently intend, desire, pray for, and procure the renewal of the Church and the conversion of the Jews, pleases me so much that I cannot bear it any longer, but rather I comply with it, and, as it were, give myself over to it, that I may accomplish and fulfill in deed what thou so greatly desirest and dost entreat.

These hidden eyes of the mind of the Blessed Virgin were betrayed by the eyes of her body, majestic and burning with the love of God; whence the Poet says of them: O dearest lights, most radiant suns, most happy torches, most august stars! Lights of the soul, suns of the mind, torches of the heart, stars of the spirit. O countenance! O heaven, engraved with so many, and such divine torches, and torches! "O face, like unto a great divinity to me!" Indeed I have seen at Rome an image of the Mother of God, painted by St. Luke, in which the eyes and countenance represent an august majesty, more than human.

THY HAIR IS AS A FLOCK OF GOATS, THAT APPEARED FROM GALAAD.

VERSE 5 and 6. THY TEETH ARE AS A FLOCK OF SHEEP, WHICH CAME UP FROM THE WASHING, ALL WITH TWIN OFFSPRING, AND THERE IS NONE BARREN AMONG THEM. AS THE RIND OF THE POMEGRANATE, SO ARE THY CHEEKS BESIDES WHAT IS HIDDEN IN THEE.

All these things have been explained at chapter 4, verse 1: for the bridegroom repeats these praises of the bride, that he may confirm them and impress them upon the young maidens; only note that the Septuagint, the Arabic, Symmachus, and Aquila here add, as a scarlet thread are thy lips, and thy speech is sweet, which verse they transcribed from chapter 4, verse 3, and referred here. Again, instead of as the rind of the pomegranate, the Syriac renders, as the crown of the pomegranate: for this indeed bears, at the summit of its rind, a spreading crown. Moreover, instead of besides what is hidden in thee, or as it renders it at chapter 4, verse 3, besides what lies hidden within, the Arabic translates, besides the beauty of thy silence.

VERSES 7 AND 8. THERE ARE SIXTY QUEENS, AND EIGHTY CONCUBINES, AND OF THE YOUNG MAIDENS THERE IS NO NUMBER. ONE IS MY DOVE, MY PERFECT ONE, SHE IS THE ONLY ONE OF HER MOTHER, THE CHOSEN OF HER THAT BORE HER. THE DAUGHTERS SAW HER, AND DECLARED HER MOST BLESSED: THE QUEENS AND THE CONCUBINES, AND THEY PRAISED HER.

SIXTY ARE THE QUEENS, AND EIGHTY THE CONCUBINES, AND OF THE YOUNG MAIDENS THERE IS NO NUMBER. ONE IS MY DOVE, THE PERFECT ONE OF HER MOTHER (the Septuagint: to her mother), THE CHOSEN OF HER THAT BORE HER. — "The only one of her mother," that is, only-begotten, or uniquely beloved by her mother above her other daughters; the Arabic: my perfect one, she is one, and she is one to her mother. Concubines are called not mistresses and harlots, but lawful wives, though secondary ones: because, that is to say, they were not mothers of the household, nor did their sons succeed to the father's inheritance and kingdom, but they were sent away with gifts, as Abraham gave gifts to Hagar his concubine, and to her son Ishmael; Sarah, however, he had as it were his primary wife and mother of the household, whose son Isaac was accordingly Abraham's heir to the whole estate. See what is said, Genesis 25:6. Take "young maidens" as honorary virgins, who accompanied the queens and concubines for honor's sake, and formed their women's chamber; or they were kept as it were in the women's chamber, so that, when the queens or concubines died, they might succeed to their place, and become wives either primary or secondary.

You will ask whether these queens, concubines and young maidens were Solomon's, or another's. For formerly polygamy was lawful, not only among the gentiles, but also among the Hebrews; whence the kings of the Parthians, Persians, Medes, Assyrians, Syrians had many wives, as even now the kings of the Moors, Turks, Indians, Tartars, etc. have. First, our Delrio judges that these were not Solomon's, but another's, from whom the comparison is drawn: "Now our shepherd," he says, "prefers his own lot to the wealth and fortunes of all kings." He does not like it to be understood of King Solomon, whose herds of women were far greater than these, and contrary to what we read here: "He had more queens than concubines" (see 3 Kings 11:3); but he takes it indefinitely of any most powerful monarch. "Suppose there is someone," he says, "who has shut up in his women's chamber very many wives of free condition as his primary spouses, and many concubines (for so are called secondary wives joined without the ceremonies and rites of marriage, of servile or freed condition), and very many young virgin maidens, who are kept for the other lot of the marriage-bed with a thousand keys in the inner chambers of the house — whatever is repeated separately among so many, is repeated all together in my spouse; wherefore I prefer you, O beloved, to all of them, and call myself more blessed than such a king." For formerly bridegroom and bride were honored with the name of king and queen; whence Plautus in the Stichus: "His own king pleases the queen, each one's own bride pleases her bridegroom." Under the name, then, of king and queen, bridegroom and bride, though common folk, would address and greet one another, for honor's and joy's sake.

Second, others more fittingly judge these to have been Solomon's, for the very connection of the text seems to require this: so St. Jerome, book 1 Against Jovinian, Genebrardus, Sotomayor, Gislerius and others here, Abulensis, 1 Kings 11, Question 9 and following, Pineda, book 6 On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 5. For Solomon, at the beginning of his reign, when he was more chaste, and was writing these things, had only sixty queens, and eighty concubines, not for the sake of lust, but of royal magnificence, lest he should seem inferior in dignity to neighboring kings who displayed a large women's chamber of their own: for in that age of polygamy, the splendor of kings consisted in the abundance and splendor of queens; but having grown older and more intemperate, he took to himself seven hundred queens and three hundred concubines, 3 Kings 11:3. He says therefore: "I, Solomon, have sixty queens, and eighty concubines, who are attended by more numerous young virgins; but above all these I prefer the daughter of Pharaoh: for she is to me the first and highest wife, she is the queen of queens; she alone is more beloved by me than all the rest; whence of her I say: My dove is one, my perfect one; as she likewise is the only one of her mother, the chosen of her that bore her; because on account of her beauty, both of body and still more of soul, and her chaste, modest and well-ordered character, she is uniquely dear and beloved both to me and to her mother above the other daughters." But if this number of wives in Solomon, still holy and the writer of the holy Canticles, seems greater than is fitting, say with Sanchez that these queens and concubines were of neighboring kings, who accompanied for honor's sake the joyful pomp of Solomon's marriage with Pharaoh's daughter, and afterward

often visited him for friendship's sake, and perhaps for homage. For these kings seem to have been friends or subjects of Solomon. He names sixty queens, eighty concubines, because after the beginning of his reign he seems to have had precisely that many, or because he sets a definite number for an indefinite one: for sixty is a perfect number, namely made from six and ten multiplied together by one another: fittingly, then, it is given to the queens; but eighty is composed from ten, which is perfect, and eight, which is imperfect; fittingly, then, it is assigned to the concubines, as being imperfect wives. "Six," says Justus, "is a perfect number, because it consists of the whole of its own parts, for its sixth part is one; its third, two; and its half is shown to be three." Finally Abulensis, 3 Kings 11, Question 12, and Pineda, book 6 On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 5, judge that Solomon had more queens and concubines, namely up to a thousand, but that only the chief among them and those most familiar to Solomon are numbered here, and that these were sixty of the queens and eighty of the concubines. But it is hard to believe that he, when he wrote such spiritual songs, was so carnal and fond of women as to have had a thousand wives.

FIRST SENSE, THE ADEQUATE ONE. Concerning Christ and the Church.

The queens, that is, the patriarchal, primatial and metropolitan Churches, are sixty, that is, many; the concubines, that is, the episcopal Churches, are eighty, that is, more; of the young maidens, that is, the parish Churches and the rest, there is no number: for they are very many and, as it were, innumerable; but above all these towers the Chair of St. Peter, namely the Roman Church, says Cosmas Damianus, which is the queen of queens, and the head and prince of the whole Church, which moderates and rules all the rest, lest they stray from right faith and piety; and when they do stray, it corrects and reforms them: wherefore this is the one dove, that is, the one spouse of Christ, uniquely beloved by him, perfect in faith and religion, the only one of her mother, and the chosen of her that bore her, that is, likewise uniquely beloved of the primitive Church of Jerusalem, says St. Anselm; for she, as a mother, begot the Roman Church, when she sent Sts. Peter, Paul, and the other first believers to Rome, that they might convert it, and establish it as the head of the Church. Wherefore the Roman Pontiff, who presides in her, sends reformers throughout the whole world, to restore the true faith and religion where it has collapsed or been corrupted in particular Churches, as St. Sylvester sent Hosius of Cordova, to preside over the Council of Nicaea, where Arius was condemned; Julius, Liberius and others sent St. Athanasius, Eusebius of Vercelli, Lucifer of Cagliari and others, to bring back to the true faith the eastern bishops who had fallen into the Arian heresy; indeed the Roman pontiffs send religious and apostolic men to the Indies, the Tartars, and other gentiles, that they may preach and spread the faith among them; and at the end of the world they will send outstanding men into Judea and Jerusalem, to resist the Antichrist and to convert the Jews; wherefore then Rome will be united to her that bore her, that is, to Jerusalem, namely the Church of the Synagogue, when the daughter shall lead the erring mother — namely Rome shall lead Jerusalem — from Moses equally as from the Antichrist, to Christ. Then that oracle will be fulfilled, Isaiah 19:24: "In that day Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria: a blessing in the midst of the land, which the Lord of hosts hath blessed, saying: Blessed be my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands to the Assyrian: but Israel is my inheritance:" see what is said there. And that passage, Isaiah 49:23: "And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and queens your nurses: they shall worship you with their face toward the earth, and they shall lick up the dust of your feet."

To this the majority of the Fathers agree, who understand by the one dove the one catholic Church, spread through the whole world: for the head and prince of this is the Roman Church: so St. Gregory of Nyssa, Cassiodorus, Bede, Anselm here, and St. Augustine, tractate 5 on John, and St. Cyprian, treatise On the Unity of the Church. The property and mark of the Church, therefore, is that she is one, although catholic and spread through the whole world: one, I say, through one faith, hope and charity, and through one head, namely Christ and his vicar the Roman Pontiff; whoever separates himself from this unity is a schismatic or a heretic: see St. Cyprian, book On the Unity of the Church. Cassiodorus adds that she is called a dove because the Holy Spirit descended upon her in the form of a dove at the baptism of Christ, Matthew 3:16; and that her mother is the heavenly Jerusalem, toward which she, called by God, tends and proceeds: for Paul calls this the mother of the faithful, Galatians 4:26. Nyssen, however, takes "mother" to mean the Holy Spirit, who, like a dove, begot the Church itself, as it were a dove's chick and a little dove. St. Gregory, however, takes "mother" to mean the grace of the Holy Spirit, which comes to the same thing: "Our mother," he says, "is regenerating grace, in whom the one dove is chosen; because she gathers only those who remain in simplicity, and are not cut off from unity. For many of the faithful, while they are intent upon the same thing, while by one desire of Christ they nourish one another, while, having one heart and one soul, they are united in charity, out of many members make one body, and all living in the simplicity and unity of oneness, exist as one dove: which alone is called perfect and chosen of her that bore her, because outside this, which we call the Church, no one is nourished unto perfection, no one unto life, except through this alone, grace fostering it." John the Carmelite, however, takes "mother" to mean Christ, who, as it were a mother, with maternal affection loves the Church and the perfect soul uniquely and most tenderly, according to what he himself says, Isaiah 49:15: "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And even if she should forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have written you upon my hands: your walls are ever before my eyes."

Finally William notes that the queens, that is, the perfect souls, are numbered sixty, because these add to the law of the Decalogue, which the number ten signifies, the number six, which is the symbol of perfection, which is acquired through the evangelical counsels: for they are perfect who observe not only the precepts, but also the evangelical counsels. The concubines denote those who keep only the precepts of the Decalogue; whence to them is added the eight of circumcision, that is, of the purging of sins committed against the Decalogue.

Further, the Chaldean, judaizing in his own manner, takes this of the kings and peoples warring against Jerusalem: "Then," he says, "the Greeks arose, and gathered sixty kings of the sons of Esau, clothed in breastplates, mounted upon horses and horsemen, and eighty captains of the sons of Ishmael mounted upon elephants, besides the rest of the peoples and tongues, of whom there was no number, and they set Alexander as king over them as prince, and they came to fight against Jerusalem. And at that time the assembly of Israel was like a perfect dove, and served her Lord with one accord, and held fast the law, and labored in the words of the law with a perfect heart, and her righteousness was pure as on the day when she went forth out of Egypt."

SECOND SENSE, THE PARTIAL ONE. Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

The queens, that is, the perfect souls, are sixty, that is, few; the concubines, that is, those making progress, are eighty, that is, more; the young maidens, that is, beginners, are very many, and, as it were, innumerable: but truly there is one dove, that is, very few — indeed out of a thousand scarcely one — is the most perfect soul, who is the singular spouse of Christ, and attends to him alone, and passes wholly, as it were, into him, such as was St. Paul, whose heart was a sea of charity, which swallowed up the whole world, and strove to save all nations, even the Jews who were most hostile to him; whom therefore God valued more, alone, than a thousand saints, even perfect, religious and apostolic ones. See St. Chrysostom's homilies, homily 8, which he wrote on the praises of St. Paul. So Origen, homily 2, Theodoret, three Anonymous writers cited by him, Philo, Justus and St. Ambrose, book On Isaac and the Soul, chapter 8: "She is praised," he says, "because, being one dove having the unity of the Spirit, in which is peace, which made both one, and which is not composed of diverse elements of a discrete and conflicting nature. Every blessed soul is simple, which imitates him who says, John 17:21: That all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: for this is consummation and perfection;" whence he also adds: "That they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and you in me; that they may be made perfect in one. This, then, is the dove-soul

and perfect, which, being simple and spiritual, is not troubled by the passions of this body, in which there are battles without and fears within." To this agree Nyssen, St. Gregory, Rupert and others, who by the queens understand souls who aspire to the heavenly kingdom; by the concubines, those who keep the law of God out of fear of hell or of some other loss, or in hope of reward; by the young maidens, those who are unskilled in the faith, and remiss in works. Abbot Lucas adds: "Upright and perfect souls, who have restored in themselves the true nobility in which they were created, are called queens, because they reign over sin, or because a people of those believing in Christ has been entrusted to them to be ruled, souls who, by cleaving to the word of God, both conceive and bring forth kings. St. Augustine, book 83 Questions, Question 55: "The queens," he says, "are souls reigning in things intelligible and spiritual; the concubines, souls who receive the reward of earthly things, of whom it is said, Matthew 6:2: They have received their reward; the young maidens, souls whose knowledge is not settled, and who can wander among diverse doctrines."

Symbolically, one dove is the soul, which attends wholly to the one, highest good: she is therefore supremely perfect, if, being one, she has leisure for the one God, as St. Giles, companion of St. Francis, used to say — indeed as Christ says, Luke 10:41: "Martha, Martha," he says, "you are anxious, and troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary: Mary has chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her:" for charity, joining the mind to the one God, makes it, as it were, one thing with God, says St. Gregory; whence that truly wise man said: "he who seeks perfection, aspires to union; whatever he seeks, he strives toward unity." "Rare," says Blessed Laurence Justinian, On the Chaste Marriage of the Word and the Soul, near the end, "I say, is the soul who, by merit of life, by privilege of office and by the immensity of love, is called the spouse of the Word, of whom the Bridegroom says in her praise, Canticle 6:8: My dove is one, my perfect one, the chosen of her that bore her. Whom, when he finds her such, he loves with a singular charity, visits frequently, speaks with her familiarly, sweetly embraces her, and scarcely suffers himself to be absent from her. He departs from her at times, not as one angry, but as one inflamed with love: for the longer he delays to return, the more vehemently is she inflamed by the very delay, knocks more often, calls more ardently, and says, Canticle 2:13: Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come: my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, show me your face: let your voice sound in my ears: for your voice is sweet, and your face comely: for headlong love does not endure delay, knows no waiting in its desire to enjoy him whom it loves. One who is unskilled in the art of love does not grasp it; only one who has experienced it knows it."

THIRD SENSE, THE PRINCIPAL ONE. Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

This statement applies uniquely and most properly of all to the Blessed Virgin, who is the only dove of Christ, his spouse, perfect, the only one of her mother, that is, of the Church, the chosen of her that bore her, that is, of St. Anne: for the Blessed Virgin is perfect above all the saints and angels in grace, virtues, merits, and glory; wherefore she is uniquely loved, praised, and proclaimed blessed by Christ, his Church, St. Anne, and all the saints and angels: for nothing less than God is worthy of the Mother of God, says St. Bonaventure. Again, the three Anonymous writers take the queens to mean the virgins, among whom nevertheless the Blessed Virgin is one and unique; the concubines, the widows; the young maidens, the married women: hence in the litanies they are invoked last of all: virgins, widows, and the married.

...to the Blessed Virgin, for she herself is the one dove, that is, the one spouse of the Most Holy Trinity, chosen and beloved above all men and angels "of her mother" — that is, of the Church of the patriarchs, says Rupert, "and of the just kings, from whom she was born, of whose blessing, which had been promised to them, she is, according to the faith, the gate or the matter. And to that mother and to this one who bore her, she is the one and the chosen, because neither among the angels nor among men has she one like her, whether a first one before her, or one she is to have after her; truly a dove, because full of grace; truly chosen, who would not only herself exist in salvation, but would also bring forth salvation itself."

Wherefore the Most Holy Trinity seems to have poured out all its love upon the Blessed Virgin, so much so that it loves her alone more than the whole world and all the angels and men taken together, as Francisco Suárez and other theologians teach: see Suárez, Part III, Question 37, Disputation 18, Section 4, where he confirms this very point with four arguments and very many testimonies of the Fathers. Hear William: "My dove is one, my perfect one; she is the one queen of queens, the mistress of the concubines, the nurse of the young maidens: she is a dove through fruitfulness, and mine through the novelty of a singular birth; my dove, to whom I am the singular offspring; my perfect one, to whom nothing is lacking for grace and for glory, whose fruitfulness did not deflower her virginity, nor did her virginity fail to know fruitfulness." And after some things: "She is also uniquely chosen of her that bore her, singularly chosen for the ministry of redemption and of the regeneration of grace. For she showed a signal and singular ministry of grace to the Redeemer, in that she brought forth the Redeemer himself for herself and for us, nourished him for herself and for us with devoted milk, and brought him, with the devoted care of maternal solicitude, to the years of maturity." Hear also Honorius: "You alone surpass the merits of all, and therefore, chosen alone above all, my dove, into whom I have poured the gifts of the Spirit; my perfect one, whom I have suffused with perfection through the gifts of the virtues. She alone is to be imitated by her mother, namely the present Church; chosen of her that bore her, namely the assembly of angels. The daughters of Zion, that is, of the Church, saw her with the eyes of the heart, and proclaimed her most blessed, as she herself said, Luke 1:48: All generations shall call me blessed. And the queens and the concubines, the active and the contemplative, thus praised her, saying: Who is this, as follows in the next verse."

Furthermore, Abbot Lucas, the continuator of Aponius, takes the one dove to mean the humanity of Christ: for the eternal Word betrothed this to himself above all things, when, having become man, he assumed it from the Blessed Virgin, to whom, accordingly, as to her own mother, it was most beloved. This same humanity is said to have been chosen of her that bore her, because it was chosen to be the mediator between the strength of divinity and the frailty of the flesh: this is Lucas's view, for the humanity of Christ was the first and nearest spouse of the Word, as I have already said more than once.

THE DAUGHTERS (the young maidens) SAW HER, AND DECLARED HER MOST BLESSED; THE QUEENS AND THE CONCUBINES (saw her), AND PRAISED HER.

The Arabic: after her the queens, the concubines, and they will praise her; which is remarkable, since they themselves are also beautiful, and deserve praise; but admiring the far greater beauty of the bride, and not envying her, but rejoicing with her, they celebrate and proclaim her with one voice. This alludes to Leah, the wife of Jacob, who, when she had borne a son by Zilpah her handmaid, called him Asher, saying, Genesis 30:13: "This is for my happiness: for all women will call me blessed." The sense is clear, for all the daughters, that is, the parish Churches, praise the Roman Church as their mother; and the concubines, that is, the episcopal Churches; and the queens, that is, the patriarchal and metropolitan Churches. Likewise the rest of the souls of the faithful admire and celebrate a soul outstanding in charity and holiness, such as was the soul of Moses and of Paul.

Finally, all angels and men glorify the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, according to that saying, Luke 11:27: "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you:" this she herself, foreseeing, foretold, Luke 1:48: "All generations shall call me blessed: they proclaimed her blessed, therefore," says William, "by virginity, more blessed by fruitfulness, most blessed by fruitfulness and virginity together." By fruitfulness, I say, both physical, of Christ, and spiritual, of the faithful and of Christians, especially in the heavenly glory, where they cry out what follows: "Who is this, who comes forth as the dawn," etc.: so Rupert.

Furthermore, Abbot Lucas, taking the bride to mean the humanity of Christ betrothed to the Word: "Whatever virtues," he says, "the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, had seen her, united to the Father's charity, being born on earth, wrapped in swaddling clothes, flashing with the glory of majesty, and they proclaimed her most blessed, saying, Luke 2:14: Glory to God in the highest. She alone on earth is shown to have obtained all these beatitudes whole, among all."

Finally, the Chaldean, taking this of the victories and triumphs of the Maccabees, renders it thus: "Then the sons of the Hasmoneans went forth, and Mattathias, and all the people of Israel, and they fought against them, and the Lord delivered them into their hands. And when the inhabitants of the provinces had seen this, they called them blessed, and the kingdoms of the earth, and the powerful, praised them."

THE VOICE OF THE YOUNG MAIDENS, VERSE 9. WHO IS SHE WHO COMES FORTH LIKE THE DAWN RISING, FAIR AS THE MOON, CHOSEN AS THE SUN, TERRIBLE AS AN ARMY SET IN ARRAY?

WHO IS SHE WHO COMES FORTH (in Hebrew it is נשקפה niskapha, that is, she looks out; St. Ambrose and Jerome, she looks forth; Vatablus, she gazes forth; Pagninus, she is seen) LIKE THE DAWN RISING, FAIR AS THE MOON, CHOSEN (the Syriac, pure) AS THE SUN, TERRIBLE AS AN ARMY SET IN ARRAY? — The Syriac, as myriads, namely, of cohorts and soldiers; the Arabic, camps set in order in a garden of nuts; the Septuagint, dread, or terror (as much active as passive: for the Hebrew אימה ema signifies both, in which our version and the Hebrews, with other points, read אימה viumma, that is, terrible) as set in array, namely, the battle-line: for the best soldiers, about to fight in the line, at first fear and tremble; but afterward, by fighting, they overcome their fear, and strike it into the enemy, and become terrible to them as lions: thus the just man, fearing and dreading God, becomes terrible to his enemies. Symmachus, terrible and striking fear according to the ranks; the sixth edition, terrifying among the magnified ones; the fifth edition, illustrious as one magnified. It is the voice of the young maidens, the concubines and queens, praising the bride, by which they confess that all their own beauty is surpassed by the comeliness of the bride by as great an interval as the dawn surpasses the night, and as the sun and moon surpass the rest of the stars. Cassiodorus, St. Gregory, Theodoret, Bede, and others judge this to be the voice of the Synagogue admiring the beauty of the Church, of which more shortly.

FIRST ADEQUATE SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Church.

Because the dawn is the beginning of light, the moon the increase of light, and the sun the fullness of light, hence by these symbols is signified the beginning, the progress, and the perfection of the Church; whence Honorius says: the Church, before the Mosaic law, in the state of the law of nature, was the dawn, when she had only a certain beginning of the law and of divine knowledge; she was the moon under the law, because then that knowledge was growing, still lacking the rays of the sun; she was the sun under the Gospel, because then the Church, with the true Sun shining and utterly dispelling all the shadows of night, was about to put forth her strength and her unconquered powers in a final effort: for that the discourse is now inclining toward the times of Antichrist, even St. Gregory taught; nor does Cassiodorus dissent, who holds this to be the voice of the Synagogue at the end of the age, converted to Christ through the preaching of Elijah and Enoch.

Better do others refer all these things to the progress of the Christian Church: for she herself arose under Christ and the apostles faintly, secretly, and hiddenly, like the dawn, in Judea; then she grew, like the moon waxing toward the full moon, but with a pale light, inasmuch as through terrors, persecutions, and the martyrdoms of countless martyrs under the ten emperors persecuting her, down to Constantine the Great; when, made as the sun, she scattered the rays of her faith and her rule through the whole world; soon she began to be as an army set in array, when she overthrew idolatry and paganism, and routed the heresies of Arius, Nestorius, Pelagius, and others springing up beneath her, and reformed the abuses of morals arising among the faithful. But especially will she be such at the end of the world, when, most strongly contending with Antichrist, she will overcome him through Elijah and Enoch, and convert the Jews, and everywhere flash forth with the wondrous glory of holiness; whence St. Gregory, Theodoret, Bede, Cassiodorus, Cosmas Damianus, Delrio here, and Francis Ribera, on Apocalypse XI, verse 2, refer all these things to the end of the world, and rightly: for to that the sequel looks. For then the Church, oppressed by Antichrist and the wicked, and almost extinguished, raised up by Elijah and Enoch, will rise as the dawn, and will gradually grow as the moon, and at last will shine forth as the most splendid sun, and will be as an army set in array, which will either rout all the antichristians and the wicked, or subdue them to herself. Whence St. John, Apoc. XII, 1 and following, alluding to this, describes the Church that is to be at the end of the world under the figure of a woman crowned with 12 stars; who treads the moon under her feet, and is clothed with the sun, and brings forth a male child, whom the dragon, striving to devour, is routed by Michael. See what is said there. And then likewise Christ will come to judgment, whereby he will make the Church militant triumphant, and more splendid than the sun, terrible to all demons and to the reprobate.

Hear St. Gregory: «The holy Church, as the dawn rising, comes forth at the last judgment, because, the shadows of corruption being left behind, she is renewed in brightness. She is rightly said to be chosen as the sun, because she is brought to that same glory to which her Head, Christ, who is declared to be the sun of righteousness, is brought; whence it is that the same sun says, John XVII, 24: I will, Father, that where I am, there my minister also may be.»

Hear also Cassiodorus and Bede, who judge these to be the words of the Synagogue at the end of the world, admiring the beauty of the Church: «Who is she who, as the dawn, the shadows of unbelief having passed, shows that she has the light of truth, advancing from virtue to virtue, and occupying the whole world with heavenly preaching; fair as the moon, because she is illumined by the grace of Christ the true sun, and because in the present life she sometimes grows, peace being granted; sometimes through adversities she seems to wane; chosen as the sun in the other life, where she will shine forever with joy from the vision of her Maker, and even in the present life, because she imitates Christ, the true sun; and, united in the bond of charity, she is terrible to demons, as an army set in array.»

SECOND PARTIAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

The holy soul rises as the dawn, when she rises from the shadows of sin to the light of grace; she grows as the moon, when she is more and more expanded toward this light, and advances in every virtue; finally she becomes chosen as the sun, when she shines with full charity and holiness: and then she is terrible to demons and to the wicked, as an army set in array. Hear St. Gregory: «For indeed, while the moon lights up the night, it shows to darkened eyes the path by which a man may walk: so surely does every soul which lets go the shadows and extends itself into holy action, while it gives to its neighbors an example of good working, scatter, as it were, light for eyes growing dim in the dark: for when sinners see a good work, and turn themselves to doing the same, they return to the way, as it were wandering in the night, by the light of the moon. This soul, then, while it offers good examples to sinners, shines like the moon in the night; but when it grows more and more, and from day to day, through the habit of good work, receives the light of righteousness so perfectly that it offers examples of imitation even to the good, to whom it previously appeared imitable only by sinners, then indeed the moon is made into the sun, because what was then shining for those wandering in the night now manifests the light of truth for those walking in the day.» The same author, book XVI of the Morals, chapter 25: «The mind of the just man,» he says, «is the dawn, which, leaving behind the shadows of its sin, now breaks forth into the light of eternity.»

Haymo notes that the sun and moon never rest, but are perpetually moving, and continually grow from morning until midday; the faithful and just man ought to do the same, according to that word, Prov. IV, 18: «But the path of the just, as a shining light, goes forward and increases even to perfect day.» Those beginning, then, begin to shine as the dawn, and hence still have the shadows of desires and vices mingled in them; those advancing shine more as the moon, because, as the moon lights the night, so they themselves give light to sinners; the perfect shine as the sun, which by day irradiates all: for thus also do all the perfect illumine even the just by their splendor: so St. Gregory.

To this bears the version of the Chaldee: «The nations said,» it runs, «how splendid are the works of this people, like the Morning! Its young men are fair as the moon; and its merits are pure as the sun; and its terror was upon all the inhabitants of the earth, when its standards marched through the desert.»

Furthermore, Justus of Urgel applies these things to three degrees of chastity: «For those married who live chastely,» he says, «shine as the dawn; widows and the continent grow fair as the moon; virgins shine as the sun.» St. Bernard, however, in sermon 60 among the minor sermons, adapts these to three virtues of religious, namely, by the dawn he understands humility, by the moon chastity, by the sun charity.

Anagogically, the holy mind, which in this carnal and corruptible life shines as the dawn and as the moon, which is subject to various changes, and now waxes, now wanes; in heaven will flash forth as the sun with a full, clear, and constant light, according to that word of Christ, Matt. XIII, 43: «The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father»: so St. Gregory, Theodoret, and St. Ambrose, On the Death of Valentinian, whom hear: «Who is she who looks forth as the dawn, etc.? The holy soul,» he says, «looks forth from a higher place, as it were looking down on things below; she has gone forth from the shadows of this age, shining as the moon, gleaming as the sun;»

THIRD PRINCIPAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

Rupert teaches that the Blessed Virgin was the dawn in her nativity, the moon in the conception of Christ, the sun in her assumption into heaven: «When you were born,» he says, «O blessed Virgin, then a true dawn arose for us, a dawn heralding the everlasting day; because, as the daily dawn is the end of the past night and the beginning of the following day, so your nativity, a nativity of the seed of Abraham, illustrious from the stock of David, to whom with an oath of God the promise of blessing was made, was the end of sorrows and the beginning of consolation, and for us the end of sadness and the beginning of joy.» He then proceeds from the dawn to the moon. «But when the Holy Spirit came upon you, and, a virgin, you conceived a son, a virgin you brought forth, now, and from that time, you are fair, not in just any way, but as the moon: for as the moon shines and gives light not with its own light, but with light conceived from the sun; so you, O most blessed one, this very thing, that you are so bright, you have not of yourself, but from divine grace, O full of grace!»

Finally, from the moon he passes to the sun: «But when you were taken up from this world, and translated to the heavenly bridal chamber, then you, and from that time, are chosen as the sun; chosen, I say, for us, because, as we adore and worship, as true God, the true Sun, the eternal Sun, the Son of God born of you, so we also honor and venerate you as the mother of the true God, knowing that all honor paid to the mother, without doubt, redounds to the glory of the son.» Again St. Bernard, sermon 1 On the Assumption: «The glorious Virgin,» he says, «a most burning lamp, was a wonder of light even to the angels themselves, so that they said, Canticle VI, 8: Who is she who comes forth as the dawn rising, fair as the moon, chosen as the sun? For she glowed more brightly than the rest.»

so also St. Jerome, epistle 32 to Eustochium: «Then,» he says, «the angels will marvel at the soul (ascending to the heavens), and will say: Who is she who looks forth as the daybreak, comely as the moon, chosen as the sun?»

Hear the analogies of the dawn and the Mother of God, which our Spinellus gathered from the Fathers, chapter XXIV, On the Mother of God, number 18. The dawn is the boundary of the night and the beginning of the day, and testifies that the sun is at hand; it puts to flight the birds of the night, and invites the birds of the day to sing together; it also continually advances into greater splendor, and at that time falls the white dew, by which the crops are cooled from the heat and the earth is made fruitful: so the Virgin Mother of God shone forth upon the world, encompassed as it was with the shadows of ignorance and of sins, as it were the banishment of an eternal gloom: not only the herald and bearer of the Sun of righteousness, but also its mother, she drives far away the demons, like the unclean birds of darkness: she rouses and invites the servants of God, and the very angels themselves, as birds of the day flying aloft, to the praises of God, much better than those three boys of old, freed from the fire of the Babylonian furnace, once invited all creatures to bless God: since far greater benefits of God toward the human race have become known and have come about through the Mother of God. She is likewise as the dawn continually rising, since in all her acts, while she lived, she always grew with greater increases of merits, and now knowledge of her among men, and devotion toward her, is perpetually propagated more and more from day to day, and by her prayers divine grace descends into the souls of men, like the white dew, by which they are cooled from the heat of temptations and concupiscence, and are made fruitful for the germinating of good works. Therefore the Mother of God herself is called, by St. Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, in his oration On the Offering of the Virgin, the divine dew of the ardor that is in us, and the sprinkling that divinely bedews our dried-up heart; or rather the Blessed Virgin, as the dawn, brought forth the dew Christ, who, as dew, cools the heat of concupiscence, and makes fruitful the garden of the soul, and renders it fertile in good works; whence Isaiah, chapter XLV, verse 8: «Drop down dew, you heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just,» that is, Christ: wherefore Durandus, in the Rationale of the Divine Offices, treating of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, asserts that the Blessed Virgin was born on the 8th day of September, on a Sabbath, and that at the dawning of the day, according to a revelation made to a certain religious man, so that it might be signified that she would be the dawn which would go before the Sun of righteousness and would bring him forth.

Moreover the Blessed Virgin is unconquered against the demons, as an army set in array. Hear St. Bernard, in St. Bonaventure, in the Speculum, chapter III: «Visible enemies do not so fear a numerous army of camps, as the powers of the air fear the name of Mary, her patronage, and her example: they melt away and perish like wax before the face of fire, wherever they find frequent remembrance of this name, devout invocation, and careful imitation.»

Symbolically, Philo Carpathius: the humanity (for this is first in the Canticle, that is, the bride of the Word) of Christ, he says, shines as the moon; but his divinity radiates as the sun, according to that word, Psalm LXXXVIII, 38: «His throne as the sun in my sight, and as the moon perfect.» But Lucas the abbot adapts all these to the humanity of Christ; for this first: «she goes forth,» he says, «as the dawn after the shadows of ignorance, rising as with morning light to the sacred baptism. Secondly, fair as the moon through her several virtues, who advances in wisdom and in bodily age for as many years (namely thirty) as the moon in days fills and wanes its orb; who, as the moon at the rising of her showing, affords joy to sorrowing wayfarers, is shown shining forth, amid the wine spent at the wedding, among the beginnings of those still coming to believe; and at whose setting a storm shook the whole world, and covered the darkness with the lights of love. Thirdly, chosen as the sun, after the fullest glory of the resurrection, standing firm in paternal brightness; indeed these three degrees, full of praises, can be understood of the future judgment. He will appear to the just in the beauty of the moon; to the powers of heaven, shining in majesty; but to the wicked, consigned to eternal fire, terrible as an army set in array.» These are the words of Lucas, or rather of Aponius, for Lucas is the abbreviator of this author.

THE VOICE OF THE BRIDEGROOM. VERSE 10. I WENT DOWN INTO THE GARDEN OF NUTS, TO SEE THE FRUITS OF THE VALLEYS, AND TO OBSERVE WHETHER THE VINEYARD HAD FLOWERED, AND THE POMEGRANATES HAD BUDDED.

I WENT DOWN INTO THE GARDEN OF NUTS, TO SEE THE FRUITS OF THE VALLEYS (the Septuagint, the produce of the torrent; Symmachus, to consider the fruits of the valley; the Arabic, the crops of the torrent), AND TO OBSERVE WHETHER THE VINEYARD HAD FLOWERED, AND THE POMEGRANATES HAD BUDDED (the Hebrew and the Septuagint, had flowered) — that is, the pomegranate trees. The Septuagint and the Arabic add, there I will give you my breasts. Theodoret, Cassiodorus, the three Anonymous authors, Genebrardus, and Cosmas Damianus consider these to be the words of the bride, telling the bridegroom why she came to the garden; but since in verses 1 and 2 the bride indicates that she went down into the garden in order to seek the bridegroom there, it seems inconsistent that she should here allege another reason for her descent. Therefore more fittingly St. Jerome, on Zechariah chapter 12, St. Gregory, Philo, Anselm, Rupert, Abbot Luke, Delrio, Sanchez, and others consider these to be the words of the bridegroom, who, being reconciled to the bride who seeks him so anxiously, dissembles his offense, and for his sudden departure, of which in verse 6, alleges another cause, namely, that he might inspect the fruits of the garden, whether they were budding, or even the fruits were ripening: for some fruits, such as cherries, plums, and indeed certain fruits properly so called, ripen at the beginning of summer, when the vineyards flower and the pomegranates bud.

FIRST, THE FULL SENSE: Concerning Christ and the Church.

Christ, seeing the prelates of the Church of the Gentiles negligent in reforming the errors and morals of the faithful, turns aside to the garden of nuts, that is, to the Synagogue of the Jews, from which he was born and from which he gathered the apostles, and in which accordingly he laid the foundations of his Church, that he might convert the Jews and consider and gather their fruits in his own time — namely, the nuts of penance and patience, and the fruits of the valleys (for in the valleys, where there are waters and torrents, fruits and other produce come forth more fruitfully), that is, the fruits of humility, and the grapes and wines of devotion, and the pomegranates of charity. This he has done at various times and places, but he will do it most fully at the end of the world, when through Elijah and Enoch he will make most of the Jews Christians, indeed exceptional saints. By this his descent Christ invites the prelates and faithful of the Church to go down themselves and care for the salvation of the Jews (whom we see generally neglected), and not to despair of it, but to await it with long patience; I say the same of any who are hardened. Thus Philo Carpathius, Rupert, Abbot Luke, Cosmas Damianus, Gislerius, Delrio, and others understand by the garden of nuts the Synagogue of the Jews, of those converted and to be converted to Christ, especially at the end of the world; for Christ shows here that he bears great care for them, as Paul also does, Romans chapter 9, verse 1.

For, first, the nut bears no fruit unless struck by poles and stones; so the Jews of old did nothing good unless driven by God through blows and scourges. Second, as the nut is covered by a bitter husk and then by a hard shell, so the Jews have a bitter and hard heart against Christ, and are obstinate in their Judaism: so Rupert. Third, the nut is said to give off a vapor that induces torpor and drowsiness, says Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus book 2, chapter 8; whence also the nut is called by the Greeks καρύα from κάρος, that is, from the torpor and heaviness which it induces, just as the nut is called by the Latins nux from nocendo, to harm: so we see that most of the Jews labor under the drowsiness of perfidy, and this Paul affirms from David, Romans chapter 11, 9. Fourth, as the nut easily spoils and rots, and then becomes putrid and noxious, so formerly the scribes and Pharisees, and now the rabbis, have corrupted the kernel of the law by their perverse interpretations and made it putrid: for which Christ rebukes them, Matthew 5:20, and 23:14. Fifth, as the walnut tree, on Pliny's testimony, book 17, chapter 12, harms with its heavy shade the crops and plants nearest to it, so that nation afflicts ill, by the wicked example of its life and its impious doctrine, the other nations among whom it dwells, nor does it allow them to bear any evangelical fruits. Sixth, the law of Moses is compared to the nut: "For as the nut tree," says Philo Carpathius, "bears bitter leaves, threefold, and the fruit itself, namely the nuts, wrapped in a most bitter husk which they call the culeus, and in a harder and dry shell, which indeed contain within a kernel not unpleasant, divided into four parts, held together here and there by a woody cartilage running through it, and, while it is green, by a thin membrane; so that law, written by the finger of God, out of those carnal sacrifices and ceremonies seemed, as it were, a bitter nut in its foliage — though these things mystically signified the triune and one God — and was covered, as it were, by a very hard sense, though a mystical one, as by a husk; yet, veiled, it held enclosed a most sweet and most salutary fruit, Christ Jesus who was to descend from heaven; and this fruit, to be made known by the fourfold evangelical sense through the four corners of the world, was to be dug out and eaten most holily, and only by those who rightly and holily extract its kernel."

SECOND, THE PARTIAL SENSE: Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

The garden of nuts is any soul whatsoever, whose kernel — namely, good will and holiness — Christ desires and seeks; but he must break its hard husk, that is, its lusts, in order to reach the kernel: for this great and long patience is needed. "Nuts," says Pliny, book 15, chapter 28, "are enclosed by a shell; chestnuts by a husk; acorns by a rind; grapes by a skin; pomegranates by a husk and membrane; mulberries consist of flesh and juice; cherries of skin and juice." The same author, chapter 22, says: "The walnut is protected by a double covering — first of a cushioned calyx, then of a woody shell — which is the reason it has been made sacred to weddings, its offspring being guarded in so many ways — which is more likely than that in falling they make a rattling or a sound." And after some words: "Nature has enclosed this fruit alone with a jointed covering; for the ridges of the shells are cleft in two, and the kernels within them are divided into four parts, with a woody membrane running between."

Just as, then, great patience is needed by one who wishes to prepare a nut for eating, so the same is needed by bridegrooms, that they may accommodate their brides to their own ways, and especially by spiritual bridegrooms, namely, that they may form to Christian laws men hard and refractory, such as the Jews are. Hence the proverb, which Plautus mentions in the Curculio: "He who wishes to have (eat) the kernel from the nut, let him break the nut," that is: let him who seeks profit not flee labor; let him who seeks pleasure first undergo sweat, without which true pleasure is not obtained. "The nut," says St. Jerome, "is outwardly both hard and bitter, but within it hides a most sweet food." "As the herb Moly," says Homer, Odyssey 10, "has a black root, but a milk-white flower."

Wherefore the nut, or rather the breaking of the nut, is a symbol of the perfect patience of those who strive to win souls for Christ and to betroth them to him, especially those souls which have grown a callus of perfidy, or of some vice, through a long habit of sinning, so that this callus may be cut away gradually and gently: for, as the three Anonymous authors say in Theodoret, the sweetness and beauty of virtue are preserved in the midst of bitterness, labors, temptations, and hardships, just as the kernel of the nut is preserved in the midst of the hard shell. The nut, then, by its hardness represents hardness of every kind in general, which, if it is directed toward a good object, is good, such as is found in patience, constancy, and fortitude; if toward evil, it is evil, such as is found in obstinacy and stubbornness — indeed, it is often changed from evil into good, as the Jews, once converted by Elijah, will change the hardness of their perfidy into an admirable constancy of faith.

Hence Philo, book 5, On the Life of Moses: The nut, he says, signifies perfect virtue; for as in the nut the end and the beginning are the same — for insofar as it is a seed, it is a beginning; insofar as it is a fruit, it is an end — so too in the virtues, each one is both an end and a beginning; the outermost shell is bitter, the inner woody husk is solid: so the labor of virtue is hard and difficult, yet by it one arrives at happiness, both one's own and another's. Again, the wise and the perfect, while they steadfastly retain divine wisdom and virtue within their bodies, carry it as it were a kernel in a fragile shell; whence the Apostle, 2 Corinthians 4:7: "We have a treasure in earthen vessels."

To this purpose serves the Chaldee version, which understands these words, in Jewish fashion, of the Temple and Judea: "The Lord of the age said: In the second house of the sanctuary, which was rebuilt by the hand of Cyrus, I caused my majesty to dwell, that I might see my works of my people, and that I might see whether the wise, who are compared to the vine, increase and multiply, and whether their offshoots are full of good works, like pomegranates."

Symbolically, St. Augustine, Sermons on the Time, sermon for the Sunday next before the feast of the Nativity of Christ, teaches that the nut consists of a threefold substance, just as the Church consists of Christ, the Jews, and the Gentiles: "The nut," he says, "has in its body a threefold union of substance: husk, shell, and kernel; in the husk, the flesh; in the shell, the bones; in the kernel, the inner soul is compared. In the husk of the nut is signified the flesh of the Savior, which had in itself roughness, [...]"

[Translator's note: the printed Latin breaks off in mid-sentence at this point, and the text that follows is dislocated. The fragment below closes a quotation that was never opened here; it is in fact the completion of the St. Gregory quotation begun at the very end of this unit ("For why," says Gregory,). It is therefore not St. Augustine's, and is set off here as the incomplete fragment it is.]

[...] not the fruits of the mountain, but the fruits of the valley, that he might see, did he descend? — except that he grants them a regard of his mercy, whom he knows to persist in humility.

Finally, he explains thus the flowering of the vine and of the pomegranates: "The vine flowers, when in the Church children are newly begotten in the faith, and are being prepared, as it were, for the solidity of fruit, for a holy way of life. The pomegranates bud, when the perfect, each by his own example, build up their neighbors, and invite them, by preaching and by the display of good works, into the newness of a holy way of life. For that pomegranate was indeed the Apostle Paul, who had budded, who said, Galatians 4:19: My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you."

Symbolically, Cassiodorus, Bede, and Theodoret understand by the garden of nuts the conscience of each person, covered by as many coverings and veils as the nut has; among which is hidden the kernel of good will: into this the bridegroom descends, that he may see and gather the fruits of the valleys, that is, the fruits of humility. The nut, says St. Augustine, De Tempore, signifies the cross of Christ, whose husk signifies the outward flesh that was crucified, and through it the harsh penance and the cross which Christ commands to be taken up; the shell signifies the bones, that is, difficulty and hardness; the kernel signifies food, namely the divine and sweet food which, once the difficulty has been overcome, those who take up the cross find. Again, Aponius, Cassiodorus, and the three Anonymous authors in Theodoret, holding these to be the words of the bride, that is, of the holy soul to the disciples, explain them thus, as if to say: "Therefore the chariot of Aminadab has set me" — that is, Christ has made me his own chariot, he who is the true Aminadab, that is, prince of the people — "that I might bring him, held within myself, to you, by the discipline maintained toward each one of you according to his own character."

THE THIRD, PRINCIPAL SENSE: Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The Blessed Virgin went down into the garden of nuts when she contemplated the passion of Christ, in which the wood of the cross was the tree of nuts, which, first, by its hard shell represented the hardness of the cross and of the punishment; second, by its sweet kernel, the redemption of the human race, and the glory which Christ merited for himself and for us through the cross. St. Gregory, Aponius, Bede, and Theodoret understand by the garden of nuts the faithful conscience of each person, covered by as many coverings and veils as the nut: Christ descended that he might see the fruits of the valleys, that is, the fruits of humility: "For why," says Gregory,

VERSE 11. I KNEW NOT; MY SOUL TROUBLED ME BECAUSE OF THE CHARIOTS OF AMINADAB.

Tropologically, the nut, or rather the breaking and eating of the nut, signifies the patience with which the Church and preachers labor constantly in overcoming the obstinacy of the Jews: for the nut, in order to be eaten, must first be violently cast down from the tree to which it clings; second, be stripped of its husk; third, be broken; fourth, have its kernel removed from the shell, or rather violently wrested out; fifth, be stripped of its little skin, or its film: so, in order to convert a Jew or any hardened person, great and long patience is needed.

I KNEW NOT (the Septuagint has, my soul knew not; the Syriac, I knew not my soul, that is, I did not know myself. For "troubled," the Hebrew is שמתני samatni, in place of which our text reads שמתני with a shin, deriving it from שמם scamam, that is, "it stupefied, troubled, desolated"; and so he renders it "it troubled me"; and Symmachus: my soul, he says, wavered because of the chariots of the people leading; but the Septuagint, deriving scammatni from שם scham, that is, it placed, translate, my soul set me as the chariots of Aminadab; so too the Arabic; Ambrose, book On Abraham, chapter 8: You have set me as the chariots of Aminadab.

BECAUSE OF THE CHARIOTS OF AMINADAB. — Here "Aminadab" can be taken, first, as the proper name of a man — not the brother of David, of whom 1 Kings 13:17; nor of the other, in whose house the ark of the Lord rested, 2 Kings 6:3 (for he is called Abinadab, not Aminadab); but of him who in the time of Moses was leader of the tribe of Judah, and gave his daughter as wife to Aaron, and after himself left his son Naasson as his successor, leader of the tribe of Judah: so Lyranus and the Hebrews. Second, "Aminadab," or as it is in Hebrew Amminadib, can be taken appellatively, so as to signify a willing, liberal, princely people; hence the fifth edition translates, "you have set me in the chariot of the leader of the people"; Aquila, "of the people ruling of its own accord"; Symmachus, "of the people leading"; others, "of the noble people"; the Syriac, "in the chariot of the people made ready." Philo of Carpathus translates Aminadab as "the good pleasure of the father," as if to say: the soul of the just man, out of the good pleasure of God, is a chariot carrying itself and others into heaven. Hence some by the chariots of Aminadab understand the chariots of Solomon, who was prince and leader of the people of Israel; whence Rupert and others by Aminadab understand Christ, as it were an antitype of Solomon, who is the leader of the faithful and holy people.

Now the Chaldee translates: "But when it shall have been revealed before the Lord that they were just, and that they labored in the law, the Lord said in his word: I will not add further to humble them, nor will I make an end of them; but I will take counsel in my soul, that I may do good to them, and that I may set them on high in the chariots of kings, for the sake of the merits of the just of that generation who are like their father Abraham in their works."

Furthermore, the interpreters vary remarkably here in their sense. First, Aben-Ezra, R. Salomon, and Lyranus translate, my soul set me the chariot of the ruling people, and so explain it of the Synagogue and Israel, as if to say: While I knew not where the Bridegroom was — that is, while I worshipped idols, not the true God — I was given into captivity to the Assyrians and Babylonians, and was made to them as it were a beast of burden, and a chariot carrying and bearing their loads. Second, Luysius Legionensis, Genebrardus, Vatablus, and Almonacirius explain it, as if the Bride were saying: I was carried away into the garden with such swiftness out of desire for the Bridegroom, that I seemed to be swept away by the swiftest chariots of Aminadab. Third, Sanchez, as if to say: I feared lest the Bridegroom Aminadab, that is, Solomon, would not receive me the Bride into his nuptial chariot, because, in chapter 5, verse 3, I had delayed to open to him as he knocked. Fourth, Sotomajor, as if to say: I feared lest the Bridegroom, as it were repelled by me, wandering by night through the streets, should run into the chariots of Aminadab, that is, of the prefect of the city, who goes about the city by night and seizes vagrants. Fifth, John the Carmelite, as if to say: "While I sought you, absent, amid the waves of encroaching evils, I seemed like Aminadab of old, who led his chariots through the bed of the Red Sea, where he was thrown into confusion by the greatness of the wonder, although his courage prevailed." Others explain it otherwise.

But I say, sixth, that grammatically the chariots of Aminadab (that is, of the princely or willing people) denote the peoples neighboring Judaea, who, drawn by the fame of Solomon's wisdom and power, of their own accord submitted themselves to him and brought tribute, 3 Kings 4:24; and therefore sent to him envoys with horses and chariots, to such an extent that their abundance filled Solomon's court; which the Jews, who wished to hold first place at court, bore ill, and were troubled — just as the Macedonians were indignant when they saw their king Alexander the Great, after subduing the Persians (in order to win them over the more to himself), take up their dress and manner; as Quintus Curtius attests. But it is signified in a parable that Christ joined the Gentiles to the Jews in the Church — indeed preferred them — and that therefore the Jews were troubled; hence both Solomon, and still more Christ, is called Aminadab, that is, prince of the people, namely of the Gentile and more numerous people. Therefore the sense is, as if to say: Just as a queen, seeing foreign chariots and horsemen beside the king, wonders and is troubled, and fears lest he has gone over to a foreign nation, and from there taken another wife: so here the Synagogue, seeing the Messiah not carried in the stately chariot of Solomon, David, and the other kings of Judah, but in that of Aminadab — that is, of the willing people, namely the Gentile — and attended by Gentiles, the Jews being left behind, wonders and is troubled. Wherefore the yod, that is, עמי ammi, is not an affixed pronoun meaning "my," as though the Synagogue were denoting her own Jewish people; but it is a paragogic yod, which is added only for the sake of ornament. Yet the yod can be taken as a pronoun, as if to say: the Gentile people, whom God now calls ammi, that is, my people: for it alludes to Hosea chapter 1:11. So much for the shell of the letter; now to the kernel.

THE FIRST, ADEQUATE SENSE. On Christ and the Church.

Some judge this to be the voice of the Bridegroom Christ, others of the Bride the Church; but it is more true that it is the voice of the Synagogue of the Jews, partly converted, and partly — and rather — to be converted to Christ toward the end of the world. For because in the preceding verse Christ had descended into the garden of nuts, that is, into the Synagogue of the Jews, to convert it through his preachers; hence she, roused by this voice and preaching of Christ, acknowledges Christ, and grieving and repenting over her former deafness and blindness, assigns its cause, and excuses her slowness in believing Christ, as if to say: I knew not that Christ was the Messiah, and therefore did not worship him, because the chariots of Aminadab troubled me.

You will ask, what are these chariots? It is answered, first, that by them can be understood Israel, and the victories and benefits bestowed on Israel by God: for Aminadab was prince of the tribe of Judah, in the time of Moses, at the crossing of the Red Sea, who — as the Hebrews relate — while the rest trembled to enter the sea, was the first to enter it boldly with his tribe and its chariots, and gave courage to the rest to follow, and so all crossed the sea, Pharaoh pursuing and being drowned. Wherefore the tribe of Judah earned the principate and kingdom of Israel, that is, of the twelve tribes, and through it thereafter God delivered and vindicated Israel from her enemies through victories, even miraculous ones. Again, Aminadab gave his daughter Elisabeth as wife to Aaron, the first high priest of the Jews, Exodus 6:23: wherefore in Aminadab is denoted both the priesthood and the kingdom granted to Israel. The sense therefore is, as the Synagogue says: I knew not until now that Christ was the Messiah, I knew not that the Christian faith and Church were true and orthodox, because the carrying and triumphal chariots of Aminadab held me in Judaism — that is, the kingdom, the priesthood, the victories, the benefits, and the miracles granted by God to Moses and Israel, by which God testified that he was the author of the law of the Synagogue, and of the religion instituted by Moses: so Titelmann.

Second, more deeply and fittingly, the chariots of Aminadab — or, as it is in Hebrew, Amminadib, that is, of a willing, liberal, and princely people — are taken appellatively for the chariots of the Christian people gathered from the Gentiles, who, while the Jews resisted the faith, believed the gospel of their own accord; and these chariots denote the course and chariot of the gospel, indeed of the four gospels, which, like a chariot, flew most swiftly through the whole world by the preaching of the apostles and apostolic men; and because the Jews saw that by these their law received from Moses was being abrogated, they were therefore unwilling to believe them and Christ; but at last, taught by Elijah and Enoch, they will see that Christ is not contrary to Moses, the gospel to the law, the Church to the Synagogue, but rather that Moses and the law, through all their functions and rites, foreshadowed and represented Christ and the gospel. They will likewise see the glory of the gospel, its miracles, graces, zeal, and the spirit breathed by God upon Elijah and the Christians: wherefore then they will believe, and will be set upon the same chariot of Christ and the Church; whence from the Hebrew the Septuagint and others translate, "my soul set me as the chariot of my willing, liberal, and princely people"; and St. Athanasius, reading in the Synopsis, "my soul set me as the chariots of Aminadab," explains this of the Synagogue, as if she herself were saying: "I saw that I must be joined to the calling, as it were on the chariot of the Gentiles." So Paul, says Rupert, says that he persecuted the Church, but obtained mercy, because he did it in ignorance, because indeed his soul was troubled because of the chariots of Aminadab, seeing, that is, the course — the course of the gospel — opposing Judaism.

This sense is common among the Fathers, for so explain St. Gregory, Cassiodorus, Bede, Justus, Philo, Rupert, Anselm, and others. Rupert adds that Aminadab, who by giving his daughter as wife to Aaron joined the principate to the priesthood, represented Christ, who is at once high priest and prince of the Church. Solomon, in the word Aminadab, alludes to that verse, Psalm 109:3: "With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength, in the splendors of the saints," where in the Hebrew is עמך נדבות ammecha nedaboth, which is the same as Aminadab; whence St. Jerome there translates: thy people shall be willing in the day of thy strength, O Christ. This bears on the fact that God, Hosea 1:9, calls the Jews rebellious to Christ לא עמי lo ammi, that is, not my people; but calls the Gentiles submitting themselves to Christ עמי ammi, that is, my people; here Solomon adds נדיב nadib, that is, willing, liberal, that is, of their own accord, freely and with a liberal spirit subjecting themselves to Christ: and this was the cause of the blinding of the Jews, namely that Christ, they being unbelieving, substituted for them in the Church the Gentiles who of their own accord believed in him, since the Jews objected that Christ was promised to Abraham and his seed, that is, to the Jews, not to the Gentiles; to whom the Apostle responds, Romans 9:7, that the sons of Abraham are reckoned not according to the flesh, as the Jews were, but according to the spirit, namely those who follow the faith of Abraham, as the Gentile Christians are: these, then, are the chariots of the gospel, which at first troubled the unbelieving Synagogue, but afterward wonderfully refreshed her believing.

Symbolically, Cosmas Damianus takes by the chariots of Aminadab the strength and forces of Antichrist, for these will at first detain the Jews in Judaism, until he is convicted of error and overthrown by Elijah and Enoch. Theodoret agrees, who expounds it thus, as if to say: "They set," that is, imposed upon me, and deceived me, the chariots of Aminadab, that is, the princes of this age; and Lucas the abbot, or Aponius, who by the chariots of Aminadab takes the demons, likewise Pilate and the Jews, who cried out against Christ, Luke 23:21: "Crucify, crucify him."

Finally, some think that grammatically there are here denoted the wars which Solomon waged against Emath Suba, that is, Syria of Sobal; likewise against the remnants of the Hittites, Amorites, and Jebusites, whom he subjected to himself, as is clear from 2 Chronicles 8:3 and 7, as if the Bride were troubled, fearing lest something untoward should befall the Bridegroom setting out to war; hence by the chariots of Aminadab they understand Mohammed, the Saracens, and the Turks, who greatly troubled, and still trouble, the Church, for these abound in armies, horses, and chariots. These are called Aminadab, that is, of my willing people, because Mohammed arose from among Christians: for he was born among the Homerites (whence also his grandson, who succeeded him in the second place in the kingdom of the Arabs, was called Homar), that is, in Arabia Felix, where a little before, about the year of Christ 600, under King Elesbaan, in the time of the Emperor Justinian, the Christian religion wonderfully flourished.

Mohammed, however, was born a little before the year of Christ 600, under Pope Gregory the Great, and the Emperor Phocas, whom the Emperor Heraclius succeeded, under whom Mohammed earned pay as it were a leader of the Arabs; but when this was not paid to the Arabs by Heraclius's prefect, they, rebelling, seized Phoenicia, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, as Genebrardus teaches in his Chronicle from Paulus Diaconus and Simonetta, and gradually extending their arms, around the year of Christ 1300, grew remarkably. Then Ottoman invaded the kingdom, and first made himself emperor of the Turks, and propagated it to his descendants through 14 generations, down to now, with great and continual increase of empire and to the harm of the Church. Others by the chariots of Aminadab, that is, of my people, understand the antipopes, who tore apart the Church through schism; and there were twenty such: for so many schisms did the Church endure. Others understand the schismatic emperors, or those who attacked the popes and the Church, such as were Frederick I and II, Otho IV, Henry IV and V. For this reason Christ, a little before, in verse 10, says: "I went down into the garden of nuts," that is, into the Church divided by schism, just as a nut is split and divided into two fragments.

THE SECOND, PARTIAL SENSE. On Christ and the holy soul.

The holy soul is the chariot of Aminadab, that is, of Christ: for Christ, say Rupert and St. Ambrose, is called Aminadab, that is, prince of the people, namely of the faithful Christian, holy and elect; Christ therefore, as a charioteer sitting upon his chariot, directs the holy soul into heaven, just as Elijah was carried by a chariot into the sky; and not only himself, but also others entrusted to his faith or charity, he carries as it were chariots of Christ into heaven, says Philo; whence three Anonymous writers in Theodoret, judging these to be the words of the Bride, that is, of the holy soul to the disciples, explain thus, as if to say: "Therefore my soul set me as the chariots of Aminadab, that is, Christ made me his chariots," who is the true Aminadab, that is, prince of the people, "that I might convey him in myself, by teaching held with you according to the reason of each of you." Hear St. Ambrose, book On Naboth, chapter 15: "If the soul," he says, "is a chariot, consider whether the horse may not be the flesh; and the driver, the vigor of the mind, which governs the flesh and its movements and with prudence restrains them with the reins, as it were certain horses." The same, book On Virgins: "Christ," he says, "the true Aminadab, drives the soul of the just man as it were a chariot; mounting it, he governs it with the reins of the word, lest it be carried away into precipices by the fury of violent horses. For it has, as it were, four horses, four passions — anger, desire, pleasure, and fear — by whose raging, when it begins to be driven, it in no way knows itself. For the corruptible body weighs down the soul, and, like the running of irrational animals, carries it away unwilling; and as the impulses of the body roll on, rushing as it were with a certain impetus, until the passions of the body, having delayed me, grow gentle by the power of the word."

THE THIRD, PRINCIPAL SENSE. On Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The Blessed Virgin is the chariot of Aminadab, that is, of the willing people, namely of the faithful, whom she carries into heaven by obtaining for them obedience and liberality, whereby they subject themselves freely and willingly to the precepts and counsels of Christ: wherefore to her belongs that which Elisha cried out to Elijah, caught up into heaven in a fiery chariot: "My father, my father, (thou art) the chariot of Israel, and the driver thereof," 4 Kings 2:12: see what was said at chapter 1, verse 9, on those words: "I have compared thee to my company of horsemen in Pharaoh's chariots."

THE VOICE OF THE NEW BRIDE CONCERNING THE OLD, that is, of the Church concerning the Synagogue, to be converted at the end of the world. VERSE 12. RETURN, RETURN, O SULAMITESS: RETURN, RETURN, THAT WE MAY BEHOLD THEE.

RETURN (others translate be converted), RETURN (the Arabic adds a third "return"), O Sulamitis: RETURN, RETURN, THAT WE MAY BEHOLD THEE. — The Scholiast: we shall gaze upon thee as upon a spectacle, that is, as upon a wonderful thing worth beholding. Instead of Sulamitis many codices read Sunamitis, and so read the Vatican Septuagint. Furthermore Rupert and others translate Sunamitis as captive, despised: properly Sunamitis in Hebrew is the same as changeable, variable. Again Sunamitis can be translated, with Honorius and Hailgrinus here, and St. Jerome, letter to Nepotian, as scarlet: for שני scani in Hebrew is scarlet dye; whence some suspect that the bride, who is introduced in the drama of the Canticle as a Sunamitess, is introduced as a Tyrian woman: for there, from the blood of the purple-fish, purple cloth was made, and from the grain of kermes, scarlet cloth, whence that saying, to be clothed in Tyrian purple.

For Tyre was near to Lebanon, in which, walking about and hunting, Solomon is imagined to have found this shepherd girl, and to have chosen her as his bride on account of the gifts of body as well as of soul; whence that saying in chapter IV, 8: "Come from Lebanon, my spouse," etc. For a scarlet or purple garment is the garment of kings and queens, such as Solomon and his bride were. According to the letter, Sunamitis is the same as one born of the town of Sunam, situated near the mountains of Hermon and Thabor. For this Sunamitess alludes to that Sunamitess, the hostess of Elisha, in the town of Sunam, whose son accordingly he raised from death, just as Christ raises the sons of the Church from present and eternal death, IV Kings IV, 35. More, however, on the testimony of Justus Orgelitanus here, and of Adrichomius in his Description of the Holy Land, it alludes to that most beautiful Sunamitess, who was given to David in his old age to warm him, as a wife and virgin, III Kings I, 2. For in like manner this Sunamitess was given to Solomon, son of David, as wife and virgin, that she might represent the virgin Church to be betrothed to the virgin Christ, according to that saying in II Corinthians XI, 2: "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." Because, therefore, that Sunamitess of David was most notable in beauty, in faith, and in character, hence to Solomon's bride also, in this drama, the same name Sunamitess is given, because she was most beautiful in body and soul; more beautiful than both of them is the Sulamitess, that is, the Church, the bride of Christ.

But it should rather be read Sulamitis, for so read the Hebrew and the Complutensian Greek, and the Royal and the Roman-corrected Latin. Now Sulamitis is the same as Jerusalemitess, say Pagninus, Luysius and Vatablus: for Jerusalem was formerly called Salem; whence Sulamitis is the same as a citizen of Salem, or Jerusalem, that is, mystically, one dwelling in peace. Better, Delrio, Genebrardus and others: Sulamitis, they say, is the same as Solomonia, that is, the wife of Solomon; for just as from Paulus is said Paula, from Caius Caia, from Cornelius Cornelia; so from the masculine Salomon is said Sulamitis, that is, Salomo (by which name is called the mother of the seven Maccabean martyrs, on the testimony of Josephus), or Salomonia. Furthermore, just as Salomon in Hebrew is the same as peaceful, perfect: so Sulamitis is the same as perfect and peaceful, as here translate Aquila, Theodoret, St. Ambrose and others. The Hebrew has the article; for it has הַשּׁוּלַמִּית hassculamith, that is, that Sulamitis, that peaceful one, who far surpasses the rest. Again, and rather, the ה here is the article of the vocative case, as if to say, O Sulamitis. It is remarkable that Symmachus translates the contrary, ἐσκυλμένη, that is, despoiled.

Finally, Sulamitis is the same as Sunamitis, by enallage, whereby the letter N is often changed and softens into L: thus the Italians for Panermus say Palermo, for veneno, veleno, for Bononia, Bologna. Thus the Syrians for nux say lux. The Attics for virgos say λίτριν; for πνεύμων, πλεύμων, as the Latins say pulmo. The Dorians, conversely, change L into N, as for ἦλθον they say ἦνθον, for βέλτιστος, βέντιστος, for φίλτατος, φίντατος; for πλάνε, πίνλε. All the Greeks for δίν and ἀσύν say συλλέγω, likewise συλλογισμός. The Latins for νύμφη say lympha, for bonus, bonulus, bellus; for γρυλίζω, grunnio; for μέγαλος, magnus: so Angelus Caninius in his Hellenismi. In like manner she who is here called in Hebrew Sulamitis is called by the Septuagint and most of the Latins Sunamitis. Wrongly Philo Carpathius reads for Sulamitis, Odollamitis, that is, he says, testimony of water, as though here the unfaithful soul is called to baptism, that in it she might profess the faith of the Holy Trinity.

FIRST, ADEQUATE SENSE. Concerning Christ and the Church.

Some think these are the words of the young maidens, who, having heard from the bridegroom, in chapter V, the praises of the bride, desire to detain her as she is departing, and to contemplate the beauty in her face, as we have heard the same done by them in verse 9. Better, the Fathers commonly think these are the words of the Church, ardently and constantly inviting the Synagogue of the Jews, who now, having heard the preaching of Christ, was beginning to love him, as we heard in the preceding verse, that she may at once turn herself to him, and show her face — united in faith, serene and joyful — both to him and to the Church, and therefore the word return is repeated four times, because the Jews, scattered through the four regions of the world, are thence to be converted to Christ, having heard the preaching of the four Gospels, which shortly before were signified by the chariots of Aminadab, says Rupert: so St. Gregory, Cassiodorus, Aponius, Philo, Anselm and others.

Again, as if to say, O Sulamitis, that is, O Synagogue formerly hostile, now converted to Christ, return to the fellowship and company of the Church gathered from the Gentiles, that the Gentiles, beholding your beauty which you received through baptism, may exult, and congratulate you, and give thanks to God: this sense is suggested by what follows: "That we may behold thee," that is, your form and beauty; and: "What will you see in the Sulamitess, but the choirs of camps?"

SECOND, PARTIAL SENSE. Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

The sinful soul, or the holy soul, but sluggish and fallen into venial faults, is invited by Christ four times, that is, urgently and continually, to repentance, to a change of life, and to fervor. So St. Ambrose, book On Isaac, chapter VIII: "Well," he says, "as a charioteer to his chariot, he says: Be converted, Sulamitis, that is, peaceful one; for the soul that is peaceful quickly converts and corrects itself, even if it sinned before, and Christ mounts it the more, and deigns to guide it, to which it is said, Habakkuk III, 8: Mount upon your horses, and your riding is health"; and St. Bernard, sermon 3 On the Annunciation: "Therefore," he says, "perhaps he calls back four times the soul which he regards, so that it may persist neither in the habit of sinning, nor in the consciousness of sins, but neither in the lukewarmness of ingratitude, nor in the haughtiness of self-exaltation." [Translator's note: the Latin exemplar reads "erecitate" here, which is unattested; the rendering is conjectural.] The same, sermon 13 among the short sermons: "Return," he says, "first from foolish gladness, second from useless sadness, third from empty glory, fourth from hidden pride. Empty glory is that which comes from the mouth, outwardly. Hidden pride arises inwardly."

To this may be added the version of the Chaldean: "Return to me, assembly of Israel, return to Jerusalem, return to the house of the teaching of my law, return to look up to the prophecy of the prophets, who prophesy in the name of the word of the Lord."

Elegantly and acutely Hugh of St. Victor, Miscellanea II, book II, title 24: "Four times," he says, "the Lord says to her, return, as if he were saying: Return to what is mine, because they are wonderful; from what is yours, because they are wicked; from yourself, because all flesh is grass; to me, because I am the highest good. You cannot see me, unless first we behold you. I know not what stain you have on your face; you are foul, you bear an alien image; cleanse it therefore, that we may revere you."

Furthermore Theodoret understands by the Sulamitess the soul of the evangelical preacher, which, peaceful in itself, suffers many temptations, hunger, and persecutions: this soul, therefore, he says, is here invited to return to the work of preaching and the salvation of souls: for God will be present to it, that it may struggle free from all things and overcome all things.

Anagogically, St. Ambrose, in his oration On the Death of Valentinian, understands these words of the holy soul, which is called by Christ and the angels out of this life into heaven.

Symbolically, three Anonymous writers cited by Theodoret understand by the Sulamitess the soul devoted to contemplation, as though she is here called forth by her disciples and companions, that she herself may teach the manner of curbing and governing the four passions or disturbances of the soul, and therefore return is repeated four times.

THIRD, PRINCIPAL SENSE. Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The Blessed Virgin, at the end of her life, was called into heaven by Christ, the angels, and the blessed, who desired to enjoy her most sweet presence, and to behold her gifts of grace and glory, from which she had drawn her soul, spirit, and all grace. Again, she herself is invoked four times, that is, ardently and unceasingly, by penitents and the faithful, that she may obtain grace, and bring help in whatever necessity.

Tropologically, learn here how beautiful and comely is the soul of any saint, and especially of the Blessed Virgin, inasmuch as all the angels and the blessed desire to behold her with such ardent and so often repeated longing, that from this beholding they may obtain the greatest consolation, joy, and jubilation: wherefore theologians hold that the secondary happiness of the blessed consists in contemplating and enjoying the glorious humanity of Christ, just as their primary beatitude consists in the vision and enjoyment of the divinity.