כXI. Littera CAPH
Sermon 11 · Ps 118:81–88 · CSEL 62, pp. 232–252
XI. LITTERA CAPH.
1. Incipit littera undecima 'Caph', quae Latina interpretatione significat 'curuati sunt'. sonus interpretationis ipse nos docet quid sit curuari; qui enim inclinatur in terram, curuari uidetur. unde ait propheta sub hac littera: paulo minus consummauerunt me in terra.1 curuatur autem qui agit paenitentiam, eo quod ceruicem suam curuat, dum humiliatur ad dominum, et interiorem magis ceruicem, id est ceruicem mentis et cordis. nam de hac ceruice dictum est: nec si flectas ut circulum collum tuum;2 qui enim cor suum non flectit, frustra ceruicem suam flexerit.
2. Docet etiam Hieremias propheta humilitatem hac interpretatione signari; ait enim sub hac littera in Threnis: quia non repellet in aeternum dominus, quia cum humiliauerit miserebitur secundum multitudinem misericordiae suae, quia non humiliauit toto corde suo neque reppulit filios hominum.3 bonum ergo curuari, ut humiliemur domino et dominus misereatur. denique et in superioribus sub hac littera idem Hieremias propheta ostendens gemitus et humilitatem plebis ait: omnis populus eius ingemescentes, quaerentes panem, dederunt desideria sua in escam, ut reficiant animam. uide, domine, et aspice, quia facta est sine honore.4 ergo qui animae suae quaerit refectionem, humilitate curuetur, quo possit citius ad domini peruenire misericordiam.
3. Ideoque, tamquam curuatus multo amplius anima ac mente quam corpore, exorsus est Dauid dicens: defecit in salutare tuum anima mea, et in uerbum tuum spero.5 non usitatus sermo nos capiat, ut tamquam corporeae fatigationis defectionem huiusmodi iudicemus. neque enim hoc solum dixit: defecit anima mea, sed: defecit in salutare tuum. itaque ut de usu capiamus exemplum, si uerbi gratia dicamus: 'defecit ille in illam', uidetur exprimi hoc uerbo, quod totus in mulieris desiderium cupiditate transierit. et quicquid est quod uehementer expetimus, nisi eius maturiorem habeamus effectum, id nos uidetur longa quadam intentione lassare. amor inpatiens die noctuque meretricias fores pulsans, si diutius potiendi desideria differantur, ipsa deficit expectatione, dum sperat; in quo utique non finis amoris, sed incrementum est. et quicquid est desiderabile, si non contingat desideranti, deficit in illud et quasi ipsam deponit animam qui desiderat. si tamen spes propior adsurgat, dat uires spes proxima. si autem absentia sit dilecti, eo ipso quod absentem desiderat qui concupiuit animae suae patitur defectionem. itaque quanto longius est illud quod desideratur, tanto magis deficit qui desiderat. id est ergo deficere, in id unumquemque totis studiis migrare quod diligat. illud cogitat, illi adhaeret, illud personat quod receperit diligendum, in id quadam animae defectione transfunditur, ut si mater filii expectet praesentiam, quemadmodum expectabat Tobiae uxor filium peregrinantem deficiens a desiderio et in angustiis constituta et tamquam resoluta uiribus.6 quid enim aliud nisi defectum quendam eius uerba significant? sed quo magis lassatur affectus, eo amplius amor crescit et, quo diutius abest qui desideratur, eo expectantis desideria maiore quadam ui amoris ignescunt. caro deficit, sed cupiditas alitur et augetur.
4. Hinc ergo colligere possumus quid sit: defecit in salutare tuum anima mea.7 etenim spiritui adhaerens anima deficit ab eo quod est anima et fit unus spiritus, quoniam qui adhaeret domino unus spiritus est.8 itaque sanctus et timens dominum nescit aliud desiderare nisi salutare dei, quod est Christus Iesus.9 illum concupiscit, illum desiderat, in illum totis intendit uiribus, illum gremio mentis fouet,10 illi se aperit et effundit et hoc solum ueretur, ne illum possit amittere. itaque quanto maiore desiderio exercitata fuerit anima cupiens adhaerere salutari suo, tanto magis deficit. ergo ista defectio inminutionem quidem fragilitatis, sed adsumptionem uirtutis operatur. denique ipse alibi dicens: sitiuit in te anima mea11 subiecit infra: adhaesit post te anima mea, me suscepit dextera tua.12 qui enim sitit, cupit semper adhaerere fonti nec aliud nisi aquam sibi expetere et contingere uidetur, ut ipso pascatur affectu. suscipiens ergo dextera ⟨tua⟩ animam meam et de sua uirtute mihi inpertiens facit eam esse quod non erat, ut dicat: uiuo autem iam non ego, uiuit autem in me Christus.13 disce autem etiam exemplo defectionem istam nimiae esse cupiditatis: concupiscit, inquit, et deficit anima mea in atria domini.14 ante concupiscens, inquit, et quasi totam se effundens in concupiscentiam longo fine suspensa defectione dissoluitur. denique quomodo deficiat anima in salutare dei, Hieremias docet: et factum est, inquit, in corde meo ut ignis ardens flammans in ossibus meis, et dissolutus sum undique et ferre non possum.15 hoc igitur inflammatus desiderio ait Dauid: defecit in salutare tuum anima mea, et in uerbum tuum speraui.16
5. Recte 'speraui' dixit 'in uerbum'; ante enim spes praecedit et ideo sequitur defectio. sperauit autem in uerbum quod praedicatum est esse uenturum, quod potest intellegi de deo uerbo. aut certe in uerbum sperauit qui uerbo caelesti credidit, quo domini nostri Iesu Christi adnuntiatur aduentus uel quo eius gloria declaratur. ergo propheta considerans quae legerat et cernens quod, cum adesset corpori uelut quibusdam ligatus huius uinculis uitae, aberat a salutare dei, concupiscebat desiderabat deficiebat et toto dissoluebatur affectu, ut totus illius fieret quod desiderabat, sicut etiam ipse in posterioribus dicit: effundo in conspectu eius orationem meam, tribulationem meam ante ipsum pronuntio in deficiendo ex me spiritum meum.17 deficit enim eius spiritus, immo ab eo deficit spiritus suus qui se ipsum negat, ut adhaereat Christo. unde semitae eius cognoscuntur a domino, quia non sunt carnis, sed Christi semitae.
6. Etenim requirentium deum uia Christus est. et nos igitur illud concupiscamus aeternum, illud salutare dei; non concupiscamus pecuniam quam auarissimi concupiscunt, non concupiscamus alienae uxoris decorem, non ambitionis exagitemur desiderio, non saeculari intendamus gloriae, non fallacis circumscriptionis studiis occupemur, non proximum circumuenire iniquitate cupiamus, non postremo partes uulpium simus in terrenae uoluptatis interiora demersi tamquam exules aeternorum et de illa supernae spei praesumptione deiecti. adtollatur igitur anima nostra deficiens suis uiribus, ut adhaereat salutari dei qui est Christus dominus Iesus, quod interpretatione dicitur 'domini salus'. ipse est enim salus, ueritas, uirtus atque sapientia. qui igitur deficit sibi, ut uirtuti adhaereat, amittit quod suum est, accipit quod aeternum est.
7. Sequitur uersus secundus: defecerunt oculi mei in eloquium tuum dicentes: quando consolaberis me?18 supra πρακτικόν, hic θεωρητικόν. ibi in salutare defecit anima, eo quod concupiscit eum cuius passione seruata est, hic in uerbum dei prophetae oculi defecerunt. et uideamus ne, quemadmodum illic adhaerens Christo animo deficit in unum spiritum et fit unus spiritus, ita et deficiant oculi, ut fiat una mens. oculi enim mentis isti sunt, oculi scilicet interioris hominis, non hi oculi qui ministerio funguntur obtutus. est enim oculus et mens carnis, sed ille caecus est oculus, qui non uidet quae diuina sunt, qui frustra mente carnis inflatus est. est et alius, sensus Christi, quo ecclesia uidet Christum, sicut ipse dicit ad sponsam: corde nos cepisti uno ab oculis tuis.19 merito uno oculo Christus uidetur, quia non uidetur oculo carnali aut quia duos oculos habens ecclesia, moralem et mysticum, fidei oculo plus uidet Christum; mysticus enim oculus acutior est, moralis dulcior.
8. Et fortasse isti oculi sunt quibus Paulus uidebat aeterna, ubi coepit corporalia non uidere. denique qui Christum non uidebat, priusquam oculos amitteret, uidit eum, posteaquam uisum amisit oculorum. uidit enim qui dixit: quis es, domine?20 — uidebat utique Christum quem etiam dominum fatebatur — et infra: domine, inquit, quid me uis facere?21 non ergo uidebat eum cuius expectabat imperium? quibus igitur oculis uidere Paulus plus coepit nisi his, quos nobis ipse monstrauit dicens: orabo spiritu, orabo et mente?22 denique ut scias quia uidit orando, factum est, inquit, reuertenti mihi in Hierusalem, cum orarem in templo, pauorem habui, uidi illum dicentem mihi: festina et exi citius de Hierusalem; non enim recipiunt testimonium tuum de me.23 isti ergo oculi in uerbum dei deficiunt et dicunt: quando consolaberis me?24 istis oculis prophetae dicebantur 'uidentes', quia per reuelationem ea, quae erant abscondita, mente cernebant.
9. Quid est oculos deficere? de corporalibus dicamus, ut intellegamus de spiritalibus. nonne, quando aliquem desideramus et speramus adfore, eo dirigimus oculos, unde speramus esse uenturum? itaque intenti diu cotidiana expectatione deficimus. sic Anna circumspiciens in uiam sollicitis aduentum filii explorabat excubiis. sic Dauid propheta currentem de proelio positis in turre exploratoribus interrogare de salute filii pater sedulus gestiebat. sic tenerae uxor aetatis de specula litorali indefessa expectatione uiri praestolatur aduentum, ut, quamcumque nauem uiderit, illic putet coniugem nauigare metuatque, ne uidendi gratiam dilecti alius anteuertat nec ipsa possit prima dicere: 'uideo te, marite', sicut Anna dicebat ad filium: uideo te, fili, amodo libenter moriar,25 mortis uidelicet dolorem exoptati conspectus suauitate non sentiens. ergo ut illa, quae aduenienti uiro se optat offerre, ablegatis omnibus domesticis occupationibus semitas uiantis aut pedum uestigia legit, sic propheta curis exutus saecularibus interiorum oculorum in uerbum dei peruigil custos usque ad defectionem sui intendebat obtutus, corpus suum redigens seruituti et animam suam ad humilitatis patientiam araneae modo tabescentis erudiens. desiderabat enim sicut ceruus fontes aquarum et sitiebat in dominum deum suum, cupiens eius uidere praesentiam et apparere ante faciem dei nimioque desiderio et uehementi cupiditate deficiens tunc se habiliorem his quae de domino poposcerit inpetrandis prophetica gratia praesumebat. et nos igitur intendamus cor nostrum, ut possimus intellegere series scripturarum, et uerbum nobis uenire a domino postulemus atque intellectum dari. si quis de longinquo uerbum dei obtutu mentis aspexerit nondum planum atque distinctum, is uelut quibusdam oculis interioribus uerbi nauigium adpropinquare animae suae cernit. quo autem expressius uidere coeperit, eo magis quasi ad portum ueritatis festinat accedere, ut sit proximus inuehendae.
10. Defecerunt ergo oculi prophetae in uerbum dei dicentes: quando consolaberis me?26 si oculi isti significati sunt, quibus cernimus et uidemus, dicere debuerunt: 'quando consolaberis nos?', hoc est non singulariter, sed pluraliter. sed quia oculus mentis et oculus carnis unus oculus fiunt et tunc homo consolatione fulcitur, cum caro et mens diuersa non cupiunt, sed unum desiderant, unum requirunt, ideo intenti ad eum, qui ait: ego et pater unum sumus,27 isti quoque oculi unum esse se confitentur, quia uno atque eodem desiderio officioque funguntur.
11. Deficiebat ergo in uerbum propheta. nos autem otiosos nos putamus, si uerbo tantummodo studere uideamur, et pluris aestimamus eos, qui operantur, quam eos, qui studium cognoscendae diuinitatis exercent. dicunt enim plerique: 'ecce homo et opera eius', quasi qui uerbo studeat non operetur, cum magis opus istud quam cetera sint. si enim opus iustitia est, si opus temperantia, si opus fortitudo, utique opus est etiam sapientia; istae enim quattuor principales uirtutes habentur. nam si operatur Christus secundum quod iustitia est, utique operatur secundum quod uerbum est et operabatur, cum esset in principio apud patrem.28 denique per ipsum omnia facta sunt,29 et scias operatorem omnium esse et opus nostrum esse Christum Iesum. etenim secundum quod uerbum est, uerbum inquirentibus, grande opus uerbum est. unde cum Martha festinaret circa ministerium, Maria autem uerbum domini audiret, ea quae audiebat ei quae ministrabat meruit anteferri. dicenti enim Marthae: domine, non est tibi curae quod soror mea reliquit me solam ministrare? dic ergo illi ut me adiuuet,30 respondens dixit dominus: Martha, Martha, Maria bonam partem elegit, quae non auferetur illi.31 ita uerbum cognoscere maius opus esse quam ministrare diuinae auctoritate sententiae definitur.
12. Sed fortasse dicat aliquis dictum esse ab apostolo, quia non in sermone regnum est dei sed in uirtute.32 scriptum non nego, sed in quo sermone, cognosce: nempe quem inflatus effuderit, qui audientibus sermo prodesse non possit, qui sine ostensione sit spiritus atque uirtutis, hunc sermonem Paulus non dignatur cognoscere; uult enim magis uirtutem sermonis agnoscere. denique nolebat talem suum apostolus esse sermonem, qui in infirmitate ueniebat,33 ut alios faceret fortiores, in timore et tremore, ut timentes nihil metuerent nisi dominum Iesum, trementes pacem eius tranquillitatemque seruarent. audi ergo, qualem apostolus sermonem habebat: et sermo, inquit, meus et praedicatio mea non in persuasione sapientiae uerborum, sed in ostensione spiritus et uirtutis,34 quia fides non forensi sermone sapientiae, sed dei uirtute firmatur. ergo in sermone sanctorum uirtus est, in sermone autem forensi isto ac philosophico uanitas mundi. uirtutem autem esse in sermone sanctorum etiam iste propheta te doceat, qui ait: dominus dabit uerbum euangelizantibus uirtute multa,35 hoc est ut multa possint uirtute euangelium praedicare. probatum est ergo, quod in euangelii praedicatione sit uirtus; praedicatio autem euangelii sermo sanctorum est. ita dubium non residet, quia in sancto sermone sit uirtus.
13. Sequitur uersus tertius: quoniam factus sum sicut uter in gelicidio; iustificationes tuas non sum oblitus.36 uox ista uox iusti est qui mortificauerit suum corpus. recte enim uter dicitur iustus, qui expoliatus, non nudus inueniatur; uter namque de exuuiis fit animantis mortui. igitur et nos peccato moriamur, ut uiuamus deo. repleti spiritus iucunditate et suauitate laetitiae erimus exuuiae spiritales, carentes infirmitate corporea et integro mentis sinu infusam nobis diuinorum mysteriorum gratiam reseruantes. de his utribus dicitur, quia uinum nouum in utres nouos mittunt37 qui uolunt utrumque seruare, et corpus et gratiam. non effluat igitur tuus hic uter, non rimosus sit, non terreno inueterascat situ, ne uinum nouum ueteres utres rumpat, scindantur utres, fundatur gratia.38 non iterum sole iniquitatis et nimia ui caloris arescant, sed feruentium uiscerum cupiditates diuersae niuali quodam frigore temperentur. frigescat aestus libidinis et quodam continentiae gelu ieiuniorumque restrictus matutina oratione perfletur, quando sicut ros ita super terram nostram dei uerba descendunt, sicut imber super gramen et sicut nix super faenum.39 nescit utrem bonum ista nix laedere, nix quae diuini splendore fulget eloquii. nix haec refrigerat, non adurit, fecundat sata, non internecat. nix haec praeceptio continentiae est, quae calorem facit frigere corporeum et omnem naturae interioris restinguit ardorem. et forte ideo cum Iesus resurrectionis suae demonstraret gloriam, uestimenta eius erant candida sicut nix,40 ut non solum ipse alienus aestimaretur contagione peccati, uerum etiam quicumque resuscitatur congelatis coniugii cupiditatibus resurgere frigidus uideretur; in resurrectione enim neque nubunt neque uxores ducunt, sed erunt sicut angeli in caelo.41 boni ergo utres frigidi, hoc est in gelicidio constricti pruinis, non libidinis calore resoluti.
14. Utrem autem corpus hoc dici licet ex pluribus locis, tamen etiam inde intellege, quod Adam et Eua, ubi imaginem deposuere caelestis quam ante portabant, imaginem terreni hominis induentes tunicas dicti sunt uestiti esse pellicias;42 corporales enim eos de spiritalibus fecerat culpa commissa. nec illud absurdum ad intellegendum, quod ita se dicat factum Dauid sicut utrem in gelicidio, eo quod in asperitate licet positus glaciali mortificauerit tamen corpus suum, ne sentiret hiemis illius asperitatem quam saluator dicit grauem futuram esse fugientibus.43 sicut enim glaciem non sentit uter, quia pellis est mortui, ita mortuus peccato propheta frigus peccati sentire non poterat, uel certe quod non frangatur necessitatibus nec resistat caro menti, sed mollior ductu animae se inflectat imperiis et in hoc mundi gelicidio non arescat, uel quia corpus adflictionis sumus et mortem domini Iesu semper in nostro corpore circumferre debemus. hic est uter qui castigat corpus suum,44 non ut ille incrassatus et obesus populus, qui sedit manducare et bibere, et surrexerunt ludere,45 hic est uter qui inebriat non uino, sed spiritu, in quo non botryo amaritudinis, non draconum furor, non furor aspidum,46 sed poculum inebrians quam praeclarum.47 in hoc ergo gloriatur Dauid, quia factus est sicut uter in gelicidio,48 operationem peccati non sentiens.
15. Et bene peccatum gelicidio conparatur. sicut enim gelicidium ad nullum usum utile est, ad nullam operationem, sic culpa nulli prodest usui, nulli operationi, et ideo sicut gelicidium declinanda est, ne noceat et adurat. bonum ergo mihi fieri sicut utrem in gelicidio, ut possim non obliuisci iustificationes domini, ut earum liquore perfusus refrigeret omnis feruor internae cupiditatis. non ergo uacuum, sed plenum hunc utrem esse oportet, plenum spiritus, plenum iustificationum, ut peccata mea ipse confitear, ut luxuriam carnis meae conprimam; moriendum est enim mundo, ut uiuamus deo. si autem uiuamus carni, mors utique est carnis prudentia; uiuere non possumus deo, quia inimica deo carnalis ista sapientia49 et uita est saecularis.
16. Sequitur uersus quartus: quot sunt dies serui tui? quando facies mihi de persequentibus me iudicium?50 potest sic accipi: quot sunt dies serui tui?,51 quasi dicat: 'quanti sunt dies humani, quantum tempus, quantum spatium? cur inuidetur tam breui uitae, ne tranquillo cursu istius saeculi perfruamur? cur in breui spatio tam multi persequentium nos laquei tenduntur? adsit iam iudicium in quo poena est perfidorum, in quo persecutoribus digna impietatis suae pretia redduntur'. uel sic: 'quo usque insultare poterunt, quo usque inequitare, qui nos diuersis modis quaerunt adfligere?' non serus erit terminus; etenim quasi propheta celeritatem transcurrendae istius uitae non annorum, sed dierum aestimatione subducit dicens: quot sunt dies serui tui?52 et bene 'dies' dixit, ut non solum moras annuas prophetica uisione transcurreret, uerum etiam splendidum sibi uitae huius curriculum uirtutum lumine declararet. meritoque securus ait: quando facies mihi de persequentibus me iudicium?53 mihi, inquit, iudicium de persequentibus facies, non de me persequentibus iudicium dabis, quoniam non resurgunt impii in iudicio.54 sed mihi, inquit, da iudicium, ut, cum remuneraris innocentiam, fidem prouehis, misericordiam coronas, impii persecutores meritorum praemiis prophetico ore promissis iudicentur.
17. Non absurdum etiam illud, ut, quia breues dies et pauci sunt istius uitae, non diutius gratiam suam dominus circa prophetam suum differat, sed ipsi iudicium de persequentibus faciat. nam hic quoque iudicium est de persecutoribus, siquidem qui non credit in Christo iam iudicatus est.55 iudicium autem hoc est, quod dedit seruulis suis dominus Iesus dicens: habebitis potestatem calcandi super serpentes et scorpiones et super omnem uirtutem inimici.56 et uerum iudicium, in quo torquetur inimicus, sicut ipse confessus est dicens: quid uenisti ante tempus torquere nos?57
18. Hoc ergo deposcit uirtutum stabilitate fundatus propheta, ut subiciatur sibi non homo, sed ille qui locum sibi in homine uindicauit. unde et apostolus ipsum magis in hominis peccato putauit esse damnandum, ipsum subiciendum, de quo ait: conterat deus satanan sub pedibus uestris cito.58 ex hoc ergo persecutore iudicium sibi fieri gestit, ut fidei propheticae uestigiis aduersarius conteratur et comminuat eum sub pedibus suis propheta sicut puluerem59 et in hac corporis sui militia constitutus, quamuis breues dies uitae sint, triumphum tamen de aduersario adipiscatur, quo reformati hominis in ueterem gratiam, quem ante delictorum uinculis tenebat adstrictum et feruentis libidinis lassabat aestu, libertatem ingemescat, potestatem sentiat. subiectus est igitur aduersarius secundum domini sententiam. etenim dominus Iesus ueniens in hunc mundum per uirginis partum subiecit animae nostrae omnes contrarias potestates, ut fide tua, uerbo tuo, conuersatione tua et operibus conterantur. si ergo non conteris aduersarium, tua culpa est, qui permissa non uteris potestate. in nobis est igitur, ut aut subiciatur aduersarius aut resultet. si enim actus noster displiceat, incipit aduersarius superbire, si autem bonis inhaereamus operibus, exerceamus studia castitatis iustitiae continentiae, calcamus serpentem et scorpionem.60 calcamus enim illum pedibus castitatis, conterimus scorpionem, ne possit excutere, calcamus uestigiis continentiae, uerecundiae iustitiaeque gressibus. possumus ergo et in hac breui uita triumphum de aduersariis habere perpetuum.
19. Sequitur uersus quintus: narrauerunt mihi iniusti exercitationes, sed non sicut lex tua, domine.61 bene optat iudicium sibi fieri de persequentibus, qui non solum opera iusti inpedire, uerum etiam fidem superflua narratione conati sunt. etenim quasi fabulae cuiusdam naenias narratas sibi dicit ἀδολεσχίας, hoc est superfluas loquacitates. narratores enim superflui sicut hirundines disputationis suauitatem natiuae loquacitatis continuatione corrumpunt, ut Aristotelis sententia est.
20. Superflua igitur loquitur haereticus qui non loquitur ueritatem, non loquitur secundum legem. qui autem fundatus in lege est, nouit a ueris falsa discernere, spiritalis eruditione doctrinae haeretica ab euangelicis dogmata separare. ideoque, ne multi decipiantur, iubetur a domino tacere peccator; peccatori enim dixit deus: quare tu enarras iustitias meas?62 conticescat igitur perfidia quae tramitem ueritatis non nouit, quae dei praecepta non seruat. cur enim per os suum adsumunt peccatores euangelium ueritatis, in quorum ore ueritas non est? omnia autem praecepta dei ueritas, Christus autem ueritas.63 non est ergo Christus in disputationibus perfidorum, qui dicit perfido: os tuum abundauit nequitia et lingua tua concinnauit dolum;64 lingua enim, quae uult adstruere mendacium, dolum utique nectit adsertis. sed huiusmodi fur est et cum fure concurrens.65 multi enim fures sunt, qui uerbum dei non ad utilitatem suam furantur et rapiunt, sed ad fraudem, et patrimonium quoddam caelestium scripturarum in sua furta detorquent, adulterina sibi conpendia colligentes dolo magis quam ueritate quaesita. sed hi sunt qui miscent aquam uino tamquam caupones pessimi,66 adulterantes sermonem dei et insincerum proferentes, quicquid perfido et tamquam ebrio ore deprompserint, et ideo aliena loquuntur a lege, unde bene eos propheta refugit atque reprehendit, sciens quid praescripto legis acceperit.
21. Recte ergo ait sequenti uersiculo: omnia praecepta tua ueritas; iniuste persecuti sunt me, adiuua me.67 quasi bonus miles bella non refugit nec conflictus quamuis grauium proeliorum bellator pauescit adsuetus, sed fidelis et prouidus adspirare sibi diuinitus orat auxilia et piae deuotionis fidelia sibi adiumenta deposcit. ideoque non petit, ut persecutiones quiescant, sed in persecutionibus postulat se iuuari. sciebat enim, quod omnes qui uolunt pie uiuere in Christo Iesu persecutiones patiuntur.68 mauult ergo persecutiones pati, ut pie uiuere possit in Christo, et bene non unam persecutionem, sed multas persecutiones dixit nec expressit uocabula persequentium, quia multi persecutores non solum quos uidemus, sed etiam quos non uidemus. persequuntur nequitiae spiritales,69 persequitur haereticus Iudaeus gentilis. omnes ergo sub persecutoribus qui uolunt pie uiuere, quia, ubi multi persecutores, nullum a persecutionibus uacat tempus pie uiuere gestienti. et fortasse, cum persecutiones non patimur, tamquam condemnati habemur, quia nequaquam pie uiuere uelimus in Christo. nam utique, cum sit definita sententia, quod omnes qui uolunt pie uiuere in Christo Iesu persecutiones patiuntur,70 uidetur is qui persecutionem non patitur abdicatus, quod non sit piae intentionis in Christo; deuotionem etenim fidei proelia persequuntur; si desint certamina, uereor ne deesse uideatur qui certare desierit. omnia, inquit, praecepta tua ueritas.71 quae praecepta nisi illa: si me persecuti sunt, et uos persequentur?72 haec praecepta Dauid, anterior licet incarnationis sacramento, iam tamen audiebat in spiritu et quasi Christi discipulus non subtrahebat se passionibus, sed certaminibus offerebat. sciebat hoc sibi ad gloriam fructuosum, hoc ad custodiam salutis tutum, ut frequentibus exercitiis iusti pietas confirmaretur; cito enim fides inexercitata languescit et crebris otiosa temptatur incommodis. remissas excubias callidus insidiator inrumpit, adsuetum autem bello uirum externa fraus instruit et ad gloriosae prouehit palmam uictoriae. pax ergo fideli corruptelae materia est.
22. Quam pulchre nobis persecutionis processere tempora! intentus sicut medicus erat intimae ad deum mentis affectus. illi adhaerebat nec ullas cogitationes obstrepentes sibi precantis animus sentiebat. totis uisceribus fundebatur oratio et quidam miscebatur sermo cum domino. cotidiana meditatio habebat iam contemptum periculi et usum calcandae mortis receperat. quod amisimus exercitium, temptant otia quos bella non fregerant. periculosa igitur et pacis otia; in pace plures persecutiones esse coeperunt. nullus erat tempore persecutionis adulator qui callida mentem adulatione temptaret. non uacabat animo corporis delectatione dissolui et huiusmodi quae secundis rebus excitari solent admittere passiones. ideo apostoli cum caederentur includerentur, exultabant, quod illis iniuriis aeternae gratiae meritum lucrabantur, qui digni fuerant pro Christi nomine iniurias sustinere. non illis erat cura de patrimonio, studium de potestatibus et honoribus, non de praelatione, quae etiam iustos exagitare consueuit, sed ille se praeferri putabat, qui esset pluribus uerberibus flagellatus.
23. Merito ergo Dauid occasiones expetit triumphandi et certandi copiam pro deuotionis eruditione non metuit, qui nouerat persecutiones iniquorum proficere ad incrementa uirtutis. non enim dixit: 'quia persecutiones patior, adiuua me', sed: iniuste, inquit, persecuti sunt me, adiuua me.73 potest enim quis et persecutiones pati, sed non iniuste, quia est etiam iusta persecutio, si oderimus obscenos, si infesti simus iniustis, si iniquos uelimus opprimere, ne pluribus noceant, si auarum fraudis suae conpendiis exuamus, si execremur insolentiam superborum. qui autem pro fide, pro iustitia, pro castitate persecutionem patitur, bene is dicit: iniuste persecuti sunt me, adiuua me.74
24. Sequitur uersus septimus: paulo minus consummauerunt me in terra, ego autem non dereliqui mandata tua.75 non superfluo diuinum quaesiuit auxilium, qui sciebat sibi aduersus fortes esse certamen pluraque sibi proelia praeparata dimicaturo nunc aduersus nequitias spiritales quae sunt in caelestibus,76 nunc aduersus calorem sanguinis et innumeras corporis huius inlecebras, quarum nexu uario et diuturna conluctatione lassatus pudendo corruisset certamine, nisi fidei se radice tenuisset. discamus cauere quem gerimus. hic nobis hostis domesticus, hic inimicus grauis nostri ipsius corporis, inflammatur uino, ardet libidine, decore mulieris occursantis accenditur, spe alitur, desperatione uritur, inlecebris exuritur, non euaporat effectu, timore turbatur, metu frangitur, luxuria mollitur, lasciuia dissoluitur, labore adficitur, sollicitudine fatigatur, passione conteritur. miraris, si inter tot aduersarias passionum uices se etiam iustus tenere uix possit, cum inpares simus etiam singularum certamini passionum? quem uel sola libido non uindicet, quem non subiuget auaritia, quem formido non quatiat, quem luxuria non eneruet, quem lasciuia non emolliat, quem non supblantet ebrietas?
25. Quasi conscius igitur carnalis infirmitatis et explorator persecutionis hostilis dicit: paulo minus consummauerunt me in terra,77 in hac utique terra, in qua Adam primus corruit et pudenda prolapsione deiectus totius gressum futurae posteritatis inflexit;78 in hac terra, in qua Cain munera fraterna dolens suis esse praelata ruina est stratus inuidiae; denique uox fraterni sanguinis clamauit a terra,79 in hac terra Noe sanctus, quem totius orbis diluuia in tantis procellis et fluctibus peruigilem probauerunt, ubi tamen otioso curas laxauit corpore, somnum ebrietatis offendit, contumeliam paternae pietatis incurrit,80 docens periculosa otia securae esse uirtuti. in hac terra Loth81 reuerendi parentis imitator, quem non luxuriantis Sodomitanae plebis decolorauit inpuritas, non flamma Sodomae ardentis inuoluit, ueniabilis quidem ignorantiae, pudendae tamen commixtionis non euasit incestum; uritur ille flammis mulierum quem sulphurea flamma non ussit.
26. In hac terra etiam Dauid propemodum consummatum esse se dixit, siquidem paene motos pedes suos et gressus suos paulo minus sensit effusos,82 quia diuitias saeculares et successus corporalium prosperorum loco beatitudinis aestimauit peccatoribus abundare. propter quod etiam flagellatus est, sed flagella iusto remedia salutis sunt; castigat enim dominus quem recipit.83 unde etiam Dauid conuersus ad domini caritatem atque in eius eruditus praeceptis, non ignorans, eo quod caducis caduca fortuito quodam deferantur euentu et quia non diuitiarum abundantia, sed uirtutum gratia uitae probabilis merita pensantur, dilexit magis quam dereliquit mandata dei, quibus solis potuit ingruentes nequitias spiritales et insurgentes huius corporis adpetitus in hac tam fragilis naturae infirmitate superare. magna igitur uirtus, quae sub tantis persecutionibus constituta et paene obpressa tamen suum non est oblita praesidium nec mandata dei dereliquit.
27. Ideoque, quia solum sibi deum profuisse cognouit, preces ad dominum dirigens ait uersu sequenti: secundum misericordiam tuam uiuifica me, et custodiam testimonia oris tui.84 quam uiuificationem sui postulet, supra diximus, quia non id precatus est quod habebat, sed quod desiderabat, id est ut uiueret in aeternum, intellegens uitae beatitudinem in hoc fluctuanti et infido nobis corpore esse non posse, cuius inbecillitas propositum animae derelinquat. opus est ergo dei misericordia, ut continua et perpetua sit in hoc corpore uiuificatio, ut cotidie iustus deo uiuat peccatoque moriatur. si enim culpa moriatur in nobis, erit uita deo uiuens et custodia praeceptorum caelestium perseuerans, quam utique ille custodit qui uiuificatur a domino.
28. Denique uiuificari se ante poscit a domino et postea custodiam testimoniorum caelestium pollicetur; non enim communis haec uita custodit caeleste mandatum, sed illa quae munere fulcitur aeterno per operationem gratiae spiritalis. possumus etiam sic intellegere: quia iam propheta quae erant legis agnouerat, optat aduentus dominici misericordiam, ut accipiat praecepta quibus lex adimpleatur, ut non solum adulterium sciret esse uitandum, sed etiam concupiscentiam adulterii declinandam. os enim patris Iesus dominus locutus est in euangelio eum, qui uiderit mulierem ad concupiscendum eam, in corde suo adulterium perpetrasse.85 quantum euangelio profecerunt studia castitatis, quo non solum turpioris facti, sed etiam studii degeneris ablegatur obprobrium!
29. Qui sunt autem, de quibus dicit quod paulo minus consummauerunt eum in terra,86 nisi persecutores? de quorum uno ait dominus Iesus: ite dicite uulpi illi,87 hoc est de Herode. et alibi cum se fraudulenter interrogari aduerteret, dixit: uulpes foueas habent et uolucres caeli nidos, ubi requiescant,88 eo quod fraudulenter in terrestrium passionum quibusdam latibulis demorentur. inde etiam Samson binas uulpes sibi nexuit, ad quarum caudas alligauit faces et dimisit eas per messes allophylorum,89 per hanc figuram significans, quod inprobi ac fraudulenti homines et maxime haeretici liberam linguam habeant ad latrandum, sed exitus inpeditos, aut litigiosa principia, finem uero fraudis suae incendio deputatum. ideoque et trecentas uulpes dimisit, eo quod perfidi crucis quidem se praedicatione commendare desiderant, sed mysterium eius tenere non possunt, qui hac praedicatione composita et falsa atque simulata urere magis fructus conantur alienos, cum utique uera crux domini non exurat aliena merita, sed fecundet. meritoque scriptum est in Canticis canticorum: prendite nobis uulpes pusillas exterminantes uineas, ut uineae nostrae floreant.90 quo ostenditur, quod uel dominus Iesus uel ecclesia fraudulentorum dolos a uineis suis exterminandos esse praecipiant, ne pauxillulis uineis noceant, quia adultis iam uitibus nocere non possunt. haereticus enim inperfectum temptare potest, non potest subplantare perfectum.
XI. LITTERA CAPH.
1. The eleventh letter, Caph, in Latin interpretation signifies they have been bowed down. The very sound of the interpretation teaches us what it is to be bowed down: for he who is bent down toward the earth is seen to be bowed. Whence the prophet says under this letter: They had almost made an end of me upon the earth.1 But he is bowed who does penance, in that he bows his neck while he is humbled before the Lord — and rather the inner neck, that is, the neck of the mind and of the heart. For of this neck it is said: No, not though thou shouldst bend thy neck like a hoop;2 for he who does not bend his heart will have bent his neck in vain.
2. The prophet Jeremiah also teaches that humility is signified by this interpretation; for he says under this letter in the Lamentations: For the Lord will not cast off for ever, since when he hath humbled, he will have mercy according to the multitude of his mercies, since he hath not humbled with his whole heart, nor cast off the children of men.3 It is good, then, to be bowed, that we may be humbled before the Lord and the Lord may have mercy. And so likewise above, under this same letter, the same prophet Jeremiah, showing the groans and humility of the people, says: All her people are sighing, seeking bread, they have given their desires for food, that they might refresh the soul. See, O Lord, and behold, for she is become without honour.4 Therefore he who seeks the refreshment of his soul, let him be bowed by humility, that he may the more quickly come to the mercy of the Lord.
3. And so, as one bowed down much more in soul and mind than in body, David began, saying: My soul hath fainted unto thy salvation, and in thy word I have hoped.5 Let no familiar phrase deceive us, that we should judge such fainting to be the failure of bodily fatigue. For he did not say only, my soul hath fainted, but, hath fainted unto thy salvation. And so, that we may take an example from common usage: if, for instance, we say, 'he has fainted away unto her', it seems to be expressed by this word that he has gone over wholly in lust into the desire of the woman. And whatever it is that we vehemently desire, unless we have its quicker effect, it seems to weary us with a kind of long straining. Impatient love, knocking day and night at the harlot's doors, if the desires of attaining are longer deferred, fails by that very expectation while it hopes — in which assuredly there is not the end of love but its increase. And whatever is desirable, if it does not befall the one desiring, he faints unto it, and the one who desires lays down, as it were, his very soul. Yet if a nearer hope arise, the nearer hope gives strength. But if there be the absence of the beloved, by that very fact that he longs for one absent, the one who has desired suffers a fainting of his soul. And so, the further off is that which is desired, the more does he who desires it faint. To faint, therefore, is this: that each man pass with all his pursuits into that which he loves. He thinks of it, he clings to it, he echoes that which he has received as the thing to be loved; into it he is poured by a kind of fainting of the soul — as if a mother were to wait for the presence of her son, just as Tobias's wife waited for her travelling son, fainting from desire and set in straits and as it were dissolved in her strength.6 For what else do her words signify but a kind of fainting? But the more the affection grows weary, so much the more does love grow; and the longer he is absent who is desired, so much the more do the desires of the one expecting take fire with a kind of greater force of love. The flesh fails, but the longing is fed and increased.
4. Hence, then, we can gather what this means: My soul hath fainted unto thy salvation.7 For the soul, cleaving to the spirit, fails from being soul and becomes one spirit, since he who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit.8 And so the holy man and one who fears the Lord knows not how to desire anything but the salvation of God, who is Christ Jesus.9 Him he longs for, him he desires, on him with all his strength he is intent, him in the bosom of his mind he cherishes,10 to him he opens and pours himself out, and he fears this only, that he may be able to lose him. And so the greater the desire with which the soul is exercised, longing to cleave to its salvation, so much the more does it faint. This fainting, therefore, works the diminution of frailty, but the increase of strength. So he himself elsewhere, saying: My soul hath thirsted after thee,11 subjoined below: My soul hath cleaved after thee, thy right hand hath received me.12 For he who thirsts always longs to cleave to the fount, nor does he seem to desire or to touch anything but water for himself, that he may be fed by that very affection. So thy right hand, receiving my soul and imparting to me of its own strength, makes it to be what it was not, that it may say: And I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.13 Learn, moreover, even by example, that this fainting is of a too vehement desire: My soul, he says, coveteth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord.14 First coveting, he says, and as it were pouring her whole self out into desire, suspended in long faintness, she is dissolved. And finally Jeremiah teaches how the soul faints unto the salvation of God: And it was made, he says, in my heart as a burning fire, flaming in my bones, and I am dissolved on every side and cannot bear it.15 Inflamed, therefore, with this longing, David says: My soul hath fainted unto thy salvation, and in thy word I have hoped.16
5. Rightly did he say, I have hoped in the word; for hope precedes first, and therefore the fainting follows. He hoped in the word that was preached to come, which can be understood of the Word of God. Or certainly, he hoped in the word — he who believed the heavenly word by which the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is announced or by which his glory is declared. So the prophet, considering what he had read and seeing that, when he was present in the body and bound, as it were, by certain chains of this life, he was absent from the salvation of God — coveting, longing, fainting, was wholly dissolved in affection, that he might wholly become his whom he desired, just as he himself in later passages says: I pour out my prayer in his sight, I declare my tribulation before him, while my spirit fails me.17 For his spirit faints — nay rather, his own spirit fails him who denies himself, that he may cleave to Christ. Whence his paths are known to the Lord, because they are not the paths of the flesh, but the paths of Christ.
6. For Christ is the way of those who seek God. Let us also, therefore, covet that eternal good, that salvation of God; let us not covet money, which the most greedy covet; let us not covet the beauty of another's wife; let us not be driven by the desire of ambition; let us not be intent upon worldly glory; let us not be occupied with the pursuits of fraudulent circumvention; let us not desire to entrap our neighbour by iniquity; let us not, in fine, be the portion of foxes, sunk in the inward parts of earthly pleasure as exiles from the eternal and cast down from that confidence of supernal hope. Let our soul, therefore, be lifted up, fainting in its own strength, that it may cleave to the salvation of God, who is Christ the Lord Jesus, which by interpretation is called the salvation of the Lord. For he himself is salvation, truth, strength and wisdom. He, then, who fails to himself, that he may cleave to strength, loses what is his own, and receives what is eternal.
7. There follows the second verse: My eyes have fainted after thy word, saying: When wilt thou comfort me?18 Above, the practical; here, the contemplative. There the soul fainted unto salvation, in that it covets him by whose Passion it has been preserved; here the eyes of the prophet have fainted after the word of God. And let us see whether, just as there the soul, cleaving to Christ, faints into one spirit and becomes one spirit, so also the eyes faint, that one mind may come to be. For these are the eyes of the mind — that is, the eyes of the inner man — not those eyes which serve the office of looking. For there is also an eye and a mind of the flesh — but that eye is blind, which sees not what things are divine, which is in vain puffed up with the mind of the flesh. And there is another, the sense of Christ, by which the Church sees Christ, as he himself says to the bride: Thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes.19 Rightly is Christ seen with one eye, because he is not seen by the carnal eye — or because the Church, having two eyes, the moral and the mystical, sees Christ more with the eye of faith; for the mystical eye is sharper, the moral sweeter.
8. And perhaps these are the eyes with which Paul saw eternal things, when he began not to see corporeal ones. For he who did not see Christ before he lost his eyes, saw him after he had lost the sight of his eyes. For he saw, who said: Who art thou, Lord?20 — he was certainly seeing Christ, whom he was even confessing as Lord — and below, Lord, he says, what wilt thou have me to do?21 Did he not, then, see him whose command he was awaiting? With what eyes, therefore, did Paul begin to see more than with these, which he himself showed us, saying: I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind?22 And finally, that you may know that he saw by praying: And it came to pass, he says, as I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance, and saw him saying to me: Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.23 These eyes, then, faint after the word of God, and say: When wilt thou comfort me?24 By these eyes the prophets used to be called seers, because by revelation they discerned with the mind those things which were hidden.
9. What is it for the eyes to faint? Let us speak of bodily eyes, that we may understand of spiritual ones. When we long for someone and hope for his coming, do we not direct our eyes thither, whence we hope he is to come? And so, intent for a long time on a daily expectation, we faint. So Anna, looking out upon the road, kept watch with anxious vigil for the coming of her son. So the prophet David, set with his watchmen on the tower, eagerly desired, as a careful father, to enquire about the safety of his son who was running from the battle. So the wife of tender age waits with unwearied expectation from the cliff-top look-out for the coming of her husband, so that, whatever ship she may see, she thinks her spouse to be sailing in it, and fears lest another may forestall the favour of seeing the beloved, and lest she herself be not the first to say: 'I see thee, husband' — just as Anna said to her son: I see thee, my son, henceforth I shall die willingly,25 not feeling, that is, the pain of death amid the sweetness of the longed-for sight. Therefore, just as she who is eager to offer herself to her arriving husband, dismissing all household occupations, traces the paths of the traveller or the prints of his feet, so the prophet, stripped of secular cares, the watchful guardian of the inner eyes for the word of God, strained his gaze even to his own fainting, bringing his body into servitude, and training his soul to the patience of humility like a wasting spider. For he longed as the hart pants for the fountains of waters, and thirsted for the Lord his God, longing to see his presence and to appear before the face of God; and fainting with too much longing and vehement desire, he then presumed by prophetic grace that he was the more apt for obtaining the things he had asked of the Lord. Let us also, then, intend our heart, that we may be able to understand the chain of the Scriptures, and let us ask that the word may come to us from the Lord, and that understanding be given us. If a man should glimpse from afar the word of God with the gaze of the mind, not yet plain and distinct, he sees, as it were with certain inner eyes, the ship of the word approaching his soul. And the more clearly he begins to see, the more he hastens, as toward the harbour of truth, to draw near, so that he may be at hand for it to be borne in.
10. The prophet's eyes, then, fainted after the word of God, saying: When wilt thou comfort me?26 If those eyes had been signified by which we discern and see, they ought to have said: 'When wilt thou comfort us?' — that is, not in the singular, but in the plural. But because the eye of the mind and the eye of the flesh become one eye, and then a man is propped up by consolation when flesh and mind do not desire diverse things but desire one thing, seek one thing, therefore, intent upon him who says, I and the Father are one,27 these eyes also confess that they are one, because they are exercised in one and the same desire and office.
11. The prophet, then, was fainting after the word. But we suppose ourselves idle if we seem only to give our study to the word, and we esteem more those who work than those who exercise the study of knowing the divine. For many say, 'Behold the man and his works' — as if he who studies the word does not work, when this is rather a work than other things. For if justice is a work, if temperance, if fortitude — assuredly wisdom too is a work; for these four are held to be the principal virtues. Now if Christ works according to that which is justice, surely he works also according to that which is the Word, and was working when he was in the beginning with the Father.28 And finally, all things were made through him,29 and you should know that the worker of all things and our work is Christ Jesus. For according to that he is the Word, the word is a great work to those who seek the word. Whence, when Martha was busy about her ministry, but Mary was hearing the word of the Lord, she who was hearing deserved to be preferred to her who was ministering. For when Martha said: Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak therefore to her that she help me,30 the Lord answered, saying: Martha, Martha, Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.31 Thus, by the authority of a divine sentence, it is determined that to know the word is a greater work than to minister.
12. But perhaps someone will say that it has been said by the apostle: The kingdom of God is not in speech but in power.32 I do not deny what is written; but consider in what kind of speech: surely the speech which one puffed up has poured forth, a speech which cannot profit the hearers, which is without the showing of spirit and power — this speech Paul does not deign to acknowledge; for he wishes rather to acknowledge the power of speech. And so the apostle did not wish his own speech to be such, who came in infirmity,33 that he might make others stronger, in fear and trembling, that those who feared might fear nothing but the Lord Jesus, that those who trembled might preserve his peace and tranquility. Listen, therefore, what kind of speech the apostle had: And my speech, he says, and my preaching was not in the persuasive words of wisdom, but in the showing of the spirit and of power,34 because faith is established not by the forensic speech of wisdom but by the power of God. Therefore in the speech of the saints there is power, but in this forensic and philosophical speech the vanity of the world. And that there is power in the speech of the saints, let this very prophet teach you also, who says: The Lord shall give the word to them that preach with great power,35 that is, that they may be able to preach the gospel with much power. It has been proved, therefore, that there is power in the preaching of the gospel; and the preaching of the gospel is the speech of the saints. Thus no doubt remains that in holy speech there is power.
13. There follows the third verse: For I am become as a bottle in the frost; thy justifications I have not forgotten.36 This voice is the voice of the just man who has mortified his body. For the just man is rightly called a bottle, in that he is found stripped, not naked; for the bottle is made from the spoils of a dead animal. Let us also, then, die to sin, that we may live to God. Filled with the gladness of the spirit and the sweetness of joy, we shall be spiritual spoils, lacking the infirmity of the body and preserving in the whole bosom of the mind the grace of the divine mysteries that has been poured into us. Of these bottles it is said that they put new wine into new bottles37 who wish to keep both the body and the grace. Let not, then, this thy bottle leak, let it not be cracked, let it not grow old in earthly mould, lest the new wine break the old bottles, the bottles be torn, the grace be poured out.38 Let them not, again, be parched by the sun of iniquity and the excessive force of heat, but let the diverse desires of seething bowels be tempered by a kind of snowy cold. Let the heat of lust grow cold, and, restrained by a certain frost of continence and of fastings, let it be wept out in morning prayer, when the words of God descend upon our earth as the dew, as the rain upon the grass, and as the snow upon the hay.39 This snow knows not how to harm a good bottle — the snow which gleams with the splendour of divine eloquence. This snow refreshes, does not scorch; it makes the crops fruitful, does not destroy them. This snow is the precept of continence, which makes the heat of the body to grow cold, and quenches every ardour of inner nature. And perhaps for this reason, when Jesus showed the glory of his resurrection, his garments were white as snow,40 that not only might he himself be esteemed alien to the contagion of sin, but also that whoever is raised again should seem to rise cold, with the desires of marriage frozen; for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but shall be as the angels in heaven.41 Therefore good bottles are cold — that is, bound up in the frost, with hoar-frosts, not loosened by the heat of lust.
14. That this body may be called a bottle, though it is allowed by many places, yet understand it from this also, that Adam and Eve, when they laid aside the heavenly image which they had borne before and put on the image of the earthly man, are said to have been clothed with garments of skins;42 for the fault committed had made them corporeal from being spiritual. Nor is it absurd to understand that David thus says he was made as a bottle in the frost, in that, although set in icy roughness, he had nevertheless mortified his body, lest he should feel the harshness of that winter which the Saviour says will be heavy for those who flee.43 For just as the bottle does not feel the ice, because it is the skin of a dead animal, so the prophet, dead to sin, could not feel the cold of sin — or certainly, because he is not broken by necessities, nor does the flesh resist the mind, but, more pliable in the soul's leading, bends to its commands, and in this frost of the world does not dry up; or because we are the body of affliction, and we ought to bear about always in our body the death of the Lord Jesus. This is the bottle which chastises its body,44 not like that fattened and gross people who sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play,45 this is the bottle which inebriates not with wine but with spirit, in which there is not the cluster of bitterness, the rage of dragons, the rage of asps,46 but how excellent the inebriating chalice!47 In this, therefore, David glories, that he is made as a bottle in the frost,48 not feeling the operation of sin.
15. And rightly is sin compared to frost. For just as frost is useful for no use, for no operation, so fault profits no use, no operation, and therefore, like frost, it is to be shunned, lest it harm and scorch. It is good for me, therefore, to be made as a bottle in the frost, that I may be able not to forget the justifications of the Lord, that, suffused with their liquid, every heat of inward desire may be cooled. Not empty, then, but full ought this bottle to be — full of spirit, full of justifications, that I may confess my sins, that I may restrain the luxury of my flesh; for we must die to the world, that we may live to God. But if we live to the flesh, the prudence of the flesh is surely death; we cannot live to God, because that carnal wisdom49 and worldly life is hostile to God.
16. There follows the fourth verse: How many are the days of thy servant? When wilt thou make judgment upon them that persecute me?50 It can be taken thus: How many are the days of thy servant?51 — as if to say: 'How many are the days of man, how much the time, how much the space? Why is so brief a life begrudged us, that we cannot even enjoy in tranquil course this present world? Why are so many snares of those who persecute us stretched in this short space? Let now the judgment come, in which there is the punishment of the perfidious, in which to the persecutors are paid back the worthy prices of their impiety.' Or thus: 'How long will they be able to exult, how long to ride in upon us, who in diverse ways seek to afflict us?' The end shall not be late; for the prophet, as it were, sums up the swiftness of running through this life by the reckoning not of years but of days, saying: How many are the days of thy servant?52 And he well said days, that not only might he run through the yearly delays in his prophetic vision, but also that he might declare the course of this life splendid for himself by the light of the virtues. And rightly secure he says: When wilt thou make judgment upon them that persecute me?53 To me, he says, thou shalt make judgment upon them that persecute me, not, 'Thou shalt give judgment upon me to those persecuting me', since the wicked rise not in judgment.54 But, he says, to me give judgment, that, when thou shalt reward innocence, advance faith, crown mercy, the impious persecutors may be judged with the rewards of merits promised by the prophet's mouth.
17. Nor is it absurd, since the days of this life are short and few, that the Lord should not longer defer his grace toward his prophet, but should himself execute judgment upon those persecuting him. For here too there is judgment upon the persecutors, since he that does not believe in Christ is already judged.55 But this is the judgment which the Lord Jesus has given to his servants, saying: You shall have power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.56 And it is a true judgment in which the enemy is tormented, just as he himself confessed, saying: Why hast thou come before the time to torment us?57
18. This, then, the prophet, founded in the stability of virtues, demands: that there be subjected to him, not man, but he who has claimed for himself a place in man. Whence the apostle too thought that he himself, rather than the man, was to be condemned in man's sin — he himself to be subjected, of whom he says: May God crush Satan beneath your feet quickly.58 From this persecutor, therefore, he eagerly desires judgment to be done for himself, that the adversary may be crushed by the steps of prophetic faith, and that the prophet may grind him under his feet like dust,59 and, set in this warfare of his body, although the days of life be short, may yet obtain a triumph over the adversary, by which, with the man reformed into the ancient grace, whom before he held bound by the chains of sins and wearied by the heat of seething lust, he may sigh for liberty and feel his power. The adversary, then, is subjected according to the Lord's own sentence. For the Lord Jesus, coming into this world by the birth of a virgin, has subjected to our soul all contrary powers, that they may be crushed by thy faith, by thy word, by thy converse and thy works. If, therefore, thou crushest not the adversary, the fault is thine, who usest not the power granted thee. It lies in us, then, whether the adversary be subjected or rebound. For if our act displease, the adversary begins to grow proud; but if we cleave to good works, exercise the pursuits of chastity, justice, continence, we tread on the serpent and on the scorpion.60 For we tread upon him with the feet of chastity, we crush the scorpion, lest he be able to strike out, we tread him under with the prints of continence, with the steps of modesty and justice. We can, therefore, even in this short life have a perpetual triumph over our adversaries.
19. There follows the fifth verse: The wicked have told me their fables, but not as thy law, O Lord.61 Well does he wish judgment to be done upon those persecuting him, who tried not only to hinder the works of the just but also faith by their superfluous narration. For he says they have told him, as it were, the dirges of some fable — ἀδολεσχίας, that is, superfluous loquacities. For superfluous narrators, like swallows, corrupt the sweetness of disputation by the continuance of their natural loquacity, as is Aristotle's opinion.
20. The heretic, therefore, speaks superfluously, who speaks not the truth, who speaks not according to the law. But he who is founded in the law knows how to discern false from true, and by the spiritual training of doctrine to separate heretical dogmas from those of the gospel. And therefore, lest many be deceived, the sinner is bidden by the Lord to be silent; for to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices?62 Let perfidy, then, be silent, which knows not the path of truth, which keeps not God's precepts. For why do sinners take through their mouth the gospel of truth, in whose mouth there is no truth? But all the precepts of God are truth, and Christ is truth.63 Christ, then, is not in the disputations of the perfidious — Christ who says to the perfidious: Thy mouth hath abounded with wickedness, and thy tongue hath framed deceit;64 for the tongue, which would establish a lie, surely weaves deceit by its assertions. But such a one is a thief, and is running with a thief.65 For there are many thieves, who steal and snatch the word of God, not for their own profit, but for fraud, and twist a kind of patrimony of the heavenly Scriptures to their own thefts, gathering themselves adulterated profits sought rather by guile than by truth. But these are they who mix water with wine, like the worst tavern-keepers,66 adulterating the speech of God and putting forth as insincere whatever they have brought out from a perfidious and as it were drunken mouth — and therefore they speak things alien from the law, whence the prophet rightly flees them and reproves them, knowing what he has received by the prescript of the law.
21. Rightly, therefore, he says in the following verse: All thy commandments are truth; they have unjustly persecuted me, help thou me.67 As a good soldier does not flee battles, nor does the warrior, accustomed to grave conflicts, dread engagements, but, faithful and provident, prays that aids may be breathed into him divinely, and demands for himself faithful supports of devout piety. Therefore he asks not that the persecutions cease, but he asks to be helped in the persecutions. For he knew that all who would live piously in Christ Jesus suffer persecutions.68 He prefers, then, to suffer persecutions, that he may be able to live piously in Christ; and he well said, not one persecution, but many persecutions, nor did he name the names of those persecuting him, because the persecutors are many — not only those whom we see, but also those whom we do not see. Spiritual wickednesses69 persecute, the heretic, the Jew, the gentile persecute. All, then, who would live piously, are under persecutors, since, where there are many persecutors, no time is free from persecutions for him who is eager to live piously. And perhaps, when we suffer no persecutions, we are held as it were condemned, since we have no wish to live piously in Christ. For surely, since the sentence is fixed that all who would live piously in Christ Jesus suffer persecutions,70 he seems to be cast off who suffers no persecution, that he is not of pious intention in Christ; for the battles of devotion follow upon faith. If contests be lacking, I fear lest he seem to be lacking who has ceased to contend. All, he says, thy commandments are truth.71 What commandments, but these: If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you?72 These commandments David, although prior to the sacrament of the incarnation, was nevertheless already hearing in the Spirit, and as a disciple of Christ did not withdraw himself from sufferings, but offered himself to contests. He knew that this was fruitful for his glory, that this was safe for the keeping of his salvation, that the piety of the just man should be confirmed by frequent exercises; for faith without exercise quickly grows languid, and idle is tempted by frequent troubles. The cunning lurker breaks in upon a relaxed watch, but external fraud trains a man accustomed to war and advances him to the palm of glorious victory. Peace, therefore, for the faithful is the matter of corruption.
22. How beautifully have the times of persecution gone before us! The affection of the inmost mind, like a physician, was intent upon God. To him it cleaved, nor did the spirit of him who prayed feel any thoughts grumbling against him. Prayer was poured out from the whole bowels, and a kind of speech was mingled with the Lord. Daily meditation already had the contempt of danger, and had received the practice of trampling upon death. The exercise we have lost — leisure tempts those whom wars had not broken. The leisures of peace, therefore, are also dangerous; in peace there began to be more persecutions. There was no flatterer in the time of persecution who would tempt the mind by cunning flattery. There was no leisure for the soul to be loosened by the delight of the body and to admit such passions as are wont to be roused by prosperous things. Therefore the apostles, when they were beaten and shut up, exulted because by those injuries they were earning the merit of eternal grace, who were worthy to bear injuries for the name of Christ. Theirs was no care of patrimony, no zeal for powers and honours — not for promotion, which is wont to harass even the just; rather, that one thought himself preferred who had been more often beaten with stripes.
23. Rightly, therefore, does David seek occasions of triumphing, nor does he fear the abundance of contests for the schooling of devotion, who knew that the persecutions of the wicked profit toward the increase of virtue. For he did not say, 'Because I suffer persecutions, help me', but: Unjustly, he says, they have persecuted me, help me.73 For one can suffer persecutions, but not unjustly, since there is also a just persecution: if we hate the obscene, if we are inimical to the unjust, if we wish to suppress the wicked lest they harm many, if we strip the avaricious of the gains of his fraud, if we abhor the insolence of the proud. But he who suffers persecution for the faith, for justice, for chastity — well does he say: Unjustly they have persecuted me, help me.74
24. There follows the seventh verse: They have almost made an end of me upon the earth, but I have not forsaken thy commandments.75 Not without reason did he seek divine help, who knew that he had a contest against the strong, and that more battles were prepared for him as he was about to fight, now against the spiritual wickednesses which are in the high places,76 now against the heat of blood and the innumerable allurements of this body — by whose various entanglement and long-drawn struggle, wearied, he would have fallen in shameful contest, had he not held himself by the root of faith. Let us learn to beware whom we bear. This is our domestic enemy, this our grave foe — of our very own body — inflamed by wine, burning with lust, kindled by the beauty of a woman who meets us, fed by hope, scorched by despair, consumed by allurements; he does not exhaust himself in the act, is troubled by fear, broken by dread, softened by luxury, dissolved by lasciviousness, afflicted by toil, wearied by anxiety, ground down by passion. Do you marvel if, amid so many adverse exchanges of passions, even a just man can scarcely hold himself, when we are unequal even to the contest of single passions? Whom does even lust alone not make captive, whom does avarice not subdue, whom does fear not shake, whom does luxury not unnerve, whom does lasciviousness not soften, whom does drunkenness not supplant?
25. Therefore, as one conscious of carnal infirmity and an explorer of the enemy's persecution, he says: They have almost made an end of me upon the earth,77 in this earth assuredly, in which the first Adam fell, and, cast down by a shameful slip, bent the step of all his future posterity;78 in this earth in which Cain, grieving that his brother's gifts had been preferred to his own, was prostrated by the ruin of envy; whence the voice of his brother's blood cried from the earth;79 in this earth holy Noah, whom the floods of the whole world, in such great storms and waves, proved to be vigilant — yet there, at leisure, when he had relaxed his cares with bodily ease, struck upon the sleep of drunkenness and incurred the insult of fatherly piety,80 teaching that leisure is dangerous to a careless virtue. In this earth Lot,81 the imitator of his reverend kinsman, whom the impurity of the lust-ridden Sodomite people did not stain, whom the flame of burning Sodom did not enwrap — of pardonable ignorance indeed, yet did not escape the incest of shameful intercourse; he is burned with the flames of women whom the sulphurous flame did not burn.
26. In this earth also David said he had been almost finished off, since he felt his feet moved and his steps almost spilled out,82 because he reckoned secular riches and the success of bodily prosperity, in place of beatitude, to abound to sinners. For which reason he was also scourged; but scourges to the just are remedies of salvation; for the Lord chastises whom he receives.83 Whence David, also, turned to the love of the Lord and instructed in his precepts, not unaware that to fleeting things fleeting things are borne by a kind of fortuitous outcome, and that not by abundance of riches but by the grace of virtues are the merits of an approvable life weighed, loved rather than forsook the commandments of God, by which alone he could overcome the assailing spiritual wickednesses and the rising appetites of this body in this so frail infirmity of nature. Great, therefore, is the virtue which, set under so great persecutions and almost overwhelmed, yet was not forgetful of its safeguard, nor forsook the commandments of God.
27. And therefore, because he knew that God alone had profited him, directing his prayers to the Lord he says in the following verse: According to thy mercy quicken me, and I shall keep the testimonies of thy mouth.84 What quickening he asks for himself we have said above: that he prayed not for that which he had, but for that which he desired — that is, that he might live for ever, understanding that the beatitude of life cannot be in this fluctuating and untrustworthy body, whose weakness forsakes the soul's purpose. There is need, therefore, of God's mercy, that there be a continual and perpetual quickening in this body, that daily the just man may live to God and die to sin. For if fault die in us, there shall be a life living to God, and the keeping of the heavenly precepts will persevere — which surely he keeps who is quickened by the Lord.
28. And finally he asks first to be quickened by the Lord, and afterwards he promises the keeping of the heavenly testimonies; for it is not this common life that keeps the heavenly commandment, but that which is upheld by an eternal gift through the operation of spiritual grace. We can also understand it thus: that since the prophet had now come to know the things of the law, he longs for the mercy of the Lord's coming, that he may receive the precepts by which the law is fulfilled — that not only might he know that adultery is to be shunned, but also that the very desire of adultery is to be declined. For the mouth of the Father, the Lord Jesus, has spoken in the gospel that he who has looked on a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery in his heart.85 How much have the pursuits of chastity profited by the gospel, by which the reproach not only of fouler deed, but even of degenerate study, is sent away!
29. But who are they of whom he says that they have almost made an end of him upon the earth,86 but the persecutors? Of one of them the Lord Jesus says: Go, tell that fox,87 that is, of Herod. And elsewhere, when he perceived himself fraudulently questioned, he said: The foxes have holes and the birds of the air nests where they may rest,88 in that, fraudulently, they linger in certain hiding-places of earthly passions. Whence also Samson tied two by two foxes together for himself, to whose tails he bound brands and let them go through the harvests of the Philistines,89 signifying through this figure that wicked and fraudulent men, and especially heretics, have a free tongue for barking, but their goings-out are blocked, or their beginnings are quarrelsome, while the end of their fraud is consigned to burning. And therefore he sent out three hundred foxes, in that the perfidious desire indeed to commend themselves by the preaching of the cross, but cannot hold the mystery of it, and by this preaching, contrived and false and feigned, they try rather to burn another's fruits — when assuredly the true cross of the Lord does not burn another's merits, but makes them fruitful. And rightly is it written in the Song of Songs: Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vineyards, that our vineyards may flourish.90 By which it is shown, that either the Lord Jesus or the Church bid the deceits of the fraudulent be exterminated from their vineyards, lest they harm the tiny vineyards, since they cannot harm the vines now grown. For the heretic can tempt the imperfect; he cannot supplant the perfect.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 87.Psalm 118, 87.
- Scr. Esai. 58, 5.Isaiah 58, 5. Var. djvu apparatus l. 18 Incipit—undecima om. N; Undecima littera Caph incipit a undecima littera v; l. 19 ipso Pml; l. 20 terra APR; l. 22 terram Mml; ait GMmlOmlRml; l. 23 curuet Ov; l. 25 sic APm2Ra.
- Scr. Thren. 3, 31—33.Lamentations 3, 31—33.
- Scr. Thren. 1, 11.Lamentations 1, 11.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 81.Psalm 118, 81. Var. djvu apparatus l. 1 etiam et N; l. 3 repellit AOP, reppellet M, reppellit R; l. 4 humiliabitur codd. praeter O; l. 5 non om. N; l. 6 repulit NOav; l. 7 bonum] add. est s.l. R; l. 8 item AMmlR; l. 10 omnes populi M, ingemiscentes ANORm2av; l. 12 et eras. M; l. 14 qua O; l. 15 peruenire ad domini AR; l. 16 hac A; l. 17 exhorsus A, dicens] add. l GPR; salutari tuo NPa; l. 18 supersperaui N, speraui Tav; l. 19 corporeas MNTa; fatigationes NPmlTa; l. 23 deficit M; l. 26 id] in codd. praeter O,a; del. M fort. recte; longua Pml; intensione b; lassari Pm2; l. 27 nocteque v; l. 28 defecit PmlRml.
- Scr. cf. Tob. 10, 4 (3) sqq.cf. Tobit 10, 4 (3) sqq.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 81.Psalm 118, 81.
- Scr. I Cor. 6, 17.1 Corinthians 6, 17.
- Scr. cf. Luc. 3, 6 (salutare dei = Christus).cf. Luke 3, 6 (salutare dei = Christus).
- Scr. Verg. Aen. 1, 718 (gremio fouet echo).Vergil, Aeneid 1, 718 — Ambrose's illum gremio mentis fouet verbally echoes Vergil's Aen. 1, 718, where Dido cradles Cupid disguised as Ascanius (reginam petit. haec oculis, haec pectore toto / haeret et interdum gremio fouet). The eros-poetic register of Dido's fatal embrace is repurposed for the soul cradling its salutare dei = Christ. Caph's first explicit classical-poetic citation; cf. Vau (Verg. Georg. + Aen. cluster) for the surrounding Vergilian density of round 2. Var. djvu apparatus l. 1 fines Pml; l. 2 defecit NPmlRml; l. 3 propterea N, propria O, proprior PmlR; l. 4 absens sit A; dilectio AR; quo Aa; l. 5 qui NPm2v, quem O; quae cet. a; l. 6 longior O; istud Av, id in ras. R; l. 7 ergo om. AR; unumquemque in id v; l. 9 reciperit PmlRml; l. 11 deficiet AR; l. 14 amor] maior M; quodam AGPmlRml; l. 17 deficit O; l. 19 deficit MNOPm2av, defecit cet.; l. 21 dominum] deum av; l. 22 in om. O; l. 23 uiribus] add. in Mml; illi] ille PR; effudit PmlR; l. 25 salutare GmlRml, saluatori NPa; l. 26 suo om. Gml; defecit Pml; defectio] add. non Gm2 Mm2 Pm2, cf. lin. 16 et p. 236, 17; inmunitionem Rml; quidem] quandam Pm2; l. 27 ipse om. O.
- Scr. Ps. 62, 2.Psalm 62, 2.
- Scr. Ps. 62, 9.Psalm 62, 9.
- Scr. Gal. 2, 20.Galatians 2, 20.
- Scr. Ps. 83, 3.Psalm 83, 3.
- Scr. Hier. 20, 9.Jeremiah 20, 9.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 81.Psalm 118, 81. Var. djvu apparatus l. 1 sitiui R; l. 2 anima mea post te NPav; me] add. autem a; l. 3 tua] mea Gml; l. 4 sibi nisi aquam av; l. 5 tua addidi; ergo me dei dextera animae meae inhians et sic a; l. 6 de suo uirtutem (om. mihi) GMv; l. 7 pr. autem om. Rml; l. 8 etiam] add. hoc Mm2NTa, ex Mml; l. 9 nimiae] animae N; inquid Pml; enim a; et om. N; defecit NmlOm2P; l. 10 ante] atria M; inquid Rml; l. 11 tota A, tota in R; infundens NT; fune v; l. 12 anima] add. mea N; l. 13 inquid Pml; l. 16 possim a; desiderio inflammatus AR; l. 19 uerbum] add. tuum O; l. 20 uerbum] add. per R; l. 21 potes R; dei Nm2Oa; l. 22 credit A; l. 23 adnontiatur Rml; l. 25 ueluti O; uinculis huius GNPav; l. 26 salutari OPm2a.
- Scr. Ps. 141, 3—4.Psalm 141, 3—4.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 82.Psalm 118, 82. Var. djvu apparatus l. 1 fieret illius O; l. 2 ipse om. O; in posterioribus ipse av; l. 5 pr. deficit scripsi, defecit codd. av; spiritus eius GM; alt. defecit GOPRa; l. 7 semitas Aml; sum M; l. 8 semita GMNT; l. 9 sequentium GMmlOPR; l. 10 concupiscamus illud a; alt. illud om. a; l. 11 pecunias Pml; l. 12 exagitur Rml; l. 13 fallacibus O; l. 16 superna T; l. 17 ad(at-)tollat AGMORav; igitur] add. se Oav; uiribus suis Oav; l. 18 salutare Am2GMPml; quia R, alt. ipse AR; l. 19 enim est N; salus] add. uera a; l. 20 adque Rml; defecit PmlRm2; l. 21 alt. est] add. De littera XI AGMR; l. 22 uersus om. MNPv; secundus] II OPR, om. GMNv; l. 23 uerbum av; l. 24 supra] add. est Ov; hic om. O; thericon A teoricon O theoricon cet.; πρακτικόν—θεωρητικόν a; l. 25 deficit AOmlv.
- Scr. Cant. 4, 9.Song of Songs 4, 9.
- Scr. Act. 9, 5.Acts 9, 5.
- Scr. Act. 9, 6.Acts 9, 6.
- Scr. I Cor. 14, 15.1 Corinthians 14, 15.
- Scr. Act. 22, 17—18.Acts 22, 17—18. Var. djvu apparatus l. 1 et om. O; l. 2 defecit PRa; l. 3 alt. et] add. hic Pm2; l. 4 una MOav, om. cet.; l. 6 pr. oculos Pml; non O; ab uno N; l. 7 alius] add. oculus Ov; l. 8 dixit O; l. 9 nos] oculorum tuorum a; l. 10 carnis O; l. 14 aeterna—15 uidebat om. APR (cf. Petschenig ad loc.); l. 16 eum om. O; l. 17 enim] eum GNOPRa; quid est AGMNPRmla; l. 20 paulus uidere O; l. 21 suscepit AGmlMmlNPRml; iis v; l. 23 reuertente NPmlTa; me NTa, om. AR; l. 25 dicente Pml; l. 26 recipient v, cj. Sabatier ad hunc locum.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 82.Psalm 118, 82.
- Scr. Tob. 11, 15 (17).Tobit 11, 15 (17). Var. djvu apparatus l. 1 cf. I Reg. 9, 9 (uidentes); l. 3 quod Oml; l. 5 eum esse O; l. 6 intenti scripsi, contenti codd. av; defecimus Pm2R; l. 7 fili P; explorat N; l. 8 currentes Mm2N, currente a; proelio] add. altero post alterum qui nunciaret a; positus N; turrem O; l. 9 exploratores N; fili Pml; l. 10 spelunca A; littorali Nav; l. 11 uiri] mariti Mm2, om. GMmlNOPRTa; nauim GMNav; l. 12 gratia Na; l. 13 aliud Pm2; ante aduertat codd. a; l. 15 libentius v; l. 16 non om. N; l. 17 abligatis O; l. 20 optutus N; l. 21 humilitates Mml; areneae Aml, haraneae PmlRml; l. 23 uidere eius M; l. 25 iis v; l. 26 poposcerat A, posceret GMNa, poscerit Pml; l. 27 seriem O.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 82.Psalm 118, 82.
- Scr. Ioh. 10, 30.John 10, 30.
- Scr. cf. Ioh. 1, 2.cf. John 1, 2.
- Scr. Ioh. 1, 3.John 1, 3. Var. djvu apparatus l. 2 longinco Pml; optutu N; l. 3 his O; uelud MPml; l. 5 coepit N; festinet Na; l. 6 ut] et AGPTa; fit AGPm2a; inueniendae Pm2; l. 7 ergo post prophetae tr. M; dicentis GMPTa; l. 8 sunt] s GMml; l. 9 discere Pml; debuit A; l. 14 se esse AOv; l. 15 unum PRml; adque Pml; l. 16 occisos O; l. 17 uerbum GMmlOmlPmlR; plures NOPmlRa; l. 19 ueritatis NTa; l. 20 quasi] add. uero Ov; uerbum NPml; maius Mm2Ov; l. 22 est opus M; l. 23 quatuor GMOPv; l. 24 si] etsi N; l. 26 aput Pml; l. 27 pr. et] ut NOPm2Rm2av; l. 28 quod om. M.
- Scr. Luc. 10, 40.Luke 10, 40.
- Scr. Luc. 10, 41—42.Luke 10, 41—42.
- Scr. I Cor. 4, 20.1 Corinthians 4, 20.
- Scr. cf. I Cor. 2, 3.cf. 1 Corinthians 2, 3.
- Scr. I Cor. 2, 4.1 Corinthians 2, 4.
- Scr. Ps. 67, 12.Psalm 67, 12. Var. djvu apparatus l. 1 est uerbum O; l. 3 dicendi Mml; l. 4 cura Mml; l. 5 reliquerit AGMR; l. 7 bonum N; partem—8 maius om. N; l. 11 est regnum MO; l. 12 esse P; l. 13 efflatus Ta; l. 14 fit AGPRTa; l. 16 esse apostolus av; sermonem esse GM; saluos faceret et a; l. 17 alios AGMPmlR; l. 18 metuerunt Mml; Iesum om. P; trementes] timentes O; l. 19 seruare O; l. 20 inquid Pml; l. 22 et om. codd. praeter O, cf. lin. 14 et Explan. ps. 47, cap. 24; l. 23 uirtutes Mml; non] add. in av; sapientiae] add. sed in ostensione spiritus Tm2a; l. 25 forensis; philosofico PR; l. 26 ista Pml; l. 27 uirtutem multam P.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 83.Psalm 118, 83.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 9, 17.cf. Matthew 9, 17.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 9, 17.cf. Matthew 9, 17.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 132, 3 + Esai. 55, 10.cf. Psalm 132, 3 + Esai. 55, 10. Var. djvu apparatus l. 2 praedicatio—3 uirtus om. N; l. 3 quia] quin Oav; sermone sancto Oav; l. 4 uersus] V N, om. P; tertius] III GR, IIII (sic) NP; l. 5 tamquam av; l. 7 corpus suum AOR; l. 8 enim O; de OPm2Rm2av, om. cet.; l. 9 igitur] add. sic O; deo] add. atque a; l. 10 iocunditate MNOPRa; l. 11 diuinorum] add. nobis Rm2; l. 12 ministeriorum T; dicit AGMOa; l. 13 utrum (om. que) A; l. 14 hic tuus O; l. 15 inueterescat M, aueterescat N; ne] nec a; l. 16 rumpat] add. quo av; utre APR; l. 17 cupiditatis N; l. 19 gelu om. N; restinctus av; l. 21 ymber MPR; gramen] omnem A; l. 22 faenum a, foenum AGPRv, fenum cet.; fulget splendore O; l. 23 fulgit PmlRml; l. 24 perceptio OPRT; l. 25 corporeum frigere av; restringuit Rml; l. 26 Iesus om. v.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 17, 2.cf. Matthew 17, 2.
- Scr. Matth. 22, 30.Matthew 22, 30.
- Scr. cf. Gen. 3, 21.cf. Genesis 3, 21.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 24, 20.cf. Matthew 24, 20.
- Scr. cf. I Cor. 9, 27.cf. 1 Corinthians 9, 27.
- Scr. Ex. 32, 6.Exodus 32, 6.
- Scr. cf. Deut. 32, 32—33.cf. Deuteronomy 32, 32—33.
- Scr. Ps. 22, 5.Psalm 22, 5.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 118, 83.cf. Psalm 118, 83. Var. djvu apparatus l. 2 cogitatione ARa; a contagione Oav; etiam] add. ne a; l. 6 angeli] add. dei an; l. 8 lucet Mm2; l. 9 deposuerunt O; l. 10 caelestem Mm2; l. 11 pelliceas Pav; l. 12 ad om. MNT; l. 17 est] add. animalis v; l. 19 caro—20 inflectat om. N; molliori MTa; l. 20 mundo MO; l. 24 surrexit MO; l. 25 uter] autem PR; l. 26 botrio AGMPRa, potio Nm2, botrus O; amaritudines Pml; l. 27 praeclarum] add. est Ov; l. 28 sicut uter factus est O; l. 29 sciens N.
- Scr. cf. Rom. 8, 12. 6 (carnis sapientia mors / inimica deo).cf. Romans 8, 12. 6 (carnis sapientia mors / inimica deo).
- Scr. Ps. 118, 84.Psalm 118, 84.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 84.Psalm 118, 84.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 84.Psalm 118, 84.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 84.Psalm 118, 84. Var. djvu apparatus l. 2 nulli culpa O; l. 4 mihi] add. est Ta; l. 5 ut] et a; licore Pml; l. 6 interrenae (in del.) N; l. 8 luxoriam Rml; l. 11 est post inimica tr. av, om. A; saecularis est O; l. 13 uersus om. NP; quartus] IIII GOPR, om. Na; quod ANml; l. 15 quod Mml; l. 17 qur A, quur P; cursum Mml; l. 18 quur P; persecuntur NT; l. 19 nobis Mm2; laquei] aliqui APR; iam om. A; l. 21 inquietare Am2GMNm2Oav; l. 22 erit om. N; iam O; transeundae O; l. 23 propheta etiam quasi Na; l. 24 aestimationem N; quod M; l. 25 solus Aml; l. 29 alt. iudicium om. NT.
- Scr. Ps. 1, 5.Psalm 1, 5.
- Scr. cf. Ioh. 3, 18.cf. John 3, 18.
- Scr. Luc. 10, 19.Luke 10, 19.
- Scr. Matth. 8, 29.Matthew 8, 29.
- Scr. Rom. 16, 20.Romans 16, 20.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 17, 43.cf. Psalm 17, 43. Var. djvu apparatus l. 2 iudicio] iudicium O; l. 3 remuneraueris Tm2a, remuneras v; prouehas Ta; l. 4 corones Ta; prophetico ore promissis scripsi, propheticorum praemiis (poenis NT) codd., propheticorum av; l. 6 dies post uitae s.l. N; l. 8 nam] non O; l. 9 persequentibus O; l. 10 credunt—iudicati sunt NPTa; l. 11 habetis Rml; l. 12 calcare NT, supra MNa; l. 13 scorphiones R, supra O; l. 18 in homine sibi O, hominem P; uendicauit MNm2a; sibi sub N; l. 21 satanam Nv, sathanan O; l. 23 comminuet APmlRml, sibi sub N; l. 24 hoc AGMmlPml; l. 25 dies uitae breues Nav; l. 26 quo] qui GMNP; homines Pml.
- Scr. cf. Luc. 10, 19.cf. Luke 10, 19.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 86.Psalm 118, 86.
- Scr. Ps. 49, 16.Psalm 49, 16. Var. djvu apparatus l. 1 ingemiscat ANm2Oav; igitur est O; l. 5 conteratur AGMmlP; l. 6 quia M; l. 8 subire O; l. 9 operibus] add. ut GMNPRa; l. 10 serpentes AR; illum] cum (sic) O; l. 11 conterimus] add. et Mm2Nav; exurgere Mm2NPT; continentiae uestigiis Nav; l. 13 in om. GMmlPR; l. 14 uersus om. NP; quintus] V GOP, om. N; iniuste O; l. 17 impedire post fidem tr. O; conati sunt superflua narratione O; narratione] add. subuertere v; l. 19 adoleschias codd.; enim] autem M; l. 20 yrundines O; suauitate A; natiuae Am2, natiuitatem AmlPR, om. GMNOa; l. 21 aristotilis ARml; l. 23 est in lege O; l. 25 ideo a; l. 26 enim] autem O.
- Scr. cf. Ioh. 14, 6.cf. John 14, 6.
- Scr. Ps. 49, 19.Psalm 49, 19.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 49, 18.cf. Psalm 49, 18.
- Scr. cf. Esai. 1, 22.cf. Isaiah 1, 22.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 86.Psalm 118, 86.
- Scr. II Tim. 3, 12.2 Timothy 3, 12. Var. djvu apparatus l. 1 ueritatis] add. tenere Oav; l. 2 quur P; l. 4 ergo est Oav, ergo om. NP; l. 6 nequitiam A; l. 9 non om. R; l. 10 quodam O; l. 14 sermonem dei] uerbum domini O; l. 15 depromserint O; loquntur GM, locuntur OR; l. 16 eos bene Nav; refutat (ta in ras.) Ta; perscripto O; l. 18 uersiculo] add. VIto R, VI AGMNP; l. 19 iniusti MmlO; l. 21 pauescat Mmla; l. 22 adspirari M; exorat O; l. 24 se postulat av; adiuuari Mv; l. 25 persecutiones—27 Christo om. N; l. 26 patiantur MOP; persecutiones ergo P; l. 27 in Christo possit av.
- Scr. cf. Eph. 6, 12.cf. Ephesians 6, 12.
- Scr. II Tim. 3, 12.2 Timothy 3, 12.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 86.Psalm 118, 86.
- Scr. Ioh. 15, 20.John 15, 20. Editorial — §22 dating anchor (p. 247). Petschenig flags the §22 opening clause quam pulchre nobis persecutionis processere tempora! (CSEL 62, p. 247) as referring to the persecution of Justina, anno 386 — the Arian dowager empress Justina's Lent–Easter 386 standoff with Ambrose over the Portian and Ambrosian basilicas at Milan (the conflict witnessed by Augustine in Confessions 9, 7, 15). The past-tense processere presupposes that the crisis is now behind the preacher: peace has resumed, and Ambrose can already worry that pacis otia breed worse spiritual perils than the gross persecution just ended (in pace plures persecutiones esse coeperunt). This places Caph's preaching after the spring/summer of 386 CE, in concord with Vau's independent terminus post quem of 17 June 386 drawn from the Gervasius/Protasius natalis (cf. Vau §16, fn 48). Both anchors point to the same liturgical year, with Caph almost certainly later in 386 or 387, after the basilica conflict had visibly subsided. Pizzolato (La dottrina esegetica di Sant'Ambrogio, 1978) and Nauroy's chronology concur in placing the bulk of Expos. ps. CXVIII in 386–390 CE; Caph §22 supplies one of the firmest internal dating points within that range. Var. djvu apparatus l. 2 persecuntur NORa; l. 3 omnis Rml; persecutoribus] add. sunt Mml; l. 4 persecutionibus b, persecutoribus codd. av; l. 5 persecutionibus Rml; l. 7 nolumus a; definitum (om. sententia) O; l. 8 pie uiuere uolunt M; l. 9 pr. persecutionem O; his P; alt. persecutiones NPRav; l. 11 persecuntur NOPR, desunt O; l. 12 desidierit M, desiderat Oml, desideret Om2av; l. 14 persecuntur O; l. 17 sciebat] add. enim O; hoc] add. solum Mm2NPa; l. 19 commendaretur O; l. 22 ad R s.l.ml, om. cet. a; palma MNOPa; fidei MNav; l. 24 precessere M; tempora praecessere O; l. 25 erat sicut mendicus (sic Mm2NO) v; l. 26 sibi om. NT; praedicantis GMPR; animus praedicantis O.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 86.Psalm 118, 86.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 86.Psalm 118, 86.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 87.Psalm 118, 87.
- Scr. cf. Eph. 6, 12.cf. Ephesians 6, 12. Var. djvu apparatus l. 1 cottidiana G; l. 2 calcandae om. N; perceperat O; l. 4 persecutiones plures M; l. 5 adolator P; callidam NO, mente MPmlT; adolationem GMP, adolatione Rml; l. 8 quod] quos AmlRml, quia Am2; l. 9 gloriae Nav; quia Rm2; l. 12 exagitari MPml; l. 15 pro deuotione uirtutis O; nouerit GMNOPa; l. 17 sed—18 alt. me om. codd. praeter O; l. 19 et om. O; l. 20 sumus MNOPa; l. 23 prouide N; his O; l. 25 uersus om. P; septimus] VII NOPR, om. AGM; l. 28 aduersum O.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 87.Psalm 118, 87.
- Scr. cf. Gen. 3, 6.cf. Genesis 3, 6.
- Scr. cf. Gen. 4, 8.10.cf. Genesis 4, 8.10.
- Scr. cf. Gen. 9, 21—23.cf. Genesis 9, 21—23.
- Scr. cf. Gen. 19, 33—35.cf. Genesis 19, 33—35. Var. djvu apparatus l. 2 eius O; diuturno Mml; l. 3 corruisse Pml; l. 4 que M; l. 5 grauis] add. est av; ipsius] add. usus v; corporis usus O; inflammatus Pml; l. 7 non om. N; affectu NPmla; ll. 8.13 luxoria Rml; l. 10 uicisse PmlR; iustos Mml; l. 11 sumus M; certaminis AGNOPR; passionum om. v; l. 12 iudicet MNOPmlTa; l. 17 me om. PmlR; l. 19 inflixit a; l. 20 status O; l. 23 tamen om. O; def. A add. ibi a; ebrietatis—p. 255, 17 in habitatione sua desunt in A; add. quando mediastino filio delyrante s.l.m2Ta; l. 24 esse ocia, secura esse pericula uirtutis O; secura GMNPRa; l. 25 Lot v; l. 26 luxoriantis Rml; decolarauit P; flammae Pml.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 72, 2.cf. Psalm 72, 2.
- Scr. Hebr. 12, 6 (cf. Ps. 72, 14 on the flagellatus est clause).Hebrews 12, 6 (cf. Ps. 72, 14 on the flagellatus est clause).
- Scr. Ps. 118, 88.Psalm 118, 88. Var. djvu apparatus def. A (codex A continues to defect through p. 255 line 17); l. 2 iste v; se esse v; l. 5 pedes suos motos O; add. omnem filium v; l. 11 eo om. Ov; ingentes N; l. 17 constitutis T; bene M; l. 19 ideo MRav; l. 20 sequenti] add. VIII P; Rml; l. 26 dei ergo GM; dei om. N; misericordia dei av; sit O sit del. O; ut] quo a, om. GM; cottidie GM; l. 27 continua] add. p. 251, 1 deo om. N.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 5, 28.cf. Matthew 5, 28.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 87.Psalm 118, 87.
- Scr. Luc. 13, 32.Luke 13, 32.
- Scr. Matth. 8, 20.Matthew 8, 20.
- Scr. cf. Iudd. 15, 4—5.cf. Judges 15, 4—5. Var. djvu apparatus def. A; l. 1 uiuens deo M; l. 4 mandatorum Na; l. 6 intelligire Pml; l. 10 declinandum Rml; concupiscendam M; de om. NT; l. 11 locutus est iesus (om. dominus) O; l. 13 studea Rml; qui R; l. 15 sint GMmlPRTa; l. 16 eum] me O; ll. 18.20 fraudolenter Rml; interrogare O; inproui Mml; quod om. O; l. 21 unde Ov; l. 23 allophilorum GMNOPa, allofilorum R; l. 25 aut] at Mml; ac OT; religiosa a; fraudolenti Rml; l. 29 exurere ex uere N.
- Scr. Cant. 2, 15.Song of Songs 2, 15. Var. djvu apparatus def. A; l. 1 merita aliena O; l. 2 fecundat Rml; prandite Pml; l. 4 quo] quod MmlOml; l. 5 fraudolentorum GRml; l. 6 pausillulis NmlPmlRmlT, pusillulis Nm2ORm2v; l. 7 uineas Rml; uiribus GMmlNPT; l. 9 nihil subscript. in codd.