Philo, Bishop of Carpasia

ABOUT THE YEAR OF THE LORD 400 OF PHILO OF CARPASIA, BISHOP EXPOSITION ON THE SONG OF SONGS

The Greek text, hitherto unpublished and in many places corrupt, was first brought to light, with a new translation added, by the Venerable Michael Angelus GIACOMELLUS, Archbishop of Chalcedon, in Rome in the year 1772. (From the Library of Galland, vol. IX, in the Appendix.)

PREFACE

Regarding Philo and his commentary on the Song of Songs, and the two Latin versions of the same commentary (the one ancient, the other more recent by Stephanus Salutati), and also concerning what I have provided in this edition, I believe I ought to premise certain things, so that I may not seem to have failed those readers who are desirous of knowing this Philo.

1. Philo, therefore, the author of the commentary on the Song of Songs which I am now bringing to light, as is reported in the Greek codices, was bishop of the Church of Carpasia in Cyprus. Polybius, Bishop of Rhinocolura, records this in the second part of the *Life of Saint Epiphanius*, chapter 49, in these words: "There was a certain cleric from the orators (rhetors), Philo by name, a holy man. There was a need to seat a bishop on the throne of the city of Carpasia. And this man was a deacon. Him, therefore, by the revelation of God, Epiphanius ordains bishop on the throne of the city and Church of Carpasia." ^A

The words "a cleric from the orators," Tillemont (a) and Ceillier (b) understood in such a way that they believed Philo had moved from the forum, where he had pleaded cases, to the clergy; and that that preposition *apo* there has the same force as it has in those expressions "from sleep," "from a trumpet," in which the preposition is of time, and is rightly rendered in Latin by the preposition "after"; or that it signifies a change from a former state or profession: to which change, signifying a change of state, ^B the Latins use the preposition *ex* (out of/from), as in that joke of M. Tullius, *ex oratore arator* (from orator, plowman); and that therefore those words ought to have been translated "a cleric from a rhetor." This does not appeal to me. For if the author of his *Life* had wished to signify that Philo had become a cleric from being a lawyer, he would have written "from a lawyer" or "ex."

Furthermore, the preposition *apo* sometimes serves for a partition, especially when it is joined with the genitive of the plural number. Thucydides has (c): "But few from many returned home; few from many were saved; from six thousand to eighty died"; where the use of this preposition in partition is manifest. Thus in Matthew 1: "Whom do you wish that I release to you from the two?" (Quem vultis de duobus vobis dimittam?) And in Mark 2: "They took up twelve baskets full of fragments, and from the fishes." The same preposition *apo* is also said regarding number, and is accustomed to be rendered by the preposition *ex*; as in Luke 3: "And choosing from them twelve"; and in John 4: "Bring from the fish which you caught now"; and in the Acts of the Apostles 5: "And there arose some from the heresy of the Pharisees"; where it is to be observed that the word *hairesis* (heresy) ^C has the force of the plural number. In these examples which we have brought forward, it is evident that *apo* does not ^D signify a change of former status.

PHILO CARPASIUS BISHOP

Of these rhetors from the clergy, there is a witness in Codinus Curopalata, in whom, after the three teachers of the Gospel, the Apostle, and the Psalter—of whom the first interpreted the four evangelists, the second the Epistles of St. Paul, and the third the Psalms—n. 22 is placed: *O rhetor eis to hermeneuein tas Graphas*, "rhetor for interpreting the Scriptures." Goar subordinates the same offices based on royal manuscripts, in which is held: *o rhetor eis to rhetoreuein*, "rhetor for orating." And that this was a splendid dignity is indicated by the monk Matthew, in whose booklet *De officiis palatii et Ecclesiae Constantinopoleos* it is read: "Look at the illustrious rhetor." And in Nicetas Choniates, a certain Michael is called "adorning the rhetorical throne"; which words, when Hieronymus Wolf had ^B rendered them dryly by the single word "preacher," were criticized by Allatius. Wherefore an anonymous author edited by Goar says, "chief of the philosophers, first of the rhetors." On these words Goar noted this: "It is the supreme virtue of the emperor that, while speaking, he is able to pour forth an abundance of erudition eloquently, and so that he might readily recognize the right owed to each person, he might be prepared to render it constantly." If nature or exercise denied any of these, the emperor in the East was once not ashamed to borrow help from others, by whose erudition, eloquence, knowledge of laws, and love of justice he might be led and supported: "of the philosophers," instructed in the knowledge of divine and human things; "first of the rhetors," regarding facility of speech . . . he would suggest.

For the name of rhetor also carried a palatine dignity: similar to that was the ecclesiastical one; which is indicated by those words which, as was said above, Goar brought forward from the Royal manuscripts: *o rhetor eis to rhetoreuein*. For the teachers of the Gospel, or the Apostle (that is, the Epistles of St. Paul), or the Psalter, explained the holy Scriptures strictly: but the rhetor was occupied in treating them more fully and in explaining and dilating upon them according to the grasp of the people. ^C Wherefore Allatius, at the cited place, noted that some translate *rhetor* as "preacher"; which is true.

But to return to Philo, such was St. Epiphanius’s high opinion of him that, when he was about to depart for Rome, having sent for him, he gave him authority to administer the Church of Constantia; and, if there had been need, the power to ordain clerics, as Polybius, bishop of the Rhinocurura, whom we mentioned above, narrates. We know, indeed, that many fables are contained in that Life of St. Epiphanius, by which name it was very displeasing to Papebroch and Tillemont, whom others follow here and there. Dupin values it at nothing; but against his reasons, by which he thinks it should be rejected entirely in all respects, we oppose the judgment of the highest men. For first, Petavius thought it not to be entirely cast aside, who said: "The Life of Epiphanius has been submitted by us, formerly in Latin by Surius, but now edited in Greek for the first time, and corrected in many places. Although in most parts it is more akin to fable than history, as Baronius long ago admonished in his *Annales*; yet there will perhaps be something in that muddy narrative which you might retrieve. And otherwise, it contains many things which are consistent with the true and received history of all." Therefore, Possevinus in his *Apparatus sacer*, Oudin, Meursius, Dufresne, Allatius, Lequien, Fabricius, and Garetius did not hesitate to invoke it as a suitable ^D witness to those things which they were saying.

^A Moreover, Tillemont himself, when he deals with this very commentary of Philo, wishes credit to be given to it when he calls Philo the bishop of Carpasia. As for the historical monuments concerning the episcopal see of Carpasia which had escaped Tillemont himself, the learned Petrus Franciscus Fogginius was the first to point them out ^B against Dupin, who had deprived Carpasia of that honor. Nor did Allatius hesitate regarding Philo, bishop of Carpasia, believing that St. Epiphanius speaks of him in his Epistle to John, Bishop of Jerusalem, which is contained among the Epistles of Jerome and translated into Latin by Jerome himself: "For many," says Epiphanius, "bishops of our communion have ordained presbyters in our province, whom we could not supervise; and they sent to us deacons and subdeacons, whom we received with grace: and I myself urged Philo, a bishop of blessed memory, and holy Theoprepis, to ordain presbyters in the churches of Cyprus which were near them, but which seemed to pertain to the church of my own diocese, because the province was large and widely scattered, and to provide for these churches of Christ." On account of which Cave writes concerning Philo: "Being brought to Cyprus from the Carpathus—an island of the Mediterranean Sea, as is commonly believed, not far from the Asian coast; though more correctly in my opinion, the [city] of Carpasia in Cyprus, not ignoble, he was ordained bishop in the year 401 on account of his remarkable reputation for piety." Moreover, Epiphanius, departing for Rome, entrusted to him the care of his own Church of Constantia, etc. Fabricius likewise, Lequien, Garetius, and ^C Allatius in the dissertation I mentioned above concerning the Philos, when they transmit the same things about Philo as Polybius does, sufficiently show that they held as true those things which are narrated about Philo himself and his episcopate in the Life of St. Epiphanius. One might suspect that this Philo, of whom we are speaking, is the same one whom the great *Menaea* of the Greeks commemorates on the 24th of January, where these things are held: *Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ μνήμη τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος Ἑρμογένους, καὶ Μηνᾶ, καὶ τοῦ ὁσίου Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Φίλωνος, ἐπισκόπου γενομένου τοῦ Καλπασίου*—"On the same day, the commemoration of the holy martyr Hermogenes, and Menas, and our holy Father Philo, who became bishop of Calpasia." In which place Bollandus, having cited this to the same day, January 24th, adds: "Certainly Athanasius writes in his *Apologia de fuga sua*, and in his *Epistle to those leading the solitary life*, that the illustrious confessor Philo, an Egyptian bishop, was cast into exile by George of Cappadocia, where he says that Philo was thrust into Babylon, or into the desert near to Babylon, and suffered persecution even until his death; and a little later: But regarding Calpasius, ^D is it the episcopal see of Calpasia? *Kalpai* is a city, which is also *Kalpe*, a port in Bithynia according to Stephanus, from which *Kalpeus*, *Kalpinos*, *Kalpitanos*—not *Kalpasios*—is derived as a gentilicium or possessive form. *Karpasia* is a city of Cyprus mentioned by Diodorus, Stephanus, and Ptolemy; called *Karthabos* by Xenagoras, and *Karpasia* by Demetrius the Salaminian. Whether the episcopate was in one of these cities or elsewhere, we do not divine. Quite modestly. For my part, I suspect it should be read in the *Menaea* as *ἐπισκόπου γενομένου τοῦ Καρπασίου*—"having become bishop of Carpasia," and that mention is made there of Philo, bishop of Carpasia; for the reason that from the names *Kalpai*, *Kalpeia*, *Kalpe*, the form *Kalpasios* is not well derived. II. Regarding the writings of Philo of Carpasia, it is uncertain whether he is the one whose fragments are exhibited under the name of Philo alone, or under the name of Philo the bishop, in various *Catenas* of the Greek Fathers. Cave, in the location I cited above, suspects that he is the author of an *Ecclesiastical History*, whom Anastasius Sinaita praises at the beginning of his *Historical Demonstration concerning the great and angelic dignity of the high priest*, in these words: *Ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησιαστικῇ ἱστορίᾳ Φίλωνος τοῦ φιλοσόφου εὗρόν τι τοιοῦτον*—"In the Ecclesiastical History of Philo the philosopher I found something of this sort." Lest it seem strange to anyone that Philo is called a philosopher there, he adds: "This title began to denote not only monks and those who cultivate a stricter life, but also all those, especially those established in the clergy, who have applied their minds to the study of more recondite literature." But this is a mere conjecture of Cave, though not an improbable one. However, what seems to possess no doubt is that Philo, Bishop of Carpasia, wrote this commentary on the *Song of Songs* which now comes into the public light. And that the Philo who is mentioned by Polybius was the author of this commentary seems to be sufficiently proven by as many manuscript codices as I have been able to find: the Mutinensis in the library of the most serene Duke of Modena, made of parchment, written in the tenth century; and another likewise of parchment with the Theatine Fathers in Naples in the House of St. Paul, of which two-thirds appear to have been written in the eleventh century, and the remaining third in the thirteenth century; and the one which is in the Barberini library, made of cotton paper and written in the twelfth century; and two recent manuscripts, one made of paper with the most illustrious bishop of Osimo, Pompeius Compagnonus, and my own, another likewise made of paper; which last two, although recent, do not seem to have been copied from those I named in the first place, which is gathered from the variant readings which occur in many places. I will not, however, conceal that mine seems to be copied from the Barberini codex.

^A All of these, however, clearly bear this title: "Bishop of Carpasius, with God, exposition on the Song of Songs, for Eustathius the presbyter and Eusebius the deacon." It must be believed that there was the same inscription in another Greek codex, which I certainly believe Lucas Holstenius saw. For in his notes on the *Sacred Geography* of Carolus a S. Paulo (a), he says: "Philo of Carpasia, whose Greek manuscript commentary on the Song of Songs exists, which is commonly and incorrectly called 'Carpathius,' as if it were from the island of Carpathus." Allatius, who in his diatribe on the Philonians attributes the commentary on the Song of Songs to Philo of Carpasia, agrees with Holstenius; "He wrote," he says, "succinct, but most acute and praiseworthy commentaries on the Song of Songs for Eustathius the presbyter and Eusebius the deacon." ^B Nor did the Greek codex of Emericus Bigotius appear to have any inscription other than the one shown in the aforementioned codices. For since Cassiodorus wrote (b): "The Cypriot prelate St. Epiphanius embraced the whole book in the Greek language in one volume. This, as we have done others, we have had translated into the Latin language by our friend, a most learned man, Epiphanius, with the help of God"—Garet added this note to this passage: "Or rather, Philo was ordained bishop of Carpasius on the island of Cyprus by St. Epiphanius, the prelate of Salamis, as is read in the Life of that saint." I saw the Greek text of this commentary in the hands of the most celebrated Emericus Bigotius, with the Latin translation, which Cassiodorus mentions here. Fabricius and Lequien agree with Holstenius and Garet. For the latter states in his *Oriens Christianus* (c): "There exists a commentary on the Song of Songs by Philo, bishop of Carpasius, whose Latin translation is in circulation, differing greatly from the Greek codex." The celebrated Bigotius kept its genuine exemplar in his library, and Casimirus Oudin had given us hope in his supplement to the Labbe library that he would soon edit it in Greek and Latin. But Fabricius (d) says: "The most learned man Anselmus Bandurius, a Benedictine monk, has long since undertaken to edit the genuine commentary of Philo from the Bigotian Greek codex."

^A

The ancient Greek interpretation of this commentary

^A It is known to all who have touched upon this kind of study even lightly. Indeed, many examples of slips of memory in naming authors can be brought forth. Melchior Cano (a) and Garnerius (b) suspected that Gregory the Great (c) had substituted Theodoret for Sozomen; and regarding this lapse of memory, Fabricius (d) does not suspect it, but affirms that there is no doubt that Gregory intended to say Theodoret instead of Sozomen. In that place in Fabricius, you might find many other examples of such slips. And certainly, it happens so often that Jerome Tartarottus (e) was able to compose a book or dissertation on examples of this sort. Furthermore, one might also urge that point which we noted regarding the Philonian explanation in no. 222, in which place a locution is found concerning the Word, which Epiphanius, in heresy LXXVII, no. 29, seems to have disapproved of. Nor perhaps would anyone be lacking who, looking back at Cassiodorus’s *Chronicon* and *Historia Tripartita*, would desire his judgment; for which reason, in other matters also where criticism is required, he might deem it not at all safe to trust him.

^B But the most learned editor of the Epiphanian commentary enters upon another path to remove this difficulty. First, he readily concedes that a certain commentary on the Song of Songs was composed by some Philo. And indeed, Suidas says in his Lexicon: “Philo Carpasius wrote a commentary on the Song of Songs (*Philo Carpathius scripsit commentarium in Canticum canticorum*).” Furthermore, Cosmas the Egyptian, in *Topographia Christiana*, book x (f), cites three passages from Philo Carpasius. To this is added that in the Greek catena of Meursius of the Greek Fathers on the Song of Songs, and in the Greek Vatican catena of Procopius of Gaza, many fragments are cited from Philo; so that I cannot marvel enough that Jacob le Long, a man preeminent in erudition, wrote (g) when he deals with the commentary on the Song of Songs: "Philo, bishop of Carpathus in Cyprus, is a supposititious author." For not only had Oudin (h) chastised Elias Dupin, who had felt the same way, affirming that he seemed to himself to fall into absurdity, because both Cassiodorus and Suidas had remembered this author as well as the commentary—and to me, Elias does not seem to be a fit person (*Oudini’s own words*) for elevating them—but also Tillemont (i) had abundantly satisfied Dupin’s petty arguments; and Fogginius (j) himself refuted his opinion most of all. Second, he thinks there were two Philos: one the bishop of Carpathus, on the island of Carpathos which is one of the Cyclades; the other, a Carpasius, bishop of Carpasia on the island of Cyprus. And he concludes that it is vain to claim that Carpasius indeed—of whom there is mention in Polybius—is the author of the commentary on the Song of Songs. ^C But truly, if he had had a supply of the Greek commentary, he would surely have seen that the Epiphanian commentary is a Latin version of the Philonian Greek; and he would have found in the Greek the very same passages intact, which he, trusting too much in the catena of Meursius and the Vatican one, imagined that Philo had compressed into his commentary in shorter form.

For the first passage is (k) that which is read in the Latin commentary p. 11, line 19, which Cosmas the Egyptian (l) cites in the same words from Philo. But that argument is not rightly concluded: "In the Epiphanian commentary these words of Philo are found rendered into Latin. Therefore Philo took them from Epiphanius." But it is only inferred from this that the same words are of one and the same author, whether Philo or Epiphanius; and more truly of Philo, whose commentary we see represented in Latin in the other parts in the Epiphanian [commentary]. But before we proceed further, the reader must be forewarned that that passage cited by Cosmas the Egyptian, and many others preceding and following the same passage which are read in the Epiphanian commentary on pages 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, are absent from the Greek Philo which we produce in this our edition; ^D indeed, I would believe they are missing in the Greek codices that we have for the reason that there were two ancient editions of the Philonian commentary, of which our Greek codices represent the first; not the second, which Cosmas the Egyptian used, where Philo had added certain other things. Reader, you have a similar example in the oration of Demosthenes *On the Crown* (Περὶ τοῦ στεφάνου), in which you will seek in vain for certain things cited by different writers; which, as Ulpian notes, came about from the fact that those writers had a different edition of his oration. But let us return to the collation of the passages from Epiphanius and Philo which the most learned man instituted.

The second passage is that which occurs in the Latin on p. 25, line 12, to which he appends on the side the same passage partly from the catena of Meursius (m) and partly from the Vatican catena.

^A

Codex 1441, p. 210, in which there are certain things lacking in the Latin commentary of Epiphanius: whence it may be inferred that Philo seems to have taken the sentiment from Epiphanius, and after having changed a few things, to have transferred it into his own writing. But if a comparison be made with the Greek commentary, you would find no variety there; and the words which are brought forward from the Latin accurately correspond to those which are in the Greek. Wherefore a comparison should not have been made with a catena. For it is known that the compilers of catenae do not transcribe the words of authors accurately, but occasionally ascribe to some authors expositions which should have been attributed to others, either by interpolating or by abbreviating them; which thing Fabricius long since noted (a). And Allatius, in his diatribe (b) concerning the catena of Nicetas, of which the title is: *A Collection of Expositions on the Holy Gospel according to Luke, from various interpreters, by Nicetas, deacon of the Great Church of God, in four books*, adds this praise to his catena: "In which collection this is singular to be seen, that whereas in other catenae the sentiments of the Fathers are brought forward in abbreviated words and as a summary, here the texts are set forth in their very own words, as they lie, with no parts of them diminished; so that they are not written as mere fragmentary interpretations, but as complete interpretations themselves, and almost as entire discourses."

^B The fourth locus is in the Epiphanian commentary, p. 20. To those words, *He brought me into his chamber*, which are in verse 4 of chapter 1 of the Canticles, he appended this citation in the margin: *Cant. 11, 4*. Having not noticed this error of citation, he thought those words were rendered in the Vulgate thus: *Introduced me into the wine cellar*, which in truth are an interpretation of the verse in the Vulgate, cap. 1.

The fourth locus is in the Epiphanian commentary, pag. 203: "This is therefore the King, of whom David also said: *The Lord reigned, he put on comeliness* (Ps. XCII, 1)." But he is bound not by the necessity of his spouse, but by the will of his clemency, just as the apostle, or rather the Lord, was saying: *Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world* (Matth. XXVIII, 20). But it is said in the transits, that *transiting from heaven, and resurrecting the dead, he again transited into the heavens and ascended above the cherubim, and flew.* To this locus, the learned man adds on the side a locus which Cosmas the Egyptian praises from Philo: "Running from heaven to earth down to the depths of hell, and having descended to the bottom of hell, he will thence draw up the dead." Certainly the Greeks do not represent all things which are found in the Latin in the commentary of Epiphanius. But Cosmas the Egyptian brought an excerpted locus from Philo, which—behold for you—is complete in no. 204.

^C The third locus is in the Latin of Epiphanius, p. 32, on: *Introduce me into the house of the vine*; this is to the body of the Lord; as if he were to say: *Adapt me to it through the laver of regeneration.* To these the Greek at Philo, no. 40, aptly responds: *Into the body of the Lord graft me, he says, to him through the laver of regeneration.* This locus is compared by Foggini with the Philonian locus which Cosmas the Egyptian brings forward. The Philonian locus is on: *The king brought me into his chamber*; concerning which text the explanation of Epiphanius p. 18 has thus: "The chamber of the King is where all the treasures are hidden: for the chamber of the celestial King is without doubt, first, the body which he built for himself; then also the kingdom of the heavens, when the Saviour says: *Blessed are they that suffer persecution* (Matth. v, 10), etc." To these correspond the Greek at Philo, no. 6: *The chamber of the King, where all the treasures are stored; but the chamber of the celestial King is clearly, first, the body, which he built for himself as a house; then also the kingdom of the heavens. When therefore the Saviour says, "Blessed are they that suffer persecution," etc.* ^D Viden'? Do you see how the Greeks fully respond to the Latins? And if they vary in anything, the fault is the interpreter's, who added some things of his own which contain a foul error, namely, "not by the necessity of his spouse"—and for the locus of Matthew he put a locus from psalm XVII, 11. For such was the license of many interpreters who were translating Greek in the sixth century, and having no regard for the text, they thought nothing was not permitted to them.

The fifth locus of the Epiphanian commentary is p. 81: *She became truly beautiful and truly sweet, not divine virtue (for neither does divinity receive increase nor detriment); but her humility became truly beautiful and sweet by the beauty of divinity, when she had sat in the kingdom of the heavens at the right hand of the Father.* You may desire none of these in the Greeks at Philo, no. 204: *She was truly beautified and sweetened (Cosmas the Egyptian: "made firm"), not the power of the divinity (for neither does it admit of addition nor subtraction); but the flesh which he assumed; and the perfect (the perfect man he put on, this one) was beautified, having been conformed to the beauty of the divinity.*

^A And was made sweet (Cosmas the Egyptian, *was founded*), having been seated in the kingdom of the heavens at the right hand of the Father (Cosm. Egyptius, *of God*). Cosmas the Egyptian refers to this same place of Philo in the same words. He varies in this, that in the sacred text he reads, *Why hast thou been beautified, and why hast thou been founded* (or made firm)? Which reading you will find nowhere else. Wherefore, nothing is gathered from the collation of these places from Epiphanius and Philo, whereby you could establish that Philo composed a commentary different from the Epiphanian one; from which, however, he culled many things, and having reduced them into an epitome, inserted them into his own.

The sixth place from Epiphanius, page 28, and its collation with Philo, likewise prove nothing of the sort. For if you write in the margin not the words taken from the catena of Meursius, as that most learned man did, but the entire place of Philo which you have at number 26, you will find the Greek and Latin to agree in all things. The words of Philo are: *Immediately he reminds us of the blood and water that dripped in the passion from the side of Jesus. "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me;" which is: From the water, and blood, and spirit that dripped from his side, he himself has become to me a bridegroom, and I am his bride; by the blood, indeed, from his side, being purchased for him and joined to him; but by the water from his flesh, being baptized for him and clarified; but by the spirit from his divinity, being joined to him and perfected.* All these things, translated into Latin, you will recognize in Epiphanius: ^B "Therefore, by the 'bundle of myrrh,' he commemorates both the blood and the water which flowed from the side of Jesus; 'a bundle,' he says, 'of the drops of my kinsman is to me;' as if he were to say: From the water or blood which distilled from his side, he himself is made a bridegroom to me, and I his bride; with blood indeed flowing from his side, by which I have been redeemed and equated to him; with water indeed of his flesh, by which I have been baptized and clarified for him; but with the spirit, by which I am known to be coupled to his divinity and consummated."

Finally, the place of Epiphanius, p. 23, concerning those words of the sacred text: *The sons of my mother have fought against me*, etc., and the following verse, *They made me a keeper*, etc. (which place I am reluctant to transcribe here, as it is somewhat long), when collated with the catena of Meursius, p. 16, you will indeed find it truncated, but in Philo, number 13, you will find all the Greek parts responding on every side to the Latin without any diminution.

From the adduced places, therefore, the commentary which is attributed to Epiphanius seems to be one and the same with the commentary of Philo. ^C This, moreover, seems to be able to be confirmed more validly by the fact that out of two hundred and fifty-five explanations in the Epiphanian commentary, only twenty-four differ in meaning itself from the Philonian ones, which we exhibit in the table below. In it, to the individual numbers by which those explanations are marked in the commentary of Epiphanius, we append the individual numbers belonging to the explanations of Philo.

^D In this question, however, whether Philo Carpasius, bishop, or Philo Carpathius, wrote the commentary on the Song of Songs, a truly learned man confidently pronounces (a), as I said above, that it is an entirely vain invention that the Philo of whom there is mention in Polybius was the author of that commentary. And indeed, he seems to be able to rely on the authority of the ancients; since you will find no one among the ancients who teaches that Carpasius wrote such a commentary. On the contrary, Cosmas the Egyptian clearly names him Carpathius; and Suidas, as has been said, says clearly: *Philo Carpathius wrote a commentary on the Song of Songs.* And yet, men of learning, moved by no reason on that account—great, perhaps because they have inspected the Greek codices—have pronounced Carpasius to be the writer of that commentary: Garetius, Lequien, Holstenius; of whom Holstenius clearly affirms that he is commonly called Carpathius wrongly. Allatius, however, seems to settle this controversy. For he, in the cited treatise on the Philos, having brought forward the place of the letter of Epiphanius to John of Jerusalem which we brought forward above, where that holy doctor makes mention of Philo the bishop, adds: "Observe, reader, that this Philo was bishop of the region which was next to the parish of Epiphanius, namely in the same island of Cyprus in the city of Carpasius: nor does the surname of Carpathius stand in the way." For although Carpathius might seem to be derived from Carpathos near the island of Chios, distant from Cyprus, if we believe the geographers (from which also the proverb arose, *The Carpathius [the hare]*, and the Carpathian sea itself is named); and from the Carpasius of Cyprus, or Carpaseia, or Karpaseia, or Karpasia, Carpaseotes, or even as he is called with Theopompus, Carpasseus: yet know that this Carpasius is by some, and especially by Xenagoras, called Carpathus, from which without doubt *Carpathius* is made. Stephanus: *Carpasia, a city of Cyprus, which Pygmalion founded...*

^A in those places ^B shows more concise explanations than those which are in the Greek commentary of Philo; he often adds things which either dull, or overturn, or infect with some error the very meaning of Philo. Let the following be examples: page 14, line 17, *Non enim solvi velut ebrietas, ut obscuratus quis corruat, etc.* The passage is in the Greek commentary of Philo, no. 11: *Οὐ γὰρ λύει με ὥσπερ ἡ μέθῃ τοῦτο πόμα, κ. τ. λ.*, the meaning of which you will be sorry to see weakened by the translator. Page 17, at the words: *Ideo adolescentulae dilexerunt te*, he has not grasped the meaning of the Philonian explanation, no. 4. So too page 22, line 13: *Non enim erat sensibile quod dicebat, sed de isto erat sole, etc.*, which things are indeed contradictory to one another. Compare with these the Greek of Philo, no. 12, and page 23, line 15, *Uti enim puritas est* — there, an expression of rebuke also follows; but what could be more absurd than this? For purity cannot be subject to any rebuke. See also the ignorance of the man, who on page 89, translating the Greek which is in Philo, no. 203: *Αὐτὸς δέδεται ἐν παραδρομαῖς, οὐκ ἀνάγκης δεσμοῖς, ἀλλ᾽ ἑκούσου φιλανθρωπίας χρηστότητι*, writes: *Vinctus est autem ipse non sponsae suae necessitate, sed voluntate clementiae.* And yet, the bride Church had the greatest need for this, that Christ should suffer. And page 49, he likewise adds things which are absent from the Greek text, and are apt for insinuating error, namely that the Church consists only of the elect. For the Greek is, no. 88: *Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ περὶ τῆς πληθύος εἶπε τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, τῆς ἐντὸς οὔσης τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, φησί, κ. τ. λ.*, which are thus rendered in Latin: *Quia enim de multitudine dixit Ecclesiae quae constat in suis electis, istos intra Unigenitum esse demonstrat dicens, etc.* But as to those things which are read in Philo, no. 34: *Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αἱ δοκοὶ τῶν φατνωμάτων εἰσὶν ἐσώτεραι, κ. τ. λ.*, the version is clearly insipid, and devoid of all sense, page 30: *Quoniam igitur tigna trabibus componuntur atque celantur, pulchritudo vero domus trabibus indicatur, etc.* Nor can that passage on page 36, at the end, be read without indignation concerning Christ: *Jam enim nec mortem pro nobis suscepit, cum semel passus sit, secundum quod sanctus dicit Apostolus: «Mors ei ultra non dominabitur», etc.* But these, being from among the many things that stray very far both from the truth and from the correct method of interpretation, when joined with those few others which we have brought forward in the annotations, can be sufficient indication of how aberrant, how unfaithful, how horrific in short, and how unpolished that old Latin interpretation of the Philonian commentary is.

III. I have discussed Philo and his commentary. Now, what I proposed at the beginning, I must speak about his interpretations. I call the Latin commentary of Epiphanius the old interpretation in the annotations which I have added to Philo's text, and for the sake of brevity only, I call the one who composed it the old interpreter. Regarding this interpreter, if indeed it is Epiphanius Scholasticus whom Cassiodorus commemorates in the place cited above, that which Huetius judged regarding him in his second book *De interpretatione* comes to my mind: *Epiphanius*, he says, *Scholasticus, explaining Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret into Latin, handed down his name among the learned. For he had barely grasped the Greek; and if he happened to understand anything, he made it obscure, barbarous, and dissipated in his speech, so that it might not be understood by posterity.* Therefore, the damage that it suffered while being contracted into an epitome by Cassiodorus, as happens, and the loss of his other interpretations, which Cassiodorus lists as being quite numerous, let us bear without indignation. And certainly, Cassiodorus would have provided better for the Greek writers whom he ensured were turned into Latin, if he had always used Anianus as his interpreter, whose work in translating certain homilies of St. Chrysostom the same Huetius deservedly praises highly. Moreover, Epiphanius Scholasticus, in this interpretation of his of the Philonian commentary, in many ^C places exhibits more concise explanations than ^D those which are in the Greek commentary of Philo.

IV. But now, let us speak of Stephanus Salutatus and his version, if it is to be called a version. For he does not, when he wishes to represent Philo, play the role of a faithful interpreter, whose duty it is to render the words themselves, and in the same order, where the different nature of the Greek and Latin languages does not prevent it.

^A And discrepancies, but behaves like an orator. Nay, when I proceeded in the collation of the Greek with the Latin commentary, I saw that Salutatus, perhaps weary of the brevity of Philo, skipped lines with audacity; removing much not only from the words, but also from the meanings; and indeed inserting very many explanations, which you would seek in vain in Philo, in order that he himself might come forth into public view with a fuller commentary; and that he was the more copious in his additions, the further he proceeded in that interpretation of his, if it is right to call it such. Nevertheless, I would not hesitate to affirm that if the whole commentary of Philo is not found in that commentary of his, the greater part of it is, but it is so oppressed by the many things which he added with a very lavish hand, that it scarcely appears. I can point out, so to speak, the fragments of Philo, where Salutatus placed them. Furthermore, Salutatus plays games with his readers when he writes in his Epistle to Nicolaus Bargilesius, a priest of Bologna: "Philo does not seem to me to be one, but several, who composed these commentaries on the Song of Songs." For what is circulated under the name of Philo is very brief among the Greeks. But there are those who would have it that it was translated also by Eustathius and Eusebius (at whose request Philo himself had composed this commentary), and that it is one thing joined out of three. But what trust shall we have in them, who produces no witness concerning those two commentaries? Who names no manuscript where he found that commentary composed from three? And since that miscellaneous work, compiled from many, ought to be considered as having been written in Greek, which Salutatus brings to light translated by himself into Latin; why do so many things occur in that version that smell nothing of Greek, but appear to have been derived from a primitive Latin source? Moreover, Salutatus exhibits many ^B not insignificant fragments of Philo poorly grafted onto his own additions, and also many taken from St. Gregory the Great, which has long been noticed by many: so that one can hardly admire enough the presumption of someone who, having retained the genuine preface of Philo, and that complete, and having inserted many Philonic explanations among many more of his own additions, has boldly dared to offer such rubbish under the name of Philo to his readers. I suspect that he undertook the version of the Philonic commentary, and when he perceived that he had indulged his desire for interpolating too much everywhere, and that the commcommentary which, because of its brevity, in order to obtain some credibility for his writing, he invented that fable about the two commentaries of Eustathius and Eusebius mixed with the Philonic one and fused into one.

Concerning the age of the Greek commentary, whether Philo Carpasius or Carpathius wrote it, there is no doubt that it was composed before Cosmas Indicopleustes, who, as was said above, cited three passages from Philo in his *Christian Topography*. Montfaucon proves that Cosmas wrote his work in the year 535 (a). Those who believe that this commentary should be attributed to Philo Carpasius must think that it was written either at the end of the fourth century or the beginning of the fifth. And for this reason, Oudin mentions Philo Carpasius and his writing on the Song of Songs at the four-hundredth year of Christ. Fogginius, in his preface to the commentary of Epiphanius (p. 40 and following), teaches how the same commentary can be used to confirm certain dogmas of the Catholic faith, where he argues many things learnedly and eruditely; and whoever reads them will not regret having read them.

V. Finally, I shall explain in few words what effort I myself have expended in publishing this Greek commentary of Philo. I examined two manuscripts, the Barberini and the Vallicellian, of which the former is mutilated at the end, and the latter at the beginning and the end, and I collated them as diligently as possible with my own manuscript. For I was allowed to treat these at my own discretion; not so with others, the Mutinense, the Theatinum, the Auximanum; but in certain places where I was stuck, I saw to it that they were inspected by friends skilled in Greek literature. And I found all these to be stained with too many errors; which perhaps the ancient interpreter himself, and Stephanus Salutatus, I suspect, did not have any better. In the annotations, I amended the errors of my manuscript, which is depraved in very many places, having made use of the manuscripts I mentioned; and where I found some passage in all the manuscripts corrupted, I endeavored to restore it by conjecture. I accurately collated the Philonic readings of the sacred text with the readings of the Vatican edition, and others ^D brought forward by Lambert Bos in his edition of the Greek Old Testament; and I have diligently set forth in the same annotations in what respect Philo varies from the others in each place. Finally, in the Latin version which I placed opposite the Greek text, I cared more for fidelity than for elegance.

Enarration on the Song of Songs by Philo, Bishop of Carpasia, with God's help. To Eustathius the priest and Eusebius the deacon.

Just as a rider, by pricking a horse with his feet for the race, renders even a reluctant one swift so that it may enter upon the straight path: so too, I saw my own mind, endowed with but little understanding, being pricked by the beautiful feet of two holy men—the one a presbyter, the other a deacon—so that it might be driven ^A toward the spiritual path of interpretation concerning the Canticle of Canticles; I saw myself being urged, though standing still as if by an unavoidable sluggishness, to begin this course. Therefore, I entreat both of you, not only to prick and arouse me for the course of this interpretation, but also to guide my mind with prayer as with a bridle toward what is right, so that, having run the straight path and having completed the journey in an irreproachable manner, and having set forth "a sound word, irreprehensible," according to the Apostle, [we may—]

with the Lord as our rider and guide, enter into the blessed and immortal ^A city. For we have nothing from ourselves, but, acknowledging the grace to the Giver, we go forward toward what is set before us. For if anyone has dedicated to God his own mind, and has freed his understanding from earthly thoughts, having surrendered his whole intellect to God, and, being decorated in his soul by the virtue of temperance, has received a heavenly crown of graces upon his own head, thus let him lay hold of the holy Scripture of spiritual Songs. For this very inscription, for those who have ^B upright thoughts, immediately frees those who approach this holy Scripture from carnal thoughts. For it is not simply written "Songs," nor is it said or termed so, but "Song of songs"—so that when you hear "Song of songs," you may be reminded of the "Holy of holies." For we have not only the "Song of songs," but also the "Holy of holies," and the "Sabbaths of sabbaths." Just as, therefore, the "Holy of holies" has a certain greater, mysterious, and hidden dignity, since the high priest entered only once a year into the "Holy of holies," so too the "Song of songs" has a spiritual and deeper finding of the treasures of good thoughts stored up. And just as the "Sabbaths of sabbaths" ^C have a rest for the future good things greater than the present rest (for I am persuaded that the holy Scripture calls the future rests in that age, and the prepared promises of rest, "Sabbaths of sabbaths." For those there are "Sabbaths of sabbaths," indeed the rest and heavenly feasts of the future age, proceeding from these Sabbaths that are among us, that is, from the cessation from sins. For those who have ceased from sins in the present will enjoy perfect rest in the age to come); as, therefore, those Sabbaths are much greater than these Sabbaths, so too the "Song of songs" has a certain greater and more spiritual instruction than the songs written in the other Scriptures. For many songs are written in the divine ^D Scriptures. And see the song of Moses, saying: "Let us sing to the Lord," "for he has been gloriously glorified," and all the other songs and odes you will find in the law

See also the song and ode of Isaiah: "I will sing to my beloved a song of my beloved concerning my vineyard." See the ode which Anna sang, saying: "My heart ^A is strengthened in the Lord." See all the songs that are in the Psalms: "Sing to the Lord a new song," and whatever other songs you will find in the Scriptures. But the Song of Songs has been honored with greater and deeper dignity, just as the Holy of Holies and the Sabbaths of Sabbaths.

Carefully examine for me the mind of this holy inscription, which is deeper than the songs. Why did it not say: "The Songs of Songs which Solomon composed or sang," but rather: "The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's"? For since Solomon is interpreted as "pacified" or "peacemaking," that is why these Songs of Songs are prepared for every one who is at peace, and who has been removed from the obstacles of licentious thought. For if anyone has not freed his own mind from carnal passions, for him there is no Song of Songs, nor Holy of Holies, nor Sabbath of Sabbaths. But if anyone, having cast aside all obstacles and longed for the righteous peace, directs his own mind and body to the virtue of temperance, for him is the Song of Songs; he thinks nothing earthly or carnal, but receives all that is written spiritually, and truly enjoys peace; ^B for "Great peace," says the Scripture, "have they who love your law, and there is no scandal to them."

And just as in a house there are vestibules, and gateways, and porticoes, and dining rooms, and magnificent chambers, but the innermost of all these is the small cabinet—that which is called the bridal chamber—where the bride, resting with the bridegroom, confers with him on the mysteries of deep understanding; so also in the Song of Songs, the holy bride, the Church, speaks to her own bridegroom about the deep and mystical words of the faith, and says:

CHAP. I.

I. VERSE 1. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. ^C

As if by paranymphs, so to speak, sent from the heavenly bridegroom to the most precious bride, and relating to her the beauty of the bridegroom—for so Isaiah cries out to her: "This one is beautiful in raiment," and again another says: "Beautiful in form before the sons of men," and again another gives counsel and says: "A faithful friend is a strong shelter; a faithful friend is a medicine of life; there is no exchange for a faithful friend," and David thus addresses her:

^A "Hear, O daughter, and see and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house; and the king will desire your beauty, for he is your Lord." [Ps. XLIV, 10] And again, Isaiah, honoring lawful marriage, says to her: "As a bridegroom will rejoice over a bride, so will the Lord rejoice over you." [Isa. LXII, 5] The so-called bride [(29)], having therefore listened to these things and others like them, cries out and says: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." You therefore, everyone who hears the spiritual songs, because you hear of a spiritual and undefiled kiss as distinct from a kiss of the flesh, do not injure your mind with the sensual pleasures of the flesh. For a spiritual kiss differs from a fleshly kiss by much and immeasurably, just as the day surpasses the night in light. For just as there is an animal body ^B and there is a spiritual body [I Cor. xv, 44], so there is a fleshly kiss and a spiritual kiss. But the fleshly is earthly; the spiritual is heavenly. The love that exists on earth [(30)], therefore, is a mixture of both good and evil. For the love regarding marriage is good, but that regarding fornication is evil. For not all are moved by desire toward only the wives lawfully wedded to them by God (for to those who are content with this, it is good; for marriage is from the good), but many are entangled in stolen marriages, even with lawlessness, driven by a most terrible love; which will be turned into hatred for them when the judgment of God, which oversees all hidden things, arrives to distribute to each what is deserved. But that love from above and concerning things above is holy, having eternal sweetnesses, bubbling forth unceasing joys, breathing forth endless fragrances, having ineffable glories, bringing honors equal to angelic honors, manifesting to us our Lord Himself—who loved us—as in a mirror, procuring boldness toward the Master, bringing about the balance of righteousness, ^C and bearing honor and glory both on earth and in heaven. Have you heard the difference and distinction between the kiss and that which is being kissed [(32)]? Know what makes the difference, choose what is better, flee what causes harm, and hold fast to what brings salvation [(33)].

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth," that is to say, the Son. Lift the eye of your mind upward. For it is not a fleshly thing that is being spoken of, but a spiritual one that is being prophesied. For she does not wish to be taught merely through the mouth of the prophets, but "Let the Son Himself," she says, "approach and teach me." For great [(35)] ^D is ... [the burden] of the counselor. ... Osculetur me ab osculis oris sui: that is, the Son. Lift up the eye of the mind. For this is not of a fleshly nature, that which is spoken of, but spiritual, which is spoken prophetically. For she does not wish to be taught only through the mouth of the prophets; but, she says, let the Son Himself approach and teach me. For heavy, my Mother the Church once said, is my illness; I shall not be healed by small ones; I shall seek a great and perfect physician, I am suffused with pure wine, the lamps of the Law and the Prophets are darkness; for it says: "Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths."

^A But they shall not have the power to enlighten me, unless the perfect light comes to me. That light, by the excess of its brilliance, will dispel the excess of darkness; and I shall see again the path that leads me back to Paradise. It transcends the Law, it surpasses the Prophets; and in it the Church prays to be kissed by the Only-Begotten. For the Son is the mouth of God. Wherefore, although He is God, He is called the Word, because the Father speaks everything He wills through the Son.

II. Because thy breasts are better than wine.

One must say that the two breasts are the two Testaments, from which the children of the Church suck with their mind, as if with a tongue, the words of truth, and grow into a perfect life and [full] maturity. This drink ^B is better than wine. For it does not well up from the earth, but descends from the heavens. "For let my speech be expected," He says, "as the rain, and let my words descend as the dew." This drink those who have their goal in the heavens suck from the Scriptures with their mind as with a tongue, and they cast it down, as if into the belly, so into the heart, the remissions of sins that soothe the pains of repentance. For just as the two breasts cleave to the heart, so also the two Testaments, pouring forth for us the spiritual drink from the Holy Spirit, ^C bring gladness that surpasses wine. "For this drink," says the Church, "does not dissolve me as drunkenness does, so that, darkened, I should fall; but it fattens me with a certain joy and confirms me in faith, so that I may not be cast down to the earth, but, inclining to neither side, I may stand upright, straight toward God." Just as Jeremiah says: "I have become as a man broken, and as a man overcome by wine, from the face of the Lord, and from the face of the glory of His beauty," struck beyond measure by the joy of the divine utterances.

^D [Oris vero proprietate sumpta in exemplum, mutuam divinarum personarum cohærentiam expressimus proportione et similitudine membrorum. Sic enim et Spiritus sanctus dicitur Spiritus oris illius, scilicet Dei, cum sit os Unigenitus; et rursus Spiritus ex ipso procedens, et missus non solum a Patre, sed etiam a Filio. Locum habes sane luculentum, quo docemur Spiritum sanctum a Patre et Filio procedere. Et paulo post, sequuntur multa quæ sex pag. complent. in 4. frustra quæras in Græcis codd.]

from the face of the splendor of his glory, being struck by the magnitude of the delight of the words of God.

III. VERS. 2. And the odor of your ointments above all spices.

To encourage, I think, the Church, the Holy Spirit sings such things to the Lord, so that we, being touched by the odor of such sweetness, might turn away from the stench of foul sins and draw into ourselves the pleasant odor of the righteousness of Christ. "The odor of your ointments," he says, "is above all spices." The ointment, brothers ^A, we have learned from the holy Scriptures to be established for both regal and priestly dignity. For I do not think it is unknown to you, who are so learned, that the kings in the holy Scriptures were established to reign by the oil of anointing. And I also wish it to be manifest to you that the priests of that time, being anointed with ointment, received their priesthood. Since, therefore, according to the law, both kings and priests were anointed with ointment, the divine Scripture now clearly sets forth the royal and priestly clothing of the Only-Begotten, ^B saying, "The odor of your ointments is above all spices," as if to say: The odor of your kingdom and high priesthood is above all kingdoms and high priesthoods; just as Daniel says, "The God of heaven will raise up a kingdom which will excel all the kingdoms of the earth," and, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek," he says. "The odor of your ointments," he says, "is above all spices." The ointment, brother, in whatever place it is, there also it provides its odor. Christ, therefore, holding all things in heaven and on earth and in the sea, fills his dominion and kingdom everywhere ^C and in every place with the odor of sweetness. Clearly now, and very obviously, the Scripture, which is full of divine and hidden mysteries, also indicates the name of the great King, saying:

IV. Your name is ointment poured out, therefore young maidens have loved you, they have drawn you after them.

In saying, "Your name is ointment poured out," the divine Scripture names Christ himself. For ointment poured out, namely, for anointing, advances to its purpose. Whence also the priestly ointment is called chrism. ^D And the former kings, having been anointed with ointment, were established to reign. When, therefore, it says, "Your name is ointment poured out," it indicates two tropes. For just as ointment poured out fills a house with a sweet odor, so after our Lord Jesus Christ descended to the earth, and heavenly power was poured out upon the apostles,

^A the whole world was perfumed with piety; as also one of them, Paul, says: “We are the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life” (II Cor. II, 15-16). This same fragrance of sweet odor perfumes some unto death, and others unto life. For the apostles were a fragrance of death to those who persecuted, afflicted, and bound them; but again a fragrance of life to those who believed, to those deemed worthy to receive the preaching, and to those confirming the faith through works of righteousness. “Ointment poured out is your name.” In this same text, it also signifies the prophetic symbol of blessed Mary, who, having broken the alabaster jar of ointment, anointed our Lord Jesus Christ; and that ointment poured out became famous, as Christ said: “Amen I say to you, wherever this Gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will also be told ^B in memory of her.” I think this divine Scripture signifies these two meanings when it says: “Ointment poured out is your name; therefore the maidens have loved you.” For since, it says, your kingdom and incarnate presence have perfumed the whole world like poured-out ointment, for that reason “the maidens have loved you,” that is, the souls of the just. Do not imagine that the holy Scripture speaks only of female maidens; but we find maidens among women not in body (for it is not only regarding the body: “The flesh profits nothing; it is the spirit that gives life”), but maidens in faith. Behold that maiden, frail in body but stronger in the faith of her soul—the woman with a hemorrhage—who, having touched the garments of Jesus from behind, stopped the flow of blood, not by ^C the strength of her body, but by the power of faith. For not by bodily strength, but by the vigorous spirit of faith, she put an end to the disease of her infirmity. This maiden drew Him while touching Him from behind, so that what is written might be fulfilled in her: “Therefore the maidens have loved you; they have drawn you after you.” And again, another maiden cried out from behind Jesus: the Canaanite woman, a Syrophoenician by race, but a maiden in faith; and while the disciples were saying: “Send her away, for she cries out after us,” she herself also drew Jesus from behind, to whom He said: “It is not right to take the bread of the children and throw it to the dogs.” But that maiden, ^D still in faith, yet renewed in spirit and in faith,

^A “Yes,” she says, “Lord; for the dogs also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters.” Observe in her the youthfulness of faith and the power of humility, which drew Jesus backward. These are the two maidens, the one suffering from the issue of blood and the Syrophoenician woman: the one unclean according to the Law, that she might be cleansed; the other a foreigner, that as a result of her infirmity her child might be healed. Both these maidens, therefore, drew Jesus backward, being suppliants of His power, and by the strength of their faith, those who were weak in body succeeded in drawing healing from the Fountain, so that, because of their strong faith, that apostolic saying could rightly be spoken even to them: “When I am weak, then I am powerful”; for the weakness of the body showed the power of the faith. ^B “For this reason the maidens have loved Thee,” not only those women healed by the spirit of faith, but also the manifest maidens, and those greater than the ones mentioned, and mightier than the ones healed—the souls, namely, of the holy martyrs, who most valiantly girding themselves for the struggle against the devil, surrendered their own bodies, and having put on, as a breastplate, the invincible power and unconquered strength of faith through a mighty spirit of patience, they carried off the prize of victory, strenuously keeping the faith and having run the stadium of the struggle most swiftly, they proclaim that apostolic word: “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,” and what follows.

V. Verse 3. We will run after the fragrance of your perfumes.

One is the Church, and she speaks in the plural: “We will run,” for we are many who are one in Christ. ^C See everyone running to the fragrance of Christ’s mysteries. For wherever the relics of the martyrs lie, thither do we hasten, and we run to the fragrance of the perfumes of Christ. Then, the joyful multitude of the faithful, the Christ-bearing Church, rejoicing in her own Bridegroom, and glorying in Him, and showing herself grateful, says:

VI. The king has brought me into his storeroom. We will exult and be glad in Thee.

The storeroom of the king is where all things are stored

clearly, first, the body, in which He built for Himself a house; 74 and then, indeed, the kingdom of the heavens. When, therefore, the Savior says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens," the phrase has been rightly and consequently foretold for them: for these have entered into the kingdom of the heavens. Since they themselves were persecuted for righteousness' sake, therefore they also exult in Him, and rejoice, saying: "We will exult and be glad in Thee." Seeing the joy of the eternal nuptials; seeing those things prepared from the foundation of the world, and declaring the promises, they say:

VII. Let us love thy breasts more than wine. ^B That is: Let us love the two Testaments, through which the King, after instructing us, has led us into the heavenly storeroom. For that we have attained the kingdom of the heavens through the two Testaments, see both the Old and the New urging everyone to suffer for righteousness and for the name of Christ, and to walk the narrow and constricted way of life. And from the Old Testament, hear Wisdom saying: "Strive even unto death for the truth." A similar thing in the New, in the Gospels, hear the Lord Himself saying: "Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot do anything to the soul." Hear also the Old Testament saying: "Hear the word of the Lord, you who fear His word: say, 'Our brothers,' to those who hate you and treat you with abomination." 45 ^C But from the Gospels, hear it from the mouth of the Lord Himself: "Love your enemies," 46 and again, "Do good to those who hate you." 47 In the Law, moreover, there is a similar command: "If you encounter the beast of your enemy fallen under its load, you shall not pass by, but instead you shall lift it up," 48 which is the same as that: "Do good to those who hate you." For one and the same is the Legislator who gives commands in both Testaments. Therefore, His two breasts are called the two Testaments, and they have the outpouring of spiritual milk from one immortal source. Therefore, those who have entered into the chamber of the heavens say: "Let us love thy breasts more than wine." For what does wine do? Wine, when drunk to excess, brings darkness; ^D but the radiant Testaments strengthen the mind, establish faith, and confirm us for the kingdom of the heavens.

VIII. Rectitude has loved thee. All the utterances of the divine Scriptures, and those

are straight; but this refers to rectitude ^A in particular, for it says, "Rectitude has loved thee." For to whom there is no rectitude, he will not love the Only-Begotten. "For wisdom is an abomination to the sinner" (Eccli. I, 32). But a right heart loves wisdom. Rectitude is to separate oneself from all kinds of evils, to delight in the law of God, and to fulfill His commandments with an intense heart; as David says, "In the counsel of the upright and the congregation, great are the works of the Lord" (Ps. CX, 1, 2).

IX. VERSE 4. I am black and beautiful. Black because of sins; beautiful because of repentance. It is not the blackness of the body; nor, again, is this bride's beauty carnal. But she says she is black because of iniquities, since she had been blackened by these ^B both in the idolatry and in the other deceits of her folly.

X. I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem. I suppose the bride calls the prophetic souls of the righteous the "daughters of Jerusalem." She confesses her sins, yet she is made bright through the lover's philanthropy, because He grants repentance for sins. See her, truly black and beautiful, beginning to receive the proclamation of the Only-Begotten from the Ethiopian eunuch through the apostle Philip (Acts VIII). Whence also David says, "Ethiopia shall reach out her hand to God" (Ps. LXVII, 31).

XI. As the tabernacles of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Cedar is interpreted as "Earthenware." Since the Cedarites were everywhere spoken ill of, as Jeremiah says, "Pass over to the isles of Cethim and see; and send to Cedar and consider diligently if such things have been done, ^C if the nations have changed their gods" (Jerem. II, 10). Because she who makes the confession was from among those insane idol-worshippers, she says, "As the tabernacles of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon." She speaks of those from the Jews and from the Gentiles, likening those who came to her from the Gentiles to the tabernacles of Cedar, and similarly the faithful who have departed from the Jews to the curtains of Solomon; and all propitiate the Divine with sackcloth.

XII. VERSE 5. Look not upon me because I am blackened, because the sun has looked upon me. Do not, she says, make me despair because of ^D the sins lest God grant them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth.

^A For if it were something sensible that was spoken of, and if it were about this sun that the discourse was held, she would not have said, "For this sun has looked upon me," but rather that those who are nurtured in the shade become white. But she, having been tried in the frenzy of idols before the faith, and being overlooked by the sun of righteousness, was blackened; until the One who is beautiful in beauty beyond the sons of men came and imprinted His own beauty upon her through baptism, just as David also says: "The light of Your countenance, O Lord, has been marked upon us," and elsewhere again: "And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us."

XIII. ^B *My mother's sons have fought against me.* By her mother's sons, I believe she means the wise sons of the heavenly kingdom, the apostles. But that it may be most clearly shown that it was a good and noble battle, and one productive of peace, and inspiring divine zeal, see what Paul says: "I said to Cephas before them all: If you, being a Jew, have chosen to live in a Gentile manner, and not according to the Jewish custom, for the sake of Christ and the edification of the faithful, why do you compel the Gentiles to judaize?" They fought such a peaceful battle in her; therefore she says: "My mother's sons have fought against me."

XIV. ^C *They set me as a keeper in the vineyards; my vineyard I have not kept.* A vineyard is recorded in many places in the divine Scriptures. But in brief, one must mention that evangelical saying of the Lord concerning those who do not give fruits to those who were sent: "The lord of the vineyard will come, and he will wretchedly destroy those wretches, and will lease the vineyard to other husbandmen who will give the fruits in their seasons." And the Lord confirms the word, and adds, saying to them: "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you." And He speaks concerning this bride, whom He knows in the Canticle of Canticles to be conversing with Him: "And it shall be given to a nation producing its fruits." ^D She is set by the apostles as a keeper in this vineyard of the faith, which has many clusters of fruit: "They set me as a keeper in the vineyards." Then the synagogue of the Jews, making confession, also itself admits that it has come from the Jews to the holy Church, and says: "My vineyard I have not kept," which is to say:

I have not kept that which was set before me in the law, so that through confession I might obtain ^A the remission of sins.

XV. VERS. 6. "Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you lie down at midday."

For because both in David and in her the word is prophetically typified: "I will love You, O Lord, my strength," she too was accounted worthy, having been first loved by the Lord, to love the Lord, as Paul says: "Not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and gave Himself up for us." Therefore, she who has been loved loves in return and says: "Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you lie down at midday," which is to say: At the time of the passion, when from the sixth hour until the ninth there was darkness; for this reason "where you pasture, where you lie down at midday," in which also is the peak of the heat of temptations. Where, therefore, ^B do you hide, allowing your own to be tempted?

XVI. "Lest I become as one who is covered over the flocks of your companions."

That is: Lest I be covered over with heresies. Therefore, in turn, He responds to her and says:

XVII. VERS. 7. "Unless you know yourself, O beautiful among women."

That is: Unless you know yourself, what you were, and what you have become. But He calls her "beautiful among women." For among all the heresies and synagogues, she alone is beautiful, not indeed having beauty from herself, but from Him who is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men. And when the Only-Begotten has impressed upon her His own beauty through ^C the laver of regeneration, He usefully rebukes her and says: "Unless you know yourself, O beautiful among women."

XVIII. "Go forth in the footsteps of the flocks, and pasture your kids."

If you do not know, He says, where you were and where you are; if you do not know the beauty which you have received, "go forth in the footsteps of the flocks." The language is threatening; the word is objurgatory. For where there is ignorance, there is also rebuke. For since she had previously said: "Lest I become as one who is covered over the flocks of your companions," which is to say: Lest I be mingled with heresies, for this reason He rebukes her as if threateningly, and says: "Unless you know your beauty, that you possess it from Me, 'go forth in the footsteps of the flocks, and pasture your kids'"; that is: If ^D

you do not acknowledge yourself to be of My glory, feed the kids — that is, the souls of sinners. ^A

XIX. *In the tabernacles of the shepherds.* In the tabernacles of the kings of Israel he says, with the apostolic voice clearly shouting: "For those men did not escape upon the earth, refusing the kingdom of Christ and of God, who uttered the oracles."

XX. VERSE 8. *I have likened thee to my horse-team in the chariots of Pharaoh, my neighbor.* His horse-team, I think, he calls the congregation of the just, because of the swift course of the just in the stadium of piety. For when he says, "in the chariots of Pharaoh," he suggests ^B that it was once yoked in the chariots of the intelligible Pharaoh, driven by him through the racing of idolatry. "Such as you were," he says, "I have likened you to My horse-team," taking no account of your sins in the worship of idols, nor of all your folly, but by a brief grace through the washing of regeneration, I have likened you to My horse-team — that is, to the congregation of the just — possessing a swift course according to the stadium of piety; just as in the Gospels the Lord gave the same reward to those who had worked only one hour as to those who had borne the whole burden of the day. ^C

XXI. VERSE 9. *How beautiful have thy cheeks become as a turtledove!* This bird is a guardian of chastity, wild, mourning, content with one mate; just as the holy Church herself was once wild, but having only one man as her bridegroom, who also speaks these things to her, just as the Apostle also says: "For I have espoused you to one husband, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ."

XXII. *Thy neck is as a necklace.* ^D It is marvelous to understand how well the coherence of the spiritual meanings which are expounded here preserves itself. For having likened the Gentiles to the turtledove because of their wildness, he does not pass over in silence the faithful from the Jews.

^A For after having said, "Thy cheeks," he adds, "Thy neck is as a necklace," in order to show also those who have believed from among the Jews, bringing to mind the necklace of Judah which was given to Tamar. For it is manifest that from Judah has sprung our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Apostle. Then, having narrated her genealogy, and the world which the bridegroom bestows upon her, the apostles add:

XXIII. VERSE 10. We will make thee similitudes of gold with studs of silver.

I do not think the similitudes of gold are any other than the holy martyrs; since, having been tested by fire, they displayed a more brilliant faith. For as gold, he says, "He tried them in the furnace, and as a whole burnt offering of sacrifice He received them" (Wisd. III, 6). ^B But that it may be shown from the context that he is speaking about the martyrs, look at what he adds: "With studs of silver." For the studs are clearly the scourges and the torments of those who have suffered for Christ, as Paul also witnesses to me, saying: "For I bear the marks (stigmata) of our Lord Jesus Christ in my body" (Gal. VI, 17). The discourse then adds:

XXIV. VERSE 11. Whilst the king is in his reclining.

As if to say: until the regeneration through the banquet of the wedding feast; until then these similitudes of silver are gathered: that is, those who suffer for the faith, not only in the time of persecutions through torments, ^C but also in the time of peace by running the narrow and afflicted way, and by imitating the martyrs in their actions. Then the bride responds, and says to the bridegroom:

XXV. VERSE 12. My spikenard hath given forth its odor.

For while the bridegroom himself is speaking about the martyrs, the bride responds, giving thanks to him, and says: "My spikenard hath given forth its odor," which is: You have tasted these good things. For by the nard, the alabaster of ointment, of which the Lord says: "Let her alone, and do not cause trouble to the woman; for she hath wrought a good work upon me" (Matt. XXVI, 10), and the rest. ^D As if responding in thanksgiving, the bride says: You yourself gave me the odor of the martyrs. For "the spikenard hath given forth its odor," which is: Your martyrdom and your fragrance exhorted the martyrs to suffer for you, since you also suffered for us. From what follows, everyone will be able to understand the harmony of the entire discourse.

XXVI. VERSE 13. A bundle of myrrh is my kinsman unto me.

He immediately brings to mind the blood and the water which...

in his passion flowed from the side of Jesus. ^A A bundle of myrrh is my kinsman unto me: that is, from the water, and blood, and spirit which flowed from his side, he himself has become my bridegroom, and I his bride. By the blood which flowed from his side, I am redeemed and joined to him; with the water which flowed from his flesh, I am baptized unto him; by the spirit which proceeds from his divinity, I am knit together with him and perfected.

XXVII. In the midst of my breasts he shall lodge. ^B This is to say, the testimony of these sacraments shall lodge in the midst of the two Testaments; in the Old, surely, where it is said in Isaiah: "As a sheep he was led to the slaughter"; and in the New, where Philip interprets this passage of Isaiah to the eunuch concerning Christ.

XXVIII. VERSE 13. A cluster of cypress is my kinsman unto me. He calls a cluster of cypress, I think, the human character of the Only-begotten Son and God.

XXIX. In the vineyards of Engaddi. ^C *Gaddi* is interpreted as "attainment." Just as a cluster, when it buds, is delightful to those who see it, so also those who believe in Christ, having received the beginning of faith, while not yet having ripe fruit, are likened to a budding cluster. That those who are of the Gentiles and have believed in Christ have attained this is testified to me by the Apostle Paul, saying: "The election hath attained it"—that is, those who from the Gentiles and from the Jews have been chosen. For since the bridegroom is formed in those who are baptized, the bride therefore, praising him, says: "A cluster of cypress is my kinsman unto me in the vineyards"—that is, in the churches—"of Engaddi"—that is, in those which have attained this great gift. Then, in turn, bestowing praises back upon her, and delighted by that spiritual beauty which he himself gave to her, he says these things to her:

XXX. VERSE 14. Behold, you are fair, my neighbor, behold you are fair. ^D By praising her, he doubles her beauty; therefore, having said—

^A that she is fair not only within, but also without—within, regarding the thoughts of faith which proceed from the heart; and without, regarding the righteousness of her eyes, the composure of her walk, and the entire graceful activity of the members of her modesty. Now that these things seem to be so, see what follows. For, praising the modesty and purity of her eyes, he adds:

XXXI. Your eyes are as doves. ^B Not simply of this sensible dove, but of that Holy Spirit which descended in the form of a dove upon Him. For He likens the keenness of our thoughts and prophetic understanding to that spiritual dove. Then, again, the bride to the bridegroom:

XXXII. VERSE 15. Behold, you are a fair kinsman, and also beautiful. Our couch is shaded. And she, in turn, answering, praises the manifold beauty of the bridegroom. For she did not say only "fair," but "and also beautiful." Beautiful in the Gospel, fair in the prophets; and indeed beautiful in the apostles, fair in assisting ^C with the goods of this present life, and beautiful in promising eternal goods. "Our couch is shaded." For when we incline toward death, being finally released from the present age, you then become our shadow, according to Him who says: "He shall overshadow you with His shoulders, and under His wings you shall hope." For in You we have our refuge; You are our shadow and covering. For having You as a refuge, we say that which was spoken by David: "For even if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear evils, because You are with me, O Lord."

XXXIII. VERSE 16. The beams of our house are cedars. ^D See the connection with what has been said: behold, fair in the prophets and also beautiful in the apostles. For He says: "The beams of our house are cedars," which is to say, the beams of the churches are the prophets. "For the just man," as the Scripture says, "shall flourish like a palm tree; he shall be multiplied like the cedar that is in Lebanon."

XXXIV. VERSE 17. Our rafters are cypresses. That is, the apostles, according to Isaiah, who says: "And for"

staba surget cupressus. ^A Since the timbers are on the inside, and the beams are hidden by the rafters; yet the beams make the house pleasant; for this reason, he first likens the prophets to beams, then, on account of the illustrious ornament of the Church which proceeds from the apostles, he says: "Our beams, cypresses," so that that apostolic ordinance might be foreshadowed, which says: "God has set the apostles first in the Church, second, the prophets." For the apostles shine before the prophets in the Church, since it was through them that the fair bride of Christ was called; who, following thereupon, says:

CAP. II.

XXXV. VERS. 1. *I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.*

As if caressing her own bridegroom, she lingers on the same themes; appropriately she calls herself the flower of the field, because, once she has meditated on the prophetic oracles, she hears from Isaiah: "Let the thirsty desert rejoice: let the desert exult and bloom as a lily: and the ancient desert shall flourish." ^B But now she not only gives off a sweet scent with flowers, but also multiplies sweetness with the fruits of righteousness. Therefore, when she says, "I am the flower of the field," she is expounding the prophecies; but when she says again, "And the lily of the valleys," she takes delight in the evangelical, saving, and sweet words of her own bridegroom, when he urges his disciples to be anxious for nothing, saying: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin." When, therefore, she calls herself "the lily of the valleys," she is commemorating the evangelical precepts; but when she says "the flower of the field," she is indicating the characters of the prophetic oracles. Then the bridegroom answers her, saying to what she has spoken:

XXXVI. VERS. 2. *As a lily in the midst of thorns, so is my neighbor in the midst of the daughters.* ^C

He means that she is righteous in the midst of the unrighteous, and pious in the midst of the impious as she moves about in this world: to whom the Apostle says: "That you may be children of God, blameless in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation." Then, in turn, the bride to her bridegroom:

XXXVII. VERS. 3. *As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.*

The apple tree contains in itself both food and drink. Therefore, in order to signify the mystical joy which she has brought forth for him, ^D

^A the bridegroom has given to her, saying: "Take, eat; this is my body," and, "Take, drink; this is my blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins." Therefore, I suppose, he says, "as an apple." For the apple has three good things: food, by which he signifies the body of Christ; and drink, by which he signifies the saving blood; and the sweetness of odor, which characterizes the faith. And again, he compares to an apple the human character of the Word, which is among the trees, setting it forth upon the wood of the cross, as an apple exhaling sweetness. And he says: "As an apple among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons," that is, among the Jews. For he calls them sons in Isaiah, saying: "I have begotten sons and brought them up, and they have rejected me." Then he says: ^B

XXXVIII. "In his shadow I desired and sat."

For the Church also desires to fulfill the law. For the law is the shadow of the Only-Begotten, and every godly soul desires this, being delighted by his precepts which forbid sins: "Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother," and the other remaining commandments. In these shadows which veil sins, the souls of the just delight. Therefore the Church says: "In his shadow I desired and sat." For the law had a shadow of good things to come, ^C according to the most divine Apostle; wherefore he immediately says:

XXXIX. "And his fruit is sweet in my throat."

For it is manifest that those who sit under the shadow of the law also become partakers of the saving feast, in which the evangelical fruits are set forth. Then, having spoken of the law, and wishing to arrive at that perfection which she has received from the law, she says to the apostles:

XL. Verse 4. "Bring me into the wine cellar."

"Commingle me," she says, "into the body of the Lord, with him through the laver of regeneration."

XLI. "Ordain in me charity."

Give me the love of the heavenly Father, of which the Only-Begotten speaks: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ^D

XLII. Verse 5. "Confirm me with unguents."

In all the divine oracles of Christ.

XLIII. "Strew me with apples."

Bury me in the number of the just.

^A XLIV. *Quia vulnerata sum charitate* (Because I am wounded by love). By the holy martyrs, through whom, when I loved Christ, I was wounded, having accepted death for His sake.

XLV. VER. 6. *Læva ejus sub capite meo; et dextera illius amplexabitur me* (His left hand under my head; and His right hand shall embrace me). The left hand, as I think, signifies the present life; the right hand, the future and perpetual life of the saints. "For length of days," Scripture says, "and years of life are in His right hand; but in His left are riches and glory" (Prov. III, 16). For there, celestial wisdom provides indefectible goods to the Church, according to the Prophet who says: "The Lord will not withhold good things from those who walk in innocence" (Psal. LXXXIII, 13). And in the future age, wisdom, holding in its right hand the length of life and long ages, offers the joys of holy promises with those words which, according to the Gospel, He says to His bride from His right: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matth. XXV, 34). Thus "His right hand shall embrace me," when the Good Shepherd, who dwells in the pastures of paradise, stationing me at His right hand, shall constitute me as a sheep.

XLVI. VER. 7. *Adjuravi vos, filiæ Hierusalem, in virtutibus et viribus agri, si suscitetis et vigilare faciatis charitatem, donec velit* (I have adjured you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the virtues and powers of the field, if you should stir up and awaken love, until it wills). He calls the souls of the holy prophets and apostles the "daughters of Jerusalem." He adjures them by the "virtues and powers of the field" (that is, by the divine miracles which the power of the Only-Begotten produced in the world: "For the field is the world," as the Lord says (Matth. XIII, 38)), that they might excite the desire of the bridegroom toward her; at one time by offering prayers on her behalf, at another by disposing in her those things which are pleasing to Him: for this reason He adds openly, "until it wills." ^B

XLVII. VER. 8. *Vox fratruelis mei* (The voice of my kinsman). So that, being made more certain of those things which His voice has willed—that is, which He has commanded—she may attain His love; just as He Himself says in the Gospels: "He who loves me," He says, "will keep my commandments" (Joan. XIV, 15).

XLVIII. *Ecce ipse venit saliens super montes, transiliens colles* (Behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills). For He leaps upon the "mountains," that is, upon the prophets; and again from there He skips over the "hills," that is, the apostles; through generation and generation, wisdom, ascending upon holy souls, makes them friends of God and prophets. ^C But that the prophets are assimilated to mountains, and the apostles to hills, is clearly held in the prophecy of Isaiah (Isa. II, 2): "For there shall be," he says, ^D

^A in the last days the manifest mount of the Lord, prepared upon the tops of the mountains (which is to say, upon the members of the prophets), and it shall be exalted above the hills (which is to say, above the apostles). And reasonably so. For just as when the sun rises, it first stretches its luminous gyre upon the tops of the mountains and hills, so also Christ, the Sun of righteousness, willed that the light of His divinity should shine upon the whole world. It first shone as though upon mountains and hills in the prophets and apostles, through whom He dispersed the darkness of ignorance from all the earth.

XLIX. Ver. 9. "My beloved is like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bethel."

The roe is a sharp-sighted animal; wherefore it is significantly called a roe. And "a young hart"—for it is destructive to venomous beasts. Now the mountains of Bethel are the most excellent orders of the just, since Bethel is translated as "house of God"; and it is manifest that the just are the houses of God, according to Him who said: "I will dwell in them, and walk among them," ^B and again the Apostle: "We are the house of God." The beloved of her, therefore, Christ the Bridegroom, is likened to a roe because He looks sharply upon the hearts of men, as He says: "I the Lord, searching the inward parts and proving the hearts; if a man shall do anything in secret, shall I not see him?" Therefore the bride likens Him to a roe or to a young hart. For since the thoughts of wickedness sent into the minds of the just by the evil one are, like a hart, hunted out by the heavenly Word, He cuts them with the sharpest sword, which He gave to them, the calculation of piety. Well, then, is He likened to a young hart upon the mountains of Bethel; that is, upon the most excellent orders of the just.

L. "Behold, he is standing behind our wall, looking through the windows." ^C

By the wall, I think the bride means the Law, just as Paul the Apostle also says: "And having broken down the middle wall of partition; the enmity in his flesh, making void the law of commandments in decrees." For he came looking from behind the law, and through the windows, which is to say, through the prophets. For first He was preached in the law through Moses; then, as one might say, He looked through the windows, through the prophets. But he is also looking out through the lattices.

LI. "Looking through the windows, and looking out through the lattices."

Admirable is the order, especially of this [sequence], and most of all ^D that the bride should call the Law a wall, just as Paul, etc.

^A First, behind the wall; then from the wall through the windows; finally through the lattices. And as far as the wall is concerned, it has been sufficiently declared that the Law is understood by it; that he also looks out through the windows, which is through the prophets, has been stated. For just as if someone looks out and then withdraws himself again, so [the Word] looked out through the prophetic dogmas, being announced through Isaiah, preached through Jeremiah, revealed through Daniel, as though through the windows of the prophets. But concerning the lattices, he no longer says "looking out" [as a proscinion], but "leaning out" [as an excinion]. For he who looks out ^B sometimes shows himself and sometimes withdraws; but he who leans out bestows his whole self. As, therefore, through the lattices—that is, through the holy apostles—he manifested his whole self. For indeed, by this very naming of fishing instruments, he foretells the calling of the apostles, to whom he himself said: "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men," and they, leaving their nets, followed him. The sequence, therefore, will make clear what has been said; for he says:

LII. Verse 10. My kinsman answers, and says to me: Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove.

For through these very holy apostles he calls her, [and] raises her up from the fall of sins, saying: "Arise, come, beautiful one"; and at the same time he calls her a dove because of the gift of the holy Spirit, and because of the simplicity which he commands her to possess. ^C

LIII. Verse 11. For behold, the winter is past.

He calls the saving passion "winter," in which the Jews, having been storm-tossed, underwent a grievous destruction, or he even calls "winter" the worship of idols, which he removed from her. In either sense, the winter is past. For he no longer awaits death, the Lord who suffered once for us, just as the Apostle said: "Death will no longer have dominion over him; for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." And that the passion is indeed to be understood as winter, behold Peter tossed by the storm because of his fear of the Jews; but this winter has passed. For after the resurrection, there was a calm in the full and certain faith of the divinity of the Only-begotten; and he says: ^D

^A LIV. The rain has passed, and has gone away for itself. The Lord likens temptations to rains, when He speaks of those who are founded upon the rock of the righteous: "The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded upon the rock." Therefore, in order that He might say: "The temptations of the passion have passed," He says: "The winter has passed, the rain has gone away for itself."

LV. Verse 12. The flowers have appeared in our land. That is, the good odor of the faith of the holy apostles.

LVI. The time of pruning has arrived. The time, that is, of pruning the branches and cleansing them from sins—namely, the children who believe in me. But in another sense: "The time of pruning has arrived," I mean the intelligible harvest, of reaping the nations like wheat from earthly desires, and storing them into the barns of the heavenly kingdom.

LVII. The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. ^B I think this voice to be that of holy Paul. For He likens him to a turtledove because of the ferocity he formerly exercised against the churches, harassing those who believed in the Lord with persecutions and imprisonments. But, "The voice has come to pass in our land," which is to say, in the Church. For it is written: "You are a beloved land": for he apprehended the proclamation of the faith, so that what is written concerning him might be fulfilled, that "the sparrow has found a house for itself, ^C and the turtledove a nest for itself, where she may place her young," that is to say, the nations that believe in Christ through him.

LVIII. Verse 13. The fig tree has produced its early figs. He speaks of the Synagogue of the Jews, which brought forth the holy apostles, who, like early figs, put forward the sweet utterances of the Lord. Concerning whom also the divine prophet Jeremiah says: "Very good figs, very good indeed." For the precursors of the figs are the early figs, which we have said are the apostles. Then the figs are the teachers after them ^D in the holy churches, who put forward most sweet pleasantness.

LIX. Our vines ^A flourish, they have given their fragrance. Consequently, he subsequently likens the churches to vines, which through doctrine put forth the good fragrance of faith. By the budding, he likens the fragrance of faith.

[LX. Arise, come, my neighbor.] He calls the bride his neighbor, for the reason that he himself descended from the heavens and fulfilled her through the conjunction of faith.

[LXI. My beautiful one, my dove.] Beautiful on account of repentance, a dove on account of simplicity.

LXII. Ver. 14. And come, my dove, in the shelter ^B of the rock. The bridegroom himself is her shelter and rock. A rock, because he established upon himself the foundation of faith; a shelter, because by covering her he frees her from every temptation.

[LXIII. By the promontory.] He calls the Law a promontory. For the Gospels are walls, according to the word of Isaiah: "He shall place a wall and a fortified wall." Wall and fortified wall signify the double power of defending the saints through divine utterances, so that they may not be waylaid by the evil beast. Therefore, he calls her to be by the promontory, that is, the instruction of the law, which commands: "You shall not commit adultery," and what follows. Then she replies, and says:

[LXIV. Show me your face and make your voice heard unto me.] That is, do not speak to me only through the law and the prophets, but show yourself to me in your totality; just as Moses, seized ^C by such a desire, spoke freely with the Lord saying: "Show me yourself, that I may see you manifest." But then [the Lord] said to Moses: "No one who has seen my face shall live." But when he wished to make himself visible to his bride, he put on the body like a cloud, and hid himself under it, so that he might show himself to his own bride through the manner of virtue, through patience and innocence, handing over to her the pattern of a pious life. For this reason she listens, saying: "Show me your face, and make your voice heard unto me." He therefore showed her his face, when he was carried in the womb of the Virgin-Theotokos ^D Mary; and he made his voice heard unto her, when he was teaching on the Mount of Olives, and

he sent his evangelical precepts into all the world through his apostles. ^A

LXV. For your voice is sweet, and your countenance is comely.

Truly his voice is sweet, saying: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." — "Your voice is sweet," saying to the blind: "According to your faith be it unto you." — "Your voice is sweet," saying to the paralytic: "Arise, take up your bed, and go unto your house." — "Your voice is sweet," saying: "Be of good cheer, child; your sins are forgiven thee." — "Your voice is sweet," saying: "Daughter, your faith has made you whole, go in peace." — "Your voice is sweet," saying to the leper: "I will; be thou clean," and immediately the leprosy was cleansed. — "Your voice is sweet," rebuking the wind and the sea, and making a calm. — "Your voice is sweet," calling Lazarus from the dead: "Lazarus, come forth." — "Your voice is sweet," saying: "Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe," and the rest. — "Your voice is sweet," saying: "Come, ye blessed of my Father." — "Your voice is sweet," saving all in all things. — "And your countenance is comely," both when you took the form of a servant, so that you might deliver us from the slavery of sins; and when you were transfigured ^B on the mountain, so that you might cause the glory of the most sweet divinity to shine forth.

LXVI. Verse 15. Catch for us the little foxes that spoil the vines.

Catch, he says, the heretics, who, like foxes creeping in by night, spoil the little vines; that is to say, those who are weak in faith, who have not yet grown to perfection, and have not become branches of the vine, but are still little and unsteady in the faith. For the heretics destroy these, causing them to deviate from the foundation of the faith. Therefore, he commands them to be caught and driven out from the vineyards. Wherefore he adds:

LXVII. And our vines are in blossom.

That is: Our peoples spread the sweet fragrance of faith.

LXVIII. Verse 16. My beloved is mine, and I am his. ^{C D}

He gives me wisdom, and I give him my heart. He gives me wisdom from heaven, and I give him [what I have] from the nations.

LXIX. ^A *Who feeds among the lilies.* That is, in the pious words of justice.

LXX. Verse 17. *Until the day should breathe, and the shadows move.* This is the day of judgment, when the good Shepherd will say: “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. xxv, 34); and the rest. “Until the day should breathe, and the shadows move.” For when that day of judgment breathes, then the shadows will move; that is, the occupations and anxieties of this age, which cast off unjust actions.

LXXI. *Return, be like, my brother, to a roe or a hind of the hinds upon the mountains of the valleys.* “Return to me,” He says, “from the synagogue of the Jews to the Gentiles; for they do not receive the proclamation of the saving doctrine.” Return to the Gentiles, becoming like a roe or a hind of the hinds in the swiftness and the course of faith, running to all the ends of the earth with the beautiful feet of the apostles, of whom the Lord said in Scripture: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings of good things!” (Rom. x, 15). “Upon the mountains of the valleys,” which are the souls of the just; the mountains, because they superabound in the virtue of justice; but the valleys, because like valleys they receive and retain the proclamation of the faith.

CHAPTER III

LXXII. Verse 1. *On my bed in the nights I sought him whom my soul loved; I sought him, and I found him not; I called him, and he did not hear me.*

For when we are weighed down by sins and sleep “in the nights” (that is, in the wicked and dark pleasures and abominable sins, while we nevertheless ^C imagine ourselves to be Christians), it is then that we seek Him—if, that is, we love Him. For He Himself says: “Seek God, and in the finding of him call upon him; and after he has approached you, let the wicked man abandon his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him turn to the Lord, and he will obtain mercy” (Isa. lv, 6, 7). If therefore we seek Him in this manner, then He will hear us. But if we are on the bed of sins, and obscured by sins in the night, we seek Him, we do not find Him; nor, if we call upon Him in such a state, does He hear us. Therefore He says: “Is not the hand of the Lord able to save? Or is it not able to deliver?” (Isa. l, 2). But ^D our sins stand between us and Him.

^B Therefore, “I sought him, and I did not find him.”

LXXIII. Ver. 2. “I will rise now, and will go about in the city, in the streets and in the broad ways; and I will seek whom my soul loves; I sought him, and I did not find him.”

Not even now does she say that she has found him, even though she has risen, so to speak, and has proceeded toward him through prayer. Why, then, did she not find him again? She indicates the cause in these very words: “I will rise,” she says, “and will go about in the city, in the streets and in the broad ways”—this is, in the business of the world, and in the broad way that leads to perdition. Therefore she says that she did not find him: “For narrow is the gate, and straitened is the way, that leads unto life” (Matt. vii, 14).

LXXIV. Ver. 3. “The watchmen that go about the city found me: Did you see him whom my soul loves?”

By the watchmen and those who go about the city, she means the righteous, those who keep the commandment; those who go about in the Church, the holy prophets and apostles. For example, when a sinner speaks to a righteous man and says to him, “Why does the Lord not hearken to me, even though I rise early to go to church and show mercy to the poor?”—if he has done even a little good, he looks to that and pretends not to see the multitude of his sins. Therefore Isaiah says: “Is not the hand of the Lord able to save? Or is it not able to deliver? But your sins stand between you and the Lord” (Isa. lix, 1-2). Then the bride adds and says:

LXXV. Ver. 4. “How little was it when I passed from them, until I found whom my soul loves.”

For when we withdraw from our sins, then we find Him whom our soul loves, according to the Scripture: “Turn, turn to the Lord; leave your sins, and greatly hate abomination” (Eccli. xvii, 25-26); and again: “After He has approached you, let the ungodly leave his ways” (Isa. lv, 6-7). Therefore she says: “How little was it when I passed from them, until I found whom my soul loves.”

LXXVI. “I held him, and I will not let him go.”

How does the soul of the righteous hold Him? By doing the things that are pleasing to Him. For the Bridegroom, being delighted with the soul of the righteous as with a bride, is held by the works of virtue—not with hands, but by almsgiving, and chastity, and prayer.

^A LXXVII. *Donec introduxi eum in domum matris meæ, et in cubiculum ejus quæ concepit me.* By the house of his mother, I think he means the heart, namely the house of the wisdom of the Word himself; and by the chamber of her who conceived me—if one were to pronounce this to be the heart itself—he speaks most clearly. He calls it his *house* because of what is said: "I will dwell in them, and walk in them"; and its *chamber* because all good things are stored up in it (the heart): faith, hope, love, pious thought, chastity, fortitude, continence, and patience. These, however, are ornaments not of the body, but of the soul.

LXXVIII. VERS. 5. *Adjuravi vos, filiæ Hierusalem, in virtutibus et in viribus agri; si suscitaveritis, et exsuscitaveritis charitatem, quoad usque velit.* ^B Here the herald of patience cries out. For he requests the daughters of the heavenly Jerusalem—that is, the souls of the righteous—as assistants in prayer, so that they may awaken and rouse in themselves the love of the Only-begotten until he wills. It is my task, she says, to sustain and wait, and to bear with an even mind and with patience, until he wills. Then the bridegroom says to her:

LXXIX. VERS. 6. *Quæ est ista quæ ascendit ex eremo, tanquam truncus fumi, incensus myrrham et thus ex omnibus pulveribus unguentarii?* For from the desert, that is, from idolatry, he sees the Church ascending like a virgula—a little rod—of smoke, ^C perfumed (I think the fragrance signifies the Passion: myrrh for the burial, incense for the divinity); he sees her perfumed with all the powders of the perfumer; as if to say, from all the divine utterances of the holy prophets. He calls her a "virgula," just as Jeremiah also prophesies concerning her: "And there shall be, he says, in it woody shoots."

LXXX. VERS. 7. *Ecce lectus Salomonis.* The bed of Solomon is likened to the Church of the Son of God. For before he received the Church, he used to say: "The Son of man hath not where he may lay his head." But after he had received her, she became the bed of Solomon, that is, of the peacemaker, who ^D made peace with all things in heaven and on earth.

LXXXI. VERS. 8. *Sexaginta potentes in circuitu ejus ex potentibus Israel; omnes tenentes gladium, docti bellum.* I think that by the "sixty mighty men in her circuit" he means...

the apostles, who sprang from the prophets and gathered the witnesses concerning Christ from the prophets. As for the "sixty," do not look at the number, but understand that they came forth from circumcision and the law according to the letter. "All of them," he says, "holding a sword," since they all hold the law and the Word of God. ^A "For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword." "Trained for war," not against men, but "against the spirits of wickedness," according to the prophet who says: "Let the meek man be a fighter."

LXXXII. *His sword upon his thigh.* By the sword upon the thigh, he means the law, the faculty of self-control, which cuts away the passions of the flesh and earthly desires.

LXXXIII. *From fear in the nights.* For the mind of the pious is fearful, lest it fall into what it does not will, according to the Apostle who says: "For what I would not, that I do." ^B In the nights, it cuts away the desires of the flesh, in order that chastity, protected like a breastplate, may find confidence before God, free from shame. In the same place, the text also hints at another matter. For in saying, "Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, like a trunk of smoke perfumed?" the divine Scripture signifies the Church ascending from the deserted Jerusalem. For if that Jerusalem had not laid its hands upon the Savior, the Church would not have been rich in faith in Him, just as the Apostle says: "If their trespass is the wealth of the world, and their failure the wealth of the Gentiles; what will their acceptance be, but life from the dead?" That Jerusalem remained desolate, the merciful Christ bears witness for me, saying to them: "Behold, your house is left to you desolate." ^C From this wilderness, therefore, the Church is brought forth through the cross. Therefore He says to her: "Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, like a trunk of smoke perfumed?" because through the passion she breathed forth fragrance, namely, her faith in Christ. Nor does the incense remain silent. "Myrrh," He says, "and frankincense from all the powders of the perfumer"; myrrh on account of the passion, and frankincense on account of the divinity. "Behold the bed of Solomon." Understand by the bed the sepulcher of Jesus, who made peace with all things through His own passion ^D and resurrection. Of which bed the angels say: "Behold the place where the Lord lay."

^A “Sixty mighty men round about it, of the mighty ones of Israel,” understand those who were sent by the Jews to guard the sepulcher. “All holding a sword, instructed in war. Each man has his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the nights.” For these things happened to those who were guarding [the sepulcher]; when they were watching, “a great earthquake occurred, for an angel of the Lord rolled back the stone.” And in that night the guards, struck with terror, “became as dead men.” Therefore he says: “Because of fear in the nights.”

LXXXIV. Verse 9. A litter did King Solomon make for himself out of the wood of Lebanon.

By the litter, understand the very flesh of the Only-begotten, in which, hiding God, He walked among men as man. But just as the consuls, when they go forth, proceed in a litter-chair, and through them the affairs of the world are established, as they carry with them the dignity of the senate; so in the same way, in the flesh of the Only-begotten, the holy Church itself, being called together, becomes His litter, not indeed establishing the affairs of the world, but carrying within itself the decrees of the heavenly kingdom. The litter therefore is not only the flesh of Jesus, but also the Church herself, “which is His body,” ^B because she has been made worthy to carry Him, the Son of God, according to the Apostle who says: “Glorify and carry God in your members.” This litter, then—I mean the flesh of Jesus—the spiritual Solomon made for Himself: “For wisdom hath built herself a house.” And whence is this litter? “Out of the wood of Lebanon,” meaning out of the holy men who are recounted in His genealogy: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and those who follow.

LXXXV. Verse 10. Its pillars He made of silver.

By the pillars, you may understand no others than the holy apostles, who support this litter like pillars. And that the apostles are pillars is confirmed by Paul, who says: “James and John, who are seen to be pillars.” He calls them silver, because they were bright as silver on account of their faith, and were ministers to the Church in spiritual feasting.

LXXXVI. And its couch was of gold.

By the golden couch, I think, he likens the martyrs. ^C And do not think that the choir of the apostles is less than that of the martyrs. For the apostles themselves also suffered martyrdom and have become a couch for Christ; for before their martyrdom the Only-begotten had said: ^D

"The Son of man has not where to lay his head." And again, they are likened to gold ^A by the testing of their faith and by the trial of temptations. For "as gold," He says, "in the furnace He hath proved them, and as a whole burnt offering of sacrifice He hath received them."

LXXXVII. His ascent is purple. By the ascent of the litter he means the multitude of the holy Church. He rightly likens it to purple, on account of the tincture of the holy bath. For just as purple is a royal garment, so also the bath of the heavenly King clothes us in a royal robe. And if such great diligence is exercised in royal palaces for the king’s purple, so that it may not be stained, even though it is corruptible and derives its dye from sea creatures, how much more ought it to be guarded with honor by those who have received it—that purple of the bath of regeneration, which is not from sea creatures, but from heavenly chambers, and has its dye from the blood of Christ?

LXXXVIII. Within it is paved with love. It seems wonderful to me that here too the Scripture presents a character of the choir of the righteous, declaring its beauty. For since it spoke of the multitude of the Church which is within the Only-begotten, it says: "Within it is paved with love." For He likens the righteous to holy stones, according to the prophet who says: "Holy stones roll upon His earth," on account of their sleeping on the ground and kneeling; they who by love fulfill the whole law, being both within Him and inseparable from His commandments and love.

LXXXIX. From the daughters of Jerusalem. That is to say, from the holy apostles; which daughters are not of the earthly, but of the heavenly Jerusalem.

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

^A “Go forth,” he says, “from the curse of the law,” from the unbelief of the Jews, “and see in king Solomon,” that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, “in the crown wherewith his mother crowned him,” when the Synagogue of the Jews placed the crown of thorns upon his head. He calls this [Synagogue] the mother of his flesh, because he had his origin from the Jews according to the flesh. The days of his espousals are the three days of his passion; for then he betrothed this holy Church. Then also that oracle in the prophet Osee was fulfilled: “And I will betroth thee unto myself in faith, and thou shalt know the Lord.” And that which says, “in the day of the gladness of his heart,” was being fulfilled on that day of the Pasch in which Jesus, rejoicing, said to his own disciples: “With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you.” ^C

CHAPTER IV

^D XCI. Verse 1. “Behold thou art fair, my love: behold, thou art fair: thy eyes are doves, besides thy silence.”

The bridegroom praises her beauty, saying: “Behold, thou art fair,” not once, but even a second time: for she is fair not only by faith, but also by the very actions of justice. And that which says, “thy eyes are doves,” praises the simplicity and innocence of the intellectual eyes of the soul. But that which says, “besides thy silence,” defines another beauty, that is, silence. For often many pious men, while silent with their mouths, yet crying out with their hearts, make God listen to their prayer, just as it was said to the blessed Moses, who was silent: “Why criest thou to me?” and as the blessed among women, Anna, praying silently, obtained the great Samuel as the fruit of her prayer.

XCII. “Thy hair is as flocks of goats, which have come up from Galaad.” ^C

By the hair, I believe this mystical Scripture likens the multitude of the people, according to the Apostle who says: “If a woman nourish her hair, it is a glory to her.” But the hair of the Church is the multitude of the people: for the hair is given to her as a veil. Therefore, the hair and the veil of the bride of Christ are the multitudes of the peoples, according to the prophet who says: “Thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and thou shalt deck thyself with them as

^A an ornament of a bride.” But concerning the words, “which came up from Galaad,” Galaad is interpreted as the dwelling-place of testimony; and they truly came up from the dwelling-place of the testimony of the prophets and apostles, who bore witness concerning the Only-Begotten, and in deed showed forth the works of testimony. Wherefore in it he knows how to sing by means of David: “For thy testimonies are my meditation, and my counsels are thy statutes. And I spoke of thy testimonies before kings, and was not ashamed.”

^B XCIII. VERS. 2. “Thy teeth are as flocks of shorn sheep, which have come up from the washing, whereof every one bears twins, and there is not one barren among them.”

This verse confirms the things aforementioned: “Thy teeth,” he says, “are as flocks of shorn sheep,” that is, those who have put off the old man with his deeds and concupiscences. But when he says, “which have come up from the washing,” it is manifest that he means the baptized souls; which indeed have been shorn of earthly deeds, but have been made brilliant by faith. “Whereof every one bears twins, and there is not one barren among them.” For they went down alone into the water, and came up with the Holy Spirit. “And there is not one barren among them,” for their children are those who through them come again to the faith of salvation. Therefore he says:

XCIV. VERS. 3. “As a thread of scarlet are thy lips.”

He likens to a scarlet thread the lips of those who confess the blood of Christ; and of those baptized in him, through whom also salvation was given to the race of men. ^C For since Rahab the harlot tied the sign to the window, the scarlet thread, through which salvation was brought to her house; so also the Church, through her own children, as if at the window of the mouth, has this scarlet thread, through which she has made the confession concerning the Trinity. And that he may clearly confirm the confession, the sequence indicates the aforementioned. For he says:

XCV. “And thy speech is comely: as the rind of a pomegranate is thy cheek.” On account of the similar color to the blood of Christ.

^D XCVI. “Besides thy silence.”

One must not keep silent, but must confess the saving hope.

^A XCVII. VERS. 4. *Sicut turris David collum tuum, quae ædificata est in Thalpioth.*

The neck of her defines the human character of the Word. For from David the Lord was born according to the flesh. And it is compared to a tower; for a tower, like a fortress, protects those who take refuge in it from the wars of the devil. And according to David: "A tower of strength from the face of the enemy." And that which is said, "which is built in Thalpioth," *Thalpioth* is interpreted as "the high place." For it is truly built in a high place—that is, in the Word of God who was before the ages. For the Word, he says, "became flesh and dwelt among us," and "Wisdom has built for herself a house." This house was built in a high place, in the Son, according to him who says: "Who dwells on high and looks upon the lowly." Do you wish to know the whole height? Look not only at the building of the Son of man in the Theotokos Mary, but also at that which is beyond the heavens; and regard with wonder the height of that throne placed at the right hand, which is called Thalpioth.

XCVIII. *Mille clypei pendent super eam.*

This refers to all the saints who draw their origin from Christ, and from whom he himself draws his origin. But when you hear "a thousand," do not think only of the number, but also of the perfection of the number.

XCIX. *Omnia jacula potentium.*

By "arrows," I suppose, he defines the works of justification, by which the enemy is pierced and laid low.

^C C. VERS. 5. *Duo ubera tua super vinum, ut duo hinnuli gemelli caprae.*

The two breasts, as was said above, are the two Testaments. As he speaks of two twin fawns of a doe (an animal that sees most sharply), so also those who exercise themselves in the spiritual meditation of the two Testaments become sharp-sighted in intellect. These fawns of the doe are called twins because the mystical interpretations of the sentences are seen in a twofold way—those which have their own utility according to the letter, and those that spiritually gladden the initiated.

CI. *Qui pascunt inter lilia donec aspiret dies et moveantur umbrae.*

For such "initiated ones" are fed as if among lilies, in the divine utterances, until the day of resurrection draws breath and the shadows of this life are moved away.

CII. VERS. 6. *Ibo mihi ad montem myrrhae et ad collem Libani.*

The body of Christ is rightly called the mountain of myrrh; a mountain, indeed, according to that which says: "A stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image, and it became a great mountain." And of myrrh, because Joseph, having brought myrrh, buried this mountain in it. What it says, therefore, "I will go upon it ^B to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of Libanus," indicates spontaneity, that is to say: "Spontaneously will I go to this mountain of myrrh, not only to be buried with him, but also to rise again with him." The very flesh of Christ is clearly likened to the hill of Libanus, since after the resurrection, like Libanus, it brought forth living woods, namely, the righteous; looking to whom, the discourse that follows marvelously praises the spouse:

CIII. VERS. 7. Tota pulchra, proxima mea, et non est in te macula.

CIV. VERS. 8. Veni de Libano, sponsa, veni de Libano.

CV. You shall come and pass over from the beginning of faith.

CVI. From the beginning of faith: from the top of Senir and Hermon.

CVII. From the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

^A of the sins of those who have departed. Then, when he recounts her generation, he addresses her thus:

CVIII. Vers. 9. Thou hast stolen our heart, my sister, my bride: thou hast stolen our heart with one of thy eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

The bridegroom comes to her, intent upon one of her eyes. If what is said were carnal, he would not have said "with one of thy eyes"; but since we have two sights in the flesh, yet in the heart only one—the mind, like an eye; and since he looks to the faith which presides over the soul and beholds the pious mind, which he calls an eye, therefore he says: "Thou hast stolen our heart with one of thy eyes, with one ornament of thy neck," which is ^B to say, the ornament is like that which encircles the neck, the chastity which is set upon her.

CIX. Vers. 10. How beautiful are thy breasts from wine, and the odor of thy garments above all spices!

For the two Testaments have been made beautiful by the spiritual wine, which is the blood of Christ. "And the odor of thy garments above all spices," that he might signify the good odor of the evangelical precepts above all the commandments of the law.

CX. Vers. 11. Thy lips drop the honeycomb, my bride.

Her lips are the doctors, who, like the honeycomb, pour out for her the sweet words of doctrine. "For good words are as a honeycomb."

CXI. Honey and milk are under thy tongue.

Honey is the preaching of repentance; milk is the instruction of the law.

CXII. And the odor of thy garments, as the odor of Lebanon.

The execution of the commandments is an odor of sweetness to Christ.

CXIII. Vers. 12. A garden enclosed, my sister, my bride.

Enclosed to the devil, but opened to the spiritual bridegroom, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

CXIV. A garden enclosed, a fountain sealed. ^D

^A with the seal of Christ, which is imprinted in the laver of regeneration.

CXV. Vers. 13. Thy shoots are a paradise of pomegranates. The apostles, who, as a paradise of delights, possess the fountain of the laver.

CXVI. With the fruit of orchard trees: Cypri with nards; nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon ^B with all the trees of Lebanon. That through the sensible things we may understand the intelligible and varied sweetness of the odor of the holy commandments. For by the fruits of orchard trees must be understood the offspring of the righteousness of the saints. By "Cypri with nards" are meant the words that breathe the sweet odor of piety along with the nard of faith. Nard and saffron signify faith together with the practice of asceticism. For by saffron He likens the ascetics, who are dead to the world and make their bodies like that of the crocus. By "calamus and cinnamon with all the trees of Lebanon," which are indeed the choicest aromatics, He likens Paul and Peter with all the faithful; that He may call those who have been buried together with Christ in baptism one single odor: whence also in the following verses He indicates the burial of Christ.

CXVII. Vers. 14. Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief perfumes. To signify the body of Christ that was buried. Myrrh and aloes from Joseph, the honorable senator, together with all the chief aromatics; that is, with all the righteous ^C who had been buried before.

CXVIII. Vers. 15. A garden fountain, a well of living water, and with the sound of a stream from Lebanon. For He Himself is the fountain of gardens; just as it is said in Jeremiah, rebuking the Jews: "They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water." And "with the sound of a stream from Lebanon"—that is, from the generations of all the righteous, as if by a certain rushing sound.

CXIX. Arise, O north wind, and come, O south; blow upon my garden, and let my perfumes flow out. He drives away him who is from the north, as He says in the prophet: "And him who is from the north I will drive out from you." And He calls upon the south, that is, the gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit, that it may blow through the garden—that is, the Church—and let the perfumes of righteousness flow. Then the Church invokes the descent of the Word, and says:

^A CXX. *Let my brother descend into his garden, and let him eat the fruit of his apple trees.* The bridegroom himself interprets what kind of fruit this is, saying: *My food is that I should do the will of him who sent me.* When, therefore, he performs the will of him who sent him toward his own servants, then he rejoices, and plucks apples from the virtue of the just.

CAP. V.

CXXI. VERS. 1. *I have entered my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with my spices.* The burial together with the prophecies that foretold him. CXXII. *I have eaten my bread with my honey.* I have eaten the Pasch with humanity. CXXIII. *I have drunk my wine with my milk.* The chalice with innocence. CXXIV. *Eat, and drink, and be intoxicated, my brethren.* He points to the mystical Paschal feast, of which he says: *Take, eat;* and: *Take, drink.* The things that follow clearly confirm what was said. For he says: CXXV. VERS. 2. *I sleep.* On the cross. CXXVI. *And my heart watches.* The Divinity which despoiled hell. CXXVII. *The voice of my brother knocks at the door.* ^B The things that follow clearly confirm what was stated. For he says after the resurrection: *He came, the doors being closed.* CXXVIII. *Open to me, my sister, my neighbor.* He calls Thomas and his incredulous soul; ^C for the soul traveling through these things toward the heights, as far as is possible for human nature, becoming abandoned, enters into the mysteries of the knowledge of God; encompassed on all sides by the divine darkness, in which everything that is manifest and grasped [remains] outside of the soul, [becoming] the invisible and incomprehensible [state] in which God is. The bride was once black from unenlightened dogmas, but having desired to bring her mouth to the spring of light through the mystical kiss, she becomes beautiful, and closed off the blackness of ignorance with water; then, having run like a horse and flown like a dove, she rests beforehand with desire under the shade of the apple tree, naming the apple as the cloud that overshadows; but now she is already held by the divine night, according to which the bridegroom is present, yet is not seen; but he gives a certain perception of his presence to the soul. And the Word touches the bodily thought of the virtuous; for this is the door through which the object of one's search is introduced; but it escapes initial understanding, being hidden by the invisibility of its nature. Therefore, the Truth, standing outside our nature, knocks at the door of the mind ^D through knowledge in part—as the Apostle says, in certain inklings and riddles—saying: *Open to me*; and along with the exhortation, he suggests the manner of how to op-

- en the door, offering these ^A fine names as it were (keys), by which that which is closed is opened. For the implications of the names are keys in a direct sense, opening up what is hidden: *sister*, and *neighbor*, and *perfect dove*. For if you wish, he says, for the door to be opened, and the gates of your soul to be lifted up so that the King of glory may enter, it is necessary for you to become my *sister* in doing my will; and it is necessary also to draw near and become a *neighbor*, and in the character of the dove to possess perfection. This means to be undeviating, and, having been filled with every lack and purity, having become these things, it will be gain to you to receive: the dew from my head, of which I am full—which is salvation according to the Prophet—and the drops of the night; since it is not possible for one who has come into the inner sanctum to encounter the dew of knowledge in its fullness. But it is desirable if, in certain minute and dim thoughts, the truth of the rational drop trickling down should sprinkle knowledge upon him; for I call the prophets, apostles, and evangelists the curls of his head, who, in as much as they were able to contain, drawing from the dark and hidden and invisible treasures, become rivers full of waters to us, but in relation to the true reality, they are dewy drops.

ENARRATION ON THE SONG OF SONGS.

^A And he says to her: *Open to me, my neighbor*; so that her soul may open its own heart, and receive the fullness of the Resurrection.

CXXIX. *My dove, my perfect one.* Dove, on account of innocence; perfect, on account of the confession of faith, when she says: *My Lord and my God.*

CXXX. *For my head is filled with dew, and my curls with the drops of the night.* ^B By this he indicates the resurrection at dawn, at which time also dew falls.

CXXXI. V. 3. *I have put off my tunic; how shall I put it on?* This is: Adam put off the commandment, having been deceived by the persuasion of the serpent. The bride, confessing, says: *At night I put off my tunic; how shall I put it on?* This means: In the darkness of disobedience I put off the commandment, and I also put off the body. For the discourse, being about the resurrection, excites and stirs the cause of death as well. For the Only-Begotten, having risen from the dead, and prophetically demonstrating the resurrection of all in his own body, calls the Church herself as though rising from the dead, and says: *Open to me, my sister, my neighbor.* Then she, lamenting, answers and says: *At night I put off my tunic*, which is the body.

CXXXII. *I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?* ^C *He who has died is justified from sin.* I fearfully dread to rise again and live, lest I should again fall into the same sins, *and defile my feet.* But this word pertains also to Thomas. For even if the exposition is multiplied for the benefit of the hearers, yet the connection and coherence show that what remains also pertains to Thomas.

CXXXIII. *My brother sent his hand through the hole, and my belly was troubled for him (50).* When Jesus said to Thomas: *Come, put your hand into my side, and your fingers into the print of the nails.* When these things had come to pass, and Thomas had conceived full faith concerning the resurrection; then the Lord shows [the door]. When Thomas was rebuked, he then says that his belly was troubled (55) because of the paradoxical resurrection...

[CXXXIV.] VERS. 5. *I arose to open to my brother. My hands dropped myrrh; my fingers were full of myrrh.* This passage can clearly refer to Thomas. For by touching the side of Jesus with his hands, those same hands of his dropped myrrh, and his fingers were full of myrrh, because the myrrh that had been buried with Jesus gave off scent from the hands of Thomas. So that in this, too, it might be testified that the body which was truly passible, the same body also rose again; wherefore he says:

[CXXXV.] VERS. 6. *In the hands of the fastening; I opened to my brother.* For the Bride, having through the incredulity of Thomas drunk of the fullest faith in the resurrection, says, "In the hands of the fastening" (that is, of Thomas, who had been closed up before in unbelief, then afterwards had conceived full faith), "I opened to my brother." For the infidelity of Thomas demonstrated the firmest faith in the resurrection to all; for the resurrection was not phantastical, but the body really affixed to the cross, being the same that came to life again, rendered the resurrection of all flesh clear.

[CXXXVI.] *My brother passed forth.* From hell through the world to the heavens.

[CXXXVII.] *My soul went out at his word.* At what word? At the one who said: "Fear not those who kill the body, but who cannot do anything to the soul"; and: "Whoever shall lose his soul for my sake, shall keep it unto life eternal."

[CXXXVIII.] *I sought him, and I did not find him.* For the Church was seeking peace in a time of temptation, but the time was not suitable; for it behooved those who were truly faithful to endure and conquer in temptations. Therefore she says:

[CXXXIX.] VERS. 6, 7. *I called him, and he did not answer me. The watchmen who go about in the city found me. They struck me, they wounded me.* Understand clearly the intelligible and spiritual watchmen to be the prophets and the apostles, who, having found the holy bride, joined her to the beautiful bridegroom. And Paul also struck her and wounded her, saying: "Mortify your members which are upon..."

^A the earth." ^B John wounded her, saying: "If he laid down his own soul for us, we also ought to lay down our souls for the brethren." And somewhere a prophet in the Books of Kings says to the one standing by him: "In the word of the Lord, strike me." And when he would not, he said to him: "Because you did not hear [the voice of the Lord], a lion shall go out from the forest and shall devour you." Since the blow prefigured was spiritual—not for the destruction of the soul, but for suffering for the sake of God—it came to pass in this way. If, therefore, anyone should approach you, saying: "Admonish me," he is saying to you: "Strike me," so that you may mortify his flesh through the admonition, in order that he may abstain from every sin. And again elsewhere the prophet says: "Wound me," and he wounded him. For the wounds of a friend are more trustworthy than the voluntary kisses of an enemy. For the holy prophets and the apostles inflict salutary wounds upon the bride. For when you see a man who today is living delicately in palaces and clothed in soft garments, but on the morrow—through the instruction of the prophets and apostles—has sold everything and is begging, and is wearing out his outer man through fasting and sleeping on the ground, it is manifest that this man has been wounded, just as the holy martyrs and the apostles, bearing the stigmata of Jesus because of their confessions to Him, were wounded with this blessed wounding.

^C CXL. VERSE 7. "The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me." By "veil," he signifies what is called a *maphorium*. For when the Church is wounded in her children for the sake of saving preaching, she speaks freely to her bridegroom with her veil removed, saying according to the Apostle: "With unveiled face we behold the glory of the Lord." These keepers, therefore, have unveiled the veil of her ignorance, concerning which keepers Isaiah says: "And upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have set keepers, all the day and all the night, who shall never be silent, reminding the Lord."

CXLI. VERSE 8. "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, in the virtues and the powers of the field: If you find my brother, what will you tell him? That I am wounded with love." The glorious and holy mother—that is, the Church—has confidence in her children, namely in the martyrs in whom she was crucified; and she says to the apostles and ^D prophets:

"Announce to him that I am wounded with love." Then they answer her, saying:

CXLII. VERS. 9. *What is your kinsman more than another kinsman, O beautiful among women?* They call her beautiful among women. For she is truly beautiful among the tribes of Israel; since those had played the harlot, having abandoned the heavenly husband; but she, joined to him, has retained an indissoluble union with him for all ages. "What is your kinsman more than another kinsman?" as if to say: Who is the bridegroom who proceeded in the flesh from the genealogy of the Israelite people?

CXLIII. *What is your kinsman more than another kinsman, that you have so adjured us?* The oath ^A of the holy Church to the holy prophets is a desire directed toward God, and an ignited and spiritual love for him. Then he answers them and says:

CXLIV. VERS. 10. *My beloved is white and ruddy.* White, because he is void of sin: for *he did no sin* (1 Pet. II, 22). But ruddy because of the Holy Spirit, and because of the blood poured out for her for our salvation and resurrection.

CXLV. *Chosen out of ten thousand.* In saying "Chosen out of ten thousand," he signifies the birth from the Theotokos [that comes] not only from ten thousand men, but even from angels and archangels.

CXLVI. VERS. 11. *His head is gold, Ophaz.* By head, he understands the human figure, namely the holy patriarchs and the just who, having been tested like gold, were shown to be splendid through faith. And he names gold "Ophaz," which is interpreted as "rock," on account of the solidity ^B of their faith.

CXLVII. *His locks are firs, black as a raven.* By his locks, I think he means the holy citizens, both the apostles and all the just. Since the patriarchs are likened to the head, because from them Christ proceeded according to the flesh, he therefore fittingly likens the apostles who came after them to the locks. And he calls the locks "firs" because they were driven about by persecutions. And "black as a raven" calls to mind their life spent in sufferings. And by naming the raven, he proclaims a life free from all anxiety regarding food, as was the case with the blessed prophet Elijah.

CXLVIII. VERS. 12. *His eyes are as doves.* The eyes of the Only-begotten ^D are the appointed priestly men who have been entrusted with the gift of the washing. For the...

power of the Holy Spirit ^A is likened to a dove, as we have in the Gospels. Or, these are the seven eyes of which Zacharias seems to me to speak: "These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which look upon all the earth." (Zach. IV, 10).

CXLIX. *Upon the fullness of the waters.* Consequently he says that these are the ones, in order that He may sanctify the fullness of the waters of the laver of regeneration. Then he adds:

CL. *Washed in milk, sitting upon the fullness.* In the whiteness of innocence. Sitting in the fullness of the Churches, and sitting in the fullness of the Law—that is, in love; for "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. XIII, 10). The Holy Spirit sits upon this, and upon the fullness of the Churches.

CLI. VERSE 13. *His cheeks are as vials of perfume, producing unguents.* The divine Scripture fittingly likens His cheeks to vials of perfume, as they breathe forth the sweet scent of the perfume of faith. "Producing unguents": these are the holy Gospels, [derived] from the preparation of the prophets; those who are anointed with them perfume the nostrils of their soul, so that they may cast off the stench of carnal desires and lawless cravings.

CLII. *His lips are as lilies, dropping full myrrh.* For the whiteness of the words is to be likened to lilies. ^B For these drop full myrrh, the burial of the holy martyrs, saying: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. V, 10).

CLIII. VERSE 14. *His hands are turned, golden, full of Tharsis.* Clearly and openly now, the divine and spiritual Scripture declares the position of the nails in the Lord's cross. When our Lord Jesus Christ stretched out His hands upon the cross, then they became turned—wrought by the impressions of the nails; ^C and golden, because of their purity and their freedom from sin. "Full of Tharsis" clearly foretells the fullness of the conversion of the Gentiles. For Tharsis is interpreted as "conversion of joy." For when Christ stretched out His hands upon the cross, the Church turned to Him with joy, saying, "In the shadow of Thy wings will I hope" (Ps. LVI, 2); and again, "In the shadow of Thy wings shalt Thou cover me" (Ps. XVI, 10); and, "Come, let us exult in the Lord" (Ps. XCIV, 1).

CLIV. *His belly is an ivory box upon a sapphire stone.* By "belly," I think, He calls the choir of the saints of the Word, pure as an ivory box, receiving no filth, upon which [box] the spiritual codices are writ^Dten.

But ^A by "a sapphire stone," I think [this is signified]: since the sapphire draws to itself whatever is near it, so too the choirs of the saints, by their teaching, lead those who approach them into the kingdom of the heavens.

CLV. VERSE 15. His legs are marble columns. The legs support the whole body, just as the apostles, like columns, support the whole Church. Truly they are called marble because of their firmness, because of their stability, and because of their purity. For all these things exist in the holy apostles, because of the solidity of their faith.

CLVI. Founded upon golden bases. That is, upon the commandments of God.

CLVII. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as cedars. He compares the humanity of Christ himself to the just ones of old.

CLVIII. VERSE 16. His throat is sweetness, and he is altogether desirable. ^B Estimate for yourself the honey-flowing words of the sweetness of his throat from the Holy Scriptures, at least in some part; for you will not be able to [recount] all. "His throat is sweetness, and he is altogether desirable." "Come," He says, "all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." — His throat is sweetness. "Take confidence, son: your sins are forgiven you." — His throat is sweetness. "Arise," therefore, "and take up your pallet"; and whatever things are similar to these. "And he is altogether," He says, "desirable." — "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you."

CLIX. This is my brother, and this is my neighbor, O daughters of Jerusalem. "Brother" because of the genealogy of the parents; "neighbor," because having descended from heaven, He drew near to the ^C Church, being prompted by love toward mankind.

CLX. Where has your brother gone, O beautiful among women? The daughters of Jerusalem ask: "Where has your brother gone, O beautiful among women?" — that is, they ask the Church [who is] beautiful among the twelve tribes.

CLXI. VERSE 17. Where has your brother looked? And we shall seek him with you. "Seek," He says, "the Lord, all you humble ones of the earth." How, "Seek"? "Work judgment, do justice." Thus the bridegroom is sought by the bride. Yet, being asked, she replies:

CHAPTER VI

signifies the paradise of God.

CLXIII. To the bowls of spices. The ancients who were righteous, the patriarchs who preceded the coming of the Lord—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Noah and Job, and Daniel, David and Samuel, Elisha, and all who followed them—all these are bowls of spices, who, like spices, exhale justifications. For when he had descended into Hades and entered into paradise, the Lord himself bears witness to me, saying to the thief: "Today you will be with me in paradise." ^B

CLXIV. To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. This signifies the Churches established in various places. For if he had not first descended into the one garden and crushed the sting of death, he would not feed in the gardens, that is, in the Churches dispersed through various places. Fix your mind, moreover, on the accuracy of what is being said. It is said that he descended into the one garden; but afterwards it no longer says "to feed in the garden," but "to feed in the gardens," that is, in the Churches of various places. "To gather lilies," that is, the scriptures of the saints through human actions. Then the sequence confirms this statement.

CLXV. VERSE 2. I am my brother's, and my brother is mine. I [give] him hymns; he [gives] me praises. For the bride gives praise, and in turn she is praised. I [offer] him the actions of righteousness, and he [offers] me the rewards of good deeds. ^C "For behold, his reward is his face, and his work is before him; as a shepherd he will feed his flock, and with his arm he will gather the lambs."

CLXVI. Who feeds in the lilies. That is, in the whiteness—which is to say, the purity—of the holy prophets and apostles.

CLXVII. VERSE 3. You are beautiful, my neighbor, as a pleasure, beautiful as Jerusalem. "You have shown favor, O Lord, to your land." "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, among men pleasure (beneplacitum)." "Pleasure" is willingness, even as another Scripture says: ^D "In voluntary offerings bless God." Saying, therefore, "pleasure," he pointed to his own willingness, and the willingness of the bridegroom toward her.

^A "Speciosa" [Beautiful] as Jerusalem, as the heavenly city. "You have come," he says, "to Mount Sion, and to the heavenly Jerusalem." When he calls her beautiful like Jerusalem, he likens her children to the angels who are in heaven, because of the beauty of their virginity and the obedience of their submission.

CLXVIII. Pavor [Terror/Awe] as of those set in order. For it is an awe to behold the souls of the faithful keeping order; for Scripture says: "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed."

CLXIX. VERSE 4. Turn away your eyes from before me, because they have stirred me up. "Let your eyes," he says, "watch my ways. Let the inner eyes of your heart attend to me." "Because they have stirred me up." The decency of the external eyes, and the focus of your inner ^B ones upon me, has brought desire into our midst.

CLXX. Your hair is like flocks of goats, which have appeared from Gilead. The multitude of the people, before the faith, was likened to a flock of goats. But he says: "Which have ascended from Gilead," which is, from the habitation of the testimony. Therefore he immediately mentions the teeth, in order to display the confession of the cross.

CLXXI. VERSE 5. Your teeth are like flocks of the shorn. He calls them "shorn," because they have put off the old man with his deeds and his desires in the laver of regeneration. ^C The things that follow show this clearly; for he says:

CLXXII. Which have ascended from the laver, all of them having twins, and there is no barren one among them. For the souls that have received the Holy Spirit through baptism possess "twins." "And there is no barren one among them." For they have good offspring, namely, the fruits of justification.

CLXXIII. Like a crimson cord are your lips. These words seem to signify the repentance that Rahab showed through the crimson cord, which she hung as a sign from the window, as we also said above; they also signify the confession of faith in the holy Trinity; for he adds:

CLXXIV. And your speech is beautiful. That is, the confession which proclaims the rectitude of the orthodox faith.

CLXXV. VERSE 6. Like the rind of a pomegranate, your cheek. On account of the similarity of the color with the blood of Christ.

CLXXVI. Apart from your taciturnity. For her silence ^D is defined as being another sort of beauty—

for she is silent regarding indecent words, but cries aloud her confession of Christ, and makes her own the words of the commandments of the Lord.

^A CLXXVII. Vers. 7. *Sixty are the queens, and eighty the concubines.* By sixty, I think, he means the souls of the patriarchs and those from the beginning who were righteous before the circumcision. For this reason he calls them queens; but by eighty concubines, he means the souls of the prophets of obscure name who came after the circumcision.

CLXXVIII. *And the maidens, of whom there is no number.* All the souls of the righteous from the age.

CLXXIX. Vers. 8. *One is my dove, my perfect one.* This is the one holy Church, which holds the simplicity of the dove, but has obtained the perfect prudence of heavenly wisdom.

CLXXX. *She is the only one to her mother.* That is, to heavenly wisdom, to the blameless flesh of Christ.

CLXXXI. *She is chosen by her who bore her.* At the time she is regenerated by the laver of rebirth.

CLXXXII. *The daughters saw her, and they will call her blessed, the queens and the concubines will praise her.* For “many prophets 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.”

^B CLXXXIII. Vers. 9. *Who is this that comes forth like the dawn?* Which is to say, from darkness into light. As Isaiah also knows how to say of her: “My spirit rises at dawn toward thee, O God, for thy commandments are a light upon the earth.”

CLXXXIV. *Beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun.* He likens her to the moon, because she wanes in temptations, but is renewed in victory. He likens her to the moon because she fails in death, but is renewed in the resurrection of the righteous. She is again chosen as the sun, because of the brilliance of her faith, and because of the beauty of the Sun of Justice, which she possesses having received it from Him.

CLXXXV. *A terror as those set in order.* The terror, I think, is on account of the divine signs of the apostles, and because the crowds were struck with amazement, ^C seeing the man lame from birth leaping and walking.

^A

CLXXXVI. VERS. 10. *I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley.*

By the garden of nuts, I suppose he means the priests and scribes of the people, prophesying the descent of the Only-Begotten from heaven. For he rightly called Jerusalem and the temple the garden of nuts; since the rod of Aaron, having the signification of the priesthood, flourished. A nut in the fruits of the valley [refers] to the time of the passion; concerning which, as I think, David also speaks: "Our soul has passed through the torrent," ^B hinting at temptations.

CLXXXVII. *To see if the vine has flourished.*

"For the vine," says the Scripture, "is the well-branching Israel." And the master of the house sent his son to receive the fruit of his vine. But they, having cast the Lord outside of Jerusalem, crucified Him.

CLXXXVIII. *If the pomegranates have flourished.*

But there the vine did not flourish, but brought forth thorns. For they wove a crown of thorns for the Only-Begotten. Therefore He also reproaches the vineyard in Isaiah, saying: "I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns." ^C But "the pomegranates have flourished"—that is, the Churches [scattered] through various places. And just as pomegranates have a blood-red and wine-colored appearance, and have inside a fruit composed of many grains: so the holy Churches of God, anointed with the blood of Christ, are deservedly likened to pomegranates; for they contain within themselves the multitude of the sanctified people, tinted with a red color, and they possess the goodness of the heavenly gift.

CLXXXIX. *There will I give my breasts to you.*

I think she says that she gives the Old and New Testament in the Churches to her own bridegroom. For sometimes the bride calls the two Testaments the breasts of her own bridegroom, and sometimes she calls them her own. ^D For when she praises her own bridegroom, she says: "Your breasts are better than wine." Now, however, she calls these two Testaments her own breasts: "There will I give my breasts to you." That is, in the Church, the two Testaments are perfected and fulfilled in the works of righteousness of my children. For she receives them in the commandments, that she may fulfill the law and that which is commanded in the Gospels. And she offers them again, when she fulfills what is ordained in them.

^A CXC. VER. 11. *Posuit me currus Aminadab.* Aminadab is interpreted as "the good pleasure of the Father." He placed the Church in the four-horse chariot of the Gospels, so that when she has mounted it, she herself might also embrace the journey to heaven in a chariot of fire—that is, having been taken up into the heavens by the Holy Spirit.

CXCI. VER. 12. *Turn, turn, O [thou of] Odollamis.* Odollamis is interpreted as "witnessing in water." See the marvelous consistency of this holy bride of Christ in her own words. For who witnesses in water, except her, when through the laver of regeneration she confesses the one divinity of the Trinity and, in water, witnesses to this very faith? But he commands a double conversion, saying, "Turn, turn," so that she may confess not only with her mouth, but may also exhibit actions ^B that are praiseworthy and worthy of conversion on account of virtue.

CXCII. *Turn, turn, and we shall see in thee.* Turn from wickedness to innocence, from fornication to chastity, from anger to gentleness, from fury to kindness, from pride to humility, from hatred to perfect love. "And we shall see in thee" Christ, who says, "I will dwell in you, and will walk among you."

CXCIII. *What will you see in the Odollamite, who comes as the choirs of the camps?* For after baptism, the newly-illuminated come "as the choirs of the camps," which is to say, as the angels of God. For Jacob, encountering the angels, says: "This is the camp of God."

^C CAP. VII.

CXCIV. VER. 1. *How beautiful are thy footsteps in sandals, O daughter of Aminadab!* He marvels at the sandals of the daughter who was pleasing to the Father. Regarding these sandals, the most divine Apostle Paul seems to me to speak: "Having shod the feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace." He marvels also at the footsteps of the apostles; for he says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach peace, of those who preach good things!"

CXCV. *The joints of thy thighs are like necklaces, the work of the hands of the craftsman.* ^D That thy thighs are girded with the belt of chastity, it seems to me that the tightening of thy thighs upon the [path of] salvation... (For our author in the *Catena of Procopius of Gaza* says regarding this verse: By "the joints of thy thighs," he refers to the orderly movement of those who are progressing; and they are "like necklaces, the work of the hands of the craftsman." For he did not say "held up" in their thinking for those who are progressing, but "lowly" and "blended" like a necklace. But because one does this with understanding, it is said to be "the work of the hands of the craftsman." And regarding the intellectual faculty, which is always filled with perfect thoughts blended together according to the aptitude of those being taught, and every refined evil thought, the navel is a rounded vessel...)

at this place the holy Scripture commands, saying: "The modulations of your thighs are like jewelry, the work of the hands of the craftsman." For the Church of the saints, girded by the harmony of chastity is likened to the work of the Artificer who fashioned both heaven and earth, and in the mother's womb, the form of man. To this work of His own He likens the venerable virtue of chastity.

CXCVI. VERSE 2. Your navel is a rounded crater, not lacking mixture. By the navel, I suppose, He likens her—that is, the Bride’s—most pure sanctuary, and one devoid of all sin. For when He says "not lacking mixture," He means not lacking the blood of Christ. And He rightly calls it "rounded," because priests ought to be polished and cleansed from every sin.

CXCVII. VERSE 3. Your belly is a heap of wheat, hedged about with lilies. By her belly He means the multitude of the people; for He aptly likens the multitude to wheat, for the reason that the Lord also spoke concerning its fruit: "Unless a grain of wheat falling into the ground dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit." The holy Church, therefore, is called a heap of wheat when the crowd, gathered in a disorderly fashion, becomes individually joined together through good concord, presenting a well-ordered and, as it were, tower-like firm people, just as bees which, well interconnected, present bunches. And the holy Church itself, as if with sheaves ^A of the people, tossing their bodies, is likened to a heap of wheat. For such are not ^B those who possess the rank of a private individual, but of a king who has obtained the eternal kingdom of heaven and the unsackable city of the Jerusalem above; and the words of Christ, teaching the things of heaven, bind the one who is passing by, as if by a weaving.

OF THE WISE AND CHASTE SOUL, AND OF THE BEAUTY OF THE CHURCH

...the belly, meant for receiving food, having a blossoming appearance, is called a heap of wheat hedged with lilies; and perhaps also the carefree mind, which seeks the royal form, is a heap of wheat hedged with lilies. But the neck, when it was praised for humility, was called a chain; but when it was inaccessible to enemies, it was the tower of David. Now, however, it is like the tower of an elephant, being smooth, having no grip, and inaccessible to all birds and reptiles, accessible only to the sun. For such is the pious mind, not bent by passions, nor having heretical dogmas, but dedicated only to Christ. And the contemplative faculty, also improved by much learning, is likened to the water of the thoughts of the virtuous overflowing with holy pools. For Heshbon is interpreted as "thoughts in the gates of the daughter of many." For as many as are the prophets and apostles, so many is the bride their daughter. And her nose is as the tower of Lebanon, looking towards the face of Damascus, which is translated as "blood-drinking." Therefore, he who is also exalted in conduct, and well-instructed in the dogmas, and foreknowing the attacks of the passions and the onsets of the opposing powers, and easily perceiving their stench, is the nose of the bride; himself observing the face of Damascus, and keeping watch against the attack as the head of the serpent. And he likens the head to Carmel, since Christ is the head of the Church. And Carmel was the dwelling of the prophets who bore witness concerning the Head, and by the plaiting of the royal words, they bind the one who is hastening to pass by. For when someone mocks the passions of Christ and passes by the dogma as foolish and worthy of mockery, then, if he does not find in the prophetic message the witness to what each one has suffered, as if bound by a rope, he remains by the divine word not ^C as one possessing the rank of a private individual, but of a king... ^D

^A likened to the heap of grain. "Enclosed by lilies," that is, by the sweet-smelling words of God.

CVIII. VERS 4. Thy neck is as a tower of ivory. I think that by her neck is meant the most pure order of deacons, since Christ is the head of the Church. These, moreover, carry the body and blood of Christ, that is, the head of the Church. Just as, therefore, her neck is of ivory, especially when they possess the mystery with a pure conscience, as the holy Apostle also said: "Deacons in like manner grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience." For they are called an ivory neck, just as an ivory casket, admitting no filth but ministering the holy mysteries with purity of life and character. ^B

CIX. Thy eyes are as pools in Esebon, at the gates of the daughter of many. For where there is purity of conscience, there also is the rectitude of thoughts. Esebon is interpreted as "purity of thoughts." For that in the heart which has the power of sight consists of the interior eyes of the soul, which contemplate not only what is seen by the eyes, but also what is understood from afar. These thoughts are multiplied like pools, springing forth from the understanding of the holy Scriptures, as pools, so called because they are multiplied and expanded in the meanings of the holy Scriptures. For "the knowledge of the wise," it says, "shall be multiplied as a flood." And "at the gates" of the daughter of many, it is said, because the Church is the daughter of many nations, gathered from many peoples, not only from the twelve tribes of the circumcision, but gathered from every ^C nation, as also Isaiah says: "And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the strangers shall be your plowmen and vine-dressers."

CC. Thy nose is as the tower of Libanus, that looketh toward Damascus. By her nose, I think, is figuratively meant the holy Paul, since he gave the breathings of the two Testaments to the holy Church. The nose derives life to a man through two nostrils like rivulets; thus ^D the two Testaments through one divine Spirit [have] provided eternal life. He said clearly, that "that looketh forth"

^A upon the face of Damascus." For the most divine Apostle was indeed called in Damascus, when he was traveling there, having received letters to persecute the disciples of Christ, when the heavenly voice called to him on the road, saying: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" For having entered into Damascus, he obtained the firmness of faith, when "from his eyes there fell as it were scales"; for he had attained to the eternal light.

CCI. VERS. 5. Thy head upon thee is like Carmel. Carmel is interpreted as the recognition of circumcision. For from that very Head, that is, Christ ("For the Head of the Church is Christ"), from then on the recognition of spiritual circumcision came to be, concerning which the holy Apostle has said: "And circumcision of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God."

CCII. The tresses of thy head are as purple ^B. By the tresses of the head, I think he denotes the very multitudinous common people. For just as hairs are ordered in an innumerable multitude, so the multitudes of the nations are likewise innumerable like hairs. But these are woven into the ornament of the Church, as the holy Apostle says: "If a woman nourish her hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given to her for a covering." For the Church is clothed with the multitudes of the nations like hair, according to Him who says: "Thou shalt clothe thyself with all these, and ^C shalt bind them upon thee as the ornament of a bride." And that saying, "Tresses as purple," is spoken in a divine, prophetic, and foreknowing manner. For just as purple is dyed in blood, so also the multitude of the faithful, being dyed in the blood of Christ, became for Him a royal vestment, concerning which Jacob said to Judah, from whom Christ arose: "He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape." For by the robe and garment of Christ, the holy Church is clearly shown.

CCIII. The King is bound in the passages ^D. For this is the heavenly King, of whom David also says: "The Lord hath reigned; let the earth rejoice." In truth, he is bound in the passages. For running down from heaven to earth, and descending even to the underworld so that he might draw forth the dead from there, he himself is bound in the passages, not by the bonds of necessity, but by the goodness of his own voluntary benevolence, saying to the apostles: "And behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

^A CCIV. **Vers. 6. How beautiful you are, and how sweet!** For she is truly become beautiful and sweet, not the power of the divinity (for it admits neither addition nor diminution), but the flesh which he assumed; and the perfect man whom he bore, this one became beautiful, being fashioned according to the beauty of the divinity; and he became sweet, sitting in the kingdom of the heavens at the right hand of the Father.

CCV. **Vers. 7. Charity in your delights: this greatness of yours is made like a palm tree, and your breasts like clusters of grapes.** For there is truly charity in his delights; but the delights are not in these carnal luxuries, but in the persuasion of hope, as David also says: "Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart." ^B This greatness is made like a palm tree in a varied manner. The greatness of the Church, that is, the congregation of the just, is made like the palm tree, according to the Prophet who says: "The just shall flourish like the palm tree." For the palm tree possesses a most white heart, just as the mind of the just is also white; which is not fed upon earthly things, but stretches its heart upward toward the celestial heights. But if the palm tree also has thorns, the just man is in this respect also likened to it. The thorns are of the palm tree, just as the reproofs against sinners are of the just: "For the words of the wise are as goads, and as nails driven deep, which were given by way of signs from one shepherd." ^C For by the signs, that is, by the two Testaments, these reproofs are given from one shepherd, Christ; so that everyone who is pricked by them may be stung in his heart, and abstain from all sin.

CCVI. **And your breasts like clusters of grapes.** Just as the clusters of palm trees are filled with fruit and sweetness, so the two breasts of this one, that is, the two Testaments, bring forth sweet virtues for those who wish to enjoy their sweetness.

CCVII. **Vers. 8. I said: I will ascend into the palm tree, and I will take hold of its heights.** The celestial Word delights in such purity of soul of the just. "And stripping off the principalities and powers, and taking the form of a servant," ^D "I will ascend," he says, "into the palm tree, and I will take hold of its heights." For when he has taken hold of the heights of the just, from every

^A fall they remain secure, sustaining the impacts of the winds—that is to say, the temptations—and remain unbroken by the one who holds them. Whence he also clearly adds:

CCVIII. And thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine.

For just as the clusters of the vine, when pressed and trodden, pour forth the gladdening liquid of the wine; so also the just, in the straits and afflictions of temptations, pressed after the manner of clusters, through their very victory beget spiritual joy for the Church.

CCIX. The smell of thy nostrils like apples.

I think this refers to the scent of the faith, according to the Apostle who says: "We are the good odor of Christ unto them that are saved, and in them that perish; to the one indeed the odor of death unto death, but to the others the odor of life unto life." Therefore, "And the smell of thy nostrils like apples." For whether he calls the Apostle the nostril, or the nostril of the Church, yet in both appellations the form is one, sending in the life-giving Spirit through the two openings. And it is called "like apples." For apples ^B possess in themselves two things, food and drink; so also the scent of the faith possesses the mystical food and drink of the body and blood of Christ.

CCX. VERSE 9. And thy throat as good wine going for my kinsman in a straight way, reaching to my lips and teeth.

In truth, the throat of the Lord is as good wine. For the throat of the Lord is the throat of the Church. For "the mind," says Scripture, "discerns words," but the throat tastes food. Having therefore tasted these spiritual foods of the body and blood of Christ, the Church has a throat "as good wine." For wine, when it is drunk, calms sorrows and turns the heart to joy. Just as this sorrow-stilling name of life, ^C given for the remission of sins, calms our anguish concerning them, Christ saying: "Take, drink; this is my blood, which shall be shed for you unto the remission of sins." And wondrously he says, "going in a straight way unto my kinsman." For to the upright is this drink given, according to the Apostle who says: "But let a man prove himself; and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice," that is, he who is endowed with the rectitude which is fitting for the sacred mysteries. It is also manifest that

the phrase "sufficient for lips and teeth" is used to show briefly, and to imply only the touching of the lips and teeth to it, that what is given is sufficient in a brief moment for complete salvation.

CCXI. VER. 10. *I to my beloved, and his conversion is towards me.* ^A "To me," says Scripture, "it is good to cleave to God, to put my hope in the Lord," and again: "My soul has cleaved after you; your right hand has upheld me." ^B—*I to my beloved, and his conversion is towards me.* That is: I will now serve the Son of God, and his conversion is towards me; that is, at his second coming again, when he shall turn towards me, he will come, gathering me from the four corners of the earth by the angels of light.

CCXII. VER. 11. *Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us lodge in the villages, let us arise early in the vineyards.* The bride calls the bridegroom from this point forward, that she may go forth with him into the field, that is, into the world, as the Lord says: "The field is the world." And, "Let us lodge in the villages." And everywhere there have come to be sojournings, as the holy Church is always being expanded, according to the prophet who says to her: "Lengthen your cords, and your curtains; fix [them], do not fear; and strengthen your pegs; extend still further to the right and left." ^C That these things are said to the Church is manifest. Therefore she says: "Let us lodge in the villages, let us arise early in the vineyards"; ^D which is to say, into the Churches that are in various places. For the expression "Let us arise early" has this tropological meaning: "Bring me forth from the nocturnal darkness of ignorance to the light of faith."

CCXIII. VER. 12. *Let us see if the vine has flowered.* That is, if the preaching of the faith has sent forth a sweet odor from those who have believed.

CCXIV. *The blossom has flowered.* I think this refers to the newly illuminated, who have been made white through the laver of regeneration.

CCXV. *The pomegranates have flowered.* Their souls, which, like the pomegranate, have been smeared with the red blood of Christ. For just as the pomegranate is full of seeds and full of cells, but outwardly possesses a reddish rind; so the Church, having within herself the most populous multitude of men, and with their garments

^A of the commandments tightened, is protected by the blood of Christ. Wherefore it adds: ^B CCXVI. *I will give my breasts to thee there.* For to such as these, the depth of the mysteries is revealed from the spiritual breasts, that is to say, from the two Testaments. ^C CCXVII. VERS. 13. *The mandrakes have given a smell.* "Issachar became a hire of mandrakes," and "Issachar," saith the Scripture, "desired a good thing," as it is written in the blessings of Jacob. Those, therefore, who are sons of the Church and desire the good, these have given an odor, which is the fragrance of faith. And in another way: "The mandrakes have given a smell." For the roots of the mandrakes under the earth possess a human form, having within themselves the image of the dead. For the dead, perceiving the advent of Christ to the underworld, have given the odor of the resurrection. ^D CCXVIII. *And at our gates all apples.* I consider the gates of the soul and of the human tabernacle to be the ears, the mouths, and the eyes; through which gates things of life and things of death enter, each according to the disposition of the one receiving them. "And at our gates all apples": upon our eyes, the commandments of modesty; upon our ears, the instructions of the divine precepts; upon our mouth, the hymns and psalmodies, and the meditation of the New and Old Testament. Holy Scripture has rightly called the aforementioned things gates. And it behooves all our members, like gates, to be closed to sin; the eye, by turning away through the eyelids from concupiscence; and the mouth, so as not to utter anything absurd, according to the saying of the Apostle: "Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth." Wherefore also the blessed David, conducting himself in the manner of one praying, says: "Set, O Lord, a watch before my mouth, and an entrance of restriction around my lips." CCXIX. *New and old, my kinsman, I have kept for thee.* I think it means the New Testament and the Old, from which the Church, having received justification and precepts, keeps them for her own spouse; hearing from the Law the command, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and hearing from the New Testament of the Gospels that concupiscence is to be cut off; and doing these things, she hears from the Law: "Thou shalt not forswear thyself,"

^A and from the Gospels: "Swear not at all." And keeping these for her kinsman, she observes them—having regard to her own bridegroom—so that by the performance of the commandments, buying the oil for her vessels in this life, with the lamp of faith lit, she may appear in the sight of the bridegroom. For this reason the Lord, regarding those who meditate upon and expound the legal and evangelical precepts of the Lord, both the Old and the New Testament, speaks thus in the Gospels: "Therefore every scribe instructed into the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." New, indeed, are the precepts in the Gospel; old are the ordinances in the Law.

CHAPTER VIII.

^B CCXX. Vers. 1. *Quis dabit te, fratruelis meus, sugentem ubera matris meæ?*

Great and wonderful are the mysteries that are stored up in this holy Scripture; for she did not say, "sucking my breasts," but "the breasts of my mother." For how is it possible that her kinsman, who has since grown into a man and reached perfect age, should again suck the breasts of a mother? For to suck is not the work of adults, but of infants. The bride therefore says to the bridegroom: "Who will grant thee, my kinsman, sucking the breasts of my mother?" The mother of the bride is Wisdom; her kinsman is our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom He carried mankind, whom Wisdom, having descended to us—that is, the Word who is before the ages—mixed with Himself. ^C When, therefore, Christ has been formed in those newly enlightened, and in the newly born infants of the Church, through them Christ Himself sucks the breasts, that is, the two Testaments, from which honey and milk flow to the newborn children, who have been regenerated through water and the Spirit, and they suck innocence from the Old and from the New Testament; as Zechariah says: "Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor;" and again, Isaiah crying out: "Say to those who hate you: You are our brethren, and to those who abominate you." And again, they suck from the breast of the New Testament that word of innocence from the Gospels: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you." And from the divine Paul that saying: "Rendering to no man evil for evil, but always [pursuing] the good."

^D CCXXI. *Inveniens te foris osculabor te; et quidem non despicient me.*

Without Jerusalem they crucified Christ:

and the Church, seeing Him nailed to the cross for her sake, that she might be delivered from her sin, kissed Him. "Finding thee without, I will kiss thee, and indeed they shall not despise me." For having found Him outside the heavens, as the Apostle said, "despoiling the principalities and powers," [Coloss. II, 15] and having "received the form of a servant," [Philipp. II, 7] the Church kissed Him with an ineffable kiss—not with a carnal kiss (far be it from us to think such a thing!), but with a spiritual kiss, abandoning worldly thoughts and being joined to Him through the friendship of the Spirit. But that which is said, "And indeed they shall not despise me," declares the irreprehensible mystery of spiritual friendship. For those who kiss maliciously according to the appetite of carnal desire are despised by the saints. But she, by kissing her own bridegroom not carnally but spiritually, is not only not despised, but is even highly praised. Following, therefore, the mystery of the cross, she says these things:

CCXXII. Vers. 2. *Assumam te, et introducam te in domum matris meæ, et in ejus cubiculum quæ me concepit.* ^B It is manifest that the mother of man and of His flesh is the earth. "And into the cubiculum of her who conceived me," that is, of the earth, according to what has been said: "Earth thou art, and into earth shalt thou return." [Gen. III, 19] The cubiculum of this, I say, is death. For as treasures are kept in a storehouse, so in death the souls of all the just were held. "For death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned." [Rom. V, 14] But when the flesh, which He bore for the sake of the Church, had received Him, it introduced Him, as into a house, into the death for our sake, where there was the cubiculum of the earth which conceived us; where, as was said above, the souls of all the saints were stored up as in a treasury.

^C *The Word became flesh.* The fact that it says, "The Word became flesh," is so that some might not think that He was first a man, and that Christ came into a man; for this reason the divine Gospel placed "the Word" in the first place. Then it confessed the flesh, that "the Word became flesh." For it did not say, "The flesh became Word," so that it might show that the Word first came down from the heavens, and fashioned for Himself the flesh from the womb of the holy Virgin, which He once assumed, etc. The ancient interpreter, who rendered it: "Therefore the Word became flesh," perhaps had that in his codex. But whether he had that reading, or this one which the Greek codices I have seen exhibit; certainly there arises from this place a reason not to be despised for thinking that this Commentary on the Canticle of Canticles is not by St. Epiphanius, who in *Heresy* 76, no. 29, expressly reproves such locutions with these words: "But that which says, 'The Word became flesh,' was written in such a way, lest anyone should think that a man first existed, and that Christ came into a man. Therefore the holy Gospel placed 'the Word' in the first position. Then it confesses concerning the flesh, saying: 'The Word became flesh.'" For he did not say: "The flesh became Word," so that he might show that the Word first descended from the heavens, and fashioned for Himself flesh from the womb of the holy Virgin. Furthermore, that the locution, "The Word became flesh," does not contradict the catholic faith, but on the contrary agrees with it, and that the Fathers used it, is taught by Petavius, *De Incarnat.* book IV, chapter 9, numbers 4 and 5.

CCXXIII. I will give you drink of the spiced wine.

CCXXIV. Of the juice of my pomegranates.

CCXXV. Vers. 3. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.

CCXXVI. Vers. 4. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the strength and virtues of the field, that you do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.

CCXXVII. Vers. 5. Who is this who ascends whitened, leaning upon her kinsman?

^A The holy apostles and all the righteous see her ascending from baptism, whitened by the fragrance of the Holy Spirit; and, struck with amazement at her beauty, they say: "Who is this that ascends whitened, leaning upon her kinsman?"—which is to say, having her support in Christ Himself, the bridegroom. Therefore the bridegroom says to her: CCXXVIII. Under the apple tree I awakened thee. The apple contains in itself two things at once: food and drink. Under the mystical bread and drink she was awakened by Him. For since He had joined her to Himself in marriage, once she was whitened through baptism, it was consequently necessary that the mystical food and drink should also be signified through the single form of the apple. CCXXIX. There thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth, who bare thee. For in speaking of the passion of the cross, He describes the pains of the cross. "There she brought thee forth, who bare thee." For the flesh of Jesus labored in the pains of the cross and brought forth the Church; being regenerated by the water which flowed from His side, and perfected by being mingled with Him through the Spirit, who is of the Godhead. Therefore He clearly adds: CCXXX. Vers. 6. Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm. ^B He speaks of the seal and sign of the cross first upon her heart; then upon her arm, so that those who have been enlightened in Christ and crucified with Him might perform all things that they accomplish through the arm with innocent actions, as if under the form of the cross, with Christ holding her arm. CCXXXI. For love is strong as death. For He urges such love toward Christ, on account of which one dying, as Scripture says: "Strive for the truth unto death." ^C When the martyrs had convinced themselves of this, they honored Him who gave His death and His own blood for us, by their own death and the shedding of their blood. CCXXXII. Jealousy is as hard as the underworld. For so hardened was the heart of the Jews, while the Lord was on earth after His resurrection, that, bearing a heart hardened by infidelity, they persuaded the soldiers to lie, saying: "Say: While we were asleep, His disciples came by night and stole Him." ^D Since, therefore, jealousy is hard...

because they were so hardened by falsehood that they were willing to sell even the resurrection of Christ, consumed by the corruption ^A of jealousy, for this reason, foreknowing these things, He said through Moses: "Because they have poorly envied, I also will provoke them to jealousy with those who are not a people; I will irritate them with a foolish nation." We were, indeed, foolish, as the Apostle also says, "serving various pleasures." But now that we have been called by the grace of God to sanctification, they become jealous, seeing themselves cast out, while we meanwhile are saved in Christ.

CCXXXIII. Her wings are wings of fire, the flames are the coals of her fire.

The wings of the Church are the multitude of the faithful who have come from many tribes and provinces, ^B flying as if on wings. For the crowds were flying at that time in Jerusalem, when the Holy Spirit appeared to them, divided as tongues of fire. Therefore, flames appeared to the saints then also in the New Testament. And they prophesied and spoke in other tongues. And again, in the Old Testament, when in the fire of a flame God appeared to Moses. Her wings, therefore, are the New and Old Testament. Flames of fire [are] the vision of Moses in the fire of the bush, in those beginnings of the faith, and the thoughts pertaining to the fire of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles.

CCXXXIV. Verse 7. Much water will not be able to quench love, and rivers will not drown it.

Those who possess love according to God, even if temptations violently rush upon them like ^C rains and rivers, yet their love is not quenched. For having said, "Her wings are flames of fire," regarding the Holy Spirit, He showed that this fire is not quenched by water; that is, love toward Christ is not dissolved by temptations. "For everyone who hears these words of mine," He says, "and does them, will be likened to a wise man who built his house upon the rock, and the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew, and struck that house, and it did not fall; for it had been founded upon the rock."

CCXXXV. If a man should give all his living in love, they will surely despise him with contempt.

This prophecy is about those who have renounced the world and have spent their whole life ^D in the love of Christ, and for His name

^A they were held in contempt, as the holy Apostle says: "We have become as the offscourings of the world" (1 Cor. 4:13). And this is said not only of them, but also of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who gave His whole life for the love He had for us, "spoiling principalities and powers" (Col. 2:15), and "being made poor for our sakes" (2 Cor. 8:9), and "taking the form of a servant" (Phil. 2:7), and being treated with contempt by the high priests and scribes of the people, and treated with contempt by Herod; for Herod treated Him with contempt and sent Him back to Pilate (Luke 23:11).

CCXXXVI. Verse 8. *Our sister is little, and she hath no breasts.* When the soul has believed in Christ, but has not perfectly grasped the precise understanding of the divine laws, and does not have the knowledge of the two Testaments, it can be said of her: "Our sister is little"; that is, she has not yet grown in faith, which is to say, she has not received the knowledge of the two Testaments. Yet she is not on that account rejected, but she prays to be perfected. For if the soul has only the fear of God and faith, even if it be inferior in knowledge, it is not therefore reproved. For the Scripture says: "Better is he that is diminished in wisdom with fear, than he that aboundeth in cunning and transgresseth the law" (Eccli. 19:24). "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified" (Rom. 2:13). Let the soul have love, and she is called the sister of the Only-begotten, even if she be not well-versed in knowledge; for "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth" (1 Cor. 8:1). ^B

CCXXXVII. *What shall we do to our sister in the day when speech shall be made in her?* These, I think, are the voices of the holy masters, and of the prophets and apostles, addressed to those who have not received the preaching, as Isaiah says: "Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" (Isa. 53:1). Similarly, Jeremiah also says: "To whom shall I speak and testify, that he may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear" (Jer. 6:10). Therefore: "What shall we do to our sister?" For those who are unbelievers are our brothers by the kinship of the flesh. ^C

CCXXXVIII. Verse 9. *If she be a wall, let us build upon it bulwarks of silver.* In this manner, I think, this is said: If she is a believer, he says, and not an unbeliever; if she is not stiff-necked, not obstinate in hearing the discipline of the saints, but one who believes us ^D

and is saved, then we shall build upon her silver battlements—which I believe signifies the reproofs that have the power to correct, being tried like gold: "For the words of the Lord are pure words: silver tried in the earth, and purified seven times."

CCXXXIX. If she is a door, let us carve upon her a cedar plank. For since, just as a door turns upon its hinge, so does the slothful man upon his bed, therefore he says, I think: If they have sloth in place of faith, let us carve upon her—that is, upon such sloth of those who are slow to believe—cedar planks; by which he means the incorrupt and steadfast knowledge of the ancient righteous and patriarchs, and let us invoke upon her their prayer, so that by their intercession ^B what is lacking in her and the defect of faith may be fulfilled. That the righteous are likened to the cedar, Scripture says: "The righteous man shall flourish like a palm tree; he shall be multiplied as the cedar that is in Lebanon." A plank of cedar is a part of the whole, just as the intercession of the righteous is a part of justice. Then the beautiful and faithful bride, hearing the slander concerning these things, cries out, being urged with accusation before her own bridegroom, and says:

CCXL. Ver. 10. I am a wall, and my breasts are as towers. I am, she says, the stability of faith; and my breasts are towers, which is to say, the two Testaments raised up in height like towers by the works of righteousness. ^C

CCXLI. I was in his eyes as one finding peace. For she indeed found peace, receiving the grace from him who said: "My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you"; just as Wisdom also says concerning the Spirit: "For I was the one in whom he rejoiced; and daily I delighted in his presence at all times; when he was making the world, I was adjusting myself beside him."

CCXLII. Ver. 11. A vineyard was made for Solomon in Beellamon. He says the Church has been made a vineyard for Christ, for the spiritual Solomon, who has brought peace to things in heaven and on earth.

CCXLIII. He gave his vineyard to those who keep it. By "those who keep it," he means those who keep his commandments, ^D just as he also said in the Gospel to the Jews: "The kingdom shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation producing its fruits"; that is, he will let out the vineyard to others, namely to those who serve

^A and keep the commandments of God, concerning whom it is said: "He gave the vineyard to those who keep it."

CCXLIV. A man shall bring a thousand pieces of silver in its fruit. For every wise teacher and intelligent listener in the Church "shall bring a thousand pieces of silver in its fruit," which is the fulfillment of all the Lord’s commandments through the number one thousand, and the performance of his oracles. ^B "For the oracles of the Lord are pure, silver refined by fire, tested on the earth," as was said before.

CCXLV. Ver. 12. My vineyard is before me. A thousand to Solomon, and two hundred to those who keep its fruit. I consider this to be the Lord’s voice: "My vineyard is before me," on account of his love and kindness toward men: "For the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear Him, and his ears unto their prayer." But as for the part, "A thousand to Solomon, and two hundred to those who keep it," I think it means that all judgment and power to perfect all things has been given to the Only-Begotten, according to what is written: "For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son." And "two hundred to those who keep its fruit," this is the two Testaments. For the two hundreds are the two Testaments; and the two hundreds are two hundred, who, specifically, by sprouting fruit a hundredfold from the two Testaments, thus ^C finally judge others according to the Apostle: "If the world is to be judged by you, do you not know that we shall judge angels, much more then mundane things?"

CCXLVI. Ver. 13. Sitting in the gardens. By "sitting in the gardens" I think he means one who has obtained the episcopal chair, and has been entrusted with many gardens, that is, the Churches.

CCXLVII. Companions attending. His fellow-laborers, the presbyters, and those who have received the ministry, the deacons, "keeping the mystery of Christ with a pure conscience." For the discipline handed down through all of these to the Church is, like a garden, watered by salutary teachings. Therefore he also says:

CCXLVIII. Make me hear your voice. For through these Christ makes the Church hear his voice.

CCXLIX. Flee, my kinsman, and be like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of ^D the valleys.

^A This last word, I think, is spoken by the Lord to all the faithful, and by this holy Church. Therefore, the phrase, “Flee, my kinsman, and be like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of the valleys,” I believe means that everyone who hears should flee from sin, according to what is written: “Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent” (Eccli. xxi, 2). He commands us to be like a gazelle, so that having an acute eye of the mind, one may not be able to be ensnared by hunters. For the gazelle is keen-sighted and a very swift animal. Therefore, in order that one may flee from sin with the swiftest course, ^B when one is an auditor of saving precepts, and sees with an acute mind the snares of the hunter, and lifts his mind as an arrow toward the mountains of spices, or—which is the same thing—the mountains of the valleys, that is, toward the lofty heights of the righteous; in order that, if the Evil One ^C should set a snare through the carnal desire of a woman, one might lift up the mind to the height of Joseph’s chastity; and if he should stir up anger for vengeance, one might look toward the loftiness of David’s blamelessness, who did not take vengeance upon Saul, though he desired to kill him. For the saints are called mountains of the valleys, so that both the height of their righteousness might be proclaimed through the mountains, and their humility through the valleys. For the valley is low, while the mountain is high. For this is present in the righteous: to possess, in the height of righteousness, ^D the valley of humility. To our God, glory forever and ever. Amen.