and harp: one cymbals, another trumpets, some the psaltery and zither, and others the singers called bucolic singers. Each chorus had a leader, of whom one was called Asaph, another Idithum, another the sons of Core, another Ethan the Israelite, and another Moses, the man of God. Whenever, therefore, he was moved by the Spirit to prophesy, whether concerning the captivity of the people, or their return, or concerning moral instruction, or divine providence, or the Lord Christ, he would compose into verse each psalm, aiming at one single subject (hence both short and long psalms), and deliver it to one chorus. If, however, he decided to deliver the remainder of the psalm to another chorus in the middle of the psalm, then that succession in the psalm was called *Diapsalma*. Thus, when they wished to deliver [the psalm] to the so-called singers, or bucolic singers, in the middle of the psalm, it was called a song of the *diapsalma*, because the singers received the remainder of the psalm to sing in succession. One may learn of this, if he wishes, from what is written in the Books of Chronicles: *And he sang this song by the hand of Asaph the prophet* (1 Par. 25:2). After he had first delivered the psalm, subsequently each chorus, both on its own and in unison, with joy and rhythm—some with these instruments, some with those—sang the psalm antiphonally with dance, for the glory and praise of God. One can learn about this again from the fact that David himself, when he brought up the ark from the Philistines, danced before it, and when mocked by his own wife Melchol, he said: *I will play and I will be laughed at before the Lord* (2 Kings 6:21). For he not only did not cease, but he promised to increase such things. But some, not having paid attention to the order and precision, and not wishing to be taught by those who knew these things, have turned to allegories, declaring not all the psalms to be David’s, but saying they are clearly those of others who received them from him; yet the Lord or an apostle never mentioned a psalm of anyone other than David. We describe him, therefore, sitting, and the choruses before him on the right and on the left, so that one may recognize the sight of the arrangement itself. Moreover, we shall say which psalms he himself was deemed worthy to utter concerning the dispensation of the Lord, having varied them in composition and changed them in form differently concerning the passion and resurrection of His humanity. Likewise, [we shall show] that by His divinity He is eternal and the creator of all things and the restorer of the universe, towards which the entire scope of the divinely inspired Scripture looks. The chorus of Idithum, the chorus of the sons of Core, the chorus of Ethan the Israelite, the chorus of Asaph, the chorus of Moses, the man of God—these are the choruses of the prophets under him, singing and chanting with various instruments and dancing for the glory of God the 150 psalms issued from the Holy Spirit.
PROLEGOMENA TO THE PSALMS
1. All divine Scriptures are holy; but the Psalms possess something more: for instance, concerning temperance immediately—or rather, before all things—concerning not associating with the wicked, from the very beginning of the book. Therefore, the blessed David began from this point, saying: *Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly* (Ps. 1:1). And when he says "blessedness," he means the peak of all good things. And concerning associating with the good, concerning controlling the belly, concerning all things...
SPURIA. MONITORIUM ON THE FOLLOWING HOMILY
Savile notes this well: This homily agrees in great part (except that it is somewhat fuller) with that which we read in Latin, Vol. 1, col.... of the 1586 Paris edition, which Sixtus of Siena approved. How correctly, he himself shall see. This, certainly, which we have in hand, some mutilator excerpted from Chrysostom’s ethical passages; for almost everything is contained in the Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans. Of this kind also are the orations 120 and 123, which we number among those about which there is doubt, not because they are not Chrysostom’s (for whatever is in them is found scattered throughout Chrysostom), but because they have been digested into this form by some rhapsodist. They should have had their place among the excerpts, in which...ARGUMENTUM PSALMORUM
1. All Scriptures are holy; but the Psalms possess something more; for instance, concerning temperance immediately; for the cause, they deal with all things from the very beginning of the book, concerning avoiding the company of the wicked. Therefore indeed hence the blessed David took his beginning, saying: *Blessed is the man who has not walked in the council of the ungodly* (Ps. 1:1). By blessedness indeed, when he speaks of it, he signifies the summit of all good things. Likewise he treats of the company of the righteous, of curbing the belly, of lasciviousness, of repressing avarice: of all...