Commentary on the Song of Songs

THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS, EXPLANATION OF THE SONG OF SONGS

^ATo the most God-beloved Bishop John, Theodoret.

The explanation of divine oracles requires a soul that is purified and devoid of every stain; it requires, moreover, a mind that is winged and capable of beholding divine things, daring to enter the inner sanctuaries of the Spirit. It requires also a tongue that serves the mind and is capable of worthily interpreting its contemplation. As for me, my soul is burdened with a great heap of sins, and my mind is overwhelmed with the concerns of the affairs committed to my charge; and for this reason it is lowly and earthbound, unable to contemplate the divine oracles accurately, and, in addition to this, my tongue is even more sluggish and slower than my mind. However, since you, my dear friend, have commanded me to interpret the book of the Song of Songs, and to show clearly and plainly the meaning of the things spoken enigmatically and mystically, I have dared to undertake things that exceed my powers, and this while distracted by countless urban and rural, military and civil, ecclesiastical and common cares. I have taken the risk of plunging into the vast sea, and, having descended into the depth of the letter, I have ventured to bring up the pearl of its meaning. And I have taken no oil in my mouth, which I might use as a man-made light to assist in searching for what is sought, but rather prayer and supplication, of which I am in the greatest need for the understanding of divine oracles.

For the blessed David taught us to say: "Open thou my eyes, that I may consider the wondrous things of thy law." ^A Taught these things, let us implore the divine grace to reveal to us the meaning of this book.

Since, however, there are some who malign the Song of Songs, and, not believing the book to be spiritual, weave myths even unworthy of delirious old women, and dare to say that the wise Solomon wrote this about himself and the daughter of Pharaoh—and others of this same gang fabricated that Abishag the Shunammite, rather than the daughter of Pharaoh, is the bride—while others, considering it more prudently, have called the discourse royal, so that by the name of the bride the people is understood, and by the groom, the king: ^B we have judged it necessary, at the beginning of our interpretation, first to refute this false and harmful opinion, and then to establish the clear purpose of the text. For they ought to have recognized that the holy Fathers, who placed this book among the divine Scriptures and, certifying it as filled with the Spirit, judged it worthy of the Church, were by far wiser and more spiritual than they. For they would not, if they had thought otherwise, have inscribed it in the number of the holy Scriptures as a subject for licentiousness and self-indulgence.

But what need is there to speak of the Fathers of later times, when it is possible to use the testimony of the divine Spirit himself? For since the divine Scriptures, being partly burned under Manasseh, ^C who surpassed in wickedness and impiety all who were before him and after him, and were partly lost during the time of the captivity, when the temple was burned by the Babylonians, the city destroyed, and the people led away into slavery, the blessed Ezra, a man distinguished in virtue and filled with the all-holy Spirit, as the facts themselves declare, after many years, when the people had been recalled, restored to us the necessary and salvation-bringing Scriptures. He restored not only the books of Moses, but also the history of Joshua, Judges, and Kings, the narrative of the courageous Job, the sacred melody of David—the joy of the Church—the sixteen prophets, and the proverbs of the wise Solomon, the Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. ^D If therefore Ezra, aided by no copy, but moved by the divine Spirit, transcribed these things for the benefit of all men, how can it be, O best of men, that this book contains the argument which you claim? For lewd writings proceed not from the divine Spirit, but from a diabolic one. "For the fruit of the Spirit," says the blessed Paul, "is charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, temperance."

But if temperance is the fruit of the divine Spirit, it is manifest that incontinence is the fruit of the opposing one; and yet, as you say, the book of the Canticle of Canticles contains a subject of incontinence. Do you see, then, whither your blasphemies tend? For the insult cast upon the book is dared against the all-holy Spirit. For the blessed Esdras, filled with His grace, renewed the lost book, as we have said; and the blessed Fathers, being aware of this, have numbered it among the sacred Scriptures. Moreover, many of the ancients have illustrated it with commentaries and interpretations, and those who have not interpreted it thereafter have nonetheless adorned their own writings with its sentiments. Nor only Eusebius of Palestine, and Origen the Egyptian, and Cyprian of Carthage, who was wreathed with the crown of martyrdom, and those who were older than these and closer to the apostles; but even those who flourished in the churches after them recognized the book as spiritual: the great Basil, when expounding the beginning of Proverbs, and both Gregories—the one united to Basil by blood, the other by friendship—and that stout defender of piety, Diodorus, and John, who even to this day waters the whole world with the streams of his teaching, and all those who have come after them—to speak briefly and avoid the length of the discourse. Let us consider, therefore, whether it be just to despise so many and such men, and to scorn the all-holy Spirit Himself, in order to follow our own opinions, not listening to him who says so excellently: "For the thoughts of mortal men are fearful, and our counsels are uncertain," ^C nor to the blessed Paul speaking thus of certain ones: "They became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened." We therefore, with the blessed Peter, cry out thus: "We must obey God rather than men." Let us say also to them: "If it be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard through the holy Spirit." But lest we appear to take thought only for ourselves while neglecting our adversaries, come, let us investigate whence they have seized the occasion for their disease, and let us bring to them, as far as is possible, the remedy from the sacred Scriptures.

^D Reading, as I suppose, this volume, and observing in it ointments, and kisses, and thighs, and belly, and navel, and cheeks, and eyes, and lilies, and apples, and nard, and stacte, and myrrh, and such like things, and being ignorant of the proper idiom of divine Scripture, they have not wished to enter in, and to cross over the veil of the letter, and look upon the spirit within, and with unveiled face contemplate the glory of the Lord; but understanding that which is said carnally, [they have failed to grasp the truth.

slipped into that blasphemy. Yet they ought to have considered that even in the Old Testament, divine Scripture speaks much in a figurative manner, and by using other names, signifies other things. For when it speaks of the Babylonian, it sets down neither his proper name nor a common one of his nature; for it neither named Nebuchadnezzar, nor called him a man, but ^B bound round a kingdom. Wherefore it says: “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Of this same kind is also that: “All nations, clap your hands, shout to God with a voice of rejoicing, for the Lord is most high, terrible, a great king over all the earth.” And again: “Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one. In your comeliness and your beauty, stretch ^C forth, and proceed prosperously, and reign.” And again: “Lift up your gates, O you princes, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall enter in, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” In these songs, then, the prophets recount the victory of the King, and hymn Him for the deliverance of the captives. But the Song of Songs describes His marriage, and portrays the love for the bride. And it calls “bride” ^D those who, in those songs of captivity, were delivered and obtained their freedom, and have been reconciled to the King, and have kept an unforgetting memory of the benefits, and show much good will and affection toward Him, and unceasingly follow Him; then, as the heavenly powers ask, “Who is this King of glory?” they desire to be with Him, and cannot bear to be separated from their Savior even for the slightest fraction of a day. For this reason is this book called the Song of Songs, the Word signifying that those songs were brought into being for the sake of this song, and those lead to this. For this is the head of all good things, and the crowning point of divine philanthropy: the ineffable goodness, the immeasurable mercy, the unfathomable pity, the unutterable love, that the Creator, and Fashioner, and Maker, and Lord, and God, and Master, and He who is ever the same, should not only deliver this clay-born, passible, corruptible, ungrateful, and useless creature from death and the devil’s tyranny, but should also grant it freedom, and not only make it free, but also establish it as sons; and not only bestow the gift of adoption, but also call it bride and make it so, and be joined to her in a manner like to a bridegroom, and offer countless bridal gifts, and prepare a bridal chamber and couch; and, being naked, clothe her, and become for her a mantle, and food, and drink, and a way, and a shield, and life, and light, and resurrection. But I am attempting to count the sand, or the drops of rain, or to measure the sea with a cup, by daring in words to reach the magnitude of the divine philanthropy. For this reason, therefore, the book is called the Song of Songs, as teaching the greater forms of God’s goodness.

^A nor were you salted with salt, nor were you swaddled in cloths. No eye spared you, to do any one of these things for you, to have compassion upon you; but you were cast out upon the face of the field, in the abjection of your soul, on the day that you were born. And I passed by you, and I saw you fouled in your blood. And I said to you: In your blood, live; multiply, as the sprout of the field I have made you. And you multiplied, and were made great, and you entered into cities of cities. Your breasts were established, and your hair sprang up. But you were naked and shameful. And I passed by you, and I saw you; and behold your time, the time of those turning away; and I spread my wings over you, and I covered your shame. And I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God. And you became mine. And I washed you with water, and I washed away your blood from you; and I anointed you with oil. And I clothed you with various colors, and I shod you with hyacinth, and I girded you with fine linen, and I clothed you in garments woven of ^B hair. And I adorned you with adornment, and I placed bracelets upon your hands, and a collar about your neck; and I gave a nose-ring upon your nostrils, and rings upon your ears, and a crown of glory upon your head. And after a few words: You did eat fine flour, and honey, and oil. And you became very beautiful, and your name went forth among the nations for your beauty. And after a few words again: And it came to pass after all your wickedness, says the Lord God, that you built for yourself a harlot’s house; and you made for yourself an exposure in every street, and at the head of every way you built your brothels; and you defiled your beauty, and you spread your legs to every passerby, and you multiplied your fornications. And you played the harlot with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors, who were large of flesh; and manifoldly did you play the harlot to provoke me. And after a few words again: And you were not as a harlot gathering wages, but as an adulterous woman similar to you, who instead of her husband commits adultery with strangers; who besides her husband receives wages, and to all who commit fornication with her she adds wages. To all harlots wages are given; but you gave wages to all your lovers, and you burdened them with gifts so that they might come to you from all sides to fornicate ^C with you. And it happened in you, contrary to the custom of women in your fornications, and after you there shall not be such fornication. For in that you gave wages, and you did not receive wages, a perversion was done in you. And the things that follow are of the same kind.

What will they say, those who criticize the writings of the Song of Songs, and who do not fear to interpret it as shameless, when they find similar things said in the Old Testament concerning the multitude of the Jews? Behold...

for here too we find breasts, and navel, and legs, and hands, and nostrils, and ears, and beauty, and love, and embrace, and union, and all things said by the God of all; and we do not understand them as we read them, nor are we persuaded by the killing letter. But becoming initiated into this, we search out the meaning of the Spirit, and being illuminated by Him, we spiritually grasp the things of the Spirit. ^A And when we hear God speaking to Jerusalem, "Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite," we understand not a natural relationship, but one of moral character. For by nature they were descendants of Abraham, who traced his lineage from Shem; but according to the wickedness of their ways, they coincided with the line of the accursed Canaan. Therefore, He calls her father an Amorite and her mother a Hittite; for these were children of Canaan. For they obtained the kinship of those whose wickedness they imitated. ^B Therefore, the blessed John the Baptist also said to those who came out to him: "Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'" [Lk. III, 7] Calling those who boasted of Abraham a "brood of vipers" because of the kinship of their wickedness. And the Lord Himself, to those who said, "We have Abraham as our father," answered saying: "You are of your father the devil." [Jn. VIII, 44] And showing the reason, He adds: "And you want to do the works of your father." And explaining what those are, "He was, He says, a murderer from the beginning." [Ibid.] Thus, therefore, here too ^C the God of all said: "Your root and your generation are from the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite." Then, showing the life and upbringing in Egypt, which was neglected and deemed unworthy of any care: "On the day you were born," He says, "they did not bind your breasts." He calls both the breasts and the (binding) cloths figuratively, since it is the custom for virgins from childhood to take care of their breasts. Therefore, also through Jeremiah the prophet, God says: "Will a virgin forget her ornament, or a bride her breast-band?" [Jer. II, 32] Virgins take care of these things, wishing to please their own bridegrooms. Since, therefore, the multitude of the Jews, after the time of their sojourn in Egypt, did not attain to any care, nor did they attend to the components of virtue, He says reasonably: "On the day you were born, they did not bind your breasts," which is to say, the life-giving part of the soul—that which generates the nourishing milk—they did not deem worthy of care, so as to offer the nipples of instruction to those who came after them at the proper time. And continuing with the metaphor, "In water," He says, "you were not washed"—that is, you did not cleanse away the filth ^D of the Egyptian idolatry; but from these, since you were...

^A born to depart from that slavery, you still carry the signs of the birth, not having been washed away, but clothed in [27: maternal mud]. Consistent with these things, He adds: "Nor were you salted at all," which is the custom for midwives to offer to infants. And this too we shall understand according to the laws of allegory; knowing "salt" to be spiritual insight and divine teaching, which curdles what is rotten and keeps it sound. Therefore, the Lord also said to the disciples: “Have salt,” and again, “You are the salt of the earth.” And in the Old Testament we find no sacrifice offered without salt. Thus we understand the passage, “Your navel was not cut.” For since the navel is like a kind of root of the embryo, according to those skilled in such things (for through it, as through a kind of root, it draws nourishment, and grows, and is perfected), he reasonably ^B says here that Jerusalem was not cut; since, although she was born out of Egypt, she was still drinking in the Egyptian idolatry, and drawing that wicked food from the maternal womb. "And I passed by you," he says, "and saw you wallowing in your blood." He signifies the sacrifices offered to idols. "And I said to you: 'Live by your blood,' be fruitful." Since He conceded to them the right to sacrifice, but legislated that they should sacrifice to Him—not that He Himself needed sacrifices, but condescending to their infirmity—He says: "Do you delight in sacrifices and blood? Do not sacrifice to demons, but offer the sacrifices to Me. For I accept them, not because I have need of animal offerings, but because I am managing your salvation in every way." Therefore He says: "Live by your blood, be fruitful." ^C In the same way we should understand the passage: "Your breasts were erect." For those which, because of excessive wantonness and the insanity of idols, previously hung down, were made erect through My diligence and care, and were reduced to the manner of virgins. He shows the change for the better, and the impulse toward higher things, and the acquisition of temperance. "And your hair," He says, "has sprouted," that is, when you were stripped of every ornament, suddenly you brought forth hair capable of adorning you. "But you were naked and full of confusion." For neither had the law been given, nor the tabernacle been constructed, nor had the bridal gifts been sent. Therefore he subjoins: "And I passed by you, and I saw you; and behold, your time and the time of those who turn aside"—that is, you have become apt for marriage and suitable for union. "Therefore I spread My wings over you, and covered your shame." By the wings he understands the various kinds of gifts: namely, the priesthood, the ^D prophecy, the government, the kingdom, the miracles, those gifts which cannot be explained in words. "And I swore to you." This can be clearly found in the writings of the great Moses. "For I will lift up My hand to heaven," he says, "and I will swear by My right hand, and I will say: I live forever." And again: "As I live, and My name lives, and the glory of the Lord shall fill the whole earth." Therefore He calls to her memory His oaths, saying, "I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God. A legitimate...

^A marriage, He says, has taken place, and covenants have been made between us; and marriage deeds followed, containing legitimate choices, signifying that if you should violate the established covenants, you shall be cast out of the house, stripped of the bridal gifts, and depart naked, just as you entered. For you brought nothing to the marriage. I, however, cleansed you when you were soiled; I seasoned you when you were lacking salt; I clothed you when you were naked; and I caused your breasts, which had been slack, to become erect. For this reason He adds: "And I entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine; and I washed you with water, and I washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil, and I clothed you in multicolored garments; and I shod you with hyacinth, and I girded you with fine linen," and the rest. And this can be learned precisely from the writings of the most divine Moses. For he fashions the priestly ornament, and the holy anointing oil, having been taught the manner of their construction by the God of all. Let us thus understand the bracelets of the hands, and the necklace of the neck, and the earring on the nose, and the rotulas of the ears, and the crown of boasting placed upon the head. For by "bracelets of the hands" He designates practical virtue; by "rotulas of the ears," the listening to divine oracles, which one must cling to just as the ear clings to the rotula; by "necklace of the neck," the ornament of prudence shining in the governing principle, which reposes upon the heart that depends from the neck; and by the "earring placed on the nose," the bridle of the divine laws, using a metaphor from oxen, who are led in such a way by their drovers. ^B For indeed, through the prophet Hosea, God speaks such things again: "As a heifer goaded by a gadfly, Ephraim went mad." And again: "I heard, He says, Ephraim lamenting: You have chastised me, Lord, and I was not chastised; as a calf I have not been taught." Therefore, she was in absolute need of such a bit, so that she might be restrained from her disorderly course through it. In this way, let us also understand the "lupanar" (brothel). For by these, He signified the temples of the idols. He called it a lupanar because, although she was joined to God and called Him her husband, she fell in love with wicked demons and built temples for them, and offered to them the gifts she had received from God. For this reason He added: "And at the head of every way you built your lupanaria, and you corrupted your beauty, and you spread your legs to every passerby," through this signifying the excess of her wantonness. For you did not consort only with those familiar to you, but, raging with the ardor of lust, you impudently associated with everyone passing by. He here again figuratively refers to the worship of idols as a mixing. It should be noted, however, what words the God of all uses to explain the immense zeal for idolatry. "You spread," He says, "your legs to every passerby, and you multiplied your fornications, and you committed fornication with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors, who are of great car^C nal...

carnal ^B stature." Again, here He indicated the magnitude of the idolatry and the excess of impiety with such names. "And you have not been like a harlot gathering wages; the woman committing adultery is like you, who, instead of receiving wages from her husband, gives wages to all who commit fornication with her; and you have given wages to all your lovers, and you burdened them, that they might come to you from all around in your fornication." And it happened in you that which is perverted beyond all other women in your fornication. And by these things, He again signaled that even though they received grain, and wine, and oil, and sheep, and oxen, and calves from God, they offered these as sacrifices to idols, dishonoring God from whom these gifts happened to come; and offering these to those who had never provided anything at all but were only the cause of destruction; and offering wages to the adulterers, rather than receiving wages from them. Similar things to these are found in the prophet Jeremiah: "For now," he says, "you have committed adultery with wood and stone. Lift up your eyes to the straight way, and see where you have not been defiled. Now in the ways you sat, waiting for them, as a ^C raven in the wilderness, alone: and you have defiled the land with your fornications." And the blessed Isaiah also says, "How has the faithful city, Sion, full of judgment, become a harlot? In which justice once slept, but now, murderers." And again, "What, he says, is this bill of divorce of your mother, by which I sent her away? Or to whom, being a debtor, did I sell you? Behold, for your iniquities you have been sold, and for your transgressions I have sent your mother away." But what need is there to recount all the things said by the Lord through the prophets? For from those things which we have commemorated, we may learn that the divine Scriptures are to be treated in this way: that we should not follow the letter only, but we should also unfold its mind and sense.

Moving, therefore, from the old bride to the new, let us in this way interpret the book of the Song of Songs, and, having rejected those false and pernicious opinions, let us imitate the holy Fathers, and let us recognize one bride speaking with one bridegroom, and let us learn from the holy apostles who the bridegroom is, and who the bride is. For the most divine Paul also teaches us, writing thus: "I have betrothed you to one man, to present a chaste virgin to Christ." And he says that the bride is constructed from many. For he says, "I have betrothed you" — not "you" (singular) — so that it is evident that it means souls that are pious and perfect in virtue. For the ^D divine word knows the Church to be the bride; but it calls Christ the bridegroom. And that great John, who pointed out the end of the law and the beginning of grace, and who exists between the pedagogue

and the wise master, in whose time the shadow received the body, says: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice” (John iii. 29). And the Lord himself calls himself a bridegroom. For when the Pharisees accused the holy apostles of not fasting, he replied by saying: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matt. ix. 15, 16). Therefore, let us understand the Church to be the bride, and Christ the bridegroom; and the young maidens who follow the bride to be pious but less experienced souls, who have not yet imitated the virtue of the bride nor been deemed worthy of that perfection. Hence, they follow the bride, but are not called brides. ^A The text also has others moving with the bridegroom, and whoever might call these either angels, serving the Lord's command and adorning the bride; or prophets, announcing these things long before; or apostles, themselves serving the Lord’s nods in an angelic manner, will not stray from the mark of truth. But to me it seems they are rather angels. Since the divine Scriptures teach us to recognize the bride as those souls perfected in virtue, and nothing is more perfect than apostles and prophets, except ^B for the angels: for these reasons, those who serve the bridegroom and strive to attend to the bride appear to me to be angels. Since, even as the bridegroom was born, we find an angelic choir rejoicing, exulting, and crying out with joyful songs: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke ii. 14). Moreover, the archangel Gabriel was the minister in the very conception; and an angel is seen to have commanded Joseph, both his flight into Egypt and his return from there. And after the ^C struggles with the devil were finished, angels approached and ministered with favorable acclamations and praises and all service to him who had fought on behalf of our weakness and had defeated the adversary. Furthermore, at the time of the passion, angels were present, supporting the human element. Also, at the tomb, angels sitting by proclaimed his resurrection; and when he was taken up into heaven, angels said to the apostles: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This ^D Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner” (Acts i. 11). Therefore, it seems to me that the ranks of angels are with the bridegroom, observing his nods and attending to the bride with every care and devotion. It is also necessary to preface this, that we have been taught there are three books of Solomon: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. And that Proverbs contains useful discipline concerning morals, while Ecclesiastes pertains to those things perceived by the senses.

^A teaching the vanity of the present life, so that, recognizing these things as fleeting and fragile, we may despise them as things passing away, and desire the things of the future as those which are permanent. And that the Song of Songs contains the mystical intimacy and union of the bride and bridegroom. Thus, the entire teaching of Solomon is like a kind of ladder, consisting of three steps: the moral, the natural, and the mystical. For it is necessary for one who approaches the discipline of living piously and rightly to first purge the soul through good actions, and then to despise the fleeting vanity of things passing away—which seem pleasing to the senses—and from there, finally, to fly upward to the bridegroom, who promises and is to be loved and embraced as the bringer of eternal goods. For this reason, this book is placed third, so that one walking by reason and by this way may attain perfection. ^B I believe, however, that the wise Solomon wrote these things having been taught by his father, inasmuch as he was a prophet, and a great prophet indeed. For he had surely heard him singing: "The queen stood at your right hand, in golden-threaded attire, wrapped about, variegated." And again: "Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father; and the king will desire your beauty, because he himself is your Lord God." Indeed, they totally forbid the reading of this book to youths and those still imperfect in age, but they offer it for reading only to those who have attained manhood, and are capable of understanding the hidden things and grasping spiritually what has been written. Therefore, ceasing from this strife, whether the book was written prophetically ^C or he taught what he had learned from his father, let us set our hand to the interpretation, requesting this one thing from our readers: that they do not accuse us of theft if they should find anything in these commentaries that has been said by the fathers. For we confess that we too received the occasion for interpretation from them. But this should not be called theft, but a paternal inheritance. Although we have added our own conclusions to those things which we received from them. And what was explained more broadly by some, we have contracted; while what required diligence, we have expanded. In short, we have undertaken a labor which, I believe, will not be useless to our readers. Therefore, we ask those who are about to enjoy the fruit of our labors without labor of their own, that they grant us prayers and supplications in return for our labors. But if the explanation should appear less than accurate, at least consider the labor as good, and teach what is lacking. ^D

OF THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS: INTERPRETATION OF THE SONG OF SONGS

^A Since, trusting in the divine grace, we have ventured to explain this book, come, let us first of all examine the very inscription of the book and make it clear and evident. "The Song of Songs, which Solomon sang." Let us consider why the wise Solomon did not entitle this book "Song," but "Song of Songs." For that nothing is said or done in vain or without cause by the divine Spirit is clearly established for those who make use of prudent reasoning and piety. Since this is the case, it must be investigated for what reason this writing is called "Song of Songs," and not just "Song." We do not doubt that many songs, and psalms, and hymns, and odes were spoken and written both by the blessed David and by the prophets who existed before him and after him. ^B And Moses, that great one, sang first the song of victory, when the sea, having been divided, became a path for the Israelites, but a tomb for the Egyptians; a second song of thanksgiving over the well; and a third, in which he recounted the divine gifts and accused the ungrateful disposition of the people. And the blessed David also sang some hymns of victory, and others of the wine press; and some were morning hymns, others evening ones. But the wise Solomon does not write a song of victory, nor a morning song, but a nuptial song. For the victory songs indicate the destruction of enemies and the release of captives, ^C as in that saying: "He removes wars unto the ends of the earth; He will shatter the bow, and He will crush the weapon, and He will burn up the shields with fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." For it signifies that, having shattered the armament of the enemies and having liberated those who for a long time were enslaved under them, and having established such a kingdom, in which all to him

^A willingly served. Therefore he says: "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Of the same kind is also that saying: "All you nations, clap your hands; shout aloud to God with a voice of exultation. For the Lord is most high, terrible, a great king over all the earth." And again: "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty one; in thy majesty and in thy beauty, string thy bow, and prosper, and reign." And elsewhere: "Lift up your gates, O you princes, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall enter in, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." In these songs, therefore, the prophets celebrate the victory of the King, and they praise him because he has redeemed the captives into liberty.

But the Song of Songs describes his nuptials, and sets forth his love for the bride. ^B By "bride," he calls those who are commemorated in those songs as having been delivered from servitude, and having attained liberty, and having attached themselves to the King, and having kept an unforgetting memory of his benefits, and displaying great goodwill and affection towards him, and being continuously in his train; then, when the powers above ask, "Who is this King of glory?" they desire to understand, and do not endure to be separated from their Savior, not even for a brief moment of time. For this reason is this book called the Song of Songs, the argument signifying that those other songs were made for the sake of this Song, and lead to it. ^C For this is the head of all good things, the climax of divine philanthropy, the ineffable goodness, the immeasurable mercy, the unfathomable compassion, the inexpressible love, that the Author, and Maker, and Creator, and Lord, and God, and Prince, and he who is always the same, not only snatched this earthen creature, subject to passions and corruptible and ungrateful and useless, from death and diabolical tyranny, but also bestowed liberty upon it, and not only rendered us free, but also adopted us as sons; ^D and not only bestowed the gift of adoption, but also called it his bride and made it so, and in the same way as a bridegroom is joined to her in wedlock, he gave innumerable bridal gifts, and prepared the matrimonial bed and chamber; and having clothed her when she was naked, he himself became for her a garment, and food, and drink, and the way, and a shield, and life, and light, and resurrection. But I am attempting to count the sand, or the drops of rain, or to measure the sea with a ladle, in seeking to explain in words the magnitude of the divine philanthropy. For this reason, therefore, this book is called the Song of Songs, as it teaches the greater mysteries of God's goodness.

For this is the principal point of all blessings, and the culmination of divine philanthropy: the ineffable goodness, the immeasurable mercy, the unquantifiable compassion, the unspoken love—that the Creator, Fabricator, Maker, Lord, God, and Master, who always exists in the same way, should not only deliver this clay-born animal, which is subject to passions, corruptible, ungrateful, and useless, from death and the tyranny of the devil, but also bestow freedom upon it, and not only render it free, but constitute it his own children—and not only gift the grace of adoption, but also invite and make it his bride, and be harmonized ^A with her just as a bridegroom is, and offer countless dowries, and prepare for her a bridal chamber and a bedroom; that he should clothe her when she was naked, and become for her a cloak, food, drink, a path, a shield, life, light, and resurrection. But indeed, I contend with trying to number the sand, or the drops of rain, or measure the sea with a cup, by daring in speech to reach the divine philanthropy.

“Length of life,” he says, “and years of life are in her right hand; in her left, wealth and glory.” And again, concerning the embrace, one may find it said in Proverbs: “Love her, and she will guard you; encircle her, and she will exalt you; honor her, so that she may embrace you.” From these sources, therefore, taking our starting points, let us understand those things more spiritually, believing the so-called embrace to be the communion of the divine Word and the pious soul. The left and the right must be understood as taken from our own perspective. And that we may not leave this unobserved, let us understand it thus: God knows both how to confer benefits and how to inflict punishments, bestowing both upon those who are worthy. Therefore, understanding ^B the beneficent grace as the right, and the punitive as the left, let us hear the bride saying: “His left is under my head”; that is, I am above the punishments, I am not subject to them, because I have drawn near to the bridegroom and am mindful of his care. “His right shall embrace me,” that is, he will adorn me with his benefits, and as if embracing and comprehending me, and fulfilling my desire, he will fill me with these things. The blessed Paul, manifesting this, said: “And so we shall always be with the Lord.” May it be that we, too, do not experience his punitive power, nor taste the threatened punishments, but may enjoy the promised gifts, through the grace and philanthropy of the bridegroom, Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and majesty ^C forever and ever. Amen.

SECOND DISCOURSE

^D “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and strengths of the field, if you should awake and arouse love, until she wills.” The ones who are in love with bodies are anxious to be the only ones to enjoy what they desire, and they drive away those who attempt to rob them with great intensity. But those who are in love spiritually and yearn for God, desire that all men should be set aflame by the same fire.

^A I do not know why He delays, or why He overlooks me as I yearn for Him. He said to me through Hosea: "I will betroth you to Me in justice, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in compassions; and I will betroth you to Me in faith, and you shall know the Lord." He said to me through Isaiah: "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry, you who are not in labor, for many are the children of the desolate one rather than of her who has a husband." ^B And I wait day by day, desiring that the promises may be fulfilled for me. She hints at these things, saying: "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth." And so that we do not interpret this in our own sense, come, let us call the blessed Paul as a witness of what has been said. Writing to the Hebrews and pursuing the discourse initiated on faith, he says such things about Abraham: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the fellow-heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." And after a few words: "In faith," he says, "they all died, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar and greeted them and having confessed that they are strangers and sojourners on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ^C And if indeed they had been mindful of that from which they went out, they would have had an opportunity to return. But now they desire a better one, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them." And touching upon the great Moses, he says that "He chose rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to have the temporary enjoyment of sin, considering the reproach of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the anger of the king; for he endured by seeing Him who is invisible as if looking at Him." And concerning all the saints together who shone in the Old Testament, he says such things: "And these all, though commended for their faith, did not receive the promise, since God provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." ^D And the Lord also in the holy Gospels says such things to the apostles: "Many prophets, and kings, and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear." And disputing with the Jews, He was saying: "Abraham your father desired to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad." And Simeon the elder had received an answer from the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he should see the Christ of the Lord. Therefore, having been born and brought to the temple,

taking Him in his arms, he says: "Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word, in peace; because mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples," and the rest. It is clear, therefore, that those who believe in divine promises longed to see them brought to their end. Therefore, the Song of Songs introduces the bride saying: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." By a kiss, we understand not the meeting of mouths, but the union of a pious soul with the divine Word, ^A so that the bride seems to say something like this: "I have heard Thy words through writings, but I also desire to hear Thy voice itself; I wish to receive the sacred doctrine directly from Thy mouth, and to kiss it with the lips of my mind. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Once the bride has said these things, the bridegroom immediately appears to the bride, fulfilling that promise, that "While thou art yet speaking, behold, I am here." The bride, having immediately beheld the beloved, is amazed, and admires his breasts and his fragrance, and cries out: ^B "Thy breasts are better than wine, and the fragrance of thy ointments above all aromatics." I know, he says, the ointments prepared by Moses, both the oil of anointing and the incense of composition; but of all those aromatics, Thy ointment is the most fragrant. By ointment here, he refers to spiritual grace, of which He, being full, has given to us all out of His fullness. Therefore also, the blessed Paul cries out that "we are the good odor of Christ, in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing; to the one, an odor of death unto death, but to the other, an odor of life unto life." For to vultures, which feed on cadavers, foul-smelling bodies provide food, but ointment brings them destruction. ^C Thus, for the impious, and for those who have chosen to remain in the stench of sin, the stench of debauchery is most pleasant, but the teaching of Christ is heavy and burdensome; and therefore, it brings upon them their self-chosen death. "For this is the judgment," he says, "that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light." With good reason, therefore, the bride says: "And the fragrance of thy ointments above all aromatics." And she does not say, "of Thy ointment," but "of Thy ointments," indicating that there are many and myriad graces. For to one, according to the blessed Paul, is given the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge ^D according to the same Spirit; to another, faith in the same Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the discerning of spirits; to another, kinds of tongues. For this reason, she does not say, "the fragrance of Thy ointment," but "the fragrance of Thy ointments." Having shown the many and varied graces, she teaches us that from one

from one and the same source. Therefore he adds: ^A “Thy name is as ointment poured forth.” For, he says, these many and various fountains, which have filled the whole world with the sweetness of their fragrance, have one single vein and source, Thy ointment. For in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead, and He Himself, as man, received at once all the gifts of the Spirit. Wherefore Isaiah also cries aloud: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise out of his root; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety; and the Spirit of the fear of God shall fill him.” ^B Therefore he says, “Thy name is as ointment poured forth;” and he does not say “ointment” simply, but “poured forth.” For just as ointment kept in a vessel also contains its fragrance confined, but if it be poured out, it fills the very air; so the Lord Christ, before the passion, was known to a few. But after He endured the cross and death, and the vessel of His body was, as it were, opened, the blessed apostles were immediately filled with that sweetness; and, running through the earth and crossing the seas, and preaching the Gospel to all, they filled the whole world with that sweetness of fragrance. Therefore the bride says, “Thy name is as ointment poured forth.” For the name of Christ is sufficient, as it were, to anoint and to imbue the souls of the pious with every sweetness of fragrance. But if you wish to understand this more mystically, ^C recall to yourself the sacred mystery of baptism, in which those who are initiated, after the renunciation of the tyrant and the confession of the King, like a certain royal sign and token, are anointed with the chrism of spiritual ointment, receiving, under that visible form of ointment, the invisible grace of the most holy Spirit.

“Therefore the maidens have loved thee.” (Vers. 3.) “They have drawn thee, running after thee to the odor of thy ointments.” This fragrance, he says, of Thy ointment, that is, of Thy divine and saving doctrine, the youthful and brave souls perceived (for these the Word calls maidens), and they were so afire with love for Thee that they drew Thee to themselves and followed Thee, and did so in such a run, ^D that they might not be left behind or separated from their beloved. This race the blessed Paul also explains, saying: “I run, if by any means I may comprehend, wherein I also am comprehended.” And elsewhere: “So run, that you may obtain.” And in another place: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Souls, therefore, of a brave and manly disposition

^A having escaped the soft and fluid and degenerate life, and having chosen toil instead of luxury, are drawn and called after the Bridegroom by the fragrance of the ointment, and are held as if by an ineffable bond. The bride, then, not yet having been admitted to the bridal chamber, speaks to the Bridegroom’s Father, and to the Bridegroom himself who has come to her. But she is admitted to the nuptials, and to the chamber and the private rooms of the Bridegroom, and addressing her assembly she says gloriously: “The king has brought me into his chamber,” that is, he has revealed his hidden counsels to me; he has made known to me the mystery hidden from ages and from generations; he has opened to me the treasures that were dark, and secret, and invisible, according to the prophecy of Isaiah. And this can be understood more accurately from the holy Gospels, when the Lord Christ spoke to the Jews in parables, but to his holy disciples he revealed the meaning of the parables, saying: “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them it is not given.” And the Lord designates the mind as a “chamber,” saying: “But you, when you pray, enter into your chamber, and pray to your Father who is in secret.” ^B “The king has brought me into his chamber,” speaking as it were with the blessed Paul, that “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him; but God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For we have the mind of Christ,” in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. “The king has brought me into his chamber.” It is necessary to enquire why the bride alone is brought in, while the young maidens are not brought in, but stand outside, awaiting the bride as she enters; and when she comes out and tells how the king brought her into his chamber, they add: “We will exult and rejoice in you. We will love your breasts more than wine. Rectitude has loved you.” For not all who have believed are in the same degree of merit. “For in my Father’s house are many mansions,” says Christ, that is, differences of dignities. ^C For there is one order of patriarchs, and another of prophets; one of apostles, and another ^D of martyrs; one of those who have shone in virginity, and another of those who have lawfully taken upon themselves the yoke of marriage; one of those who have served God in wealth and have become faithful stewards, and another of those who have courageously endured the various trials of poverty; one of those who have pursued a public life of virtue, and another of those who dwell in the mountains and choose to attend only to divine contemplation. And in these very ways of life there are to be found many differences, since some perform their tasks more fervently, others more remissly, others more accurately, and others more negligently. Which indeed, even from the Lord’s parable, we can easily...

discern. For when He introduces ten virgins, He calls five of them prudent and five foolish; and the former He deems worthy of the bridal chamber, but to the latter He shuts the doors. And He answers them, honoring their virginity, but does not deem them worthy of entry on account of their sloth in cultivating the other virtues. Having thus distinguished these matters, let us understand the bride to be those souls perfected in all the virtues, and the maidens following her to be those who indeed love the bridegroom and are diligent to follow Him, but have not yet attained the perfection of the bride. And that these things are so, the Holy Spirit testifies, saying similar things in the forty-fourth Psalm. For having recounted the beauty of the bridegroom, and the grace diffused upon His lips, and the eternal blessing, and the fearful armor, and the destruction of the enemies, and the submission and adoration of the peoples who were once captive, and His royal and eternal throne, and those insignia of the kingdom decorated with justice and equity; and furthermore the human virtue which He cultivated, when "being in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant," and in addition to this, the anointing which occurred according to His humanity, and the gifts offered by the Magi, He brings in: "The Queen stood at Thy right hand in gilded clothing, surrounded, ^A variegated." And He calls "Queen" those souls perfected in virtue (since also Paul says: "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him"), and "gilded and variegated clothing," the diverse gifts of the Spirit themselves. Then He also offers her counsel: "Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear, and forget thy people and thy father’s house, and the King shall desire thy beauty." And He shows Himself not only to be related to her according to His humanity, but also to be Lord and Master according to His hidden divinity; and reminding her of His immense kindness, He says: "For He is thy Lord and thy God, and thou shalt worship Him." ^B And not long after, He also predicts to her that she will be worshiped by kings and princes: "All the rich of the people shall entreat thy face." Now the face of the Church, according to that which is visible, is the priestly dignity, but according to that which is understood, it is the bridegroom himself, who deemed it worthy to become her head, according to the voice of the Apostle. Then he sets forth her hidden glory: "For all the glory of the king’s daughter is within." Since, as the blessed Paul says: "Our life is hid with Christ in God; in this life, however, all who wish to live piously in Christ shall suffer persecution."

For this reason the blessed Paul also cries out: "If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." ^B For this reason he says: "All the glory of the daughter of the king is within," encompassed with gold-embroidered fringes, variegated; again, meaning by gold-embroidered and variegated fringes the different gifts of grace. For he adds to these: "Virgins shall be brought to the king after her; her neighbors shall be brought to thee; they shall be brought with gladness and exultation; they shall be brought into the temple of the king." ^C It is evident, therefore, from what has been said, that those who have reached the perfect man, the measure of stature, according to the blessed Paul, and have attained the perfection of virtue, are called the bride; but those who have not yet reached this perfection, and are inferior to them, accompany the bride like certain young maidens, showing all good will and affection towards both her and the bridegroom. "The king has brought me into his treasury. Let us exult and rejoice in thee." For they do not envy, nor are they jealous, while they remain outside and have not yet attained to the bridal chamber, but they rejoice and exult and delight in the honor of the bride, and are content to enjoy her sweetest voice. For this reason they add: "We will love thy breasts more than wine." And what she said to the bridegroom, this they say to the bride, out of their good will and affection towards her, drawing to themselves the affection and good will of the bridegroom. For Christ also says to the apostles: "He that receiveth you receiveth me;" and: "Whosoever shall give to drink a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who believe in me, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." The young maidens, moreover, call the breasts of the bride the fountains of teaching, which pour forth streams useful to all ages; and they promise to love the breasts ^D of the bride more than all human joy. For this is what is tropically called wine, which exhilarates the heart of man. And these things we know to have taken place both in the Old and in the New Testament, and we behold them happening every day. For in the Old Testament, God, revealing future things to the prophets, showed through them the right way of life to the men of that time. And the prophets themselves enjoyed the treasuries and secrets of God, and going forth they told men the things that were being revealed and manifested. Hence also David says to God: "The hidden and secret things of thy wisdom thou hast manifested to me." Those, however, who were watered by the waters of divine knowledge through the prophets, gave their attention to the prophets as intermediaries between God and men; and the apostles too, inspired by the divine Spirit, promulgated the message of piety, traversing all lands for all men. And the apostles indeed enjoyed the Lord’s

^A treasures, while the listeners to them received the apostolic streams, as it were from certain breasts, which were more precious than any wine or any joy. And in the present time, too, the teachers of the Church offer divine streams to the people, as if from certain storehouses. And he who partakes of them, as if from certain breasts, draws spiritual nourishment, and considers it better than all worldly pleasure. For this reason the bride also says in the Canticles: "The king brought me into his chamber." And the young women answered: "Let us exult and rejoice in thee." And they promise, saying: "We will love thy breasts more than wine"; and they bring forward the reason: "Righteousness hath loved thee." For if the Lord is sweet and upright, as David says, and "the rod of thy kingdom is a rod of uprightness," and for this reason he loved thee, it becomes us also to hang upon thee and to frequent thee ^B assiduously, and to enjoy thy breasts. Then the bride speaks again:

VERSE 4, 5. *I am black, and beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am swart, because the sun hath looked upon me.* I do not think that the bride is saying these things any longer to the young women, but to those who boast in the Law, and who are puffed up and arrogant concerning the Old Testament, and who reproach her, not only for being a foreigner and a stranger, but also for having formerly worshipped demons, and for having contracted a black color, stained by their worship. Therefore she says to them: I am ^C black, I admit, but yet beautiful; for I was formerly blind, but now I see; I was formerly clothed in ragged garments, but now I am wrapped in a golden vestment, variegated, and I possess royal dignity, and I stand by the King, having driven away you, who have acted madly towards the King, and have put him to death, and have defiled the bridal chamber with a multitude of adulterers. Do not, therefore, cast my black color in my face, nor reproach me with my former evils. I admit that I am black, but yet beautiful, and pleasing to the bridegroom. Fear the example of Miriam; for she also reproached Moses because he had taken an Ethiopian woman to wife, and she became leprous as snow; and as one unclean she was cast out of the camp, and did not return ^D until she repented, and did penance for her insult. I, too, am an Ethiopian woman, but yet the bride of the great Legislator; and I am indeed the daughter of a priest of Midian, an idolater, but I have forgotten my people and my father's house; therefore the King has desired my beauty. Look not upon me therefore, because I am swart, because the sun hath looked upon me. You who now see me swart, you shall behold me most white, and you shall cry out: *Who is this that ascendeth, having been made white?*

I shall also tell you the cause of this swartness. For I was swart, worshipping ^A the creature instead of the Creator, and adoring this sensible sun instead of the Sun of righteousness. But I saw the difference between that one and this one, and leaving the work, I worshipped the Maker. Do not, therefore, look upon me, because I am swart, because the sun has looked upon me, or as Symmachus [interprets], because the sun has touched me. *For I am swart, and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem*; swart because of my former impiety, beautiful because of my repentance; swart because of infidelity, beautiful because of faith. And I was so very swart, as the tents of Kedar—which is interpreted as "darkness"—but I have become so beautiful, as the curtains of Solomon [instead of "the tents of Solomon," or "the hangings of Solomon"], concerning which the Lord says: *Consider the lilies of the field, how they neither spin nor weave, and your heavenly Father clothes them. Amen I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.* Wherefore also, a little later, the bridegroom names her a lily, as one who neither spins nor weaves, but leads a life free from care, and is clothed and nourished by the bridegroom himself. The bride says, therefore, that having formerly been made like to the tents of Kedar, which is interpreted as darkness, and serving darkness and worshipping demons, I have now suddenly been changed and am like ^B the hangings of Solomon; since she also, not only became a bride, but also a temple of the peaceful Christ. *The sons of my mother have fought against me.* This also follows upon the preceding. She teaches the daughters of Jerusalem how, being swart and ill-favored, she suddenly became beautiful. *For the sons*, she says, *of my mother have fought against me.* Calling the holy apostles "sons," concerning whom the Holy Spirit in the forty-fourth Psalm speaks to the queen herself: *Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee; thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.* And she calls their mother and her own the Jerusalem which is above, concerning which the blessed Paul says: *But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother.* Therefore, she says, the sons of my mother have fought against me, [referring to] the war that the apostles waged against idolatry and the other illegality; who, in each of the hearers, undertook a kind of battle and war, struggling to cast out the evil habits of their souls and to plant fixedly the laws of piety. And that we may learn more clearly how the blessed heralds of piety fought ^C in the souls of those being discipled, let us hear the blessed ^D Stephen fighting and saying: *Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always [do resist the Holy Ghost].*

^A And the blessed Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says: *It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles.* And again: *Lest, when I come again, my God may humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented.* And writing to the Galatians, he says: *O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?* By such rebukes and exhortations, and by smoothing out the wrinkles of their sins and scrubbing away their inveterate habits, those first teachers and heralds of Christian piety rendered the Bride of the Lord new instead of old, beautiful instead of foul and deformed, and most white instead of black.

The Bride, therefore, wishing to show how she became beautiful and fair, says: *The sons of my mother were angry with me. They made me the keeper of the vineyards.* For they handed over to me, as it were, certain vineyards—the divine commandments—and they urged me not only to labor in them and cultivate them, but also to guard them, so that no wicked beast might destroy and ruin the fruit. To these she adds: *My own vineyard I have not kept.* ^B The intent of these words is twofold, and both are pious and useful. For she says either that she had left her former vineyard, which she had cultivated before the Christian faith, having been handed down to her from her fathers, neglected and unguarded, so that the former observances were completely corrupted and left to oblivion; or that she neglected her own vineyard—that is, the benefit of her own soul—and preferred the advantages of others to her own advantages. For this, too, the blessed Paul testifies, saying: *Love does not seek its own.* And elsewhere: *Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s.* And concerning himself he says: *I do not seek my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.* I have set forth both meanings so that those who read may have knowledge of both, and may accept that which seems to them to be truer.

After this, the bride, leaving off speaking with the young men and arguing with the daughters of Jerusalem, turns herself to the bridegroom, and ^C reveals her love toward him in these words:

*Vers. 6. Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you feed, where you rest at noon, that I may not be as one who turns aside by the flocks of your companions.*

Anxious and solicitous that she should not be deprived of her bridegroom and fall in with other flocks, which are not guided by him but by others—who are called companions of the bridegroom, not by reason of dignity, nor by reason of a common mind, but by imitation of the institution—she suppliantly calls upon the bridegroom, ^D saying:

^A “Because my soul hath loved thee, tell me where thou feedest at the time of noon, or where thou makest thy sheep to lie down; lest I, through ignorance, wander here and there, and straying and wandering, fall into flocks which are not deemed worthy of thy supervision, but have other shepherds and herdsmen.” For that which is “circumducted,” Symmachus has rendered as “errant.” Not without reason does the bride inquire where the bridegroom abides at the midday hour. For at that very time when the light of knowledge shone more brightly, heresies arose, which indeed bore the name of Christians but were destitute of the truth. On this account, she, being anxious, desires to learn the place of the bridegroom, where he maketh his sheep to lie down at the hour of noon, that she might not fall ^B into the flocks of those who are called companions. It should be known that, just as there were prophets, and against them false prophets, and again apostles, and those who held contrary opinions, false apostles, so also are false Christs called by the divine Scripture. Wherefore the Lord also saith: “There shall arise many false prophets, and shall seduce many.” And the blessed Paul knows how to name not only false brethren, but also false apostles; wherefore he saith: “For such are false apostles.” The bride prays that she may not fall into their hands; for they display the appearance of shepherds, and likewise have flocks and sheepfolds. Such are those who follow the factions of Arius, and Eunomius, and Marcion, and Valentinus, and Manes, and Montanus; who, while they carry about the habit and name of Christians, and build churches, and read the divine Scriptures to the deceived sheep, and feed ill those who follow them, and are thought to be companions of the bridegroom, are in reality treacherous ^C and destructive, and offer deadly poison to the sheep instead of nutritious pasture. For this reason the bride beseeches the bridegroom to point out to her where he maketh the sheep to lie down at noon, that she may not, being circumvented—or “errant,” according to Symmachus—wander among the flocks of those who, while being enemies to him, feign themselves to be his companions. The bridegroom therefore answers the bride and saith:

VERS. 7. If thou know not thyself, O thou fair among women, get thee forth in the footsteps of the flocks, and feed thy kids in the tabernacles of the shepherds.

a physician, but they that are sick.” And: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” And through Ezechiel the prophet: “Do I at all desire,” he saith, “the death of the wicked, rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?” And the blessed apostle Paul saith of him: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Therefore he desires her to feed also the kids; for by the name of kids the divine Scripture figuratively understands sinners. For these, the Lord said, shall be placed on the left, separated from the lambs, which will obtain the right hand place. For in the law also, for sin, not a sheep, but a buck-goat from the goats was sacrificed. Therefore the bridegroom says to the bride: ^B “Follow the tracks of the flocks, and search out the life of those saints who preceded you; and in the tabernacles of those shepherds, that is, in the apostolic churches, feed your kids,” having heard in the holy Gospels: “See that you despise not one of these little ones who believe in me; for I say to you, that their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.”

Verse 8. To my mare in the chariots of Pharaoh have I likened thee, my neighbor

Verse 9. How beautiful have thy cheeks become, as

^A turtledove’s, thy neck as necklaces! ^A Here, too, we must not understand the cheeks and the neck carnally. We must remember that divine Scripture frequently uses bodily terms even when it is speaking of the soul. Thus, the prophet Jeremiah says: “My belly, my belly, I am pained,” and to show that he is not speaking of it, he adds: “and the senses of my heart.” Likewise, the blessed Paul says: “Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” The blessed Paul was not admonishing them about hands, nor about feet, nor about visible lameness, but was indicating by these names the qualities and actions of the soul. Let us therefore understand this text likewise: “Thy cheeks are beautiful as a turtledove’s, thy neck as necklaces.” For the Church, being composed of many men and women, has some within it who occupy the roles and bear the names of cheeks, some of eyes, some of ears, some of the mouth, others of hands, and others of feet. The Bridegroom, therefore, praises those who pursue modesty and possess the blush of shame, and says: “Thy cheeks are beautiful as a turtledove’s.” Those who have written on the natures of animals say that the turtledove is not only a lover of solitude, but also chaste, and that the male is joined to a single female, and the female is content with a single male, and neither of them, after the death of the other, ^B is willing to be joined to another. The Church, joined to Christ, is therefore fittingly said by Him to be like a turtledove, in that she avoids the companionship of others, and does not even abandon Him after His death, but awaits His resurrection and looks forward to His second coming. He says also that her neck is like necklaces. This is a collar, a kind of ornament that adorns the neck. He praises her for bearing well the yoke of piety, regarding which the Bridegroom says in the Gospels: “Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Therefore, in the Canticles, he marvels at the neck that bears this yoke, as needing no external adornment or imported embellishment, since it possesses beauty from within, such that, being naked, it is likened to necklaces that adorn other necks. Having said these things, the bridegroom’s attendants and ministers answer, and say to the bride: ^C Verses 10, 11. We will make thee likenesses of gold, with studs of silver. While the king is in his reclining place. It seems to me that this signifies the time before the coming of our Lord Christ; the companions of the bridegroom comfort the bride, that ^D

^A they will be with her always, until the king rises, and they will adorn her with whatever ornament they can; nor will they forsake her before his resurrection, but will offer her likenesses of gold and distinctions of silver. Rightly, however, did they say not gold itself, but the likenesses of gold. For the gifts of the bridegroom are greater than those of his ministers, who do not possess equal glory. And therefore we hold the divine Gospels in greater honor, although we also revere the law, and the prophets, and the writings of the holy apostles. Reasonably, therefore, did the ministers of the bridegroom say: "We will make you likenesses of gold with distinctions of silver, until the king is in his reclining place." By distinctions of silver and likenesses of gold, let us understand the variety of graces ^B and the providence of God toward us. For we also enjoy the assistance of angels: "For the angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him, and shall deliver them," as it says; and, "He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." Moreover, the law itself was given through the ministry of angels. Therefore the Apostle says: "For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast." So long, therefore, as the king reclines and rises again, we, he says, will offer what we can. They call his death his reclining. Wherefore Balaam also, prophesying, says: "A man shall come forth out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations." And a little later: "He lay down, he slept as a lion, and as a young lion; who shall stir him up? They that bless thee are blessed, and they that curse thee are cursed." ^C These things may also be found in the prophecy of the patriarch Jacob, with which he blessed Judah.

When these things had been said from above by the ministers of the bridegroom, the bride again says: "My spikenard has given its scent. VERS. 12. A bundle of myrrh is my kinsman to me." We must first inquire why she calls him a kinsman. We say that the bride is the Church gathered from the nations, but that the former wife of the bridegroom is the multitude of the Jews, who, on account of their own licentiousness, received a bill of divorce into their hands. They are sisters, for both boast of being generated from Adam as their father. But the bridegroom, ^D so far as his humanity is concerned, was born of the former. For the blessed Paul says: "It is manifest that our Lord sprang out of Judah." And elsewhere: "To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed. He says not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." And concerning David, the blessed Peter says, that as he was a prophet...

^A and knew that God had sworn a promise to him that of the fruit of his loins he would raise up Christ according to the flesh, he foresaw and spoke of the death, saying, "His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption." Since, therefore, the multitude of the Jews and the Church of the Gentiles are sisters, and Christ is the son of the former according to the flesh, the Bride rightly calls Him nephew, as He was born of her sister according to His humanity. "This, therefore, is my nephew to me; and He is nard and a bundle of stacte." For I address Him by many names, being captivated by the fragrance of His ointment, and I am unable to use a single name. For the power of His fragrance overcomes all titles at once; but being overcome by love for Him, I both call Him nard and address Him as a bundle of stacte. I call Him nard ^B both because He was anointed with the costly, genuine nard, the scent of which filled the whole house—signifying the whole world—for the service offered to the Lord by the pious has filled the world with the fragrance of faith; and I call Him a bundle of stacte, because He Himself "descended like rain upon a fleece, and like a drop falling upon the earth." He has also been called a "drop" by the prophets: "For it shall be," it says, "from the drop of this people that Jacob shall be gathered." It must be known that Symmachus and Aquila have translated "stacte" as "myrrh." Now, myrrh signifies the Bridegroom's death and the fragrance that came from that death to the Bride. She adds: ^C "He shall lodge between my breasts." That is, in the ruling part of my soul, which has its dwelling in the heart—which is situated between the breasts. This declares the end of the prophecy, in which God says: "I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people, says the Lord Almighty." And the Bridegroom Himself also promises, saying: "We will come, I and the Father, and We will make Our abode with him." Wherefore also Paul says with a clear voice: "Or do you seek proof of Christ speaking in me?" For this reason the Bride says: "He shall lodge between my breasts."

VER. 13. "A cluster of cypress is my nephew to me in the vineyards of Engaddi." ^D Being at a loss as to what name she should bestow upon the Bridegroom, the Bride moves here and there, and gathering titles from every side, she applies them to Him, being urged by love to call upon Him, but unable to find the worthy title. Therefore, she again names Him a cluster of cypress, that is, one who is flowering, or beginning to put forth blossoms. For the vine is fragrant at that season. And she adds, "In the vineyards of Engaddi," such is—

^A fragrant. If, therefore, you understand the place to mean that in Judea, adorned with marvelous vineyards, we must understand it tropically, that "your cluster is more fragrant than those vines." But if, because of the meaning of the name, he has laid down the title "Engaddi"—which is interpreted as the eye of temptation—we must understand it thus: Even when established in temptations, and attacked by many, I perceive the sweetness of your fragrance; and even in the midst of the vineyards currently flowering (if they are taken allegorically, but as existing in the midst of temptations—for the life of man upon the earth is a temptation [Job VII, 1]), I prefer the sweet fragrance of your flowering cluster. What if, while it is still flowering, it is so delightful, what is it to be thought to be when it draws near to maturity? And if it is better while ripening than it was then, what will it be when it is fully mature and ripe, and subjected to the winepresses? For I think that, according to the proportion of spiritual ages, it is to some flowering, to others sour, to others nearly mature, to others sufficiently mature, but that it is drunk by the perfect. "For his intoxicating cup is very excellent" [Ps. XXII, 5].

These things having been said by the bride, the bridegroom speaks to her again, and says: ^B 14. "Behold, you are beautiful, my neighbor, behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves." He praises her beauty again, and admires her loveliness, and is, as it were, astonished at her decorum by his doubled speech. But first he commends her eyes, saying: "Your eyes are doves"—that is, spiritual. For under the form of a dove the Holy Spirit descended and dwelt in the bridegroom. Therefore he does not say "as doves," but "doves," that is, spiritual, filled with divine grace, free from all darkness, contemplating the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord the Spirit, and being able to say: "But to us God has revealed it through his Spirit" [I Cor. II, 10]. ^C Again, the bride, responding, says:

15, 16. "Behold, you are beautiful, my kinsman, and indeed comely, at our shaded bed. The beams of our houses are cedars; our ceilings are cypresses." Up to this point the bride had looked upon the fragrance of the bridegroom. But now, having been illuminated in the eyes which she has [as] spiritual, so that she bears the name of a dove, she admires his beauty as well, saying: "Beautiful and comely are you, my kinsman." By the bed, as I think, she calls the divine Scripture, in which both the bridegroom and the bride, resting, are joined to one another in mutual spiritual communion. And the bridegroom indeed offers the seeds of the Word, but the bride, ^D those...

who are receiving it, conceives and bears it in her womb, and cries out with the prophet: "By reason of your fear, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb, and have been in pain, and have brought forth the spirit of salvation, which we have carried upon the earth." ^A And he calls 34 the "bed" the "shady" one, as being helped by the grace of the Spirit and freed from the heat of sin. Which is what the cloud was to Israel, that is for us the help of the Spirit. Therefore he says, "Our bed is shady." "The beams of our houses," he says, "are cedars, our paneling are cypresses." He placed these kinds of wood, because the cedar possesses incorruptibility, and the cypress excels in fragrance; but in divine Scripture it is possible to find both of these to be not only for us a bed, but also a house, and a table, and food; and not only does it provide fragrance, but it also promises incorruptibility and ^B immortality. If, however, one wishes to call the houses of the bride, and the churches on earth everywhere, [the bridegroom] will not miss the truth, the cedars and the cypresses being interpreted allegorically—the former as beams, being more precious, 35 [and] the latter as inferior, which are called paneling. Thus the bridegroom is praised by the bride, [and] she teaches that she has not yet looked upon the beauty of the bridegroom himself, but still dwells in the shadow of that beauty.

CHAPTER II

^C VERS. 1. "I am," he says, "the flower of the field, the lily of the valleys." 37 O you human [soul], he says, [come] to behold my beauty; since no one has ever seen God at any time. For I have become the flower of the field, that is, I have taken on an earthly body, and [was] born on the earth, existing from before time and [being] high, or rather, immeasurable. I became a lily, not of the mountains, nor of the hills, nor simply of the fields, but of the valleys. For he preached salvation not only to the living, but also to the dead [granting] them the resurrection, having descended into the lower parts of the earth, that he might fill all things. Therefore he calls himself the flower of the field, [and] the lily of the valleys, that is, of the dead; for those also he promised the rising again and 38 wrought it. Then, since he addresses himself by such [titles], he says to the bride:

VERS. 2. "As a lily among thorns, so is my neighbor 39 among the daughters." For as much difference as there is between the lily and the thorns, so much 40 does your beauty differ from the daughters; for they 41 are called such by virtue of being invited, but they have deprived themselves of being chosen: "For many," he says, "are called, but few are chosen." ^D And this he also calls the bride

^A by the same name. And the prophet Isaiah also speaks of the bride, saying: "Rejoice, thirsty desert; let the desert rejoice, and bloom as the lily." For she who is addressed as the bride was formerly a desert, fruitless, and waterless, and possessed no shady bed; but she thirsted for the bridegroom. Therefore she also cries out: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." And the prophet, in knowing this—for he was spiritual—said: "Rejoice, thirsty desert; let the desert rejoice, and bloom as the lily." For this reason the bridegroom also says to her: "As the lily in the midst of thorns, so is my neighbor among the daughters." And it seems here that he calls the churches of the heretics "daughters" because of their calling, and not because of their own choice. Those he compares to thorns, but this one to a fragrant lily, which possesses brilliance on the outside and contains a golden flower within. Such is the soul that is surrounded by the brightness of justice, and carries within its inner chambers the spiritual gift of wisdom and knowledge hidden away ^B. The bride answers the bridegroom and says to him:

Ver. 3. As the apple among the trees of the wood, so is my kinsman among the sons. In his shadow I desired and sat, and his fruit is sweet in my throat.

Great is the difference between the apple and the lily. For the latter delights only the eyes and the sense of smell; but the apple affects the senses of sight, smell, and taste with pleasure. For it is suitable for eating and is consumed. Therefore the bride is called the lily, but the bridegroom the apple. For he is consumed and becomes food for the bride; but the bride is not consumed, but possesses only the sweetness of fragrance. Therefore she says: "As the apple among the trees of the wood, so is my kinsman among the sons." He calls them "sons" here, as before "daughters," referring to those who, having been made worthy ^C by their calling, proved themselves unworthy of election; the bride says they are like the trees of the wood and fruitless trees. But she calls the bridegroom the apple, as it is soft to the touch, sweet to the taste, fragrant to the smell, most delightful and charming to the sight, and most lovely to the hearing; for by hearing the word we engage all our senses. Such is our Lord, and Savior, and bridegroom, who fills all our senses with the sweetness of his banquet. The bride says she desired to sit in his shadow and had done so; and after this she says that she partook of the fruit, and that it appeared most sweet to her throat; for she seeks to avoid the rays of malice which are skilled at scorching, ^D lest she become black again. And the shadow of the bridegroom are those things which are now, as the blessed Paul says, seen in a mirror and in a riddle: "For I see," he says, "now as in a mirror, and as in a riddle; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know as

I have been known." For this reason he says: "In his shadow I desired and sat, and his fruit is sweet in my throat." ^A For sitting under the shadow, I pluck the fruit and partake of it; and those who are initiated, taking delight in the members of the Bridegroom, are witnesses to this.

VER. 4, 5. "Bring me into the house of wine; set in order charity in me. Strengthen me with ointments, sustain me with apples, for I am wounded by love." ^B By the house of wine, I think divine wine-presses are meant, concerning which the prophet says: "How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord." For having inscribed the psalm "For the wine-presses," he added these words to show that he calls the Churches of God wine-presses, in which the spiritual wine, being pressed out as if by wine-presses, gladdens the souls of the pious according to the prophecy that says: "They shall be inebriated with the fatness of your house, and you will make them drink the torrent of your pleasure." Therefore, the bride also asks to enter into his house of wine and exhorts the bridegroom's ministers, saying: "Set in order charity in me," that is, teach me the manner and measure of charity, so that I may not love father or mother more than the Bridegroom, or field, or vineyards, and appear unworthy of the bridal chamber. ^C For He himself pronounced the judgment saying: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves sons or daughters more than me is not worthy of me." And the ancient law given to Adam declared such things: "For this reason shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh." Set in order, therefore, charity in me, that I may be joined to my bridegroom, and prefer him to father and mother and all others. "Strengthen me with ointments," that is, confirm me with the fragrance of the Bridegroom, and support me, that nothing may shake me; offering me that fragrance continually, so that, not having taken up forgetfulness of the Bridegroom, I might not wander to other things. But also, "Sustain me with apples," instead of saying, load me with the fruits of the Bridegroom, so that sitting under his shadow, and smelling his ointments, and being loaded with his fruit, I may preserve an unforgettable memory of him; "For I am wounded by his love." For he exists as a chosen arrow, and he wounds the souls that are struck.

VER. 6. "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand will embrace me." ^D We must beware lest again, upon hearing of left and right, we fall into bodily opinions; for Solomon is speaking concerning wisdom, which is a habit, and not a substance.

^A Longitude, he says, of life, and years of life in her right hand; in her left, however, riches and glory. And concerning the embrace, it is again possible to find it said in the Proverbs: "Love her, and she will preserve you; surround yourself with her, and she will exalt you; honor her, that she might embrace you." From these places, therefore, let us learn to understand those things, too, more according to the spirit, believing the so-called embrace to be the communion of the divine Word and the pious soul. The left and the right must be understood as taken from our own perspective. But lest we pass over this without contemplation, it must be noted that God knows how to confer benefits and to afflict with punishments, distributing both to those who deserve them. Understanding, therefore, the beneficent grace as the right hand, and the punitive one as the left, let us listen to the bride who says: "His left hand under my head"; that is, I am higher than ^B punishments, nor am I subject to them, because I have been joined to the bridegroom and am mindful of his care. "His right hand will embrace me"; that is, he will adorn me with his benefits, and as if embracing and comprehending me, and fulfilling my desire, he will heap them upon me. And the blessed Paul, showing this, also said: "Thus we shall always be with the Lord." May it be that we, too, do not experience his avenging power, nor taste the punishments with which he threatens, but may we enjoy the gifts and offerings he has promised, through the grace and kindness of the bridegroom himself, Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

BOOK TWO

^C VERSE 7. "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and strengths of the field, if you should awaken and arouse love, until she wills it." Those who are captivated by the love of bodies are studious only to enjoy the objects of their desire themselves, and they strive with all their strength to drive rivals away from those whom they love; but those who are inflamed by the love of the spirit, and who are held by the desire of God, [desire] that this same flame ignite all men.

^A “For I am wounded by his love.” For he is indeed a select arrow, and he wounds the souls that are struck. 2. “His left hand *is* under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.” But let us not again fall into fleshly opinions by hearing of “left” and “right.” For even concerning Wisdom, which is a state and not a substance, Solomon says: “Length of life and years of life are in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and glory.” And regarding the embrace, it is again possible to find it said in the Proverbs: “Love her, and she shall guard you; encompass her, and she shall exalt you; honor her, that she may embrace you.” Taking our starting points from this, therefore, let us understand those things more spiritually, believing the so-called embrace to be the communion of the divine Word and the pious soul; and the left and the right should be understood as taken from our own perspective.

In order that we might not leave this unexamined, let us understand it thus: God knows how to bestow benefits and how to punish, dispensing both to those who are worthy. Therefore, having understood the beneficent grace as the right hand, and the punitive as the left, let us listen to the bride speaking, through these things, that she does not desire Christ for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, but that she chooses to fall from the kingdom, and to fall into Gehenna while loving Christ, rather than to reign while deprived of that love. Such souls, therefore, fulfill the order of the bride, being held by the desire for the bridegroom alone.

There are also some who are like mercenaries, enduring the toils for the sake of virtue by the desire of future good things; these I suppose are called “queens” in this passage, for they desire the kingdom, and for its sake they are willing to bear the labors of piety. ^B There are others who have not yet been deemed worthy of liberty, but are still willing to serve, and fulfill the divine laws for fear of Gehenna; these I think are called “concubines,” for the bridegroom associates even with such, becoming all things to all men.

There are also others who live in sloth, and are neither held by the bridegroom’s love, nor drawn by the desire for the kingdom, nor moved by the fear of Gehenna; they manage their own affairs somewhat negligently, though they do keep their faith unmoved and preserve the dogmas of piety intact, eschewing all heretical and alien teaching; yet they live more sluggishly, at times appearing to care for themselves, at other times falling back into sloth, sometimes sinning, and sometimes bringing forth the tears of repentance. These the bridegroom calls “adolescentulas” [young women] in this place. And since such are more numerous than the queens and concubines, he says: “And adolescentulae, of whom there is no number.” Of the adolescentulae, he says, there is no number, not only because they cannot be numbered due to their multitude, but also because they are unworthy of being numbered. For even the hairs of the worthy are numbered by the Father. ^C But nevertheless, he associates even with them at times, wishing to draw them away from their sloth, and guiding them to things that are perfect, and seeking their salvation from every side.

But let us consider why he mentioned sixty queens and eighty concubines. The number sixty contains the decade six times. The decade indicates perfection, while the senary contains the number of the world’s creation; for in six days the God of all created the entire universe. Therefore, the souls that have been perfected in virtue in this world, and desire the kingdom, he named sixty queens. For the bride governs this world, and exists outside of it, and soars above it, and becomes entirely the bridegroom’s, and constantly contemplates him. But they [the others] live in this world, and desiring the kingdom, they strive toward the perfection of virtue...

^A And the blessed David [says]: "Did I not hate those who hate thee, O Lord, and pine away at your enemies? I hated them with a perfect hatred; they became enemies to me." But concerning those who love Him, he says: "But to me, your friends, O God, have been greatly honored; their principles have been greatly strengthened." Thus, the blessed men were taught by the God of all to love those who love their friends. For He Himself first said to Abraham: "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you." And He says also to Israel: "I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you." From these places David was taught to say those things, and the blessed Paul to declare anathema those who do not love the Lord; for this reason the bride also adjures the daughters of Jerusalem to raise up and stir up the love for the bridegroom until he himself wills it. As she speaks of these things to the maidens, and exhorts them to a similar love, she perceives the arrival of the bridegroom and says:

Ver. 8. The voice of my kinsman. For having become accustomed to his sacred words, she recognizes his voice; just as the Lord also says in the holy Gospels: "My sheep hear my voice; but they will not follow a stranger, because they do not know the voice of strangers." The bride, therefore, knows the voice of the bridegroom; she knows what difference there is between an adulterer and a bridegroom. And she turns away from the voices of adulterers, and wolves, and hirelings, but loves the words of the bridegroom and shepherd. Therefore, as soon as she perceives his arrival, she cries out: ^B "The voice of my kinsman!" And she does not endure to sit, but rises, and keeps watch, and looks around, and seeing him, cries out: "Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills." (Ver. 9.) "My kinsman is like a gazelle or a young hart on the mountains of Bethel." It is worth investigating why she likens him to a gazelle and a young hart, and what the mountains of Bethel are, and what the leaping and what the skipping signify, and what the hills and the mountains are, on which these things take place. They say that the gazelle (dorcas) is named from the sharpness of its vision, for it perceives most acutely. They also say that stags are held by a natural hatred of wild serpents, such that they devour snakes, and vipers, and other beasts of that kind just like grass, while suffering no harm from that food. Therefore, since the Lord Christ, in so far as He is man, is that rod which came forth from the root of Jesse, upon whom the Spirit of God rested, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and whom He who was to fill [him] with the Spirit...

of the fear of God, the bride compares to a capra/roe, because of the excellence of his eye-sight, and his perspicacious power of beholding, and his foreknowledge of things to come. And again, she says he resembles the fawn of a deer, as one who has crushed the heads of the dragons upon the water, and broken the heads of the dragon, and like a sword has slain the winding serpent and the dragon coming out of the sea; and who has given to His disciples power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and who, having committed no sin, has taken away the sins of the world, and destroyed them as if they were certain serpents. ^B And she likens him to the fawn of a deer, because he is not only called man, but also the Son of man, and not only a lion, but also the lion's whelp. "For he lay down," he says, "he slept as a lion, and as a lion's whelp." And it is likely that she also hints at this, that while he was still of small bodily stature, he devoured the power of the devil as if they were certain serpents, and immediately upon his birth drew the magi, the prophets of the devil, to adoration. For according to the law, both the roe and the deer are among the clean animals. And the roe is named before the deer, as it holds a figure for the excellence of faith. For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He becomes a rewarder to those who seek Him. And the divine Scripture indeed calls [men] deer. And now, the blessed David says in the 17th Psalm: "God who girds me with strength, and has made my way blameless, perfecting my feet like those of a deer." For, he says, my way became blameless, since my feet were made perfect like those of a deer. For I was able to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. And now, in the 28th Psalm he says: ^C "The voice of the Lord perfecting deer, and He will reveal the woods." Here he calls the holy Apostles deer, whose feet are beautiful, as they bring good tidings of good, as they trample upon the serpents which kill and plot against the souls of men; through whom the fruitless woods were revealed, that is, the deceit of the idols; through whom everyone in the temple of God speaks of His glory. The blessed prophet Habakkuk says things not unlike these: "The Lord God is my strength, and He will set my feet like a deer's, and He will make me go upon high places, so that I may conquer in His song." But it is time to return to the subject at hand. "Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. My kinsman is like a roe, or a fawn of the deer upon the mountains of Bethel." ^D Here the bride teaches the destruction of the idols which was brought about by the bridegroom. For mountains and hills, he named the groves and shrines of the demons that were of old on the mountains, since...

leaping and jumping over them by the wisdom of his words and the power of his miracles, he has overcome them and rendered them entirely as naught. Indeed, Symmachus also, ^A interpreting this more clearly, says: "Behold, this one comes ascending against the mountains, leaping against the hills." To these, the bride adds again: "Behold, he stands behind our wall, looking forth through the windows, peering through the lattices." He teaches, moreover, that since he has humbled every mountain and hill, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, he arrives at her who was formerly humble and likened to a valley, and he fills her, and makes the crooked into a straight path and the rough into smooth ways; and he builds around her, as if she were a city, a wall, that she may not be besieged by ^B enemies; and as if she were a vineyard, a garden, and a paradise, he places a fence around her, that she may not be harvested by all who pass by the way, nor harmed by a boar from the forest, nor grazed upon by wild beasts, as was that former one which had been transplanted out of Egypt. He indicates, therefore, that having destroyed the shrines of the demons and the groves and temples of those who were called gods (for this is what was signified by the words "on the mountains of Bethel"—for Bethel signifies "house of God"; and by the same name as the God who is above all, those who are not gods were called gods by the impious), he has arrived at her. And he has not yet entered into her chamber, but standing behind the wall, he looks forth through the windows. He calls the senses "windows." For through the windows of the senses, both good things and their opposites flow into the soul, and in turn flow out from it. For this reason the prophet Jeremiah also says: "Death has climbed up through the windows." ^C For "he who looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart," and death enters through the windows. And he who receives a vain report admits death through the windows. But the bride now enjoys the glory of the bridegroom through the windows. And it must be sought how the bridegroom looks forth through the windows, that is, through our senses. When, meditating in the law of the Lord day and night, we delight in the divine words, and with compunction of soul and knowledge we diligently consider what is written, we open our windows and receive the person of the bridegroom. And when we attentively listen to others reciting the divine Scriptures or discoursing about God, again through other windows the bridegroom looks forth and shows us his own beauty. And not only does he look forth through the windows, but he also peers out from the lattices; for he does not abandon his bride being hunted by the deceitful demons,

^A but delivers her from the snare of the hunters and from the turbulent word. And in those very temptations, he peers forth through the lattices and comforts her while she is besieged, and he restores her spirit. And this one can find, in both the Old and New Scripture, accomplished by the God of all, and that the pious have obtained consolation from the God of all in every tribulation. For he permitted Sarah to be snatched away by Pharaoh, but he peered forth through the lattices and comforted the patriarch Abraham, and having shattered the nets, he restored the prey to him safe and sound. She was captured again by Abimelech, and again he peered forth through the lattices, and not only did he save the prey, but he also bestowed a favor upon the hunter. ^B He did this also in the case of Isaac; for he suffered such things regarding Rebecca, as the father did regarding Sarah. He did this also in the case of Jacob; for when his father-in-law was eagerly striving to catch him and was eager to kill him, he appears again through the lattices, and he encourages Jacob while terrifying Laban. And when he again feared his brother's arrival, he appears and drives away the fear and inspires courage. And he was present with Joseph, even when he was sold and became a slave, both in the master's house and when he was in prison, and everywhere he kept peering forth through the lattices and comforting him. And that I might leave aside the saints in between, avoiding the length of the account, ^C thus he comforted the wisest Daniel, who had been delivered to the lions, and by peering forth from the lattices he prepared him to be of good courage; thus he came to those blessed youths in that fearful furnace; thus he commanded the holy apostles who had been cast into prison by the Jews to be of good courage and to preach the word of piety with boldness; thus, after these things, he inspires courage in the blessed Paul, who had been imprisoned in Jerusalem and was expecting death, saying, "Be of good courage, Paul; for as you have testified the things concerning me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome." The bride, hinting at this, says ^D:

Ver. 10. *My beloved responds and says to me: Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove.* The bridegroom bears witness to the beauty of the bride; and he calls her not simply beautiful, but "my beautiful one," teaching that her beauty pleases him exceedingly. He also addresses her as a dove, hinting by this name at the grace of the Spirit.

^A For the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. The blessed Paul is accustomed to calling the perfect "spiritual." Thus, writing to those still imperfect, he says, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ." But to the perfect he writes, "But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you." ^B Justly, therefore, does the Bridegroom call the soul perfected in virtue a dove, that is, a spiritual one, filled with the Holy Spirit. For the prophet Isaiah also, seeing these things from afar, and beholding the holy apostles like certain winged creatures flying over the whole world, and their disciples and listeners following them like certain nestlings, cries out and says, "Who are these, who fly as clouds, and as doves with their young?" In this same way the Bridegroom here, refreshing and comforting His Church as she labors in temptations, and looking through the windows and peering through the lattices, encourages her to arise and fly to Him. For He gave her the wings of that dove, concerning which the blessed David says, "If you rest among the lots, there are the wings of a dove covered in silver, and the parts of her back in the pale green of gold." By "lots" ^C he calls the two Testaments, and by "dove" the grace of the Spirit, having "wings covered in silver"—that is, the splendor of prayer. And the "parts of the back in the pale green of gold" refer to the illustration of hidden mysteries. As if to say: if you rest in the midst of the two Testaments and draw benefit from both, you will find there the varied gifts of the Spirit. The bride, therefore, having received the spiritual admonition, and having rested among the lots, found the silver-covered wings, by which she is encouraged to fly to the Bridegroom. VERS. 11-13. "For lo," he says, "the winter is past: the rain is gone, it has departed for itself. The flowers have appeared on the earth: the time of the reaping has arrived; the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has brought forth her green figs: the vines are blooming, they have given their scent." Let us add to these, if it pleases, the words of the Lord which are in the Gospel. For when He saw a great crowd flowing to Him from all sides, He said to the holy apostles, "The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few." And ^D elsewhere, "Already," He says, "he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit unto life eternal." And again, "Another is he who sows, and another who reaps: I have sent you to reap." From this, therefore, let us understand the phrase, "Lo, the winter is past." For he calls the time that preceded His advent winter: spring, however,

is that which followed after the advent; and the peak of summer is the age that is expected. Therefore He says, "The winter is past, and the rain is gone"—that is, the threats of the Law, and the severe punishments for sins. ^A "And it has departed for itself." For the shadow gives way to the body, and the pedagogue to the wise teacher. "For the flowers have appeared on the earth." The precision of the words must be attended to. For He did not say, "fruits," but "flowers." For the absolute possession of good things is reserved for those who are worthy in the future age. While they are here, they say with blessed Paul: "Now I see as in a mirror, and as in an enigma; but then face to face." But also, ^B "the time of pruning has arrived," or as Symmachus and Aquila have interpreted it, "of the trimming." For after the advent of the Lord Christ, all the nations have attained this purification. Therefore, the Lord also says: "I am the true vine, and you are the branches; my Father is the husbandman; every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every one that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." For this reason He says: "And the time of pruning has arrived." But also, "The voice of the turtledove is heard in our land." Again, He calls the doctrine of the all-holy Spirit the voice of the turtledove. For thus blessed David, in the psalm inscribed "For the presses," says: having said, "How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God," ^C he also explains the cause of the exultation and says: "For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtledove a nest for herself, where she may place her young." And showing who these are, he adds: "Thy altars, O Lord of hosts." And He teaches us that the young are those who have attained rebirth through the font; but their house and nest are the divine altars, in which they are nourished, and fed, and grow feathers, and little by little enjoy perfection. And there is as it were a mother of theirs who brings them forth, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is metaphorically called a turtledove, on account of the creature's chastity, and its love of solitude, and the construction of its nests in shady trees. The bridegroom says, therefore, that ^D "the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land, and the fig tree hath brought forth her green figs," that is, the early fruit of faith, through which the other fruit, I mean that of works, becomes firm and stable, and does not fall away, but ripens and becomes most pleasant. "And the vines have blossomed, they have given their scent." The vines, he says, which are metaphorically so called, have bloomed and released their fragrance.

^A Ver. 14. "Arise, therefore, come, my near one. In the shelter of the rock, beside the bulwark." He calls her into the shelter of the rock so that she might not become black again. By the "rock" he names the pious faith, the true confession. For when the Lord asked the disciples, "Who do men say that I the Son of Man am?" blessed Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." To whom He answered saying, "Amen, amen I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." He also desires her to be removed from the present life. ^B Therefore, the blessed Paul also, writing to the Hebrews, says, "Let us go forth therefore to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach." He wishes her to consider not the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. "For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Therefore, he exhorts her to be beside the bulwark, as if saying, "Mortify your members which are upon the earth; meditate on bodilessness while in the body; show freedom from passion amidst the passions; be outside the present city and its walls." For unless you are there beside the bulwark, you will not enjoy my fellowship; unless you cry out with Paul, "Walking in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh." For no one fighting participates in the ^C affairs of this life, that he may please the one who has enlisted him. Unless you stand in the middle-ground between things present and things future (for I judge this to be signified by the "bulwark"), our marriage cannot take place. But having gone there, I ask you to show me your face. You have a pure mind; no cares of this life cast darkness upon it. There I long to hear your voice; for there it too will be pure and alienated from all uncleanness. Then your voice will be sweet to me, and your face beautiful; for I recognize my own beauty in you as in a mirror, and I hear your voice adorned with my words. Having spoken these things to the bride, the bridegroom commands his ministers in this manner:

^D Ver. 15. "Catch for us the little foxes, which destroy the vines." Now, some of the interpreters have referred the word "little" to the vines. But it makes no difference whether the meaning is understood in this way or that. By foxes he calls those who are possessed of a deceitful mind, and who corrupt and devastate the Churches of the Lord, which have just begun to bloom. Therefore he adds, "And our vines are flowering." By the little foxes he hints at the heretics.

who assault ecclesiastical souls and attempt to steal away—doltishly and treacherously—those who have not yet become steadfast in the faith. For these men, by the persuasiveness of their words and by the snares and entanglements of their syllogisms, deceive those who are more simply disposed and ruin the vines. For this reason, He commands those who have received the gift and office of teaching to hunt them down and trap them with the evidence of the truth, and to free the flowering vines from their ruin. Upon hearing these words, the bride immediately says:

^B VERSE 16. "My kinsman is mine, and I am his." For just as He preferred me to all others, so do I prefer Him to all others, and I do not suffer myself to be joined to another. I shrink from those who bear the name and character of foxes. For it is absurd that I, who have been so greatly beloved and so greatly honored, should not in return, according to my ability, requite Him who loved me. Similar to this appears that which was written by the blessed Paul to the Corinthians: "The body, however, is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." Similar again is that which was said by the same author: "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted as loss for Christ. Nay, I count all things to be but refuse, that I may gain Christ." Of the same kind is also that: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me." Such also is this: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or famine, or persecution, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" and what follows. Of the same kind is also: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world has been crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Consistent with these things seem to be those things said by the bride: "My kinsman is mine, and I am his." He declares who this is, and what He continually does, and where, and when, and how long.

"For he who feeds," she says, "among the lilies." (VERSE 17.) "Until the day breathes, and the shadows move." One must note that the bridegroom first called himself a lily, speaking according to his humanity: "I am a flower of the field, a lily of the valleys." Secondly, he called the bride herself a lily: "For as a lily," he says, "in the midst of thorns, so is my neighbor in the midst of the daughters." Here, however, he calls the very food itself lilies: "For he who feeds," she says, "among the lilies." As if she were to say: the very food which is provided to the sheep is full of sweetness. And this is how it must be understood according to the Septuagint. But Symmachus interprets it thus: "Who feed the flowers," so that those who feed, clearly, are themselves the flowers, whom he has called lilies.

^A To these things matches that which was written by the blessed Paul to the Corinthians: "But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." Similar to this, again, is that which was said by him: "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things to be dung, that I may win Christ." Similar to this is also that: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Similar to this is that: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or persecution, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" and so on. Similar to this is also that: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." To these things matches that which is said by the bride: "My beloved is mine, and I am his." And it signifies both who this is, and what he continues to do, and where, and when, and until when. For he who feeds, he says, among the lilies. (17.) Until the day breathe, and the shadows be moved. ^B That I may leave the other saints for the present, the blessed Paul alone will suffice to indicate to us the power of this love, since he attained to the experience of it more than all: "For who," he says, "shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things," he says, "we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." These things, therefore, are sufficient to demonstrate the victory of love; but the things that follow this proclaim it more clearly. For he subjoins: "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." And in order to show it more powerful than all things, both those seen and those invisible, he fashions in his speech a creature that does not exist, and compares the love of God with this again, and shows the love directed toward God to be stronger. ^C Reasonably, therefore, the bridegroom says: "Much water will not be able to quench love, and the floods shall not drown it. If a man should give all his life in love, they will despise him in despising." But they will despise him who gives his whole life in love—those who are deprived of and stripped of love. For this reason the blessed Paul also said: "Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day." For truly this happens to those who are suffering from vertigo; for since they themselves are not standing firm, they think all things are moving. Thus also those who are deprived of love defamed those who are nourished by love as foolish and mindless. But yet not even this harmed love, but even made it warmer. Being reviled, the apostles blessed, and being defamed, they entreated, and becoming as if the filth of the world, they said they were the offscouring of all things unto this day.

VERS. 8, 9. Our sister is little, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? If she be a wall, we will build upon her bulwarks of silver: if she be a door, we will design upon her a cedar board. ^D I suppose those holy prophets, those who flourished in the Old Testament, seeing the shortness of the spiritual age of the bride, and the breasts being yet imperfect and hidden, as those who were precursors and heralds of the marriage, were saying these things among themselves, that—

^A *I will rise and I will go about in the city, in the streets and in the broad ways, and I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I found him not; I called him, and he did not hearken to me.* (Ps. XII, 1, 3). The Lord of all, being accustomed to train the souls of the pious, permits them to fall into various temptations, and to those who petition to be delivered, He sometimes grants, and sometimes defers the aid, contriving therefrom utility for His devotees. Such also is that which was said by David: *How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me for ever? how long turnest thou thy face from me? How long shall I place counsels in my soul, and sorrows in my heart by day and by night? how long shall my enemy be exalted over me?* For, as is to be expected, he often supplicated, and having requested relief from his afflictions, he did not obtain what he asked for; wherefore, being troubled as though he had sinned, and being in anguish, he made use of such words. And the blessed Paul also says: *By the excellence of the revelations, that I should not be exalted, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted. For which thing I thrice besought the Lord, and He said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for My power is made perfect in infirmity.* And Paul prays, and does not obtain; for the not receiving of his request was more beneficial. Therefore, being taught what he did not know, he receives with joy the fact of not having received what he asked; and he cries out, saying: *Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.* Elijah also, when he greatly feared the threats of Jezebel ^B, fled into the wilderness, seeking a helper. But the wise teacher and rewarder of the pious, after he had left him for a short time to be exercised by fear, appears to him, and asks as though ignorant the cause of the flight—not mocking him, but teaching him why He had allowed him to flee, and admonishing him that, since he was a man and touched by human affections, he should cultivate humanity and clemency. But it is time to return to the matter at hand. For here the bride, the bridegroom having departed for a little while, seeks him indeed in her bed, and that not by day, but by night; but she does not find him resting. And this she does, not only seeking but also calling. She rises and goes about the city, the markets, and the broad ways; for longing compelled her, and the flame of love ^C did not allow her to remain at home. She encounters those who guard the city, and she questions them, saying: ^D *Vers. 3, 4. The watchmen that go about the city found me. Have you seen him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed from them, until I found him whom my soul loveth.* His beneficence is in relation to action, and his immutability is in relation to essence.

^A What, then, if he be beneficent and immutable in his essence, was I unable to find him? For even if I called him Goodness and Truth for this reason, he did not hearken to me, since he is even above these: for his name is above every name. And I, as I have said, was not yet able to find my beloved. But the holy angels found me, they who guard and circle about in the city. They found me while I was being cleansed through action and enlightened through contemplation, I who had been lost through wickedness and ignorance, and had once been a disciple of the spirits of wickedness; and for this reason I was not found by these good angels for instruction. They observe, so as to praise or convict in the fearful day of judgment, my manifest and hidden stirrings, and every thought and deed. And so, that they might leave none of these unexamined, they compass me about, holding their occupation in me as in some city. ^B To them, therefore, when they had found me, I said: "Have you seen him whom my soul loveth?" That is: Have you, who in your choirs and dances accompany him as his ministering spirits, beheld how he is in his nature, so that you might instruct me also in this? But since the Bridegroom is incomprehensible in his essence even to the holy angels, and for this reason they gave me no answer to my question, declaring by their very silence that he cannot be comprehended even by them—as he is Uncreate and they are created—I passed on from them also, seeking him whom I desired. ^C And when I had passed a little way from them, until I found him whom my soul loveth: "I held him." That is, as it were a little, by only passing over the created mind and the angelic nature itself, so that I might find the Uncreated, my beloved, as my benefactor, I held him by faith alone. Having journeyed through all things, and being confirmed by the experience itself—that he who is the cause of all things is above all things that exist, and is not seen in his essence in any nature, whether sensible or intelligible, being supersubstantial—I thus traversed all things, studying to bring my most desirable Bridegroom into my house. "And I did not let him go, until I had brought him into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her who conceived me." That is, I did not cease seeking my lover until I had brought him to dwell in my mind, which is the house of God’s wisdom, the cause of all things after the manner of a mother, as it is receptive of this wisdom through likeness; and it is again her chamber, because it keeps her hidden treasures stored within itself through the image. ^D This wisdom conceived me, inasmuch as she had the most excellent design concerning me before the foundation of the world; for which cause she brought into being me, the human nature, and indeed the whole. "On my bed in the nights I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him, and I found him not." And having passed a little beyond these, she says that she has found him, and has not hearkened.

until she might bring him into the house of her mother, and into the chamber of her who conceived her. She calls city the house of God, which we term the Church; and markets and squares, the divine Scriptures; and guards of the city, the holy prophets and the sacred apostles, of whom the pious soul inquires, longing for the divine Word. After whom she finds the Bridegroom, guarded/attended by certain ministers or rod-bearers, and taking hold of him she keeps him, and does not endure to leave him, until she brings him into the house of her mother, and into the chamber of her who conceived her. We know the mother of the pious to be the Jerusalem above, concerning which the blessed Paul says: "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is mother of us all." The bride therefore, having taken hold of the Bridegroom, promises not to abandon him until they together enter into the bridal chamber and the bedchamber prepared for him. Having recounted these things to the young women, she again exhorts them to the same desire, and says: ^C

5. "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and by the strengths of the field, if ye shall awaken and rouse up my love, until it please." These things are indeed explained from what was interpreted at the beginning of this discourse; for she brings this oath upon them twice, choosing to kindle in them a warm love for the Bridegroom. These things having been spoken by the bride, and she having received ineffable beauty from the embrace of the Bridegroom, the divine powers, being amazed, say:

6. "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the powders of the perfumer?" For even as, beholding the Bridegroom after the victory over the devil and the dissolution of death ascending into the heavens, they marvel and say: "Who is this King of glory?" and learn that "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle," and wishing to learn more accurately, they ask again: "Who is this King of glory?" and hear that "The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory"; so here, marveling at the beauty of the bride, they say: "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?" They call the nature of men a wilderness, on account of former impiety. Wherefore also Isaiah cries: "Be glad, thou thirsty wilderness: let the solitude rejoice, and blossom as a lily." And just as here they are amazed that such beauty has blossomed from the wilderness, so in the prophecy of Isaiah they marvel, beholding the Bridegroom, and say: "Who is this that cometh from Edom? The redness of his garments from Bosor?" Now Edom signifies the earth, but Bosor, the flesh. And his beauty with amazement

^A they cry out: "This one is beautiful in his robe, with violence and strength. Why are your garments red, as from one who treads a full winepress, trodden down?" And they say: "Being in the body, he shines." They have called his body a robe, and it has a violent beauty, compelling all who see it. Thus, they are amazed here, not only that the bride is beautiful, but also that she is coming up from the wilderness—that is, moving from the depth to the heights, and walking from lowly things to elevated things. "And she is like," he says, "a pillar of smoke perfumed." The composition is indeed obscure. For the Seventy Interpreters, while serving the Hebrew language, did not make the meaning clear; but Aquila and Symmachus have made the meaning clear to us by saying, "As a likeness of smoke from incense." ^B Smoke, when expressed in the air, often imitates a pillar of incense. And not without reason do they say she is like the smoke of incense, she who, as the blessed Paul says, presents her members as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, and constantly offers the sacrifice of praise, and puts to death her members which are on the earth, and has been buried with Christ, and offers herself as a whole burnt offering to God. They explain, moreover, to what they compared her in the smoke of incense: for they say "myrrh and frankincense of all the powders of the perfumer." It is clear that frankincense is assigned to God according to the Mosaic Law, but myrrh is the anointing of dead bodies. Therefore, those who admire the beauty of the bride signify by these names that she is fragrant with the sweetness of an odor and is likened to the vapor of incense, because she worships both the humanity and the divinity, and believes in the death of the Bridegroom, ^C and confesses his eternal essence. Therefore, out of all the powders of the perfumer, they praise her myrrh and frankincense. For she has also other virtues, pulling them as if from the apothecary's shop of Divine Scripture; but myrrh and frankincense excel in her, that is, the knowledge of the Bridegroom’s divinity and humanity. In this way, having admired the beauty of the bride, they declare the riches of the Bridegroom to her, and say:

VERSES 7, 8. Behold the bed of Solomon, sixty valiant men are around it, of the valiant of Israel. All holding swords, most expert for war. Every man's sword is on his thigh, because of fear in the nights.

of rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about, for Solomon is his name; and I will give peace and quietness in Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name, and he shall be to me a son, and I will be to him a father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever." ^A Now it is evident that Solomon died when he had not lived for a long time, and that his throne came to an end. Therefore he calls our peaceful Lord Solomon, of whom the blessed Paul says: "For he himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition." On account of this, the blessed David also writes the seventy-first Psalm concerning Solomon, and in that psalm he narrates the deeds done by our Savior. "For he shall judge," he says, "the poor of the people, and he shall save the sons of the needy, and shall humble the slanderer; and he shall remain with the sun, and before the moon, for generations of generations." But Solomon did not remain with the sun, nor was he before the moon for generations of generations. But these things befit Jesus Christ, who blossomed from Solomon according to his humanity; who, being before the ages, "descended as rain upon a fleece, and as a drop trickling upon the earth." Here he called the Virgin the fleece. For just as rain falls silently upon a fleece, so that saving birth happened while all men were ignorant. To these he adds: "Righteousness shall rise in his days, and an abundance of peace, until the moon be removed. And he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth," and all the following things are of the same meaning; for this is not the time to interpret the psalm. For it was not Solomon who ruled to the ends ^B of the earth, but Jesus Christ, who sprouted from Solomon according to his humanity, and is called Solomon because of his peaceful and gentle nature, and because he is the provider of peace. Since, therefore, we have learned who Solomon is, come, let us set ourselves to the interpretation. "Behold the bed of Solomon." By the bed of the bridegroom, let us understand the divine Scriptures. For in them the bride, as it were, lying with the bridegroom and receiving the seeds of doctrine, conceives and is with child, and travails, and gives birth to spiritual benefit, so that she cries out with the prophet: "For thy fear, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb, and have been in pain, and have brought forth; we have brought forth the spirit of thy salvation upon the earth." "Sixty," he says, "are the mighty ones round about her, of the mighty ones of Israel. All holding swords, most learned in war; ^C each man his sword upon his

every man his sword upon his thigh, because ^A of fear in the night." I think the number sixty is placed here not to express this quantity, but to indicate men who were preeminent in holiness in the Old Testament. For they contend that the number ten is perfect, but that six is appropriate for those who were under the Law. "For six days," he says, "you shall do your work." Therefore, they say that those who were perfected under the Law stand around the bed, being of the race of Israel, and being more valiant than all, and holding swords, and skilled in the art of war, and carrying other swords upon their thighs. "From fear," he says, "in the night." Symmachus rendered this more clearly, interpreting it as "on account of nocturnal fears." These, he says, are the valiant men who surround his bed, guarding the bride against the incursions of the enemy. They carry two swords, one upon the thigh and the other in the hand; one of reproof, the other occult and mystical; the former in readiness for conviction, the latter, the mystical one, ^B kept within, as in a scabbard or inner cell.

VERS. 9, 10. *A litter King Solomon made for himself of the wood of Lebanon. He made its pillars of silver, and its support of gold; its ascent is purple; its interior is paved with stones, out of love for the daughters of Jerusalem.* Once again, under the term "litter" let us understand the holy apostles, who carried the name of the Lord before nations, and kings, and the sons of Israel. For concerning the blessed Paul, Christ says to Ananias: "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine, to carry my name before the nations, and kings, and the sons of Israel." Nay, the divine Paul himself cries out: "Do you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me?" The blessed Habakkuk also calls these men horses: "Thou shalt ascend," he says, "upon thy horses, and thy riding is salvation." And again: "Thou didst cause thy horses to enter into the sea, troubling many waters." He calls the nations the sea, which were stirred up at that time by the preaching of the apostles; wherefore the unbelievers also said of them: "These who upset the world have come here also, whom Jason has received." ^C Those, therefore, whom Habakkuk called horses, we find to be called a litter in the Song of Songs. "King Solomon, therefore, made for himself a litter of the wood of Lebanon." Divine Scripture often calls Jerusalem and the multitude of the Jews "Lebanon," as we demonstrated from the prophetic writings in the introduction to our discourse. Since, therefore, the blessed apostles derived their race from them, for this reason the litter is said to be constructed of the wood of Lebanon. But "its pillars," he says, "he made of silver." We find that the apostles themselves were also called pillars. For the blessed ^D

^A Paul, writing to the Galatians, says, "Peter, and James, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision." They say that its couch is also of gold. This signifies the evangelical preaching in which the divine Word rests. "Its ascent is purple," for it is fitting that those who are beginning should be brought into order, but that those who are perfect should be adorned as a bride. And "within, it is paved with stones"; for the divine oracles are like pearls and precious stones, according to the prophet who said, "The judgments of the Lord are true, justified altogether, more to be desired than gold and much precious stone." And again, "Behold, I have desired thy commandments above gold and topaz." And, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls," according to the voice of the Lord. And elsewhere he says, "Cast not your pearls before swine." When they have declared the king’s litter to be of such a kind, they urge the daughters of Jerusalem to go out to behold the bridegroom, and to look upon the crown placed upon him, and they say:

VERSE 11. Go forth, and see, O ye daughters of Sion, king Solomon in the diadem wherewith his mother crowned him, in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

They signify—in order that we may proceed briefly and clearly in our explanation, avoiding prolixity of discourse— "O daughters of Jerusalem and Sion." The blessed Paul taught us that Sion, in turn, is the heavenly one, saying, "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven." "Ye, therefore," they say, "O daughters of Sion and Jerusalem, go forth and see"—for it is impossible for us to see unless we have departed from the affairs of this life—"behold the king crowned with love; for so he loved the world, that, being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." So he loved the world, that "as a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer he was dumb"; and he redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Therefore he says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Thus, therefore, his mother crowned him. He calls the Jewish race "mother," as far as pertains to his humanity, which this

^A mother has given to him. For she crowned him with thorns, as if dishonoring him, but he, through the thorns, received the crown of love. For he willingly endured the dishonor, and voluntarily approached the passion; wherefore he also called that day a day of betrothal, and a day of the gladness of his heart. For on that day the communion of the marriage took place. "For after supper," he says, "he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take, eat of it all of you: for this is my body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins; do this in remembrance of me." They, therefore, who eat the members of the Bridegroom, and drink his blood, attain to his nuptial communion. For this reason the ministers of the Bridegroom exhort the daughters of Zion and Jerusalem, saying: "Go forth, and see the crown of his love, with which ^B Judea, who bore him, adorned him against her own will, and crowned him on the day of his betrothal." These things having been spoken by them, the Bridegroom, speaking again to the Bride, says:

CHAPTER IV.

VERS. 1. "Behold, you are fair, my neighbor; behold, you are fair; your eyes are doves, besides your silence." Admiring her beauty a second time, he says: "Behold, you are fair." Then he describes her beauty part by part; and he calls her eyes doves, commending their spiritual contemplation, and ^C that they do not gape after sensible things, but seek the things that are above, where Christ is, according to Paul, sitting at the right hand of God. He also admires her opportune silence, which indeed we find commended even among the ancients. Wherefore we also hear in the Psalms: "I set a guard upon my mouth, when the sinner stood before me." And chanting we say: "Set, O Lord, a guard upon my mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips." And we find the Lord, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, not opening his mouth in his humiliation, and, according to the history of the Gospels, when asked by Pilate, ^D not answering. The Bridegroom, therefore, praises the Bride's opportune silence, just as he himself also used it in its time. He praises also her hair, admires her teeth, and says:

"Your hair is like flocks of goats, that have been revealed from Gilead. (VERS. 2.) Your teeth are like flocks of shorn sheep, that have come up from the washing-pool, all of which have twin offspring, and there is not one that is barren among them." Neither by hair are we to understand hairs, nor by teeth the teeth; but...

^A hair in a certain way signifies those things that are not so necessary in the bride, and which pertain to the body. For hair is devoid of life and sensation. It is as if he said: Even in human affairs, in which we cannot help but be involved, you conduct yourself laudably and decorously; and you seem like the flock of goats that is pastured on Mount Gilead, and is distinguished because of the height of the mountain. Concerning this mountain, the prophet Jeremiah says: "Is there no balm in Gilead, or is there no physician there?" (Jerem. viii, 22). And it must be inquired whether, perhaps, by the flock of goats, those who repent of their sin and approach with repentance, and who for this reason are pastured on Mount Gilead so that they may obtain therapeutic medicines and healing, are signified here, just as the discourse hints, and shows that the base and ^B lowest parts of the bride, and those that are, as it were, dead and senseless, are compared to the achievements of that flock. But your teeth are so pure and free from every superfluous conversation, and from scurrility, and foolish talk, and lying, and obscenity, that they seem like the flocks of the shorn, which, having cast off what was superfluous, have ascended from the washing-pool. I think that by the flocks of the shorn, the Bridegroom signifies those who have sheared away sin through baptism, and, according to the blessed Paul, have been "cleansed by the washing of water with the word" (Ephes. v, 26). For thus, he says, you have remained having pure teeth, and rid of the filth of wicked words, so that you seem like those who have just been deemed worthy of the saving baptism. And all those flocks are twin-bearing, and ^C there is no one who is barren among them; for I do not compare you to those who, after the saving baptism, slide back into wickedness, but to those who guard the grace given to them, and bring forth a double virtue, both that which is in contemplation and that which is in action. Having thus praised these parts of the bride, he proceeds to the rest, and says:

3. Thy lips are like a scarlet thread, and thy speech is comely.

By the scarlet cord, he brings to her memory Rahab the harlot, who in the Old Testament bore her type. For when she had received the spies sent by Joshua the son of Nun, she became worthy of eternal life through them; and she also received the scarlet cord as a sign of her salvation. She was commanded to let this down through the window, so that when the Israelites had entered the city, the sign appearing might deliver her from ^D slaughter and procure salvation for her (Josue ii, 18 seqq.). The Bridegroom beholds this sign in the mouth of the bride, as if placed in a window, and says: "As a scarlet cord are your lips, and your speech is comely." For it has received the dye from my blood, and utters words of truth, by which, as with a cord, it catches and binds the hearers. For your comely speech...

^A delights and charms them, and does not allow them to depart, but compels them to linger at your lips. He also praises the cheeks and countenance, saying: "As the peel of a pomegranate are your cheeks, apart from your silence." He signifies the redness inherent to the Bride from modesty, for which she employs a timely silence, discreetly hiding the more mystical discourses, just as the peel of a pomegranate covers the seeds.

VERS. 4. *As the tower of David is your neck, which is built in Thalphioth. A thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the darts of the mighty.* For Thalphioth, Aquila put "bulwarks," and Symmachus "heights." Just as, therefore, he says, the tower built by David surpasses the bulwarks upon which it is constructed, and stands sublime and conspicuous, so your neck is exalted and sublime, looking around and contemplating things above. For it is not bent toward the earth in the manner of brute beasts, nor does it imitate swine by inclining toward the belly; but it is erect and arduous, and bears a thousand bucklers, and all the darts of the mighty. ^B This number, however, is not to be understood as a specific quantity, but is set for any multitude whatsoever. Your neck, which supports your head and face, possesses all the doctrines of others—improperly called darts—with which you overcome all adversaries. It also has many bucklers, with which you are protected and quench the inflamed arrows of the evil one. For you are armed with the armor of the Spirit, and easily wound the enemy, since you abound with all the arrows of the mighty: these you refute, now through the prophets, now through the apostles, and uncover their weakness. ^C

VERS. 5, 6. *Your two breasts are as two twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies. Until the day breathes, and the shadows are moved.* We understand these likewise in the same manner as the preceding, so that by the breasts we again understand the fountains of doctrine, which furnish what is congruent to each age: to some offering milk, to others solid food. And for this reason he says the breasts of the Bride are similar to the fawns of a gazelle, admiring the sharpness of their intuition and the power of their contemplation. He calls them fawns of a gazelle because, as the blessed Paul says, "Now we know in part, then ^D we shall know, even as we have been known."

And since now we know in part, and prophesy in part

which is to say, they partake of the herb of sweet fragrance; and this is the teaching of the Spirit. But according to Symmachus, he says, "to feed among the flowers": for the breasts of the bride feed and nourish those who have been accounted worthy to become a flower of the Spirit, by offering them the streams of doctrine, "until the day breathe, and the heat cease," that is, the laborious life; "and the shadows be moved," that is, the present affairs, which are likened to shadows, as has been said before.

Having thus praised the members of the bride, he says: ^A "I will go for myself to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of incense." Because, he says, you happen to be so comely, so beautiful, so resplendent in beauty, and so wounded by the love you bear for me, I accept death for your sake, and I will go for myself to the mountain of myrrh; but I will rise again, and I will return to the hill of incense. And we have already said before, that through the myrrh he signifies death, and through the incense the divine nature. It must be sought, therefore, why he has placed "mountain" regarding death, but "hill" regarding divinity. Because it is great, and ineffable, and beyond the reach of human understanding, that He who was in the form of God should not deem it ^B a robbery to be equal to God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and being made in the likeness of men and found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself to the point of death, even the death of the cross. But to return to His own glory, and to be glorified with the glory which He had before the world was, was not great, nor laborious, but even very easy. For this reason he says "mountain" of myrrh, but "hill" of incense, showing that the latter is easy for Him, and very effortless, while the former is steep because of the human element. Wherefore, also, when he was brought to the very passion, he says: "Now is my soul troubled." And, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." ^C But again he adds: "And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour." He signifies this also here, saying: "I will go for myself to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of incense." For I do both willingly, not being forced or compelled by anyone: "I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of myself, that I may take it again."

^D VER. 17. "Thou art all fair, my neighbor, and thou art all fair, and there is no blemish in thee." These things are like the words of the blessed Paul; for he also, speaking about the bridegroom, says: "That he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

^A And she has become beautiful, having come near to the bridegroom and received the splendors from him, and having become luminous from the light itself. Would that it might also be granted to us, with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, to be transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

BOOK THREE

^B We must pray, I say, and pray with diligence and zeal, that our eyes may become as doves, by which we may look on things spiritually, and flying over the veil of the letter, may clearly interpret the hidden mysteries. For it is not possible to learn the meaning of divine Scripture otherwise, and especially of the Song of Songs, unless He who bestowed the gift of inspiration upon those writers should illuminate our faculty of sight, sending forth the rays of grace, and reveal the hidden sense. Come, therefore; having implored the help of Him who reveals mysteries, as the wise Daniel says, let us approach the interpretation of the writing, keeping to the sequence. Now, at the end of the previous writing, we heard the bridegroom admiring the beauty of the bride, and offering praise to each part, and afterwards commending her whole, as being ^C immaculate; for she has no spot, or wrinkle, or anything of the sort, as the blessed Paul says, following the choir of souls perfected in virtue. But here he calls her from Lebanon, addressing her as bride, and says:

Ver. 8. Come, he says, from Lebanon, my bride; come, from Lebanon shalt thou come; and thou shalt pass over from the beginning of faith, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards. These things seem to me to correspond to what is said to the bride in the 44th Psalm: "Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; and forget thine own people, and thy father's house; and the king shall desire thy beauty, for he is

^A your Lord." For there also, the Word offers her exhortation and counsel, and commands her to forget her people and her father's house, as the King would not otherwise desire her beauty unless this were done. By her people and her father's house, he means her ancient customs, of which the blessed Paul says: "For we ourselves were also some time foolish, disobedient, erring, serving divers desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But when the goodness and kindness of God our Savior appeared, not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his great mercy, he saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost, whom he hath poured forth upon us ^B abundantly," and so forth. In this text, he calls her from Lebanon and from Sanir; by Lebanon, indeed, signifying the worship of idols, and by Sanir, which is interpreted as the "way of lamps," representing the life lived according to the Law. For the Law is a lamp that shines in the night, but Christ is the sun, shining as in the day. On this account, God also says through the prophet: "But unto you that fear me, the Sun of justice shall arise, and health in his wings." He adds also Mount Hermon, and through it signifies the Law; for the great David says in the Psalms: "As the dew of Hermon, which descendeth upon Mount Sion," that is, the teachings of the Law, granted to the mountains of Sion. By mountains, we must understand those perfect in virtue, as being lofty and distinguished, and as having risen ^C above in their divine understanding. Therefore, the Bridegroom calls some from Lebanon, as those who had been taught to serve idols; others from Sanir and Hermon, as those who had received the dew of the Law and were illuminated by the divine commandments. To these he adds: "From the dens of lions, from the mountains of the leopards." He calls the most bold and furiously insane Jews the dens of lions; and the leopards, the wise men of the Gentiles, who, by the abundance of their speech and the artifice of their arguments, cloaked their falsehood and deceived the rude and simple. Having thus called the bride, and gathered her from the various mountains, and having procured for her salvation through faith, and having beheld the beauty which was thence produced in her, he says to her: ^D 9. "Thou hast wounded our heart," my sister, my bride; "thou hast wounded our heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck."

Verse 9. Thou hast wounded our heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded our heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

^A but one of them strikes me with astonishment—the one that contemplates divine things, that has been taught to theologize, that sees hidden mysteries. And I indeed admire all the ornaments of thy neck; for through these he hints at the active virtue, since the neck, bearing the yoke of divine commandments, ^B draws the furrow and guides the plough-share of righteousness. I praise, therefore, also the other ornaments of virtue shining upon thy neck, but I am exceedingly struck and I admire that one, and becoming amazed at the beauty of both the single necklace and the eye that contemplates divine things, I have been wounded with love for thee. Let us seek, then, what that one ornament is that is placed upon the neck and surpasses the others, and let us learn from the blessed Paul that "there remain faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." And again: "Charity is the fullness of the law." And elsewhere: "The whole law and the prophets hang on this: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself." This necklace, then, the bridegroom admires in the bride, for Symmachus has put "necklace" instead of "ornament." He also regards her one eye in such a way as not to despise the other; for he has already bestowed praise upon both. But he knew that the contemplation of intelligible things is far to be preferred to the knowledge of sensible things. "Thou hast emboldened my heart," that is, endowed with such an eye, and decorated with such a necklace, thou hast stirred us to love and desire for thee. ^C

Verse 10: How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! how beautiful are thy breasts become with wine, and the scent of thy garments is above all spices!

For from the spiritual wine, and the mystical cup, thy breasts have acquired greater beauty; and we have already explained that the breasts are the fountains of doctrine. And the scent of thy garments is full of all graces, and has become sweeter than all spices; for thou hast put on me, the bridegroom; and Isaiah is witness, foretelling and saying: "My soul shall rejoice in the Lord: for he has clothed me with the garment of salvation, and he has covered me with a robe of joy." These garments of thine emit such sweetness that this fragrance, diffused everywhere from them, surpasses the legal virtue, which is metaphorically designated by spices. ^D He calls her not only bride, but also sister, since the blessed Paul also says: "That he might be the firstborn among many brethren." And the Lord himself, when he had risen, said to the women standing by the tomb: "Go, tell my brethren;" and to Peter: "Behold, I go before

^A you into Galilee." She is, therefore, his sister, and bride, and kinswoman: kinswoman, according to the saying, "My soul hath cleaved unto thee;" bride, because receiving from him the seeds of doctrine, she brings forth the fruit of piety; and sister, as being clothed with the same nature as he, according to human frailty. He continues, therefore, pursuing her praise, and says:

11. Thy lips are as a dropping honeycomb, O bride: honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garments is as the smell of frankincense. It is necessary to append to these the apostolic teaching which says: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body; so also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; and all have been made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many." And a little after: "If they were all one member, where is the body?" And again: "Now you are the body of Christ, and members in part." The Church, therefore, being composed of many members, fills out one body; let us understand, then, that some in her occupy the place of eyes, some of ears, some of lips. Wherefore the bridegroom also says to her: "Thy lips are as a dropping honeycomb, O bride: honey and milk under thy tongue." By this he signifies the teachers of the Church, who offer pious instruction and carry as it were a honeycomb of bees upon their lips, and distill the drops of honey. Having not only honey, ^B but also milk, they offer to each his appropriate food—to infants that which is suitable, and to the perfect that which is fitting.

The honeycombs, which are carried on the lips of the teachers, are the divine Scriptures, having bees that fashion the wax and make the honey: the holy prophets and apostles. For they, flitting about the meadows of the all-holy Spirit, having built as it were the honeycombs of the divine Scriptures for us, and filled them with the honey of doctrine, have transmitted the benefit to us. And the letter is like to the wax, but the meaning hidden within it is like to the honey; the lips of pious teachers let fall the drops of this honey. And from their tongue they also reach forth milk to those who have need of milk. ^C He remains again, marveling at the garments of the bride, and says: "And the smell of thy garments is as the smell of frankincense." We have previously said that the bridegroom himself has become a garment for her; and the blessed Paul is a witness, saying: "As many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ." But the bridegroom is both Eternal God, and man born in the last days from the holy Virgin; who remaining what he was, assumed what is ours, [and] the bride... ^D

who had long been stripped bare. Wherefore he says to her: "The smell of thy garments is as the smell of frankincense"; and frankincense is a symbol of theology, because under the old law it was offered to God.

VERS. 12. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed.

VERS. 13-15. Emissions thy paradise of pomegranates, with the fruits of the orchard; cypress with nard. Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon with all the trees of Lebanon: myrrh and aloe with all the chief ointments. A fountain of gardens, a well of living water, and flowing with force from Lebanon. All these things, she says, thou hast sent to me, and brought to me at the time of the wedding. And first, indeed, the paradise of pomegranates, which was not lacking also in the other fruits of the orchard. By the pomegranate, ^D I believe it is understood by way of metaphor that charity is meant; since under one single rind of this same fruit there are many grains, so joined together among themselves that they do not crush or corrupt one another in turn, but are preserved intact, unless some rot should happen to arise in the middle. We are able, from the partitions themselves running through the middle, to imagine another meaning as well: for we perceive many orders among those who are being saved. For there is one order...

of virgins, another of those who practice continence, another of those who bear the yoke of marriage and abound in riches and wealth, another of those who embrace a life of poverty, another of servants who practice a pious life, and another of masters who rule rightly and lawfully. In the same way, the pomegranate seeds are like walls, which distinguish and contain the seeds, as it were, in certain cells. For this reason, He compares the Bride's emissions to a paradise of pomegranates. For first, He admires the fruit of her charity itself, and then says that she is adorned with other kinds of virtues as well: “With the fruits of nuts.” Then He describes these one by one: “Cyprus with nard.” Cyprus is a type of tree from which warm oil is produced. Nard, moreover, is a fragrant type of spice, from which an oil of the same name is made; it is also warm and suited for the treatment of bodies. Furthermore, He says that this paradise contains saffron; for we have need not only of things that warm us and kindle within us the love for God, but also of things that cool our unbridled desires; for saffron is among the things that have ^B the power to cool. “And calamus,” He says, “and cinnamon.” These also are types of aromatics, but they are understood allegorically. For by the calamus, He signifies holy writings: “My tongue is the pen [calamus] of a scribe who writes quickly” (Ps. XLIV 2). The aromatic calamus is fragrant; for the tongue of the teachers of piety is filled with every sweetness. Cinnamon is joined to the calamus, which was offered to God according to the old law, so that we may learn that the writings concerning God are both praiseworthy and fragrant, and are to be likened to the sweetnesses mentioned before. To these He adds: “With all the woods of Lebanon.” For, He says, she also possesses the virtue practiced in the law, not according to the letter, but according to the spirit: for we have often taught that Lebanon signifies Jerusalem. “It has also,” He says, “myrrh and aloes with all the chief spices.” That is, the ^C mortification of the passions; for myrrh is proper to the dead, and the bitterness of temptations, for the aloe is bitter. In a word, it contains all the first of the spices—not the second or third, but the first; for the perfect possess the things that are perfect. “It has also,” He says, “a fountain and a well of living water, and that flows down from Lebanon.” For it does not only contain the evangelical teaching which flows clearly, but also the well of the law, which is the well of living water, and which possesses hidden streams, yet flows with impetuosity and sound, and pours forth from Lebanon; for in Jerusalem the legal rule of life flourished, which is figuratively named Lebanon. This well also flowed ^D into the Bride of the Lord, the Church; and it is hidden, but flows with a rushing sound, watering the paradise of the Church. The Bride, having heard the praises from above, and having been delighted, and having rejoiced—

that he not only admired her beauty, but also praised her garments, says:

Ver. 16. Awake, O north wind, and come, O south; blow upon my garden, and let my spices flow out. ^A

CHAPTER V

Ver. 1. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his fruit trees. The north wind is among those things which are censured by Divine Scripture; hence God also says through Jeremiah the prophet, that “Out of the north evil shall break forth.” And again: “And I will drive away those from the north from you.” And elsewhere: “Behold, evil cometh from the north, and a great destruction.” He commands, therefore, the north to arise and depart, that the south may breathe, and let the ripened spices of the garden flow; that the beloved may enjoy ^B her fruits. Now, it is clear that the south wind blows from the south; it is called *notos* because it is moist, and fills the bodies with moisture when it blows; but even more, the light also streams in from the south. Hence Habakkuk also predicts that the Lord shall come from Teman: “For God,” he says, “shall come from Teman.” This in the language of the Hebrews and Syrians signifies the south. He commands, therefore, that the contrary wind depart, and that the divine grace breathe, that the beloved may harvest the ripened fruits of her spices, with nothing wind-damaged ^C falling before the season. “I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse.” “I have gathered my myrrh with my spices, I have eaten my bread with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my kinsmen.” “For I am come,” he says, “into my garden, which you have adorned for me, and I have gathered my first myrrh, which I planted in you. For I first endured death for your sake, and then I desired that you should be buried with me. For being buried with me through baptism into death, you mortified your limbs which are upon the earth. I gathered my myrrh with my spices,” he says, “and I have reaped ^D the rest of the virtues, which you learned from me, as fruit. I have eaten, moreover, my bread with my honey: the solid and sweet food, which is found among the perfect. I have drunk my wine.” He rightly added the pronoun. For he himself is the true vine, from which this wine is collected. “With my milk.” For he does not reject even the sucklings, and those who need milk, but he takes from them fruit appropriate to their age.

^A Since he is good, he also invites his friends to the banquet, and says: “Eat, my neighbors, and drink, and be inebriated, my brethren.” Those who are perfect draw near to him, and they who preserve the image uncorrupted seek that kinship with him. And he exhorts them not only to drink, but also to be inebriated; for there is an inebriation which produces soundness of mind and wisdom, not folly; not one which paralyzes the limbs, but one which strengthens them. “For his cup which inebriates is very excellent.” And elsewhere again the blessed David says: “They shall be inebriated,” he says, “from the fatness of your house, and you shall give them drink from the torrent of your pleasure.” Regarding the things spoken above, the bride says:

^B Ver. 2. *I sleep, and my heart watches.* For even if I am compelled by nature to close my eyes and to receive sleep, in my mind I am awake, and I do not accept the sleep of sloth, awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom. Therefore, I even perceive his knocking. “For the voice,” she says, “of my beloved knocks at the door.” Let us compare, if you please, these words with those spoken in the divine Gospels by the Good Shepherd: “For my sheep,” he says, “hear my voice.” And again: “But they will not follow a stranger, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Blessed, therefore, is he who is pastured, and who recognizes the voice of the shepherd. Blessed is he who is prepared as a bride, and who knows how to distinguish the voice of an adulterer from that of the bridegroom. Blessed is he who says: “I will not give sleep to my eyes, nor drowsiness to my eyelids,” but who is awake and awaiting the bridegroom according to the exhortation of the Lord himself: “Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord comes.” The blessed Paul also offers this same counsel, saying: “Watch, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong; let all that you do be done in love.” The bride therefore is awake, even though she sleeps the sleep of the body; she is in the enjoyment of the voice of the bridegroom, and hears the knocking at the door. And what are ^C the doors of the soul, if not the senses of the body, through which the bride receives the bridegroom, not only knocking, but also beseeching that the door be opened to him? “Open to me,” he says, “my sister, my neighbor, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.” By “the night,” he signifies the assault that took place against him in the night by the Jews; by the “dew” and “drops,” he signifies his three-day ^D death, which the locks of his head took on, and not he himself. Since, therefore, he says, I endured death for you, and for your sake I suffered these trials, open to me, and receive me. For I love

your spiritual beauty and your perfection in virtue. For this reason, I call you my sister, and my kinswoman, and my dove, and my perfect one. ^A I call you perfect, because you perform the perfection prescribed for you by me. For I said: "Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." And again: "If you wish to be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and taking up your cross, follow me." I call you my dove, because you have become spiritual, and have stripped off the old man with his vices and desires, and are able to see things spiritually. I call you my kinswoman, because you walk in my footsteps and desire to draw near to me. For I said: "Draw near to me, and I will draw near to you." Finally, I call you my sister, not only because of the relationship of nature which I assumed, but also because of the bond of piety. ^B Having heard the foregoing words, the bride answers, saying:

Verse 3. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

From this we learn how much damage laziness generates, and how much labor sloth brings upon the sluggish. For because the bride makes excuses and does not want to open the door to the bridegroom immediately, she is compelled shortly after not only to proceed to the door, but to run through the city, and to go around the streets, and to fall in with guards, from whom she also receives wounds, and scarcely finds the longed-for bridegroom. But if she had obeyed the one calling immediately, she would have avoided ^C all these inconveniences. Now, however, she says: "I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?" And yet, the bridegroom does not command this of her; for he neither wishes her, having put off the old man, to put him on again, nor does he wish her, having washed her feet and enjoyed his holy hands, to defile them again; but he wishes her to open to him, without labor and defilement, the doors of either her ears or her eyes, so that, having entered either through knowledge or through hearing, he might dwell in sanctified souls. And since she delayed, using those excuses, the bridegroom stirs her in another way, no longer knocking only from the outside, but also ^D inserting his hand through a certain opening; for we understand the hand as the sense of touch and his divine action, which, when the bride felt it, she cries out:

Verses 4-7. My kinsman sent his hand through the hole, and my belly trembled at his touch. I arose to open to my kinsman: my hands dripped myrrh, fingers...

full of myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my kinsman; but my kinsman had passed by. My soul went forth at his word: I sought him, but I found him not; I called him, but he answered me not. The watchmen that go about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me. Because she was not willing to open immediately to the one knocking, he touches her through one of the senses—which he called a hole—by inserting his hand, that is to say, his operation; but he warms and kindles her love. This is what is indicated by the words, ^A "My belly trembled at his touch," which Theodotion rendered as "was heated." The bride, intoxicated with love, arises and running to the door, says: "My hands, taking hold of the bolt, and wishing to open, dripped myrrh, and my fingers [dripped] with full myrrh," for I am wrapped in perfect mortification, even to my extremest parts. But having opened the door, I see my kinsman passing by and unwilling to enter. I, however, stirred by the goad of love and suspended upon his sacred words, set myself to the search, and I ceased not from crying out, continually calling; but he pretended not to hear, ^B nor did he deign to answer me. Wandering about, therefore, and seeking my beloved, I fall in with those who inhabit and guard the city; and they not only abused and scourged me, but even inflicted wounds upon me, and took away my mantle. ^C And I think that by the bride the custodians of the walls and the city are called the magistrates and princes and tyrants who once assaulted the bride, the Church of God, and who, having beaten and tortured the glorious martyrs with stripes and punishments, stripped them of their souls and, taking away the body from their souls—like a mantle—put them to death. For they, longing for the bridegroom and always preaching him in cities and fields and isolated regions, endured all these things. We are taught, therefore, from what has been said, to put aside all delay and to open immediately to the bridegroom when he knocks, so that, lest he depart, we be not forced to wander ^D roundabout and seek the desired one.

Verse 8. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and strengths of the field, if ye find my kinsman, tell him that I am wounded with love. For the bridegroom frequently appears even to those who are still imperfect and as infants, accommodating himself to their weakness and exhorting them to perfection; "For they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." He binds the young women by an oath.

commodating himself to their weakness and exhorting them to perfection; "For they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." He binds the young women by an oath. She urges the young women, if they should find her kinsman, to announce to him how great is the love she holds for him, and that she has been wounded by the chosen arrow of charity. The young women are ignorant of the name of the kinsman; for they are still imperfect, and are ignorant of the depth of the mysteries. Therefore they say:

^A VERS. 9. What is thy kinsman more than another kinsman, O thou fairest among women? What is thy kinsman more than another kinsman, that thou hast so adjured us? For we have frequently, they say, heard you saying, "My kinsman, of my kinsman," and we do not understand the force of your words. Since, therefore, an oath has been interposed, we cannot pass over your commands in silence. Teach us, therefore, O thou fairest among women—for you are the most beautiful of all young women and maidens—what this name means. For it resonates repeatedly in your mouth, now "of my kinsman," now "my kinsman." For if we learn from you who he is, and by what marks he is distinguished, we will take care of you and we will execute your commands. The bride, therefore, indicates the marks and signs of the bridegroom to her disciples, saying:

^B VERS. 10–16. My kinsman is white and ruddy, chosen out of ten thousands. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are as the branches of palm trees, black as a raven. His eyes are as doves upon the fullness of waters, which are washed with milk, and are sitting by the fullness of waters. His cheeks are as beds of aromatic spices, producing perfumed herbs. His lips are like lilies dropping full myrrh. His hands are rounded, golden, full of the sea [or beryl]. His belly is an ivory box, upon the sapphire stone. His legs are as pillars of marble, which are set upon bases of gold. His appearance is as choice frankincense, as cedars. His throat is sweetness, and he is altogether lovely; this is my kinsman, and this is my neighbor, O daughters of Jerusalem. The bride answers the interrogation of the young women, and shows them by what arguments they can recognize the bridegroom. "My kinsman," she says, "is white and ruddy." ^C She puts forward his whiteness first, then his redness. For God always was, but he also became man, not laying aside what he was, nor changed into a man, but putting on human nature. He is white, therefore, as God; for what is more splendid than light? And he is the true light, as the words of the Gospels testify: "For that was the true light," he says, "which lighteth every man that cometh into this world." Joan. 1, 9. ^D

^A Verum, however, is not only white, but also ruddy. For he is not only God, but also man; and the ruddiness signifies the earthly. For this reason, the divine powers also, in Isaiah, beholding him returning from the earth to heaven, ask, saying: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with reddened garments from Bosor? This one is beautiful in his robe, with violence and strength." They admire even the beauty of his body, which they call his robe. For he is "beautiful in form above the sons of men," in so far as he is man. For as God, he is of such beauty that, being inaccessible, it cannot be explained by any comparison. They inquire of him, and say: "Why then are thy garments red as from a trodden winepress, full of treading?" And desiring to learn the cause of the redness, he teaches them: "The winepress," he says, "I have trodden alone, and of the peoples there was no man with me." ^B "For not an ambassador, nor an angel, but the Lord himself saved us," according to the prophecy of Isaiah. "And I trampled them," he says, "in my fury, and crushed them in my anger," namely, the demons, the enemies of human nature, and their host. "And their blood was sprinkled upon my garments, when I conquered them." For by their slaughter and destruction, my garments were sprinkled with certain drops of blood. He signifies the three-day death. However, he does not say "I have been sprinkled with blood," but "their blood was sprinkled upon my garments when I conquered them," that is, my body: which must be diligently noted. ^C For the divine nature could not suffer, but the body suffered; which body God the Word so drew to himself and united to himself, that he himself suffered nothing therefrom. For the Divinity is by nature more excellent than the capacity to suffer. Therefore the bride says: "My kinsman [Nepos] is white and ruddy, chosen out of ten thousand." For the first-fruits is superior to every nature. "For he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." Thus, for the entire race he was offered, a spotless sacrifice. Wherefore also through the prophet Isaiah, the God of all proclaims, saying: "Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my elect, in whom my soul is well pleased; I will put my Spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." ^D With good reason, therefore, the bride says: "My kinsman is white and ruddy, chosen out of ten thousand." For it was fitting for him who took upon himself our sins, which were red as purple and as scarlet, to be and to be called ruddy. "But his head," he says, "is gold of Ophaz." Symmachus translates, "as a precious stone." The fifth edition has, "distinguished with gold." Allegorically, she calls his Divinity his head, which

ari. « Caput autem ejus, inquit, aurum Ophatz. » Symmachus vertit, « sicut lapis pretiosus. » Quinta editio habet, « insigne auro. » Caput ipsius allegorice vocat divinitatem, quam superius by her brilliance ^A indicated. Therefore, he compares His divinity to gold and to precious stone, which are the most precious things among men. Nor did he find any other name more appropriate: «His hair lies like palm-branches, black as a raven.» In my opinion, he calls the graces that flow from His head "hair"; they are called "black" for one reason, but "palm-branches" for another. For palm-branches are the fruits of male palms, which, when brought to the female ones, cause their fruits to reach maturity. Since, therefore, those who have believed in Him, enjoying His various gifts, bring forth to Him the fruit of piety, His hair is rightly compared to palm-branches. They are called "black," however, so that the hidden reason for His entire dispensation may be signified by the deep and dark color. «Hair of palm-branches, black as a raven.» He named the raven here only to denote the color. «His eyes, he says, are like doves upon the plenitudes of waters.» Here he again praises His vision by means of the eyes; therefore, he says that they are like doves upon the plenitudes of waters, and he recalls to our memory that dove which descended upon Him in the Jordan. Nor should it offend anyone that it was said, «like doves,» and not «dove.» For we read in the Holy Scriptures not only «Spirit,» but also «spirits»; not because there are many Holy Spirits—for there is one Holy Spirit, the Comforter—but because the blessed Paul calls the gifts of this same Spirit "spirits," saying, «And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.» Since, therefore, the Lord Christ, as man, possessed all the gifts of the Spirit, the bride says: «His eyes are like doves upon the plenitudes of waters.» For His eyes always look towards the largesse of baptism, awaiting those who are being saved and desiring the salvation of all. Moreover, she says, «the doves are washed in milk and sitting upon the plenitudes of waters.» For they nourish some with milk, who are in need of that food; and they refresh and renew others—those who have grown old in sin—by sitting upon the plenitudes of waters and sanctifying them. And not without reason did he say «plenitudes of waters.» For He does not receive those who do not possess perfect faith, and those who do not approach with sincere faith, such as Simon was, who was indeed baptized but was seen to be unworthy of the grace, since he was not full, but maimed, and did not possess the perfection of faith. «His cheeks, he says, are as vials of perfume, sprouting aromatics. And his lips are lilies, dripping full of myrrh.» Again, he calls the cheeks and lips "doctrine." For the lips and cheeks are the instruments of speech. By their movement, the voice is distinguished and formed. He calls them "vials of perfume" on account of the sweet odor of the doctrine; and he says they "sprout aromatics," because the doctors of the Church draw from thence the arguments for teaching.

pter doctrinæ suavem odorem. Pigmentaria vero dicit germinare, quoniam inde docendi argumenta sumunt doctores Ecclesiæ, ut illas gignant et proferant μυρεψικά, id est, pigmentaria. ^A For from there the teachers of the Church, taking the starting points of their teaching, become like certain perfumers of the proclamation, and prepare the ointment of utility.

"Like lilies," he says, "are His lips," for divine words shine, having nothing human in them; for lilies neither spin nor weave, according to the teaching of the Lord, but the Father who is in heaven clothes them. Since, therefore, divine words are stripped of all human wisdom, and possess only divine beauty, he rightly says, "His lips are lilies, dripping full of myrrh," that is, teaching mortification in the present life. For such are the doctrines of the Lord: "He who does not leave father, and mother, and wife, and fields, ^B and vineyards for my sake, is not worthy of me," and: "He who does not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me," and: "If you wish to be perfect, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and taking your cross, follow me." For this reason His lips drip full of myrrh.

"His hands are turned, golden, full of Tharsis." By "hands," he designates the practical virtue, which He has practiced with all harmony, as if fashioning and directing every action. Therefore He also said to John, "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." He calls them "golden" as being precious and rare. ^C He chose the word "Tharsis" on account of the excellence of the gold; for from there the divine Scripture says that sincere, pure, and proven gold is brought.

"His belly is an ivory pyxis upon a sapphire stone." For His depth of mysteries, and the storehouse of knowledge, where all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, are an ivory vessel to those worthy of the revelation. By nature, they are incomprehensible; therefore it is said "upon a sapphire stone," because it shows the secret depth of divine things. But yet this deep, hidden, and unclear thing becomes an ivory pyxis to the worthy; therefore also the blessed Paul cries out: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not ascended into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love Him; but to us God has revealed it through His Spirit," and again: "His mystery which was hidden from the ages and from generations, which was not known to other generations, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets." ^D For this reason he says His belly is an ivory pyxis upon a sapphire stone. And he said His locks, while clear, are black; for to those who have not yet attained the divine revelation, even the things that are manifest and comprehended by the senses appear obscure and very difficult. But those who have reached the inner my-

mysteries, even the obscure things become manifest. For this reason, the blessed David also says: «The hidden and secret things of your wisdom you have made manifest to me.» ^A This, then, the bride also says: «His belly is an ivory casket upon a sapphire stone; his legs are marble pillars, founded upon bases of gold.» By the marble pillars, she declares his firmness, his stability, his constancy, and his permanence; and by calling their bases golden, she indicates the precious beauty of his actions. «His form is as frankincense, chosen as cedars.» Here again he interprets the double nature; for he calls the divine «frankincense,» since incense was offered to God according to the Law. But he calls the human «cedar,» as it did not receive the corruption of sin; for the cedar is an incorruptible wood. «His throat is sweetness.» For what is sweeter than the divine oracles? ^B Therefore, the great David also says: «How sweet are your oracles to my throat, more than honey and honeycomb to my mouth!» and: «Your judgments are true, justified together, to be desired more than gold and much precious stone, and sweeter than honey and honeycomb.» Accordingly, the ministers of the chief priests, who were sent to the Lord, having been soothed and captured by the desire for the sweetness of his words, said to those who had sent them: «Never has a man spoken as this man speaks.» And others cried out: «Blessed is the belly that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked.» Wherefore, «his throat is sweetness,» nay rather, «he is altogether desirable.» For, being destitute of other praises with which she might further overwhelm him, she embraces ^C all things in one word: «Why,» she says, «do I delay in explaining each of the parts of his beauty? He is altogether desirable, drawing all to love him, urging them on to affection, kindling the desire of himself not only in those who see him, but also in those who hear him.» Having said these things, she turns to the young women: «This,» she says, «is my kinsman, and this is my neighbor, O daughters of Jerusalem. When you say that you do not know him, and ask of me, Who is your kinsman, more than another? behold, I declare to you: Such is my kinsman, and such is my neighbor.» Therefore, being bound by an oath, do not neglect that, but seek my kinsman, and report my longing to him. When, ^D therefore, those women had understood the signs and marks of the bridegroom, they again ask and inquire where he has gone and whither he has departed, and they say:

VERS. 17. «Whither has your kinsman gone, O beautiful among women? Whither has your kinsman turned aside? And we will seek him with you.» For if we should learn the place of his departure, we will not be negligent, but we will seek him with you whom you desire.

^A«For Paul, he says, the apostle, not from men, nor through men, to the Churches of Galatia.» And writing also to the Corinthians, he says: «Let your women be silent in the churches.» For this reason the bride says: «My kinsman has gone down into his garden, to the beds of spice, to pasture in the gardens, and to gather lilies.» For he pastures all the Churches, and rejoices in the beds of spice, in those who have acquired his fragrance, and he gathers those who have imitated the beauty of the bride and have become lilies, and joins them to the bride. To these, the bride adds:

β. «I to my kinsman, and my kinsman to me; who pastures among the lilies.» For I have depended upon him, and have dedicated myself to him. For indeed he has preferred me to the whole world, and has joined me to himself, and has renewed me when I had grown old, and has enriched me when I was in poverty, and has rendered me beautiful when I was unsightly, and has healed my wounds which were festering and foul-smelling, and has filled me with fragrance. For this reason I say: «I to my kinsman, and my kinsman to me; who pastures among the lilies,» or «who pastures the flowers,» according to Symmachus. And he says that it has come to pass instead of a belt. This also the blessed David said: «Gird your sword upon your thigh, O Mighty One. In your splendor and in your beauty, and stretch ^B out, and proceed prosperously, and reign; because of truth and meekness and righteousness.»

σ'. «And the wolf shall graze together with the lamb.» It is then through mild and wild animals that he has allegorically taught the difference of human characters. For by the wolf he likens the rapacious character, but by the sheep the mild and gentle; and again by the leopard the varied—for the animal is speckled—but by the kid the simple and innocent. Thus, to the lion is likened the haughty and governing; to the bull, the bold; to the calf, that which is free of these. Yet he says that they shall graze together; and we see the fulfillment of the prophecy in the Churches; and emperors, and governors, and commanders of soldiers, and soldiers, and those who live by their own hands, and servants, and beggars, partaking together of the sacred table, hearing the same words, deemed worthy of the same laver. Therefore, those who pride themselves in power and boast in wisdom, a man childish in wickedness, according to the apostolic exhortation, and adorned with the simplicity of the fishermen, leads and pastures. But also, many who overflow with wealth, and have abundant opportunities for luxury, prefer ^C fasting to delicacy, and imitate the carnivorous lion which chooses to partake of straw.

τ'. «And a young child shall put his hand upon the holes of asps.» Such was the blessed Paul, disputing with the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, and haranguing on the Areopagus, and daring against the asps, and attempting to thrust, as it were, a hand—his simple word—into the hearing of these men, as into the den of wild beasts. For their heart was a den of demons.

θ'. «And they shall not be able to destroy anyone upon my holy mountain.» To the sentiment, «They shall not be able to destroy anyone upon my holy mountain,» the evangelical voice of the Lord is similar: «Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.» Therefore, he calls the high and strong and immovable nature of his divine teaching the holy mountain, and promises that those who stand upon it will be invincible. «Because the whole earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord.» ^D He shows then the power of the proclamation, saying that the whole earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water to cover the seas. And it is truly a great and most paradoxical miracle; and it is like a few drops brought to the sea, and changing its bitterness,

^A exactly as she called him her desire in the preceding verses, imposing the name from her own affection—for, being affected by desire for him, she desired to be desired by him—so he, also, having desired her and wishing to attach her to himself as a bride, calls her his "delight." For, he says, you are not only beautiful and lovely, but you are beautiful, and not simply beautiful, but as Jerusalem—not the one below, but the one above, of which the blessed Paul says: "But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of all of us." You are like her, my neighbor; for you have imitated the angelic way of life; you practice heavenly things while on earth, and though walking in the flesh, you do not wage war according to the flesh, and you press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call, and you seek the things above, where I am seated at the right hand of God. For this reason "you are beautiful, as Jerusalem," and not simply beautiful, but causing wonder in those who see you. For those who behold your order are struck with wonder; for there is nothing in you disorderly, nothing undefined, nothing indistinct, but all things are arranged and settled; and you know precisely the sequence of events, having been taught to prefer the bridegroom to all else, and after him, those who draw near to him. To these he adds:

^C VERS. 4. Turn your eyes away from me, for they have caused me to fly away. What he says is this: The beauty of your eyes, and the contemplation of your vision, and the sharpness of your understanding have drawn me into love for you; but do not look at me beyond what is moderate, so that you do not draw harm from it. For I am inaccessible, and incomprehensible, and surpass all understanding, not only human, but angelic; even if you should wish to exceed the boundaries and search into things beyond your power, you will find not only that you will gain nothing, but that you will dim your sight and make it duller. Such is the nature of the light; just as it illuminates the eye, ^D so too it injures it, if you are insatiable. Do not, therefore, seek things too difficult for you, and do not search into things stronger than you, but always think upon what has been commanded you. To these he adds further praise, saying:

VERS. 5, 6. Your hair is like a flock of goats that have appeared from Galaad. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep that have come up from the washing, all of them bearing twins, and there is no sterile one among them. As a scarlet cord are your lips, and your speech is ^A beautiful, and your speech is lovely; like the rind of a pomegranate is your temple, besides what is within your veil. Your neck is like the tower of David, built with battlements; a thousand shields hang upon it, all the arrows of the mighty. Your two breasts are like two twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies. Until the day breathes, and the shadows depart, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of incense. You are all beautiful, my neighbor, and there is no blemish in you.

We must understand these things too as describing the beauty of the Church. By the hair, he signifies the multitude of the faithful, who are governed by the pastors, just as the goats are led by the shepherd. ^B And by Galaad, he designates the abundance of virtue, for the name Galaad means "witness of the heap"; and thus, having gathered the testimony of the life of the saints, the Church exhibits them as her own hair. By the teeth, he points to the teachers, who, as if by teeth, masticate the divine nourishment—that is, the sacred utterances—and offer it to those who are nourished by them, so that they may be easily able to ingest it. And he says that these have come up from the washing, referring to the washing of regeneration, by which they have purified their souls. ^C The "bearing twins" refers to the double ministry of the word, both the theoretical and the practical; for the perfect teacher produces both together. "And there is no sterile one among them," because they do not preach in vain, but bring forth fruit from those who listen. As for the "scarlet cord," he signifies the confession of the Passion through the lips, which is the source of all our salvation; and "your speech is lovely," because "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. x, 17). ^D And as for the "temple" and the "neck," he signifies the strength and the steadfastness of the Church, which remains unshaken against the assaults of the demons, like a tall and fortified tower. And the "shields and arrows" represent the divine dogmas, by which the faithful repel the attacks of their adversaries, and quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. The "two breasts" refer to the two Testaments, the Old and the New, from which we draw the milk of life.

^A As the rind of the pomegranate to your race, except for your silence. Having interpreted these things above, we consider it superfluous to explain them twice; for it is possible, even if one should forget the interpretation, to run back to those things and find the clarification. Nor does he simply or rashly ^B offer the same praises to the bride twice, but rather, reminding her of her own beauty, he urges her to keep it safe and to allow no blemish to attach to it. For, "Consider," he says, "what you were before, and what I have made you, and with what beauty I have adorned you, and how much beauty I have bestowed upon you. Keep this for me as an unblemished end. For as I stay with you, I examine your limbs, and I am meticulous lest any harm should happen to them." The bridegroom also says these things to her, encouraging the bride to persist in beauty.

^C Verses 7, 8. *Sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and young maidens, of which there is no number. One is my dove, my perfect one, one is she to her mother, she is the chosen one to the one who bore her; the daughters saw her, and the queens and the concubines will call her blessed, and they will praise her.* We are not ignorant that there are many and various orders of the pious. This the Lord also teaching, said: *"Many are the mansions in my Father's house."* And in the distribution of the talents, *not all received five talents, but one five, another two, another one, each according to his own ability.* ^D And in the parable of the seed he says: *"And other fell upon good ground, and brought forth fruit, some thirty, and some sixty, and some a hundred."* And he calls all of it good ground, not only that which brought forth a hundred, but also that which brought forth sixty, and that which brought forth thirty. For the number thirty is among those who are praised, because it has three tens united by the triad; but sixty has double the blessing, for thirty doubled produces sixty; and one hundred is most perfect, and removed from the left hand, and holding the beginning of the right, and is completed by ten tens; those who are skilled in these matters call this a square. Yet, even if one hundred is perfect, nevertheless sixty and thirty are also among those who are praised; for the Lord called all of them good ground. Let us therefore understand the bride to be those souls perfected in all philosophy and virtue, who, moved solely by the love for the bridegroom, embrace the labors of cultivating virtue, and are willing both to do and to suffer all things. Such was the blessed Paul, saying: *"For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is..."*

^A in Christ Jesus our Lord. For he teaches us by these things that he does not love Christ for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, but that he would choose to fall from the kingdom and fall into hell alongside the one who loves Christ, rather than to reign while deprived of that love. Such souls, therefore, fill out the chorus of the bride, those who are possessed solely by the desire for the bridegroom.

There are also some who are, as it were, mercenaries, who endure the sweats of virtue out of a desire for future good things. These, for the present, I consider worthy to be called queens, since they are stirred by the desire for the kingdom, and for its sake are content to endure the toils of piety. There are others who have not yet been granted freedom, but voluntarily serve nonetheless, and obey the divine laws out of fear of hell. These, in my judgment, are called concubines; for the bridegroom associates with them also, having become all things to all men.

Finally, there are those who are sluggish and slothful, who do not burn with the love of the bridegroom, nor are they drawn by the desire for the kingdom, nor are they moved by the fear of hell, but they manage their own affairs very negligently, though they do retain an immovable faith, and guard the dogmas of piety intact, and shrink from all heretical and alien doctrine. Nevertheless, living more sluggishly, they at one time seem to take care of themselves, while at another they slide back into sloth; at one time they entangle themselves in sins, and at another they repent and shed tears of penitence. The bridegroom calls these "maidens" in this place; and because those of this sort are more numerous than either the queens or the concubines, he says: ^B "And maidens, of whom there is no number." "Of the maidens," he says, "there is no number," not only because they cannot be numbered due to the size of the multitude, but also because they are unworthy to be numbered. For of those who are worthy, even the hairs are numbered by the Father. But yet, the bridegroom does sometimes associate even with these, wishing to draw them away from their sloth, and guiding them to things that are perfect, and endeavoring to secure their salvation from every side.

We shall seek, then, why he spoke of sixty queens and eighty concubines. The number sixty is composed of six tens, and the ten signifies perfection, while the six contains the number of the creation of the world; for in six days the God of all things created the entire universe. Those souls, therefore, who in this world have been perfected in virtue and are desirous of the kingdom, he named sixty queens. For the bride lives above this world and exists outside of it, and soars above it, and becomes entirely the bridegroom's, and never ceases to think of him. But these others, living in this world, reach toward the perfection of virtue as much as they possibly can, desiring to attain the kingdom; while those who fulfill the laws out of fear of judgment were, with reason, called eighty. ^C For ^D the divine Scripture calls the eighth day the time of judgment. For the blessed David...

when he was detailing matters ^A regarding the judgment in the Psalms, inscribed one of them, "For the eighth," and beginning, says, "O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy displeasure." And a little later: "For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" showing that in the time of judgment there will be no place for repentance for those who have sinned and have not repented. Since, therefore, fearing these things, they have followed the divine laws, being moved neither by the desire for the kingdom nor by love for the bridegroom, they are with reason called eighty. For the number eight signifies the eighth day, and the number ten signifies perfection. But he declares the bride to be superior both to these, and to the sixty, and to the eighty. "For one," he says, "is my dove, my perfect one," again naming her spiritual and one. For she is one above the sixty and the eighty to her mother; and she has as her mother the sacred font, that Jerusalem which is above. "And she is the chosen one of her who bore her." For while those others were indeed born of her, this one she has preferred above all, and she has a chosen daughter; therefore, "The daughters saw her, and they shall call her blessed," that is, the maidens; and not only they, but also the queens and the concubines shall praise her. ^B For she has surpassed them, inasmuch as she pursued the highest philosophy, not for the sake of a reward, nor for fear of punishment, but out of desire for the bridegroom. May it be granted to us, helped by the divine grace, to reach the perfection of the bride! But if we should fail, may we at least be among the queens; and if we should be deemed unworthy even of these, may we not be far from the concubines; and if we should be found unworthy even of these, let us at least be numbered among the maidens, and keep the profession of piety untainted, and not be completely deprived of the fellowship of the bridegroom, but enjoy his beauty by his grace: for to him is the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

BOOK FOUR

Fidem adhibentes illi qui dixit: ^D trusting in Him who said: "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you; for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds—"

^A in the present we shall ask that the remaining words of the Song of Songs be opened to us, and we shall cry out with a suppliant voice: "Open our eyes, and we will consider the wondrous things from Your law." For He Himself gives a word to those who preach the gospel with great power. He said: "Open your mouth, and I will fill it." Yet He often imparts grace even to those who are unworthy, for the benefit of the many. Therefore, we hope that He will now make the depth of the text plain and bright for us too: not because we are worthy of such a gift, but because of the benefit to those who will read or hear this interpretation. Relying, therefore, on this confidence, let us proceed ^B confidently to explain what remains.

VER. 9. *Who is this that looks forth as the morning dawn, fair as the moon, choice as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?*

In the preceding passages, the Bridegroom described the beauty of the Bride in his discourse. He once commended her individual members separately, and then again offered a common eulogy, in which he also employed a kind of artistic comparison. Thus, he compared the Bride with the maidens, and the concubines, and the queens, so as to demonstrate that she excelled them in many respects. For he said that such was the excellence of her form that they all refused to contend with her, confessed themselves defeated, and proclaimed her blessed, or rather, most blessed. But here, the ministers of the Bridegroom, having learned from Him the beauty, the adorning, and the grace of the Bride, ^C are incited to look upon her more closely, and on account of the magnitude of their joy (for the beauty of her soul was still hidden under the veil of the body) they cry out: "Who is this that looks forth as the morning dawn?" For until now, the light of the Bride was seen only in part, being covered by this corruptible body. And just as the morning dawn is the boundary of night and day, declaring the end of one and the beginning of the other, and signifying the coming of the sun, so in this present life, souls perfected in piety and all wisdom, which Divine Scripture calls the Church and the Bride, emit certain brief rays from their own virtue. But when, as the blessed Paul says, "this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality," all their light shall be revealed. ^D Which, indeed, the ministers of the Bridegroom foreseeing, not only compare her to the morning dawn, but say also that she is as fair as the moon, choice as the sun, and terrifying to those who dare to fix their eyes upon it. But they have added "choice," not only to indicate the distinction between her and the stars, but also to show the perfection of the moon itself. As if they were saying, as the moon shining full, not showing thin horns, nor half-full, nor waning, but perfect and splendid over its entire orb, retaining nothing imperfect—

^A thus, they say, "is she beautiful as the elect moon." Those who are skilled in these matters say that the moon borrows its light from the rays of the sun, and receives only a small amount of light when it sees but a small portion of the sun; but when, being opposite, it gazes upon the whole sun, it manifests the whole orb like a mirror and is fully illuminated, leaving no part of its body in darkness. ^B Thus, therefore, the Church of Christ, which is the assembly of souls perfected in virtue, "beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face," according to the blessed Paul, "is being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit," and becomes entirely radiant, so as to resemble the moon, and an elect moon, that is to say, a full one. And it resembles not only the moon, but also the sun, and the sun which causes astonishment in those who behold it. I do not think that this expression was placed here simply; for nothing is said by the Divine Spirit without cause. But since life is night, according to the blessed Paul, who says, "The night is far spent, and the day has drawn near," ^C it is fitting that the Church should be as a kind of moon in the night, providing light for travelers and showing them the straight path. It is also like the dawn; for the time which followed the Lord's coming was a kind of dawn, which signifies the future tranquility, as the presence of day; "For as the dawn," he says, "we shall find him prepared." But when that great and manifest day of the Lord shall arrive, according to the voice of the prophet, concerning which the blessed Paul says, "The day has drawn near," then it shall no longer shine as the moon, but as the sun, causing astonishment ^D not only to unbelieving men, but also to the young maidens, and the concubines, and the queens, and even to the incorporeal powers themselves. And the Lord Himself bears witness, saying, "Then will the righteous shine forth as the sun." And the blessed Paul also says, "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory." The bride of Christ, therefore, emerges as the dawn, for at present her beauty is known only in part. "And she is beautiful as the elect moon," filled with the Lord's light and illuminating the world with her rays; wherefore the Lord also, in the holy Gospels, said to His holy disciples, "You are the light of the world"; and showing what kind of light, he adds, saying, "So let your light shine before men, that seeing your good works, they may glorify your Father Who is in the heavens." Nor is the bride only like the elect moon, but she will also shine like the sun in the future life, and with her brightness she will cause astonishment to all. But they will admire

^A not only her light, but also her order; for there is nothing disordered in the bride of the Lord, nothing undefined, nothing indistinct. For she directs and regulates what must be done as if by a plumb line. After the praises of the Bridegroom ^B

VERS. 10, 11. I went down into the garden of the nut, to see in the offshoots of the torrent: to see if the vine had blossomed, if the pomegranates had blossomed; there will I give my breasts to thee. My soul knew not, it set me among the chariots of Aminadab.

The meaning is rendered very obscure by the ambiguity of the words; but by calling upon the help of divine grace, let us dig into the depth and unearth the treasure. The company of the pious, which divine Scripture calls the bride, shows that it is not content with its own salvation, nor does it consider it sufficient that they alone have attained the desired nuptials; but they apply all their strength to the care of ensuring that they might move all other men away from an unfruitful life, so that, having been made fertile, they might bear the fruit of virtue. And while they are engaged in this, and are occupied with instructing other men, they teach that they are like the chariots of Aminadab, or, as Symmachus interpreted it, “chariots of the leading people,” or, as Aquila translated, “chariots of the people of a voluntary prince.” ^C By the garden of the nut we understand the present life, which, although it is bitter and full of hardships and toils, nevertheless contains a hidden fruit of virtue. For the fruit of the nut, while it has an outer shell that is bitter, and a second that is rough and hard, contains within—as if in a storeroom—an edible kernel, hidden and not to be extracted without labor. Such also is the present life. For although it is filled with the bitterness of pains and troubles, it has its toils and sweats, yet they are not useless or unfruitful, but rather possess a hidden fruit. For this reason the blessed Paul also says: “Our life is hidden with Christ in God; when Christ, our life, shall appear, then we also shall live in him.” * I went down, therefore, into the garden of the nut, that is, into human life. Why then did you descend, O bride? “To see among the offshoots of the torrent.” Again she has called the present things a torrent; for a torrent is not perennial, but flows in winter, yet in summer it ceases to flow and dries up. Such are the things that seem delightful in this life; for in the present life, like some torrent, both glory, and riches, and royal power, and luxury, and the other ^D flowers of life are swept away. But when the future life appears, it fades and ceases, and

^A dries up like a torrent. “I went down, therefore,” she says, “into the nut-garden, to see among the shoots of the torrent, and to discern, wishing to know if the pomegranates had blossomed.” For this life has some men who are metaphorically called vines, and others who are named according to the various attainments of virtue. For some cultivate love and cherish concord, being united in mind just as the seeds of the pomegranate are joined together; others, however, being devoted to contemplation, yield wine worthy of the paternal wine-presses. She calls her descent a condescension; for the blessed Paul also became as weak to the weak, that he might gain the weak; and to those without law as without law, not being without law to God, but under the law of Christ, that he might gain those without law. ^B “I went down, therefore,” she says, “into the nut-garden,” being mindful of the shoots of the torrent, and of the fruits of the vine and the pomegranate. I will not withdraw from you, not even there; but “I will offer you my breasts,” that is, the fountains of my teaching. For you make your own what is done to those others, and you say: “Inasmuch as you did it to one of these my little ones, the least of them, you did it to me.” To these she adds: “My soul knew not, it set me among the chariots of Aminadab.” Symmachus translated this more clearly, saying: “My soul made me hesitant because of the chariots of a people leading.” For she says: “While doing these things, I enter into doubt and astonishment, because I indeed labored for their salvation, but they attacked me, being persuaded by the devil who leads the army and becoming as it were his chariots, and being driven by him; for Aminadab is interpreted as ‘people leading’ or ‘people commanding.’” And this ^C is exactly what we must understand, both from the versions of Aquila and Symmachus and from the fifth edition. The bride therefore — that is, the choir of those who are perfected in virtue — says: “We, indeed, take every care for the unbelievers, contriving to provide for them salvation from every side; but some of them, having become as it were chariots of the prince of this world, who now works in the sons of disobedience, according to the blessed Paul, have attacked me, rendering evil for good.” And this can be clearly found both in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles of the blessed Paul. For while they were preaching the word of piety, they were persuading some to believe, but by the unbelievers they were driven out, whipped, tortured, and endured countless kinds of death; and the blessed Paul is a witness, saying: “In labors more abundantly, in stripes above measure, ^D in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times I received forty stripes lacking one. Thrice I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often

^A in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, and what follows [o]. When he said these things, the bridegroom's ministers thus respond to him:

Vers. 12. Return, return, O Sulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. Aquila translates it thus: "Return, O peaceful one." Even as in this book our Lord Solomon, that is, the peaceful one, is such, so also the bride is called peaceful, because she has attained peace from him, and has been liberated from war. Therefore the ministers of the bridegroom, when they perceived her to be vexed by chariots ^B, they say: "Return, O peaceful one, return, return, and we shall look upon thee"; that is, fear not those who persecute you, but retain the doctrine; offer the preaching of piety. Do not fear the chariot; do not fear the one who is called peaceful. For if you persist in preaching, we shall look upon thy kingdom. These things seem similar to those said by the Lord to the blessed Paul. For even he also, weary with labors and afflicted by many temptations, says, "There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the angel of Satan, to buffet me, that I may not be exalted. For this I besought the Lord [P], that it might depart from me." ^C The Lord therefore responded to him: "My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness [q]." And here also the ministers of the bridegroom say to her: "Return, return, O Sulamite; return, return, and we shall look upon thee." To them the bridegroom says:

CAP. VII

Vers. 1. What will you look upon in the Sulamite, who cometh as the choirs of camps? What, he says, do you hope to see in the peaceful one? Do you think that you shall behold some meager and partial goods? Lo, he says, "she cometh as the choirs of camps." And the names seem somehow to be opposed to one another; for choirs do not agree with camps; for the former are festive, the latter are military. A festival is the opposite of war. But this bride, having been assembled ^D from many saints, resembles camps because of her courageous and noble spirit and her military panoply; and she is a choir, carrying the divine hymnody in her mouth. And this the blessed David makes clear, saying: "The voice of rejoicing and salvation in the tabernacles of the righteous" (Ps. CXVII, 20). And again: "Keep a feast among the thickets, even unto the horns of the altar." The blessed Paul points out the camps, saying: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." And again: All those who cast a hook into the river. He calls the net-casters, and fishers, and hook-hunters, the priests of idols; for these, upon the cessation of idolatry, were groaning and lamenting, deprived of the opportunities for wealth.

9. And shame shall take hold of those who work the combed linen. By these words he intimates the subtle craftsmanship in words of the so-called philosophers; for these also, through the eloquence of their tongues, were assisting error. Different also were their dogmas; wherefore he called the linen combed. They also are put to shame, when their impiety of dogmas is refuted; and they are grieved, not being able to conquer the truth. And let them tell you, and let them say, what the Lord of Sabaoth has deliberated. For neither astrologers, nor oracle-mongers will be able to teach you the economy of God. 14. For the Lord has mingled among them a spirit of seduction. The truth does not lead into error, but leaves those who contradict it to be without a pilot; and they, being deprived of a pilot, are naturally led astray. 15. And there shall be no work for the Egyptians, which shall make head and tail, beginning and end. He says their counsels shall be unaccomplished, and a confusion of the rulers shall come to pass. 16. The Egyptians shall be as women in trembling and in fear, from the face of the hand of the Lord of Sabaoth. He called the Roman Empire the hand of the Lord; the fear of which broke the spirit of the Egyptians, and rendered them like unto women. 21. And the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall "make a sacrifice and a gift." He calls the time a day; by sacrifice and gift, he means the mystical liturgy. 22. And the Lord shall smite the Egyptians with a plague, and shall heal them with a healing. By the plague he means the removal of the kingdom; by the healing, the divine knowledge. For having destroyed their kingdom, he taught them piety. 23. There shall be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians; and the Assyrians shall enter into Egypt. He signifies, therefore, the intercourse that happened after this between the Syrians and the Egyptians after the subjection of the Egyptians.

CAP. XX

^A in the festive gathering in the thickets, even unto the horns of the altar. The blessed Paul also points to these "camps," saying: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." And again ^B he says, "Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." And like a general, he provides the soldiers with the weapons, and says: "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." And that the saints are like not only camps, but also choirs, let us hear the ^C Lord saying: "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom." Therefore the bridegroom rightly says: "What will ye see in the Shulamite, who cometh as the choirs of the camps?" He did not say "the camps of the choirs," but "the choirs of the camps." For from the camps come the choirs. For when the soldiers of virtue have conquered in the camps, ^D they return singing paeans, and dancing they celebrate the song of victory with praises. Having said these things to the ministers, the bridegroom turns his discourse to the bride, and says: "How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O daughter of Nadab!" Aquila translated it "of a prince," and Symmachus, "of a leader." Now who else could this leader or prince be but that holy Spirit, the Comforter? Who also in the forty-fourth Psalm says to her: "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord." And that the holy Spirit also bears the title of leader, the blessed David teaches, saying: "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit." The bridegroom, therefore, first praises the steps of the bride as being straight, and walking on the royal road, and shining beautifully in the shoes. Now what these shoes are, the blessed Paul has taught us, saying: "Shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." And the beauty and 141 grace of these feet...

guest tuus, filia Nadab!" Truly, so that not only from the interpretation of the name, but also from the name itself an occasion for some contemplation may arise, come, let us investigate who Nadab is. He was the son of Aaron, who, when he had brought strange fire into the tabernacle of God, received the end of his life. We find, therefore, that the Lord’s bride, the Church, has brought into the divine tabernacle not the legal fire, but the new fire which she had received from the bridegroom himself. "For I came," he says, "to cast fire upon the earth; and what do I wish, if it is already kindled?" The bride brought this new fire from the New Testament into the tabernacle of God, crying out and saying: "The old things have passed away, behold all things have been made new." ^B Deservedly, therefore, he calls her "daughter of Nadab," because she offered the sacrifice of men with this new fire. For although they differ in the intention of the changing of the fire, one and the same act was done by both. These things, however, have been said by us at present, lest this name itself be passed over without investigation. Therefore, the bridegroom again runs through all the members of the bride, and attributes a proper commendation to each, and says:

The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a craftsman. (VERS. 2-5.)

Thy navel is a round goblet, not lacking mixed liquor. Thy belly is a heap of wheat fenced about with lilies. Thy two breasts are as two young roes that are twins of a roe. Thy neck as a tower of ivory. Thy eyes as the fishpools in Heshbon, in the gate of all of many. Thy nose as the tower of Lebanon, that looketh toward Damascus. Thy head upon thee as Carmel. And the hair of thy head as the purple of the king bound in the conduits. ^C Previously, indeed, the bridegroom, beginning from the upper parts of the bride, praised her; but in the present passage, beginning from her motion and her shoes, he has traversed everything up to the hair of the head. And after the shoes and the motion, he admires not the thighs, but the fit and elegant joints of the thighs, which he says are like necklaces made by a craftsman. For just as those, he says, are fashioned from gold and set apart by stones appropriately inlaid, so that those who see them admire not only the precious material of gold and stones, but also the skill of the goldsmith: so each of the particles of practical virtues are joined and connected among themselves in number and harmony. For allegorically he calls the thighs ^D practical virtues, since by them, making our journey, we do those things which we wish. Therefore, commending the bride

^A from those virtues which consist in action, he proceeds to those which pertain to contemplation: though at the beginning he had done the opposite, having taken his starting point from contemplation and proceeded to action. For he said, “Your eyes are doves,” ^B signifying the spiritual speculation of the soul. There, he admires the practical virtue first, and with good reason; for being enlightened first, and opening the closed eyes of the soul, and receiving the divine light, we are confirmed by faith; then we proceed from virtue to acting. Therefore the Bridegroom, weaving his first praise, began with the eyes, since they are the first to receive healing. But now, since the beauty of the bride has become perfect, he begins from the lower parts and, praising the form of the bride, he lists first the virtues which consist ^C in action, then he approaches those which consist in contemplation. For he praises first the steps and the sandals, then the symmetry of the thighs, that is, each of the things that are done; and after the thighs, the navel. “Your navel, he says, is a rounded blending-bowl, not lacking in mixture.” Let us bring forward, if it seems good, the things said by the God of all through Ezekiel the prophet concerning the navel of Judea. For, triumphing over her unchastity and publishing her great impiety, as we also discussed in the first book, he says to the prophet: “Testify to Jerusalem of her lawlessness, and you shall say: Thus says the Lord to Jerusalem: ^D Your root and your origin are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. And your origin, on the day you were born, your navel was not cut.” To that one, therefore, he says, “Your navel was not cut”; but to this one, “Your navel is a rounded blending-bowl, not lacking in mixture.” For the one that was born in Egypt did not cut her navel, but, as if through some root, she drew wickedness from Egypt with her impious teaching. But this one not only cut her navel, but she deepened the incision so thoroughly that she plucked out the whole root of idolatry, so that she might be compared to a rounded blending-bowl and might always have the drink of gladness, and never lack the joy produced in her by piety. “But also, your belly is a heap of wheat, hedged about with lilies.” That is, the storehouse of your soul is full of hidden mysteries, the fragrance of which is known only to those who are still imperfect and infants. “For it is hedged about with lilies,” he says, so that by the hedge we may understand the hidden things, and by the lilies the fragrance flowing from it in every direction. “And your two breasts are like two twin fawns of a doe.” For the fountains of your teaching, pouring forth new streams, teach sharpness of mind and spiritual contemplation; for the

doe is named for the sharpness of its sight, and the fawn is significant of newness. ^A “And your neck is like an ivory tower.” It has been freed from being black, and has become white by receiving my yoke; and it is fearful to the enemies as a tower, and desirable to friends for its brightness. ^A “Your eyes are as the pools in Heshbon, at the gates of the daughter of many.” Aquila, in interpreting this, instead of “Heshbon” put “calculation.” The bridegroom, therefore, teaches that the eyes of pious souls are pools, receiving divine streams and overflowing continually; since they receive the currents from many gates, that is to say, mouths (for he has called the mouths gates metaphorically). For they receive the streams of benefit from the great Moses, and from Joshua the son of Nun, and from the prophet Samuel, and from David the prophet and king, and from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, and from the twelve prophets, and from the divine Gospels, and from the holy apostles, and from the teachers who came after them. ^B Therefore the bridegroom says: “Your eyes are as the pools in Heshbon, at the gates of the daughter of many.” For the contemplations of your soul and the multitude of your pious thoughts resemble pools receiving waters from many places, since you receive the streams of doctrine from many mouths. ^B “And your nose is as the tower of Lebanon, which looks toward the face of Damascus.” Now the nose of Judea, on account of its disobedience and unbridled stubbornness, received a ring as a sort of bridle, just like a bull butting with its horns, against the threat of the law; for Israel went mad like a heifer stung by a gadfly. ^C But the nose of the bride, he says, is like the tower of Lebanon, which looks toward the face of Damascus. For it is high and lifted up, and it catches the fragrance from above, and is bound to the ointment of the bridegroom, crying out: “We will run behind you in the scent of your ointments.” For this reason it is compared to a tower located above Lebanon, looking toward the face of Damascus. For since the devil, who transforms himself into an angel of light, according to the blessed Paul, also feigns the appearance of spiritual ointment, the nose of the bride necessarily watches and is sober, and looks toward the face of Damascus, so that, having been deceived, ^D she might not leave behind the true ointment and follow the false and misleading one. And the divine Scripture frequently puts Damascus for the Gentiles and the impiety that held sway at that time; assuredly, the blessed Isaiah, in prophesying the things concerning the Lord's birth, and having said from the person of the Spirit that “I approached the prophetess,” that is, to the virgin, “and she conceived and bore a son,” proceeds to say: “And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Swiftly take the spoil, quickly plunder. For before the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take away the strength of Damascus, and the spoils of Sa-

Samaria before the king of the Assyrians. He signifies that while still a child he will strike down him who is figuratively called the king of the Assyrians, that is to say, the devil. He will take away the strength of Damascus, which is to say, he will overturn the power of idolatry, and he himself will become master of those who were held captive by the devil. For he says, “He will take away the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria”: that is to say, delivering both those from among the Jews and those from among the Gentiles, and releasing them from their errors, once he has struck down the tyrant, he will bring them under his own power. Justly, therefore, does he say to the bride, ^A “Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, looking toward the face of Damascus.” For you look around to see that the devil, by imitating divine things, might not deceive you, arraying falsehood against the truth. “And your head,” he says, “is as Carmel,” which is to say, filled with all good things. For this is what the God of all says, through the prophet, rebukeing the ingratitude of the Jews: “And I brought you into Carmel, to eat its fruit and its good things.” Your head, he says, is like Carmel, which produces every kind of good thing and bears every fruit for Me, the husbandman. ^B There follows, “And a tress of hair on your head as purple, a king bound in the courses.” For your hair was formerly loose, and for that reason was likened to the flocks of goats that were revealed in Gilead; but now it has been braided, and not only braided, but it has received a wonderful dye, and they are like a king clad in purple and always running about. He calls the braid of hair, likened to royal purple, the teaching offered with harmony, and colored by the blood of Christ; for a king wrapped in purple does not shine as much as does the teacher of piety who weaves the proclamation of the knowledge of God and offers it to the ^C nurslings of the truth.

VERS. 6, 7. How beautiful you have become, and how pleasant, O love, in your delights! Your stature is likened to a palm tree, and your breasts to clusters. For you became beautiful, when before you were not beautiful; and, being full of all foulness, you suddenly appeared graceful. And you have attained these things by having taken delight in love; for, having loved the Bridegroom who loved you, and having considered the affection for Him to be your delight, you have despised everything else at once. Therefore you have become beautiful and pleasant, and your stature is likened to a palm tree, and your breasts to clusters. For you have not only beauty, but also ^D a height likened to a palm tree, “and your breasts are like its clusters.” For being high and…

celestial, reaching the arches of the heavens, you descend to the weak, and offer your breasts and the nipples of your doctrine to those who have need of instruction; for even the palm tree has its clusters hanging downward. This the Holy Spirit also says through blessed David: “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree.” Having therefore heard the praises, and having been winged by the many eulogies and inflamed by the philtron (love-charm), the Bride says:

^B

Vers. 8, 9. “I said, I will ascend into the palm tree, I will take hold of its heights: and your breasts shall be as the clusters of the vine, and the smell of your nose like apples. And your throat, as good wine going to my kinsman in upward-pointing directness, satisfying my lips and teeth.” From this it is possible to learn accurately how the Bride longs for the Bridegroom, and desires the ascent, and contemplates the height, and, according to the blessed Paul, does not think that she has already attained, but pursues so that she may attain; and she forgets those things which are behind, and reaches forward to those things which are ahead. But it must be sought how the Bridegroom is both a palm tree and a vine; for the palm tree does not have fruit, but the vine bears clusters. The interpretation of Aquila will guide us to the hidden meaning; for instead of “I will take hold of its heights,” he has placed “I will take hold of its *elatae*”; now the *elatae* are the fruits of the male palm trees, which, being placed upon the female palm trees, make their fruits firm and ripe. The Bride therefore hastens to receive from the Bridegroom the sources of godly offspring, and says: “I said, I will ascend into the palm tree, and I will take hold of its heights” — or, as Aquila says, “its *elatae*.” — “And your breasts shall be as the clusters of the vine.” For you are that true vine, from which the saving wine is harvested and pressed ^C in the spiritual wine-presses, from which the cup is filled that inebriates as most excellent. “And the smell of your nose is like the fragrance of an apple.” For even that very receptacle of your sense of smell sends forth fragrance to me, likened to apples. But sufficient is what has been said by us concerning apples at the beginning of the book. “And your throat, as good wine going to my kinsman in upward-pointing directness, satisfying my lips and teeth.” For the doctrine offered from your throat happens to be better than any fragrant wine and any joy of this life, which you bring forward, my kinsman, wishing to direct the souls that have believed in you; and this is sufficient and adequate for me, that I may bring forward and proclaim some parts, using my lips as instruments; while others I guard and preserve, using my teeth instead of a wall. To these also harmonize those words spoken by the blessed Paul: “For I heard,” he says, “unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak.” ^D

^A For this reason the bride also says, “Sufficient to my lips and my teeth,” so that I may preach some things, while I guard others. To these she adds: ^B VERS. 10. “I to my nephew, and his turning is toward me.” For to Him I have addicted myself, and I have loathed every alien fellowship—Gentile, Jewish, and heretical; for He has also preferred me before all others, and toward me has He the turn. For whereas He had not previously whereon to lay His head, He has now found where He may lay it; and though He has many concubines, and queens, and young maidens, He prefers me before them all; yet I do not endure that I alone should enjoy the privilege of His sacred fellowship. ^C VERS. 11, 12, 13. “Come, my nephew, and let us go forth into the field, let us lodge in the villages. Let us rise early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has flourished, if the blossom has flowered, if the pomegranates have flowered. There will I give thee my breasts. The mandrakes gave a smell, and at our gates all the new fruits upon the old, which I laid up for thee, my nephew.” The bride urges the bridegroom to take thought also for souls still vile and abject, which metaphorically she names “field” and “villages,” as being humble and small. For she does not say, “Let us go forth into the city,” but, “Let us go forth into the field, let us lodge in the villages, let us rise early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has flourished.” ^D “Let us examine,” she says, “those who have just received the preaching; if the blossom has flowered.” Let us look even at these better ones, who have put forth not only leaves, but the flower itself—which here they called the “blossom”—if the pomegranates have flowered; that is, if, in some, the beginning of charity has appeared. For it behooves us to go around and to bring every appropriate care. For by doing this I will treat you; therefore, she says, “There will I give thee my breasts.” For you treat those things which are done for them as being conferred upon yourself, saying: “Inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these little ones, you did it unto me.” “The mandrakes gave a smell.” The power of the mandrake, as physicians say, is to induce sleep. Because we have been commanded to “mortify the members which are upon the earth,” not in order that we might surrender those very members to death, but that we might render them dead to evil actions, she has with good reason placed the mandrake here, and says, “The mandrakes gave a smell,” that is to say, men began to sleep to sins. And just as those who have drunk of mandrake do not feel the motions of the body, so those who have drunk the cup of pious doctrine endeavor to lull their passions to sleep.

They have given forth fragrance not only ^A there, but also at our gates are all the fruits. For all who have received our teaching bear fruit of every kind. But I, for my part, have kept for you, my kinsman, both the new and the old, which my mother gave me. For the precepts of the Old Testament and the commands of the New Testament, which I received from my mother, the grace of the Holy Spirit, these I have kept for you and have guarded the deposit 66 inviolate. To this correspond the words written by the blessed Paul to Timothy: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day." And also that which was said by the Lord in the Gospel, that "every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a man who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." ^B

CHAPTER VIII.

Verses 1, 2. "O that you were like a brother to me, that nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me. I will take you, I will lead you into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me. You will teach me; I will give you a cup of spiced wine and of the juice of my pomegranates." For he too, as a man, received the entire grace of the Spirit. "For the child," it says, "Jesus grew and became strong, filled with the Spirit, and the grace of God was upon him." The bride, therefore, amazed at the ineffable mystery of the assumed humanity, says: "Even you, she says, have sucked the breasts of my mother." But that we may preserve the sequence and order of the words, ^C starting a little further back, let us briefly run through the summary of the thought. I have received, she says, not only the new but also the old from my mother, and these I will keep for you. But you yourself also, on account of your singular kindness, by assuming my nature, wished to suck the same breasts that I do, so that in this also you might declare yourself my brother. You sucked, however, not because you were in need, but to teach me how I ought to suck and from which breast grace is to be drawn. Therefore you also came to baptism, not to wash away the filth of sins, since you committed no sin, "nor was guile found in your mouth," nor indeed to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, of whom you were full; but to show me what are the gifts of baptism, ^D and in what manner I am able to suck the grace of the Spirit. For this reason the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove, not to provide you with what you did not have—for you were already full of his graces—but to show me what the gift of baptism signifies. Therefore, overwhelmed with astonishment, I say: "O that you were like a brother to me, that nursed at my mother’s breasts!" This kindness of yours

^A excites me, and finding you outside, I will kiss you, and they will not despise me. I will take you and will bring you into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me. I will give you a cup of wine spiced, and of the juice of my pomegranates." For I am drunk with your love, not only in the ^B chamber and within the bed-curtains, but even in the forum and in public; and those who witness me doing this will not reproach me, when they perceive the flame of charity. From there, taking you, I will lead you into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her who conceived me. What is the house of the Holy Spirit (for he it is who begot the bride), if not the divine temple, which imitates the heavenly Jerusalem; into which those who enter, receiving the bride’s dignity, are addressed with confidence? "And there, he says, I will give you to drink of wine spiced, ^C and of the juice of my pomegranates." He calls the teaching adorned by divine grace, and as it were sprinkled with ointments and aromatics, spiced wine, for it is sweet. And "the juice of my pomegranates" he calls the benefit born from the fruits of charity. The bride, having said these things to the bridegroom, converses with the young maidens, and says:

VERS. 3. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me. ^D I am superior to the threats of punishment, and from your right hand I pluck blessings; 154 therefore he places his left hand under my head, and with his right he embraces me.

VERS. 4. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and by the strengths of the field, if you should stir up and awaken charity, until it wills. For it behooves you to kindle it continually, and to awaken it, that you may warmly desire him, and just as he wills, that you may reach perfection. These things having been spoken by her, those who beheld her excellence, struck with astonishment, say:

VERS. 5. Who is this who ascends being made white, leaning upon her kinsman? And they do not say white, but made white; for she is black. [D (continuing)] On the subject of the bridegroom, the bride says, "My kinsman is white," and she did not say "made white," for he was such by nature. But she, having become black (for the sun looked upon her), was made white, and has shared in the bridegroom’s whiteness. And just as he, being Light, fashioned her and called her light, and being holy made her holy, and having become resurrection, deemed her worthy of resurrection; so he [alt-version omitted]

^A whom the young maidens see, saying: "Who is this that comes up whitened, leaning upon her kinsman?" For, directed by him, and as if led by the hand, she ascends into heaven and makes the journey toward her Beloved through a firm faith in him.

After these things the Bridegroom addresses her thus: "Under the apple tree I raised you up; there your mother was in travail, there she who bore you was in travail." These words will be easy for us to understand if we call to mind those things which were said by the Bride at the beginning of this book. For thus she was speaking to the Bridegroom: "As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my kinsman among the sons. In his shadow I desired to sit, and his fruit is sweet to my throat." Since, therefore, the things given to us in the present life are a shadow of the good things to come—"For now," says the blessed Paul, "I see as in a mirror, in a riddle, but then face to face"—the Bride desired to sit in the shadow of the Bridegroom, that is, in the pledge granted now (for he calls the Bridegroom an apple tree for the reasons we have stated); consequently the Bridegroom says: "Under the apple tree I raised you up; there your mother was in travail, there she who bore you was in travail." ^B For having believed in the preaching concerning our Savior, we approached the divine baptism, and by approaching we have obtained regeneration. For "the grace of the Holy Spirit gave us birth," as the history of the Acts testifies. For when the most divine Peter had delivered a speech and had brought the preaching concerning the Savior to those who had arrived, the sacred writer says that those who heard his words were pricked in their hearts and said to Peter: "What shall we do that we may be saved?" But Peter said unto them: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the promise of the Holy Spirit." Why, therefore, the Bridegroom rightly says to the Bride: "Under the apple tree I raised you up; there your mother was in travail, there she who bore you was in travail." Nor are these words doubled in vain. For in order to show who the mother was, he mentions the birth. After these things he exhorts her, saying:

^C VERS. 6. "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as the grave. Its sparks are as sparks of fire, its coals are flames of fire." Some copies do not have "coals of fire, its sparks, sparks of fire," but [instead] "its wings, its wings, coals of fire, flames of fire." The Bridegroom therefore says to the pious souls, whom the divine Scripture calls the Bride: "Set me," he says, "as a seal upon your heart, and upon your arm." By the heart, indeed, he designates the contemplative power of the soul, but by the arm, the active [power]. Wherefore also the priesthood... ^D

^A from the people, then the right arm, and the breast were separated. Our Savior therefore wishes that we should have Him as a seal in our contemplations and in our actions, and that we should imprint Him upon all things, both in words and in deeds. For thus shall they be royal coins, not counterfeit, but possessing the royal image. "But it is easy for you," he says, "to do this, if you possess love towards me. Love is as strong as death." 157 And since He, after the divine passion, overcame all things, so also this love overcomes all things, and finds itself stronger than death itself. Acquire also zeal; for if you acquire this, you will not permit any other to appear more precious than your own, and [you will wish] for yourself to be inviolable, while you are ^B partaker of my communion. "Hard is zeal, and difficult to overcome, akin to Hades." He called it Hades from the opinion which has prevailed, imposing also this name upon death. Yet charity is so strong, because it wills to be the first; and then it has about its wings the flame of fire, and scatters sparks. What, indeed, can be more flaming than it, especially since its fire is of that kind of fire which is not extinguished?

VERS. 7. "For water," he says, "much shall not be able to quench love, and rivers shall not overflow it." And this all those who have distinguished themselves in the Old and in the New Testament testify. For neither the love of Abraham towards God, nor the wandering in a strange land, nor the necessity of famine, nor the abduction of his wife, nor the offering of his child, nor the quarrel over the wells was able to extinguish it; nor were the misfortunes that befell Isaac, nor the ^C unceasing toils and lifelong sorrows of Jacob. What can be more painful than the temptations of Joseph, who was sold by his brothers, was bereft of his mother and father, and of his ancestral home, and of freedom, and of wealth, and served unworthily, and became, for the sake of chastity, a victim of calumny, and was sent into prison, and suffered countless evils; yet in all these, the love towards God was shown to be superior. And what need is there to speak of the great leader, and of the great prophets Samuel, and David, and Elijah, and Elisha? What is more frantic than the Babylonian furnace, more terrible than the flame? Yet not even that quenched the love, but rather it inflamed and aroused it. What is more terrifying than those lions to which the ^D great Daniel was delivered? Yet the love towards God rendered him stronger than they. And...

^A to demonstrate this, the blessed Paul alone will be sufficient to show us the power of charity, since he experienced it more than all others. "For who," he says, "shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things," he says, "we more than conquer through him that loved us" (Rom. viii, 35-37). These things are, therefore, suitable for demonstrating the victory of charity. But the things which follow celebrate it and extol it much more clearly. For he adds: "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (ibid. 38, 39). And in order to show that it is more powerful than all things, both visible and invisible, he fashions with his words a creature that does not exist ^B and compares the love of God with it, showing that the latter is stronger. Deservedly, therefore, the bridegroom says: "Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for charity, it would utterly be contemned." They contemn him who gives his whole life to charity—those who are bereft of charity and stripped of it. Wherefore also the blessed Paul said: "Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day" (1 Cor. iv, 12, 13). For, indeed, this occurs to those who are vexed by vertigo, so that, while they themselves cannot stand still, they nevertheless think that all things are moving. Thus, those who are devoid of charity ^C disparage the foster-children of charity as senseless and foolish. Yet this, too, did no harm to charity, but rather made it more ardent. When reviled, the Apostles blessed; when slandered, they entreated; and when they were reckoned as the filth of the world, they confessed themselves to be the offscouring of all things even until now.

VERS. 8, 9. Our sister is little, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when the word shall be spoken to her? If she be a wall, we will build upon it bulwarks of silver: if she be a door, we will join it with boards of cedar.

I think that the holy prophets who shone in the Old Testament, when they saw the bride as a little one in spiritual age, with her breasts still imperfect ^D and hidden, as if they were marriage brokers and messengers, were saying thus among themselves, that the king is about

^A to take our sister as his bride, yet she is small and bereft of breasts; for she does not yet possess the power of fruitfulness, nor can she provide the milk of doctrine, nor offer solid food to those who are in need. Therefore, we must consider what ought to be done. And since she is about to be joined to the great King, and to be, as it were, a wall of his house, keeping watch over what is within, and to have the role of an entrance guarding the treasures kept inside, let us build: let us build upon the wall silver battlements, that is, logical arguments shining in the Word. "For the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the fire, refined of the earth," so that standing upon them, she may strike the enemies and pursue those who lay snares. For the entrance, let us place boards made of cedar, not receiving the rot of sin; for the cedar is incorruptible. To these things the bride answers, relying on the magnificence and resources of the bridegroom:

^B VERSE 10. I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. I was in his eyes as one finding peace. For He knew me beforehand, and He predestined me; and because He knew that I would seek peace, and pursue it, and by pursuing it would attain it, He called me peace-making, and Sulamitis, and He made me an impregnable wall, fearsome to my adversaries; and my breasts, that is, moral and theological instruction, He raised to a height and made them resemble a tower, so that fighting from it, I might overthrow the enemies of the bridegroom. And I am not only a wall, as I said, but also a vineyard.

VERSE 11. For the vineyard, she says, was Solomon’s at Beleamon. He gave his vineyard to the keepers; a man shall bring for the fruit thereof a thousand silverlings. Symmachus translates that "at Beleamon" as "in the detention ^C of the people," but Aquila as "in the one having a multitude." God had long ago entrusted this vineyard to Israel. But since they had not only beaten and killed the servants sent to demand the fruits, but had even crucified the heir himself, the vineyard was taken from them according to the Lord’s word, and given to a nation producing its fruit. For this reason the bride says, that "to Solomon," that is, to the peaceful one, "the vineyard was at Beleamon," that is, in the detention of the people, or in the one having a multitude, "and he gave it to the keepers." Now she calls those who have come to piety a vineyard; and those who keep, and cultivate, and guard it, are those honored with the priesthood, to whom it is commanded that they both irrigate it with spiritual ^D doctrine and guard it. Moreover, she says, "A man shall bring for the fruit thereof a thousand silverlings": this number signifies the unity of the right hand. And this indeed indicates the salvation of the one bringing the fruit. For from this...

^A vine which He planted, He requires no other fruit than the salvation of the one planted and bearing fruit. Hence the bride, saying these things, declares her own restoration through the performance of the commandments.

Vers. 12. "My vineyard, indeed, is before me; the thousand are for Solomon." What she says is of this kind (for it is necessary to make clear what is obscure, to the best of our ability): "The vineyard, she says, is mine, and the fruit is mine." For the thousand silverlings which are thought to be given to my peaceful bridegroom, that is to Solomon, are before me; for He will give them back to me again. For even now, because He demands fruit, He does so because He longs for my salvation and desires to see me saved. "My vineyard is before me; the thousand are for Solomon, and the two hundred for them that keep the fruit thereof." The keepers receive a wage for the vineyard, and a defined wage. ^B And since they guard the five senses of the vineyard—sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch—they rightly receive the two hundred, which number is the fifth part of the thousand five times over: for those who guard the divine vineyard are worthy to receive rewards from its planter. Wherefore not only the bridegroom, but also the bride herself will give them recompense. And the blessed Paul says: "If any man's work abide which he built thereupon, he shall receive a reward." And to those who had labored in the vineyard, when evening had come, the householder ordered that a denarius be given to each. It is clear, therefore, that nothing is without a reward before God. For if he who gives a cup of cold water to one of the least of the little ones shall not lose his reward, how much more shall he who guards the vineyard receive a reward from the vineyard? ^C The vineyard itself also will show obedience of the five senses and will fulfill the two hundred, which, taken five times, are the divisors of those who in deed and action guard those very senses. For the number thousand signifies perfection in Christ, being an absolute monad, and containing its reason in itself not only in potency but also in act, since it begins from the monad, is shown through the monad, and is productive of the monad; for the thousand and the myriad are known by the element of the monad. The number two hundred, on the other hand, signifies the restoration of our nature, brought back to itself through the observance of the commandments, inasmuch as it contains the twenty [which is] repeated ten times, composed of four times five, and thereby showing our nature, which consists ^D of matter and form. Having said these things, the bride, with remarkable modesty and an ardent desire for the good things to come, says these things as well to the bridegroom:

^A Ver. 13. "You who sit in the gardens, companions listen; make me hear your voice." That is to say: "O my bridegroom, you who rest in the intelligible creation and in the sensible one, which have been planted like gardens according to your will; there are others besides us who, because they are not distracted by the bonds of the body, gaze perpetually upon you with eyes intent on you—the angelic orders, surely, who are removed from matter. But I, as one subject to such bonds, fear that I might undergo a change. And so, earnestly seeking and expecting your second coming, I implore you: grant that I may hear that most desirable voice of yours: 'Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.'" And thus:

^B Ver. 14. "Flee, my beloved, and be like a roe, or a young hart upon the mountains of spices." For by calling the righteous to your kingdom, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, you withdraw from that providence which is exercised through the senses, drawing the worthy to the heights of the graces that, through divinization, diffuse in them a spiritual fragrance; in these, you, like a roe or a young hart, are the destroyer of venomous beasts, putting to death the spirits of wickedness that rage against us, and bringing to an end the war they wage upon us. May it be also for us to escape the bites of the serpents! But if we should chance to be bitten, may we look to the One who was lifted up for our sake, and obtain healing!