the people, after the saints have been slain before the people? But if justice requires he should precede the people in punishment, so that he who was the occasion of ruin might be an example of death—it is time, says Peter, for judgment to begin from the house of God [1 Pet. iv, 17]. A
FRAGMENT ON DANIEL
(Ang. Mai, *Scriptor. Vet. Collect.*, vol. I, part iii, p. 34.)Cap. II, v. 33. “And a certain part of the feet was iron.” By the feet he designates the Roman empire, inasmuch as it is the final one; and iron, as being strong and existing as the ruler of all. B
FRAGMENTS ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
Cap. II, v. 27. “Because you will not leave my soul in hell.” Just as the souls of the just ascended from the lower regions with the Saviour.
Cap. IV, v. 27. “For they have truly gathered together against your holy child Jesus.” He calls the Father the Lord, and Christ, by right, the Son. For the plots fell upon the Only-Begotten, but the Father is also affected by the injury in the Son; for by the good pleasure of the Father the Only-Begotten performed everything that He did regarding the mystery of our redemption. C
Cap. VII, v. 57. “But crying out with a loud voice.” When, because of their incredulity, He lacked the Jews, He caused Him to abound among the Gentiles, after He placed Him at His right hand: which you indeed think to be small and trivial, whereas it is most highly exalted, and can be said only of the Son as God and equal to the Father. For just as the Son does not only sit at the right hand of the Father, but also stands at the right hand—for Stephen says: “I saw the heavens opened”—so also the Father is said to stand at the right hand of the Son, in order that we might learn that the dignity of the Son and of the Father is one and the same. D
Cap. XIII, v. 33. “As it is also written in the psalm: You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” These words altogether fit the incarnation of Christ, which manifested itself in time. For the words “today” and “tomorrow” introduce days. For He is begotten of the Father before time, as even the children of the heretics confess.
V. 35. “You will not permit your holy one to see corruption.” For Christ, at the time of the passion,
his own soul and his body from corruption, as God preserved A them immune from corruption.
FRAGMENTS ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES.
(WOLF. Anecd. Graec. t. III, p. 58.)Cap. I, v. 14. "Every man is tempted, being drawn away by his own concupiscence." The desires of sinners are the pains of death.
Cap. II, v. 13. "Mercy rejoiceth against judgment." Just as oil makes athletes slip out of the hands of their opponents, so the bestowal of almsgiving makes those B who are devoted to it escape and avoid the demons.
Cap. III, v. 8. "But the tongue no man can tame." For just as a sword, if it be sharpened, becomes more apt for cutting and sharper for killing, so the tongue, which is of itself difficult to keep in quiet and not easily restrained, becomes much more dangerous when it is accustomed by the wicked to slander and revile and calumniate.
Cap. IV, v. 10. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord." It is a blessed thing to be humbled in the sight of God. For James says: Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you. When, therefore, we are thus humbled, even if we are attacked by men who hate the virtues, we have God to lift us up, provided only that we do not forget His law, nor grow faint in our afflictions. For David says: "Look upon my humiliation and deliver me, for I have not forgotten thy law."
Cap. V, v. 1. "Go to now, ye rich men." He foretells the punishment, prompted by love for humanity, so that, having repented, they might escape the things with which they are threatened.
FRAGMENT ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PETER.
Cap. III, v. 10. "For he that will love life." D The word "Who?" in this place is not used by the prophet as if he were in doubt, but as declaring blessed, or rather as urging, and perhaps also as questioning. For the majority do not love life as it truly is, being lured by this transitory life, nor do they desire to see the good days of the life that is to come, being intent only on the tranquility of the present life.
(2) This is without doubt Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, a writer of the fifth century, who is frequently mentioned in the Catenae, especially in the Psalms, a commentary on which, in manuscript, exists in part in my possession. Perhaps the following explanation was brought forward by him in relation to Psalm XVII, 5. In Corderius’s Catena on the Psalms, however, which is extant, I have sought in vain for what is also said of the remaining fragments that follow here. (3) This passage of Hesychius is without doubt taken from his commentary on the Psalms, where in Psalm XXXIII, 13 it is read: "What man is he that desireth life?" In the Corderiana Catena on the Psalms, however, it is not read.