PL 35 · cols. 2149–2200

Pseudo-Augustinus (Augustinus Hibernicus), De mirabilibus sacrae Scripturae libri tres

Book I

PL 35:2149

Appendix tertii tomi OPERUM S. AUGUSTINI

Appendix to the third volume of the Works of St Augustine

COMPLECTENS ALIQUOT IN SCRIPTURAM TRACTATUS IPSI OLIM FALSO ADSCRIPTOS,

containing some treatises on Scripture once falsely ascribed to him,

NIMIRUM :

namely:

DE MIRABILIBUS S. SCRIPTURAE, LIBROS TRES.

On the Wonders of Holy Scripture, three books.

DE BENEDICTIONIBUS PATRIARCHAE JACOB.

On the Blessings of the Patriarch Jacob.

QUAESTIONES VETERIS ET NOVI TESTAMENTI, olim in IV tomo exhibitas.

The Questions on the Old and New Testament, formerly presented in the fourth volume.

IN APOCALYPSIM JOANNIS EXPOSITIONEM, olim in IX tomo.

The Exposition on the Apocalypse of John, formerly in the ninth volume.

Alia quaedam opuscula in tertii tomi Appendice antehac contenta, cum ad sacram Scripturam non pertineant, in alios tomos retulimus, scilicet : de Ecclesiasticis Dogmatibus, de Fide ad Petrum, de Spiritu et Anima, Quaestiunculas de Trinitate, in VIII tomum; et Sententias Prosperi, in IX tomum.

Certain other little works previously contained in the Appendix to the third volume we have transferred to other volumes, since they do not pertain to Holy Scripture, namely: On Ecclesiastical Dogmas, On the Faith to Peter, On the Spirit and the Soul, and the Little Questions on the Trinity, to the eighth volume; and the Sentences of Prosper, to the ninth volume.

ADMONITIO

Admonition

IN PROXIME SUBJECTUM OPUSCULUM.

on the little work placed immediately below.

Hoc opusculum nec stilo, nec ingenio refert S. Augustinum, judicio Erasmi et Lovaniensium Theologorum. In quod jam olim intellexerat S. Thomas, qui in parte 3, q. 45, a. 3, non vult hosce libros auctoritate pollere, falsoque adscribi Augustino dicit. In Mss. et superioribus editionibus, si tamen Erasmianam exceperis, praemittitur praefatio epistolari forma, e qua vel sola constare potest librorum istorum auctorem non esse Augustinum Hipponensem, sed alium quemdam cognominem, qui cum hic episcopis et presbyteris, maxime Carthaginensium, dedicet id operis, inferius tamen videtur se gente Anglum, sive Hibernum indicare, in lib. 1, cap. 7 : ubi quidpiam obiter observans de insulis, Hiberniam ex omnibus unam nominat; pauloque post aestum maris Ledonem ac Malinam appellat, verbis apud Anglos vicinosque accolas Britannici maris, praesertim aevo Bedae, usu receptis. Tum in lib. 2, cap. 4, Manichaeum quemdam Hiberniensium mortuum notat : quo insuper loco de cyclis disserens, ostendit liquido se post 660 Christi annum scripsisse hos libros; quos ab ipso non Carthaginensium, sed Cantuariensium, vel Cambrensium ( si tamen vox jam in usu erat ), vel Kilkennensium, etc., monasteriorum presbyteris nuncupatos fuisse suspicamur.

This little work reflects St Augustine neither in style nor in genius, in the judgement of Erasmus and of the Louvain theologians. St Thomas had already long ago perceived this, who in the third part, q. 45, a. 3, does not hold that these books carry authority, and says that they are falsely ascribed to Augustine. In the manuscripts and the earlier editions, if one excepts that of Erasmus, a preface in the form of a letter is set in front, from which alone it can be established that the author of these books is not Augustine of Hippo but some other man of the same name, who, although he here dedicates the work to bishops and presbyters, chiefly of the Carthaginians, nevertheless further on seems to indicate that he is by race an Englishman or an Irishman, in book 1, chapter 7: where, observing something in passing about islands, he names Ireland alone out of them all; and a little after he calls the tide of the sea Ledo and Malina, words received in usage among the English and the neighbouring dwellers on the British sea, especially in the age of Bede. Then in book 2, chapter 4, he records a certain Manichaeus of the Irish as dead: and in the same place, moreover, discussing the cycles, he shows plainly that he wrote these books after the 660th year of Christ; and we suspect that they were addressed by him to the presbyters not of the Carthaginians but of the Canterbury, or the Welsh (if indeed the word was already in use), or the Kilkenny monasteries, etc.

DE MIRABILIBUS SACRAE SCRIPTURAE LIBRI TRES.

Three Books on the Wonders of Holy Scripture.

Venerandissimis urbium et monasteriorum Episcopis et Presbyteris, maxime Carthaginensium, Augustinus per omnia subjectus, optabilem in Christo salutem.

To the most venerable bishops and presbyters of the cities and monasteries, chiefly those of the Carthaginians, Augustine, subject in all things, [sends] desirable greeting in Christ.

Beatissimi, dum adhuc viveret, Patris mei Eusebii ad hoc opus praecepto constrictus, adhortantibus etiam vobis Christianis, vel maxime venerandissimo magistro imperii auctoritate compellente, tres de Mirabilibus sanctae Scripturae Veteris ac Novi Testamenti libros, historica expositione, quanta potui brevitate, Domino annuente, composui : in quibus arrepti operis audacia jubentium auctoritate excusabitur. Me etenim quamvis illis quae dicebantur imparem esse conspexeram, praecipientium tamen imperiis cedere, et in aliam partem declinare non audebam; certissime sciens quod major vindicta jussionum refugam inobedientem consequitur, quam praecepto obtemperantem cuicumque imperato imparem operi vituperantium accusatio comitatur. Plus namque periculi fugiens Jonas propheta in marinis fluctibus reperit (Jonae, II, 1), quam accusationis, si quod jubebatur impleret, in sermonibus populi sui pateretur, quod metuit Propheta quoque altaris Bethel, quoniam laboriosi itineris famem et sitim, ut sibi jussum fuerat, non perpetravit, inobedientiae vindicta mortem ipsam paulo

Bound to this work by the command of my most blessed father Eusebius while he was still living, with you Christians also urging me on, and above all with my most venerable master compelling me by the authority of command, I have composed, with the Lord's assent, three books on the Wonders of Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testament, by way of historical exposition, with as much brevity as I could: in which the boldness of the work undertaken will be excused by the authority of those who commanded it. For although I had perceived that I was unequal to the things that were enjoined, I nevertheless did not dare to draw back from the commands of those who instructed me and to turn aside in another direction; knowing most certainly that a greater punishment pursues the disobedient fugitive from commands than the accusation of critics attends one who obeys a command, though unequal to whatever work is commanded. For the prophet Jonah, in fleeing, found more danger in the waves of the sea (Jonah 2:1) than he would have suffered of accusation in the speech of his people if he had fulfilled what he was commanded, which he feared. The prophet of the altar of Bethel too, because he did not carry out the hunger and thirst of the laborious journey as had been commanded him, by the punishment of disobedience death itself a little

Editors' notes and page, col. 2149

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: Carthaginensium› · call in col 2149

Fortasse, Cantuariensium.

Perhaps Cantuariensium ("of the people of Canterbury").

(printed under page 423)

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: maxime Carthaginensium› · call in col 2150

Fortasse, Cantuariensium.

Perhaps of Canterbury [Cantuariensium, for "of Carthage"].

(printed under page 423)

Page

other: col 2150 is the right-hand number of a full-width page, set whole under col 2149 (corpus full_width rule); nothing of its own: pointer only

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post in via saturatus invenit (III Reg. XIII). Jeremias vero adhuc puer, nec litterarum doctrinam, nec virilis prudentiae vigorem (quando a Domino missus est prophetare) habuit: sed quod praecepto obediverat, scientiam quam non habuerat, accipere promeruit (Jerem. I, 4-9). Unde ergo non meae exiguae facultatis penuriam, sed praecipientium providam aspicio auctoritatem. Quoniam si in me igniculum aliquem lucis non crederetls, nullo modo mihi tam praecipui operis ingeniosum laborem injungeretis. In his voluminibus talis dispositionis ratio intenditur, ut primus de Moysi Pentateucho, secundus de Prophetis, tertius de Novo Testamento praenotetur. Cuncti vero laboris hoc magnopere intentio procurat, ut in omnibus rebus, in quibus extra quotidianam administrationem aliquid factum videtur, non novam ibi Deum facere naturam, sed ipsam quam in principio condidit, gubernare ostendat. Praeterea etiam in hoc opere curavimus, ut sepositis adhuc figurarum intellectibus, rerum tantummodo gestarum rationem et ordinem exponeremus. Quoniam in his locis de quibus historica narratione quaedam tetigimus, multiplex sensuum intellectus habetur; et si de ipso per singula disputaremus, plurimos libros et longioris laborem operis legentibus praeberemus. Sed hoc praecipue negligentius omittere idcirco rati sumus, quoniam quicumque auctores haec loca explanare curaverunt, mystico allegoriarum intellectui, hoc est, figurali expositioni, quae in his reperta est, adhaeserunt. Hoc autem opus utrum intereat, an maneat, in vestro pendet arbitrio. Ab uno enim vestrum, id est, Bathano, post patrem Manchinanum si quid intelligentiae addidi, et ab altero, ut credo, saliva oris ejus vicem laborum causam suscepi. Ab omnibus vero legentibus generatim oratio nostra atque petitio deplorat, quatenus ea quae dicta sunt antequam decursa intelligant, occasione aliqua non fastidiant.

after[wards] found sated on the way (1 Kings 13). Jeremiah, moreover, while still a boy, had neither learning in letters nor the vigour of manly prudence (when he was sent by the Lord to prophesy): but because he had obeyed the command, he merited to receive the knowledge which he had not had (Jer. 1:4–9). Hence, then, I look not to the poverty of my own slender ability, but to the provident authority of those who command me. For if you did not believe there was some little spark of light in me, you would in no way lay upon me the ingenious labour of so eminent a work. In these volumes the plan of arrangement intended is this: that the first be headed "On the Pentateuch of Moses", the second "On the Prophets", the third "On the New Testament". And the aim of the whole labour strives above all for this: to show that in all things in which something appears to have been done outside the daily administration [of the world], God does not there make a new nature, but governs that very one which He established in the beginning. Moreover, in this work we have also taken care, setting aside for now the understandings of figures, to set out only the reason and order of the things done. For in these places which we have touched upon with some historical narration, a manifold understanding of senses is held; and if we were to dispute about it point by point, we would furnish readers with very many books and the labour of a longer work. But we have thought it right to pass over this rather lightly, and especially for this reason: that whatever authors have taken care to explain these places have held to the mystical understanding of allegories, that is, to the figurative exposition which is found in them. Whether this work perishes or remains, however, hangs on your judgement. For from one of you, that is, Bathanus, after [my] father Manchinanus, I have added whatever understanding [I have], and from the other, as I believe, by the spittle of his mouth I took up the cause in place of labours. But our speech and petition earnestly implores all readers in general that they not disdain on any occasion the things that are said before they have understood them, having gone through them.

LIBER PRIMUS.

FIRST BOOK.

De Moysi Pentateucho.

On the Pentateuch of Moses.

CAPUT PRIMUM. — De Deo Creatore et constitutione creaturarum.

Chapter One. — On God the Creator and the establishment of creatures.

Cum omnipotentis Dei auxilio de mirabilibus rerum cupimus tractare sermonem, unde repetendum aptius et sumendum videtur exordium, quam ab ipso rerum omnium Creatore, de quo saepe Scriptura attestatur dicens: Qui facit magna et inscrutabilia et mirabilia, quorum non est numerus (Job IX, 10). Quorum omnium mirabilium velut principale quoddam fundamentum instituit, quando omnes quas condidit creaturas, ex nihilo fecit. Aeternus ergo et omnipotens Creator rerum, trinus et individuus semper manens, sine ullo potentiae suae detrimento, solus sine tempore cunctas praecessit creaturas: ac deinde ut immensam bonitatem ac potentiam et benevolentiam, quas in se solo prius habuit, etiam per creaturas ostenderet; ex informi materia, quam ipse prius ex nihilo condidit, cunctarum visibilium et invisibilium rerum, hoc est, sensibilium et insensibilium, intellectualium et intellectu carentium, species multiformes divisit. Quod, ut libri Geneseos auctoritas confirmat, per sex dierum alternationem effectum fuisse monstratur; ita ut in die sexto cuncta consummasse, quae ad institutionem et instructionem pertinent creaturae, firmissime declaretur. Sic enim scribitur: Et consummavit Deus omnia opera sua in die sexto, et benedixit diem septimum, quod in ipso requievit ab omnibus operibus suis (Gen. II, 2). Ex quo intelligitur, Deum in die sexto omnia perfecisse, ut in die septimo non a labore, sed ab opere videatur cessasse. Sed quod Dominus Jesus Judaeis de sabbati requie quaerentibus respondit, Pater meus usque modo operatur, et ego operor (Joan. V, 17); illum quidem die sexto cuncta perfecisse et in septimo requievisse credimus, et usque modo operari non dubitamus. Sed quemadmodum tunc consummasse, et nunc operari idem Deus intelligitur, subtilius investigatur. In die enim sexto creaturae, naturas perfecit, quas gubernare etiam nunc non desinit. Et in die septimo requievit ab opere creationis, qui nunquam cessat a gubernationis regimine. Tunc ergo creator, nunc gubernator Deus intelligendus est: ac per hoc etiamsi novi aliquid in creaturis exoriri videamus, non creare ibi novam naturam, sed gubernare olim creatam Deus putandus est. Sed ita potens est in gubernatione creaturae qui condidit, ut veluti naturam novam creare videatur, cum ab abditis naturae sinibus, quod in illa latebat,

Since with the help of almighty God we desire to treat in discourse of the wonders of things, whence does it seem more fitting that the beginning be sought and taken than from the very Creator of all things, of Whom Scripture often bears witness, saying: Who does great things and unsearchable and wonderful, of which there is no number (Job 9:10)? Of all which wonders He laid as it were a certain principal foundation when He made out of nothing all the creatures that He established. The eternal and almighty Creator of things, therefore, abiding ever threefold and undivided, without any loss to His power, alone and without time preceded all creatures: and then, so that He might show also through creatures the immense goodness and power and benevolence which He had before in Himself alone, out of formless matter, which He Himself had earlier established out of nothing, He divided the manifold species of all things visible and invisible, that is, of the sensible and the insensible, of the intellectual and those lacking intellect. And this, as the authority of the book of Genesis confirms, is shown to have been brought about through the alternation of six days; so that it is most firmly declared that on the sixth day He completed all things that belong to the establishment and furnishing of the creature. For thus it is written: And God completed all His works on the sixth day, and He blessed the seventh day, because on it He rested from all His works (Gen. 2:2). From which it is understood that God perfected all things on the sixth day, so that on the seventh day He is seen to have ceased not from labour but from work. But as to what the Lord Jesus answered the Jews who were inquiring about the rest of the sabbath, My Father works until now, and I work (John 5:17): we believe indeed that He perfected all things on the sixth day and rested on the seventh, and we do not doubt that He works until now. But how the same God is understood to have completed then and to work now is investigated more subtly. For on the sixth day He perfected the natures of the creature, which even now He does not cease to govern. And on the seventh day He Who never ceases from the rule of governance rested from the work of creation. Then, therefore, God is to be understood as Creator, now as Governor: and on this account, even if we see something new arise among creatures, God is to be thought not to create a new nature there, but to govern one created long ago. But He Who established the creature is so powerful in governing it that He seems as it were to create a new nature, when out of the hidden recesses of nature He

Editors' notes and page, col. 2151

Footnotes

(a) [call after "secundus de Prophetis" in the Prologue] Vetus codex monasterii S. Audoeni Rotomagensis, de Prophetiâ.

(a) The old manuscript of the monastery of St Ouen at Rouen [reads] de Prophetia ("concerning Prophecy").

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running head: 2151 DE MIRABILIBUS SACRAE SCRIPTU[...] (cut off at the image edge)
marginal letters: (none)
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other: footnote (a) is printed at the foot of the column's upper block, above the full-width rule; below the rule the book title "LIBER PRIMUS" with "De Moysi Pentateucho" and an ornament is printed across both columns between the end of the Prologue (whose last lines, "tummodo … non fastidiant", stand in the upper block of col. 2152) and "CAPUT PRIMUM"; the title is set once in this part, in reading order after the Prologue; misprint kept as printed: "crederetls" (for crederetis).
running head: 2151 DE MIRABILIBUS SACRAE SCRIPTURAE, S. AUGUSTINI 2152
marginal letters: (none visible in the full-width crops)
old-edition numerals: (none)

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depromit. Illa igitur inusitata gubernatione, cum res per voluntatem potentiam gubernatoris ostendunt, quod per efficaciam quotidianae administrationis non faciunt, in Scripturis mirabilia memorantur. Sed dum de his mirabilibus latius postmodum, quando ad eorum loca venerimus, disseremus; hoc fixum interim permaneat, quod consummatis naturarum creationibus, in die septimo Deus ab opere suo requievit, et nunc postmodum per omne tempus a creaturae totius gubernatione non cessat. Sed quamvis per sex dierum alternationem omnis instituta fuisse creatura perhibetur; non tamen haec dierum alternatio per spatium temporis intelligitur: sed in his operum vicissitudo declaratur. Post namque historiae narrator divisit in sermone, quod Deus non divisit in operis perfectione. Simul enim cuncta quae condidit, Deus creavit (Eccli. XVIII, 1), dum una voluntate multiplicem omnium specierum varietatem fieri disposuit, in qua voluntate una omnia simul sine tempore esse fecit, quae ab ipso ortu suo per tempus dispensare non desinit.

brings forth what lay hidden in it. By that unaccustomed governance, then, when things show through the will the power of the Governor, which they do not do through the working of the daily administration, wonders are recorded in the Scriptures. But since we shall discourse more broadly about these wonders later, when we come to their places, let this meanwhile remain fixed: that, the creations of natures being completed, on the seventh day God rested from His work, and now afterwards through all time He does not cease from the governance of the whole creature. But although every creature is said to have been established through the alternation of six days, yet this alternation of days is not understood as through a space of time: rather, in them a succession of works is declared. For afterwards the narrator of the history divided in speech what God did not divide in the perfecting of the work. For God created all things that He established at once (Sir. 18:1), when by one will He disposed that the manifold variety of all species should come to be, in which one will He made all things to be at once without time, which from their very origin He does not cease to dispense through time.

CAPUT II. — De rationabilium naturarum dissimili peccato.

Chapter II. — On the unlike sin of the rational natures.

In hac ergo rerum omnium conditione primo spiritualis creatura invisibilis originaliter processit. Et deinde ne quod interius erat, hoc exterius non esset in Dei operibus, etiam corporalis et visibilis creatura fieri coepit: in qua utique principali rerum universarum generalique divisione, duas rationales, unam in spirituali, alteram in corporali instituit creator naturas, Angelorum videlicet et hominum, quibus, prout naturarum differentia expetit, etiam habitationum loca distinxit. Coelum namque Angelis, terram hominibus habitandam praestitit. Quibus institutis, utriusque naturae peccatum, Angelorum scilicet et hominum consequitur. Sed mandati transgressio quae in hominibus facta erat, libri Geneseos historia narratur. Quaestionem vero non minimam intuentibus praestat, qua causa Angelorum delictum Scripturae testimoniis, qualiter factum est, reticetur. Quamvis namque sub persona Babylonici regis illius angelicae ruinae verba per prophetam declarentur, dicentem: Sedebo in monte Testamenti, in lateribus aquilonis: ascendam super altitudinem nubium, et aedificabo thronum meum ad aquilonem, et ero similis Altissimo (Isai. XIV, 13, 14); haec de rege Babylonis historica expositione facillime possunt intelligi, nisi forte figurali expositione de corpore ad caput verba per allegoriam transferantur.

In this establishing of all things, then, the spiritual, invisible creature came forth first in origin. And then, lest what was inward should not also be outward in the works of God, the bodily and visible creature too began to be made: in which principal and general division of all things the Creator established two rational natures, one in the spiritual, the other in the bodily, namely those of angels and of men, for whom, as the difference of their natures requires, He also distinguished places of habitation. For He gave heaven to the angels and the earth to men to dwell in. These being established, the sin of each nature follows, that is, of angels and of men. But the transgression of the commandment which had been committed among men is narrated by the history of the book of Genesis. Yet it presents no small question to those who consider it, for what cause the offence of the angels, how it was done, is passed over in silence by the testimonies of Scripture. For although under the person of the king of Babylon the words of that angelic ruin are declared through the prophet, saying: I will sit on the mount of the Covenant, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the height of the clouds, and I will build my throne towards the north, and I will be like the Most High (Isa. 14:13–14); these things can very easily be understood by historical exposition of the king of Babylon, unless perhaps, by figurative exposition, the words are transferred through allegory from the body to the head.

Editors' notes and page, col. 2152

Footnotes

1 [call after "Bathano" in the Prologue's last paragraph, upper block of this column; the text is set in c2151_a.md] Audoenensis Ms., Barbano. Fortasse, Baithano, qui fuit Scotus episcopus, apud Bedam, lib. 2 Hist., cap. 19.

1 The Ouen manuscript [reads] Barbano. Perhaps Baithanus, who was a bishop of the Scots [i.e. the Irish], in Bede, Hist. book 2, chapter 19.

2 [call after "Manchinanum" in the same sentence] Aud. Ms. Manchianum.

2 The Ouen manuscript [reads] Manchianum.

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running head: …ACRAE SCRIPTURAE, S. AUGUSTINI (left part of head cut off at image edge)
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other: the word transferantur. was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 2153
running head: 2151 DE MIRABILIBUS SACRAE SCRIPTURAE, S. AUGUSTINI 2152
marginal letters: (none visible in the full-width crops)
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: lower half of col 2152 (after the full-width LIBER PRIMUS title), in reading order after c2151_a.md. The upper block of this column (the Prologue's last lines, "tummodo … non fastidiant") is set in c2151_a.md; its footnotes 1 and 2 are printed at the foot of that upper block, above the full-width rule, and are listed above. The column ends with the hyphenated "transferan-", set whole as "transferantur"; the English reads whole ("transferred").
other (Q5): the Isaiah reference is printed "xiv, 13, 14" or possibly "xiv, 15, 14" (the figure is unclear at this resolution); set as 13, 14 — UNSURE, check at higher zoom.

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Unde loco assumpta quaestio in hoc loco non dissolvitur, dum historialiter in ipso Evangelio causa ruinae et sententia et vindicta non manifestatur. Nisi forte, ut caeteri existimant, originale illius peccatum in seductione hominis per serpentem esse aliquis dicat; per quam et sententiam animadversionis acceperat, dicente Domino, Maledictus tu inter omnia animantia et bestias terrae; super pectus tuum gradieris, et terram comedes omnibus diebus vitae tuae (Gen. III, 14); sed absit hoc, ut sentiamus angelum posse suadere homini peccatum in terra, nisi prius ipse peccaret in coelo, dicente Domino, Vidi satanam sicxt fulgur de caelo cadentem (Luc. X, 18); unde enim potuisset et ipse invidere felicitati humanae, nisi prius amisisset beatitudinem propriam? Non solum ergo peccatum hominis praecessisse diabolica ruina credenda est, sed etiam perfectionem illam creaturarum quae in die sexta facta est; de damnandis in novissimo die Domino pronuntiante, Discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem aeternum, quem praeparavit Pater meus diabolo et angelis ejus (Matth. XXV, 41). Quando ergo praeparatus est ille ignis, nisi in perfectione creaturarum omnium? Nisi forte dicamus post sexti diei perfectionem Deum aliquid creasse: quod absit, ne mendacem Scripturam, imo nosmetipsos faciamus. Cui ego carcer in illa creaturarum conditione praeparatus est, illius peccatum originaliter illas creaturas praecessit. Quoniam, ut Scriptura inquit, Ipse ab initio mendax est, et in veritate non stetit (Joan. VIII, 44). Restat ergo ut ruina angelica, qua causa a Domino tacita est, exponamus, dum illum creaturarum Dei priacipium angelum cecidisse non ambigamus. Angelicum vero vulnus verus medicus qualiter factum sit, indicare noluit, dum illud postea curare non destinavit. Et qualiter sit ejectus per sententiam vindictae, reticuit, quem per poenitentiam nullo modo revocavit. Peccatum vero hominis quomodo factum fuerit, profertur: ipsum namque quandoque promereri veniam non desperatur. Et qualiter ejectus sit homo, indicare Deus maluit, quem ad statum pristinum in novissimo iterum revocavit. Et quomodo animadversionis sententiam accepit, non occultavit, a quo aliquando per clementiae suae veniam satisfactionem accipere non recusavit. Hanc ergo differentiam in hominibus et Angelis Apostolus considerans ait: Non enim Angelos, sed Abrahae semen apprehendit D⟨e⟩us (Hebr. II, 16). Cum enim Creator clemens et misericors in summa illa et incommutabili Dei Patris manens substantia, in servi formam semetipsum exinanire voluit (Philipp. II, 7), non angelicam naturam, sed humanam apprehendit. Sed et in hoc quaestio nascitur: cum Deus angelis peccantibus non pepercit, et tamen peccanti homini per assumptionem humanae carnis veniam relaxavit; quare ergo inveniabili vindicta summus angelus est percussus, cum peccans et mandatum sui Conditoris homo transgrediens, veniabiliter postmodum ad poenitentiam revocatus sit, Joanne, et Domino, et Petro clamantibus: Poenitentiam agite; appropinquavit enim regnum coelorum (Luc. III, 3; Matth. IV, 17; Act. II, 38)? Angelus ergo in summo honoris sui ordine constitutus, immutationem ad excellentiorem statum non habuit, nisi per contemplationem sui Creatoris confirmatus, in eo statu permaneret ubi conditus fuit: et idcirco prolapsus iterum revocari minime potuit, qui de sublimissimo sui ordinis statu proruit. Homo vero adhuc in terra positus, generandi officio destinatus, ciborumque esui deputatus, immutationem in sublimiorem et meliorem spiritualemque vitam sine morte reciperet, si quamdiu in hac conversatione positus esset, in mandati custodia permaneret. Hunc, antequam ad statum veniret sublimiorem, delictum praeripuit: et ideo de inferiori illo suo ordine, id est, immortalitate sui corporis confestim ruit, dicente Domino, Terra es, et in terram ibis (Gen. III, 19). Clementia ergo Conditoris homo ad illam beatitudinem, ad quam peccans adhuc non pervenit, per passionem Domini revocatur; qui si inde cecidisset sicut

Hence the question taken up in its place is not resolved in this place, since in the Gospel itself the cause of the fall, and the sentence and the punishment, are not made manifest in the manner of a narrative. Unless perhaps, as others think, someone should say that his original sin lay in the seduction of man through the serpent; through which he also had received the sentence of punishment, the Lord saying, Cursed are you among all the living things and the beasts of the earth; upon your breast you shall go, and earth you shall eat all the days of your life (Gen. 3:14); but far be it from us to think that the angel could persuade man to sin on earth, unless he himself had first sinned in heaven, the Lord saying, I saw Satan falling from heaven like lightning (Luke 10:18); for whence could he too have envied human happiness, unless he had first lost his own blessedness? Therefore the devil's fall must be believed to have preceded not only the sin of man, but also that perfecting of creatures which was made on the sixth day; for the Lord pronounces concerning those to be condemned on the last day, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). When, then, was that fire prepared, if not in the perfecting of all creatures? Unless perhaps we should say that God created something after the perfecting of the sixth day: far be it, lest we make Scripture, nay ourselves, liars. Therefore the sin of him for whom a prison was prepared in that founding of creatures originally preceded those creatures. For, as Scripture says, He is a liar from the beginning, and did not stand in the truth (John 8:44). It remains, then, that we set out for what reason the angelic fall was passed over in silence by the Lord, since we do not doubt that that angel, the beginning of God's creatures, fell. But how the angelic wound was made, the true Physician did not wish to show, since He did not intend to heal it afterwards. And how he was cast out by the sentence of punishment He kept silent, since He in no way recalled him through repentance. But how the sin of man was committed is set forth: for it is not despaired that it may at some time merit pardon. And God preferred to show how man was cast out, since He recalled him again at the last to his original state. And He did not hide how he received the sentence of punishment, since He did not refuse at some time to accept satisfaction from him through the pardon of His clemency. Considering, then, this difference between men and Angels, the Apostle says: For God did not take hold of Angels, but of the seed of Abraham (Heb. 2:16). For when the Creator, merciful and compassionate, abiding in that supreme and unchangeable substance of God the Father, willed to empty Himself into the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7), He took hold not of angelic nature, but of human. But in this too a question arises: since God did not spare the angels when they sinned, and yet granted pardon to man when he sinned, through the assumption of human flesh, why then was the highest angel struck with an unpardonable punishment, while man, sinning and transgressing the command of his Maker, was afterwards pardonably recalled to repentance, John, and the Lord, and Peter crying out: Do penance; for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near (Luke 3:3; Matt. 4:17; Acts 2:38)? The angel, then, established in the highest rank of his honour, had no change to a more excellent state, except that, confirmed through the contemplation of his Creator, he should remain in that state in which he was founded: and therefore, having fallen, he could by no means be recalled again, since he plunged down from the most exalted state of his rank. But man, still placed on earth, appointed to the office of begetting, and assigned to the eating of foods, would have received a change into a higher and better and spiritual life without death, if, so long as he was placed in this manner of life, he had remained in the keeping of the command. Before he came to the higher state, transgression snatched him away: and therefore he fell at once from that lower rank of his, that is, from the immortality of his body, the Lord saying, Earth you are, and into earth you shall go (Gen. 3:19). By the clemency of the Maker, therefore, man is recalled through the Lord's passion to that blessedness which, sinning, he had not yet reached; who, if he had fallen from there just as

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angelus, nunquam iterum revocaretur: quoniam ad illum ordinem, id est, immortalitatem sui corporis nunquam iterum pervenit, nisi peracta omnium morte, illa beatitudo ad quam revocamur, per resurrectionem restauretur. Non ad illum tamen ordinem aut ad statum unde primus homo ceciderat, sed ad alium sublimiorem, quem speravit, restitutio fiet, dicente Domino, Erunt sicut Angeli Dei in coelo (Matth. XXII, 30). Praeterea quoque ad cumulum diabolici peccati illud accidit, quod statim postquam peccavit, foveam desperationis incurrit. Si enim de suo delicto habere veniam non desperasset, nunquam consentienti sibi homini damnum salutis suae procuraret. Qui enim de priori peccato habere veniam desiderat, nullo modo aliud augmentare praeparat. Per hanc ergo non solum sibimetipsi foveam perditionis invenit, sed etiam per se peccanti homini causa perditionis exstitit. Hoc autem ad levandum hominis delictum occurrit, quod non solum per semetipsum mandati transgressionem non reperit, sed serpentinae suasioni consensit; verum etiam aliam creaturam rationabilem in Dei offensam non induxit: ac per hoc facilius poenitentiae januam adinvenit apertam; quam qui non ingressus fuerit, damno perpetuae vitae subjacebit. Qui vero per poenitentiam peccata diluerit, angelicae felicitatis consors in aeternum erit.

angel, would never be called back again: since he never again attains to that order, that is, the immortality of his body, unless, once the death of all has been accomplished, that beatitude to which we are called back is restored through the resurrection. Yet the restoration will be made not to that order or to the state from which the first man had fallen, but to another, more sublime, which he hoped for, as the Lord says, They will be as the angels of God in heaven (Matt. 22:30). Moreover, to the heap of the devil's sin this too was added, that immediately after he sinned he fell into the pit of despair. For if he had not despaired of having pardon for his offence, he would never have procured the loss of salvation for the man who consented to him. For whoever desires to have pardon for an earlier sin in no way prepares to add another to it. Through this, therefore, he not only found for himself the pit of perdition, but also became, through himself, the cause of perdition for the man who sinned. But this serves to lighten the man's offence, that not only did he not devise the transgression of the commandment by himself, but consented to the serpent's persuasion; but also he did not lead another rational creature into offence against God: and through this he found the door of penance more easily open; and whoever has not entered it will be subject to the loss of eternal life. But whoever has washed away his sins through penance will be a sharer in angelic happiness for eternity.

CAPUT III. — De Abel et Enoch primatum tenentibus in hominum justitia.

Chapter III. — On Abel and Enoch, holding the primacy in the justice of men.

Ut autem ab ipso humani generis post peccatum originale primordio homines quandoque promereri veniam Deus ostenderet, paucos homines elegit, quibus notitiam suae amicitiae demonstraret: quos processu temporis paulatim plures usque ad suae praesentiae visitaret adventum, quousque in adventu suo omne genus humanum per totum orbem illuminaret. Ex quibus paucis primus Abel totius humanae justitiae princeps, et secundus post eum Enoch, insignissimus ante diluvium eligitur, quibus summa justitiae in initio ipso mundi et fine committitur. Unus enim statim in justitiae suae initio, in ipso etiam mundi principio sanguinis sui tripudio coronatus, martyrio arripitur (Gen. IV, 8). Alter adhuc sine morte (Id. V, 24), in testimonium novissimi temporis reservatur. Sed huic Abel Dominus Jesus Christus primatum justitiae hominum commisit, ita inquiens, A sanguine Abel justi, usque ad sanguinem Zachariae (Matth. XXIII, 35). In eo enim quod dicit, A sanguine Abel justi, usque ad sanguinem Zachariae, et non addidit, justi; haereditatem justitiae Abel tenere Zachariam ostendit. Sicut etiam in genealogia Salvatoris scribitur, Jesse autem genuit David regem, David autem rex genuit Salomonem (Id. I, 5, 6), cui non additur, regem, cum Salomon patris regno teneret majus imperium. Sed ex hoc intelligitur patris sui David regnum Salomon haereditario jure possidere, et ad David honorem regni plus pertinere, quod primus ex illa generatione regnum obtinuit; sicut et Abel in justitia hominum primatum tenuit, eo quod primus in terra justus fieri coepit. Unde quasi haereditario jure patrum succedunt, sic omnes justi vestigia Abel in cunctis justitiae partibus capiunt. Sed ista investigatione recte incitatus aliquis fortasse interrogabit; Cur ergo, inquiens, dum Abel justitiae primatum tenuit, non hunc Deus sine morte ad testimonium novissimi temporis reservavit, ut in mundi fine ipse doctor existeret veritatis, qui in principio erat auctor perfecti operis? Attamen huic responsioni congrue obviare poterit, qui justitiam in tribus partibus constare novit. Tota enim justitia haec est, virginitas, sacerdotium, et martyrium. Quae triplex justitia in Abel primo fuit, qui et munera Deo placita obtulit, prosapiam generis in saeculo non reliquit, et martyrii coronam sanguinis effusione promeruit. Si ergo longiori tempore, ut Enoch, Abel maneret; sine ulla dubitatione conjugium iniret. Quippe qui in tempore illius legis viveret,

Now, so that God might show that from the very beginning of the human race after original sin men might at some time merit pardon, He chose a few men, to whom He would show the knowledge of His friendship: and in the course of time He would visit gradually more of them, up to the coming of His presence, until at His coming He would illuminate the whole human race throughout the entire world. Of these few, Abel is chosen first, as prince of all human justice, and second after him Enoch, most distinguished before the flood, to whom the sum of justice is entrusted at the very beginning and at the end of the world. For the one, straightway at the beginning of his justice, at the very beginning of the world too, crowned with the triumphal dance of his own blood, is seized by martyrdom (Gen. 4:8). The other, still without death (Gen. 5:24), is kept in reserve as a witness for the last time. But to this Abel the Lord Jesus Christ entrusted the primacy of the justice of men, saying thus, From the blood of Abel the just, to the blood of Zacharias (Matt. 23:35). For in that He says, From the blood of Abel the just, to the blood of Zacharias, and did not add, the just, He shows that Zacharias holds the inheritance of the justice of Abel. Just as also in the genealogy of the Saviour it is written, And Jesse begot David the king, and David the king begot Solomon (Matt. 1:5–6), to whom "king" is not added, although Solomon held a greater dominion than his father's kingdom. But from this it is understood that Solomon possessed the kingdom of his father David by hereditary right, and that the honour of the kingdom belongs more to David, because he was the first of that generation to obtain the kingdom; just as Abel too held the primacy in the justice of men, because he was the first on earth to begin to be just. Hence, as they succeed by the hereditary right of their fathers, so all the just take up the footsteps of Abel in all the parts of justice. But someone rightly stirred by this inquiry will perhaps ask: Why then, he says, since Abel held the primacy of justice, did God not keep him in reserve without death as a witness for the last time, so that at the end of the world he himself might be the teacher of truth, who in the beginning was the author of a perfect work? Yet he will be able fittingly to meet this reply who knows that justice consists in three parts. For the whole of justice is this: virginity, priesthood, and martyrdom. This threefold justice was first in Abel, who both offered gifts pleasing to God, left no offspring of his line in the world, and merited the crown of martyrdom by the shedding of his blood. If then Abel had remained for a longer time, like Enoch, without any doubt he would have entered into marriage. For he would have been living in the time of that law

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quae dixit, Crescite, et multiplicamini, et implete terram (Gen. I, 28). Et si illud mandatum expleret, pro certo nequaquam virgo esset. Et si illum Deus sine morte servaret, martyrii primatum nequaquam acciperet. Recte ergo competebat, ut qui primus in terra justus eligitur, in eo totius justitiae forma servaretur, cuique primo in hominibus post delictum gestare figuram conceditur Salvatoris, qui virgo, et sacerdos, et martyr esse videtur. Enoch vero sine morte, per totius pene saeculi tempus remotus ab hominum conversatione custoditur, ut in eo qualiter hominum homines si non peccarent, generata prole commutarentur in vitam spiritualem sine morte, ostenderetur. Sed licet longo reservatus tempore adhuc vivat; mortis tamen debitum, quod omnes in Adam sumpsimus, vitare non poterit. Certe in hoc etiam illud occurrit, unde scribendi de mirabilibus occasio sumpta videtur, quare quasi contra naturam, ultra humani aevi metas, hujus vita tam longo admodum tempore distenditur. Attamen in hoc non nova natura uni homini gignitur: sed pristina et generalis omnium hominum gubernatur. Insitum enim omni homini in prima conditione Geneseos libri historiam considerantibus esse apparet, ut non solum longo tempore, sed etiam perpetuo viveret, nisi peccati aculeo mors naturae metas exterminaret.

which said, Increase and be multiplied, and fill the earth (Gen. 1:28). And if he had fulfilled that command, he would certainly by no means have been a virgin. And if God had preserved him without death, he would by no means have received the primacy of martyrdom. Rightly, then, it was fitting that in him who is chosen as the first just man on earth the form of all justice should be preserved, and that to him, first among men after the transgression, it should be granted to bear the figure of the Saviour, Who is seen to be virgin, and priest, and martyr. Enoch, however, is kept without death, removed from the company of men for almost the whole time of the world, so that in him it might be shown how men born of men, if they did not sin, would, once offspring had been begotten, be changed into spiritual life without death. But although, reserved for a long time, he still lives, he will nevertheless not be able to escape the debt of death which we all took on in Adam. Certainly in this case too there arises that which seems to have furnished the occasion for writing about wonders: why, as if against nature, beyond the limits of human age, this man's life is stretched out over so very long a time. Yet in this case no new nature is begotten for one man; rather the original and general [nature] of all men is governed. For it appears to those who consider the history of the book of Genesis that it was implanted in every man in his first condition that he should live not only for a long time but even for ever, had not death, through the sting of sin, destroyed the limits of nature.

CAPUT IV. — De eo quod terrena tantum animalia in diluvio mortificata sunt.

Chapter IV. — That only the land animals were put to death in the flood.

Inde processu temporis, hominibus post originale peccatum per propria studia in Dei offensam procedentibus, et in oblivionem sui Conditoris decidentibus, cum per enorme peccatum, grandi corporis mole gigantes essent exorti, totius terrae facinus aquis diluere parat: et viro perfecto in genere suo reperto, Noe videlicet Lamech filio, mysterium consilii sui soli insinuat, eique arcam per longi temporis spatium fabricare commendat: ut vel ille per hoc factum morte imminente cum domo sua liberaretur, vel videntes imminens exitium pertimescentes ad delictorum poenitudinem revocarentur (Gen. VI). Sed illo contumaciter et negligenter judicio contempto, ex insperato tempore Deus offensus, ad commune totius orbis excidium, aquis universa terrae spatia pariter obtexit: et exceptis quae arca clauserat, cuncta quae in terra tantum vivere possunt, homines et caetera animantia ab ipso coelo aqua conducta delevit (Id. VII, 17-23). Sed universa quae in aquis vivere possunt, plaga illa non tetigit; terrena tantum animalia mortificavit. Quo in loco astute quaerentibus ac solutione indigens quaestio subvenit: Quamobrem terrena animalia humanae vindictae plus quam aquatica succumbunt, quorum nec plura peccaminum gesta subveniunt? In peccato tamen primi hominis, terra de qua gustaverat, statim male dicitur. Per divinum namque oraculum ita infertur, Maledicta terra in opere tuo (Id. III, 17), etc. Qua in re notandum, ipsa animalia quae maledictam terram manducaverunt, expertia maledictionis esse non posse, praesertim cum terra cum suis animalibus maledicta erat. Iterum ergo alia adhuc quaestio surgit: Quare Deus etiam aquis in Adae maledicto non maledixit? Cui facillime respondetur, quod non aquam contra interdictum Domini bibit, sed de terrae fructu homo comedit. Exceptis quoque his rationibus, aquis a maledicto Adae Deus pepercit, quoniam per aquam diluere maledictionem illam paraverat, quod in diluvio est factum, et nunc per Baptismum indulgetur: nam in aqua et Spiritu sancto cuncta humana corporalia crimina simul et spiritualia purgantur. Aquatilia enim maledicto vindictae non succumbunt, quia in maledictionis participatione non sunt. Ac per hoc et Dominus, cum mortis humanae maledictum resurgendo deposuerat, non terrestrium, sed aquatilium carnem animalium comedebat, cum ad confirmationem resurrectionis coram discipulis piscis assi partem et favum mellis accipiens manducavit (Luc. XXIV, 42, 43).

Then, in the course of time, when men after original sin were advancing through their own pursuits to the offence of God, and falling into forgetfulness of their Maker, and when through enormous sin giants of huge bodily bulk had arisen, He prepares to wash away the wickedness of the whole earth with waters; and having found a man perfect in his generation, namely Noah the son of Lamech, He imparts the mystery of His counsel to him alone, and charges him to build an ark over a long space of time, so that either he, through this deed, might be delivered with his house from impending death, or they, seeing the impending destruction and being greatly afraid, might be recalled to repentance for their misdeeds (Gen. 6). But since that judgement was contumaciously and negligently despised, God, offended, at an unexpected time, for the common destruction of the whole world, covered all the expanses of the earth alike with waters; and, except for those which the ark had shut in, He destroyed all things that can live only on land, men and the other living creatures, by water brought down from heaven itself (Gen. 7:17–23). But that plague did not touch all the things that can live in the waters; it put to death only the land animals. At this point a question in need of a solution occurs to those who inquire shrewdly: why do land animals succumb to the punishment of men more than aquatic ones, when no more deeds of sin come to mind in their case? Yet in the sin of the first man the earth, from which he had tasted, is at once cursed. For thus it is pronounced by the divine oracle: Cursed is the earth in your work (Gen. 3:17), etc. In which matter it must be noted that the very animals which ate of the cursed earth could not be free of the curse, especially since the earth with its animals was cursed. Again therefore yet another question arises: why did God not also curse the waters in Adam's curse? To which it is very easily answered that man did not drink water against the Lord's prohibition, but ate of the fruit of the earth. Besides these reasons too, God spared the waters from Adam's curse because He had prepared to wash away that curse through water, which was done in the flood, and is now pardoned through Baptism: for in water and the Holy Spirit all human sins, bodily and spiritual alike, are purged. For aquatic creatures do not succumb to the curse of punishment, because they have no share in the curse. And for this reason the Lord too, when He had laid aside the curse of human death by rising again, ate the flesh not of land animals but of aquatic ones, when, for the confirmation of the resurrection, in the presence of the disciples He took part of a roasted fish and a honeycomb and ate (Luke 24:42–43).

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CAPUT V. — De animalibus quae nec in terra tantum vivere, nec in aqua tantum possunt, quomodo diluvium evaserint.

Chapter V. — On the animals which can live neither on land alone nor in water alone, how they escaped the flood.

De animalibus quoque quae nec in terra tantum, nec in aqua tantum vivere possunt, quaestio vertitur, quomodo diluvium evaserunt, quales sunt lutri, vituli marini, et multa avium genera, quae in aquis escarum suarum victum requirunt, sed in arena dormiunt, et nutriuntur, et requiescunt. Si ergo arca includerentur, sine aquarum adjumento vivere non possent: et si extra arcam remanerent, aquis universa tegentibus, ubi requiescerent quomodo haberent? De his ergo, ut supra dixi, quaestio vertitur, Utrum per virtutem suam utramvis earum naturam, donec diluvium transiret, Deus temperavit, ut aut in humore tantum, aut in arida tantum illis tunc vita esse potuerit. Sed qui Noe cum domo sua per arcam, non per virtutem servare voluerat, qualiter hoc per virtutem custodire vellet? An his alicubi scopulorum aliqua refugia esse poterant? Sed etiam illa quomodo subvenirent, dum omnes montes, quibus duodecim cubitis altior fuit, aqua tegeret (Gen. VII, 20)? An etiam in arcae tecto foris requies his esse aliqua valebat, quod a trecentis cubitis longitudinis, et altitudinis triginta, et latitudinis quinquaginta cubitis in unum cubitum undique contractum, latum et stabile spatium faciebat, ut quod intus manentes, sine periculo conservaret, etiam per profundi periculum vagantibus refugium foret?

Concerning the animals too which can live neither on land alone nor in water alone, the question is raised how they escaped the flood, such as otters, seals, and many kinds of birds, which seek the sustenance of their food in the waters, but sleep on the sand, and are nourished, and rest there. If, then, they were shut up in the ark, they could not live without the help of the waters; and if they remained outside the ark, with the waters covering all things, how would they have anywhere to rest? Concerning these, then, as I said above, the question is raised whether God by His power tempered either of their natures until the flood passed, so that life could then be possible for them either in moisture alone or on dry land alone. But He Who had willed to save Noah with his household by means of the ark, not by His power, how would He have willed to preserve this by His power? Or could there have been some refuges among the rocks for them somewhere? But how could even those have helped, when the water covered all the mountains, above which it was twelve cubits higher (Gen. 7:20)? Or was there perhaps some resting place for them outside on the roof of the ark, since, being drawn in on every side from three hundred cubits of length, and thirty of height, and fifty cubits of breadth into one cubit, it made a broad and stable space, so that what preserved without danger those remaining inside might also be a refuge for those wandering over the danger of the deep?

CAPUT VI. — De eruptione aquarum diluvii.

Chapter VI. — On the bursting forth of the waters of the flood.

De eruptione aquarum diluvii ita refertur: Rupti sunt omnes fontes abyssi magnae, et cataractae coeli apertae sunt, et facta est pluvia quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus (Gen. VII, 11, 12). Postea subinfertur: Clausi sunt fontes abyssi, et prohibitae sunt pluviae de coelo (Id. VIII, 2). Hujus rei difficultatem fixa sententia explanare, scientiae nostrae parvitate prohibemur. Veruntamen in his magistrorum quid intentio potuit excogitare, indifferenti sermone proferamus, nulli ex diversis opinionibus certiorem tribuentes auctoritatem; de quibus narrationibus, de singulis electionibus arbitrium probandi seu reprobandi concedimus libertatem. Fluvii enim de fontibus utrum ante diluvium fuerunt, inquisitio profertur: de quibus nulla in principio creaturae certa definitio, utrum facti an non facti sint ostenditur; nisi quod fons unus ascendens de terra, et divisus in quatuor capita, regiones irrigabat (Id. II, 6). Nisi forte de illo fonte caeteros per totum terrae spatium ubique ebullire etiam tunc aliquis dicat, propter quorum omnium singillatim assignationem originalis illius magni fontis commemoratio sufficeret. An etiam ante diluvium non erant, donec illa aquarum abundantissima eruptione universorum fontium venae, ubi vel jam ante non fuerunt, quod etiam saepe nunc fieri cernimus, erumperent? Attamen non de fontibus terrae, sed de fontibus abyssi dicitur, Et rupti sunt fontes abyssi. Sed hoc generaliter de fontibus potest sentiri. Unde enim terra potuisset habere, nisi subjacente abysso per occultos meatus fontium venas susciperet? Et idcirco abyssi fontes, etiam terrae fontes possunt nominari. Sed qui hoc ita sentiunt, quid dicent in eo quod paulo post, consummata quadraginta dierum inundatione, subinfertur: Et clausi sunt fontes abyssi magnae, et prohibitae sunt pluviae de coelo? Si fontes illi, qui nunc per terras fluunt, in diluvio aperti sunt, quomodo iterum clausi pronuntiantur? nisi non omnes fontes clausos esse denuntient, praeter eos tantummodo, per quos exitus hujus aditus administrabatur. Verum etiam hoc pro tempore solummodo esse dictum confirmant. Fontes enim qui clausi erant, cum illa insolens eruptio prohiberetur, postea apertos fuisse sequens ratio pronuntiat. dum aquae ibant et revertebantur (Id. VIII, 3). Quo enim revertebantur, nisi

Concerning the bursting forth of the waters of the flood it is related thus: All the fountains of the great deep were burst open, and the floodgates of heaven were opened, and there was rain for forty days and forty nights (Gen. 7:11–12). Afterwards it is added: The fountains of the deep were closed, and the rains from heaven were held back (Gen. 8:2). The smallness of our knowledge prevents us from explaining the difficulty of this matter with a fixed judgement. Nevertheless, what the attention of teachers has been able to devise on these things let us set forth in impartial speech, granting to none of the differing opinions a more certain authority; concerning which accounts, and each of the choices, we grant freedom of judgement to approve or reject. For whether rivers from springs existed before the flood is a question put forward: concerning which no certain determination is shown at the beginning of creation, whether they were made or not made; except that one spring, rising from the earth and divided into four heads, watered the regions (Gen. 2:6). Unless perhaps someone should say that even then the others were welling up everywhere over the whole extent of the earth from that spring, so that, in place of assigning all of them one by one, the mention of that great original spring would suffice. Or did they not exist even before the flood, until, by that most abundant bursting forth of the waters, the veins of all the springs broke out, even where they had not existed before, as we often see happen even now? And yet it is said not of the springs of the earth but of the fountains of the deep, And the fountains of the deep were burst open. But this can be understood of springs generally. For whence could the earth have had them, unless it received the veins of its springs from the deep lying beneath through hidden passages? And therefore the fountains of the deep can also be called the springs of the earth. But what will those who think thus say about the fact that a little later, when the forty days of inundation were completed, it is added: And the fountains of the great deep were closed, and the rains from heaven were held back? If those springs which now flow throughout the lands were opened in the flood, how are they declared to have been closed again? Unless they assert that not all the springs were closed, but only those through which the outlet of this inflow was supplied. But they maintain that this too was said only for the time being. For the reasoning that follows declares that the springs which had been closed, when that unwonted bursting forth was checked, were afterwards open, while the waters went and returned (Gen. 8:3). For where did they return, unless

Editors' notes and page, col. 2156

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2156

Ms. Aud., navigantibus.

The Ms. Aud. [manuscript so designated] reads navigantibus ("to those sailing").

(printed under page 426)

(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2156

Exstat apud Alcuinum in lib. Quaestionum in Gen., quaest. 123.

It is found in Alcuin, in the book of Questions on Genesis, question 123.

(printed under page 426)

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unde venerant? Per fontes igitur apertos aquae irruperant, qui post, ut cessaret eruptio, clausi erant. Sed cum iterum aqua revocaretur, etiam fontes, qui clausi fuerant, reserantur. Aquae enim quae clausis januis venire non poterant, quomodo retro, nisi apertis aditibus, reintrabant? De eo autem quod dicitur, Et cataractae coeli apertae sunt, et facta est pluvia, non minori diligentia indig⟨e⟩ns quaestio, diversis inquisitorum sententiis ventilata dignoscitur. Quibusdam namque placet, ut istae cataractae nubibus apertae fuisse putentur, quae saepe coeli nomine per Scripturas divinas nuncupantur, quomodo est illud, Et coeli dabunt imbrem, et terra dabit fructum suum (Jerem. XIV, 22; Psal. LXXXIV, 13); et, Panem coeli dedit eis (Psal. LXXVII, 24); et, Possint aves coeli habitare (Marc. IV, 32); et, Volucres coeli nidos habent ubi requiescunt (Luc. IX, 58)? Cataractas ergo in coelo, in nubibus videlicet factas ut pluvia veniret, illi praedicti aestimant, quemadmodum etiam nunc tale ministerium per nubes fieri totus mundus non ambigit. Sed tunc cataractas coeli apertas Scriptura sancta commemorat, quod solito plus, ingens effusio pluvialis facta erat. Caeteri vero istas cataractas in summo illo firmamento, quod ut divideret inter aquas et aquas, Deus in principio fec⟨e⟩rat, factas prius esse dicunt: qui Deum illas aquas, quas supra firmamentum posuerat, ad tale ministerium praeparasse dicunt: et in hac conditione et superioris et inferioris aquae, sacri Baptismatis ministerium figurali expositione inspiciunt, dum per coelestem pluviam, Spiritum sanctum; per abyssi undam, aquam Baptismatis intelligunt: ut sicut aqua superior et inferior, primae vitae mundi peccamina diluit: sic Spiritus sanctus et aqua, nostrae vitae prioris delicta remittat. Sed dum in hoc opere intellectum potius rerum gestarum, quam figuralem expositionem assumpsimus, quod ad rem praesentem pertinet, prosequamur. Hi ergo qui firmamenti aquas ad diluvium venire ponunt, etiam ante diluvium pluvias in mundo fuisse non aestimant; occasione illius arcus, qui post diluvium in nubibus est constitutus, in hanc aestimationem ducti, ex ipsarum creaturarum natura investigantes, quod si ulla serena ante diluvium pluvia fieret, iris, id est, arcus ille in nubibus serenis appareret; qui per solem semper, et humectas serenasque nubes efficitur: et non a sole tantum fieri, sed etiam per lunam aliquoties in serenis nubibus videtur. Poterat ergo ipsa mundi nuper creati prima aetas sine ullis turbulenti aeris immutationibus et pluviis per matutinum et vespertinum rorem ali; ut in ipsa fortitudine sicut homines longaevos et sanitate corporum alacres habuerit, ita et mundus ipse nullis adhuc perturbationibus agitatus aptos vescentibus ferens fructus consisteret: et a secunda aetate sicut turbulentis motibus, ita turbidis rerum tempestatibus vivere et vigere inciperet. Quemadmodum in terra Aegypti etiam nunc nequaquam nubium imbribus, sed terrae ipsius sudore, et aeris commoditate, et Nili fluminis incrementis fovetur. Sed haec investigatio qualiter accipienda sit pro certo, eruditi et catholici viri videant.

whence they had come? So the waters had burst in through the opened springs, which afterwards, so that the outburst might cease, had been closed. But when the water was called back again, the springs too, which had been closed, are unlocked. For the waters which could not come while the doors were closed, how were they going back in, except through opened entrances? Now concerning what is said, And the cataracts of heaven were opened, and there was rain, a question needing no less diligence is recognized to have been aired by the differing opinions of inquirers. For some hold that these cataracts should be thought to have been opened in the clouds, which are often called by the name of heaven throughout the divine Scriptures, as in that saying, And the heavens will give rain, and the earth will give its fruit (Jer. 14:22; Ps. 84:13); and, He gave them the bread of heaven (Ps. 77:24); and, The birds of heaven can dwell (Mark 4:32); and, The birds of heaven have nests where they rest (Luke 9:58)? The aforementioned, then, reckon that the cataracts were made in heaven, that is to say in the clouds, so that rain might come, just as even now the whole world does not doubt that such a service is performed through the clouds. But holy Scripture records that at that time the cataracts of heaven were opened, because a huge outpouring of rain beyond the usual had taken place. Others, however, say that these cataracts had been made beforehand in that highest firmament which God had made in the beginning so that it might divide between waters and waters: they say that God prepared those waters, which He had placed above the firmament, for such a service; and in this disposition of both the upper and the lower water they discern, by a figurative exposition, the ministry of holy Baptism, since by the heavenly rain they understand the Holy Spirit, and by the wave of the abyss the water of Baptism: so that, just as the upper and lower water washed away the sins of the world's first life, so the Holy Spirit and water may remit the offences of our former life. But since in this work we have undertaken the understanding of things done rather than a figurative exposition, let us pursue what pertains to the matter at hand. Those, then, who hold that the waters of the firmament came for the flood do not reckon that there were rains in the world even before the flood; led to this reckoning by occasion of that bow which was set in the clouds after the flood, investigating from the nature of created things themselves, [they hold] that if any rain in clear weather had fallen before the flood, the iris, that is, that bow, would have appeared in the clear clouds; which is always produced by the sun and by moist and clear clouds: and it is seen to come about not from the sun alone, but sometimes also through the moon, in clear clouds. Thus that very first age of the newly created world could have been nourished without any changes of turbulent air and without rains, by the morning and evening dew; so that, just as in that very vigour it had men long-lived and brisk with health of body, so also the world itself, as yet stirred by no disturbances, might stand bearing fruits fit for those who ate; and that from the second age, just as with turbulent motions, so with turbid storms of affairs, it might begin to live and thrive. Just as in the land of Egypt even now it is nourished not at all by the rains of clouds, but by the sweat of the earth itself, and the favourableness of the air, and the risings of the river Nile. But how this investigation is to be taken for certain, let learned and catholic men see.

CAPUT VII. — De recessu aquarum diluvii.

Chapter VII. — On the receding of the waters of the flood.

Item de recessu aquarum diluvii quid docti et ingeniosi magistri sentiunt, sine ulla nostrae auctoritatis praesumptione proferamus: ubi nodosa quaestio studiosis mentibus ostenditur: Si aliquem locum vacuum reliquerant, cum terrae spatium aquae diluvii occupabant; et si nullum spatium tale habuerant, quando recesserant quid implebant? De qua inquisitione in illis aquis quae de cataractis coeli defluxerunt, bina magistrorum aestimatio est. Aut enim, ut nonnulli aestimant, per easdem cataractas revocantur, et quemadmodum de mari arid⟨ae⟩ nubes lymphaticos imbres consuescunt attrahere; ita et superni illius firmamenti spatium, aquas quas emiserat de nubibus, posset revocare. Aquae enim, inquit Scriptura, ibant et revertebantur. Quo ergo ibant, nisi unde venerant? Si ergo de excelso illo firmamento, ut juxta quorumdam aestimationem diximus, aqu⟨ae⟩ desuper fluxissent,

Likewise, concerning the receding of the waters of the flood, let us set forth what learned and ingenious masters think, without any presumption of authority of our own: here a knotty question is put before studious minds: If they had left some empty place when the waters of the flood were occupying the expanse of the earth; and if they had had no such space, what did they fill when they had receded? On this inquiry, regarding those waters which flowed down from the cataracts of heaven, the masters' reckoning is twofold. For either, as some reckon, they are called back through the same cataracts, and just as dry clouds are accustomed to draw watery showers from the sea, so too the expanse of that supernal firmament could call back the waters which it had sent forth from the clouds. For the waters, says Scripture, went and returned. Where then were they going, if not to whence they had come? If, then, from that lofty firmament, as we said following the reckoning of certain people, the waters had flowed down from above,

Editors' notes and page, col. 2157

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et spatium quod occupabant, dimiserunt, si illuc revocatae sunt, quid mirum si eadem quae deseruerant spatia complebant? Vel certe si de nubibus eadem nimborum copia fuisse monstrata conceditur, quid intelligentibus mentibus repugnat, si ad nubes iterum ipsa retrorsum verteretur; quemadmodum in quotidiana rerum administratione fieri cernitur, ut pluvia de nubibus emissa et resumpta videatur. Caeterum ii quoque qui ante diluvium pluviam esse non permittunt, de recessu aquarum aliter sentiunt. Ipsi enim cum aquarum diffusionem de firmamento factam pronuntiant, in nubes tamen tantummodo eas redire confirmant; et superfluum illud quod aqua desuper fluens praebuerat, etiam nunc per omne tempus turbulentos aeris motus, et hemisphaerias diversas in nubibus gignit, quod reciprocis immutationibus idem aer nubilosus nunc in inferiores partes mundi, hoc est terram et mare dimittit, nunc de eisdem, mari scilicet et terra, recolligit: quomodo et in pectore humano halitus reciprocis mutationibus eodem modo quo dimittitur, iterum exigitur ut resumatur. In his autem quamlibet diversis opinionibus et magistrorum plurimis ambagibus, hoc animo fixum suscipimus, quod aquarum quodcumque desuper venerat, ut terra aquis nudaretur, ventus lambebat. Sic enim scribitur: Immisit Dominus ventum super terram, et diminutae sunt aquae (Gen. VIII, 1). Utrum vero in nubes ventus lymphata aequora collegerat, an illa superni firmamenti spatium resumpserat, pro certo eruditi viderint. Aquae autem illae quae de abyssi fontibus disruptis largiter defluxerunt, per easdem vias unde venerant, rursum dominico jussu remeabant. Sed adhuc nobis communis quaestio in his renascitur, quae in reliquis velut curata videbatur: Si, quando inundaverant, aliquod spatium relinquebant; et si non hoc habuerant, quando reversae sunt quid implebant? Caeteri hanc quaestionem ita disserunt, quod mare tunc Dei jussu de suo modo consueto, per illorum fontium apertionem crescere, et ultra metas suas inundatione insolita per cuncta terrae spatia transundare poterat, et in se iterum quod amiserat resumere, vel etiam in spatium terrae deportare, quod ad inferiores aquas pertinebat: quae terra semper superpositas lymphas nisi de fontibus absumere, et in semetipsam redigere consuescit, quoniam non contra consuetudinem videmus etiam perparvas res in majus crescere. Nec contra naturam terrae est, superpositos humores semper consumere, praesertim cum hoc Deus in potestate etiam sanctis suis tribuit, quemadmodum Eliae et Elysaeo (III Reg. XVIII, 44, 45; IV Reg. III, 20) dedit in nubecula. Maria quoque extra terminos antiquos crescere consuescunt, et terrarum spatia diminuunt atque praescindunt, sicut et senes nostro adhuc tempore viventes, vidisse se confirmant. Unde etiam insulas quae ab initio conditi orbis, ut multi affirmant, non fuerant, processu temporis faciunt, dum propinqua promontoria marinis finibus a continenti terra dividunt. Per quod intelligitur, quod illae ferae quae insularum orbibus includuntur, non humana diligentia devectae, sed in illa divisione insularum a continenti terra repertae esse probantur. Quis enim, verbi gratia, lupos, cervos, et silvaticos porcos, et vulpes, taxones, et lepusculos, et sesquivolos in Hiberniam deveheret? Vel qualiter si tunc domestica erant, manum portantis ita effugerant, ut omnia genera haec per silvas nunc oberrare videantur? Sed nonnulli auctores genera haec bestiarum et ferorum animalium, ipsam terram gignere dicunt, qui haec animalia quae in insulis includuntur, non ex arca, sed ex ipsa terra procreata esse existimant. Hanc vero putationem eorum de quibus diximus, de recessu aquarum diluvii, etsi aliquis acceptam et sufficientem esse crediderit, nostris tamen adhuc mentibus illa quaestio innodata residet. Quotidianis etenim inundationibus et recessibus Oceani, haec semper quaestio renascitur. Quemadmodum hanc inundationem

and left the space which they occupied, if they were called back thither, what wonder if they filled the same spaces which they had deserted? Or at any rate, if it is granted that the same abundance of rain-storms was shown to have come from the clouds, what is repugnant to understanding minds if it was turned back again to the clouds; just as in the daily administration of things it is seen to happen, that rain appears to be sent out from the clouds and taken back again. Moreover, those also who do not allow that there was rain before the flood think otherwise about the retreat of the waters. For although they declare that the outpouring of the waters was made from the firmament, they nevertheless affirm that the waters return only into the clouds; and that the surplus which the water flowing from above had supplied even now, at all times, produces turbulent motions of the air and diverse hemispheres in the clouds, because by reciprocal alternations the same cloudy air now lets it down into the lower parts of the world, that is, the earth and the sea, and now gathers it up again from the same, namely from sea and earth: just as in the human breast too the breath, by reciprocal alternations, in the same way in which it is let out, is again required so that it may be taken back. But amid these opinions, however diverse, and the very many circuitous arguments of the masters, we take up this as fixed in the mind: that whatever of the waters had come from above, the wind licked up, so that the earth might be laid bare of the waters. For thus it is written: The Lord sent a wind upon the earth, and the waters were diminished (Gen. 8:1). But whether the wind had gathered the watery seas into the clouds, or the space of the firmament on high had taken them back, let the learned see for certain. Those waters, however, which flowed down abundantly from the burst fountains of the abyss, went back again by the Lord's command through the same ways by which they had come. But here there arises again for us the common question which in the other cases seemed as it were settled: if, when they had flooded, they left some space; and if they had not had this, what did they fill when they returned? Others discuss this question thus: that the sea at that time, by God's command, could grow beyond its accustomed measure through the opening of those fountains, and overflow beyond its bounds with an unwonted inundation through all the spaces of the earth, and take back again into itself what it had lost, or even carry into the space of the earth what belonged to the lower waters: for the earth is always accustomed to absorb the waters placed upon it, unless they come from springs, and to draw them back into itself, since we see that it is not against custom that even very small things grow into something greater. Nor is it against the nature of the earth always to consume the moistures placed upon it, especially since God grants this into the power even of His saints, as He gave to Elijah and Elisha (1 Kgs. 18:44–45; 2 Kgs. 3:20) in a little cloud. The seas too are accustomed to grow beyond their ancient bounds, and to diminish and cut off the spaces of the lands, as even old men still living in our own time affirm that they have seen. Hence also they make, in the course of time, islands which, as many affirm, had not existed from the beginning of the founded world, when they divide neighbouring promontories from the continental land by the boundaries of the sea. By which it is understood that those wild beasts which are enclosed within the circuits of islands are proved not to have been carried over by human diligence, but to have been found there at that division of the islands from the continental land. For who, for example, would carry over wolves, deer, and wild pigs, and foxes, badgers, and little hares, and sesquivoli into Ireland? Or how, if they were tame at that time, had they so escaped the hand of the one carrying them, that all these kinds are now seen to wander through the woods? But some authors say that the earth itself produces these kinds of beasts and wild animals, who think that these animals which are enclosed on islands were brought forth not from the ark but from the earth itself. But even if someone should believe this opinion of those of whom we have spoken, concerning the retreat of the waters of the flood, to be acceptable and sufficient, yet that question still remains knotted in our minds. For through the daily floodings and ebbings of the Ocean this question always arises again. Just as with this inundation,

Editors' notes and page, col. 2158

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: dedit in nubecula› · call in col 2158

Ms. Aud., dedit in viduas.

The Ms. Aud. [manuscript so designated] reads dedit in viduas ("granted upon widows").

(printed under page 427)

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unde venit, aut quo recedit nescimus; ita etiam recessum diluvii ignoramus. Haec namque quotidiana inundatio bis in die a tempore ad tempus, per horas viginti quatuor semper peragitur, et per alternas hebdomadas Ledonis et Malinae vicissitudo commutatur. Sed Ledo sex horas inundationis, et totidem recessus habet; Malina vero grandis per quinque horas ebullit, et per septem horas littorum dorsa retegit. Quae tantam concordiam cum luna ostendit, ut antequam luna nascatur, tribus diebus et duodecim horis semper incipiat; et post nascentis lunae principia alios tres dies, et duodecim horas consuescit habere: similiter et ante plenilunium tribus diebus et duodecim horis incipit, et post totidem temporis cursus sui terminum consumit. Sex vero uniuscujusque temporis Malinas, veris scilicet et aestatis, autumni et hiemis, secundum lunarem supputationem, hoc est, simul omnes viginti quatuor unusquisque communis annus habet, exceptis videlicet embolismis, qui viginti et sex Malinas retinent: et uniuscujusque de praedictis temporibus mediae duae, videlicet aequinoctiales, et aliae quando vel dies vel nox cursus sui terminum consumit, solito validior ac inundatione altior fieri consuescit. Interpositis vero spatiis iterum tantumdem semper Ledo intermittitur. At vero rationabilis hujus perseverantiae inundatio, quo recedit, mentibus nostris occultata est: non minorem profectum nescientibus praeparat scientia hominis. Nam qui veram sapientiam cupit, ad aeternum regnum ubi nulla est ignorantia, festinare contendat, et interim cum insigni gentium magistro dicat: Ex parte cognoscimus, et ex parte prophetamus (I Cor. XIII, 9). Etenim omnes res, quas possidemus, ex parte vix novimus. Terrae namque superficies in qua laboramus, alimur, vivimus et sustentamur, nostris apparet obtutibus; sed tamen quomodo illa sustentatur, adhuc ignoramus. Sol in ministerium nostrae necessitatis per diem traditur, sed qualem in nocte profectum exsequitur, a nostra scientia occultatur. Lunae quindecim diebus crescentis, et totidem tempore decrescentis, totius vicissitudinis causas quis intelligere sufficiat? Maris inundantis tumores considerare permittimur, sed recedentis illius intelligentia privamur. In nobismetipsis diem nostrae nativitatis scimus et memoramus; diem mortis quando veniet, cum certe ventura sit, nescimus. Res etiam corporales quas videmus, ex parte tantum considerare possumus. Ex parte ergo cognoscimus, quamdiu in hoc saeculo sumus. Sed si ad illam lucem Patris luminum venerimus, nihil in creaturis erit quod nesciamus. At vero ut nostrum sequamur propositum in isto diluvii tam magno in Dei creaturis miraculo, nihil contra naturam factum esse ostenditur, quoniam nihil quod Deus in creaturarum prima conditione non fecerat, superinductum esse videtur; nisi quod solito abundantior maris copia, et imbrium ducta congregatur. Nihil in his auctoritate firmaverim, ut in defensione alicujus contentiosus sim: sed si quid alterius ingenio forte meliori intelligentia horum succurrerit, hoc et meo ingeniolo forsitan complacebit. Ego enim quod in hoc magistrorum quorumcumque eruditio contulit, litterulis his intimavi, in quibus si quid vitiosum, et minus sanae intentionis apparet; non illorum, sed mea titubavit intentio.

we do not know whence it comes or whither it recedes; so too we are ignorant of the receding of the flood. For this daily inundation is always carried out twice in the day, from time to time, through the twenty-four hours, and in alternate weeks the alternation of the Ledo and the Malina is exchanged. But the Ledo has six hours of inundation and as many of recession; the great Malina, however, boils up for five hours and for seven hours uncovers the backs of the shores. And it shows such agreement with the moon that it always begins three days and twelve hours before the moon is born; and after the beginning of the newborn moon it is wont to have another three days and twelve hours: likewise it begins three days and twelve hours before the full moon, and after as much time it completes the limit of its course. Each common year has six Malinae for each season, namely of spring and summer, of autumn and winter, according to the lunar reckoning, that is, twenty-four all together, excepting of course the embolismic years, which contain twenty-six Malinae: and the middle two of each of the aforesaid seasons, namely the equinoctial ones, and the others when either the day or the night completes the limit of its course, are wont to become stronger than usual and higher in inundation. With intervals interposed, the Ledo is always inserted again for just as long. But the inundation of this rational persistence, whither it recedes, is hidden from our minds: the knowledge of man prepares no less profit for those who do not know. For whoever desires true wisdom, let him strive to hasten to the eternal kingdom where there is no ignorance, and meanwhile let him say with the illustrious teacher of the Gentiles: We know in part, and we prophesy in part (1 Cor. 13:9). For all the things that we possess we scarcely know in part. For the surface of the earth on which we labour, are fed, live and are sustained appears to our gaze; but yet how it is sustained we are still ignorant. The sun is given by day for the service of our need, but what progress it accomplishes in the night is hidden from our knowledge. Who would be sufficient to understand the causes of the whole alternation of the moon, waxing for fifteen days and waning for as long a time? We are permitted to consider the swellings of the sea in flood, but we are deprived of understanding of it as it recedes. In ourselves we know and remember the day of our birth; the day of death, when it will come, though it will certainly come, we do not know. Even the bodily things that we see we can consider only in part. Therefore we know in part as long as we are in this world. But if we come to that light of the Father of lights, there will be nothing in creatures that we do not know. But, to follow our purpose, in this so great miracle of the flood among God's creatures nothing is shown to have been done against nature, since nothing that God had not made in the first establishment of creatures seems to have been brought in; except that a supply of the sea more abundant than usual, and of rains drawn up, is gathered together. I would confirm nothing in these matters by authority, so as to be contentious in defence of anything: but if anything should occur to another's perhaps better wit through an understanding of these things, this will perhaps please my small wit too. For what the learning of any masters whatever has contributed on this matter I have set forth in these little writings, in which, if anything faulty and of less sound intention appears, it was not their intention but mine that faltered.

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Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: commutatur› · call in col 2159

Beda de Nat. temp., cap. 28 : « Aestus, ait, crescentes Malinas, decrescentes autem, placuit appellare Ledones ; » perinde loquens ac si recens hunc in usum adhiberi coepissent ea vocabula. Apud Marcellum Empiricum, qui in Gallia Theodosio seniore imperante vixit, Lidunam et Malinam, capp. 16 et 25, legere est ; sed in significatu nonnihil diverso, uti observat V. CL. D. du Cange in Gloss. Caeterum Bedae in praedicto lib. cap. 8, nostroque auctori hic, Ledo est aestus ille maris languidior qui per quatuor pene dies tam ante quam post secundam ultimamque lunae quadraturam, mense unoquoque accidit ; Malina vero aestus vehementior, contingens diebus aliis ad novilunium et ad plenilunium.

Bede, De Nat. temp. [as printed], chap. 28: "It has been agreed," he says, "to call the rising tides Malinae, and the falling ones Ledones," speaking as if those words had only recently begun to be used in this sense. In Marcellus Empiricus, who lived in Gaul in the reign of the elder Theodosius, Liduna and Malina can be read, chaps. 16 and 25, but in a somewhat different sense, as the most distinguished Mr du Cange observes in his Glossary. For the rest, to Bede in the aforesaid book, chap. 8, and to our author here, the Ledo is that weaker tide of the sea which occurs every month for nearly four days both before and after the moon's second and last quarter; the Malina, on the other hand, is the stronger tide, falling on other days, at the new moon and the full moon.

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CAPUT VIII. — De cursu solis et lunae in diluvio.

Chapter VIII. — On the course of the sun and moon in the flood.

De terminis, de recursu solis et lunae in diluvio, quamvis famosa plurimorum mentes quaestio pulsat; nihil in luminarium aut siderum consuetis ministrati⟨o⟩nibus diluvium commutasse, ipsius anni quo diluvium est factum, cursus manifestat. Noe enim secundi decimo septimo die mensis cum universis, quae ad eum pertinebant, arcam intravit (Gen. VII, 11, 13). Post centum quinquaginta dies in mense septimo vigesimo septimo die mensis, in montibus Armeniae eadem arca requievit. Prima die decimi cacumina montium apparuerunt. Et prima die mensis primi aquae minutae sunt. Atque evoluto anni circulo, mense secundo, vigesima septima die mensis arefacta terra conspicitur: qua die Domini jussu, Noe cum omni domo sua de arca egressus est (Id. VIII, 4-18). Ex quibus indiciis manifestissime ostenditur, quod in iis quae ad anni circulum peragendum pertinebant, in luminarium ministrationibus dierum ac noctium plenitudine decursa, nihil decedere videtur. Si enim luminarium, solis scilicet et lunae, cursus in aliquo titubaret; dierum ac noctium primitus vicissitudo, et deinde totius anni circulus impeditus appareret: dum vero nullo modo turbatus in se anni circulus revertitur, manifestum est quod in anno praecedenteluminarium cursus non turbatur.

Concerning the limits and the recurrence of the sun and moon in the flood, although a well-known question troubles the minds of very many, the course of the very year in which the flood took place shows that the flood changed nothing in the accustomed ministrations of the luminaries or the stars. For Noah entered the ark on the seventeenth day of the second month with all things that belonged to him (Gen. 7:11, 13). After a hundred and fifty days, in the seventh month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the same ark came to rest on the mountains of Armenia. On the first day of the tenth [month] the tops of the mountains appeared. And on the first day of the first month the waters were diminished. And when the circle of the year had rolled round, in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth is seen dried: on which day, at the Lord's command, Noah went out of the ark with all his household (ibid. 8:4–18). From these indications it is shown most clearly that in the things which pertained to completing the circle of the year, in the ministrations of the luminaries, once the full measure of days and nights had run its course, nothing seems to be lacking. For if the course of the luminaries, namely of the sun and moon, had faltered in any respect, first the alternation of days and nights, and then the circle of the whole year, would have appeared hindered: but since the circle of the year returns upon itself in no way disturbed, it is manifest that in the preceding year the course of the luminaries is not disturbed.

CAPUT IX. — De dispersione linguarum.

Chapter IX. — On the dispersion of tongues.

Jam generali totius orbis purgatione per aquam Deo gubernaate perfecta, atque aquis iterum terra eodem jussu retecta, egressa de arca Noe solius tunc justi pro⟨s⟩apia, totius mundi partes completura, cito succrevit (Gen. IX et X). Sed antequam in omnes terras essent divisi, impia cunctorum mentibus et superba cogitatio subrepsit, ut in commune magnificare nomen suum, non Dei creatoris, per excellentissimae turris ad coelum usque aedificationem decernerent, et in memoria posteritatis per omnes postea generationes, gubernationes, et totius saeculi tempus indelebili cunctorum praeconio celebres forent. Sed hac temeritate et superba praesumptione rursus Deus offensus, per totius generis communem culpam individua omnium strage, quod in hominibus nuper erat expertus, praesertim cum nullus repertus est justus, qui residuus esset, totam funditus gentem delere noluit. Verumtamen cum illud usque tempus esset unius linguae cunctus populus, universorum qui ad tale opus venerant, linguas in diversa verba divisit (Id. XI, 1-9), scilicet ut rectissimo justi arbitri judicio, qui alto Deum superbiae tumore contempserant, in fragilissimo substantiae suae membro sermonis poenam utique sentirent. Et hoc non in ipsis tantum patribus quod evenerat fiebat; sed per omnes filiorum propagines talis vindictae conditio pertransibat: ut qui aeternam sibi posteritatis famam quaererent, mansuram in illis posteritatibus ipsius praesumptionis per universa venturi saeculi tempora animadversionem invenirent. Postea quoque haec linguarum divisio Dei dispensatione evenerat, ut divinarum Scripturarum mysterium usque ad maturum tempus unius electi ex multis populi lingua custodiret: donec praefinito tempore, quando universis gentibus sacramentum suae dispensationis aperire voluit, Spiritum sanctum de excelso linguarum omnium scientiam afferentem, ejusdem sacramenti praeordinatis ministris transmisit: qui Dei magnalia ad illud usque per unam linguam cantaverat, velut ad consecrationem omnium linguarum in i⟨p⟩so suo primo adventu per Apostolos praedicabat. Sic enim illi quos de universis gentibus, velut ad hujus rei comprobationem, in Jerusalem tunc temporis collegerat Deus, dicebant, Audivimus cos linguis nostris loquentes magnalia Dei (Act. II, 4-11). Sic apostolica humilitas Spiritus sancti munere colligebat, quod superbae praesumptionis et vanae gloriae cupido disperserat. Linguas autem illas septuaginta duas esse, plurimi auctores consentiunt, quia in aedificationem turris illius in terra Sennaar, quae nunc est Babylon, tot patres congregatos fuisse dicunt.

Now when the general cleansing of the whole world by water had been accomplished under God's governance, and the earth had again been uncovered from the waters at the same command, the offspring of Noah, at that time the only just man, having gone out of the ark, quickly grew up to fill the parts of the whole world (Gen. 9 and 10). But before they were divided into all lands, an impious and proud thought crept into the minds of all, so that they resolved in common to magnify their own name, not that of God the Creator, by building a most lofty tower up to heaven, and that they might be celebrated in the memory of posterity through all generations thereafter, through successive governments, and the time of the whole age, by the indelible praise of all. But God, offended again by this rashness and proud presumption, was unwilling to destroy the whole race utterly by an undivided slaughter of all for the common guilt of the whole kind, as He had lately done among men, especially since no just man was found who might be left over. Yet since up to that time the whole people was of one tongue, He divided the tongues of all who had come to such a work into diverse words (ibid. 11:1–9), namely so that by the most righteous judgement of the just Arbiter those who in the lofty swelling of pride had despised God should indeed feel the punishment in the most fragile member of their substance, that of speech. And this which had befallen took place not only in the fathers themselves; but the condition of such a punishment passed through all the offspring of the sons: so that those who sought for themselves an eternal fame with posterity should find, abiding in those posterities through all the times of the age to come, the chastisement of that very presumption. Afterwards too this division of tongues had come about by God's dispensation, so that the tongue of one people chosen out of many should guard the mystery of the divine Scriptures until the ripe time: until, at the predetermined time, when He willed to open the sacrament of His dispensation to all nations, He sent from on high the Holy Spirit, bringing the knowledge of all tongues, to the foreordained ministers of the same sacrament: He Who up to that time had sung the mighty works of God through one tongue, as if for the consecration of all tongues, at His very first coming proclaimed [them] through the Apostles. For thus those whom God had at that time gathered in Jerusalem from all nations, as if for the proof of this thing, said, We have heard them speaking in our tongues the mighty works of God (Acts 2:4–11). Thus apostolic humility gathered by the gift of the Holy Spirit what the desire of proud presumption and vain glory had scattered. Now very many authors agree that those tongues are seventy-two, because they say that so many fathers were gathered for the building of that tower in the land of Sennaar, which is now Babylon.

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Unde et Dominus septuaginta duos discipulos, exceptis illis primariis Apostolis, elegisse sermone Evangelii refertur, per quos postea in omnes gentes idem Evangelium praedicaretur (Luc. X, 1). In quorum praefiguratione etiam Moysi spiritus in septuaginta seniores distribuitur: et aliis duobus qui in castris resederant, Heldad videlicet et Medad, ejus spiritus prophetiae donum condonatur (Num. XI, 24, 6). Quorum quasi haereditarii successores, ad Ptolomaeum Philadelphum Alexandriae regem a pontificibus, Eleazaro scilicet et caeteris, qui eodem tempore Judaeorum populo praeerant, septuaginta sapientes, qui ex Israel stirpe descenderant, missi sunt, et Scripturas antiquae legis in graecum eloquium transtulerunt. Harum vero omnium linguarum novi Testamenti tempore, tribus linguis, hebraicae utique, graecae et latinae, principatus committitur; quia in eis crucis Christi titulus litteris hebraicis, graecis et latinis scriptus, Evangelica auctoritate perhibetur (Joan. XIX, 20). At vero Deus in hoc contra naturam humani eloquii quam olim disposuit, nil dividendo et confundendo linguas hominum et sermones fecit; quando ejusdem loquelae natura in hominibus permanet, nisi quod consuetudo diversa deviare ab alterutro linguas, non naturaliter, sed consuetudinarie docet. Latinus namque vel Graecus inter Barbaricos genitus vel nutritus, barbarice loquitur; versaque vice barbari filius a Graecis aut Latinis edoctus, venusto sermone fatur. Ex quo intelligitur Deum non naturam hominum mutasse, non novum in eis aliquid condidisse, sed dicendi tantum modos et formas in diversis generibus divisisse.

Hence also the Lord is related in the word of the Gospel to have chosen seventy-two disciples, apart from those chief Apostles, through whom the same Gospel was afterwards to be preached to all nations (Luke 10:1). In prefiguration of these the spirit of Moses too is distributed among seventy elders, and on two others who had stayed behind in the camp, namely Heldad and Medad, the gift of his spirit of prophecy is bestowed (Num. 11:24, 6). As though their hereditary successors, seventy wise men who had descended from the stock of Israel were sent to Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Alexandria, by the high priests, namely Eleazar and the others who at that same time were over the people of the Jews, and they translated the Scriptures of the old law into Greek speech. But in the time of the New Testament the primacy over all these languages is committed to three languages, namely Hebrew, Greek and Latin; because the title of the cross of Christ, written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin letters, is attested by the authority of the Gospel to have been in them (John 19:20). But in truth God, in dividing and confusing the languages and speech of men, did nothing in this against the nature of human speech which He once arranged; since the nature of the same speech remains in men, except that differing custom teaches languages to diverge from one another, not by nature but by custom. For a Latin or a Greek born or brought up among barbarians speaks in barbarian fashion; and conversely the son of a barbarian, taught by Greeks or Latins, speaks in elegant language. From this it is understood that God did not change the nature of men, nor create anything new in them, but only divided the modes and forms of speaking among the different races.

CAPUT X. — De Sodomitica vindicta.

Chapter X. — On the vengeance upon Sodom.

Magno deinde temporis intervallo peracto, in confinio Arabiae et Palaestinae quinque positae civitates, Sodoma, Gomorra, Adama, Seboim, et Segor, fecundissimi soli habitatione, et rerum omnium abundantia perfruentes, inconvenientis luxuriae et cupidinis in contractione tritici convictae, dominicae vindictae aditum praebuerunt; ita ut imbribus ignis et sulphuris superfusa tota cum habitatoribus suis et animantibus et urbibus, regio flagrans arderet (Gen. XIX). Hoc namque modo conveniebat, ut qui communi studio Deum offenderant, communis vindictae impetu eodem perirent: et qui contra consuetudinem hominum in turpis concupiscentiae perpetratione exarserant, contra consuetam hominum mortem non terrena vindicta, sed coelestium ignium infusione arderent: et qui peccatum suum non solum faciendo, sed etiam praedicando palam fecerant, infamem vitam famosa poena consumerent. Quae vindicta hactenus eorumdem terram non deseruit, dum quali poenae, qui talia agunt subjace⟨a⟩nt, ostendit. Inter istas vero duas primarias in saeculo poenas, diluvii scilicet et Sodomitanam, talis differentia deprehenditur, quod aqua una terra, igni altera punita videatur: una coeli rore, et abyssi unda diluitur; altera igneo imbre, et sulphuris superfusione damnatur. Una anni circulo unius permanente, terra retegitur; per alteram terra et adhuc cessatione maceratur: in una naturale scelus in hominibus punitur, per alteram adinventio concupiscentiae contra consuetudinem facta vindicatur. In ista vero Sodomitana poena nil contra naturam Deus facere cernitur, cum desuper aereo ignito illo spatio, insoliti desiderii ardor inflammatur.

Then, after a great interval of time had passed, five cities situated on the border of Arabia and Palestine, Sodom, Gomorrah, Adamah, Zeboiim and Zoar, enjoying a dwelling on most fertile soil and an abundance of all things, convicted of unseemly luxury and greed in the contraction of wheat, gave entry to the Lord's vengeance; so that the whole region, deluged with showers of fire and sulphur together with its inhabitants and animals and cities, burned in flames (Gen. 19). For in this way it was fitting that those who had offended God with common zeal should perish by the same onset of a common vengeance; and that those who, against the custom of men, had burned in the perpetration of base lust should burn, against the customary death of men, not by an earthly vengeance but by the pouring down of heavenly fires; and that those who had made their sin public not only by doing it but also by proclaiming it should end an infamous life with a notorious punishment. This vengeance has not to this day left their land, since it shows to what punishment those who do such things are subject. But between these two chief punishments in the world, namely that of the flood and that of Sodom, this difference is discerned, that the one land is seen to be punished by water, the other by fire: the one is washed away by the dew of heaven and the wave of the abyss; the other is condemned by a fiery rain and the pouring down of sulphur. In the one, when the circle of a single year had run its course, the land is uncovered; through the other the land is still wasted even now by barrenness; in the one a natural crime in men is punished, through the other a contrivance of lust committed against custom is avenged. But in this Sodomite punishment God is seen to do nothing against nature, since from above, by that fiery airy space, the burning of an unaccustomed desire is set aflame.

CAPUT XI. — De uxore Loth in statuam salis mutata.

Chapter XI. — On Lot's wife changed into a statue of salt.

De qua peccatorum plaga Loth Dei servus per Angelos eruitur; sed illius uxor ne retro respiceret jussa, dum respicit, in salis statuam solidatur (Gen., XIX, 17, 26), ut cujus visus non erat immunis ex culpae consortio, mortem effugere non posset, quamvis propter justi contubernium eruta sit de incendio. Sed dum hoc assumpsimus, quod nihil in Dei creatura contra naturam sit, sed insita natura semper in omnibus gubernetur; qualiter, uxor Loth cum in salis statuam vertitur, humani corporis natura in hac mutatione gubernatur? Salis igitur naturam in humano corpore esse nullus ambigit, qui lacrymarum salsitudinem

From this plague upon sinners Lot, the servant of God, is rescued by Angels; but his wife, ordered not to look back, while she looks back, is solidified into a statue of salt (Gen. 19:17, 26), so that she whose gaze was not free from partnership in the guilt could not escape death, although on account of her companionship with the just man she was rescued from the burning. But since we have assumed this, that nothing in God's creation is against nature, but that all things are always governed by the nature implanted in them, how, when Lot's wife is turned into a statue of salt, is the nature of the human body governed in this change? Now no one doubts that the nature of salt is in the human body, who has tested the saltiness of tears

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comprobavit; quae a turbato fello, ut medici dicunt, egredientes, salis naturam, quam in recondito naturae sinu concipiunt, de oculis fluentes, etiam saporis comprobatione ostendunt. Et non solum in lacrymis, sed etiam in phlegmate, et tussi expresso sputo pectoris sapitur, quod salis natura per humanum corpus inseratur. Potens ergo rerum gubernator, cum totum in partem vertere cupit, quod in modica parte latebat, per totum infundit. Atque hac ex causa, cum uxorem Loth in statuam salis vertere voluit, pars illa tenuissima salis quae carni inerat, totum corpus infecit. Et ita factum est, ut qui sexto die omnes naturas constituere consummavit, nihil ex aliqua naturà in aliam congessit, sed unamquamque in semetipsa gubernat, quam in prima conditione constituebat.

for these, issuing from a disturbed gall, as physicians say, and flowing from the eyes, show even by the proof of taste the nature of salt which they conceive in the hidden bosom of nature. And not only in tears, but also in phlegm, and in the spittle forced from the chest by a cough, it is tasted that the nature of salt is inserted throughout the human body. So the mighty Governor of things, when He wishes to turn the whole into the part, pours through the whole what lay hidden in a small part. And for this reason, when He willed to turn Lot's wife into a pillar of salt, that most slender portion of salt which was in her flesh infected the whole body. And so it came about that He Who completed the establishing of all natures on the sixth day heaped nothing from any one nature into another, but governs each in itself, as He established it in the first creation.

CA⟨P⟩UT XII. — De Sara nonagenaria pariente filium.

Chapter XII. On Sarah bearing a son at ninety years of age.

Eodem fere tempore Abrahae illius ex multitudine gentium in Dei amicitiam electi, Sara sterilis uxor filium, Isaac nomine, jam nonagenaria peperit (Gen. XXI, 1, 2), cum illam usque aetatem per totum vitae suae spatium sterilis fuit. Sed hoc valde conveniebat, ut quoniam filius quem parturiebat, ipsam figuram Christi, qui ex sola Virgine sine aliqua humanae voluptatis cupidine nasceretur, praetulit; illum non aetate qua solent feminae parere, id est, a duodecimo anno usque ad quadragesimum nonum annum, sed ultra illius consuetudinis metas parturiret: ut scilicet ille infans non solum ultra quinquagesimum annum, desinente partus officio, sed etiam nonagesimo anno nasceretur, desinente voluptatis desiderio. Et hoc quamvis contra consuetudinem, non tamen adversus naturam factum est: quoniam et si contra consuetudinem est ut pariat anus, adversus tamen naturam non est ut in utero feminali nascatur quandoque filius.

At almost the same time Sarah, the barren wife of that Abraham who was chosen out of the multitude of the nations into the friendship of God, bore a son, Isaac by name, when already ninety years old (Gen. 21:1–2), although up to that age she had been barren through the whole span of her life. But this was very fitting: that, since the son she was bearing displayed the very figure of Christ, Who was to be born of a Virgin alone without any desire of human pleasure, she should bear him not at the age at which women are wont to give birth, that is, from the twelfth year up to the forty-ninth year, but beyond the bounds of that custom: so, namely, that that infant should be born not only beyond the fiftieth year, when the office of childbearing ceases, but even in the ninetieth year, when the desire of pleasure ceases. And this, though contrary to custom, was nevertheless not done against nature: for even if it is contrary to custom that an old woman should give birth, yet it is not against nature that a son should at some time be born in a woman's womb.

CAPUT XIII. — De puteo quem vidit Agar ejecta cum filio.

Chapter XIII. On the well which Hagar saw when cast out with her son.

Quo nascente filio et ablactato, ancilla Agar cum filio suo Ismael qui prior natus est ejicitur, quae per desertum deficiente aqua, et siti moriente cum puero vadens lacrymatur. Sed angelo eam compellante et dicente, Exaudivit Dominus vocem pueri, aperti sunt oculi ejus, et vidit puteum in solitudine (Gen. XXI. 9-19). De quo puteo ita refertur, ut aut tunc erumpens jam e terra prodatur, aut si ibi ante fuerit, tunc Agar oculi, ut videret, quem ante non poterat, aperiantur.

When this son had been born and weaned, the handmaid Hagar is cast out with her son Ishmael, who had been born first; and going through the desert, as the water failed and she was dying of thirst with the boy, she weeps. But when an angel addressed her and said, The Lord has heard the voice of the boy, her eyes were opened, and she saw a well in the wilderness (Gen. 21:9–19). Of this well it is so related that either it came forth then, bursting out of the earth, or, if it had been there before, Hagar's eyes were then opened so that she might see what she could not see before.

CAPUT XIV. — De ariete quem Abraham obtulit pro filio.

Chapter XIV. On the ram which Abraham offered for his son.

Ut autem appareret etiam hominibus quam fidelis in Dei amicitia parmaneret Abraham, filium suum Isaac cum esset jam adultus, offerre sibi in holocaustum super unum montium, quem ei monstraverat, Deus praecepit. Qui obediens, ad locum quem ostenderat ei Deus, cito perrexit, et assuptum filium jam jamque immolare coepit: sed clamante angelo, filio suo quidquam mali ne faceret, jam inter vepres haerentem cornibus arietem vidit, quem angelo jubente holocaustum pro filio statim obtulit (Gen. XXII, 1-13). Sed iste aries requiritur unde in solitudine fuit: utrum, ut quidam asserunt, hunc in illa hora terra protulit, quomodo et in principio pecora gignit? An etiam, ne illud opus post diem sextum condidisse de terra Deus dicatur, istum arietem detulisse angelum aliunde credimus, quo modo et Philippum angelus ab eunucho transtulit in Azotum (Act. VIII, 39), et ad Danielem in Babylonem Habacuc transtulisse ad lacum leonum fertur angelus (Dan. XIV, 35).

Now, that it might appear to men too how faithful Abraham remained in the friendship of God, God commanded him to offer his son Isaac, when he was already grown, to Him as a holocaust upon one of the mountains, which He had shown him. He, obeying, went quickly to the place which God had shown him, and, having taken his son, was already on the point of sacrificing him; but when an angel cried out that he should do no harm to his son, he saw a ram already caught by its horns among the briars, which at the angel's command he at once offered as a holocaust in place of his son (Gen. 22:1–13). But it is asked whence this ram came to be in the wilderness: whether, as some assert, the earth brought it forth at that hour, in the way that it also brings forth cattle in the beginning? Or rather, lest God be said to have made that work out of the earth after the sixth day, do we believe that an angel brought this ram from elsewhere, in the way that an angel also carried Philip away from the eunuch to Azotus (Acts 8:39), and an angel is said to have carried Habakkuk to Daniel in Babylon, to the lions' den (Dan. 14:35).

CAPUT XV. — De Jacob et Joseph; quare unus in terra repromissionis, alter in Aegypto sepelitur.

Chapter XV. On Jacob and Joseph; why one is buried in the land of promise, the other in Egypt.

Inde Isaac generante filios Jacob et Esau (Gen. XXV, 25), Jacob duodecim Patriarchas generante (Id. XXXV, 22-26), decem fratres invidentes Joseph vendiderunt in Aegyptum (Id. XXXVII, 28); qui in terra peregrinationis et captivitatis suae salutem gentibus praestans ad quas pervenit, totius regni Aegyptiorum dispensationem, et dominium terrae Aegypti accepit, ita ut et patrem cum omni domo sua in Aegyptum

Then, Isaac begetting the sons Jacob and Esau (Gen. 25:25), and Jacob begetting the twelve Patriarchs (ibid. 35:22–26), ten brothers in their envy sold Joseph into Egypt (ibid. 37:28); who, in the land of his sojourning and captivity, providing salvation for the nations to which he had come, received the administration of the whole kingdom of the Egyptians and lordship over the land of Egypt, so that he invited his father too with all his house into Egypt

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invitaverit : ubi cum annis sexdecim vixisset, die mortis jam instante, filium suum Joseph adjuravit, ut ad sepulcrum patrum suorum id terram repromissionis, in qua Abraham et Isaac cum Sara et Rebecca jacebant, ubi etiam Lia condita fuerat, illum deportaret. Quam adjurationem Joseph opere complevit : patrum enim suorum ad sepulcrum paternum corpus devexit (Gen. XLIX, L). Et tamen ille in Aegypto postea moriens, statim post mortem devehi ad paternum sepulcrum noluit; sed in Aegypto interim sepulturae locum suscepit, et postea de ossibus suis pergenti de Aegypto populo mandavit, dicens : Efferte ossa mea vobiscum hinc (Id. L, 24). Quare ergo alter ad sepulcrum Abraham in terram repromissionis protinus portatur, alter adhuc in terra Aegypti quandoque deportandus sepelitur? Jacob namque nequaquam externae gentis feminis, nisi iis quae de Mesopotamia secum venerant, miscebatur; idcirco ad paternum sepulcrum integro corpore post mortem statim devehitur. Joseph vero Assenech Putifaris sacerdotis Heliopoleos filiam uxorem accipiens (Id. XLI, 45), externo sanguini fuerat mixtus, et ideo post mortem in extraneo terrae limo conditus est. Quare ergo postmodum ad terram repromissionis vehi voluit, dum primitus in Aegypto conditus fuit? Joseph ergo ut vir propheticus, praevidit quod Aegyptiorum gens idololatriae dedita, ipsum qui terrenae munificentiae illis auctor fuisset, et ipsos de famis periculo liberasset, aliquando adorare vellet : quod et fecerunt. Nam bovis simulacrum juxta sepulcrum Joseph statuerunt, eo quod bos viro in agricultura cooperatur. Qua etiam causa filii Israel cum in deserto idolum adorare vellent, non aliam aliquam statuam quam vitulum, id est, bovem fecerunt : hac vel maxime causa quod ipse in Aegypto juxta sepulcrum Joseph adoraretur. Ne ergo Joseph Aegyptiorum idololatriae succumberet, profectionem filiorum Israel praevidens, dixit, Visitatione visitabit vos Deus; et efferte ossa mea hinc vobiscum. Hanc ergo causam in hoc loco posui, non quod inter mirabilia deputaretur, sed ne tam magnum inter Abraham et Moysen, sine aliquo quod comme⟨m⟩oratione dignum sit, spatium omitterem.

where, when he had lived sixteen years, with the day of his death now at hand, he adjured his son Joseph to carry him to the tomb of his fathers in the land of promise, in which Abraham and Isaac lay with Sarah and Rebecca, where Leah too had been buried. This adjuration Joseph fulfilled in deed: for he conveyed the body to the paternal tomb of his fathers (Gen. 49–50). And yet he, dying afterwards in Egypt, did not wish to be conveyed to the paternal tomb immediately after death; but in Egypt he received a place of burial for the meantime, and afterwards gave command concerning his bones to the people setting out from Egypt, saying: Carry my bones hence with you (Gen. 50:24). Why then is the one carried at once to the tomb of Abraham in the land of promise, while the other is buried still in the land of Egypt, to be carried away at some later time? For Jacob in no way mingled with women of a foreign nation, except those who had come with him from Mesopotamia; therefore he is conveyed immediately after death, with his body intact, to the paternal tomb. But Joseph, taking as wife Assenech, the daughter of Putifar, priest of Heliopolis (Gen. 41:45), had been mixed with foreign blood, and therefore after death he was laid in the soil of a foreign land. Why then did he wish to be conveyed afterwards to the land of promise, when he was first buried in Egypt? Joseph, then, as a prophetic man, foresaw that the nation of the Egyptians, given over to idolatry, would at some time wish to worship him who had been the author of earthly bounty to them and had freed them from the danger of famine: which they indeed did. For they set up an image of an ox beside the tomb of Joseph, because the ox works together with man in agriculture. For this reason too the sons of Israel, when they wished to worship an idol in the desert, made no other statue than a calf, that is, an ox: for this reason above all, that it [the ox] was itself worshipped in Egypt beside the tomb of Joseph. Lest, then, Joseph should fall prey to the idolatry of the Egyptians, foreseeing the departure of the sons of Israel, he said, God will visit you with a visitation; and carry my bones hence with you. This reason, then, I have set down in this place, not that it should be reckoned among the wonders, but so that I should not pass over so great an interval between Abraham and Moses without something worthy of mention.

CAPUT XVI. — De Moyse et rubo in Oreb.

Chapter XVI. — On Moses and the bush in Horeb.

Post mortem autem Joseph, durissimae servitutis jugo Aegyptiorum gens filios Israel coepit opprimere, ita ut mares eorum parvulos, ne ultra modum gens succresceret, in flumine projicere, et diversa juberet morte mactare (Exod. I, 14, 22). Quo tempore Moyses Amrae filius, in illa tempestate generatus, Leviticae stirpis vir, in ultionem suae gentis surrexit : et videns virum Aegyptium Israelitam opprimentem, occidit. Quae res ut Aegyptiorum regi qualiter facta esset, innotuit; ipse de Aegypto fugiens, per quadraginta annos in terra Madian oves pascens exsul fuit (Id. II, 11-15). Cui evoluto tempore promissionis, quae facta est ad patres, minanti per pascua gregem in monte Oreb rubus ardens, et igne suo non comburi apparuit. Et cum talem visionem explorare cuperet, cur rubus non combureretur cum arderet, Dominus de medio rubi, Ego, inquit, sum Dominus Deus patrum tuorum. In Aegyptum mittam te, ut inde servitutis jugo oppressum solvas semen eorum (Id. III, 1-10). In hac horribili visione, hoc nostro operi primum occurrit, quomodo ignis videbatur ardere, et tamen illud in quo arserat, non comburi. Si ergo de ista materia ignis alimoniam sumpserat; quare illud unde creverat non consumebatur? Et si non de hac materia flamma, quae videbatur, surrexerat; ut in rubo ostenderetur quid necesse erat? Cujusdam ergo virgulti consuetudo refertur, quod quanto plus arserit, non tantum non consumitur, sed ardendo purgatius redditur. De quo ligno sanctus Hieronymus in expla⟨n⟩atione altaris lignei, quod in civitate per visionem Domini in Ezechiele ostenditur (Ezech. XLI, 22), refert quod quasi lini colorem habeat : attamen de hujus nomine reticuit, cum illius naturam indicavit. Si ergo in illius arboris rubo ignis

After the death of Joseph, the nation of the Egyptians began to oppress the sons of Israel with the yoke of the harshest servitude, so that it ordered their little male children to be thrown into the river, lest the nation should grow beyond measure, and to be slaughtered by various kinds of death (Exod. 1:14, 22). At that time Moses, son of Amram, born in that period, a man of Levitical stock, rose up in vengeance for his nation: and seeing an Egyptian man oppressing an Israelite, he killed him. When this matter, and how it had been done, became known to the king of the Egyptians, he, fleeing from Egypt, was an exile for forty years in the land of Midian, pasturing sheep (Exod. 2:11–15). When the time of the promise which was made to the fathers had run its course, to him, as he drove his flock through the pastures on Mount Horeb, a bush appeared burning and not consumed by its fire. And when he desired to investigate such a vision, why the bush was not consumed although it was burning, the Lord from the midst of the bush said, I am the Lord God of your fathers. I will send you into Egypt, that from there you may set free their seed, oppressed by the yoke of servitude (Exod. 3:1–10). In this awesome vision, this first presents itself to our work: how the fire was seen to burn, and yet that in which it burned was not consumed. If then the fire had taken its nourishment from this material, why was that from which it had grown not consumed? And if the flame which was seen had not arisen from this material, what need was there for it to be shown in a bush? There is reported, then, the property of a certain shrub, that the more it burns, not only is it not consumed, but by burning it is rendered purer. Of this wood holy Jerome, in his explanation of the wooden altar which is shown in the city through a vision of the Lord in Ezekiel (Ezek. 41:22), reports that it has, as it were, the colour of flax: yet he was silent about its name, though he indicated its nature. If then in the bush of that tree the fire

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ille Moysi ostensus arserat, quid mirum si nequaquam illud comburebatur? Servata ergo in utroque natura, igne scilicet et arbore, consideratur; dum et ignis naturaliter de arbore ardet, et arbor ardens igni naturaliter non consumitur. Vel certe in illo rubo non ille ignis arboris inimicus videbatur; sed potius ignis ille ibi fuit, de quo dicitur, Qui facit angelos suos spiritus, et ministros suos ignem urentem (Psal. CIII, 4). Ignis ergo incorporeus in rubo declaratur, qui dum corporali homini ostensus est, necesse fuit ut aliqua corporea materia monstraretur.

that was shown to Moses had burned, what wonder if that [bush] was in no way consumed? Nature, then, is seen to be preserved in both, that is, in the fire and in the tree, since the fire burns naturally from the tree, and the burning tree is naturally not consumed by the fire. Or certainly, in that bush it was not that fire hostile to the tree that was seen; rather, that fire was there of which it is said, Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning fire (Ps. 103:4). An incorporeal fire, therefore, is declared in the bush, and since it was shown to a bodily man, it was necessary that it be displayed by some bodily matter.

CAPUT XVII. — De duobus signis, id est manu in sinum conversa, et virga in colubrum mutata.

Chapter XVII. — On the two signs, that is, the hand turned in the bosom, and the rod changed into a serpent.

Deinde pergenti in Aegyptum, bifarium condonatur signum, scilicet ut in tribus testibus, in se et in duobus signis, consisteret verbum. Nam virga quam Moyses adhuc ovium pastor manu portaverat, cum in terram projiceret, serpens fiebat: et manum illius in proprium sinum suum missam prima vice leprosam protulerat, et secunda vice in eumdem sinum conversa sana apparebat (Exod. IV, 1-7). Sed in manu aut in ligno contra naturam esse aliquid factum non apparet. Lepram enim et sanitatem insitam, ut alternatim saepe probatur, carnis humanae natura retinet. Sed crebra talis mutatio, ut in eodem momento sana manus et lepra candens, et rursum sana appareret, insignissimi miraculum signi intuentibus praebet. Virga igitur in anguem versa et rursus serpens in arborem mutatus, laborem naturae inquisitoribus praeparat. Nisi quia utrumque, virga scilicet et serpens, factum esse manifeste docetur ex terra. Quod ergo ex eadem materia oritur, gubernatoris Dei potentia vicissim in alterutrum mutatur. Sed si omnia, quae de terra facta sunt, in alterutrum mutari vicissim conceduntur, hoc est, ut animal in arborem, panis in lapidem, homo in volucrem verti posse concedatur; nihil ex his firmiter possit intra suae naturae terminos permanere, et ridiculosis magorum fabulationibus dicentium in avium substantia majores suos saecula pervolasse, assensum praestare videbimur; ac per hoc Deum in his non gubernatorem, sed mutatorem naturarum dicemus: quod absit, ne illum post primam naturarum omnium conditionem, aliquid novum, quod non propria natura retineat, facere credamus. Nihil enim sub sole novum. Nec valet quisquam dicere, Ecce hoc recens est (Eccle. I, 10): et ideo plurimi doctores plus dicunt illam veram virgam, quae semper Moysi manibus comprehensa virgultum manebat, imaginarie tantum in serpentis formam aliquoties pro signo fuisse versam, praesertim cum ad nullos usus, nisi ad signi ostensionem necessaria esset. Si enim verus serpens fuisset, serpens semper post signa maneret. Etenim vera virga fuerat ex qua Moyses Aegyptum plagis flagellare coeperat; nunquam in serpentem mutata, semper virga permanserat. De qua mare dividitur (Exod. XIV, 21), et petrae in Oreb et in Cades percutiuntur (Ibid., 17, 6; Num. XX, 11). Si ergo imaginarius serpens ille per signa tantum ostenditur, cur coram Pharaone caeteri magorum serpentes per eum devorantur (Exod. VII, 12)? Cui objectioni facile docti respondere poterunt, quod et ipsi serpentes, qui per eum devorantur, imaginarii fuerunt; et ideo divini signi imaginatio devorare poterat quod per magorum diabolicas incantationes imaginatum fiebat. Juxta ergo hanc aestimationem non in naturam serpentis virga vertitur, sed pro signo in similitudinem imaginarie commutatur. Nihil enim in arboris natura, quod facere serpentem possit invenitur: et idcirco nisi in hora signi, quae erat virga naturaliter, serpens specialiter videtur.

Then, as he was setting out for Egypt, a twofold sign is granted, namely so that in three witnesses, in himself and in two signs, the word might stand. For the rod which Moses, still a shepherd of sheep, had carried in his hand became a serpent when he threw it on the ground; and his hand, put into his own bosom, he had brought out leprous the first time, and the second time, turned back into the same bosom, it appeared sound (Exod. 4:1–7). But it does not appear that anything was done against nature in the hand or in the wood. For the nature of human flesh retains leprosy and soundness as things implanted in it, as is often proved by their alternation. But such a repeated change, so that in the same moment the hand appeared sound, and white with leprosy, and sound again, presents to the onlookers the miracle of a most remarkable sign. The rod, then, turned into a snake, and the serpent changed back into a tree, prepares labour for the investigators of nature. Except that both, namely the rod and the serpent, are plainly taught to have been made from the earth. What arises from the same matter, therefore, is changed in turn from one into the other by the power of God the Governor. But if all things that were made from the earth are granted to be changed in turn from one into the other, that is, if it is granted that an animal can be turned into a tree, bread into a stone, a man into a bird, nothing of these could remain firmly within the bounds of its own nature, and we shall be seen to give assent to the ridiculous tales of the magi, who say that their ancestors flew through the ages in the substance of birds; and thereby we shall call God in these things not the Governor but the changer of natures: which far be it from us, lest we believe that after the first establishment of all natures He makes anything new which its own nature does not retain. For there is nothing new under the sun. Nor can anyone say, Behold, this is recent (Eccl. 1:10); and therefore very many teachers rather say that that true rod, which, always held in the hands of Moses, remained a stick, was turned only in appearance into the form of a serpent on some occasions as a sign, especially since it was needed for no uses except for the showing of the sign. For if it had been a true serpent, it would always have remained a serpent after the signs. Indeed, it was a true rod with which Moses had begun to scourge Egypt with plagues; never changed into a serpent, it had always remained a rod. By it the sea is divided (Exod. 14:21), and the rocks in Horeb and in Kadesh are struck (ibid. 17:6; Num. 20:11). If, then, that serpent is shown only in appearance by way of signs, why before Pharaoh are the other serpents of the magi devoured by it (Exod. 7:12)? To this objection the learned will easily be able to reply that the serpents themselves which are devoured by it were also imaginary; and therefore the appearance of the divine sign could devour what was being made to appear through the diabolical incantations of the magi. According to this opinion, therefore, the rod is not turned into the nature of a serpent, but for a sign is changed in appearance into its likeness. For nothing is found in the nature of a tree that could make a serpent; and therefore, except in the hour of the sign, what was by nature a rod is seen in outward form as a serpent.

CAPUT XVIII. — De aqua in sanguinem versa.

Chapter XVIII. — On the water turned into blood.

Pergens igitur in Aegyptum Moyses, cum coram Pharaone ut sibi Dominus imperaverat, signa faceret, et Dei sententiam, ut Israeliticum populum dimitteret,

Moses, therefore, going into Egypt, when he performed the signs before Pharaoh as the Lord had commanded him, and made known to the king the sentence of God, that he should let the Israelite people go,

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Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: serpens specialiter videtur› · call in col 2164

Ms. Aud., virga specialiter semper videtur. Optime.

The Ms. Aud. [manuscript so designated] reads virga specialiter semper videtur ("it is always seen as a rod in particular"). Very well.

(printed under page 430)

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regi indicaret, et ipse rex Dei praecepto nullo ⟨m⟩odo consentiret, et jubente Domino decem plagis ⟨t⟩erram Aegypti flagellaret; primo percussas in sanguinem vertit aquas, ita ut omnes aquae per totam Aegyptum mutatae in sanguinem; animantibus quae in ⟨i⟩psis erant, mortem praestarent, et per interitum sitis ⟨h⟩ominibus poenale facerent exitium (Exod. VII, 20, 21). Haec autem primitus vindicta Aegyptiis cum rege suo ⟨c⟩onvenienter evenerat, ut qui Dei populi infantes in ⟨f⟩lumen jactari praeceperant, ejusdem fluminis aqua ⟨i⟩n sanguinem versa exitium bibentibus inferret, et ⟨n⟩on bibentibus poenam praestaret. At vero et hoc ⟨r⟩equirendum est, quod ad praesentis operis propositum ⟨r⟩espicit, quomodo Deus naturae gubernator naturaliter aquam in sanguinem mutavit. Aqua igitur cuncti ⟨l⟩iquoris materia, quotidie per ipsarum rerum ministrationes in diversa mutatur, dum ad uniuscujusque ⟨n⟩aturae pastum et refectionem indesinenter et naturaliter contrahitur. Cum enim per vitis arborem infunditur, in vini saporem et colorem mutatur: et cum ⟨o⟩livae ligni ad excelsas summitates ascendit, eadem ⟨a⟩qua olei pinguedinem facit: et cum ab apibus in favos congeritur, mellis dulcedinem operatur: et cum per palmarum robora digeritur, dactylos gignit, et ad sicerae suavitatem expressa pervenit: et cum in animalium diversorum pastum deputatur, in sanguinis substantias diversas per eamdem carnem distinguitur. Nam et nutriendis fetibus, albi coloris et suavissimae dulcedinis in uberibus lac praeparat, et per cuncta reliquae carnis membra rubicundum sanguinis colorem fuscat. Multa sunt praeterea sanguinis genera per eamdem carnem, quae usque ad viginti tria physiologi dinumerant, ex quibus urinam, semen, fel nigrum et rufum, salivas et lacrymas, et caetera esse denuntiant: haec quotidianis administrationibus naturae suae per res varias aqua praeparat. Quid ergo capacibus mentibus obstat, si illud quod per tempus longius facit, in momento per jussum potentissimi Gubernatoris naturaliter efficiatur? Aqua ergo in sanguinem versa, non contra naturam facit, sed quod aliis rebus per tempus efficeret, jubente Domino in semetipsa protinus operatur.

and the king himself would in no way consent to God's command, and at the Lord's bidding he would scourge the land of Egypt with ten plagues; first he turned the waters, once struck, into blood, so that all the waters throughout the whole of Egypt, changed into blood, brought death to the living creatures that were in them, and through death by thirst made a penal end for men (Exod. 7:20–21). Now this first vengeance had befallen the Egyptians with their king fittingly, so that, since they had ordered the infants of God's people to be thrown into the river, the water of that same river, turned into blood, should bring destruction on those who drank it and punishment on those who did not drink. But this too must be inquired into, which concerns the purpose of the present work: how God, the governor of nature, changed water into blood naturally. Water, then, the matter of every liquid, is daily changed into diverse things through the services of the things themselves, while it is drawn in unceasingly and naturally for the nourishment and refreshment of each nature. For when it is poured through the tree of the vine, it is changed into the taste and colour of wine; and when it ascends to the lofty tops of the olive wood, that same water makes the richness of oil; and when it is gathered by bees into honeycombs, it produces the sweetness of honey; and when it is digested through the trunks of palms, it brings forth dates, and, pressed out, arrives at the sweetness of strong drink; and when it is assigned to the nourishment of various animals, it is distinguished into the diverse substances of blood through that same flesh. For for the nourishing of offspring it prepares in the breasts milk of white colour and most pleasant sweetness, and throughout all the members of the rest of the flesh it darkens the ruddy colour of blood. There are, moreover, many kinds of blood throughout the same flesh, which physiologists count up to twenty-three, among which they declare urine, semen, black and red bile, saliva and tears and the rest to be: these water prepares through various things by the daily administrations of its nature. What then stands in the way of capacious minds, if what it does over a longer time is accomplished naturally in a moment by the command of the most powerful Governor? Water, therefore, turned into blood, does not act against nature, but what it would accomplish in other things over time, at the Lord's bidding it works forthwith in itself.

CAPUT XIX.— De caeteris plagis Aegyptiorum.

Chapter XIX.— On the other plagues of the Egyptians.

De caeteris vero plagis quibus Deus per Moysen et Moyses per Aaron, Pharaonem et terram ejus et servos ejus castigaverat, nil excessisse terminos naturae, ipsa plagarum simplex narratio manifestat. Quoniam etsi tunc solito plures, semper tamen de aquis ranae nascuntur; et sciniphes aestatis tempore calore solis de pulvere oriuntur; locustae et muscae solis fervore solidatae undique conveniunt, et jumenta diversis causis morte solita vitae suae terminum peragunt; pulvis quoque conturbatus de terra saepe aerem serenum obscurat, et vesicas, et postea ulcera in hominibus et jumentis infectis aer generat. Grando etiam et fulgura de congelantibus et vehementer turbatis nubibus ruunt, et absentia lucis oculorum obtutus, quantocumque lux recessit, tenebrae plus praepediunt. Mors quoque in Adam seminata primitus, omnibus filiis ejus dominatur, per quam tunc in Aegypto primogenita soboles cunctorum arctius damnatur. Sed quamvis haec omnia in rerum naturis insita erant, Aegyptiis tamen plagali conditione, ad eorum perfidiam compescendam, et subito, et plus solito acciderunt. Quarum ordo plagarum sicut in differentia rerum, ita et ministrorum crevit. Primae namque ex omnibus tres plagae per Aaron efficiuntur. Qui primo cum percussisset aquam, in sanguinem statim vertitur. Et cum iterum extendisset eamdem virgam super aquam, ranarum inundatio replevit terram. Et cum tertio extendisset virgam super pulverem terrae, sciniphes ebulliunt (Ibid., 20; VIII, 6-17): et per Aaron istae tres plagae fiunt. Et sequentes tres aliae per verbum Moysi ministrantur. Nam illo jubente, locustae et muscae veniunt, et mors jumentorum consequitur. At vero tres aliae non sermone tantummodo imperantur, sed

As for the other plagues with which God through Moses, and Moses through Aaron, had chastised Pharaoh and his land and his servants, the simple narrative of the plagues itself makes plain that they did not exceed the bounds of nature. For although they were then more numerous than usual, yet frogs are always born from waters; and gnats arise from the dust in summertime by the heat of the sun; locusts and flies, made solid by the sun's heat, gather from every side; and beasts of burden complete the term of their life by the usual death from various causes; dust too, stirred up from the earth, often darkens the clear air, and the air produces blisters, and afterwards ulcers, in men and beasts that are infected. Hail also and lightning rush down from clouds that are freezing and violently disturbed, and when light is absent, darkness hinders the gaze of the eyes all the more, the further the light has withdrawn. Death too, first sown in Adam, holds dominion over all his sons, and through it the firstborn offspring of all was then condemned more severely in Egypt. But although all these things were implanted in the natures of things, yet they befell the Egyptians by way of a plague, to restrain their faithlessness, both suddenly and more than usual. And the order of these plagues grew, as in the difference of the things, so also in that of the ministers. For the first three plagues of all are brought about through Aaron. When he first had struck the water, it was at once turned into blood. And when he had again stretched out the same rod over the water, a flood of frogs filled the land. And when for the third time he had stretched out the rod over the dust of the earth, gnats swarmed forth (ibid. 7:20; 8:6–17): and these three plagues come about through Aaron. And the following three others are administered through the word of Moses. For at his command locusts and flies come, and the death of the beasts of burden follows. But the three others are not commanded by word alone, but

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per Moysi opus convocantur. Moyses enim sumptum de camino pulverem in coelum sparsit, et vesicae in hominibus et jumentis, et ulcera manantia ut pulvis in omni terra Aegypti nascuntur. Et postea assumens virgam in coelum extendit, et grandinis fulgurumque insolens copia in terram ruit. Iterumque idem Moyses eamdem virgam in coelum direxit, et tribus diebus totidemque noctibus permanentes tenebras crassitudine palpabiles, et admodum ferales super terram induxit (Exod. X, 13, 14; VIII, 24; IX, 6, 10, 23-25; X, 22). Ultima autem plaga neque per Aaron, neque per Moysen accidit, sed angelus Domini per Aegyptum transiens cuncta Aegyptiorum primogenita delevit (Id. XII, 29). Quoties ergo de terra vindicta colligitur, per Aaron velut inferioris ordinis ministrum; quae vero de volatilibus et morte jumentorum, quae et ipsa velut in terra volant, poena contrahitur, per Moysis imperium agitur; quando autem de supernis nubibus castigatio convocatur, per extensionem in altum Mosaicae manus conducitur. At vero quando humanae mortis exitus a Deo dispensatur, non homini, sed angelo ministerium illud committitur: ut qui illud usque tempus per rerum, quas possidebant, flagella minus terrebantur; saltem per suae insignissimae partis detrimentum commune, quod sequebatur, interitum vererentur. Istarum quoque modus plagarum undique, hoc est, terra, aquis, animantibus, aere, igne, nubibus, coelo et Angelis convenerat, ut ostenderetur quod contra Deo rebelles et contumaces sese pariter universus orbis armat. Sicut autem iis quos Deus punire voluit, omnis creatura irascitur; sic et illis quibus auxilium praebuit, omnis creatura suffragatur. Etenim hos ambos populos mare Rubrum divisit: ubi eorum alteri totius pressurae finis, initium alteri cunctae felicitatis fuit.

are summoned through the work of Moses. For Moses, having taken dust from the furnace, scattered it towards heaven, and blisters on men and beasts, and running sores like dust, arise in all the land of Egypt. And afterwards, taking up the rod, he stretched it out towards heaven, and an unwonted abundance of hail and lightnings fell upon the earth. And again the same Moses directed the same rod towards heaven, and brought upon the earth darkness lasting three days and as many nights, palpable in its thickness and exceedingly deadly (Exod. 10:13–14; 8:24; 9:6, 10, 23–25; 10:22). The last plague, however, came about neither through Aaron nor through Moses, but the angel of the Lord, passing through Egypt, destroyed all the firstborn of the Egyptians (ibid. 12:29). Whenever, therefore, vengeance is gathered from the earth, it is done through Aaron as a minister of lower rank; but when punishment is drawn from flying creatures and from the death of beasts, which themselves too, as it were, fly upon the earth, it is carried out by the command of Moses; and when chastisement is summoned from the clouds above, it is brought about by the stretching on high of the Mosaic hand. But when the outcome of human death is dispensed by God, that ministry is entrusted not to a man but to an angel: so that those who up to that time were less terrified by the scourges falling on the things they possessed might at least, through the common loss of the most notable part of themselves which followed, fear destruction. The manner of these plagues, too, had come together from every side, that is, from earth, waters, living creatures, air, fire, clouds, heaven and angels, so that it might be shown that the whole world alike arms itself against those who are rebellious and contumacious towards God. And just as every creature is angry with those whom God willed to punish, so too every creature lends its support to those to whom He gave help. For the Red Sea divided both these peoples: where for one of them there was the end of all oppression, for the other the beginning of all happiness.

CAPUT XX. — De recedente et siccato mari Rubro.

Chapter XX. — On the Red Sea receding and dried up.

Cum dimissum, tot plagis attriti, Israeliticum populum Aegyptii a se exire compulissent; mala rursus poenitudine acti, cuncti cum rege suo exercitus pergunt, ut quos dimiserant, iterum ad servitutem retraherent. Tum Israel in angusto maris Rubri sinu coarctato, Moyse virgam super pelagus extendente, subito maris unda Rubritidis dividitur; et ingrediente populo pedibus siccis, hostibusque succedentibus, via dilatatur: immissoque vento, per totam noctem Deus mare divisum, etiam in siccum vertit, et inter ambos populos nubem, quae divideret, tenebrosam, et noctem ipsam illuminantem columnam immisit. Nam et Pharaonis exercitus mare post Israel intravit: sed uni refugium, alteri laqueus fuit. Quapropter et illa nubes media Aegyptiis erat tenebrosa, ut per totam noctem praecedentibus conjungi non valerent; Israeli vero noctem ipsam illuminabat, ut profunda maris lucida via incederent. Orto autem diluculo, defensus utroque periculo, hostium et pelagi, totus Dei populus evasit ad rura deserti; cum totus, sine saltem nuntio evadente, Pharaonis cuneus, undis ad suas metas revertentibus, concidit in glarea profundi (Exod. XIV). In hoc tam insigni in Dei operibus miraculo, istud de praesenti actus nostri intentione exigitur, quomodo in siccato et recedente de littoribus mari ratio conservatur. Sed ipsum non tam difficulter, Deo auxiliante, nos invenire credimus, qui congelantibus undis stagnorum dorsa glacie superstrata saepissime consideramus. Quod ergo venti et pluviarum desinente turbine aeris inferiores partes gelu obtinente, in aquis saepe naturaliter efficitur, illud tunc Dei jussu per glacialem ventum subito urgente pelago factum fuisse comprobatur. Sed sicut repente mare siccum Domino imperante redditur, ita eodem jubente liquefactum, in fluidas undas de sicco resolvitur. De recessu vero illius quotidiana administratione, jam ante praediximus, quia per Oceani maris aestuaria indesinenter fieri videre solemus. Ex quo colligere

When the Egyptians, worn down by so many plagues, had compelled the Israelite people, once released, to go out from them, driven again by an evil repentance, they all set out with their king as an army, to drag back into servitude those whom they had released. Then, with Israel hemmed in within a narrow bay of the Red Sea, as Moses stretched out his rod over the sea, the wave of the Red Sea is suddenly divided; and as the people entered with dry feet, and the enemies followed after, the way is widened: and having sent in a wind, God through the whole night also turned the divided sea into dry land, and between the two peoples He sent a dark cloud to divide them, and a column illuminating that very night. For Pharaoh's army also entered the sea after Israel: but for the one it was a refuge, for the other a snare. Therefore that cloud in the middle was dark to the Egyptians, so that through the whole night they could not come up with those going before; but for Israel it illuminated that very night, so that they might walk through the depths of the sea by a bright way. And when dawn arose, the whole people of God, defended from both perils, of the enemies and of the sea, escaped to the open country of the desert; while the whole wedge of Pharaoh, without even a messenger escaping, as the waters returned to their bounds, fell on the gravel of the deep (Exod. 14). In this miracle, so remarkable among the works of God, the present purpose of our undertaking requires this: how, in the sea dried and receding from the shores, the order is preserved. But we believe that we find this out not with such difficulty, God helping, we who have very often observed the surfaces of pools overlaid with ice when the waters freeze. What therefore is often brought about naturally in waters when the whirlwind of winds and rains ceases and frost takes hold of the lower parts of the air, that is shown to have been done then by God's command, with an icy wind suddenly pressing upon the sea. But just as the sea is suddenly rendered dry at the Lord's command, so at the bidding of the same, melted, it is dissolved from dryness into flowing waves. Concerning its receding by daily governance, however, we have already said before that we are accustomed to see it happen unceasingly through the tidal estuaries of the Ocean sea. From this we can gather

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Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: subito urgente› · call in col 2166

Forte, rigente.

Perhaps rigente ("freezing hard") [for "urgente"].

(printed under page 431)

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possumus, quod mare sicut naturaliter quotidie deserit littora, non contra naturam, quamvis longe aliter dissimili modo, ⟨D⟩eo tunc gubernante, propria littora detexit.

that just as the sea naturally abandons the shores every day, [so], not against nature, though in a far different and dissimilar manner, under God's governance at that time, it uncovered its own shores.

CAPUT XXI.—De carmine consono filiorum Israel.

Chapter XXI.—On the harmonious song of the children of Israel.

Considerantes igitur filii Israel validissimam potestatem, quam in sui liberatione Dominus fecit, Moyse praecinente consono carmine canticum Domino universi pariter decantabant (Exod. XV, 1-22). Ubi enormi satis admiratione accidit dignum miraculum, ut cuncti pariter senes cum pueris, et omnes aetates, eodem inspirati flamine, uno quasi ex ore, nulla praemonitione edocti, easdem concinenter litteras decantarent in unum. Sed naturae inquisitor in hoc loco securus efficitur, ubi non consuetudine humani ingenii, sed divino Spiritu cantorum pectora et ora inspirantur. Sed in his tamen cantoribus nil idem Spiritus contra naturam effecisse dignoscitur, in quibus per ora et linguas halitus et vox ad verba movetur. Et quod per verbum et studium ipsi facere potuerant, consonum omnes carmen decantare in uno momento Dominus illis donavit. Et qui paulo ante profundum coram eis aperuerat, ipse postmodum in tale canticum eorum linguas et ingenia gubernabat.

The children of Israel, therefore, considering the most mighty power which the Lord had wrought in their deliverance, all together sang a canticle to the Lord in a harmonious song, Moses leading the singing (Exod. 15:1–22). Here there occurred a miracle worthy of quite enormous wonder, that all alike, old men with boys, and every age, inspired by the same breath, as if from one mouth, taught by no previous instruction, sang the same words harmoniously in unison. But the inquirer into nature is made secure in this place, where the breasts and mouths of the singers are inspired not by the habit of human ingenuity but by the divine Spirit. Yet in these singers the same Spirit is recognized to have effected nothing against nature, since in them breath and voice are moved to words through mouths and tongues. And what they themselves could have done by speech and study, namely all singing a harmonious song, the Lord granted them in a single moment. And He Who a little before had opened the deep before them, Himself afterwards governed their tongues and minds into such a canticle.

CAPUT XXII. — De aquis indulcatis in Marath.

Chapter XXII.—On the waters sweetened in Marath.

Inde per infecundae avium digressi solitudinis, trium dierum continuo fatigati labore, querulosi ardore sitis, in Marath aquas amarissimas invenerunt; quarum salsitate prohibiti, suae sitis habere solamen minime valuerunt. Sed Moysi a Domino lignum ostenditur, cujus tactu amara fluminis aqua indulcatur; ejusque dehinc dulci sapore populus sitis ardorem depotatus deposuit, quem illuc usque incessabiliter fervor fatigavit (Exod. XV, 23-25). Sed qualiter naturae investigator naturaliter esse factum approbabit, quod amarae aquae in momento ligni attactu protinus indulcantur? Cujus ergo naturae aut tantae dulcedinis lignum fuisse videtur, quo semel intincta fluminis unda amarissima, suavis et sapida fit? Etenim si favum mellis aliquis nunc in amaram undam jecerit, nonne potius favus amarus, quam unda sapida erit? Ex quo intelligitur, non tunc lignum contra naturam aquam effecisse dulcem; sed praecepto conditoris et naturae gubernatoris lympham mutavit in saporem. Nam et virga illa qua a Moyse mare Rubrum percutitur, et flumen et coelum et terra flagellantur, quando terra Aegypti diversis plagis maceratur, non hanc in se naturae virtutem habuit, cum çam Moyses vel Aaron ad haec facienda elevavit, vel ut aquam fluminis in sanguinem verteret, vel etiam sciniphes de pulvere suscitaret, vel tenebras deduceret de coelo. Si enim aliquis praeter Moysen, et non cum Dei praecepto, mare iterum ex illa virga percussisset, pro certo ejus percussioni Thetis nequaquam cederet. Et si iterum aquas fortuitu perculeret, profecto illas nunquam in sanguinem mutaret. Sic et illam arborem per quam in Marath aqua salsa indulcatur, si in amarum liquorem aliquis intingeret, et non idem Deus ut primitus imperaret, pro certo non illam salsuginem in suavem saporem commutaret. Unde pervidendum est, quod non ideo Deus haec ligna, vel etiam de fornace pulverem in his mirabilibus interesse praeceperat, ut aliquid in illis per eorum naturam vel administrationem effectum fuisse quis credat. Sed per haec futurorum mysteria praesignata es⟨s⟩e instituit, ut quid in his nunc in Ecclesiae provectibus ista faciant, sapiens doctor figurali expositione decernat. Dum autem lignum nihil in hoc naturaliter fecisse approbavimus, restat nunc ut quomodo per naturam factum sit, exponamus. Quodcumque ergo per studium quamvis longi temporis in re aliqua invenitur, non aliunde in eamdem per industriam ex aliena natura conducitur; sed cum in naturae abdito recessu occultatur, prius hoc perplexit temporis industria, et alterius naturae adjumentum reddit. Et quod per humanum seu etiam rerum effectum longo cultu efficitur; hoc Dei voluntate, cum necesse

Thence, having passed through the pathless places of the barren wilderness, wearied by three days of continuous toil, complaining in the heat of thirst, they found very bitter waters in Marath; kept back by their saltness, they were quite unable to have relief for their thirst. But a tree is shown to Moses by the Lord, by whose touch the bitter water of the river is sweetened; and thereafter by its sweet taste the people, having drunk, laid aside the burning of thirst which the heat had unceasingly wearied them with up to that point (Exod. 15:23–25). But how will the investigator of nature show that it was done naturally, that bitter waters are at once sweetened in a moment by the touch of a tree? Of what nature, then, or of how great sweetness does the tree seem to have been, that the very bitter water of the river, once it had been dipped in it, becomes pleasant and savoury? For if someone were now to throw a honeycomb into bitter water, would not the honeycomb rather become bitter than the water savoury? From this it is understood that the tree did not then make the water sweet against nature; but it changed the water to a [good] taste by the command of the Creator and Governor of nature. For that rod too, with which the Red Sea is struck by Moses, and the river and the heaven and the earth are scourged, when the land of Egypt is afflicted with various plagues, did not have this power of nature in itself when Moses or Aaron raised it to do these things, whether to turn the water of the river into blood, or to raise up gnats from the dust, or to bring down darkness from heaven. For if anyone other than Moses, and not with God's command, had struck the sea again with that rod, assuredly Thetis would by no means have yielded to his stroke. And if he were again to strike the waters by chance, he would certainly never turn them into blood. So too that tree through which the salt water is sweetened in Marath, if anyone were to dip it into a bitter liquid, and the same God did not command as at first, would assuredly not change that saltness into a pleasant taste. Whence it is to be perceived that God had not ordered these trees, or even the dust from the furnace, to have a part in these wonders for this reason, that anyone should believe that anything had been effected in them through their nature or agency. But He appointed that through these things the mysteries of things to come should be foreshadowed, so that a wise teacher may determine by figurative exposition what these things now effect in them for the advancement of the Church. Since, then, we have shown that the tree did nothing naturally in this, it remains now that we set forth how it was done through nature. Whatever, therefore, is found in any thing through study, even of a long time, is not brought into it from elsewhere by industry out of another nature; but when it lies hidden in the secret recess of nature, the industry of time first draws this out, and renders it a help to another nature. And what is brought about through human agency or even through the working of things by long cultivation, this by the will of God, when there is need,

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habet, ipsa natura operatur. Aquas igitur amaras, vel etiam ipsas salsissimas in dulcem saporem verti posse, frequenter nautae comprobant, qui illas per humum optimae terrae infusas, et hoc artificio etiam indulcatas, saepe sitim temperant. Nubes quoque de marinis finibus vapores levant salsi liquoris, sed easdem dulces, quando pluunt, terrenis usibus ministrant. Quoniam salsuginis vitium quod in semetipsis aquae insitum capiunt, per infusionem terrae aut nubium deponunt. Similiter quoque et dulces aquae, cum eas homines per marinorum olerum cineres hauriunt, salsum et plusquam Oceani saporem reddunt. Hanc ergo immutationem insitam sibi naturaliter aquae habent; sed celerius per praeceptum Conditoris illam, quam per efficaciam humanae diligentiae et ipsarum rerum ministrationis exhibent. Per alterius enim rei adjumentum humana diligentia, vel ipsa cujusque rei ministratio, alicujus naturae superficiem mutat; ip⟨s⟩e vero creaturarum conditor et gubernator, naturam occultam, quae per aliam rem manifestanda fieret, in re ipsa sola denudat. Sicut et nunc amara aqua dulcedinem quam in occulto suae naturae continuerat, per humum aut nubem ab amaritudine purgata, ostenderet; ita jussu gubernatoris potentissimi naturarum per se solam absque alterius rei juvanine exhibet.

nature itself performs. That bitter waters, then, or even the very saltiest, can be turned to a sweet taste, sailors frequently prove, who, having poured them through soil of the best earth and sweetened them by this device, often temper their thirst with them. Clouds too raise vapours of salt liquid from the regions of the sea, but when they rain they supply the same waters, now sweet, for earthly uses. For the fault of saltiness which the waters receive as implanted in themselves, they lay aside through infusion of earth or of clouds. Likewise also sweet waters, when men draw them through the ashes of sea plants, yield a salty taste, and one beyond that of the Ocean. This change, therefore, waters have implanted in them naturally; but they display it more quickly through the command of the Creator than through the efficacy of human diligence and the ministration of the things themselves. For human diligence, by the help of some other thing, or the very ministration of each thing, changes the surface of some nature; but the Founder and Governor of creatures Himself lays bare, in the thing itself alone, the hidden nature which would otherwise be made manifest through another thing. Just as now bitter water, purged of its bitterness through soil or cloud, would show the sweetness which it had contained hidden in its nature, so at the command of the most powerful Governor of natures it displays it by itself alone without the help of any other thing.

CAPUT XXIII. — De manna pluente de coelo.

Chapter XXIII. — On the manna raining from heaven.

Ingressi ergo solitudinem, hujus populi sexcenta ferme millia peditum pugnatorum, excepto purgamento exercitus, id est innumerabili et promiscuo vulgo quod de Aegypto conscenderat (Exod. XII, 37, 38), Deus per annos quadraginta manna, id est, coelesti pane saturavit (Id. XVI, 14, sqq.). Denique de illo pane et Psalmista postmodum commemorans dixit, Panem coeli dedit eis, panem Angelorum manducavit homo (Psal. LXXVII, 25). Qui per noctem semper, excepta nocte sabbati, cum rore descendens, circa castrorum locum candorem nivis ostenderet. Erat enim, inquit Scriptura, quasi semen coriandri, et coloris bdellii, album quasi nix (Num. XI, 7). Hoc autem solis ortum sufferre non poterat, sed continuo liquefiebat; cum versa vice collectum et mola confractum, in coquendis panibus ignis ardorem sustentabat. Et si quis in mane alterius diei, residuum aliquid ex eo relinqueret, vermibus scatebat; cum tamen gomor mensura manna sanum post longa postmodum tempora plena Arca reservabat (Exod. XVI, 32). In quo et mirabili et necessario tunc signo, exceptis iis quae ad figuralem expositionem pertinent, studiosis mentibus subveniunt, quae suae explanationis illuminationem Domini adjutorio exigunt. Primum enim utrum panis sit quaeritur: et quomodo panis Angelorum vocatur: et si cibus ille nihil terrenae naturae habuisse describitur, quomodo adhuc in terra positi, et vitiis carnalibus subjecti ex eo homines sustentantur. Panis enim in Psalmistae praedicto versiculo, ut praediximus, coelestis esse scribitur, qui de nubibus pariter cum pluvia tribuatur: quae nubes, ut ante jam diximus, per Scripturas, coelorum nomine vocitantur. Panis autem Angelorum cibus ille dicitur, non quod illo Angeli, qui cibo non egent, saturarentur, sed quod per Angelorum ministerium tale officium, sicut Lex et caetera populo praebebantur, quae disposita per Angelos in manu Mediatoris tribuitur (Galat. III, 19). Qualiter ergo homines qualescumque sustentare potuisset, nisi terrenum aliquid in sua substantia haberet? Sed unde nubibus manna pluens terrenam substantiam habere monstrabitur, nisi forte aeris ipsius inferior pars terrenam aliquam naturam retinere ostendatur? Quomodo enim avium volantium corpora sufferre valuisset, si non terrenae soliditatis aliquid aer contineret? Quapropter illa substantia et nubes fultae terrae ipsius natura, etiam in nives et grandines congelascunt, qui pene duritiam lapidum contrahunt. Quid igitur hoc capacibus animis repugnat, si sicut nubes grandinis lapillos concipiunt, sic et mannae grana gignere potuerunt; praesertim

So, when they had entered the wilderness, God for forty years fed with manna, that is, with heavenly bread, about six hundred thousand foot-soldiers of this people, besides the dregs of the host, that is, the countless and mixed rabble which had come up out of Egypt (Exod. 12:37–38) (Exod. 16:14 ff.). Indeed the Psalmist too, recalling that bread afterwards, said, He gave them the bread of heaven; man ate the bread of angels (Ps. 77:25). It always came down with the dew by night, except the night of the sabbath, and showed the whiteness of snow around the place of the camp. For it was, says Scripture, like coriander seed, and of the colour of bdellium, white like snow (Num. 11:7). This, however, could not bear the rising of the sun, but at once melted; whereas, conversely, when gathered and ground in a mill, it withstood the heat of the fire in the baking of loaves. And if anyone left some remainder of it into the morning of the next day, it swarmed with worms; yet a full ark kept a gomor-measure of manna sound for long ages afterwards (Exod. 16:32). In this sign, at once wonderful and at that time necessary, apart from those things which belong to figurative exposition, there come to studious minds questions which require the illumination of their explanation with the Lord's help. For first it is asked whether it is bread: and how it is called the bread of angels: and, if that food is described as having had nothing of earthly nature, how men still placed on earth and subject to fleshly failings are sustained by it. For bread is written in the aforesaid verse of the Psalmist, as we said before, to be heavenly, since it was given from the clouds together with the rain: which clouds, as we have already said before, are called by the name of the heavens throughout the Scriptures. But that food is called the bread of angels, not because the angels, who need no food, were filled with it, but because such a service was rendered through the ministry of angels, just as the Law and the other things were furnished to the people, which, ordained through angels, is given in the hand of the Mediator (Gal. 3:19). How then could it have sustained men of any kind whatever, unless it had something earthly in its substance? But whence will it be shown that manna raining from the clouds had an earthly substance, unless perhaps the lower part of the air itself is shown to retain some earthly nature? For how could it have borne up the bodies of flying birds, if the air did not contain something of earthly solidity? Wherefore that substance, and the clouds, supported by the nature of the earth itself, also congeal into snows and hailstones, which take on almost the hardness of stones. What then is repugnant to capable minds in this, if, just as clouds conceive the little stones of hail, so they could also beget the grains of manna; especially

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cum ad terram veniens, veluti cum cognato rore, si illud sol ortus inveniret, quasi grando in terra liquescens deperiret? Atque ita fieri poterit, ut manna in terreni aeris hujus partibus genitum, terrenis hominibus praebuerit cibalem pastum. Ista etenim pars inferior aeris, terra etiam in Scriptura divina nominatur, dum in centesimo quadragesimo octavo psalmo, prophetali spiritu in Domini creatoris laudem omnes creaturae incitantur. Sic namque consummatis his quae ad superiorem ornatum coeli pertinent, cum ad partes aeris hujus inferiores venitur, taliter subinfertur: Laudate Dominum de terra, etc., usque, quae faciunt verbum ejus. Ecce nunc crassiorem nubibus et vaporibus insertum aerem, terram Propheta nominavit, et antequam ad inferioris terrae, quae postea subinferuntur, spatia perveniat. In illa ergo superiori parte terrae, ubi grando et nix gignitur, nascebatur manna, et in cibum inferioris terrae partis hominibus per Angelos administrabatur. Ex quo facile dignoscitur, non aliunde extra naturam quaesiisse, sed de terra Deus victum praeparasse. Non quod Deus quotidie illis panem illum communem etiam in deserto praestare non posset, sed ut homo pastus de nubibus, sciret quia non in solo pane vivit, sed in omni verbo quod de Dei ore procedit (Deut. VIII, 3). Sicut enim naturae imperavit, ut homo saturaretur pane, ita etiam de omni quacumque re, si ita illi jusserit, quomodo habebat et tunc de nubibus pluviam, victum habebit incolumem.

when, coming to the earth as if with its kindred dew, it would perish, melting on the earth like hail, if the risen sun found it? And thus it could come about that manna, generated in the parts of this earthly air, provided food for nourishment to earthly men. For this lower part of the air is also named earth in divine Scripture, when in the hundred and forty-eighth psalm, by the prophetic spirit, all creatures are urged to the praise of the Lord the Creator. For thus, when the things which pertain to the higher adornment of heaven have been completed, as it comes to the lower parts of this air, it is added in this way: Praise the Lord from the earth, etc., as far as, which do His word. See now, the Prophet has named as earth the thicker air, filled with clouds and vapours, even before he comes to the spaces of the lower earth, which are added afterwards. In that higher part of the earth, then, where hail and snow are generated, the manna was born, and was ministered by Angels as food to the men of the lower part of the earth. From which it is easily discerned that God did not seek food from elsewhere outside nature, but prepared it from the earth. Not that God could not have supplied them daily with that common bread even in the desert, but so that man, fed from the clouds, might know that he does not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3). For just as He commanded nature that man should be filled with bread, so also from anything whatever, if He so commands it, just as he then had rain from the clouds, he will have his sustenance safe.

CAPUT XXIV. — De petra percussa in Oreb.

Chapter XXIV. — On the rock struck in Horeb.

Idem quoque populus in deserto sitiens potamenti refocillationem postulavit. Unde Moyses princeps, Deo imperante, virga percussa petra in Oreb, aquam de petra produxit (Exod. XVII, 6). In hoc naturae investigator in angustum redigitur, quomodo aquae natura in duro lapide occultatur. De aqua vero in principio lapides factos, qualiter ignorat, qui crystalli naturam, nive per multum temporis congelante, in commutabilem lapidis duritiam procedere non ambigat? praesertim cum glebas non de terrae ipsius humo, sed de feni primitus incremento in summis arboribus vel scopulis saepe consideramus, in quibus jam lapillos per pluviarum infusionem et ipsius feni in humum motionem genitos invenimus. Nonnullas quoque terras argillosas transfluentium aquarum assueto cursu superfusas in duritiam lapidum vidimus conversas: in quibus etiam duriores velut antiquioris aetatis lapides, quos ipsa humus prius in se habuerat, animadvertimus insertos. Qualiter jam nonnullis lapidibus quoque concavos ostreos, quos quando mollis humus fuerat, interpositos habebat, veluti suae naturali duritiae nunc insertos videmus. In caeteris quoque quos longe admodum aetatis mare ad terras projecit, superpositae morae nagarbae videntur, quas non de maris glarea elevatas, sed ex ipsa marini humoris qualitate, et eorum extrema corporum indurata cute admodum esse concretas, ipsa consideratione probamus. Plurima etiam marina reptilia testudinibus coaetaneis induuntur, in quibus durities plusquam plurimorum lapidum videtur. Ex quibus omnibus manifestis approbationibus, lapides ex aqua tantum nunc, et nonnullos ex aqua et humo nunc genitos esse, doctus quisque non denegat; sicut et lacrymosi marmoris natura et consuetudo indicat. Satis etiam natura de liquore in lapidis duritiam concreta vertitur, et iterum in liquorem solvi contuetur. Lapis quoque, ut Job libri narrat historia, resolutus calore in aes convertitur (Job XXVIII, 2); quod non potest, nisi prius in liquoris naturam moveatur. Praeterea quoque omne metallum quantaecumque duritiae fuerit, quamvis liquidae naturae esse non pateat, igne resolutum liquescit. Dum ergo ex aquae humore lapidum natura gigni comprobatur, quid obstat si Dei gubernatoris voluntate lapis in aquam versa vice mutetur, ut natura ad suam

The same people also, thirsting in the desert, demanded the refreshment of drink. Whereupon Moses their leader, at God's command, having struck the rock in Horeb with his rod, brought forth water from the rock (Exod. 17:6). In this the investigator of nature is driven into a strait, as to how the nature of water is hidden in hard stone. But how can anyone be ignorant that stones were made from water in the beginning, who does not doubt that the nature of crystal, as snow freezes over a long time, proceeds into the changeable hardness of stone? especially since we often observe clods, not from the soil of the earth itself, but originally from the growth of hay, on the tops of trees or on crags, in which we now find little stones generated through the pouring of rains and the movement of the hay itself into soil. We have also seen certain clayey lands, flooded over by the accustomed course of waters flowing across them, turned into the hardness of stones: in which also we have noticed harder stones, as if of an older age, which the soil itself had previously held within it, set in. In the same way we now see in some stones also hollow oysters, which the soil had held lodged within it when it was soft, set in as if in its own natural hardness. In others also, which the sea cast up on to the land a very long age ago, the overlying morae nagarbae are seen, which we prove by examination itself not to have been raised from the gravel of the sea, but to have been formed entirely from the very quality of the sea's moisture and from the hardened outer skin of their bodies. Many sea creeping things too are clothed in shells grown together with them, in which a hardness greater than that of most stones is seen. From all these manifest proofs no learned man denies that stones are now generated from water alone, and some now from water and soil; as the nature and habit of weeping marble also shows. Nature too, congealed from liquid, is commonly turned into the hardness of stone, and is accustomed to be dissolved again into liquid. Stone also, as the history of the book of Job relates, when dissolved by heat is turned into bronze (Job 28:2); which it cannot be unless it is first moved into the nature of liquid. Moreover every metal too, of whatever hardness it may be, although it is not evident that it is of a liquid nature, when dissolved by fire melts. Since, then, it is proven that the nature of stones is generated from the moisture of water, what prevents stone, by the will of God the governor, from being changed in turn into water, so that nature may hasten

Editors' notes and page, col. 2169

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: morae nagarbae› · call in col 2169

Ms. Aud., roccae naga[r]ba

The Ms. Aud. [manuscript so designated] reads roccae naga[r]ba ("nagarba rocks") [one letter broken in the print; r supplied].

(printed under page 433)

(2) ‹anchor: esse non pateat› · call in col 2169

Ms. Aud., quatenus liquidae naturae esse pateat.

The Ms. Aud. reads quatenus liquidae naturae esse pateat ("in so far as it is plainly of a liquid nature").

(printed under page 433)

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originem redire festinet, cum Deus aquam de petra populo suo praeberi jubet?

to return to its origin, when God commands water from the rock to be supplied to His people?

CAPUT XXV. — De filiis Moysi, quare ducatu Sacerdotum privati sunt.

Chapter XXV. — Of the sons of Moses, why they were deprived of the leadership of the Priests.

Post haec quoque Moysi cognatus, cum Sephoram illius Moysi uxorem et duos filios ejus detulerat, ocius ipsi in occursum Moyses per desertum exire festinat. Cujus consilio quamvis gentilis, tamen cum ad castrorum locum venitur, tribuni et centuriones et quinquagenarii et decuriones in Dei populo constituuntur (Exod. XVIII, 5-7, 21, 22). Sed de Moysi filiis quaestio nascitur, cur patris sui in ducatu populi haeredes non sunt, sacerdotio saltem privantur, dum per Psalmistam dicitur, Moyses et Aaron in sacerdotibus ejus (Psal. XCVIII, 6). Haec tamen quaestio rationem dando vincitur, cum filii Moysi de gentili matre peregrinationis causa generantur. Sic etenim de Moyse, cum primogenitum genuisset, refertur: Et vocavit nomen ejus Gersan, dicens, Quia advena fui in terra aliena (Exod. II, 22).

After these things also, when Moses' kinsman had brought Sephora, the wife of that Moses, and his two sons, Moses hastens to go out quickly through the desert to meet him. By whose counsel, though he was a gentile, yet when they come to the place of the camp, tribunes and centurions and captains of fifty and captains of ten are appointed among the people of God (Exod. 18:5–7, 21, 22). But a question arises about the sons of Moses: why they are not their father's heirs in the leadership of the people, and are deprived even of the priesthood, while it is said through the Psalmist, Moses and Aaron among His priests (Ps. 98:6). This question, however, is overcome by giving the reason, since the sons of Moses are begotten of a gentile mother by reason of his sojourning abroad. For thus it is related of Moses, when he had begotten his firstborn: And he called his name Gersan, saying, Because I have been a stranger in a foreign land (Exod. 2:22).

CAPUT XXVI. — De jejunio quadraginta dierum.

Chapter XXVI. — Of the fast of forty days.

Interea invitatus Dei famine Moyses, quadraginta dies jejunavit, et liberato Dei populo de Aegyptiorum decem plagis, quinquagesimo die, ex quo in Aegypto Pascha celebratum est, decem mandatorum legem de monte Sinai in duabus lapideis tabulis detulit (Exod. XXIV, 12; XXXI, 18). Quas, cum offensus esset populi peccantis piaculo, ad montis radices confregit (Exod. XXXII, 19). Restauratisque totidem numeri ejusdem materiae tabulis, rursus quadraginta diebus jejunus, Dei largitoris munere, eadem praecepta recipere meruit (Id. XXXIV, 28). Sed per hoc tempus contra consuetudinem humani moris, bis taliter, ut praedixi, nullo fatigatus inediae labore, nullam terrenae conversationis escam manducavit; quoniam divini sermonis consortio fultus, tam longam inediam sine esurie sustinere potuit.

Meanwhile Moses, summoned by the word of God, fasted forty days, and, the people of God having been set free from the ten plagues of the Egyptians, on the fiftieth day from the day on which the Pasch was celebrated in Egypt, he brought down from Mount Sinai the law of the ten commandments on two tablets of stone (Exod. 24:12; 31:18). These, when he was offended by the guilt of the sinning people, he broke at the foot of the mountain (Exod. 32:19). And when tablets of the same number and of the same material had been restored, fasting again for forty days, he was found worthy to receive the same precepts by the gift of God the bestower (Exod. 34:28). But throughout this time, against the custom of human habit, twice in this manner, as I have said before, wearied by no hardship of fasting, he ate no food of earthly life; because, upheld by the companionship of the divine speech, he was able to endure so long a fast without hunger.

CAPUT XXVII. — De populo carnes postulante.

Chapter XXVII. — Of the people demanding flesh.

Praeterea carnium concupiscentia infidelis populi pars flagrans murmuravit, et mannae coelesti ollas carnium Aegyptiorum praeposuit. Sed et Moysi cum esset intoleranda res visa, Dominus, Populum, inquit, sanctifica crastino: ego enim illos mense integro carnibus saturabo. Cui imbecillitate incitatus humana Moyses, Sexcenta millia, respondit, peditum pugnatorum, excepto innumerabili vulgo hujus populi numerantur: numquid boum et ovium immensa multitudo caedetur, aut ad saturationem innumerabilis turbae pisces maris in unum congregabuntur? Et idcirco ut nihil de iis, quae Moysi mens fragilis, utpote humana arripuit, in pastum populi cederet. Ventus a Domino egrediens, arreptas trans mare coturnices, ad castrorum loca detulit, easque duobus cubitis in aere volantes circa castrorum loca, quantum una die confici potest. Ortygometram inseruit: quam populus colligens, mense integro, id est, triginta diebus comedit. Sed incredulos murmurationis ultio consequitur. Nam in illo loco, priusquam populus egrederetur, qui concupierant, ira dominica mactati sepeliuntur (Num. XI). Certe in hoc nihil novum vel contra naturam a Domino contribuitur, qui olim creaturam avium conditam, et in abdito mundi quodam angulo reconditam, in necessitate populi sui praestare videtur. Quamvis in libro Sapientiae scribitur, Novam creaturam avium viderunt (Sap. XIX, 11): nuper utique ostensam, non nuper creatam. Quod olim Deus cum caeteris creaturis in principio condidit, hoc in tempore necessitatis plebi suae ministravit. Sed tamen idcirco coturnices ad tale ministerium, quae prius cum manna contributae nihil adversi edentibus contulerant, ista vice iterum detulit, ne quisquam putaret, quod esca avium sine murmurationis culpa mortem populo praestitit: quoniam et in hac vindicta sana conscientia comedentes incolumes servavit; et quando cum manna data est, toti multitudini nihil incommodi praebuit.

Moreover, a part of the unbelieving people, burning with craving for flesh, murmured, and preferred the fleshpots of the Egyptians to the heavenly manna. But when the matter also seemed intolerable to Moses, the Lord said, Sanctify the people for tomorrow: for I will fill them with flesh for a whole month. To Whom Moses, moved by human weakness, answered, Six hundred thousand fighting foot-soldiers are numbered, besides the innumerable common crowd of this people: shall a vast multitude of oxen and sheep be slaughtered, or shall the fish of the sea be gathered together into one for the filling of an innumerable throng? And therefore, so that none of those things which the frail mind of Moses, being human, had seized upon should go to the feeding of the people. A wind going forth from the Lord carried quails, snatched up across the sea, to the places of the camp, and them flying two cubits high in the air around the places of the camp, as far as can be covered in one day. He mixed in the ortygometra: which the people, gathering it, ate for a whole month, that is, for thirty days. But vengeance for their murmuring overtakes the unbelieving. For in that place, before the people went forth, those who had craved were slain by the wrath of the Lord and are buried (Num. 11). Certainly in this nothing new or contrary to nature is supplied by the Lord, Who is seen to furnish, in the need of His people, a kind of bird created long ago and hidden away in a certain secret corner of the world. Although in the book of Wisdom it is written, They saw a new kind of birds (Wis. 19:11): newly shown, that is, not newly created. What God long ago founded with the other creatures in the beginning, this He supplied to His people in the time of necessity. But nevertheless He brought quails to such a service again on this occasion, which earlier, given together with the manna, had brought no harm to those eating them, for this reason: lest anyone should think that the food of birds, without the guilt of murmuring, brought death to the people; since even in this punishment He kept unharmed those who ate with a sound conscience; and when it was given together with the manna, it caused no harm to the whole multitude.

Editors' notes and page, col. 2170

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: Ortygometram inseruit› · call in col 2170

Ortygometra, genus coturnicis insigni magnitudine.

Ortygometra: a kind of quail of remarkable size.

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CAPUT XXVIII. — De Aethiopissa uxore Moysi, et lepra murmuratricis Mariae.

Chapter XXVIII. — On the Ethiopian wife of Moses, and the leprosy of the murmuring Mary.

Postmodum propter Aethiopissam ejus uxorem, Aaron et Maria contra Moysen insolentia verba depromunt, quem omnium qui tunc in terra morabantur, mitissimum hominum Spiritus sancti dicta describunt. Sed cum tres tantum illos in tabernaculum vocasset, Aaron castigatus Dei sermone, oleo unctionis a vindicta defenditur; Mariae vero leprae candore corpus maceratur, quapropter etiam extra castra manere praecipitur. Sed orante pro ea Moyse, septimo die iterum revocatur sana (Num. XII). At vero de ista Moysi Aethiopissa conjuge duplex magistrorum invenitur intentio: utrum de Aethiopia cum esset in domo Pharaonis, de qua quadragenarius egreditur, acceperit, quae per multos peregrinationis ejus dies illum exspectavit; an signorum tempore, cum post peregrinationem in Aegyptum reversus est, Aeth⟨i⟩opissam uxorem sibi junxerat, quam de Aethiopia secum et per desertum ducebat; an aeque de Sephora dicitur quod Aethiopissa sit, quando ad aquilonem maris Rubri, ubi prius Aethiopes fuerunt, Aethiopiam alteram esse in multis locis historiarum Scripturae describunt. De qua in ecclesiastica historia scribitur quod ex parte Indiae adhaeret. Et in Chronicis Canonicis Eusebii refertur, quod Aethiopes ab Indo flumine consurgentes juxta Aegyptum consederunt. Ex quo intelligitur, quod terra illa in qua primitus Aethiopes habitaverunt, Aethiopia dicta esse potuerit; ex qua Aethiopia si Moyses uxorem suam acceperat, ideo Aethiopissa dicta fuerat.

Afterwards, on account of his Ethiopian wife, Aaron and Mary utter insolent words against Moses, whom the words of the Holy Spirit describe as the meekest of all men who were then dwelling on the earth. But when He had called those three alone into the tabernacle, Aaron, rebuked by the word of God, is protected from punishment by the oil of anointing; but Mary's body is wasted by the whiteness of leprosy, for which reason she is also commanded to remain outside the camp. But when Moses prayed for her, on the seventh day she is called back again healed (Num. 12). Now concerning this Ethiopian wife of Moses a twofold opinion of the teachers is found: whether he took her from Ethiopia when he was in the house of Pharaoh, from which he went out at forty years of age, and she waited for him through the many days of his sojourning; or whether at the time of the signs, when after his sojourning he returned into Egypt, he had joined to himself an Ethiopian wife, whom he was leading with him from Ethiopia and through the desert; or whether it is equally said of Zipporah that she is an Ethiopian, since in many places of the histories of Scripture they describe that there is another Ethiopia to the north of the Red Sea, where Ethiopians formerly were. Of this it is written in the ecclesiastical history that it adjoins a part of India. And in the Chronological Canons of Eusebius it is related that the Ethiopians, rising up from the river Indus, settled next to Egypt. From which it is understood that that land in which the Ethiopians first dwelt could have been called Ethiopia; and if Moses had taken his wife from this Ethiopia, she had therefore been called the Ethiopian.

CAPUT XXIX. — De Chore et Dathan et Abiron.

Chapter XXIX. — On Korah and Dathan and Abiram.

Chore quoque filius Issaar de tribu Levi, patruelis Moysi et Aaron; et Dathan, et Abiron filii Eliab; et Hon, filius Phelech de tribu Ruben, et praeterea ducenti quinquaginta viri proceres synagogae, qui tempore consilii per nomina vocitabantur, supercilioso superbiae tumore contra Moysen et Aaron steterunt. Etenim Chore vindicare sibi sacerdotium voluerat, et reliqui alii de principatu populi contendebant. Sed illum qui ignem holocausti Deo non praecipiente offerre appetivit, holocausti tempore, coelestis ignis cum his, qui ad eum pertinebant, absumpsit; et eos qui se in excelsum elevantes Dei ordinationi resistere coeperant, sub pedibus eorum terra dehiscens, aperto ore in infernum deglutiens, voravit (Num. XVI, 1-36). In quibus manifeste ostenditur, quod tantumdem sensibiles et insensibiles creaturae Dei dicto obediunt; dum quemadmodum viventes celeriter cum ejus imperio veniunt, ita et quae non vivunt, velut viventes, quod praecipitur peragunt. Sed quamvis quasi vivens terra illud vindictae officium peragit, contra naturam tamen in illo nequaquam aliquid fit: vitam enim insensibilem terra habere indubitanter dignoscitur, per quam in se crescentia arborum et olerum fruteta moveri videntur. Unde quasi in vivente carne palpitantes venae sanguinis discurrunt, ita etiam per terram viventium aquarum rivi profluunt: per quam vitam insensibilem Deo imperante terra os suum aperuit, quando hominum peccatorum, quasi serviens in ministerio vindictae, tabernacula voravit.

Korah also, son of Izhar of the tribe of Levi, cousin of Moses and Aaron; and Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab; and On, son of Peleth of the tribe of Reuben, and besides these two hundred and fifty men, chiefs of the assembly, who at the time of council were called by name, stood against Moses and Aaron with the haughty swelling of pride. For Korah had wished to claim the priesthood for himself, and the rest were contending about the leadership of the people. But him who sought to offer the fire of burnt offering without God commanding it, at the time of the burnt offering, fire from heaven consumed, together with those who belonged to him; and those who, raising themselves on high, had begun to resist the ordinance of God, the earth, splitting open under their feet, swallowed up with open mouth, gulping them down into hell (Num. 16:1–36). In these things it is plainly shown that sentient and insentient creatures of God obey His word equally; for just as living things come swiftly at His command, so also things which do not live perform what is commanded as though living. But although the earth, as though living, performs that office of punishment, nevertheless nothing at all is done in it contrary to nature: for the earth is undoubtedly known to have an insentient life, through which the shoots of trees and herbs growing in it are seen to move. Hence, just as in living flesh the throbbing veins of blood run to and fro, so also through the earth streams of living waters flow forth: through this insentient life the earth, at God's command, opened its mouth when, as though serving in the ministry of punishment, it swallowed up the tents of sinful men.

CAPUT XXX. — De plaga, quae descendit in populum, quando Moyses fugit in Tabernaculum.

Chapter XXX. — On the plague which came down upon the people when Moses fled into the Tabernacle.

Sequenti itidem die totus populus contra Moysen et Aaron, quasi sanguinis reos consurrexit, eosque in eorumdem ultionem occidere voluit. Sed hic uterque, Moyses videlicet et Aaron, ad tabernaculum Dei diffugiunt, et iterum in rebelli populo coelestis flamma desaevit. Rursumque Aaron imperante Moyse, impleto altaris igne thuribulo, foras in populum venit, et inter vivos et mortuos digredientis vestigium vindicta non transivit. Recto in utroque moderamine effecto, ut qui contra justos principes iracundiae igne intus exarse⟨r⟩ant, foris justissimae vindictae flamma conflagrarent: et qui in corde proximorum culpas veniabiliter

Likewise on the following day the whole people rose up against Moses and Aaron as guilty of blood, and wished to kill them in revenge for those same men. But here both of them, namely Moses and Aaron, flee to the tabernacle of God, and again the heavenly flame raged among the rebellious people. And again Aaron, at Moses' command, having filled the censer with fire from the altar, came out among the people, and the punishment did not pass the footprint of him as he went between the living and the dead. A right measure being achieved in both respects, so that those who had burned inwardly with the fire of anger against just rulers should be burned up outwardly by the flame of most just punishment: and that those who had pardonably let go in their heart the faults of their neighbours,

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Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2171

Ad annum mundi 3580.

To the year of the world 3580.

(printed under page 434)

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dimiserat, ejus vestigio defensos ignis de coelo missus urere non audebat. Illa autem die quatuordecim millia ignis ille consumpserat (Num. XVI, 41-49).

the fire sent from heaven did not dare to burn those defended by his footstep. But on that day that fire had consumed fourteen thousand (Num. 16:41–49).

CAPUT XXXI. — De virga Aaron, quae fronduerat.

Chapter XXXI. — On the rod of Aaron, which had put forth leaves.

Quos etiam rebellionis reatus gravius perurgebat. Attamen cessante tumultu, ut singuli manifestius scirent, quem sibi Dominus in sacerdotium eligeret, singulorum ex duabus et decem tribubus principum virgas insertis nominibus Moyses postulaverat, et pro sorte Leviticae tribus Aaron virgam inserto nomine acceperat, quas in conspectu Domini sub tabernaculi tecto una nocte recondit. Crastino autem mane Aaron virga gemmulas amygdalini floris ostendit, quo patebat Aaron prae omnibus in sacerdotium Deum elegisse (Num. XVII, 1-8). Nec tamen in hoc contra naturam virga monstratur aliquid effecisse.

These also the guilt of rebellion was pressing more heavily. Yet when the tumult ceased, so that each might know more clearly whom the Lord would choose for Himself for the priesthood, Moses had asked for the rods of the princes of each of the twelve tribes, with their names inscribed, and for the lot of the tribe of Levi had received the rod of Aaron with his name inscribed, and he laid them away in the sight of the Lord under the roof of the tabernacle for one night. And on the morrow in the morning the rod of Aaron showed little buds of almond blossom, by which it was plain that God had chosen Aaron before all for the priesthood (Num. 17:1–8). Yet not even in this is the rod shown to have effected anything contrary to nature.

CAPUT XXXII. — De petra b⟨i⟩s percussa in Cades.

Chapter XXXII. — On the rock struck twice in Cades.

Interjecto tempore dehinc populus sitiens in Cades deserti Sin, murmure gravi contra Moysen et Aaron tumultuabat. Quae res dum ad Dominum per Moysen refertur, virga percuti petra praecipitur. Sed Moyses infidelis populi murmure permotus, etiam de praecepto Domini fide titubavit, coramque populo cum Aaron bis petram percussit, largiterque fluentes aquas sitiens populus bibit. Sed hac causa Moyses terram repromissionis non intravit (Id. XX, 2-12). Semel in Oreb petra percutitur, ubi tantum populi infidelitas notatur (Exod. XVII, 6). In Cades autem deserti Sin saxum bis caesum pulsatur: ibi namque infidelitas in populo et in duce dignoscitur.

Then, after an interval of time, the people, thirsting in Cades of the desert of Sin, were in tumult with grave murmuring against Moses and Aaron. When this matter is referred to the Lord through Moses, the rock is commanded to be struck with the rod. But Moses, stirred by the murmuring of the unbelieving people, wavered in faith even concerning the command of the Lord, and before the people, together with Aaron, struck the rock twice; and the thirsting people drank the abundantly flowing waters. But for this reason Moses did not enter the land of promise (Num. 20:2–12). In Horeb the rock is struck once, where only the unbelief of the people is noted (Exod. 17:6). But in Cades of the desert of Sin the stone is beaten, struck twice: for there unbelief is discerned in the people and in the leader.

CAPUT XXXIII. — De serpente aeneo.

Chapter XXXIII. — On the bronze serpent.

Iidem murmurante populo ignitos serpentes flatuque adurentes in eum Dominus immisit, quorum flatu adustos plurimos murmuratorum necavit. Caeteri autem intereuntium poena territi, et animo poenitente ad satisfactionem inclinati, ad Moysen et ad Dominum clamaverunt, ut haec ab eis plaga cessaret. Et idcirco flexus poenitentium lacrymis Dominus Moysi jubet, ut serpentem aeneum virga in excelsum coram populo elevaret. Quo facto statim serpens aeneus erigitur, et per illius aspectum priorum serpentium vulnera curabantur (Num. XXI, 5-9). Attamen quemadmodum et de virga diximus, et arbore qua amara aqua indulcatur, non in serpente salus, sed in Domini imperio tenebatur. Quidquid enim ipse praecepisset, illud tunc in populo salus esset. Sed historia praecedentium rerum in figura, virtus nunc in Christo et in Ecclesia continetur.

When the same people murmured, the Lord sent in upon them fiery serpents, burning with their breath, by whose breath He killed very many of the murmurers, scorched. But the rest, terrified by the punishment of those perishing, and inclined with penitent mind to make satisfaction, cried out to Moses and to the Lord, that this plague might cease from them. And therefore the Lord, moved by the tears of the penitent, commands Moses to raise a bronze serpent on high on a rod before the people. When this was done, the bronze serpent is at once set up, and by the sight of it the wounds of the former serpents were healed (Num. 21:5–9). Yet, just as we said also concerning the rod, and the tree by which the bitter water is sweetened, salvation was held not in the serpent but in the command of the Lord. For whatever He Himself had commanded, that would then be salvation among the people. But the history of the earlier events is contained in figure, the power now in Christ and in the Church.

CAPUT XXXIV. — De Balaam et asina ejus.

Chapter XXXIV. — On Balaam and his ass.

Balach filius Sephor, cum in terram suam Israel venisse comperisset, nuntios misit, ut Balaam hariolum invitaret, ut populo Israel malediceret. Qui cum sedens super asinam pergeret, et asina angelum in angustiis stantem evaginato gladio videns timuisset, ter caesa demum domino substitit. Unde amp⟨l⟩ius flagellata humano more et sermone, quasi querulosa ancilla, loquitur. Et illa loquente, statim Balaam oculi, ut angelum cerneret, aperiuntur (Num. XXII). In hoc admirabili signo quamvis asina competentia sibi verba profatur, non tamen sua mente nec affectu suo loquitur; sed Dominus de quo dicitur, Et aperuit Dominus os asinae, sicut ad loquendum os aperuit, ita etiam linguam et palatum in verba gubernavit. Asina enim quid et quomodo diceret, et si aliquid diceret, omnino nesciebat. Quoniam et homines qui alieno inflati spiritu loquuntur, et adhuc cum loquuntur, quid dicunt nesciunt, et nihil ex eo recordantur cum resipiscunt. Sed qui loquendi modos et in nubibus et in igne saepe invenit, et in ore muti animalis linguae plectrum in verba gubernavit. Ex quo intelligimus nihil in natura asinae Dominum commutasse, sed per aerem oris ejus, illa etiam ignorante, prophetae ignorantiam compescuisse: quatenus Domini Spiritus etsi in se loqueretur, elatus in superbiam non esset, qui frequenter, et per res insensibiles, et brutum et mutum et subjectum sibi animal, eumdem loqui comperisset. Quoniam Spiritus Dei ubi vult spirat (Joan.

Balach the son of Sephor, when he had learned that Israel had come into his land, sent messengers to invite Balaam the soothsayer, that he might curse the people of Israel. And when he was going on his way sitting upon an ass, and the ass, seeing the angel standing in a narrow place with drawn sword, had taken fright, being beaten three times she at last stood still under her master. Whereupon, flogged further, she speaks in human manner and speech, like a complaining handmaid. And while she was speaking, at once the eyes of Balaam are opened, that he might see the angel (Num. 22). In this wonderful sign, although the ass utters words suited to herself, yet she does not speak with her own mind nor with her own feeling; but the Lord, of Whom it is said, And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, just as He opened the mouth for speaking, so also steered the tongue and palate into words. For the ass had no knowledge at all of what she was saying and how, or whether she was saying anything. For men too who speak inflated by an alien spirit, even while they are speaking, do not know what they are saying, and remember nothing of it when they come to their senses. But He Who often found modes of speaking both in clouds and in fire also steered the plectrum of the tongue into words in the mouth of a mute animal. From which we understand that the Lord changed nothing in the nature of the ass, but through the air of her mouth, she herself also being unaware, restrained the ignorance of the prophet: so that, although the Spirit of the Lord should speak in him, he should not be lifted up into pride, since he had found that the same Spirit often speaks even through insensible things, and through a brute and mute animal subject to himself. For the Spirit of God breathes where He wills (John

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III, 8), etiamsi voluntati ejus qui loquitur, minus conveniat. Sicut et Saül prophetas occidere volens, mala incitatus voluntate venerat, et tamen Spiritu Domini arreptus, inter eos quos persequebatur, prophetabat (I Reg. XIX, 24). Unde et ipse Balaam ad maledicendum deductus, et illud volens implere, non maledicere Dei populo potuit, sed contra voluntatem suam a Domini Spiritu coactus est benedicere (Num. XXIII). His ergo duabus causis Balaam venire a Domino permissus est, ut per mutum animal ejus insipientia confutaretur, et adventus Christi per prophetam gentilem, qui futurus erat gentium Salvator, in lege Dei scriberetur, In omni populi Israel itinere columna nubis per diem nunquam defuit, nec coram populo columna ignis per noctem (Exod. XIII, 21, 22), ut noctis frigore defensi, et a tenebris illuminari pergerent cum igne. Et a calore solis protecti fuerunt in die sub nube. Quem Dominus custos Israel vere protegit, nec sol per diem nec unquam luna per noctem exurit.

3:8), even if it is less in keeping with the will of him who speaks. Just as Saul too, wishing to kill the prophets, had come driven by an evil will, and yet, seized by the Spirit of the Lord, he prophesied among those whom he was persecuting (1 Sam. 19:24). Hence Balaam himself too, brought to curse, and wishing to fulfil that, could not curse the people of God, but against his own will was compelled by the Spirit of the Lord to bless (Num. 23). For these two reasons, then, Balaam was permitted by the Lord to come: that his folly might be refuted through a dumb animal, and that the coming of Christ, Who was to be the Saviour of the nations, might be written in the law of God through a gentile prophet. Throughout the whole journey of the people of Israel the pillar of cloud never failed by day, nor the pillar of fire by night before the people (Exod. 13:21–22), so that, defended from the cold of the night and enlightened out of the darkness, they might go on with the fire. And from the heat of the sun they were protected by day under the cloud. Him whom the Lord, the keeper of Israel, truly protects, neither the sun by day nor ever the moon by night burns.

CAPUT XXXV. — De Moyse pergente in montem Abarim.

Chapter XXXV. — On Moses going up into Mount Abarim.

Quadragesimo anno egressionis filiorum Israel de Aegypto, quadragesima secunda mansione in campestribus Moab super Jordanem populus sedit, ubi Moyses Deuteronomium, hoc est, iterationem Legis praedicavit (Deut. I, sqq.): et postea constituto pro se in ducatu populi Jesu filio Nun ex tribu Ephraim (Id. XXXI, 7), imperio Domini in montem Abarim (transituum), in montem Nebo solus ascendit, ubi centesimo et vigesimo aetatis suae anno, nec motis dentibus, nec caligantibus oculis, integro corpore, totius humani generis commune debitum solvit (Ibid., 34). Duabus autem causis, ut sapientes aiunt, mortis ejus et sepulcri nemo conscius erat, quatenus illam faciem quae consortio sermonis Domini rutilaverat, mortis moerore repressam, nullus videret; et ne sepulcrum ejus populus Israel, si cognovisset ubi esset, adoraret. Unde et virgam in qua signa fecerat, ut plurimi putant, ne adoraretur secum abstulerat; quoniam et serpentem quem fecerat, filii Israel postmodum adorabant. Omnis autem illius aetas in tres quadragenarias partes dividitur. Quadraginta enim annis in Aegypto in domo Pharaonis ab infantia litteras didicit. Quadraginta annis exsul ex Aegypto in domo sacerdotis Madian fuit. Et quadraginta annis per desertum ducatum populo praebuit. Certe et nos consummatis his quae de Pentateucho historica narratione comprehendimus, primi libri finem de Mirabilibus hic facere conveniat, ut secundus de Prophetia scilicet excerptus, ab Jesu filio Nun et Jordane initium sumat.

In the fortieth year of the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt, at the forty-second station, the people encamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, where Moses preached Deuteronomy, that is, the repetition of the Law (Deut. 1:1ff.): and afterwards, having appointed in his place Joshua the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, to the leadership of the people (ibid. 31:7), at the command of the Lord he went up alone into Mount Abarim (of the passages), into Mount Nebo, where in the hundred and twentieth year of his age, with his teeth not loosened, nor his eyes dimmed, his body whole, he paid the debt common to the whole human race (ibid. 34). For two reasons, as the wise say, no one knew of his death and his tomb: so that no one should see that face which had shone with the fellowship of the Lord's speech held down by the grief of death; and lest the people of Israel, had they known where his tomb was, should worship it. Hence too, as very many think, he had taken away with him the rod with which he had done the signs, lest it be worshipped; since the children of Israel afterwards worshipped even the serpent which he had made. Now his whole life is divided into three parts of forty years. For forty years in Egypt, in the house of Pharaoh, from infancy he learned letters. For forty years, an exile from Egypt, he was in the house of the priest of Midian. And for forty years he provided leadership to the people through the desert. And surely it is fitting for us too, having completed these things which we have comprised by historical narration concerning the Pentateuch, to make here the end of the first book On the Wonders, so that the second, namely the one drawn out on Prophecy, may take its beginning from Joshua the son of Nun and the Jordan.

LIBER SECUNDUS.

SECOND BOOK.

De Prophetia.

On Prophecy.

CAPUT PRIMUM. — De Jesu filio Nun, et dirempto Jordane in transitu populi.

Chapter One. — On Joshua the son of Nun, and the Jordan parted at the crossing of the people.

Cum autem Moyse egrediente, Dei populi gubernationem Jesus filius Nun suscepisset, confortatus sermone Domini, de campestribus Moab ad Jordanis fluvium castra moveri jubet: ac deinde cum arcae testamenti onere decorati, reliquam plebem praecedentes sacerdotes primas undas ingrederentur; ab illo loco ubi steterunt usque ad mare, omnis fluminis alveus aquis suis confestim nudatus, superiorque aquarum moles quae de fontibus augebatur, sursum in aera montabat, quousque omnis Israel siccis pedibus alveum fluminis transierat (Josue III, 14, sqq.). In cujus miraculi testimonio duodecim lapides, quantos duodecim viri portare poterant, de ima glarea Jordanis portati sunt in locum castrorum, et totidem tanti ex his quos terra sicca continuerat, positi sunt in eorum locum (Id. IV, 3, 10). Certe et in hoc signo propositi operis nostri causa requiritur, qualiter arcam Domini fluvius naturaliter praeterire non permittit. Ita enim aquarum pars quae ad mare perrexit, naturae suae cursum consuetum consequitur, dum altiora deserens, per prona proprio more fluminis paulatim delabitur. At vero humana industria alveos fluminum nudatos legimus et audivimus, quomodo Cyrus imperator Persarum exercitus super Gangem fluvium, qui est secundae post Euphratem quantitatis, illa expeditione qua Babyloniam expugnavit, dicitur esse castrametatus. Ubi charissimum et virorum et equitum, equitem transmeandi fluminis audacia persuasum, rapacis alvei vortex demersit. Quo facto, rex incredibiliter iracundiae furore adversus fluvium permotus, velut in sensibilem creaturam ulcisci statuit: ac immensum amnem perpeti anno totis viribus in quatercentas sexaginta fossas divisit; nudatoque alveo, meabilem vix genua tingentibus feminis reliquit. Unde eodem exercitu et rege eadem expeditione Babyloniam obsidente, excelsissimo murorum objectu ab expugnandi molimine repulsi, ad Euphratis fluminis perfluentis superiora vada convertunt. Illa autem praedicta arte edocti, per alienum limitem divertentes, per ejus nudatum alveum Babylonis murum subintrantes, urbem capiunt. Quod ergo humana industria

Now when, at the departure of Moses, Joshua the son of Nun had taken up the governance of the people of God, strengthened by the word of the Lord he orders the camp to be moved from the plains of Moab to the river Jordan: and then, when the priests, honoured with the burden of the ark of the covenant, going before the rest of the people, entered the first waves, from the place where they stood as far as the sea the whole bed of the river was at once laid bare of its waters, and the upper mass of the waters, which was increased from the springs, mounted upward into the air, until all Israel had crossed the bed of the river with dry feet (Josh. 3:14ff.). In testimony of this miracle twelve stones, as large as twelve men could carry, were carried from the bottom gravel of the Jordan to the place of the camp, and as many of the same size, from those which the dry land had held, were placed in their stead (ibid. 4:3, 10). And surely in this sign too the purpose of our proposed work is inquired into: how the river naturally does not permit the ark of the Lord to pass. For the part of the waters which went on to the sea follows the accustomed course of its nature, while, leaving the higher places, it glides down little by little over the slopes in the proper manner of a river. But indeed we have read and heard of riverbeds laid bare by human ingenuity: how Cyrus, emperor of the Persians, is said to have encamped his army beside the river Ganges, which is second in size after the Euphrates, in that expedition in which he conquered Babylonia. There the whirl of the ravenous stream sank a horseman, most dear [to him] among both men and horsemen, who had been persuaded by daring to cross the river. When this was done, the king, moved incredibly by the fury of wrath against the river, resolved to take vengeance on it as on a sentient creature: and through a whole year, with all his forces, he divided the immense river into four hundred and sixty ditches; and, the bed being laid bare, he left it passable for women, scarcely wetting their knees. Hence, when the same army and king besieged Babylon on the same expedition, repulsed from the effort of storming it by the very lofty barrier of the walls, they turn to the upper fords of the river Euphrates flowing through [the city]. And taught by the aforesaid art, diverting [it] through another channel, entering beneath the wall of Babylon through its bared bed, they take the city. What, then, human ingenuity

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old-edition numerals: (none)
other: page 435 set in reading order: upper halves of cols 2173 and 2174 (end of the Balaam chapter; CAPUT XXXV whole), then the full-width title LIBER SECUNDUS / De Prophetia, then the lower half of col 2173 (CAPUT PRIMUM to "humana industria"); the lower half of col 2174 is in c2174_a.md. The opening "III, 8)" closes a reference begun in the previous column. "Gangem" set as printed (the historical river is the Gyndes). "quatercentas" as printed. Reference figures in this face (1 resembling 4) read as Josue III, 14 and Id. IV, 3, 10.

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laborioso conamine potuit, hoc Deus potentiae suae virtute facilius peregit. Sed forsitan quisquam dispariter respondebit hoc factum esse, dicens, Illic enim fossurae opus alveos aquarum per humiliora divertit; hic vero stans aqua, nullo renitente ad aeris sublimia conscendit. Sed et hoc nonne humana diligentia saepe efficit, et ab oppositis vallibus aquas in excelsum montare, et ad fontes redire offensas compellit? Quod vero homines velut terreni, de terrena crassa materia frequenter faciunt; quomodo Angeli tunc, quorum officiis haec omnia mirabilia peraguntur, per aerem facere non potuerunt? Cum sit naturale aeris opus et proprium officium aquas retinere in nubibus: et ut docti indoctique pariter norunt, quotidiana administratione retinet; ita tunc Deo jubente fluminis cursum prohibuit, ut per illius fluenta arca Dei et sacerdotes transirent.

could do with laborious effort, this God accomplished more easily by the might of His power. But perhaps someone will answer that this was done differently, saying: There the work of digging diverted the beds of the waters through lower ground; but here the water, standing, rose to the heights of the air with nothing holding it back. But does not human diligence often bring this about too, and compel waters to mount from opposite valleys to a height, and, being checked, to return to their springs? What men, then, as earthly beings, frequently do with earthly, gross matter, how could the angels, by whose ministries all these wonders are performed, not have done it then through the air? Since it is the natural work and proper office of the air to hold back the waters in the clouds, and, as the learned and unlearned alike know, it holds them back in the daily administration [of the world]; so then, at God's command, it checked the course of the river, so that the ark of God and the priests might pass through its streams.

CAPUT II. — De calceamentis et vestibus filiorum Israel.

Chapter II. — On the shoes and garments of the children of Israel.

Terram igitur repromissionis post longi laborem itineris ingressi, de fructibus Chananitidis regionis populi turba comedit, et mannae de nubibus esca ministrari desinit (Josue V, 12). In hoc tam longo itinere admiratione dignum accidit illud, quod per quadraginta annos nullius ex omni populo calceamentum aut vestis defecit (Deut. XXIX, 5). In quo Dominus non naturam novam in calceamentis et vestibus condidit, sed olim conditam conservavit.

Having entered, then, the land of promise after the labour of a long journey, the multitude of the people ate of the fruits of the region of Canaan, and the food of manna ceases to be ministered from the clouds (Josh. 5:12). On this so long journey there happened that thing worthy of wonder, that for forty years no one's shoe or garment out of the whole people wore out (Deut. 29:5). In this the Lord did not create a new nature in the shoes and garments, but preserved the one created long ago.

CAPUT III. — De subversione Jericho.

Chapter III. — On the overthrow of Jericho.

Inde Jordanis ripam egressis, urbs Jericho prima ex Chananitidis civitatibus occurrit. Quae lustrata circuitu dierum septem, quasi arcae dominicae et exercitus expavescens adventum, cito corruit. In quo circuitu nullo armorum suffragio usus est victor populus, sed ad clamorem in gyro sonantem murus erat usque ad fundamenta dirutus (Josue VI, 20). Ubi nihil extra naturam esse factum gesta res ostendit. Siquidem et hoc terrae motibus esse factum frequenter Scriptura denuntiat. Quomodo et in famoso illo terrae motu ⟨c⟩entum Lybiae urbes corruerunt, et in terrae motu dominicae passionis undecim in Thracia subversae sunt. Praeterea quoque quod humani actus efficacia congerit, hoc alterius destruentis vel etiam senectutis

When they had then gone out from the bank of the Jordan, the city of Jericho, first of the cities of Canaan, met them. Being encircled for a round of seven days, as though terrified at the coming of the Lord's ark and of the army, it quickly fell. In this encircling the victorious people used no help of arms, but at the shout sounding round about, the wall was thrown down to its foundations (Josh. 6:20). Where the deed done shows that nothing was done outside nature. For indeed Scripture frequently announces that this too is done by earthquakes. Just as in that famous earthquake a hundred cities of Libya fell, and in the earthquake of the Lord's passion eleven were overthrown in Thrace. Moreover also, what the efficacy of human action builds up, this is consumed by the time of another who destroys it, or even by the time of old age.

Editors' notes and page, col. 2174

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running head: …CUNDUS. — APPENDIX. (beginning cut off at image edge; column number 2174)
marginal letters: (none)
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other: the word senectutis was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 2175
running head: 2173 LIBER SECUNDUS. — APPENDIX. 2174
marginal letters: (none visible in the full-width crops)
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: lower half of col 2174 (after the full-width LIBER SECUNDUS title), in reading order after c2173_a.md. Column ends with the hyphenated "senectu-", set whole as "senectutis"; the English reads whole ("by the time of old age"). "⟨c⟩entum": first letter damaged on the page. "Lybiae" as printed. Josue V, 12 and VI, 20 read in this face where 1 resembles 4.

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tempus consumit. Attamen haec dicentes, non casu accidisse murorum Jericho ruinam, ostendimus; sed nec contra naturam sicut aliquid in miraculis factum ostendemus. Hoc enim sicut et caetera ministrari angelico opere designavimus, Dei jussu effectum fuisse non dubitamus.

Yet in saying these things we have shown that the ruin of the walls of Jericho did not happen by chance; but neither shall we show that it was done against nature, as something among miracles. For this, just as we have indicated that the other things too are ministered by angelic work, we do not doubt was brought about by the command of God.

CAPUT IV. — De sole et luna stantibus ad imperium Josue.

Chapter IV. — On the sun and moon standing still at the command of Joshua.

Post hoc quoque Chananaeorum quinque regibus in unum congregatis ut pugnarent adversus filios Israel, cum ex adverso miscerentur cohortes, et victoria in Dei populi partem concederet, Jesus filius Nun princeps populi Israel soli in medio die praecepit ut ne se moveret, et lunae ubi fuerat staret, donec se Dei populus de inimicis vindicaret, quod et factum est. Nam sol duos dies in uno conclusit, et luna diei spatio non occurrit. In qua jussione non humani imperii auctoritate luminaria requiescunt, sed Domini imperantis ut starent, jussui obediunt. Nihil enim propter jubentis hominis verbum Dei creaturae faciunt, sed quod Dominus servi sui orationi obediens praecepit, hoc efficiunt. Sic enim perscribitur: Sol stetit contra Gabaon, et luna ad vallem Hailon, obediente Domino voci hominis (Josue X, 12-14). Ex quo intelligitur Deum servorum suorum precibus obedire, et ad eorum necessitatem creaturas suas opportune gubernare. Haec luminarium mora nihil novum in natura commisit, etsi in ministerio aliquid varium ostendit. Sed et illa varietas nihil in anni cursu et reliquorum dierum commovit, dum pariter sol et luna unumquodque in suo ordine requievit. Si enim unum luminare curreret, dum alterum interim requiesceret, dierum et mensium et annorum assuetum cursum conturbaret. Dum autem utrumque moram hanc habuit, quasi post consuetum diem in occasus sui limitem perrexit. Non enim quod ad belli illuminationem luna tunc in praesentia solis proficeret, stare imperatur; sed ne quid in congruo luminarium meatu per unius quietem et alterius cursum destrueretur. Sed quoniam et maris cursum lunari convenientem esse in omnibus evidenter monstravimus, et illum tunc requievisse, etsi Scripturae vocibus reticetur, nonne ipse illarum rerum pronuntiat observabilis commeatus? Luna vero non tantum in hac statione requieverit, sed et incrementi vel decrementi sui interim consuetudinem agere non potuit. Si enim dum stetit luna, licet stans, sua incrementa vel decrementa ageret; illud incrementum lunare ultra solis cursum in cyclorum rationibus aliquid turbaret. Dum vero nihil in circuli in se revertentis cursu dies illa solito longior praebuit, tunc manifestum est, quod in illa superveniente vespera, unius diei incrementum luna, sicut quotidie solet, gessit. Ut enim hoc manifestis approbationibus pateat, cyclorum etiam ab initio conditi orbis recursus in se breviter digeremus, quos semper post quingentos triginta duos annos, sole ut in principio, et luna per omnia convenientibus, nullis subvenientibus impedimentis, in id unde coeperant, redire ostendemus. Quinto namque cyclo a mundi principio, anno centesimo quarto decimo, generale totius mundi diluvium sub Noe venit, qui post diluvium quadringentesimo decimo octavo anno defecit: et inde alius incipiens, id est, sextus, in octavo aetatis Abrahae anno finitur. Et nono ejus anno septimus incipiens, trigesimo quinto anno egressionis filiorum Israel de Aegypto, quinquennio ante mortem Moysi concluditur. Post quem octavus, in quo est illud signum in sole et luna factum, trigesimo sexto anno egressionis Israel de Aegypto incipiens, in trigesimum primum annum Asae regis Juda incidit. Cujus trigesimo secundo anno nonus exordium capiens, in quo et aliud signum in sole, Ezechiae regis tempore, de quo paulo post dicemus, factum legitur, centesimo octavo anno post templi restaurationem, quae sub Dario facta est, sui cursus spatium consummavit: donec decimus inde oriens nonagesimo secundo anno post passionem

After this also, when the five kings of the Canaanites had gathered together to fight against the sons of Israel, while the cohorts were engaging from opposite sides and victory was yielding to the side of God's people, Jesus son of Nun, leader of the people of Israel, commanded the sun at midday not to move, and the moon to stand where it had been, until the people of God should avenge themselves on their enemies; and this was done. For the sun enclosed two days in one, and the moon did not come on for the space of a day. In this command the luminaries rest not by the authority of a human order, but they obey the command of the Lord ordering that they should stand. For the creatures of God do nothing on account of the word of the man who commands, but what the Lord, obeying the prayer of His servant, has commanded, this they carry out. For thus it is written: The sun stood against Gibeon, and the moon at the valley of Hailon, the Lord obeying the voice of a man (Josh. 10:12–14). From this it is understood that God obeys the prayers of His servants, and governs His creatures opportunely for their need. This delay of the luminaries committed nothing new in nature, although it displayed something varied in their ministry. But even that variation disturbed nothing in the course of the year and of the remaining days, since sun and moon alike each rested in its own order. For if one luminary had run while the other meanwhile rested, it would have thrown into confusion the accustomed course of days and months and years. But since both had this delay, it went on, as if after an ordinary day, to the limit of its setting. For the moon is not ordered to stand because it would then be of use, in the presence of the sun, for lighting the battle; but so that nothing in the harmonious motion of the luminaries should be destroyed through the rest of one and the running of the other. But since we have plainly shown that the course of the sea too is in all respects in accord with that of the moon, and that it also rested at that time, although the words of Scripture are silent about it, does not the observable passage of those things itself declare it? The moon, moreover, not only rested in this station, but also could not meanwhile keep up the custom of its waxing or waning. For if, while the moon stood, though standing, it had carried on its waxings or wanings, that lunar increment beyond the course of the sun would have disturbed something in the reckonings of the cycles. But since that day, longer than usual, produced nothing in the course of the cycle returning upon itself, it is then manifest that, when that evening came on, the moon made the increment of one day, as it is accustomed to do daily. For so that this may be evident by manifest proofs, we shall briefly set out also the recurrences upon themselves of the cycles from the beginning of the founded world, which we shall show always return, after five hundred and thirty-two years, to the point from which they had begun, with the sun as at the beginning and the moon agreeing in all respects, no hindrances intervening. For in the fifth cycle from the beginning of the world, in its hundred and fourteenth year, the general flood of the whole world came in the time of Noah; this cycle ended in the four hundred and eighteenth year after the flood; and then another, beginning from there, that is the sixth, is finished in the eighth year of Abraham's age. And the seventh, beginning in his ninth year, is concluded in the thirty-fifth year of the departure of the sons of Israel from Egypt, five years before the death of Moses. After it the eighth, in which that sign in the sun and moon was done, beginning in the thirty-sixth year of the departure of Israel from Egypt, runs into the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah. In his thirty-second year the ninth took its beginning, in which another sign in the sun also is read to have been done, in the time of King Hezekiah, of which we shall speak a little later; it completed the space of its course in the hundred and eighth year after the restoration of the temple, which was carried out under Darius: until the tenth, arising thence in the ninety-second year after the Passion

Editors' notes and page, col. 2175

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other: the word passionem was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 2176

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S⟨a⟩lvatoris, Alia et Sparsa consulibus, peractis cursibus consummatur. Post quem undecimus a consulatu Paterni et Torquati ad nostra usque tempora decurrens, extremo anno Hibernicensium moriente Manichaeo inter caeteros sapientes, peragitur. Et duodecimus nunc tertium annum agens ad futurorum scientiam se praestans, a nobis qualem finem sit habiturus ignoratur: quorum unusquisque uniformi statu, peractis quingentis triginta duobus annis in semetipsum, id est, in sequentis initium revolvitur, completis videlicet in unoquoque solaribus octovicenis nonodecies, et in lunaribus decemnovenalibus vicies octies circulis. Post quos et in lunari supputatione per communes duodecim et embolismos septem, per ogdoadem et hendecadem et incrementum lunare, quod computatores saltum nominant; et solari per quadrantes et bissextos diligenter dinumeratos, demum duobus luminaribus totidem dies habentibus, et per cursus sui omnes lineas concordi ratione convenientibus, veluti primus conditi orbis annus innovatur. Dum ergo hi circulorum totales recursus in se congrue, et post illos cyclos quibus in sole et luna morae vel reditus signa, quomodo sub Jesu vel Ezechia factum legitur, apparuisse describitur, sine ulla varietate redeunt; manifeste intelligitur, quod non mora illa aut reversio aliquid in luminarium et temporum assueto cursu praepeditum vel insolitum reliquerunt; sed quasi per diem omnem in occasus sui, ut supra dixi; limitem currunt, postquam illius solito longioris diei spatium peregerunt. Per quod videtur quod nihil ad sequentis noctis longitudinem temporis illa dies longa contulerit, cujus princeps pariter in die cum sole diei praeposito luna requievit.

of the Saviour, is completed, its courses having been run, in the consulship of Alia and Sparsa. After it the eleventh, running on from the consulship of Paternus and Torquatus down to our own times, is completed in the last year, when Manichaeus died among the other wise men of the Irish. And the twelfth, now in its third year and offering itself to the knowledge of things to come, is unknown to us as to what end it will have: each of these, in a uniform state, when five hundred and thirty-two years have been completed, revolves back into itself, that is, into the beginning of the next, namely when in each of them the solar cycles of twenty-eight years have been completed nineteen times, and the lunar cycles of nineteen years twenty-eight times. After these, both in the lunar reckoning, through the twelve common years and seven embolismic years, through the ogdoad and hendecad and the lunar increment which computists call the leap, and in the solar reckoning, through the quarter-days and bissextile days carefully counted, at last, the two luminaries having the same number of days and agreeing in harmonious reckoning through all the lines of their course, it is as though the first year of the world's founding is renewed. Since, then, these complete returns of the cycles come back upon themselves fittingly and without any variation, even after those cycles in which signs of halting or of going back in the sun and the moon are described as having appeared, as we read happened under Joshua or Hezekiah, it is plainly understood that that halting or going back left nothing hindered or unusual in the accustomed course of the luminaries and the seasons; but they run, as it were through the whole day, towards the limit of their setting, as I said above, after they have completed the span of that day which was longer than usual. From this it appears that that long day contributed nothing to the length of time of the following night, the ruler of which, the moon, rested together in the daytime with the sun, which is set over the day.

CAPUT V. — De Gedeone et duobus signis.

Chapter V. — On Gideon and the two signs.

Itaque purgata funestis habitatoribus Chananitidis regione, in Dei populi deditionem ipsa a Domino terra tribuitur. Qui postmodum pacis otio resolutus, in idolorum terrae illius et reliquarum in circuitu nationum cultum pervagatur. Propter quod gentibus saepe, quarum idola ipse colebat, potestate a Domino concessa, mancipium servire tribuitur. Sed captivitatum et servitutum laboribus durissimis afflictus, frequenter a Deo per poenitentiam veniam precabatur: ad cujus liberationem, poenitentium lacrymis sedatus ille, judices suscitabat, qui de servitutis jugo plebem eruentes, nequaquam potentiae dominio, sed arbitrorum jure † praeliebant (Judic. II, III, IV). Quorum temporibus dum Madianitis serviret populus, Gedeoni filio Joas coelestis nuntius apparuit, illumque destructo idololatriae ritu, de plebis suae liberatione commonuit. In cujus conspectu dum Gedeon oblationem componeret, desuper carnis jus fundens, coelestis ignis holocaustum absumpsit. Et iterum postulanti signum siccitas in omni terra, et ros in solo vellere; et rursum siccitas in solo vellere, et ros in omni terra fuit (Id. VI). Sed haec quamvis sociantur numero mirabilium, nihil tamen velut novum ostendere videntur in ministratione rerum. Quoniam et coelestis ignis res terrenas, ut saepe diximus et dicemus, frequenter devorat; et alternatim in mundo per partes nimbus rorat. Sed tamen multa talia de mirabilibus Scripturarum subveniunt, quae etsi in rebus gestis diligentem explanationem non exigunt, figurarum tamen praesignatione in rerum spiritualium intelligentia referta sunt. Sed quoniam in opere isto rerum tantummodo gestarum intellectum prosequi disponimus, hoc licet memoriae causa statim historialiter numero mirabilium inseremus. Quae etiamsi saepe fortuito casu Dei voluntate in rebus proveniunt, terribilius tamen et celerius et certius et mirabilius in signi alicujus ostensione per Domini imperium gubernata et ostensa sunt. Unde cum historialiter in holocausti hac concrematione, non terrestri igne, sed coelesti flamma hoc ostendebatur, quod futurum tunc bellum, non humanis viribus, sed coelesti auxilio proficeret; et

And so, when the region of Canaan had been cleansed of its deadly inhabitants, the land itself was granted by the Lord into the possession of the people of God. This people, afterwards slackened by the leisure of peace, strayed into the worship of the idols of that land and of the other nations round about. Because of this it was often given over to serve as a slave to the nations whose idols it worshipped, power being granted to them by the Lord. But when afflicted by the harshest toils of captivity and servitude, it frequently begged pardon of God through penitence: for its deliverance He, appeased by the tears of the penitent, raised up judges, who, rescuing the people from the yoke of servitude, presided over them not at all by the dominion of power but by the right of arbiters (Judg. 2, 3, 4). In their times, while the people was serving the Midianites, a heavenly messenger appeared to Gideon the son of Joash, and, after the rite of idolatry had been destroyed, admonished him concerning the deliverance of his people. While Gideon was setting out an offering in his sight, pouring the broth of the meat over it, heavenly fire consumed the holocaust. And again, when he asked for a sign, there was dryness on all the ground and dew on the fleece alone; and once more dryness on the fleece alone and dew on all the ground (ibid. 6). But although these are associated with the number of wonders, they nevertheless appear to show nothing new, as it were, in the governance of things. For heavenly fire, as we have often said and shall say, frequently devours earthly things; and a rain-cloud sheds dew by turns upon parts of the world. Yet many such things among the wonders of the Scriptures come to mind which, although they require no careful explanation as deeds done, are nevertheless filled with the foreshadowing of figures in the understanding of spiritual things. But since in this work we intend to pursue only the understanding of deeds done, we shall nevertheless at once insert this, for the sake of remembrance, historically into the number of wonders. For although such things often come about in events by chance through the will of God, they are nevertheless governed and shown more terribly, more swiftly, more surely and more wonderfully in the showing of some sign by the Lord's command. Hence, since historically in this burning of the holocaust, not by earthly fire but by heavenly flame, it was being shown that the war then to come would succeed not by human strength but by heavenly help; and

Editors' notes and page, col. 2176

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: after "Alia et Sparsa", line 1 of col 2176› · call in col 2176

Pro, Atiola et Pansa. [print faint: the first name is read uncertainly; perhaps Aviola]

For [the reading of the text], Atiola and Pansa [the uncertain name is perhaps a pair of consuls].

(printed under page 436)

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other: "S⟨a⟩lvatoris": the a is not inked on the page; "praeliebant" (Judic. II, III, IV) set as printed, doubtful word (perhaps for praefiebant or praeerant), the † before it is the file's doubt mark, not printed

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ros prius demonstrabat in solo vellere ostensus, quod divina miseratio, quae tunc in Israel fragili et molli populo fuerat, ignitas gentium iras, sicut aqua ignem, possit exstinguere.

the dew, shown earlier on the fleece alone, had demonstrated that the divine compassion, which was then upon the frail and soft people in Israel, could extinguish the fiery wrath of the nations, as water extinguishes fire.

CAPUT VI. — De Samsonis fortitudine in capillis.

Chapter VI. — On Samson's strength in his hair.

Iterum cum Philistaeis serviret Israelitica plebs, Manue filii Saruch de tribu Dan sterili uxori primo, deinde ipsi Manue Dei angelus pr⟨o⟩phetali habitu apparuit; eosque de filio qui illis esset nasciturus, qualiter foret educandus edocuit, quatenus ne unquam novacula caput ipsius transiret, et siceram et vinum et omne quod inebriare potest, non biberet. Cui cum Manue nesciens esse angelum, prandium voluisset praebere, angelus inquit, De cibis tuis non comedam; sed Domino, si vis, holocaustum compone. Quod cum Manue illo praecipiente composuit, cum igne holocausti coram eis statim angelus in coelum ascendit (Judic. XIII). Et hic terrestris holocausti ignis de terra in coelum ascendens demonstraverat, quod per nascituri hominis fortitudinem Deus populi liberationem praeparaverat. Natus igitur Samson, juxtaque imperium Domini nutritus, maximam fortitudinem in septem sui capitis crinibus habuit. Quod pro certo probatum est, dum eisdem nudatus aliquando etiam virtutem amisit. Nam cum Dalilam in valle Sorecti mulierem de regione Philistinorum alienigenam adamaret, et illa pecuniam a Philistinis principibus, quibus Samson multa mala fecerat, proditionis ejus mercedem accepisset, ipse poscenti fortitudinis suae mysterium in capillorum suorum conservatione fieri indicavit. Et illa dormientis in sinu suo, vocato rasore, caput totondit. Perductusque Samson a Philistaeis, oculis orbatus, molam manu vertebat, donec capilli illius ad priorem longitudinem creverunt. Deinde Philistaeis epulantibus, ut inter epulas Samson illuderetur, adducitur; et ipse puero regenti gressus dixerat, ut se ad duas columnas perduceret, quibus tota domus imminebat, quatenus super veluti illas lassus reclinaretur. Quibus ambabus utraque manu apprehensis, invocato in auxilium Deo, totam domum concussit. Quae cito corruens, tria Philistinorum millia pariter cum ipso Samsone prostravit (Id. XVI). Sed naturas investigantibus, quaestionem non minimam incutit, quomodo totum sensibile corpus in insensibili capillo motum fortitudinis habuit; cujus damnum doloris sensum nequaquam intulit, cum illum tonsor a reliquo corpore ferramenti aculeo divisit. De Samsone ergo, priusquam nasceretur, a Domino praecipitur, ut capillus illius nunquam ferri acumine vel alicujus aculei tonderetur (Id. XIII, 5). Quamdiu igitur in mandati divini custodia permanserat, Spiritus sancti munere maximam fortitudinem habebat. Unde cum muliebri persuasione praecepti dominici transgressionem adinvenit; etiam spirituale fortitudinis donum, quod habuerat, statim recessit. Non quia in insensibili capillo ossium, et carnis, et sanguinis, qui nihil ex his habet, virtus inerat: sed mandati dominici observatio donum fortitudinis observabat. Sed fortasse aliquis dicet: Quare ergo cum capillis iterum fortitudo illius succrevit, si non in capillis etiam prius robur habuit? Attamen etiam hac vice, non tam in longo capillo amissam virtutem recuperabat, quam donum spirituale, quod negligens amisit, afflictus poenitentia crescentibus capillis paulatim impetrabat; praesertim cum in hujus mandati transgressione ex parte licet aliqua excusabatur, quamvis suae virtutis Dalilae petenti mysterium dicere non negavit, non tamen se impetrante, vel concedente, vel consentiente tondetur. Unde afflictus postea a Deo impetravit facilius, quod non sponte, sed dormiens seductus amiserat.

Again, when the Israelite people were serving the Philistines, an angel of God appeared in prophetic garb first to the barren wife of Manoah, son of Saruch, of the tribe of Dan, and then to Manoah himself; and he instructed them concerning the son who was to be born to them, how he was to be brought up: namely, that a razor should never pass over his head, and that he should not drink strong drink or wine or anything that can inebriate. And when Manoah, not knowing that he was an angel, wished to offer him a meal, the angel said, I will not eat of your food; but, if you will, prepare a burnt offering to the Lord. And when Manoah had prepared it as he instructed, the angel at once ascended into heaven with the fire of the burnt offering before their eyes (Judg. 13). And this fire of an earthly burnt offering, ascending from earth into heaven, had demonstrated that through the strength of the man who was to be born God had prepared the deliverance of the people. Samson, then, being born and brought up according to the Lord's command, had very great strength in the seven locks of his head. This was proved for certain when, once stripped of them, he also lost his power. For when he loved Delilah, a foreign woman from the region of the Philistines, in the valley of Sorec, and she had received money from the princes of the Philistines, to whom Samson had done many evils, as the price of betraying him, he revealed to her when she asked that the secret of his strength lay in the preserving of his hair. And she, while he slept in her lap, called a barber and shaved his head. And Samson, led away by the Philistines and deprived of his eyes, turned a mill with his hand, until his hair grew to its former length. Then, while the Philistines were feasting, he was brought in so that Samson might be mocked during the feast; and he told the boy who guided his steps to lead him to the two columns on which the whole house rested, so that, as if weary, he might lean upon them. Seizing both of these with either hand, and calling upon God for help, he shook the whole house. And this, collapsing swiftly, laid low three thousand of the Philistines together with Samson himself (Judg. 16). But for those who investigate natures it raises no small question, how the whole sensible body had the motion of its strength in insensible hair, the loss of which caused no sensation of pain at all when the barber severed it from the rest of the body with the edge of an iron blade. Concerning Samson, therefore, before he was born, it was commanded by the Lord that his hair should never be cut by the edge of iron or of any blade (Judg. 13:5). So long, then, as he remained in the keeping of the divine command, he had very great strength by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Hence, when through a woman's persuasion he came to transgress the Lord's command, the spiritual gift of strength which he had possessed at once departed as well. Not because the power of bones, and flesh, and blood resided in insensible hair, which has nothing of these; but the keeping of the Lord's command preserved the gift of strength. But perhaps someone will say: Why then did his strength grow again with his hair, if he did not have his might in his hair before either? Yet even on this occasion it was not so much in long hair that he recovered the power he had lost, as that, afflicted with penitence, he gradually obtained, as his hair grew, the spiritual gift which he had carelessly lost; especially since in the transgression of this command he was in some part excused, for although he did not refuse to tell the secret of his power to Delilah when she asked, yet he was not shorn at his own request, or with his permission, or with his consent. Hence afterwards, afflicted, he more easily obtained from God what he had lost not willingly, but led astray while asleep.

CAPUT VII. — De arca Domini in terra Philistiim.

Chapter VII. — On the ark of the Lord in the land of the Philistines.

Inde post non parvum temporis, filiis Israel mandatorum transgressione Deum offendentibus, incitata Philistinorum agmina ad bellandum contra eos conveniunt. Et filii Israel de se nihil confidentes, arcam testamenti Domini in exercitu suo in pugnam contra adversarios conducunt. Sed Legis transgressores nequaquam

Then, after no small space of time, when the sons of Israel were offending God by transgressing His commands, the battle-lines of the Philistines were roused and assembled to make war against them. And the sons of Israel, trusting nothing in themselves, brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord in their army into the battle against their adversaries. But the transgressors of the Law

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Legis arca tuetur, victo potius et deleto ex parte populo, ab alienigenis ipsa capitur. Qui victoriae munere laetantes, in terram suam eamdem captam perducunt, et veluti triumphi hujus auctorem, juxta Dagon deum suum, arcam Dei Israel in templo statuerunt. Sed primo die Dagon coram arca prostratus repertus, iterum in loco suo restituitur. Crastino vero fracti ad limen in centum partes, capite et manibus, spina dorsi ejus truncata reperitur: quod fugientem idololatriae, in adventu dominicae legis, cultum monstrabat. Qui enim fugiunt, persequenti dorsum dant. Praeterea quoque tota Philistaea foeda admodum plaga percutitur: nam et extales eorum foras prominebant, et ingens soricum et insolens copia per totam provinciam diffundebatur (I Reg. IV, V). Convenienter quippe Dominus illis utramque poenam praestaverat, qualem rerum ipsarum conveniens ratio exigebat: quatenus qui misera animalia divino cultu venerabantur, per miserrima animalia in adventu dominicae legis castigarentur; et qui tabernaculi Domini interiora, id est, arcam extra limites suos protraxere, hi interiorum suorum foras prominentium foeda affligerentur clade. Quapropter quando plaustro novo impositam duabus fetis vaccis vehendam, quae jugum antea non portaverant, teneris domi vitulis mugientibus, ad fines suos redire arcam permiserunt, quinque mures et totidem anulos aureos indices plagarum suarum, quatenus ne eam vacuam remitterent, juxta eam in capsella posuerunt (Id. VI, 10, 11). Sed in his multiplex figurarum intelligentia latet, quae proprii operis industria, et temporis otio indiget.

the ark of the Law by no means protects; rather, with the people defeated and in part destroyed, it is itself captured by foreigners. These, rejoicing in the gift of victory, bring it, thus captured, into their own land, and, as though it were the author of this triumph, they set up the ark of the God of Israel in the temple beside Dagon their god. But on the first day Dagon, found lying prostrate before the ark, is restored again to his place. On the next day, however, broken at the threshold into a hundred pieces, he is found with his head and hands and the spine of his back cut off: which showed that the worship of idolatry was fleeing at the coming of the Lord's law. For those who flee turn their back to the pursuer. Moreover, the whole of Philistia too is struck with an exceedingly foul plague: for their fundaments protruded outwards, and a great and unwonted abundance of mice spread through the whole province (1 Sam. 4–5). Fittingly indeed had the Lord dealt out to them each penalty, such as the fitting reason of the things themselves required: so that those who venerated wretched animals with divine worship should be chastised by most wretched animals at the coming of the Lord's law; and that those who had dragged the inner things of the tabernacle of the Lord, that is, the ark, outside its bounds should be afflicted with the foul ruin of their own inner parts protruding outwards. Wherefore, when they allowed the ark to return to its own territory, placed on a new cart to be drawn by two cows that had calved, which had not borne a yoke before, while their young calves lowed at home, they put beside it in a little box five mice and as many golden rings, tokens of their plagues, so that they might not send it back empty (1 Sam. 6:10–11). But in these things there lies hidden a manifold understanding of figures, which requires the diligence of a work of its own and leisure of time.

CAPUT VIII. — De coeli fragore quo territi sunt Allophyli.

Chapter VIII. — On the crash of heaven by which the Allophyli were terrified.

Iterum quoque infinita Philistinorum agmina, quasi arena maris innumerabilia, per plana se terrae Israel effuderunt, quae Dominus Samuele orante a facie filiorum Israel ingenti coeli fragore perterrebat (Id. VII, 10): quatenus per hoc et Israel non propria virtute vicisse intelligerent; et hostes Dei protectionem, et auxilium erga hunc populum esse scirent.

Again too, countless hosts of Philistines, innumerable as the sand of the sea, poured themselves out over the plains of the land of Israel; and these the Lord, while Samuel prayed, terrified away from the face of the children of Israel with a mighty crash of heaven (1 Sam. 7:10): so that by this both Israel might understand that they had not conquered by their own strength, and the enemies might know that the protection and help of God were towards this people.

CAPUT IX. — De vocibus et pluviis quando Saül ordinatus est.

Chapter IX. — On the voices and rains when Saul was ordained.

Itidem Samuele invocante Dominum, cum populus sibi regem peteret, et Saül filium Cis de tribu Benjamin in Dei famine jussus Propheta ordinaret; Dominus per pluvias et horribiles voces intonuit, quibus plebs, quae audierat, se Dominum repulisse ne regnaret sibi, intelligeret: quos fragores per Samuelis iterum Dominus deprecationem compescuit, postquam populi de hac re poenitudinem intus aspexit (I Reg. XII, 18, 19).

Likewise, when Samuel called upon the Lord, at the time when the people were asking for a king for themselves and the Prophet, commanded by the utterance of God, was ordaining Saul son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin, the Lord thundered through rains and dreadful voices, by which the common people, who had heard them, were to understand that they had rejected the Lord from reigning over them: and these crashes the Lord quelled again through Samuel's entreaty, after He had seen within the people repentance concerning this matter (1 Sam. 12:18–19).

CAPUT X. — De Saül prophetante inter prophetas.

Chapter X. — On Saul prophesying among the prophets.

Saül invidiae stimulo suscitatus, et malo spiritu saepe arreptus, cum David occidere vellet, et ipse David tunc cum Samuele et caeterorum prophetarum cuneo prophetaret; misit nuntios, et ipsum interficiendum de medio prophetarum rapere jubet. Sed illos, protinus ut adveniebant, spiritus qui in prophetis loquebatur, arripiebat. Ipse quoque Saül quasi injunctum famulis opus tertiis acturus post eos exiens, cum inter prophetas venerat, prophetabat (Id. XIX, 20, sqq.). Diximus autem cum de Balaam et asina disseruimus, quoniam Spiritus sancti verba, non dicentium merito pensantur, sed ipsius voluntate ubicumque voluerit proferuntur: per quod tamen proferentium ea merita non in melius augentur, si bona non habent opera, sicut in Balaam, et Saül, et Caipha pontifice. Unde tales prophetae in judicio, Nonne in tuo nomine prophetavimus? damnati Domino respondebunt: et tamen aeterni ignis consortium inter caeteros impios subibunt (Matth. VII, 22, 23). At vero et hoc loco quidam aestimant, quod Saül non divino spiritu, sed malo illo quo saepe arripiebatur, per totum illum diem prophetaret, donec David etiam imminens mortis periculum, ipso suo spiritu arreptus,

Saul, roused by the goad of envy and often seized by an evil spirit, when he wished to kill David, and David himself was then prophesying with Samuel and the band of the other prophets, sent messengers and orders them to snatch him from the midst of the prophets to be killed. But those men, as soon as they arrived, the spirit which spoke in the prophets seized. Saul himself too, going out after them as if to carry out the task enjoined upon the third [band of] servants, when he had come among the prophets, was prophesying (1 Sam. 19:20 ff.). Now we said, when we discussed Balaam and the ass, that the words of the Holy Spirit are not weighed by the merit of those who speak them, but are uttered by His will wherever He wills: yet through this the merits of those who utter them are not increased for the better, if they do not have good works, as in Balaam, and Saul, and Caiaphas the high priest. Hence such prophets, condemned at the judgement, will answer the Lord, Have we not prophesied in Thy name? and yet they will undergo fellowship in eternal fire among the rest of the ungodly (Matt. 7:22–23). But in this place too some think that Saul prophesied throughout that whole day not by the divine spirit but by that evil one by which he was often seized, until David too, seized by that very spirit of his own, might escape the imminent danger of death

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Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: ipso suo spiritu arreptus› · call in col 2178

Ms. Aud., arrepto.

The Ms. Aud. [manuscript so designated] reads arrepto ("seized", agreeing with "David").

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Domini dispensatione evaderet. Sed qualiter hoc sentiri potest, dum ita scribitur: Et factus est super eum spiritus Domini, et ambulans prophetabat? nisi forte sic in hoc loco accipiatur spiritus Domini, quomodo et in alio loco spiritus Domini malus Saül arripiebat (I Reg. XVI, 14). Veruntamen ubicumque sine additamento spiritus Dei, vel spiritus Domini, vel spisitus Christi, vel spiritus Jesu, in Scripturis sanctis invenitur, Spiritus sanctus esse a nullo sano sensu dubitatur. Ubicumque vero cum additamento dicitur spiritus Domini malus, ut est in libro Samuelis, intelligitur diabolus esse: qui Domini propter ministerium, malus propter vitium dictus videtur. Saepe quoque cum singulariter spiritus tantum, et non addito, sanctus, aut Dei, aut aliud quodcumque ex his, quae ad signandum aut demonstrandum Spiritum sanctum pertinent, deprehenditur; contrarius spiritus qui est diabolus, aut subjectus quisque sibi ex his qui ministrant daemonibus, dignoscitur.

by the Lord's dispensation. But how can this be understood, when it is written thus: And the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and walking he prophesied? unless perhaps the spirit of the Lord is to be taken in this place in the same way as in another place an evil spirit of the Lord seized Saul (1 Sam. 16:14). Yet wherever "spirit of God", or "spirit of the Lord", or "spirit of Christ", or "spirit of Jesus" is found in the holy Scriptures without addition, no one of sound mind doubts that it is the Holy Spirit. But wherever "evil spirit of the Lord" is said with an addition, as it is in the book of Samuel, the devil is understood to be meant, who seems to be called "of the Lord" on account of his ministry, and "evil" on account of his vice. Often also, when "spirit" alone is found in the singular, without the addition of "holy", or "of God", or anything else of those words which serve to signify or point out the Holy Spirit, the contrary spirit, which is the devil, or someone subject to him from among those who minister to demons, is recognized.

CAPUT XI. — De Samuele suscitato a Pythone.

Chapter XI. — On Samuel raised by a Python.

Post etiam in angustia constitutus, hostili se premente impetu, cum neque per prophetas, neque per sacerdotes, neque per somnia, petenti sibi Dominus ullum responsum daret, Saül rex Israel ad pytonissam perrexit, ut ex mortuis aliquem sibi per suae artis incantationes suscitaret. Quae cum quaereret ex eo, quem mortuum de som⟨n⟩o cuperet resolvi, ille sibi Samuelem velle respondit suscitari. Suscitatus vero Samuel, Saüli quid eveniret, praenuntiat, Hac, inquiens, hora tu et filii tui mecum eritis, sed et Israel tradam tecum in manum inimicorum ejus (I Reg. XXVIII, 5-19). Qualiter ergo Samuel a pythonissa suscitari dicitur, dum pythonissa daemoniacis incantationibus et praestigiis uti videtur? Et quomodo Saül, qui in viventibus prophetis Dei responsum non invenit, resuscitatum a morte prophetam audire meruit? Unde non hunc esse Samuelem illum prophetam perfectum, facilius intelligitur; sed diabolus qui se transfigurat in angelum lucis (II Cor. XI, 14), in phantasia Samuelis consideretur. Quod ex sermonibus ejus recte dignoscitur, quoniam funesto Saüli dicebat, Tu et filii tui mecum eritis. Etenim si verus ille Samuel hic ostensus esset, nullo modo iniquum regem consortem sui meriti post mortem diceret. Si ergo a pythonissa diabolus ostenditur, quare Samuel in divina Scriptura dicitur suscitatus? In multis sacrae Scripturae locis imaginatis rebus verarum rerum nomina saepe adscribuntur. Quomodo et praedicta virga in similitudinem serpentis imaginata, et phantastica illa magorum serpentium in Aegypto (Exod. VII, 10, 12), et ille aeneus in deserto serpens nominatur (Num. XXI, 9). Duo quoque Cherubim pro similitud⟨i⟩ne obumbrare propitiatorium memorantur (Exod. XXXVII, 7). Quinque mures, et quinque anuli de terra Philistiim in capsella cum arca Domini referuntur (I Reg. VI, 11). Duodecim boves sub mari aeneo (III Reg. VII, 25), et quatuordecim leones in throno Salomonis eburneo statuuntur (Id. X, 19, 20). Cherubim quoque et palmae, et mala granata, et retia in templi aedificio depicta describuntur (Id. VI, 32), cum haec omnia non ipsa rerum veritate, sed pro similitudine ista nomina recipiunt. Ipsae tamen Scripturae sine ullo incertitudinis respectu quasi res veras haec nominatim ponunt. Phantasma igitur Samuelis velut ipse Sa⟨m⟩uel ostensum pronuntiatur, sicut et in visibus Prophetarum, et in Apocalypsi Joannis ostensi viri pronuntiantur.

Afterwards also, placed in distress, with the enemy's onslaught pressing upon him, since the Lord gave him no answer when he asked, neither through prophets, nor through priests, nor through dreams, Saul king of Israel went to a pythoness, so that by the incantations of her art she might raise up for him someone from the dead. And when she asked him whom among the dead he wished to be released from sleep, he answered that he wished Samuel to be raised for him. And Samuel, being raised, foretells to Saul what would happen, saying: At this hour you and your sons will be with me, but I will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of its enemies (1 Sam. 28:5–19). How then is Samuel said to be raised by a pythoness, when the pythoness is seen to use demonic incantations and illusions? And how did Saul, who did not find an answer from God among the living prophets, deserve to hear a prophet raised from death? Whence it is more readily understood that this was not that perfect prophet Samuel; rather the devil, who transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), should be regarded as being in the phantom of Samuel. This is rightly discerned from his words, since he said to the doomed Saul: You and your sons will be with me. For if that true Samuel had been shown here, he would in no way have called an unjust king the sharer of his own merit after death. If then the devil is shown by the pythoness, why is Samuel said in divine Scripture to have been raised? In many places of sacred Scripture the names of real things are often ascribed to imagined things. Thus both the aforementioned rod made in the likeness of a serpent, and that phantasmal one of the magicians' serpents in Egypt (Exod. 7:10, 12), and that bronze one in the desert are called a serpent (Num. 21:9). Two Cherubim also are recorded as overshadowing the propitiatory, as a likeness (Exod. 37:7). Five mice and five rings from the land of the Philistines are related to have been in a little box with the ark of the Lord (1 Sam. 6:11). Twelve oxen are set up under the bronze sea (1 Kgs. 7:25), and fourteen lions on the ivory throne of Solomon (1 Kgs. 10:19–20). Cherubim also, and palms, and pomegranates, and nets are described as depicted on the building of the temple (1 Kgs. 6:32), though all these receive these names not by the very reality of the things, but by likeness. Yet the Scriptures themselves, without any regard for uncertainty, set down these names expressly as if they were real things. Therefore the phantom of Samuel is declared to be shown as though it were Samuel himself, just as in the visions of the Prophets and in the Apocalypse of John men are declared to be shown.

CAPUT XII. — De percussione Ozae.

Chapter XII. — On the striking of Oza.

Post modicum deinde David regnum obtinente arca testamenti de domo Aminadab ad Jerusalem a rege et omni populo perducitur. Oza filius Aminadab sequens arcam, cum illam velut sustentans tangeret, subita morte percussus et suffocatus est (II Reg. VI, 2-7). In quo facto temeritas in ipso Oza, qui cum non esset de genere Aaron arcam tetigerit, damnatur; et totus populus, quia caute in divinis rebus se agere deberet, admonetur. Sed quidam aliquod praecedens

A little later, then, when David held the kingdom, the ark of the covenant is brought from the house of Aminadab to Jerusalem by the king and all the people. Oza, son of Aminadab, following the ark, when he touched it as though steadying it, was struck with sudden death and stifled (2 Sam. 6:2–7). In this event the rashness in Oza himself, who touched the ark although he was not of the lineage of Aaron, is condemned; and the whole people is admonished that it ought to conduct itself cautiously in divine matters. But some think that a certain preceding

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peccatum in Oza per hanc punitum culpam esse existimant: quoniam saepe evenit, ut minores culpae praecedentium peccatorum vindictam incutiant.

sin in Uzzah was punished through this fault: since it often happens that lesser faults bring on the punishment of preceding sins.

CAPUT XIII. — De David numerante populum.

Chapter XIII. — On David numbering the people.

Quemadmodum cum populus Israel peccasset, commovit Dominus ut David numeraret populum, per quod accidit, ut plebs peccans per parvam regis culpam poenam sustineret praecedentium delictorum. Angelus enim Domini septu⟨a⟩ginta virorum millia ex omni Israel usque Bersabee occidit, et Jerosolymam urbem velut delere proposuit (II Reg. XXIV): non quod Dominus civitatem, quam nunc disperdidit, delere vellet, sed ut ostensus in procinctu vindictae angelus, dignam videnti regi poenitentiam incuteret. Ex quo intelligitur David minorem culpam commisisse quam plebem, qui peccatum suum per solam poenitentiam delevit; populi vero delictum in auctoribus suis mortis severitatem promeruit.

Likewise, when the people of Israel had sinned, the Lord moved David to number the people, through which it came about that the sinning people, through a small fault of the king, suffered the penalty of preceding offences. For the angel of the Lord killed seventy thousand men from all Israel as far as Beersheba, and purposed as it were to destroy the city of Jerusalem (2 Sam. 24): not that the Lord wished to destroy the city which He now destroyed, but so that the angel, shown girded for vengeance, might strike a fitting penitence into the king who saw him. From this it is understood that David committed a lesser fault than the people, since he wiped out his sin by penitence alone; but the offence of the people merited the severity of death in its authors.

CAPUT XIV. — De duobus signis juxta altare Bethel.

Chapter XIV. — On the two signs beside the altar of Bethel.

Et deinde cum per peccatum Salomonis, populi Israel regnum unum in duo divisit Jeroboam filius Nabath rex decem tribuum in parte aquilonis, metuens ne templi, quod erat in Jerusalem, visitatio rursum populum Roboam filio Salomonis jungeret, idola et altaria in Dan et in Bethel posuit (III Reg. XII). Sed in dedicatione altaris quod fuit in Bethel, vir de Juda ut contra illud altare prophetaret, a Domino mittitur. Quo adveniente duo terribilia signa ostenduntur. Nam et altare in duas partes statim in hora holocausti scinditur, et regis ipsius arida manus siccatur (Id. XIII, 1-5). Quae duo signa rei et operi suo apte convenerunt, dum quid in ipso tunc rege sit factum, evidenter ostendunt. Aptum enim videbatur, ut qui Dei cultum, qui illud usque in uno altari et templo erat, divisisset, ipsius altare quod ille sibimetipsi fecerat, sic scissum dessicaret; et qui populi Dei manum, ne Domino suo oblationem et holocausta immolaret, aridam fecisset, in schismatico illo holocausto manus illius arida appareret.

And then, when through the sin of Solomon Jeroboam son of Nebat, king of ten tribes in the northern region, divided the one kingdom of the people of Israel into two, fearing lest the visiting of the temple which was in Jerusalem should join the people again to Rehoboam son of Solomon, he set up idols and altars in Dan and in Bethel (1 Kgs. 12). But at the dedication of the altar which was in Bethel, a man from Judah is sent by the Lord to prophesy against that altar. On his coming two terrible signs are shown. For the altar is both split into two parts immediately at the hour of the burnt offering, and the hand of the king himself is dried up and withered (1 Kgs. 13:1–5). These two signs fitted aptly the matter and his deed, since they show clearly what was done in that king at that time. For it seemed fitting that he who had divided the worship of God, which until then had been at one altar and temple, should have his own altar, which he had made for himself, thus split and fall apart; and that he who had made withered the hand of the people of God, so that it should not offer oblation and burnt offerings to its Lord, should in that schismatic burnt offering have his own hand appear withered.

CAPUT XV. — De trium annorum et sex mensium siccitate.

Chapter XV. — On the drought of three years and six months.

Praeterea quoque Achab filio Amri, incitante eum Jezabel uxore sua, plura agente scelera, Elias Thesbites de Galaad in sermone Dei dixit: Si non ros et pluvia, nisi juxta oris mei verba, his annis erunt (Id. XVII, 1). Cujus oratione prohibita pluvia tribus annis et sex mensibus non pluit: quatenus qui Deum per mala in terra exacerbassent, coeli clementia et aeris commoditate carerent. Verum haec plaga, ut multi magistri putant, tantum terram Israel castigaverat. Sed moris est Scripturarum, ut illam provinciam de qua dicunt, omnem terram indifferenter nominent, quod convenienter cum Elia postmodum Achab sermone demonstratur. Cum enim Eliam ipse vidisset, Tu quis es, qui conturbas populum Israel? Achab dixisse refertur. Cui respondens Elias, in Israel tantummodo culpam, quae hanc plagam incitaverat, fuisse denuntiat. Non enim, inquit, Elias ego conturbo Israel, sed tu et domus patris tui, quia dereliquisti legem Domini, et servis Baal (Id. XVIII, 17, 18). Quibus utrisque dictionibus in Israel tantummodo culpam et plagam convenientia verborum esse demonstrat. Si etenim totum mundum plaga illa flagellaret, non qui conturbas Israel tantummodo, sed qui conturbas totum orbem, Achab dixisset. In tempore autem siccitatis a Domino Eliae dicitur, ut in spelunca torrentis Carith se absconderet, ubi corvis ministrantibus pane et carnibus, et aqua torrentis illum satiaret (Id. XVII, 2-4); duplici scilicet occasione, quatenus et in tempore famis haberet alimoniam, et persecutorum avide se quaerentium rabidam effugeret iram. Corvis vero ministrare Prophetae praecipitur, ut scilicet culpam, quam in diluvio commiserat in terra, purgare avis illa videretur, dum ut fidelis minister efficitur Eliae, qui negligens et fallax erat antea Noe. Praeterea quoque in hoc ministerio illud etiam ostenditur, qualiter homo si non peccasset, etiam infructuosorum animalium

Moreover also, when Ahab son of Omri, with Jezebel his wife inciting him, was committing very many crimes, Elijah the Tishbite of Gilead said by the word of God: There shall not be dew and rain in these years, except according to the words of my mouth (1 Kgs. 17:1). By his prayer the rain was held back and it did not rain for three years and six months: so that those who had provoked God by evil deeds on the earth should be deprived of the mildness of the sky and the benefit of the air. But this plague, as many masters think, had chastised only the land of Israel. Yet it is the custom of the Scriptures to call the province of which they speak indiscriminately the whole earth, which is fittingly shown afterwards by the words of Ahab with Elijah. For when he had seen Elijah, Ahab is reported to have said: Who are you, who trouble the people of Israel? Answering him, Elijah declares that the fault which had provoked this plague was in Israel only. For, he says, I, Elijah, do not trouble Israel, but you and your father's house, because you have forsaken the law of the Lord and serve Baal (1 Kgs. 18:17–18). By both these sayings the agreement of the words shows that the fault and the plague were in Israel only. For if that plague had scourged the whole world, Ahab would have said not "who trouble Israel" only, but "who trouble the whole world". Now in the time of the drought it is said to Elijah by the Lord that he should hide himself in the cave of the brook Cherith, where, with ravens ministering, He would sate him with bread and meat and with the water of the brook (1 Kgs. 17:2–4); for a twofold reason, namely so that he might both have nourishment in the time of famine, and escape the raging wrath of persecutors eagerly seeking him. And the ravens are commanded to minister to the Prophet so that that bird might be seen to purge the fault which it had committed on the earth at the flood, while it is made a faithful minister of Elijah, it which had formerly been negligent and false to Noah. Moreover in this ministry it is also shown how man, had he not sinned, would now make use of the services even of unfruitful animals.

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nunc ministeriis uteretur. Unde vero eas carnes et panes ille corvus detulerit, ipse viderit, qui tale officium committebat. In quo tamen intuendum est, quod ex aliquorum hominum scientium aut nescientium industria, corvi haec acciperent, qui coctos panes et carnes quaslibet qualitercumque praeparabant.

But from where that raven brought those meats and breads is for Him to see Who was entrusting such an office. In this, however, it should be considered that the ravens received these things through the industry of certain men, whether knowing or unknowing, who were preparing baked breads and meats of whatever kind in whatever manner.

CAPUT XVI. — De vidua in Sarepta Sidoniorum.

Chapter XVI. — On the widow in Sarepta of the Sidonians.

Cumque de torrente propter nimiam siccitatem aqua deficeret, ad viduam in Sareptam, ut ibi pasceretur, exire Eliam Deus jubet. Quae cum eum in domo sua victu quotidiano satiaret, familiariter receptum, lecythus olei, et farinae hydria, in quibus unius diei refectionem in adventu suo invenerat, non minuta sunt, donec visitavit Dominus populum suum (III Reg. XII, 8-16). Et hoc accidit, non quod invalida manus Domini esset, ut etiam postquam torrentis unda defecisset, aquam illi cum panibus aliunde et carne donaret; sed idcirco ad Sareptam Sidoniorum saturandus Propheta mittitur, ut per illum bona et fidelis vidua pasceretur. Ne vero quem moveat, quod Sidoniorum terra hanc eamdem plagam pariter cum Israel perpessa erat; dum inde Jezabel persecutrix prophetarum, et totius vindictae et facinoris causa, Sidoniorum regis filia, paternam originem ducebat. Certe etiam hoc signo non nova a Domino, sed condita natura immodica non modica substantia gubernatur, quomodo de calceamentis et Israel vestibus praedictum memoratur. Nam in caeteris praedictis omnibus miraculis nil naturae rationem refugit, sicut ipse rerum eventus frequenter ostendit.

And when, because of the excessive drought, the water of the brook was failing, God commands Elijah to go out to a widow in Sarepta, so that he might be fed there. And while she, having received him as one of her household, satisfied him in her house with daily food, the cruse of oil and the jar of flour, in which at his arrival he had found the refreshment of a single day, were not diminished until the Lord visited His people (1 Kgs. 17:8–16). And this happened not because the hand of the Lord was too weak, even after the water of the brook had failed, to give him water from elsewhere together with bread and meat; but the Prophet is sent to Sarepta of the Sidonians to be fed for this reason, that through him a good and faithful widow might be fed. Let no one, however, be troubled that the land of the Sidonians had suffered this same plague together with Israel, since Jezebel, the persecutor of the prophets and the cause of the whole vengeance and crime, daughter of the king of the Sidonians, drew her paternal origin from there. Certainly in this sign too it is not a new nature from the Lord but the nature already established that is governed, an immoderate [need] by no moderate substance, just as is recorded of the shoes and garments of Israel mentioned before. For in all the other miracles mentioned before nothing escapes the reason of nature, as the very outcome of things frequently shows.

CAPUT XVII. — De mortuo unico viduae filio quem suscitavit Elias.

Chapter XVII. — On the dead only son of the widow, whom Elijah raised.

Hujus viduae filius illo tempore, quo Elias in domo ejus morabatur, gravi aegritudine mortuus fuit. Sed hunc Elias oratione sua ad vitam iterum revocavit (III Reg. XVII, 17-22). De quo tradunt Hebraei, quod ipse Jonas propheta postea fuerit, quem de ventre ceti glutientis, evolutis tribus diebus, Dominus absolvit (Jonae II). Quia Dominus qui inimicum suum in quocumque tuto loco potest occidere, servum suum quem vult eruere, de qualicumque angustia liberare valet. At vero illa famosa quaestio, qua de mortuis resuscitatis agitur, usque ad Lazarum a nobis reservatur.

This widow's son, at the time when Elijah was staying in her house, died of a grave illness. But Elijah recalled him to life again by his prayer (1 Kgs. 17:17–22). Concerning him the Hebrews relate that he was afterwards Jonah the prophet himself, whom, when three days had passed, the Lord released from the belly of the swallowing whale (Jon. 2). For the Lord, Who can kill His enemy in any safe place whatever, is able to free from any distress whatever the servant whom He wishes to rescue. But that famous question which concerns the dead who were raised is reserved by us until Lazarus.

CAPUT XVIII. — De holocausto in monte Carmeli.

Chapter XVIII. — On the holocaust on Mount Carmel.

Evoluto autem tempore siccitatis, cum Dominus super terram vellet pluviam dare, prophetam Eliam in occursum regis Achab jussit exire, qui omnem Israel ad eum et idolorum prophetas quadringentos quinquaginta in montem Carmeli congregavit. Quibus congregatis, sanctus Elias duos boves, unum Domino, et alterum Baal, per se et per prophetas idolorum mactari in holocaustum rogavit, ut Deus qui per ignem exaudierit, ipse totius populi Deus sit. Quo impetrato, sacerdotes Baal bovem suum prius occidentes, usque ad mediam diem tristes, Baal ut per ignem consumeret holocaustum, rogabant. Sed Baal, qui potius igni in potestatem traditus est, super holocaustum ignem dare non poterat. Elias vero bovem suum in frusta comminuens, per membra dividens, super altare quod constructum fuerat, et quod ipse curaverat, tunc statuit: cumque aqua abunde superfudit, oranteque illo, subito ignis de coelo cecidit, qui bovem cum altari et lapidibus et aqua simul consumpsit. Ac deinde sacerdotes Baal in potestatem sibi traditos, in torrente Cison interfecit, et omnis populus Deum Dominum esse confessus credidit (III Reg. XVIII, 19-40). In hoc etiam extra naturam ignis nequaquam aliquid fecit, qui desuper aerio ignito spatio descendens, cum Dei gubernantis imperio, alimenti sui materiam, quam in terra repererat, consumpsit. In superiore enim illo spatio ignis naturam abundantius esse, etiam ignis in terra ardens pronuntiat, qui ad superiora, ubi est natura illius, ardenter conscendere tentat. Sicut enim aquae natura descendere semper ad inferiora, sic ignis proprium est appetere excelsa. Non tamen contra naturam suam etiam aqua saepe in excelsa videtur conscendere: quod non substantia sua

Now when the time of drought had run its course, and the Lord wished to give rain upon the earth, He commanded the prophet Elijah to go out to meet King Ahab, who gathered all Israel to him, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of the idols, on Mount Carmel. When they had been gathered, holy Elijah asked that two oxen, one for the Lord and the other for Baal, be slain as a holocaust by himself and by the prophets of the idols, so that the God Who should answer by fire, He should be the God of the whole people. When this was granted, the priests of Baal, slaying their ox first, kept begging sorrowfully until midday that Baal would consume the holocaust by fire. But Baal, who has rather been handed over into the power of fire, could not give fire upon the holocaust. Elijah, however, cutting his ox into pieces and dividing it limb by limb, then set it upon the altar which had been built, and which he himself had seen to; and when he had poured water over it abundantly, and as he was praying, suddenly fire fell from heaven, which consumed the ox together with the altar and the stones and the water. And then he slew the priests of Baal, delivered into his power, at the brook Kishon, and all the people, confessing that God is the Lord, believed (1 Kgs. 18:19–40). In this too the fire did nothing at all outside the nature of fire, since, descending from above out of the fiery aerial space, by the command of God governing it, it consumed the matter of its nourishment which it had found on earth. For that the nature of fire exists more abundantly in that upper space, even fire burning on earth declares, which strives ardently to ascend to the higher regions, where its nature is. For just as it is the nature of water always to descend to lower places, so it is proper to fire to seek the heights. Yet not against its own nature does even water often seem to ascend into the heights: which not by its own substance

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quae gravis est, per semetipsam, sed per aeris leviorem naturam, qua aquarum minutissimae guttae vaporaliter contrahuntur, solet facere: quae minutissimae guttae, ad aeris altiora fumali modo conscendentes, cum in densioribus nubibus in se conveniunt: aeris natura superferri non possunt, sed vento coagente graviuscula mole ad terram dilabuntur. Et si illas in nubibus, priusquam lapsae fuerint, gelu praeripuerit; easdem guttas concretas in grandinum lapillos glacialiter solidatos frigoris rigor deducit: et si remissiores et necdum densatas eas gelu invenerit, nivem facit: et si has gelidum frigus non perstrinxerit, aquae stillicidium liberum, ad inferiores partes unde ierat redit. Sicut autem aqua per semetipsam, nisi per aliam substantiam, ut ostendimus, non ascendit; sic et ignis nisi per aliam substantiam inferius non descendit. Unde cum et Dominus super quinque civitates de quibus in primo libro diximus (Cap. 5), igneos imbres plueret; hoc idem per sulfur fiebat, quatenus et in sulfure ignis arderet, et per graviorem sulfuris naturam idem ad terram laberetur. In hoc ergo loco ubi super altare ad holocaustum ignis descendit, aut per aerem aut per sulfur descendit: quoniam ignis per semetipsum non potest descendere, nisi se alicui materiae graviori Deus jusserit immisceri. Sacerdotes ergo idolorum sine homicidii culpa Elias Dei servus interfecit; quippe qui erat in illa Lege quae dicit, Blasphemum non patieris vivere (Levit. XXIV, 16). Nullus hominum ergo idolum colit, nisi Dei blasphemus exstiterit. Ac per hoc qui idololatriae cultores mactaverat, blasphemos et sacrilegos de terra purgabat. Et post haec omnia, qui imbres a terrae perfusione tribus annis et sex mensibus orando prohibuerat, in modico temporis spatio, eodem orationis suae officio, sitienti terrae abundantem pluviam et placidam a Deo impetrabat. Quae in terram prius nequaquam venisset, nisi eam a cultoribus Baal occidendo mundaret.

which is heavy, by itself, but it is wont to do so through the lighter nature of the air, by which the tiniest drops of the waters are drawn up in the manner of vapour: and these tiniest drops, climbing like smoke to the higher reaches of the air, when they come together in denser clouds, cannot be borne up by the nature of the air, but, with the wind driving them together, slip down to the earth in a somewhat heavy mass. And if frost seizes them in the clouds before they have fallen, the rigour of the cold turns those same congealed drops into pellets of hail made solid like ice; and if the frost finds them looser and not yet thickened, it makes snow; and if freezing cold has not gripped them, a free dripping of water returns to the lower parts whence it had gone. But just as water does not rise by itself, except through another substance, as we have shown, so fire too does not descend below except through another substance. Hence also, when the Lord rained fiery showers upon the five cities of which we spoke in the first book (ch. 5), this same thing was done by means of sulphur, so that the fire might both burn in the sulphur and slip down to the earth through the heavier nature of the sulphur. In this place, therefore, where fire descended upon the altar for the holocaust, it descended either through the air or through sulphur: since fire cannot descend by itself, unless God has commanded it to be mixed with some heavier matter. Elijah, the servant of God, therefore slew the priests of the idols without the guilt of homicide, since he was under that Law which says, You shall not suffer a blasphemer to live (Lev. 24:16). Therefore no man worships an idol unless he has proved to be a blasphemer of God. And for this reason he who had slaughtered the worshippers of idolatry was purging the land of blasphemers and sacrilegious men. And after all these things, he who by praying had kept the showers from watering the earth for three years and six months, in a short space of time, by the same office of his prayer, obtained from God abundant and gentle rain for the thirsty earth. This would by no means have come upon the earth before, unless he had cleansed it of the worshippers of Baal by killing them.

CAPUT XIX. — De quadraginta dierum jejunio.

Chapter XIX. — On the fast of forty days.

Quos cum Jezabel ab Elia interfectos esse comperisset, illum de morte propria minacibus verbis prophetam terret. Unde pergens in terram Juda querulus Elias, in umbra juniperi sedens obdormivit. Quem angelus Domini tangens de somno suscitavit, et pane et aqua esurientem saturans et sitientem refecit. Quo cibo refectus, in ejus fortitudine quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus nil comedens, usque ad Oreb Dei montem ambulavit. Unde verbi Domini fruitus consortio rursum in terram Israel rediit (III Reg. XIX). De isto vero pane et aqua angelico officio ministratis, quorum fortitudo pastum famis labore Prophetam quadraginta diebus pervexit, scientibus unde naturae sint, intelligentiam disserendam patefacere servamus. In quo pane cum quasi humanae industriae, quod panis coctus sit, operis similitudinem conspiciamus; non terreni panis virtutem, quod una saturitate quadraginta dierum necessitatem impleverit, esse intelligimus. Nisi forte angelico opere de quacumque terrena materia factus in terra degentis animam hominis pastam validiorem hominum pane effecerit. Sed hic panis etsi propriam occultando naturam sollicitum lectorem facit; de quadraginta tamen dierum jejunio, quomodo illud tempus jejunus Propheta pertulerit, securum reddit, dum per unius virtutem nullo egens cibo tanto tempore vixit.

When Jezebel learned that these had been slain by Elijah, she terrified the prophet with threatening words about his own death. Hence, going into the land of Judah, Elijah, complaining, sat in the shade of a juniper and fell asleep. Touching him, an angel of the Lord roused him from sleep, and with bread and water satisfied him in his hunger and refreshed him in his thirst. Refreshed by this food, in its strength he walked for forty days and forty nights eating nothing, as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. Thence, having enjoyed the fellowship of the word of the Lord, he returned again into the land of Israel (1 Kgs. 19). But concerning this bread and water, ministered by angelic office, whose strength carried the Prophet, so fed, through the toil of hunger for forty days, we reserve for those who know of what nature they are the disclosing of an understanding to be expounded. In this bread, although we perceive a likeness to a work of human industry, as it were, in that the bread was baked, we understand that its power was not that of earthly bread, in that by one satiety it fulfilled the need of forty days. Unless perhaps, made by angelic work out of some earthly matter, it rendered the soul of a man dwelling on earth, when fed, stronger than the bread of men does. But this bread, although by hiding its own nature it makes the reader anxious, yet concerning the fast of forty days, how the Prophet endured that time fasting, it makes him secure, since through the power of a single [meal] he lived so long a time needing no food.

CAPUT XX. — De igne descendente super quinquagenarios.

Chapter XX. — On the fire coming down upon the captains of fifty.

Inde intervallo quodam temporis interjecto, ipso propheta in monte sedente, quinquagenarium principem, cum iis qui sub eo erant, ut eum ad se ducerent, rex jussit. Qui supercilio, id est superbo tumore: inflatus animo dixit, Homo Dei, ut ad illum nobiscum exeas, rex Ochozias, id est filius Achab, jussit. Cui Elias: Ut inquis, si homo Dei ego sum propheta, in te nunc et in eos qui tecum sunt, caelestis flamma ardebit. Quo facto, et alium ejusdem ordinis virum cum tot

Then, after some interval of time had passed, while the prophet himself was sitting on a mountain, the king commanded a captain of fifty, with those who were under him, to bring him to himself. He, puffed up in mind with haughtiness, that is, with proud swelling, said: Man of God, King Ahaziah, that is, the son of Ahab, has commanded that you come out with us to him. To whom Elijah said: If, as you say, I am a man of God, a prophet, the heavenly flame will burn upon you now and upon those who are with you. When this was done, the king also commands another man of the same rank with as many

Editors' notes and page, col. 2182

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: quadraginta diebus pervexit› · call in col 2182

Ms. Aud., protexit.

The Ms. Aud. [manuscript so designated] reads protexit ("protected").

(printed under page 439)

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comitibus ad eumdem rex ire praecipit: quem consona priori proferentem, simili sententia eadem vindicta consumpsit. Quo facto, tertius ad idem destinatus periculum quinquagenarius cum suis coram Domini propheta suppliciter genu flexit, et per verba precatoria illum regis adire conspectum rogavit. Sed, Huic associare, Eliae angelus Domini dixit. Qui cito surgens et gressum socians, superbis interemptis, cum humiliato et supplice ad regem perrexit (IV Reg. I, 9, 15). Ignis autem in hoc loco, sicut et in praedicto holocausto Dei, dicto Prophetae verbo obediens, quod jubebatur implevit. Et in his gravioris forsitan ante commissi crimen peccati, sicut et in Oza et numero populi praediximus, ultrix flamma nimirum punivit.

companions to go to the same man; and when he spoke words agreeing with the former, the same punishment consumed him by a like sentence. When this was done, a third captain of fifty, sent to the same peril, knelt humbly with his men before the prophet of the Lord, and with words of entreaty begged him to come into the king's presence. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, Join yourself to him. And he, rising quickly and going along with him, the proud having been slain, went with the humbled and suppliant man to the king (2 Kgs. 1:9, 15). Now the fire in this place, as also in the burnt offering of God mentioned before, obeying the word spoken by the Prophet, fulfilled what it was commanded. And in these men the avenging flame no doubt punished the guilt of some graver sin perhaps committed earlier, as we said before also in the case of Uzzah and the numbering of the people.

CAPUT XXI. — De transeuntibus Jordanem Elia et Elisaeo.

Chapter XXI. — On Elijah and Elisha crossing the Jordan.

Demum vero cum Dominus Eliam elevare voluisset, ipse et Elisaeus filius Saphan, minister suus, Jordanis flumen divisum pallio Eliae, pede sicco, sicut in transitu filiorum Israel factum praediximus, transierunt (Id. II, 8). In cujus rei explanationem, de libro Jesu praedicta huic operi satis sufficiunt. Quoniam dum in multis his mirabilibus virtutum gestis praedicta conveniunt, iisdem rebus miracula facta, et si in figurali explanatione deviaverunt, eamdem tamen rationem in rerum gestarum historico intellectu expositiones naturae exigunt. Antequam de mirabilibus divinae totius Scripturae sermonis nostri coeperimus texere coronulam, operae pretium est etiam ea, in quibus propter praecedentium similitudinem explanare aliquid non est necesse, prout gesta sunt exponam; praesertim cum ex mirabilibus Scripturae dominicae nil praeterire disposui, in quibus a ministerio quotidiano excellere ut in alio videntur.

At length, when the Lord willed to lift up Elijah, he and Elisha son of Saphan, his servant, crossed the river Jordan, divided by Elijah's mantle, with dry foot, as we said earlier was done at the crossing of the children of Israel (2 Kgs. 2:8). For the explanation of this matter, what was said earlier concerning the book of Joshua amply suffices for this work. For since in many of these wonderful deeds of power the things said earlier apply, miracles having been wrought by the same things, even if they have diverged in figurative explanation, yet the expositions of nature require the same reasoning in the historical understanding of the events. Before we began to weave the little garland of our discourse on the wonders of the whole of divine Scripture, it is worth the effort that I also set forth, just as they were done, those things in which, because of their likeness to the preceding ones, there is no need to explain anything; especially since I have resolved to pass over none of the wonders of the Lord's Scripture in which, as in another, they are seen to excel the daily ministry.

CAPUT XXII. — De ascensione Eliae.

Chapter XXII. — On the ascension of Elijah.

Igitur ambobus his ripa Jordanis egressis, Elias ministro suo dicebat: Postula a me quod vis, priusquam me Deus a te transire et recipi jubeat. Cui Elisaeus, Spiritus, inquit, tuus duplex, obsecro, in me requiescat. Rursumque Elias: Duriter, dicens postulasti, sed tamen si hora receptionis meae mihi praesens astiteris et videris, hanc petitionem eventus complebit. Hoc ergo postulans Elisaeus, non elationis affectum super magistrum suum voluit, sed videns peccata populi innumera, a propheta, qui relinqueretur, non simplici Eliae spiritu, sed duplici compesci posse praevidit. Si enim illud quod petivit vitio volentis se elevare animo postulasset, nequaquam a Domino et ab ipso Elia quod petebat, impetraret. Igitur his dictis, jamjamque Elias igneo curru receptus velut ad coelum, considerante Elisaeo, rapitur (Ibid., 9, 12). Et hactenus ipse, sicut et Enoch in testimonium novissimi temporis, adhuc sine morte servatur, ut scilicet horum in ore duorum testium, novissimi testimonii sermo consistat, in extremo tempore, paulo ante quam damnetur satanas, qui humanum genus aperto bello deprimat. Conveniebat ergo ut Elias, quem divini amoris zelus, ignito ardore in anima sua flagrasset, et per ignem miranda multa signa faceret, et per currum igneum ab hominibus commutatum Dominus ad sublimiorem statum eveheret. Caeterum vero quod de Enoch in primo libro praediximus, Eliae etiam convenire videamus.

So when the two of them had gone out on the bank of the Jordan, Elijah said to his servant: Ask of me what you will, before God commands me to pass from you and be taken up. Elisha said to him, Let your spirit, I beg, rest double upon me. And Elijah again: You have asked a hard thing, he said; but yet if you stand present by me at the hour of my taking up and see it, the outcome will fulfil this request. In asking this, therefore, Elisha did not desire a feeling of exaltation over his master; but, seeing the countless sins of the people, he foresaw that they could be restrained by the prophet who was to be left behind, not with the single spirit of Elijah, but with a double one. For if he had asked what he sought out of the vice of one wishing to raise himself up in mind, he would by no means have obtained what he sought from the Lord and from Elijah himself. So when these things had been said, straightway Elijah, received in a fiery chariot, is snatched up as it were to heaven, while Elisha watched (ibid., [2:]9, 12). And until now he himself, like Enoch also, is still kept without death as a testimony for the last time, so that, namely, in the mouth of these two witnesses the word of the final testimony may stand, in the last time, a little before Satan is condemned, who would oppress the human race in open war. It was fitting, therefore, that Elijah, whom the zeal of divine love had set ablaze with fiery ardour in his soul, and who worked many wonderful signs by fire, should also be carried up by the Lord to a higher state, changed by a fiery chariot away from men. And let us see that what we said earlier about Enoch in the first book also fits Elijah.

CAPUT XXIII. — De virtutibus Elisaei.

Chapter XXIII. — On the mighty works of Elisha.

Interea labentia in terram vestimenta Eliae moestus haeres Elisaeus colligebat et Jordanem, item Deum Eliae invocans, pede sicco transierat. Veniens in Jericho, amaras et steriles aquas immisso in fontem sale, sicut per lignum in eremo Moyses, sanabat. De qua etiam re in loco illo disseruisse sufficit. Inde veniens in Bethel, a pueris parvis calvus Elisaeus illudebatur. Quibus cum in nomine Domini malediceret, duobus ursis de silva venientibus quadraginta duo pueri lacerantur (Ibid., 12-24). In hoc loco non propter proprium convicium, Propheta in iracundiam commotus pueris maledixit; sed aversatorum a Domino

Meanwhile Elisha, the sorrowful heir, gathered up Elijah's garments as they slipped to the ground, and, likewise calling upon the God of Elijah, had crossed the Jordan with dry foot. Coming to Jericho, he healed the bitter and barren waters by putting salt into the spring, as Moses did by the wood in the desert. On this matter too it suffices to have discussed it in that place. Coming from there to Bethel, the bald Elisha was mocked by little boys. When he cursed them in the name of the Lord, two bears came out of the wood and forty-two boys are torn to pieces (ibid., [2:]12-24). In this place the Prophet did not curse the boys because he was moved to anger at an insult to himself; but the sons of fathers turned away from the Lord

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et Lege patrum filios, qui in Bethel idolis immolabant, cum fortasse et ipsi parvi pueri, ut moris tunc erat, idolis sunt consecrati, justa vindicta plexit. In Bethel namque unus ex duobus vitulis, quos Jeroboam filius Nabath fecerat, qui peccare fecit Israel, fuit constitutus (III Reg. XII, 29). In quibus decem tribuum Israel a Domino idola colendo divertens, peccavit populus. Praeterea etiam Propheta praevidens quid longa post tempora illudens Christo in Calvariae crucifixo Judaeorum petulans populus esset passurus, quod eis figurali ratione competebat, interim est operatus. Deinde in illa expeditione, qua Joram rex Israel, et Josaphat rex Juda, et rex Edom ad filios Moab exierant, cum in deserto totus exercitus sitis labore fieret fatigatus, Elisaeus aquas per siccatum torrentem sine pluvia venire a Deo impetraverat: ubi fossas et puteos populum facere jussit propter Israelitas et gentiles, qui in eodem exercitu erant (IV Reg. III, 9-20). Cumque ex illa expeditione reversus in terram Israel venisset, mulier vidua unius ex prophetis, lacrymabiliter ad eum clamavit: Ecce, inquiens, creditor meus duos filios, quos servo tuo viro meo genui, ad serviendum sibi, quia reddere aliud ultra non habeam, tollere cupit. Cui Elisaeus: Dic, inquit, quam rem in domo tua potes habere? Parvum, respondens ait, olei quo ungar reconditum penes me habeo in vase. Pete ergo, inquit Elisaeus, mutuo a vicinis tuis vasa vacua non pauca. Quod cum fecisset, de parvo illo olei crescente ipsa replevit omnia (Id. IV, 1-6). Haec exigua olei particula per virtutem Prophetae in majus crescere non contra naturam potuit. Omnem enim magnitudinem creaturarum de parvitate semper crescere convenit, cum praesertim specialius hoc in liquoris natura, pincernaria arte fit, ut quaedam poculorum genera de parva materia in abundantiam liquoris exundare et fervescere comprobentur. Per Sunam quoque civitatem saepe idem vir egrediens, cum a quadam divite femina, sed sterili, bono frequenter hospitio receptus fuerat, praedixit quod de viro suo proprio conciperet. Sed ille natus et nutritus gravi et solita doloris aegritudine, adhuc puer percussus obiit. Quem tamen Elisaeus figurali ordine resuscitans, matri vivum assignavit (Ibid., 8-37). Quodam etiam tempore fame coacti filii prophetarum, inter caeteras herbas agrestes colocyntidas mortiferas et valde amaras non agnoscentes, in pulmento coxerunt: quod cum unus quispiam illorum gustasset, in olla mortem esse clamavit. Sed dum Elisaeus farinae parum in eamdem ollam manu propria misit, illius virtus per illius farinulae sapidum et suavem et sanum saporem, insipidum et mortiferum colocyntidarum agrestium vicit (Ibid., 38-41). Viginti quoque panes in centum viros divi⟨d⟩i praecipiens, turbam saturaverunt, et superabundantem copiam fragmentorum colligentes ministri habuerunt (Ibid., 42-44). Sed et de hujus virtutis intelligentia diligentius explanabimus, cum de quinque panibus et duobus piscibus, et rursus de septem panibus et pisciculis paucis in Evangelio, si Dominus permiserit, disseremus.

and from the Law, who were sacrificing to idols in Bethel, since perhaps they too, as small boys, as was the custom then, had been consecrated to idols, he punished with just vengeance. For in Bethel was set up one of the two calves which Jeroboam son of Nebat had made, who made Israel sin (1 Kgs. 12:29). In these the people of the ten tribes of Israel sinned, turning away from the Lord by worshipping idols. Moreover the Prophet, foreseeing what, long times afterwards, the insolent people of the Jews, mocking Christ crucified on Calvary, were to suffer, did in the meantime what befitted them in a figurative way. Then, in that expedition on which Joram king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and the king of Edom had gone out against the sons of Moab, when the whole army in the desert had become exhausted by the hardship of thirst, Elisha obtained from God that waters should come through a dried-up torrent-bed without rain: there he ordered the people to make ditches and wells for the sake of the Israelites and the gentiles who were in the same army (2 Kgs. 3:9–20). And when, having returned from that expedition, he had come into the land of Israel, a widow of one of the prophets cried out tearfully to him, saying: Behold, my creditor wishes to take my two sons, whom I bore to your servant my husband, to serve him, because I have nothing else besides to repay. To her Elisha said: Tell me, what thing can you have in your house? A little, she said in answer, I have stored up with me in a vessel, of oil with which to anoint myself. Ask then, said Elisha, as a loan from your neighbours not a few empty vessels. When she had done this, from that little bit of oil, as it increased, she filled them all (ibid. 4:1–6). This tiny portion of oil was able, through the power of the Prophet, to increase to something greater not against nature. For it befits every greatness of created things always to grow from smallness, especially since this comes about more particularly in the nature of liquid by the cupbearer's art, so that certain kinds of drinks are shown to overflow and foam from a small quantity of matter into an abundance of liquid. The same man also, often passing through the city of Shunem, when he had frequently been received in kindly hospitality by a certain rich woman, but barren, foretold that she would conceive by her own husband. But he, born and reared, while still a boy was struck by a grave and customary sickness of pain and died. Whom nevertheless Elisha, raising him up in a figurative order, gave back alive to his mother (ibid. 4:8–37). At a certain time also the sons of the prophets, driven by hunger, not recognizing among the other wild herbs the deadly and very bitter colocynths, cooked them in a pottage: and when some one of them had tasted it, he cried out that there was death in the pot. But when Elisha put a little flour into that same pot with his own hand, its power, through the tasty and sweet and wholesome savour of that bit of flour, overcame the tasteless and deadly [savour] of the wild colocynths (ibid. 4:38–41). Also, when he ordered twenty loaves to be divided among a hundred men, they satisfied the crowd, and the servants gathering them had an overabundant supply of fragments (ibid. 4:42–44). But we shall explain more carefully the understanding of this miracle too, when we discuss the five loaves and two fishes, and again the seven loaves and a few small fishes in the Gospel, if the Lord permits.

CAPUT XXIV. — De lepra Naaman curata, et adhaerente Giezi.

Chapter XXIV. — On the leprosy of Naaman cured, and clinging to Gehazi.

Post haec Naaman princeps exercitus regis Syriae leprosus, cum mirabilem prophetam et sanitatum gratia condonatum in terra Israel esse comperisset; comitum stipatus turba militum, sumptis a domino suo muneribus et epistolis, primitus ad regem Israel pergit: et ipse illum ad domum Elisaei tendere monet. Ubi prae foribus stante illo, Elisaeus per puerum jussit, ut septies in Jordane se lavaret. Sed ipse superciliose nuntium omnino despiceret, nisi sociorum suorum sermonibus, ut hanc tam facilem rem faceret, suasus foret: quibus acquiescens, septies, ut Elisaeus praeceperat, in Jordane lavatur; ejusque cutis tota mollis et tenera, quasi pueri, sanata redditur. Unde pro salutis beneficio viro Dei munera offerre tentabat. Quae ille recusans, quod gratis acceperat, gratis impertiri malebat. Ex hac re manifestissime

After these things Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, a leper, when he had learned that there was in the land of Israel a wonderful prophet, endowed with the grace of healings, surrounded by a crowd of soldiers as companions, having taken gifts and letters from his lord, went first to the king of Israel: and he advised him to make his way to the house of Elisha. There, as he stood before the doors, Elisha ordered through a servant that he should wash himself seven times in the Jordan. But he would haughtily have despised the message altogether, had he not been persuaded by the words of his companions to do so easy a thing: yielding to them, he washed seven times in the Jordan, as Elisha had instructed; and his whole skin, soft and tender as a boy's, was restored healed. Wherefore he tried to offer gifts to the man of God for the benefit of his healing. He, refusing them, preferred to impart freely what he had freely received. From this matter it is most manifestly declared,

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declaratur, ut praedixi, quod in sermone imperantis Dei, secundum imperium Prophetae, non in re aliqua virtutis sacramentum continetur: quoniam si sine imperio Prophetae, imo Dei per Prophetam, Naaman in Jordane se lavaret, suae leprae purgationem nullo modo tam cito reciperet. Cogitans ergo apud se Giezi minister viri Dei, quod quasi sine causa Naaman dominus suus Elisaeus pepercerat, duobus assumptis secum pueris, festinantius post eum exire, ac si a domino suo missus, properat: acceptamque ab eo, composito mendacio, pecuniam in equis ex parte reportabat, quam Elisaeus accipere totam, et habere nequaquam voluerat. Deinde ve⟨r⟩o interrogatus Giezi a domino suo quo isset, non quoquam se isse falso simulavit. Sed occultum mendacium evidenti judicio Propheta convincens, Nonne, inquit, spiritus meus tibi praesens erat, quando homo in occursum tui de suo curru descendit? Dum igitur infelix te cupiditatis cogitatio, ut hoc ageres et diceres, fefellit, lepra Naaman cum sua pecunia tibi et semini tuo usque in saeculum adhaerebit (IV Reg. V). Ecce eadem potestate Elisaeus propheta lepram Naaman corpori deposuerat, qua Giezi eamdem adhaerere carni et domui imperabat. Unde pervidendum est istas omnes virtutes non rerum ipsarum effectibus, sed imperantis praecepto peragi: quamvis contra naturam nihil in illarum vel harum effectione certum est perfici. In quarum tamen perfectione ipsa Dei imperantis voluntas, seu per se, seu per angelos, seu per homines illas res inquirit, quas futurorum figuris apte per omnia convenire praenovit.

as I said before, that the sacrament of the miracle is contained in the word of God commanding, according to the command of the Prophet, and not in any thing: since if Naaman had washed himself in the Jordan without the command of the Prophet, nay rather of God through the Prophet, he would in no way have received the cleansing of his leprosy so quickly. Gehazi, then, the servant of the man of God, thinking within himself that his master Elisha had spared Naaman as though without cause, took two servants with him and hastened to go out after him in great haste, as if sent by his master: and having received from him, by a contrived lie, money, he was bringing back on horses a part of the money which Elisha had by no means been willing to accept in full and to keep. Then, being asked by his master where he had gone, Gehazi falsely pretended that he had not gone anywhere. But the Prophet, convicting the hidden lie by a manifest judgement, said: Was not my spirit present with you, when the man came down from his chariot to meet you? Since, then, the unhappy thought of covetousness deceived you into doing and saying this, the leprosy of Naaman, together with his money, shall cleave to you and to your seed for ever (2 Kgs. 5). Behold, by the same power by which the prophet Elisha had removed the leprosy of Naaman from his body, he commanded that same leprosy to cleave to the flesh and the house of Gehazi. Hence it must be clearly seen that all these miracles are accomplished not by the effects of the things themselves, but by the precept of Him Who commands: although it is certain that nothing contrary to nature is accomplished in the effecting of these or of those. Yet in their accomplishment the very will of God commanding, whether by itself, or through angels, or through men, seeks out those things which it foreknew to be fitting in every respect for the figures of things to come.

CAPUT XXV. — De ferri supernatatione.

Chapter XXV. — On the floating of the iron.

Quodam quoque tempore filiis prophetarum coram Elisaeo facientibus sibi locum, ma⟨nu⟩ ⟨u⟩nius ex illis securis ferrum de manubrio lapsum excidens in Jordanis fluvium cecidit. Qui amisso ferramento quod mutuatum acceperat, animo graviter do⟨l⟩uit. Unde Elisaeus viri clamore motus, affectu dolentis, locum ubi ferrum ceciderat demersum, requirebat. Quo annotato, et a se illuc ligno immisso, ferrum de profundo ad superiora aquae natans revocat (IV Reg. VI, 5, 6). Gravem vero ferri naturam tenuis aquae substantia ferre non valet. Sed tamen qui postmodum, sub Petri pedibus maris solidaverat naturam (Matth. XIV, 29), ante illam de profundo ferrum levare jubet. Sane aquae natura quamvis terra fragilior, tamen aere solidior videtur. Hoc enim a terra minus habere virtutis ostenditur, quod ab ea ⟨m⟩etalla et lapides minus sufferuntur. Ab aere vero illud plus retinet, quod hominum et caeterorum animalium corpora et ligna supernatantia sufferre valet. Unde etsi metallum ad integrum aqua non supportat, ex parte tamen cum portantibus tolerat: quoniam lapidem, ut saepe probatur, quem vix duo viri in aere possunt levare, in aqua cum de fune pependerit, unus homo poterit retinere. Unde apparet aquam etsi non per totum, ex parte tamen metallum sufferre posse; et quod ex parte res habet, Deum per totum ut sequatur naturaliter imperare. Propter quod aquae natura natans ferrum sufferre poterat, quia Deus quod ex parte per semetipsam creatura consuescit, ut ad integrum faceret, imperabat.

At one time also, when the sons of the prophets were making a place for themselves in the presence of Elisha, the iron of an axe, slipping off its handle as it fell from the hand of one of them, fell into the river Jordan. He, having lost the iron tool which he had received on loan, grieved sorely in mind. Whereupon Elisha, moved by the man's outcry and by compassion for the one grieving, sought the place where the iron had fallen and sunk. When this had been marked, and a piece of wood had been cast in there by him, he calls the iron back from the depth, floating, to the surface of the water (2 Kgs. 6:5–6). Now the thin substance of water cannot bear the heavy nature of iron. But nevertheless He Who afterwards had made firm the nature of the sea under Peter's feet (Matt. 14:29) bids the iron rise from the depth before that time. Indeed the nature of water, though more fragile than earth, yet seems more solid than air. For it is shown to have less strength than earth in this, that metals and stones are borne less by it than by earth. But it retains more than air in this, that it can bear the bodies of men and of the other animals, and wood floating on it. Hence, although water does not support metal wholly, yet it bears it in part together with those who carry it: since a stone, as is often proved, which two men can scarcely lift in the air, one man will be able to hold in water when it hangs from a rope. Hence it is evident that water, though not wholly, can yet in part bear metal; and that what a thing has in part, God commands that it should follow wholly in accordance with nature. For this reason the nature of the water was able to bear up the floating iron, because God commanded that what the creature is accustomed to do in part of itself, it should do wholly.

C⟨A⟩PUT XXVI. — De victoria per Elisaeum.

Chapter XXVI. — On the victory through Elisha.

Belli quoque tempore regi Israel in multis loci⟨s⟩ rex Syriae insidias componebat, quas Elisaeus propheta regi Israel semper, ut se caute in his ageret, manifestabat. Sed dum hoc rex Syriae per Elisaeum fieri pro certo dignosceret, ad Dothan civitatem Elisaei misit copiosum curribus et equis instructum exercitum. Quod cum viri Dei minister mature surgens videret, territus et pavore concussus ad Elisaeum venit. Quem confortans Propheta, Plures, inquit, auxiliatores nostri quam hostes. Et ne ultra modum pueri ⟨m⟩ens perterrita fieret, videntis inimicorum multitudinem copiosam, ei Angelorum igneis curribus et equis instructas per totum montem in ejus circuitu astantes pha⟨l⟩angas fecit esse visibiles. Unde a⟨d⟩ hostes digrediens

In time of war also the king of Syria was laying ambushes for the king of Israel in many places, which the prophet Elisha always disclosed to the king of Israel, so that he might conduct himself cautiously in them. But when the king of Syria learned for certain that this was being done through Elisha, he sent to Dothan, the city of Elisha, a large army equipped with chariots and horses. When the servant of the man of God, rising early, saw this, terrified and shaken with fear he came to Elisha. Comforting him, the Prophet said: Our helpers are more than the enemies. And lest the mind of the servant, as he saw the great multitude of the enemies, should become terrified beyond measure, he made visible to him the hosts of angels, equipped with fiery chariots and horses, standing over the whole mountain round about him. Then, going out to the enemies

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hoc a Domino impetrabat, ut illam gentem, sicut antea in foribus Loth, caecitate percuteret (Gen. XIX, 11). Hostes igitur obcaecatos, demonstraturum se virum quem quaererent, promittens, in Samariam urbem perduxit, eorumque oculos aperuit ibi. Quos rex Israel videns, ab Elisaeo quaesivit, utrum occideret eos, an non. Cui vir Dei, non ut interficeret imperavit, sed versa vice inimicos cibis reficeret, et abirent (IV Reg. VI, 8-23). Non ita igitur ut lucem diei non videret hic populus, caecitate percutitur; sed praesentis Elisaei, et locorum per quos ambulabant, agnitio ab illorum oculis occultatur. Si etenim caecata diei lucem non conspiceret, nequaquam tanta multitudo solum Elisaeum sequi ducentem in Samariam potuisset. Ipsa igitur caecitate percussi sunt, dum quem viderunt, nullo modo intellexerunt. Unde simili modo vir Dei suo ministro, non ad videndam lucem diei, per quam hostes videret, oculos aperuit; sed in Angelorum consideratione, quos ante non videbat, ejus intuitum direxit. Hoc etiam bello Benadab rex Syriae in terram Israel cum infinita multitudine veniens, Samariam multis diebus obsedit, et ad tantam angustiam inclusos, ut matres filios suos comederent, obsidionis necessitate coercuit. Unde rex Israel tam obscoena infamia permotus, ad domum Elisaei furore plenus venit, et ut praesentem angustiam valentem absolvere, decollare destinavit. Quapropter ipse Propheta velut de animae periculo curans, fixo sermone respondit, Cras eadem hora hac, statere modius similae, et hordei modii mercabuntur in hujus introitu urbis uno statere. At unus ex duobus ducibus regis infida mente garriens, Si, inquit, cataractas Dominus in coelo fecerit, verum, quod dicis, esse valebit. Cui Elisaeus ait: Tu haec oculis tuis videbis, sed causa hujus infidelitatis ex his comedere non poteris. Sequente dehinc nocte, sonitum aerei fragoris in Syrorum castris Dominus audiri fecerat, qui cunctas inimicorum catervas pariter versas in fugam divertebat. Quo explorato, catervatim populus per portam civitatis prorumpens, infidelem illum ducem suffocavit: qui videns ista, juxta Elisaei verbum, eis vesci non potuit (Ibid. 24, sqq; VII, 1-7, 17, sqq.). His omnibus virtutibus, quas propter mirabilium divinae Scripturae originem servandam perstrinximus, aut ante in primo libro similia quaedam annotavimus, aut etiam tertio, quo de Evangelio et Novo Testamento disseremus, si Dominus vitam et adjutorium dederit, quaedam explananda reservamus. Interea post mortem Elisaei famuli Dei, cum quadam die familiares ejus mortuum quemdam portantes, latrunculos videntes pertimuissent, in sepulcrum Elisaei, quod prope erat, mortui cadaver projecerunt. Quod dum tangeret ossa Elisaei, revixit, et ambulavit (Id. XIII, 21). Unde quidam praescriptum sermonem in hoc signo impletum fuisse dicunt, hoc est, Spiritus qui in te est, fiat duplex in me: quod necessario impleri debuit. Elias ergo in vita sua priusquam reciperetur, mortuum resuscitasse unum scribitur (III Reg. XVII, 22), quod similiter et Elisaeus fecisse jam cernitur (IV Reg. IV, 35). Sed et alium, id est istum, post mortem suam videlicet in sepulcro, revivificasse videtur. Sed etiam in hoc duplex gratia facto esse non apparet. Quippe quod enim Elias semel fecerat, bis ac ter, si necesse esset, iterare posset. Sed potius hoc duplicem gratiam Eliae esse in Elisaeo pronuntiat, quod Elisaeus imperando praecipiebat, quae Elias orando et postulando impetrabat. Sive, ut caeteri dicunt, quod Elisaeus cum multo honore et saeculi dignitate, virtutum et prophetiae donum habuit, quod Elias profugus et persecutus, in montibus et speluncis degens, et ejectus ab hominibus retinebat.

he obtained this from the Lord, that He should strike that people with blindness, as formerly at the doors of Lot (Gen. 19:11). So, promising that he would show them the man whom they were seeking, he led the blinded enemies into the city of Samaria, and there opened their eyes. When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha whether he should kill them or not. The man of God commanded him not to kill them, but, on the contrary, to refresh his enemies with food and let them go away (2 Kgs. 6:8–23). So this people was not struck with blindness in such a way that it did not see the light of day; rather, the recognition of Elisha who was present, and of the places through which they were walking, was hidden from their eyes. For if, blinded, it had not perceived the light of day, so great a multitude could by no means have followed Elisha alone as he led them into Samaria. They were therefore struck with this very blindness, in that they in no way recognized him whom they saw. In like manner, therefore, the man of God opened the eyes of his servant, not to see the light of day, by which he might see the enemy, but directed his gaze to beholding the angels, whom he had not seen before. In this war also Benadab, king of Syria, coming into the land of Israel with a countless multitude, besieged Samaria for many days, and by the pressure of the siege reduced those shut in to such distress that mothers ate their own sons. Whereupon the king of Israel, moved by so foul a disgrace, came full of fury to the house of Elisha and resolved to behead him, as one able to relieve the present distress. Therefore the Prophet himself, as though concerned about the danger to his life, answered with firm speech: Tomorrow at this same hour a measure of fine flour will be sold for a stater, and measures of barley for one stater, at the entrance of this city. But one of the king's two captains, prattling with an unbelieving mind, said: If the Lord makes floodgates in heaven, what you say could be true. To him Elisha said: You will see these things with your own eyes, but because of this unbelief you will not be able to eat of them. Then, the following night, the Lord made the sound of a crashing in the air to be heard in the camp of the Syrians, which turned aside all the hosts of the enemy, routed together in flight. When this was found out, the people, bursting out in crowds through the gate of the city, smothered that unbelieving captain: he, seeing these things, could not eat of them, according to the word of Elisha (2 Kgs. 6:24 ff.; 7:1–7, 17 ff.). Of all these miracles, which we have touched on for the sake of preserving the origin of the wonders of divine Scripture, either we have noted some similar ones earlier in the first book, or else we reserve some for explanation in the third as well, in which we shall discuss the Gospel and the New Testament, if the Lord grants life and help. Meanwhile, after the death of Elisha the servant of God, when one day some of his household carrying a dead man had grown terrified on seeing raiders, they threw the dead man's corpse into the tomb of Elisha, which was nearby. When it touched the bones of Elisha, it came back to life and walked (2 Kgs. 13:21). Hence some say that the saying written above was fulfilled in this sign, that is, Let the spirit which is in you become double in me: which had of necessity to be fulfilled. For Elijah in his lifetime, before he was taken up, is written to have raised one dead man (1 Kgs. 17:22), which Elisha too is likewise seen to have done already (2 Kgs. 4:35). But he is seen also to have revived another, namely this one, after his own death, that is, in the tomb. But even in this deed a double grace does not appear. For what Elijah had done once he could have repeated twice or three times, had there been need. Rather, it declares the double grace of Elijah to be in Elisha in this: that what Elijah obtained by praying and asking, Elisha enjoined by commanding. Or, as others say, in that Elisha had the gift of miracles and of prophecy with much honour and worldly dignity, which Elijah held as a fugitive and persecuted, dwelling in mountains and caves, and cast out by men.

CAPUT XXVII. — De captivitate populi, et Sennacherib veniente in Judaeam.

Chapter XXVII. — On the captivity of the people, and Sennacherib coming into Judaea.

Per longum deinde tempus populus Israel cum Dei legem et Prophetarum dicta transgrediens, idola colendo Dominum ipsum contemneret, qui patres suos de terra Aegypti duxerat; in manus gentium traditus,

Then, over a long time, when the people of Israel, transgressing the law of God and the sayings of the Prophets, despised by worshipping idols the Lord Himself, Who had led their fathers out of the land of Egypt, handed over into the hands of the nations,

Editors' notes and page, col. 2186

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post plurimas populi strages, et urbium obsessarum eversiones, decem tribus quae in partibus Samariae fuerunt, a facie sua penitus projiciebat: et reges Assyriorum, Salmanasar scilicet et Teglatphalasar, quibus eos captivandos et translatos tradiderat, Samaritas pro eis, custodes videlicet, ex multis gentibus et urbibus, ne esset inculta terra, congregabant. Quos leones jubente Domino, quod eum non metuissent, dilacerabant. Unde ad regem Teglatphalasar cito per nuntios sermo devenerat, quod gentes quas statuerat in terra Israel, cultum Dei terrae ignorantes, leones lacerabant. Quapropter rex unum de sacerdotibus Leviticae stirpis mittens, illas gentes Deum colere fecit. Quo accepto, quamvis gentili superstitione minus relicta, leonum plaga cessavit (IV Reg. XVII). Tribum autem Juda et Jerusalem civitatem quam elegit Dominus, et omnes qui ad eas pertinebant, adhuc Deus tunc reservavit. Cujus regnum ipso tempore Ezechias rex justus Deumque timens gubernavit. Sed Sennacherib rex Assyriorum, videns quod patres sui Samariae regnum et imperium Israel destruxissent, et ipse ad terram Juda, duce Rapsace, quem Hebraei Isaiae prophetae filium dicunt, et profugum Judaeum ad Assyrios commigrasse, exercitum convocat, et Jerusalem urbem expugnare jubet. Sed in ipso conamine Deus populi defensor et superborum humiliator, de coelesti exercitu militem, angelum videlicet ad Assyriorum castra misit, qui opere unius noctis centum octoginta quinque millia ab exercitu Sennacherib interfecit. Qui sic fugatus de terra Juda, cum paucis ad Ninivem urbem suam fugiens vix evasit. Ubi in idolorum fano repertus, filiorum suorum, quos ipse genuit, vulnere corruit (Id. XVIII, XIX).

after very many slaughters of the people and the overthrow of besieged cities, He cast the ten tribes which were in the regions of Samaria utterly away from His face: and the kings of the Assyrians, namely Shalmaneser and Teglatphalasar, to whom He had handed them over to be taken captive and carried away, gathered Samaritans in their place, that is to say as guardians, from many nations and cities, so that the land might not be left untilled. These, at the Lord's command, lions tore to pieces, because they had not feared Him. Hence word had quickly come by messengers to King Teglatphalasar that lions were mauling the nations which he had settled in the land of Israel, since they did not know the worship of the God of the land. Wherefore the king, sending one of the priests of Levitical stock, made those nations worship God. When this was received, although the gentile superstition was hardly abandoned, the plague of lions ceased (2 Kgs. 17). But the tribe of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, which the Lord had chosen, and all who belonged to them, God still preserved at that time. Its kingdom at that very time Hezekiah ruled, a just king who feared God. But Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, seeing that his fathers had destroyed the kingdom of Samaria and the dominion of Israel, himself too summons an army against the land of Judah, under the leadership of Rabshakeh, whom the Hebrews say was the son of the prophet Isaiah and a Jewish fugitive who had gone over to the Assyrians, and orders it to storm the city of Jerusalem. But in that very attempt God, the defender of the people and the humbler of the proud, sent a soldier from the heavenly army, namely an angel, to the camp of the Assyrians, who by the work of a single night slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the army of Sennacherib. He, thus put to flight from the land of Judah, fleeing with a few to Nineveh his city, barely escaped. There, being found in a temple of idols, he fell by the wound of his sons, whom he himself had begotten (2 Kgs. 18-19).

CAPUT XXVIII. — De infirmitate et signo Ezechiae.

Chapter XXVIII. — On the illness and the sign of Hezekiah.

Parvo interjecto, Ezechias rex Juda, ne de tanta victoria esset elevatus, et forsitan etiam gratiarum actione exiguus in gravissimi languoris morbum incidit. Ad quem in ipso languore visitandum Isaias propheta veniens dixit: Dispone domui tuae, quia non vives ultra, sed morte morieris. Quo tristi admodum nuntio protinus rex ipse permotus, ad parietem faciem suam convertit, lacrymabilemque pro vita sua in conspectu clementissimi et misericordissimi Domini precem fudit. Non quod de suo, utpote perfectus, merito in conspectu conditoris sui incertus fuit, sed quia in Christi venturi generatione sui generis prosapiam, et in throno David lucernam non dereliquit. Sed cum supplicantis fletibus regis et famuli sui, pius Dominus ad misericordiam esset flexus; rursus Isaias propheta puro agitatus numine mittitur, vix medium atrii digressus, qui sanitatem et regnum et pacem undique regi ipsi et civitati fore denuntiat, et quindecim annos vitae suae ab ipso die, Dei sermone addi confirmat. Sed dum Isaias duas prophetias sibimet invicem contrarias eadem hora protulisset, necesse erat ut alteram quae facienda esset, signi ostensione firmaret. Unde rex ut quod dicebatur indubitanter crederet, solis in ortum ab occasu per decem horas cursum recidivo Deus tramite retorquet, quatenus inde veluti mane iterum festinare inciperet, qui diei totius, exceptis duabus horis, spatium consummasset. Per quas duas horas, ut multi aestimant, celeri cursu de occasu in ortum revertitur, ut dies integra rursum sine interveniente nocte in ortu innovaretur, ut scilicet dies duos, etiam in hac vice, in una luce concluderet (IV Reg. XX, 1-11). Quomodo et sub Jesu filio Nun, in illo praedicto bello moram fecisset, indubitanter et hac vice reverti luna minime dubitatur; quatenus nequicquam, ut praediximus, in cyclorum cursibus conturbaretur. Propter quod et maris ipsa vicissitudo impedita fuisse non denegatur, ut de caetero convenienter, qualiter quotidie fieri solet, cum lunae cursibus comitaretur. Naturam enim in hac reversione convenit solem non mutasse, sed sui conditoris in omnibus

A little time having passed, Hezekiah king of Judah, lest he should be puffed up by so great a victory, and perhaps also being scant in giving thanks, fell into the sickness of a most grievous illness. Coming to visit him in that very illness, the prophet Isaiah said: Set your house in order, for you will live no longer, but will die the death. Deeply moved at once by this exceedingly sad news, the king turned his face to the wall and poured out a tearful prayer for his life in the sight of the most clement and most merciful Lord. Not that, as being perfect, he was uncertain about his own merit in the sight of his Creator, but because he had not left behind the lineage of his race in the generation of the Christ who was to come, nor a lamp on the throne of David. But when the gracious Lord had been moved to mercy by the weeping of the supplicant king, His servant, the prophet Isaiah, stirred by the pure divine power, is sent again when he had scarcely gone past the middle of the court, and he announces that health and the kingdom and peace on every side would belong to the king himself and to the city, and confirms that fifteen years are added to his life from that very day, by the word of God. But since Isaiah had uttered two prophecies contrary to each other within the same hour, it was necessary that he should confirm by the showing of a sign the one which was to be fulfilled. Hence, so that the king might believe without doubt what was being said, God turns back the course of the sun from its setting towards its rising through ten hours by a returning path, so that from there, as if in the morning, it might begin to hasten anew, it which had completed the span of the whole day except two hours. During these two hours, as many reckon, it returns with swift course from setting to rising, so that a whole day might again be renewed at the sunrise without an intervening night, that is, so that on this occasion too it might enclose two days in one daylight (2 Kgs. 20:1–11). Just as under Jesus the son of Nun, in that aforementioned war, it had made a delay, so on this occasion too it is not at all doubted that the moon without doubt turned back, so that nothing, as we said before, might be thrown into disorder in the courses of the cycles. For which reason it is not denied that the very alternation of the sea was also held back, so that thereafter it might fittingly accompany the courses of the moon, as is wont to happen daily. For it is fitting that in this reversal the sun did not change its nature, but to obey its Creator's command naturally in all things.

Editors' notes and page, col. 2187

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2187

Ms. Aud., Teglaphalnasar

The Ms. Aud. [manuscript so designated] reads Teglaphalnasar [Tiglath-pileser].

(printed under page 442)

(2) ‹anchor: eadem hora› · call in col 2187

Ms. Aud., die.

The Ms. Aud. reads die ("on the same day", for "in the same hour").

(printed under page 442)

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naturaliter praecepto obedire. Sicut enim lucere et calere naturae suae insitum sol possidet; ita quidquid praeciperet dominica jussio, seu currere, seu stare, seu recurrere, naturaliter habet. Convenienter autem tale signum regi in mortis exspectatione posito aptissimum evenit, quod Dominus per solem fieri taliter, congrua dispensatione disposuit. Quoniam sicut sol in procinctu occasus sui positus, in diei initium reducitur; sic rex in mortis exspectatione constitutus, quasi ad incipientis vitae gaudia revocatur. Tantum quoque temporis, id est, quindecim annos ejus vitae se Dominus dixit addere, quatenus nasciturus tunc filius, consumpto illo tempore, regnum defuncti patris valeret gubernare. Caeterum illam quam non exiguam quaestionem de isto, utrum suae vitae finem hunc, si non fleret, fieri Deus disposuit, multi auctores habuere, quando de Lazaro illo quatriduano mortuo aliquid dicemus, si Dominus permiserit, ex ipsa Evangelii auctoritate cupimus intimare. Eadem quippe de isto ex mortis janua revocato sententia, quae de resuscitatis ex mortis ipsius somno iterum quandoque obeuntibus est proferenda.

For just as the sun possesses shining and giving heat as implanted in its nature, so whatever the Lord's bidding commands, whether to run, or to stand still, or to run back, it has naturally. Fittingly, moreover, this most apt sign came about for a king placed in expectation of death, which the Lord by a suitable dispensation arranged to be done in this way through the sun. For just as the sun, placed on the point of its setting, is brought back to the beginning of the day, so the king, set in expectation of death, is as it were recalled to the joys of a life just beginning. And so much time, that is, fifteen years of his life, the Lord said that He would add, so that the son then about to be born might, when that time was used up, be able to govern the kingdom of his dead father. But as for that by no means small question about him, which many authors have raised, whether God had arranged that this should be the end of his life if he had not wept, we wish to set it forth from the very authority of the Gospel when, if the Lord permits, we say something about that Lazarus who was four days dead. For the same judgement is to be pronounced about this man, recalled from the gate of death, as must be pronounced about those who, raised from the very sleep of death, at some time die again.

CAPUT XXIX. — De captivitate Babylonica.

Chapter XXIX. — On the Babylonian captivity.

Hoc quoque defuncto, cum reges Juda et reliquus populus multiplicarent scelera, et per Prophetas traditurum se Chaldaeis Jerusalem cum regibus et populis ad destruendam Dominus praediceret, id postea ipsius eventus, dum dicta Prophetarum tota pariter plebs contempserat, comprobabat. Nam cum Pharao rex Aegypti contra Assyrios et Chaldaeos pugnaturus venerat, Josias, rex Juda satis justus, in campo Mageddo illi cum exercitu obviavit. In quo conflictu dum Josias victus et vulneratus occiditur, Joachaz filius ejus a populo terrae Juda pro ipso ordinatur. Nechao vero Assyriorum et Chaldaeorum devicto exercitu, velut ad tuendum regnum quod ceperat, constitutis in Carchamis oppido ducibus, cum exercitu copioso post tres menses, ex quo Josias occisus est, Jerusalem revertitur. Unde, se inconsulto, ordinatus rex Joachaz Josiae filius inventus, Joachim fratre suo in loco ejus constituto, catenis vinctus in Aegyptum secum trahebatur. Sed mortuo Nechaone, et ducibus qui in Carchamis relicti fuerant bello victis, tertio anno Joachim regis Juda, qui illud usque Nechaoni adhaeserat, Nabuchodonosor rex Babylonis per exercitum Jerusalem velut Aegypti coloniam obsidebat. Cui se Joachim sponte tradens, datis obsidibus, Daniele videlicet, Anania, Azaria, Misaele, et parte vasorum templi Domini, adhuc in regno suo relinquitur; donec gravissimae servitutis onere depressus, ad Aegyptiorum regem iterum divertens, misso rursum de Babylone exercitu comprehensus et tractus, priusquam ad urbem perveniret, in campo Babylonis undecimo anno regni sui interficitur. Et interim dum haec aguntur, in ejus locum Joachim, qui dicitur et Jechonias, filius ejus, pro patre suo a populo in Jerusalem rex constituitur. Cujus regni tertio mense Chaldaeorum reverso exercitu, et civitatem Jerusalem obsidente, monente Jeremia propheta, ne civitas combureretur, rex Joachim cum Noescha matre ejus, et cunctis populi tribubus, et militibus, et fabris, et clusoribus, Chal⟨d⟩aeorum se populo tradidit, qui illum cum omni transmigratione sua, in terram Chaldaeorum, id est, in Babylonem deduxit. Po⟨s⟩t quem constitutus a Chaldaeis Sedechias patruus suus filius Josiae regis Juda, regnum Jerusalem obtinuit. Qui et ipse nono regni sui anno, deficiens a Chaldaeis ad Aegypti regem, regi Nabuchodonosori occasionem dedit, ut ipso sedente in Reblatha in terra Emath, quae nunc est Antiochia, per exercitum suum obsideret, et expugnaret. Et cum ipsum regem undecimo anno regni sui cepisset, incenso templo et tota urbe, plurimis occisis, et reliquis captivis, eumdem filiis pariter et oculis orbatum, secum in Babylonem perduceret (IV Reg. XXIII, 26, sqq. XXIV, XXV).

When he too had died, and the kings of Judah and the rest of the people were multiplying their crimes, and the Lord was foretelling through the Prophets that He would hand Jerusalem over to the Chaldeans, with its kings and peoples, to be destroyed, the outcome itself afterwards proved this, since the whole people alike had despised the words of the Prophets. For when Pharaoh king of Egypt had come to fight against the Assyrians and the Chaldeans, Josiah, a very righteous king of Judah, went to meet him with an army on the plain of Mageddo. When in that conflict Josiah, defeated and wounded, is killed, his son Joachaz is ordained by the people of the land of Judah in his place. But Nechao, having defeated the army of the Assyrians and the Chaldeans, as if to guard the kingdom which he had taken, placed commanders in the town of Carchamis and, with a large army, three months after Josiah was killed, returns to Jerusalem. Whereupon Joachaz son of Josiah, found to have been ordained king without his being consulted, was dragged off with him to Egypt bound in chains, his brother Joachim having been set up in his place. But when Nechao had died, and the commanders who had been left in Carchamis had been beaten in war, in the third year of Joachim king of Judah, who had until then adhered to Nechao, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem with an army as a colony of Egypt. Joachim, surrendering himself to him of his own accord and giving hostages, namely Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, and part of the vessels of the temple of the Lord, is left still in his kingdom; until, weighed down by the burden of a most grievous servitude, he turned again to the king of the Egyptians, and, when an army had again been sent from Babylon, he was seized and dragged away, and before he reached the city he is killed on the plain of Babylon in the eleventh year of his reign. And meanwhile, while these things are being done, in his place Joachim, who is also called Jechonias, his son, is set up as king in Jerusalem by the people in place of his father. In the third month of his reign, when the army of the Chaldeans had returned and was besieging the city of Jerusalem, at the urging of the prophet Jeremiah, so that the city should not be burned, King Joachim, with Noescha his mother, and all the tribes of the people, and the soldiers, and the smiths, and the locksmiths, surrendered himself to the people of the Chaldeans, who led him away with all his company of exiles into the land of the Chaldeans, that is, to Babylon. After him Sedechias his uncle, son of Josiah king of Judah, appointed by the Chaldeans, obtained the kingdom of Jerusalem. He too, in the ninth year of his reign, defecting from the Chaldeans to the king of Egypt, gave King Nabuchodonosor occasion to besiege and storm [the city] with his army, while he himself sat at Reblatha in the land of Emath, which is now Antioch. And when he had captured the king himself in the eleventh year of his reign, with the temple and the whole city burned, very many killed, and the rest made captives, he led the same man, bereft alike of his sons and of his eyes, with him to Babylon (2 Kgs. 23:26 ff.; 24; 25).

CAPUT XXX. — De Daniele clarente in Babylone.

Chapter XXX. — On Daniel becoming renowned in Babylon.

Quo tempore Daniel, quem in primordio captivitatis

At which time Daniel, whom at the beginning of the captivity

Editors' notes and page, col. 2188

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unum de obsidum numero posuimus, in Babylone ex Judaeorum stirpe, illustri fama clarebat. Quoniam cum esset Spiritu Dei plenus, et prophetiae munere condonatus, quae hominibus caeteris fiebant incognita, ipsi Deus demonstrabat. Unde accidit ut Nabuchodonosor rex somnium videret, evigilantique etiam ex parte aliqua somnii memoria nulla remaneret. Deus Da⟨n⟩ieli non solum somnium ipsum, sed eti⟨a⟩m somnii ipsam occasionem, quae esset antequam rex dormiret, indicaverat (Dan. II). Hoc vero factum est, ut regi Daniel summi Creatoris notitiam insinuaret, et plebs in servitute et captivitate posita, aliquod quamvis parvum auxilium et solatium haberet.

we placed among the number of the hostages, was renowned with illustrious fame in Babylon, of the stock of the Jews. For since he was full of the Spirit of God and endowed with the gift of prophecy, God showed him the things that were unknown to other men. Hence it happened that King Nabuchodonosor saw a dream, and when he awoke no memory of the dream remained to him even in any part. God had revealed to Daniel not only the dream itself, but also the very occasion of the dream, which had been before the king slept (Dan. 2). And this was done so that Daniel might instil into the king the knowledge of the supreme Creator, and that the people, placed in servitude and captivity, might have some help and comfort, however small.

CAPUT XXXI. — De tribus pueris qui ignis tormentum sine laesura evaserunt.

Chapter XXXI. — Of the three youths who escaped the torment of fire without injury.

Sed rex ille ita in Dei oblivionem animo efferus incidit, ut statuam auream altitudinis nimiae in campo Duran provinciae Babylonis erigens, proprio nomine consecrari divi⟨n⟩o cultu praeceperit. In cujus statuae dedicationem omnes undique provinciarum populorumque praepositi convocati, communi decreto ipsam imaginem, vellent nollent, coacti sunt adorare, proposita recusantibus praesente poena, quod non parva fornacis flamma urendum quisque agere nolens semetipsum praesciret. Unde accidit, ut praepositi Babylonicae regionis tres numero, Sidrach, Misach, Abdenago, ex Judaeorum stirpe progeniti, de quibus in initio captivitatis pariter cum Daniele Babylonem deductis diximus (Supra, cap. XXIX); a Chaldaeis accusati sint coram rege, quod nec deos patronos ipsius regis, nec illam tunc consecratam nuper voluissent imaginem adorare. Quos, ne accusatio alicujus odii causa, et non justa querela posset provenire, ipse rex ad se vocari jussit, et utrum ut aliorum faminibus aure traxerat, ita certa re haberetur, interrogavit. Augensque interrogata, Sufficiat, inquit, de praeterito narratum; nunc in mei praesentia jussa complete, et auream quam erexi statuam adorate. Si vero quod jubetur, exsequi non vultis, opere necessario camini ignis ardores experiendos subire debetis. Sed illi unanimi respondentes sententia, Deos quoscunque tuos non tantum non colimus, verum etiam astantem praesentialiter statuam nuper editam, inquiunt, nequaquam adoramus. Solum enim universitatis auctorem coelestem tantummodo libenti voluntate et communi privatoque studio veneramur. Cujus potentia, quicumque sibi puram, nullo pravo opere laesam conservat fidem, a qualicumque angustia protegit. Ideoque, o rex, nec praesentis camini flammas pertimescimus, nec in ullo aliquo potestatis minas et supplicia formidamus. Quoniam potentissimus rerum conditor et gubernator, servos suos de ignis ardore, et qualicumque, quam manus tua intulerit, plaga, per omnia potest liberare. Unde rex incredibiliter ira succensus, et fornacem plus solito succendi praeceperat, et hos per fortissimos de suo agmine viros, cum vestimentis et ornamentis in ignem projici, feroci sententia jubebat. Sed ipsi in fornacem projecti, cum in flammarum medio ceciderant, nullo modo ignis ardorem sibi in al⟨i⟩quo adversantem sentiebant. Namque Dei angelus cum in fornacem missis eadem hora pariter in ignem condescendit, qui foras ignis ardores et flammas de fornace excussit, et intus manentes velut placido rore superfusos, sine ulla molestia incolumes conservavit: atque in circuitu fornacis inimicos quoscunque Chaldaeos perditionis et interfectionis eorum reos reperit, ignis ille consumpsit. Unde rex Nabuchodonosor caminum introspiciens, ait: Ecce ego quatuor video viros expeditos in medio flammae, sed quartus caeteris excellit eminentia formae. Illosque tres quos in ignem miserat, de fornace statim per propria nomina vocat. Quibus nihil adversi de fornacis consortio accidisse cuncti videntes populi considerabant: ita ut non solum corpora ardoris vulnera et pene ulla vestigia non pertulerant; sed etiam sana vestis aut capillus nullum adustionis aut ignis ardorem saltem habebat (Dan. III). In hoc mirabili facto, naturae scrutator qualiter ignis leniter fornace

But that king, savage in mind, fell so far into forgetfulness of God that, erecting a golden statue of excessive height in the plain of Duran in the province of Babylon, he commanded that it be consecrated with divine worship in his own name. To the dedication of this statue all the governors of the provinces and peoples were summoned from every side, and by a common decree they were compelled, willing or unwilling, to adore the image itself, an immediate punishment being set before those who refused, so that each man unwilling to do it would know beforehand that he himself was to be burned by the no small flame of a furnace. Hence it happened that three governors of the Babylonian region, Sidrach, Misach, Abdenago, born of the stock of the Jews, of whom we spoke at the beginning of the captivity as having been led to Babylon together with Daniel (above, ch. 29), were accused by the Chaldeans before the king, because they had been unwilling to adore either the patron gods of the king himself or that image then lately consecrated. Lest the accusation should arise from some hatred and not be a just complaint, the king himself ordered them to be summoned to him, and asked whether the matter stood in fact as he had taken it in by ear from the reports of others. And pressing his questions, he said: Let what has been told of the past suffice; now in my presence fulfil the commands, and adore the golden statue which I have erected. But if you will not carry out what is commanded, you must of necessity undergo the burnings of the fire of the furnace, to be experienced. But they, answering with unanimous judgement, say: Not only do we not worship any gods of yours, but also the statue lately set up, standing here present, we by no means adore. For we venerate solely the heavenly author of the universe, with willing purpose and with common and private devotion. By His power He protects from any distress whatever whoever keeps his faith pure, harmed by no wicked work. And therefore, O king, we neither fear the flames of the present furnace, nor in any respect at all do we dread the threats and punishments of power. For the most mighty founder and governor of things can in every way deliver His servants from the heat of fire and from whatever blow your hand may inflict. Whereupon the king, incredibly kindled with anger, had both commanded the furnace to be heated more than usual, and by a fierce sentence ordered these men to be thrown into the fire, with their garments and ornaments, by the strongest men of his host. But they, thrown into the furnace, when they had fallen into the midst of the flames, in no way felt the heat of the fire as adverse to them in anything. For an angel of God came down into the fire at the same hour together with those sent into the furnace, who drove the heat and the flames of the fire out of the furnace, and kept those remaining within unharmed, without any discomfort, as though sprinkled with gentle dew; and round about the furnace that fire consumed whatever Chaldean enemies it found guilty of their ruin and slaying. Whereupon King Nabuchodonosor, looking into the furnace, said: Behold, I see four men unbound in the midst of the flame, but the fourth surpasses the others in eminence of form. And those three whom he had sent into the fire he at once calls out of the furnace by their own names. All the people, seeing it, observed that nothing adverse had befallen them from their companionship with the furnace: so that not only had their bodies not suffered wounds of burning, nor scarcely any traces, but also their garment was sound and their hair had no burning, nor even the heat of fire (Dan. 3). In this wondrous deed the investigator of nature asks how the fire in the furnace gently

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Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: the word ending "-rum" before the call (its beginning is cut off at the image edge)› · call in col 2190

Forte, servorum.

Perhaps servorum ("of the servants").

(printed under page 443)

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inclusos fovit, inquirit, cum interim eodem igne viri circumstantes ejusdem substantiae, eadem hora comburuntur. Unde ergo lenitatem hanc in una sui parte tunc ignis habuit, cum ex altera parte inimicos regnorum Dei ferox illius ard⟨o⟩r interfecit? Ignis igitur substantia vel natura in nulla nisi in aqua vel alicujus liquoris materia potest vivere, cum ipse incorporeae intelligitur esse naturae. Ex quo accidit, ut dum in lignis ardens, totum quod in eis ad humorem pertinet consumit, in arido cinere qui rursum terrae fuerat redditus, liquoris penuria ignem exstinguit. Eamdem quoque liquoris naturam ardoris voracitas consu⟨m⟩endo non totam devorat, sed dum in superiora, ubi illius naturae est copia, pergere nititur, rursum se in aera elevat. Unde familiaris vapor ille, cum ad aeris excelsa sustollitur, nebulosa facie concretus, terris iterum, unde ierat, per pluvias ministratur. Quod saepe vastatarum adustionibus provinciarum comprobatur, et incensorum montium crebro vaporibus roreas copias deducentibus declaratur. Tamdiu igitur ignis in quacumque terrena materia perseverat, quoadusque liquorem omnem, qui in ea est, vel ipse consumat, vel quod ex suo pastu superest, sursum in aera mittat. Si vero exiguus ignis satis humidam materiam invenerit, ipse velut infirmior a validiore victus, humoris abundantiae cedit. Praeterea quoque, cum lymphatica, ut supra dixi, substantia pascitur, ipsius nequaquam in aliquo vita, nisi per aerem, co⟨n⟩servatur. Etenim si in oleo vel in quocumque fomento incendatur, si circumfusus per totum aerem non contigerit, jamjamque exstinguitur. Quamdiu ergo in aliqua terrena materia arserit, ipsius vita in aere et humore consistit. Unde potens Gubernator ignis naturam inter inimicos et servos dividere voluit, ardorem inimicis, flabilem et humidam aeris et aquae substantiam famulis suis convertit; ut et illi per comburentem naturam accensi arderent, et hi in flabili et lymphatico vapore nihil adversitatis perpeti sentirent. Quapropter ita Scriptura dicit: Angelus Domini descendit cum Azaria et sociis ejus in caminum, et excussit flammam ignis de camino, et fecit medium fornacis quasi ventum roris flantem (Dan. III, 49, 50). Ex aere enim spiritum, et ex aqua in ipso igne invenit rorem. Ecce et hanc divisionem sicut et caetera mirabilia per angelum effecit, qui pariter cum servis Dei, ut supra dixi, in ignem descendit.

cherished those shut in, when meanwhile the men standing around, of the same substance, are burned up by the same fire at the same hour. Whence, then, did the fire at that time have this gentleness in one part of itself, when in the other part its fierce heat killed the enemies of the kingdoms of God? The substance or nature of fire, then, can live in no matter except in water or in the matter of some liquid, since it is itself understood to be of an incorporeal nature. From this it happens that while, burning in wood, it consumes all that in it belongs to moisture, in the dry ash, which had been returned again to earth, the want of liquid extinguishes the fire. Nor does the voracity of the heat, in consuming that same nature of liquid, devour it wholly; but while it strives to go into the higher regions, where there is an abundance of its nature, it raises itself again into the air. Hence that familiar vapour, when it is lifted up to the heights of the air, condensed into a cloudy form, is supplied again through the rains to the lands from which it had gone. This is often proved by the burnings of devastated provinces, and is shown by the vapours of burning mountains, which frequently bring down dewy abundance. Fire therefore persists in any earthly matter whatever just so long as until it either itself consumes all the liquid that is in it, or sends up into the air whatever remains over from its feeding. But if a small fire finds sufficiently moist matter, it, as the weaker overcome by the stronger, yields to the abundance of moisture. Moreover, besides this, while it feeds on watery substance, as I said above, its life is in no way preserved in anything except through the air. For if it is kindled in oil or in any fuel whatever, if, being spread about, it does not touch the whole air, it is at once extinguished. As long, then, as it burns in any earthly matter, its life consists in air and moisture. Hence the mighty Governor willed to divide the nature of fire between enemies and servants: the heat He turned upon the enemies, the breathing and moist substance of air and water upon His servants; so that the former, kindled through the burning nature, should burn, and the latter, in the breathing and watery vapour, should feel themselves to suffer nothing adverse. Wherefore Scripture says thus: The angel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his companions into the furnace, and drove the flame of fire out of the furnace, and made the midst of the furnace like a wind of dew blowing (Dan. 3:49–50). For from the air he found breath, and from the water dew, in the fire itself. Behold, this division too, like the other wonders, he brought about through the angel, who, as I said above, went down into the fire together with the servants of God.

CAPUT XXXII. — De Daniele quiescente in lacu leonum.

Chapter XXXII. — Of Daniel resting in the lions' den.

Daniel quoque veri Dei cultor, de quo in captivitatis principio diximus, cum de tribus principibus regni Persarum et Medorum unus fuisset constitutus, regi Dario Astyagis filio, Domino praestante, prae omnibus factus fuerat charus. Sed quoniam dilectionem honor sequitur, et honor maximus invidiam suscitat; ipsi caeteri Medorum et Persarum principes graviter invidebant. Et idcirco non valentes nisi in lege Dei sui occasionem illi aliquam, unde eum morti traderent, invenire, legem ex regis edicto talem fallaciam nescientis, Persarum et Medorum auctoritate firmatam statuere: Quatenus ne quisquam petitionem quamcumque a quoquam deo vel homine per triginta dies postulasset, nisi a rege. Cui decreto si quis jam inveniretur esse contrarius, illum absque ulla misericordia aut clementia, devorandum leonum reciperet lacus. Quo confirmato edicto, dum diligentissima cura non desisterent observare Danielem, in domo sua ter in omni die more consueto, vero Deo suo deprehendebant genua flectere. Unde graviter ab iis accusatum, de manibus eorum eruere voluit rex. Sed hoc lex constituta Medorum atque Persarum non permisit. Quapropter moesto animo dolente rege devorandus Daniel in lacum leonibus decernitur. Sed a Dei angelo, ne insons periret, leonum ora clauduntur. Unde rex transacta insomni nocte, mane lacrymabilis ad lacum venit, ubi incolumem cubantem inter leones,

Daniel too, a worshipper of the true God, of whom we spoke at the beginning of the captivity, when he had been appointed one of the three princes of the kingdom of the Persians and Medes, had become dear above all to King Darius, son of Astyages, by the Lord's granting. But since honour follows affection, and the greatest honour stirs up envy, the other princes of the Medes and Persians themselves envied him grievously. And therefore, being unable to find any occasion against him, by which they might hand him over to death, except in the law of his God, they established by the edict of the king, who did not know such deceit, a law confirmed by the authority of the Persians and Medes: that no one should ask any petition whatever of any god or man for thirty days, except of the king. If anyone should now be found to be opposed to this decree, the lions' den should receive him, to be devoured, without any mercy or clemency. When this edict had been confirmed, while they did not cease to watch Daniel with the most diligent care, they caught him in his house, three times every day according to his accustomed manner, bending the knee to his true God. When he had therefore been grievously accused by them, the king wished to rescue him from their hands. But the established law of the Medes and Persians did not permit this. Wherefore, the king grieving with a sorrowful mind, Daniel is decreed to be devoured by the lions in the den. But by the angel of God, lest the innocent man should perish, the mouths of the lions are shut. Hence the king, having passed a sleepless night, came in the morning in tears to the den, where he found Daniel lying unharmed among the lions

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secura mente Danielem reperit. Imperante ergo rege, jamjamque Daniel de lacu leonum abstrahitur, quo proditores illius protinus devorandi pro eo mittuntur. Et quos inedia Danielis esurientes fecerat, reorum sanguinis illius criminosa corpora leones recipiebant (Dan. VI). In hoc etiam tam insigni facto, non natura in leonibus mutatur, sed insita a conditionis initio suapte per angelum a Deo gubernatur. Blanditiem enim et lenitatem, quas catulis suis leones ostendunt, in Danielem exercebant; et saevitiam et ferocitatem, quam in praedam faciunt, in devoratis peccatoribus reddebant. Unde certum est, quod non contra naturae suae terminos ullam creaturam Dominus aliquid facere, sed naturarum partes qualitercumque necesse habetur, aut in defensionem et solatium eorum quos protegit, aut in detrimentum eorum quos premit, gubernare disponit. De lacu vero iterum et Habacuc translato in Belis et draconis fabulis, idcirco in hoc ordine non ponitur, quod in auctoritate divinae Scripturae non habentur (Id. XIV, 30, sqq.)

with untroubled mind. At the king's command, then, Daniel is forthwith drawn out of the lions' den, into which his betrayers are at once sent in his stead to be devoured. And the lions, whom fasting on Daniel's account had made hungry, received the guilty bodies of those accused of seeking his blood (Dan. 6). In this so remarkable deed, too, nature is not changed in the lions, but the nature implanted in them from the beginning of their making is, of its own accord, governed by God through an angel. For the gentleness and mildness which lions show to their cubs they exercised towards Daniel; and the savagery and ferocity which they show towards their prey they rendered upon the sinners they devoured. Hence it is certain that the Lord does nothing against the bounds of its nature in any creature, but disposes to govern the parts of natures in whatever way is held necessary, either for the defence and comfort of those whom He protects, or for the harm of those whom He presses hard. But of the den again, and of Habakkuk carried across, in the tales of Bel and the dragon, nothing is set in this order, because they are not held in the authority of divine Scripture (ibid. 14:30ff.)

CAPUT XXXIII. — De Esdra restituente Legem.

Chapter XXXIII. — On Ezra restoring the Law.

Interea captivitatis tempore completo, quod Dominus per Prophetas implendum esse praedixerat (Jerem. XXV, 12; XXIX, 10; Dan. IX, 2), reversionem populi sui et captivitatis solutionem per Cyri regis clementiam praeparabat. Quo tempore Esdras Dei sacerdos combustam a Chaldaeis in archivis templi restituit Legem (I Esdr. VI, VII). Nempe qui eodem Spiritu, quo ante scripta fuerat, plenus fuerit.

Meanwhile, the time of the captivity being completed, which the Lord had foretold through the Prophets was to be fulfilled (Jer. 25:12; 29:10; Dan. 9:2), He was preparing the return of His people and the release from captivity through the clemency of King Cyrus. At that time Ezra, the priest of God, restored in the archives of the temple the Law burned by the Chaldeans (Ezra 6, 7). Surely because he was filled with the same Spirit by which it had been written before.

CAPUT XXXIV. — De bellis praecipuis quae Domini auxilio peracta sunt.

Chapter XXXIV. — On the chief wars which were carried out with the Lord's help.

Sanctae Scripturae Veteris Testamenti, Legis scilicet et Prophetarum mirabilium ordinem in duobus his libellis historica expositione summatim posui. Quibus si quid alicujus forte melioris ingenii sagax investigatio addiderit, adhuc me non recuso discipulum fieri. Praecipua vero bella tantum auxilio Domini peracta, quae textui divinae Scripturae inserta sunt, in his idcirco omisimus, quoniam etsi propter de coelo auxilium admiratione digna sunt, et figurali ratione contineant multa mysteria; tamen in rerum gestarum intellectibus nihil relinquunt incerti. Scimus quod Amalech, orante Moyse, Jesus filius Nun superabat (Exod. XVII, 11-13); et Seon regem Amorrhaeorum, et Og regem Basan, procerae altitudinis viros populus Israel interficiebat (Num. XXI, 24, 33, et XXII, 5). Balach filium Sephor regem Madian, cum Balaam illo praecipuo astrologo, Phinees filius Eleazar cum exercitu occidit. Et Jesus Bennun unum et triginta reges Chananitidis, multis conflictibus prostravit (Josue XII, 7). Gedeon filius Joas in trecentis viris innumera Madianitarum millia per tubas et lucernas occidit (Judic. VII, 19-23). Jephte Galaadites populum de Gentium potestate belli jure liberavit (Id. XI, 32). Samson ille fortissimus Hebraeorum, leonem sibi occurrentem nihil habenti in manibus, confregit; de cujus postea ore et capite favum mellis accepit et comedit (Judic. XIV, 6, 8), trecentasque vulpes capiens igneque succensas in Philistinorum segetes dimisit (Id., XV, 4, 5). De quibus ille mille viros impetu uno asini mandibula solus mortificavit (Id. 15); et undique sedentibus circa civitatem, in qua dormitaverat, Philistaeis, ambas portae fores cum ostiis et superliminaribus et seris et vectibus pariter comprehendens, in vertice montis qui respicit Bersabee, dereliquit (Id. XVI, 3). Tribum quoque Benjamin propter commissum piaculum totam, exceptis sexcentis viris, omnis filiorum Israel populus post tria bella delevit (Id. XIX, XX). Jonathas filius Saül et armiger suus stationem Philistinorum percussit (I Reg. XIV, 13). David filius Jesse adhuc puer et pastor ovium, ursi et leonis interfecti de ore praedam eripuit, et Goliath Philistaeum de fundibula lapide prostravit (Id. XVII, 34, 49). Qui postea patientiae virtute Saül bis deprehenso inimico suo pepercit (Id. XXIV, 8; XXVI, 10, 11). Et rex postmodum factus, tribus gravissimis praeliis prostrata Philistinorum agmina tributaria fecit (II Reg. V, 20; et VIII 1). David solus octingentos interfecit impetu uno (Id. XXIII, 8). Abisai filius Sarviae levavit hastam suam contra trecentos, et interfecit eos (Ibid., 18). Tres robustissimi ruperunt agmina Philistinorum, ut potum darent regi David de cisterna Bethlehem, quae in medio hostium erat (Ibid., 16). Banaias filius Joiadae interfecit duos leones in Moab, et leonem in cisterna in diebus nivis (Ibid., 20, 21). Ipse quoque virgam tenens manu, Aegyptium spectaculo dignum hastam habentem, occidit. Bellum quoque robustorum in Gabaam exercitui David cessit in prosperum (II Reg. XXI, 15, sqq.). Praeter haec maxima regis David adversus in circuitu regiones bella, prospere Domini auxilio favente, seu per semetipsum, seu per exercitum saepe peracta sunt. Bellum vero civile in saltu Ephraim in ipso Israel, in testamentum David restituit Samariae regnum (Id. XVIII, 6, 7). Contra Syros et reges Damasci, nunc huc, nunc illuc, alterno proventu vergentia certamina multa fuerunt. Haec omnia propter de coelo auxilia mirabiliter gesta, provenerunt. Sed illi operi nostro conveniens additamentum conferre non possunt; quoniam nihil in quotidianam rerum administrationem inusitatum ostendunt, dum per hominum et ipsorum etiam Angelorum dispensationes et fortitudines effecta fiunt. In Machabaeorum libris, etsi aliquid mirabilium numero inserendum conveniens fuisse ordini inveniatur, de hoc tamen nulla cura fatigabimur: quia tantum agere proposuimus, ut de divini canonis mirabilibus exiguam, quamvis ingenioli nostri modulum excedentem historicam expositionem ex parte aliqua tangeremus. Ideo et praesens libellus in hoc loco finem suum contingat, ut tertius de Novo Testamento ab Evangelii initio, Joanne videlicet et Domino primordium sumat.

I have set out in summary, by historical exposition, in these two little books the order of the wonders of the holy Scripture of the Old Testament, that is, of the Law and of the Prophets. If the keen investigation of some perhaps better wit should add anything to them, I do not refuse to become a disciple still. But the chief wars carried out solely by the help of the Lord, which are inserted in the text of divine Scripture, we have omitted in these for this reason: that although they are worthy of wonder on account of the help from heaven, and contain many mysteries in a figurative sense, yet in the understanding of the things done they leave nothing uncertain. We know that Joshua the son of Nun overcame Amalek while Moses prayed (Exod. 17:11–13); and that the people of Israel slew Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, men of lofty stature (Num. 21:24, 33, and 22:5). Phinehas the son of Eleazar with the army slew Balak the son of Zippor, king of Midian, together with that eminent astrologer Balaam. And Joshua the son of Nun laid low one and thirty kings of Canaan in many battles (Josh. 12:7). Gideon the son of Joash with three hundred men slew countless thousands of the Midianites by trumpets and lamps (Judg. 7:19–23). Jephthah the Gileadite freed the people from the power of the Gentiles by right of war (ibid. 11:32). That Samson, the strongest of the Hebrews, with nothing in his hands tore apart a lion that met him; from whose mouth and head he afterwards took a honeycomb and ate (Judg. 14:6, 8); and catching three hundred foxes and setting them on fire, he let them loose into the crops of the Philistines (ibid. 15:4–5). Of whom he alone killed a thousand men in one onset with the jawbone of an ass (ibid. 15); and while the Philistines sat all round the city in which he had slept, seizing together both leaves of the gate with the doors and lintels and bolts and bars, he left them on the top of the mountain that looks towards Beersheba (ibid. 16:3). The whole people of the children of Israel also, after three battles, destroyed the entire tribe of Benjamin, except six hundred men, on account of the crime committed (ibid. 19, 20). Jonathan the son of Saul and his armour-bearer struck the garrison of the Philistines (1 Sam. 14:13). David the son of Jesse, still a boy and a shepherd of sheep, snatched the prey from the mouth of the bear and the lion he had slain, and laid low Goliath the Philistine with a stone from a sling (ibid. 17:34, 49). He afterwards, by the virtue of patience, twice spared Saul his enemy when caught (ibid. 24:8; 26:10–11). And afterwards, made king, he made the routed hosts of the Philistines tributary in three very heavy battles (2 Sam. 5:20; and 8:1). David alone killed eight hundred in one onset (ibid. 23:8). Abishai the son of Zeruiah lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them (ibid. 18). Three very mighty men broke through the hosts of the Philistines to give King David drink from the cistern of Bethlehem, which was in the midst of the enemy (ibid. 16). Benaiah the son of Jehoiada killed two lions in Moab, and a lion in a cistern in the days of snow (ibid. 20–21). He too, holding a rod in his hand, killed an Egyptian, a sight to behold, who had a spear. The war of the mighty men at Gibeon too turned out prosperously for David's army (2 Sam. 21:15ff.). Besides these, the very great wars of King David against the regions round about were often carried out prosperously with the favouring help of the Lord, whether by himself or by the army. And the civil war in the forest of Ephraim within Israel itself restored the kingdom of Samaria in the covenant of David (ibid. 18:6–7). Against the Syrians and the kings of Damascus there were many contests, tilting now this way, now that, with alternating outcome. All these things, done wonderfully on account of help from heaven, came to pass. But they cannot bring a fitting addition to that work of ours, since they show nothing unaccustomed in the daily administration of things, while they are brought about through the dispensations and strength of men and even of the angels themselves. In the books of the Maccabees, even if something should be found that would have been fitting to insert in the order among the number of wonders, yet we shall weary ourselves with no care about it: for we have proposed only to do this, to touch in some part, concerning the wonders of the divine canon, upon a slender historical exposition, albeit one exceeding the measure of our small wit. Therefore let the present little book also reach its end in this place, so that the third, on the New Testament, may take its beginning from the beginning of the Gospel, namely John and the Lord.

LIBER TERTIUS.

THIRD BOOK.

De Novo Testamento.

On the New Testament.

CAPUT PRIMUM. — De visione Zachariae et nativitate Joannis Baptistae.

Chapter One. — On the vision of Zechariah and the birth of John the Baptist.

Octaviani Augusti Caesaris quadragesimo primo anno, Zacharias sacerdos de vice Abia, cum in ordine suo holocaustum in templo offerebat, angelus Gabriel unus de illorum numero, qui stant in conspectu Domini, celeri nuntio ipsi responsa deferebat: quibus subnectens, Uxor, inquit, tua hucusque sterilis Elizabeth, grandaeva satis, concipiet, filiumque Joannem nomine, Altissimi prophetam et praecursorem tibi pariet. Sed incredula mente sacerdos, parum his dictis animo fidem accommodans, Quomodo, respondit, hoc fieri poterit; cum ego sim satis senex,

In the forty-first year of Octavian Augustus Caesar, when Zechariah, a priest of the course of Abijah, was offering a holocaust in the temple in the order of his course, the angel Gabriel, one of the number of those who stand in the sight of the Lord, brought him answers with swift tidings: adding to which he said, Your wife Elizabeth, barren until now, well advanced in age, will conceive, and will bear you a son named John, prophet and forerunner of the Most High. But the priest, with unbelieving mind, giving little credence in his heart to these words, answered, How can this be done, since I am quite old,

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et uxor mea isto officio in juventute privata, in diebus suis provecta aetate processerit? Attamen angelus in ista nequaquam excusatione repulsus, non causa perfidiae illatum munus retraxit, sed quo a Domino quod dicebatur impleretur, convenienti oris sui vindictae subjectum mutum sacerdotem dereliquit: donec nascente postmodum puero, ligatae linguae vinculum solutum est, cui nomen filii scribere tentans, Joannes, dixit, est nomen ejus (Luc. I, 5-27, 57-64). Conveniente autem dispensatione factum est, ut Joannes qui postea hominibus victu et vestitu et loco exempla poenitentiae praeberet, et poenitentiam praedicans, etiam conceptionis ejus tempore pater poenitentiae

and my wife, deprived of this office in her youth, has advanced in her days to an advanced age? Yet the angel, in no way repulsed by this excuse, did not, on account of the unbelief, withdraw the gift conferred, but, so that what was said by the Lord might be fulfilled, he left the priest dumb, subjected to a punishment fitting his mouth: until, when the boy was afterwards born, the bond of his tied tongue was loosed, as he, trying to write the name of his son, said, John is his name (Luke 1:5–27, 57–64). And by a fitting dispensation it came about that, as John afterwards would furnish men with examples of penitence by food and clothing and place, and preaching penitence, at the time of his conception too his father should bear a measure of penitence

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modum ab angelo sibi impositum, donec ille nasceretur, sustineret. Aliter quoque congrue hoc signum evenerat, uti dum qui regnum coelorum praedicaret nasciturus conciperetur, antiquae Legis et Prophetarum praedicator sacerdos silentio damnaretur: quoniam Lex et Prophetae usque ad Joannem fuerunt (Matth. XI, 13), ex eo autem regnum Dei evangelizatur. Qui conceptus adhuc in matris utero manens, priusquam nasceretur, cum Mariae matris Domini introitum in domum ubi fuerat sensit, spirituali famine per os matris de nascituro ex ea Christo Domino prophetavit (Luc. I, 41). Dum enim Moysi spiritus in septuaginta duos consiliarios distribuitur (Num. XI, 25), quid mirum si pueri adhuc in utero manentis spiritus per matrem loqueretur?

imposed on him by the angel, until the other should be born. In another way too this sign had fittingly come about, so that, while he who was to preach the kingdom of heaven was being conceived to be born, the priest, the preacher of the old Law and the Prophets, should be condemned to silence: since the Law and the Prophets were until John (Matt. 11:13), but from then on the kingdom of God is proclaimed. He, once conceived and still remaining in his mother's womb, before he was born, when he perceived the entry of Mary, the mother of the Lord, into the house where he was, prophesied with spiritual utterance through his mother's mouth concerning Christ the Lord, Who was to be born of her (Luke 1:41). For since the spirit of Moses is distributed among seventy-two counsellors (Num. 11:25), what wonder if the spirit of a boy still remaining in the womb should speak through his mother?

CAPUT II. — De Incarnatione Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et nativitate ex Maria Virgine.

Chapter II. — On the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His nativity from the Virgin Mary.

Interea nuntius ad sponsam Joseph Mariam virginem de stirpe David talia dicta detulit, cui sine viri cognitione parturire filium Spiritus sancti munere praedixit: Hic, inquiens, natus, q⟨u⟩em omnium spondent oracula Prophetarum, magnus erit in conspectu Domini, et in aeternum ore cunctorum credentium filius vocabitur Altissimi. Huic enim praecepto munere patris sui David sedem donavit, et regni domus Jacob absque fine imperium, sine succedente haerede, in sempiternum tenebit. Quibus verbis ovans virgo accommodata fide, sine ullo incredulitatis aut inobedientiae objectu consensit (Luc. I, 26-38). Sed mentem Joseph conjugis tumentem uterum videntis, quam ipse nunquam cognoverat, ista res sollicitam reddidit. Quem tamen ne hac cogitatione fatigaretur, idem angelus de concepto puero et nascituro, et accipienda virgine commonuit (Matth. I, 19-24). Quae virgo postmodum instante tempore filium, quem sine viri semine, et carnalis oblectamento voluptatis concepit, sine damno suae virginitatis peperit. In qua re, quamvis praeter cunctorum hominum conceptionis consuetudinem, absque viri semine factum opus ostenditur, non tamen extra naturam de muliebri utero sumpta substantia carnis nascebatur. Ex natura naturaliter naturam suscepit, qui cooperante Spiritu sancto ex materna, quamvis sola carne, veram carnis substantiam humanae, exceptis vitiorum passionibus, integram contulit. Quam rem ne sine exemplo naturae alicujus, velut novam in Dei creaturis dimittamus, multa animantia absque parentum coitu progigni comprobamus. Qualiter apes sine patribus fotu materni corporis tantummodo crescant†, et omnia illius modi volatilia fetus suos taliter concipiunt. Sed et multae aves absque maribus ova gignere possunt. Et talem conceptum in multis piscium generibus esse physiologi aiunt. In sola quoque carne sine patre vermis nascitur, cui se Dominus hac de causa similem dicere per prophetam non dedignatur (Psal. XXI, 7). Quod ergo in multis rebus consueto more Dominus operatur, quid naturae contrarium dicendum est, si quando ipse voluit, ut in virginali utero Spiritus sancti dispensatione filius sine viri coitu nasceretur?

Meanwhile a messenger brought such words to Mary, the virgin betrothed to Joseph, of the stock of David, and foretold to her that without knowledge of a man she would bring forth a son by the gift of the Holy Spirit: This one, he said, once born, Whom the oracles of all the Prophets promise, shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and for ever by the mouth of all believers He shall be called the Son of the Most High. For on Him, by the gift of [God's] command, He bestowed the seat of His father David, and He shall hold the rule of the kingdom of the house of Jacob without end, with no heir succeeding, for ever. Rejoicing at these words, the virgin, lending faith, consented without any objection of unbelief or disobedience (Luke 1:26–38). But this matter made anxious the mind of Joseph, her husband, as he saw the swelling womb of her whom he himself had never known. Yet so that he should not be wearied by this thought, the same angel admonished him concerning the boy conceived and to be born, and concerning receiving the virgin (Matt. 1:19–24). This virgin afterwards, when the time was at hand, brought forth without loss of her virginity the Son Whom she had conceived without the seed of a man and without the delight of carnal pleasure. In this matter, although a work is shown done beyond the custom of the conception of all men, without the seed of a man, yet the substance of flesh taken from a woman's womb was not born outside nature. From nature He naturally took up nature, He Who, with the Holy Spirit cooperating, from the maternal, though flesh alone, conferred the true substance of human flesh entire, the passions of the vices excepted. And lest we leave this matter without an example from some nature, as though it were something new among the creatures of God, we find that many living things are begotten without the coupling of parents. Thus bees grow without fathers solely by the warmth of the mother's body, and all winged creatures of that kind conceive their young in this way. Moreover many birds too can produce eggs without males. And the natural philosophers say that such conception occurs in many kinds of fish. The worm too is born from flesh alone without a father, and for this reason the Lord does not disdain to call Himself like it through the prophet (Ps. 21:7). Since, then, the Lord works this in many things in His accustomed manner, why should it be called contrary to nature if, when He Himself willed, a Son was born in a virginal womb by the dispensation of the Holy Spirit without the coupling of a man?

CAPUT III. — De pastoribus quibus Angeli natum infantem nuntiaverunt.

Chapter III. — On the shepherds to whom the Angels announced the infant born.

Quo nascente in Bethlehem civitate David, pastores custodiae gregum destinati, ab Angelis imbuuntur†, quod coeli rex in terra cum hominibus ex homine carnem nascendi lege assumere tunc dignaretur. Et deinde cum huic nuntio conveniens audientibus pastoribus carmen concinunt, ad coelum rursum conscendentes Angeli redeunt (Luc. II, 8-15). Et in hoc conveniens ab Angelis peractus ordo conspicitur, ut prius pastoribus natus Agnus et gregibus Pastor nuntiaretur. In his duobus pueris Joanne et Jesu, praecursore et Domino, non sine historica ratione nativitatis ordo intenditur, quod de anu unus, alter de virgine puella generatur. Christi enim praecursor per omnia Joannes idcirco de vetula matre nasci debuit, dum ipse Veteris Legis finis quasi novissimus filius fuit. Christus vero de puella virgine corpus assumpsit. Ipse enim est Novi

When He was born in Bethlehem, the city of David, shepherds appointed to the keeping of flocks are instructed by Angels that the King of heaven had then deigned on earth, among men, to take flesh from a human being by the law of birth. And then, when they sing to the listening shepherds a song befitting this message, the Angels return, ascending again to heaven (Luke 2:8–15). And in this a fitting order is seen carried out by the Angels, that first to shepherds the Lamb should be announced as born, and the Shepherd to the flocks. In these two boys, John and Jesus, the forerunner and the Lord, the order of nativity is directed not without a historical reason, in that the one is begotten of an old woman, the other of a virgin girl. For John, the forerunner of Christ in all things, ought for this reason to be born of an aged mother, since he himself was the end of the Old Law, as it were its last son. But Christ took a body from a virgin girl. For He Himself is the beginning of the New Testament,

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Testamenti principium, filiorumque, qui ex Nova Lege nascerentur, exordium exstitit. Igitur quadragesimo secundo anno Octaviani Augusti Caesaris, temporibus Herodis regis Judaeorum, ablata ex Judaeis omni dominandi potestate, in oppido Judaeae Bethlehem, de David stirpe, ex virgine Maria Jesus Christus Dominus nascitur. Quod competenter evenerat, ut cum regum et pontificum ex Jacob stirpe descendentium successio consumpta fuerat, qui in aeternum rex est et pontifex, tunc nasceretur.

and He came to be the commencement of the sons who would be born from the New Law. Therefore in the forty-second year of Octavian Augustus Caesar, in the times of Herod king of the Jews, when all power of ruling had been taken away from the Jews, in the town of Judaea, Bethlehem, of the stock of David, from the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ the Lord is born. This had fittingly come about, so that when the succession of kings and pontiffs descending from the stock of Jacob had been used up, He Who is King and Pontiff for ever should then be born.

CAPUT IV. — De Magis ab Oriente et stella duce.

Chapter IV. — On the Magi from the East and the star as guide.

Nascente ergo illo puero, quem Israelitarum et Gentium Prophetae utriusque populi salvatorem fore praedixerant, Magi de terra Hevilath ducti stella, ad eum cum muneribus longo admodum itinere venerant. Qui oblatis muneribus, et adorato per tempus puero, reversi sunt; non eadem tamen via qua venerunt, sed per aliam ad patriae loca remeare moniti divino famine curabant (Matth. II, 1-12). De hac autem stella, quod ab Jerusalem pergentibus Magis usque ad Bethlehem dux itineris fuit, Evangelii dicta exponunt. Caeterum vero qui de terra sua usque Jerusalem hanc ducem sui itineris habuisse Magos existimant, ex evangelica auctoritate firmare non possunt: quoniam Magi in terra sua cum essent, excellentem sideribus stellam videntes, Dei esse et regis, qui juxta prophetias tam ipsorum quam ecclesiasticas (Num. XXIV, 17), ex Israel nasceretur, seu ex propria eorum scientia, seu angelica admonitione intelligentes, ad terram Israel venerunt; et ad Jerosolymam, ubi totius provinciae principatus fuerat, venientes, de rege nato et pariter Deo perquirunt. Unde inventis Israelitarum oraculis vatum de eodem nato, ubi nascendi locum acciperet (Michaeae V, 2), monente subdolo sermone rege, alacres pergunt. Egressique urbem, mox ducem itineris ad Christum stellam sequentes deveniunt. De ista vero stella, utrum stella simpliciter, an angelus, an Spiritus sanctus accipiatur, etsi catholico sensui nihil repugnat, cum de singulis disputatum fuerit, arbitris majoribus eligendi liberam voluntatem ingenioli nostri mensura concedet. Si enim simpliciter stellam accipiendam esse quis maluerit, a caeteris stellis in hoc ducatu quomodo deviavit? Quarum natura ab initio condita, in firmamento coeli constituta fuisse dignoscitur, sicut libri Geneseos auctoritate manifestatur (Gen. I, 17). Si ergo in firmamento coeli maneret, inter Bethlehem et Jerusalem dux fieri ambulantibus qualiter posset? Et si per aera, sagittae more, quamvis paulo lentiore cursu propter sequentes pervolaret, assuetum in firmamento locum et cursum interim desereret. Quod nec majoribus quidem luminaribus accidisse Scripturae describunt, cum in signis aut steterunt, aut reversa sunt. Nisi forte aereus ille ignis, qui tale ministerium accepit, propter similitudinem, sicut in multis diximus, stellae vocabulum accepit. Aut si angelus habitu stellae hoc ministerium fecit, quid repugnat, dum se Angeli quando se hominibus ostendunt, in multos transformant habitus? Quomodo et Moysi in Oreb de rubo angelus ignita facie loquebatur (Exod. III, 2), et velut miles armatus Josue filio Nun extra castra in Galgalis ostenditur (Josue V, 13). In currum et equos igneos in ascensione Eliae Angeli finguntur (IV Reg. II, 11). Et quando Eliseus pueri sui oculos aperuit, in eisdem habitudinibus Angeli manifestantur (Id. VI, 17). In forma hospitum Abrahae et Loth conspectibus se praebuerunt (Gen. XVIII, 2; XIX, 1): et Manue et uxor ejus prophetali habitu loquentem ad eos angelum viderunt (Judic. XIII, 9). Nimirum eorum et ista vice angelus dux Magorum efficitur, qui astrologis in stellae similitudinem et clarissimi sideris fulgorem transformatur. Licet enim in imagine rerum, quae Joanni in Apocalypsi sua per visionem dicuntur, haec tamen intellectui non contra facit, Stellae septem, Ecclesiarum septem Angeli sunt (Apoc. I, 20). Unde quamvis in spiritu, dum tamen stellae Angeli dicuntur, quid repugnat, si etiam in hoc loco stella angelus dictus esse sentiatur? Vel certe si neque angelus, neque stella firmamenti,

So when that child was born, Whom the prophets of the Israelites and of the Gentiles had foretold would be the saviour of both peoples, Magi from the land of Hevilath, led by a star, had come to Him with gifts by a very long journey. These, having offered their gifts and worshipped the child for a time, returned; not, however, by the same way by which they had come, but, warned by a divine utterance, they took care to return to the regions of their homeland by another (Matt. 2:1–12). Now concerning this star, that it was the guide of the journey for the Magi going from Jerusalem as far as Bethlehem, the words of the Gospel set this out. But those who think that the Magi had it as the guide of their journey from their own land as far as Jerusalem cannot establish this from the authority of the Gospel: since the Magi, while they were in their own land, seeing a star surpassing the constellations, and understanding, whether from their own knowledge or from an angelic admonition, that it belonged to God and King, Who according to the prophecies both their own and ecclesiastical (Num. 24:17) was to be born from Israel, came to the land of Israel; and coming to Jerusalem, where the government of the whole province had been, they inquire about the King born and likewise God. Whence, when the oracles of the prophets of the Israelites had been found concerning the same newborn, as to where He should receive His place of birth (Mic. 5:2), the king urging them with crafty speech, they go on eagerly. And having gone out of the city, soon, following the star as guide of the journey, they come to Christ. Concerning this star, however, whether it is to be taken simply as a star, or as an angel, or as the Holy Spirit, although nothing is repugnant to the catholic sense, when each has been discussed, the measure of our small wit will grant to greater judges free will in choosing. For if anyone prefers that it be taken simply as a star, how did it deviate from the other stars in this guiding? Their nature, created from the beginning, is recognized to have been set in the firmament of heaven, as is made manifest by the authority of the book of Genesis (Gen. 1:17). If therefore it remained in the firmament of heaven, how could it become a guide for those walking between Bethlehem and Jerusalem? And if it flew through the air in the manner of an arrow, though with a somewhat slower course on account of those following, it would in the meantime abandon its accustomed place and course in the firmament. This the Scriptures describe as having happened not even to the greater lights, when in signs they either stood still or turned back. Unless perhaps that airy fire which received such a ministry received the name of star on account of likeness, as we have said in many cases. Or if an angel performed this ministry in the guise of a star, what is against it, since angels, when they show themselves to men, transform themselves into many guises? Just as an angel spoke to Moses on Horeb from the bush with a fiery face (Exod. 3:2), and appears to Joshua son of Nun outside the camp in Gilgal like an armed soldier (Josh. 5:13). Angels are fashioned into a chariot and fiery horses at the ascension of Elijah (2 Kgs. 2:11). And when Elisha opened the eyes of his servant, angels are made manifest in the same guises (2 Kgs. 6:17). In the form of guests they presented themselves to the sight of Abraham and Lot (Gen. 18:2; 19:1): and Manoah and his wife saw an angel speaking to them in prophetic guise (Judg. 13:9). Clearly, as with these, on this occasion too an angel becomes the guide of the Magi, who for the astrologers is transformed into the likeness of a star and the brightness of a most brilliant heavenly body. For although it is among the images of things which are told to John in his Apocalypse through a vision, this nevertheless does not go against the understanding: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches (Rev. 1:20). Hence, although in spirit, yet since angels are called stars, what is against it if in this place too the star is perceived to have been called an angel? Or certainly if neither an angel nor a star of the firmament,

Editors' notes and page, col. 2194

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neque alius quispiam ignis haec stella fuisse dignoscitur; Spiritus ergo sanctus stella haec fieri concedatur. Qui sicut postmodum corporali specie columbae descendit super Jesum Dominum in Jordane (Matth. III, 16; Luc. III, 22); sic Gentes adoratrices, stellae specie duxit ad cunabula Domini nascentis in carne. De quo per parabo⟨l⟩am Balaam astrologus loquebatur, Orietur stella ex Jacob (Num. XXIV, 17), rutilum scilicet lumen spiritualis gratiae Christi, qua nox infidelitatis Gentium illuminatur. Sicut ergo in igne super Apostolos postea in coenaculo Sion descendit (Act. II, 3), ita in specie stellae Magos ad Dominum Spiritus sanctus deduxit.

nor is this star recognized to have been any other fire; let it therefore be granted that the Holy Spirit became this star. He, just as He afterwards descended in the bodily form of a dove upon Jesus the Lord in the Jordan (Matt. 3:16; Luke 3:22), so led the worshipping Gentiles, in the form of a star, to the cradle of the Lord being born in the flesh. Of Him Balaam the astrologer spoke in a parable, A star shall rise out of Jacob (Num. 24:17), that is, the shining light of the spiritual grace of Christ, by which the night of the unbelief of the Gentiles is illuminated. As therefore He afterwards descended in fire upon the Apostles in the upper room of Sion (Acts 2:3), so the Holy Spirit led the Magi to the Lord in the form of a star.

CAPUT V. — De baptismate Christi.

Chapter V. — On the baptism of Christ.

Hic igitur puer scientia praeibat aetatem, donec trigesimum annum agens ad Jordanem venit, et ab Joanne, de quo supra diximus, Zachariae filio, qui tunc populum in eum crediturum qui venturus erat, baptizabat, et ipse baptismum Agnus ante suscepit, et confitendum unda Jordanis lavavit. In specie columbae Spiritus sanctus super eum descendit, et Patrem de coelis loquentem de se audivit, Hic est Filius meus dilectus, in quo sibi anima mea complacuit. Cum his signis coelum apertum vidit, et ita baptizatus de fluminis lavacro ascendit (Luc. III, 21, 22). Ad baptismum vero Dominus Jesus exivit, non quod baptismi sacramento et lavacro egeret, qui proprii aut originalis peccati nullam culpam haberet; sed ut aquas, quibus quamvis in delicto Adae Deus non maledixerat, terrae qua continebantur maledicto infectas purgaret. Et ne quisquam Baptismi sacramentum negligeret, dum qui sine peccato fuerat, baptismi aquas inivit. Et ne quisquam ab inferiore baptizari parvi penderet, dum Dominus a servo suo mergi undis baptismi appeteret. Et quatenus adhuc a diabolo, se, donec tentatio perficeretur, occultaret, qui illum velut lavacro indigentem, inter pollutos peccaminibus ablui aquis conspiceret. Spiritum vero sanctum super se in baptismo descendentem vidit, et vocem Patris de coelo se confitentem Filium suum audivit, et coelum coram se apertum conspexit. Non quod ante baptismum suum haec omnia Dei Filius non haberet, sed ut Baptismi sacramentum quid valeat ostenderet. Non enim tunc Spiritum ille coepit accipere, qui eamdem cum Spiritu sancto substantiam creditur habere. Nec tunc illum Pater Filium suum primitus professus est esse, cui dixit, Ex utero ante Luciferum genui te (Psal. CIX, 3): ante videlicet omnem angelicam creaturam, quae Luciferi appellationem per Scripturas saepe tenet. Neque tunc illi aperiri coeperat thalamus coelorum, qui ait, Coelum mihi sedes, terra autem scabellum pedum meorum (Isai. LXVI, 1). Sed idcirco haec omnia sancta Trinitas in baptismo Domini congessit, ut sci⟨r⟩et unusquisque nostrum, quid muneris in sacri Baptismatis mysterio suscipit. Tunc enim Spiritum sanctum quisque peccatorum sordibus ablutus accipit, et a Deo Patre profiteri filius adoptionis gratia incipit, et tunc sibi regni coelorum januam aperiri, et civem coelestis patriae Angelorum sanctorum consors intelligi. Quamvis vero corporali specie Spiritus sanctus super Dominum descendere dicitur, non tamen de avibus sumpsisse columbam, sed ex aere, minime dubitatur. Nequaquam enim ex avibus Spiritum sanctum necesse fuit corpus assumere, dum aves sibi connexae statutam in nullo transgressae sunt legem naturae: sed si in aliquo transgrederentur, in hoc tantum meriti non haberent, utpote nec aeterna, nec rationabilis creatura, ut a Spiritu assumptione carnis a delicti vindicta solveretur. Sed quod Filii persona corpore carnis humanae induebatur, conveniens erat ut Spiritus sancti persona per corporalem speciem super eum descenderet, et Patris vox corporalis de nube per aerem corporis auribus audiretur. Praeterea quoque idcirco in nube et columbae imagine Pater et Spiritus sanctus ad baptismum veniunt, quoniam aquaticae naturae res illae aliquid

This boy, then, went before His age in knowledge, until in His thirtieth year He came to the Jordan, and the Lamb Himself first received baptism from John, of whom we spoke above, the son of Zachary, who was then baptizing the people who would believe in Him who was to come, and He washed in the water of the Jordan that which was to be confessed. The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and He heard the Father speaking of Him from the heavens, This is My beloved Son, in whom My soul is well pleased. With these signs He saw heaven opened, and so, baptized, He came up from the washing of the river (Luke 3:21–22). The Lord Jesus went out to baptism, not because He needed the sacrament and washing of baptism, He who had no guilt of His own or of original sin; but in order to cleanse the waters, which, although God had not cursed them in the transgression of Adam, were infected by the curse of the earth by which they were held. And so that no one should neglect the sacrament of Baptism, since He who had been without sin entered the waters of baptism. And so that no one should think it of little worth to be baptized by an inferior, since the Lord sought to be plunged in the waves of baptism by His servant. And so that He might still hide Himself from the devil until the temptation should be accomplished, [the devil] who would see Him being washed in the waters among those polluted by sins, as though He were in need of washing. He saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Him in baptism, and heard the voice of the Father from heaven acknowledging Him as His Son, and beheld heaven opened before Him. Not that the Son of God did not have all these things before His baptism, but that He might show what the sacrament of Baptism avails. For He did not then begin to receive the Spirit, He who is believed to have the same substance with the Holy Spirit. Nor did the Father then first declare Him to be His Son, to whom He said, From the womb before the daystar I begot Thee (Ps. 109:3): that is, before every angelic creature, which in the Scriptures often bears the name of daystar. Nor did the bridal chamber of the heavens then begin to be opened to Him who says, Heaven is My seat, and the earth the footstool of My feet (Isa. 66:1). But the holy Trinity gathered all these things together at the baptism of the Lord for this reason, that each one of us might know what gift he receives in the mystery of holy Baptism. For then each one, washed from the filth of sins, receives the Holy Spirit, and begins to be declared by God the Father a son by the grace of adoption, and [to understand] that the gate of the kingdom of the heavens is then opened to him, and that he is understood to be a citizen of the heavenly fatherland, a companion of the holy Angels. And although the Holy Spirit is said to descend upon the Lord in bodily form, yet it is not at all doubted that He took the dove not from among birds but from the air. For it was by no means necessary for the Holy Spirit to assume a body from among birds, since birds have in nothing transgressed the law of nature established as bound up with them: but even if they were to transgress in anything, in this they would have no merit, being neither an eternal nor a rational creature, such that by the Spirit's assumption of flesh it should be released from the punishment of the offence. But since the person of the Son was clothed with a body of human flesh, it was fitting that the person of the Holy Spirit should descend upon Him through a bodily form, and that the bodily voice of the Father should be heard from the cloud through the air by the ears of the body. Moreover, the Father and the Holy Spirit come to the baptism in a cloud and in the likeness of a dove for this reason too, that those things had something of watery nature

Editors' notes and page, col. 2195

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: sibi connexae statutam› · call in col 2195

Forte, constitutam.

Perhaps constitutam ("established").

(printed under page 446)

(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot images› · call in col ? (not visible; numeral of the note faint)

Ms. Aud., altiorem.

The Aud. manuscript reads altiorem ("higher").

(printed under page 446)

(2) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot images› · call in col ? (not visible)

Ms. Aud., sacer.

The Aud. manuscript reads sacer ("sacred").

(printed under page 446)

(3) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot images› · call in col ? (not visible)

Mss., errore.

The manuscripts read errore ("by error").

(printed under page 446)

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habuerunt. Dum enim in terra Filius ad baptismi mysterium aquae creaturam elegisset, necesse fuit ut et Pater per aquaticam nubem intonaret, et Spiritus sanctus illud corpus, quod de aqua in principio factum est (Gen. I, 20), ex illa nube acceptum simularet, ut sic tota Trinitas eamdem voluntatem, sicut habet, ostenderet.

For when the Son on earth had chosen the creature of water for the mystery of baptism, it was necessary that the Father too should thunder through a watery cloud, and that the Holy Spirit should take the likeness of that body which was made from water in the beginning (Gen. 1:20), received from that cloud, so that thus the whole Trinity might show the same will, as it has it.

CAPUT VI. — De Christi tentatione et jejunio.

Chapter VI. — On the temptation and fasting of Christ.

Cum ergo de aqua Dominus Jesus baptizatus, confestim ascendit, ut diabolo daret occasionem tentandi, avia deserti petivit, ubi et quadraginta dies, et totidem noctes nullo humani pastus suffragio fultus jejunavit. Ibique per tria tentatus, in quibus primus homo seductus est, tentantem Satanam tribus responsionibus vicit (Matth. IV, 1-11). In diaboli tribus propositionibus tota iniquitas: in Christi vero tribus responsionibus, quibus diabolus repugnatur, tota justitia fuit Cum inimicus damnatur et vincitur, et humano generi libertas et redemptio praeparatur. In hoc namque Satanas dum se supra auctorem elevare voluit, qui sub eo illuc usque fuerat, id est, homo per Domini victoris auxilium ultra ipsum excrevit. Et dum illum qui ab omni impedimento liber fuerat, alligare tentabat, interim vinctus ille, quem ipse tenebat in carcere, quibus tenebatur vincula deponit. Et dum contra se fortiorem repugnare nititur, interim ipse qui erat infirmior, adversus eum roboratur. Et eum qui huc usque de coelo tantum in terram ejectus fuerat, terrore etiam de terra ad inferna eum migrare Dominus jubebat. Quadraginta dierum inediam Domini incarnatio sustinere sine vitae periculo poterat: quoniam sermo dominicus, qui Moysen per aera quadraginta diebus bis renovaverat, hic Christi artus et nervos intus irrigabat. Quare igitur consummatis quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus esurire Dominus Jesus describitur, cum Moyses et Elias tanti temporis per jejunium famem pati non memorantur (Exod. XXIV, 18, et XXXIV, 28; III Reg. XIX, 8)? Famem vero et laborem Redemptor noster consummato tanto dierum numero sustinet, quatenus et tentatori occasionem tentandi inferret, et nosceretur quam veram humanae carnis substantiam gestaret. Unde nec extra humanum opus et in hoc jejunio aliquid egit novi, dum temporis quod prius homines jejunaverunt, spatium non excessit.

So when the Lord Jesus, baptized, at once went up from the water, in order to give the devil an occasion of tempting He made for the trackless places of the desert, where He fasted forty days and as many nights, upheld by no support of human food. And there, tempted through the three things by which the first man was seduced, He overcame the tempting Satan with three replies (Matt. 4:1–11). In the devil's three propositions was the whole of iniquity; but in Christ's three replies, by which the devil is resisted, was the whole of justice. When the enemy is condemned and overcome, both liberty and redemption are prepared for the human race. For in this, while Satan wished to raise himself above his Maker, he who until then had been beneath him, that is, man, through the help of the victorious Lord grew beyond him. And while he was trying to bind Him Who had been free from every hindrance, meanwhile that captive whom he himself was holding in prison lays down the chains by which he was held. And while he strives to fight against one stronger than himself, meanwhile he who was the weaker is strengthened against him. And him who until then had been cast out only from heaven to earth, the Lord by terror commanded to migrate also from the earth to the lower regions. The Lord's incarnate nature could endure a fast of forty days without danger to life, since the Lord's word, which had twice renewed Moses through the air for forty days, here watered Christ's limbs and sinews within. Why then is the Lord Jesus described as hungering when forty days and forty nights were completed, whereas Moses and Elijah are not recorded to have suffered hunger through a fast of so long a time (Exod. 24:18 and 34:28; 1 Kgs. 19:8)? Our Redeemer, however, bears hunger and toil once so great a number of days is completed, so that He might both offer the tempter an occasion of tempting, and it might be known how true a substance of human flesh He bore. Hence in this fast too He did nothing new beyond human work, since He did not exceed the span of time that men had fasted before.

CAPUT VII. — De virtutibus Evangelii usque ad ambulationem super mare.

Chapter VII. — On the mighty works of the Gospel up to the walking on the sea.

Devicto ergo adversario et quadraginta dierum perfecto jejunio, per Judaeam et Galilaeam Israeliticum populum ad viam salutis vocabat, et duodecim primarios sibi milites ex omnibus speciali electionis munere segregabat (Matth. IV, 17 sqq.; Luc. VI, 13-16). Et quatenus de invisae et internae substantiae, animarum videlicet sanitate, faceret fida omnium corda, etiam in servi potestate visibiliter nulla resistente vi languoris curata reddebat corpora. Unde cum praedicans Evangelium regni Dei, Galilaeam circumiret, et promiscuum vulgus varia aegritudine pressum cerneret, quosdam oculorum praesentis defectio lucis laetitia privabat, alios perfusa per totius corporis superficiem lepra foedaverat, nonnullos pedum frustratos habita forma, curavit. In paralytico autem a quatuor viris portato, tria divina opera cernuntur, dum dimittuntur ei peccata, et praesentis aegritudinis plaga verbo tunc solvitur, et cogitationibus more Dei omnia scrutantis respondetur (Matth. IX, 2-6; Marc. II, 3-12). Et in hoc viro ostenditur quosdam propter animae maculas dolore grassari. Quomodo mutus loqui non poterat, cum Verbum Dei Patris responsa ab illo postularet? Qui in ore asinae facundiam reperit, quomodo humanam linguam, quamvis mutam, ad verba non solidaret? Et cum

So, the adversary having been vanquished and the fast of forty days completed, He was calling the Israelite people throughout Judaea and Galilee to the way of salvation, and was setting apart for Himself twelve chief soldiers out of all by the gift of a special election (Matt. 4:17 ff.; Luke 6:13–16). And in order to make the hearts of all confident concerning the health of an unseen and inward substance, namely of souls, He also, in the power of a servant, visibly restored bodies cured, no force of sickness resisting. Hence when, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, He went round Galilee and saw the mixed common people oppressed by various sickness, some of whom the failure of their eyes was depriving of the joy of present light, others whom leprosy spread over the surface of the whole body had disfigured, some deprived of the form of feet they had had, He healed them. In the paralytic carried by four men, however, three divine works are seen: his sins are forgiven him, and the affliction of his present sickness is then loosed by a word, and thoughts are answered after the manner of God Who searches all things (Matt. 9:2–6; Mark 2:3–12). And in this man it is shown that some are ravaged by pain on account of the stains of the soul. How could the dumb man be unable to speak, when the Word of God the Father required answers from him? He Who found eloquence in the mouth of an ass, how would He not strengthen a human tongue, though dumb, for words? And when

Editors' notes and page, col. 2196

Footnotes

(4) ‹anchor: etiam in servi› · call in col 2196

Ms. Aud., inferni

The Aud. manuscript reads inferni ("of the underworld / of hell").

(printed under page 446)

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justitiae lux, quae in mundum venit, appareret, qualiter caecus non videret? Et qua potestate diabolus in homine permaneret, ad quem ejiciendum quomodo illum peccantem de coelo expulerat, Christus veniret? In quinque panibus et duobus piscibus quinque millia saturantibus, continentur miratione digna tria, scilicet materiae paucitas, et populi saturati multitudo, et fragmentorum copia (Matth. XIV, 15, 21).

the light of justice, which came into the world, should appear, how would the blind man not see? And by what power would the devil remain in man, for whose casting out Christ would come, just as He had cast him out of heaven when he sinned? In the five loaves and two fishes satisfying five thousand, three things worthy of wonder are contained, namely the scantiness of the material, and the multitude of the people satisfied, and the abundance of the fragments (Matt. 14:15, 21).

CAPUT VIII. — De ambulante Domino super undas.

Chapter VIII. — On the Lord walking upon the waves.

Dominus de terra discipulos petens, necesse habuit in undis ambulare. Causa hujus Petri fides fuit, id est, ne si solus Christus id egisset, veritatem carnis dubiam relinqueret. Dum autem Petrus filius viri et mulieris hoc faceret, per imperantis Christi auxilium, nullam de carne Virginis filii dubitationem admittit (Matth. XIV, 26, 29). Sed quaeri potest, utrum Domini et Petri corporum levigata natura, ut illa aqua sustineret, an aquae substantia solidata est, ut corpora humana fulcire posset? Quamvis ergo utrumque hoc fieret, non contra naturam, Domino praecipiente, esset, si aut aquam solidaret, aut humanam Domini jussio carnem levigaret; ut militantes in Scytharum oris, ut antiqui ferunt, et super aequorum auribus proludant, natandi arte quoque im⟨b⟩uti, merso medio in profunda vix subeunt. Hominibus ergo illud valentibus, quid mirum si Domino imperante caro levigaretur? praesertim cum resurrectionis corpora in tantum levigabuntur, ut non solum crassa aqua, sed etiam nubibus et aere sustineantur, ut Apostolus ait, Rapiemur ad occurrendum Christo in aera (I Thess. IV, 16). Alter si aquae naturam solidatam esse quisquam elegerit, quoniam aqua terrenam habet crassitudinem, ut cum se gelu perstrinxerit, in duriorem quam terrae ipsius soliditatem, rigeat, et multitudinem sufferre valeat, et postea calida aura resolvat. Vel certe, si liquidas undas non perstrinxerit natura, quae aquis inserta est. ⟨A⟩qua quamvis grandia, et humana, et caeterorum animalium corpora, et naves liburnicas supernatantes sustinere consuescit. Illa soli⟨d⟩itas Domino imperante facta, nec mirum si etiam Petrum diffidentem non sustinet, cum infideles Domino volente etiam terra non sustentabat, ut Dathan et Abiron (Num. XVI, 31).

The Lord, seeking His disciples from the land, had need to walk upon the waves. The cause of this was the faith of Peter, that is, lest, if Christ alone had done it, He should leave the reality of His flesh in doubt. But when Peter, the son of a man and a woman, did this through the help of Christ commanding, he admits no doubt concerning the flesh of the Virgin's Son (Matt. 14:26, 29). But it can be asked whether the nature of the bodies of the Lord and of Peter was lightened, so that that water should bear them up, or whether the substance of the water was made solid, so that it could support human bodies? Although, then, either of these might happen, it would not be against nature, at the Lord's bidding, whether the Lord's command made the water solid or lightened human flesh; just as soldiers on the shores of the Scythians, as the ancients relate, practise even upon the "ears" of the seas, and, being also trained in the art of swimming, with their middle submerged scarcely sink into the depths. Since, then, men are capable of this, what wonder if at the Lord's command flesh was lightened? especially since the bodies of the resurrection will be lightened to such a degree that they will be borne up not only by dense water but even by clouds and air, as the Apostle says, We shall be caught up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4:16). Otherwise, if anyone should choose that the nature of the water was made solid, [it is] because water has an earthy density, so that when frost has bound it, it stiffens into a solidity harder than that of the earth itself, and is able to bear a multitude, and afterwards a warm breeze dissolves it. Or certainly, if the nature which is implanted in waters has not bound the liquid waves, water is accustomed to bear up bodies, however large, both human and those of the other animals, and Liburnian ships floating upon it. That solidity having been brought about at the Lord's command, it is no wonder if it did not bear up Peter when he doubted, since, by the Lord's will, even the earth did not support unbelievers, as with Dathan and Abiram (Num. 16:31).

CAPUT IX. — De caeteris virtutibus Domini nostri Jesu Christi.

Chapter IX. — On the other mighty works of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In naturali rerum administratione binae rationes deprehenduntur. Deinde inferior ratio quotidiana rerum administratio intelligitur, ut de aqua in animalibus sanguis fit, et unda salsa per nubes aut terrae infusionem indulcescit. Et ratio superior inusitata gubernatio fit, quae in miraculis rerum dignoscitur, ut in sanguinem aquam in Aegypto in momento, et intincto ligno in dulcedinem Deus commutavit (Exod. VII, 20, et XV, 25.)

In the natural administration of things two orders are discerned. Then the lower order is understood as the daily administration of things, as when blood is made from water in animals, and salt water becomes sweet through the clouds or through seeping into the earth. And the higher order is an unaccustomed governance, which is recognized in the miracles of things, as when God changed water into blood in Egypt in a moment, and into sweetness by dipping in a piece of wood (Exod. 7:20 and 15:25).

CAPUT X. — De panibus et piscibus saturantibus millia populorum.

Chapter X. — On the loaves and fishes satisfying thousands of people.

Quapropter et panem de parvo semine juxta inferiorem rationem in magnam segetem per longi temporis administrationem innumerabilium hominum pastum procreat; quem secundum superiorem rationem de materia modica in momento per benedictionem multiplicat. Sic et pisces per p⟨r⟩imam benedictionem multiplicat, quando dic⟨t⟩um est, Crescite et multiplicamini, et replete aquas maris. (Gen. I, 22). Quorum nunc carnes per superioris rationis causam, ad turbarum saturitatem praesenti benedictione multiplicantur (Matth. XIV, 19; Joan. VI, 11).

Wherefore He both produces bread from a small seed, according to the lower order, into a great harvest, through an administration over a long time, as food for innumerable men; and this, according to the higher order, He multiplies from a modest amount of material in a moment through a blessing. So too He multiplies fishes through the first blessing, when it was said, Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea (Gen. 1:22). Their flesh is now, by reason of the higher order, multiplied by a present blessing for the satisfying of the crowds (Matt. 14:19; John 6:11).

CAPUT XI. — De visione Domini in monte cum Moyse et Elia colloquentibus.

Chapter XI. — On the vision of the Lord on the mountain with Moses and Elijah conversing.

Licet in hac ostensione (Matth. XVII, 2, sqq.). Domini facies solari splendore fulserit, non tamen ipsa caro splenduit, sed divinitas latens in corpore, luminis sui portiunculam conspiciendam foris videntibus, quantum poterant, concessit. Unde ergo vestimenta

Although in this showing (Matt. 17:2 ff.) the Lord's face shone with the splendour of the sun, yet the flesh itself did not shine, but the divinity hidden in the body granted to those seeing from without a small portion of its light to be beheld, as far as they were able. Whence then the garments

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Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot images› · call in col ? (not visible)

Forte, littoribus.

Perhaps littoribus ("on the shores").

(printed under page 447)

(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot images› · call in col ? (not visible; numeral of the note faint)

Ms. Aud., speretur.

The Aud. manuscript reads speretur ("be hoped for").

(printed under page 447)

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candorem nivis habuerunt, dum neque de carne, neque de divinitate erant? Nisi forte ut per carnem divinitas foris illuxit, sic et caro illuminata de divinitate, per vestimenta radiavit. Moyses autem et Elias specialiter ad talem ostensionem, vel ut Legis et Prophetiae principes ad finem conducuntur, vel ideo ut Moysi cornuta facies, in quam non poterant filii Israel intendere (Exod. XXXIV, 35; II Cor. III, 13), et Elias curru igneo raptus (IV Reg. II, 11), comparato Christo obscurarentur. Et cum isti quadraginta dies jejunasse Scripturae vocibus memorantur; de Jesu tantum Domino his praesentibus, Patris se illis pronuntiantis testimonium. Sed dum Elias manens adhuc in corpore vel ad talem conductionem venerat, quid de Moyse dicendum est? utrum in corpore iterum ad hanc ostensionem aderat; an ex aere simulatum, sicut Samuel visus est, habitum fingebat? Et si suo corpore indutus venit, si hac vice resurrectionem suam, quae caeteris nonnisi in novissimo est futura, complevit? De qua quaestione auctores una eademque sententia prolata non differenter dicunt, quod dum Dominus cum tribus discipulis suis, et Elias, non cum imaginatis sed veris corporibus convenisse non dubitantur, et ipse Moyses in suo vero corpore de sepulcro resumpto videtur. Sed si Dominus Jesus, primogenitus mortuorum recte creditur (Apoc. I, 5), Moysi iterum post hanc visionem corpus sepulturae commendatur, ut ipsum in novissimo die, quando resurgent mortui, assumere possit.

had the whiteness of snow, while they were neither of flesh nor of divinity? Unless perhaps, just as the divinity shone outwardly through the flesh, so also the flesh, illuminated by the divinity, radiated through the garments. Moses and Elijah, moreover, are brought specially to such a showing, either because, as the chief figures of the Law and of Prophecy, they are brought to the end, or so that the horned face of Moses, on which the children of Israel could not fix their gaze (Exod. 34:35; 2 Cor. 3:13), and Elijah, snatched away in a fiery chariot (2 Kgs. 2:11), might be obscured when compared with Christ. And whereas these two are recorded by the words of Scripture to have fasted forty days, concerning the Lord Jesus alone, in their presence, [there was] the testimony of the Father declaring Himself to them. But while Elijah, still remaining in the body, had come to such a gathering, what is to be said of Moses? Was he present again in the body for this showing, or did he put on an appearance simulated out of air, as Samuel was seen? And if he came clothed in his own body, did he on this occasion accomplish his resurrection, which for the rest will be only at the very end? Concerning this question the authors, putting forward one and the same opinion, say without difference that, since it is not doubted that the Lord with His three disciples, and Elijah, met together not with imagined but with true bodies, Moses himself too is seen in his own true body taken up again from the tomb. But if the Lord Jesus is rightly believed to be the firstborn of the dead (Rev. 1:5), the body of Moses is again committed to burial after this vision, so that he may be able to take it up on the last day, when the dead shall rise.

CAPUT XII. — De Lazaro et caeteris resuscitatis mortuis.

Chapter XII. — On Lazarus and the other dead who were raised.

Immobili ergo voluntate Deus universorum vitas certo fini et termino praeordinavit: quorumdam igitur vita, non ut moriantur, morte interfici videtur, sed ut per hoc qui eos resuscitant, clariores, utpote Deo chari, hominibus etiam habeantur. Unde de ipso Lazaro discipulis a Domino dicitur, Haec infirmitas non est ad mortem, sed ut Filius hominis per eam clarificetur. Ecce hoc dicto Lazarus cito moritur: sed tamen per Filium Dei, qui in eo clarificatur, quarto die resuscitatur (Joan. XI, 4, 44). Quod non spatium vitae ejus posuit; sed quod sine mutatione Dominus disposuit facere, saepe retrahere simulat, ut partum uxoribus Abraham et Isaac distulit, ut gratius foret. Et Dominus occasiones praestat, ut quod ipse alicui donare cupit, indulgere rogetur. Si etenim ea quae non disposuit, aliquis sanctorum rogaverit, nullo modo fieri permittit: ut quod Moyses terram repromissionis ingrederetur (Deut. XXXIV, 4); et Paulus ut ab eo angelus Satanae recederet (II Cor. XII, 8, 9), et petentes non impetraverunt. De omnibus ergo generaliter mortuis tale quid sentitur, quod ideo prima vice moriuntur, ut per illos digni clarificentur. In his enim octo mortuis, quos divina Scriptura Veteris et Novi Testamenti resuscitatos commemorat, hoc considerandum est, quod de eorum primo, id est, filio viduae, quem Elias suscitaverat ita refertur: Revertatur, obsecro, anima pueri (III Reg. XVII, 19). De novissimo, id est, de Eutycho in Actibus Apostolorum: Et sublatus repertus est mortuus. Ad quem cum descendisset Paulus, incubuit super eum, et complexus, dixit, Nolite turbari, anima enim ejus in eo est (Act. XX, 9, 10). Caute utrumque intelligendum est, quod viduae filius mortuus est, atque anima ejus reverti a Propheta postulatur: alter vero mortuus est, at in eo ejus esse animam Paulus dixit. In utroque namque Scriptura vera est, quia mentiri non potest. Sed qua ratione recipi potest, ut in membris occultari corporis posset mortui anima? Nisi forte anima, quae incorporalis est, corpori inesse occulte creditur. Sed quidam intelligendi laborem vitantes, dicunt de Eutycho, quod emittens animam ita mortuus est, ut post modicum intervallum anima revertente Paulum

Therefore God, by an immovable will, has preordained the lives of all to a fixed end and limit; the life of certain people, then, is seen to be cut off by death not so that they may die, but so that through this those who raise them up may be held more illustrious among men also, as being dear to God. Hence it is said by the Lord to the disciples concerning Lazarus himself, This sickness is not unto death, but that the Son of man may be glorified through it. Behold, after this was said Lazarus quickly dies: but nevertheless through the Son of God, Who is glorified in him, he is raised on the fourth day (John 11:4, 44). This did not set the span of his life; but what the Lord has arranged to do without change, He often pretends to hold back, as He delayed childbirth for the wives of Abraham and Isaac, so that it might be the more welcome. And the Lord provides occasions, so that what He Himself desires to give to someone He may be asked to grant. For if any of the saints asks for things that He has not arranged, He in no way allows them to come about: as that Moses should enter the land of promise (Deut. 34:4), and Paul that the angel of Satan should depart from him (2 Cor. 12:8–9), and though they asked they did not obtain it. Concerning all the dead in general, therefore, something of this kind is held: that they die the first time for this reason, that through them the worthy may be glorified. For in these eight dead, whom the divine Scripture of the Old and New Testament records as raised, this is to be considered: that concerning the first of them, that is, the widow's son, whom Elijah had raised, it is related thus: Let the soul of the boy return, I beseech Thee (1 Kgs. 17:19). Concerning the last, that is, concerning Eutychus in the Acts of the Apostles: And he was taken up and found dead. And when Paul had gone down to him, he lay upon him, and embracing him, said, Do not be troubled, for his soul is in him (Acts 20:9–10). Each must be understood carefully: that the widow's son was dead, and his soul is asked by the Prophet to return; but the other was dead, and yet Paul said that his soul was in him. For in both Scripture is true, since it cannot lie. But on what reasoning can it be accepted that the soul of a dead man could be hidden in the members of the body? Unless perhaps the soul, which is incorporeal, is believed to be hiddenly present in the body. But some, avoiding the labour of understanding, say of Eutychus that he died by sending forth his soul in such a way that after a short interval, the soul having returned, they think that Paul

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dixisse putent, Anima illius in eo ⟨e⟩st. Sed tamen Scriptura tacet, si egressa est aut reversa anima. Caeteri vero sex mortui, quibus nec egressae animae, nec reversae nuntiantur, sine ulla hic ambiguitate praestant quod mortui sint, et divina operatione resuscitati sint.

said, His soul is in him. But nevertheless Scripture is silent as to whether the soul went out or returned. The other six dead, however, of whom neither a departing nor a returning soul is reported, show here without any ambiguity that they were dead and were raised by divine operation.

CAPUT XIII. — De solis eclipsi in passione Domini.

Chapter XIII. — On the eclipse of the sun at the Passion of the Lord.

Solis defectio juxta carnem, non ut solet, quando luna accenditur, facta erat; sed in plena luna, scilicet quinta decima die mensis, ne casu putaretur fuisse, quod evenerat: et tantum lucem solis media die tenebrae obscuraverunt, ut per tres illas horas defectionis, stellae in coelo visae sint (Luc. XXIII, 44, 45).

The failing of the sun at [His death] in the flesh had taken place not as it usually does, when the moon is kindled, but at the full moon, that is, on the fifteenth day of the month, so that what had happened might not be thought to have been by chance: and darkness so obscured the light of the sun at midday that through those three hours of the failing, stars were seen in the sky (Luke 23:44–45).

CAPUT XIV. — De corporibus sanctorum venientibus de monumentis suis post resurrectionem Domini.

Chapter XIV. — On the bodies of the saints coming out of their tombs after the resurrection of the Lord.

Sancti venerunt de monumentis suis post resurrectionem Domini (Matth. XXVII, 52, 53): sed rursum in monumenta, quomodo et de Moyse memini, redintrarunt; ubi resurrectionem omnium novissimam exspectant, ut Apostolus ait: Hi omnes testimonio fidei probati inventi sunt, non acceperunt repromissionem a Deo pro nobis melius aliquid providente, uti ne sine nobis consummarentur (Hebr. XI, 39, 40). Si igitur isti et Moyses bis resurgere, in hac ostensione utique, et in novissima cunctorum resurrectione, credendi sunt, dum semel mortem sibi inditam Adae delicto gustaverunt? Sed hoc absit a catholica fide ut semel morientem bis credat quis resurgere. Nisi forte bis mori Moysen et istos aliquis dicat. Sed nusquam de his scribitur, qui sic apparuerunt, resurrexisse; sed aut vivere, aut apparuisse, vel de sepulcris exisse. Nomen autem resurrectionis in iis, qui post mortem in vita hac conversati sunt, aut in Domini solius, aut in futura omnium resurrectione ponitur. Talis autem apparitio istorum, nec ad vitam humanam, neque ad resurrectionem futuram pertinet; sed ad confirmationem dominicae resurrectionis, et ad credulitatem resurrectionis animarum ex inferis, talis apparitio animos movet. Sicut in resuscitatis mortuis similitudo tantum, non mors continua fieri

The saints came out of their tombs after the resurrection of the Lord (Matt. 27:52–53); but they went back again into the tombs, as I have also recalled concerning Moses, where they await the last resurrection of all, as the Apostle says: All these were found approved by the testimony of faith; they did not receive the promise, God providing something better for us, so that they should not be made perfect without us (Heb. 11:39–40). Are these men and Moses, then, to be believed to rise twice, namely in this showing and in the last resurrection of all, when they tasted only once the death laid upon them through the sin of Adam? But far be it from the catholic faith that anyone should believe that one who dies once rises twice. Unless perhaps someone should say that Moses and these men die twice. But nowhere is it written of these, who appeared in this way, that they rose again; but rather that they live, or appeared, or came out of the sepulchres. The name of resurrection, however, in the case of those who after death have lived in this life, is applied either to that of the Lord alone or to the future resurrection of all. Such an appearance of these men, then, belongs neither to human life nor to the future resurrection; but such an appearance moves minds to the confirmation of the Lord's resurrection and to belief in the resurrection of souls from the underworld. Just as in the dead who were raised only a likeness, not a continuing death, to be made

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cernitur; ita et in his similitudo resurrectionis, non ipsa resurrectio ostendebatur. De continua enim morte nullus ad vitam indeciduam, nisi Dominus, usque ad novissimum diem revertitur; et a vera resurrectione nunquam in mortem iterum aliquis retrudetur.

is discerned; so also in these a likeness of the resurrection, not the resurrection itself, was being shown. For from continual death no one, save the Lord, returns to unfailing life before the last day; and from the true resurrection no one will ever be thrust back into death again.

CAPUT XV. — De cibo Domini post resurrectionem.

Chapter XV. — On the Lord's food after the resurrection.

Hunc autem carnalem cibum qualiter resurrectionis caro susceperit, docti requirunt, dum resurrectura corpora spiritualia esse cuncti fideles sciunt, ut dicitur, Resurget corpus spirituale (I Cor. XV, 44). Quapropter resurgent corpora non gustatura, sano sensu creditur possibilitatem edendi cibos, si necesse foret, habitura. Haec Dei exempla minime denegant, ut Angeli juxta ilicem Mambre (Gen. XVIII, 8, 9). Sed hoc non ut nos ruminatos cibos stomacho et intestinis conferunt, sed statim ut accepta, velut videntur, degustent, in spiritualem naturam, non ex parte, sed tota transformant.

But the learned ask how the flesh of the resurrection took this carnal food, since all the faithful know that the bodies which are to rise will be spiritual, as it is said, It shall rise a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44). Wherefore it is believed, with sound sense, that the bodies which rise, though they will not taste food, will have the possibility of eating food, if it were necessary. The examples of God by no means deny this, as the angels by the holm-oak of Mamre (Gen. 18:8, 9). But they do not, as we do, convey chewed food to stomach and intestines; rather, as soon as they have received it, as they seem to taste it, they transform it into a spiritual nature, not in part, but wholly.

CAPUT XVI. — Petrus paralyticum restituit.

Chapter XVI. — Peter restores the paralytic.

Convenientia de Spiritu sancto in columba super Christum, et in igne super Apostolos perscripta sunt, et quando diximus de divisione linguarum et de virtutibus Apostolorum post acceptum Spiritum, in excusatione eleemosynae et paupertatis professione, quando Petrus paralytico dixit, Surge et ambula (Act. III, 6), Magistri praeceptum servans: Nolite habere aurum, neque argentum (Matth. X, 9), dum soli Deo serviens de iniquo mammona expeditus fuerat, verbo imperii morbo ligatum cito solvebat.

The things that agree concerning the Holy Spirit, in the dove upon Christ and in the fire upon the apostles, have been written out, and also when we spoke of the division of tongues and of the mighty works of the apostles after the Spirit was received, in their declining of alms and profession of poverty: when Peter said to the paralytic, Rise and walk (Acts 3:6), keeping the Master's precept, Do not have gold, nor silver (Matt. 10:9), since, serving God alone, he had been set free from the unrighteous mammon, by a word of command he swiftly loosed the man bound by disease.

CAPUT XVII. — Virtus Petri.

Chapter XVII. — The power of Peter.

Ecce quanta est apostolica virtus in Christo, sanum Ananiam dum Petrus arguit per sermonis tantum imperium, morte ligavit (Act. V, 4, 5); et Tabitham mortis vinculo ligatam, eadem imperii potestate dissolvit (Id. IX, 40). Ideoque prius Ananias et Saphira in conspectu Ecclesiae cito mortui sunt, ut apostolica auctoritas quanta esset ostenderetur; et quam magnum peccatum esset, quod oblatum est iterum ab Ecclesia retrahere, monstraretur, et caeteri exemplo hujus castigarentur.

Behold how great is the apostolic power in Christ: when Peter rebuked Ananias, a healthy man, he bound him with death by the command of speech alone (Acts 5:4, 5); and Tabitha, bound with the chain of death, he loosed by the same power of command (Acts 9:40). And therefore Ananias and Sapphira were the first to die swiftly in the sight of the Church, so that it might be shown how great the apostolic authority was, and that it might be made plain how great a sin it was to take back again from the Church what had been offered, and that the rest might be chastened by this example.

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