Book 4

Commentary on the Song of Songs — Book Four

BOOK FOUR

» Rise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove; for behold, the winter has passed, the rain has gone and departed of itself, the flowers have appeared in the land, the time of pruning has come, the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has put forth its shoots, the flowering vines have given forth their fragrance. «

What the sequence of the drama contains we have already described above; but now let us consider what either the Word of God is to be understood as saying to the soul that is worthy of it and suited to it, or what Christ is to be understood as saying to the Church. But meanwhile let the Word of God first speak to this beautiful and comely soul, to whom, through the bodily senses -- that is, through the gaze of reading and through the hearing of teaching -- he appeared as if through windows, and showed the loftiness of his greatness, so that in the passages above he spoke to her while leaning over, and calling her forth, that she might come outside, and, being now made to be beyond the bodily senses, might cease to be in the flesh, so that she might deservedly hear: "But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit." For the Word of God would not call her his neighbor in such a way unless he joined himself to her and became one spirit with him; nor would he call her beautiful unless he saw his image being renewed in her from day to day; and unless he saw her capable of receiving the Holy Spirit, who descended in the form of a dove upon Jesus in the Jordan, he would not say to her: "My dove." For she had conceived a love of the Word of God, and desired to come to him in swift flight, saying: "Who will give me wings like a dove, and I shall fly, and be at rest?" I shall fly with the senses, I shall fly with the spiritual understandings, and I shall be at rest when I have laid hold of the treasures of his wisdom and knowledge. For I think that, just as those who receive the death of Christ, and mortify their members upon the earth, become sharers in the likeness of his death, so also those who receive the power of the Holy Spirit, and are sanctified by him, and filled with his gifts -- since he himself appeared in the form of a dove -- may themselves also become doves, that they may fly up from earthly and bodily places to the heavenly ones, lifted up on the wings of the Holy Spirit. But that this may be the fitting time in which these things can come to be, he consequently added: "For behold," he says, "the winter has passed, the rain has gone." For the soul is not joined and united to the Word of God before every winter of disturbances and every storm of vices has departed from her, so that she may no longer be tossed about, and carried around by every wind of doctrine.

When, therefore, all these things have departed from the soul, and the tempest of desires has fled from her, then the flowers of the virtues will begin to bloom in her; then the time of pruning also will come to her mind, and if anything superfluous and less useful has been in her senses or understandings, it will be cut away, and she will be recalled to the buds of spiritual understanding. Then also she will hear the voice of the turtledove -- that voice, without doubt, of the wisdom which the dispenser of the word speaks among the perfect, the higher wisdom of God which is hidden in a mystery. For this is what the naming of the turtledove indicates. For this bird passes its life in more secret places, remote from the multitude, either loving the deserts of the mountains or the hidden recesses of the woods, always set far from the multitude, and a stranger to the crowds. But what else is there that befits the opportuneness and the loveliness of this time? "The fig tree," he says, "has put forth its shoots." Not yet, indeed, the fruits themselves of the Spirit, which are joy, charity, peace, and the rest, but nevertheless the spirit of man -- which in him is singularly named the fig tree -- already begins to bring forth their shoots. For just as generally in the Church the various trees are understood to be each of the souls of believers, of which it is said: "Every tree which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up." And again Paul, who says that he is a fellow worker of God in God's husbandry, himself also says: "I planted, Apollos watered." But the Lord too in the Gospels: "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or the tree bad, and its fruit bad." Just as, therefore, generally in the Church the several believers are understood as various trees, so also in each soul the various virtues and its various efficacies are understood as various trees. There is, therefore, also in the soul a certain fig tree which puts forth its shoot; there is also a vine which may flower, and give forth its fragrance. The branches of this vine the heavenly Father, the husbandman, prunes, that they may bring forth much fruit. But this vine first, by the sweetness of the fragrance which is given forth from the flower, gladdens the sense of smell; according to him who said: "For we are the good fragrance of Christ to God in every place." Seeing, therefore, these beginnings of the virtues in the soul, the Word of God calls her to himself, that she may hasten and go forth; and, casting aside all bodily things, may come to him, that she may become a partaker of his perfection.

Therefore, then, to her who as it were still lies prostrate and is bent down upon bodily things, he first says: Rise up; and to her who, as it were, has straightway obeyed and complied with the one calling her, he gives praise and she hears: My neighbor, and my dove. And after this, lest she tremble at the whirlwinds of temptations, he announces to her that the winter has departed, and the rain has passed and gone away for itself. And he has finely signified the nature of vices and sins by uttering one wonderful saying, so that he calls "winter" and "rain" of this kind that which descends from the offense and storm of vices, indicating that it has gone away for itself, and by this that sins have no substance. For the vices that fall away from a man are not gathered together into some other substance of sins, but they go away for themselves, and dissolved into their own selves they vanish, and are reduced to nothing. And therefore he said, "it has gone away for itself." There comes about, then, a tranquility of the soul when the Word of God appears to it and sin ceases; and thus at last, when the vineyard is in flower, the virtues and the young trees of good works will begin to bring forth fruit.

But now again Christ speaks these things to the Church, and sets the whole span of the present age within the circuit of a year. And by "winter" he indicates that time in which either the hail and whirlwinds and the remaining blows of the ten plagues scourged the Egyptians; or when Israel was enduring diverse wars; or even when it resisted the Savior himself, and, seized by the whirlwind of unbelief, was sunk in the shipwreck of faith. Since, therefore, by their offense salvation has been made for the nations, he now calls the Church to himself, and says to her: Rise up, and come to me, for now the winter which drowned the unbelievers, and was holding you back in ignorance, has withdrawn. But the rain also has passed away, that is, now I will no longer command the clouds—namely the prophets—to rain the rain of the Word upon the lands; but the very voice of the turtledove, that is, the very wisdom of God itself, will speak in the lands, and will say: I who was speaking am myself present. The flowers, therefore, of the believing peoples and of the rising Churches have appeared in the land. But the time of pruning also has come, through faith in my passion and resurrection. For sins are cut off and excised from men, when in baptism the remission of sins is granted. The voice of the turtledove, as we have said, is now heard in the lands not through diverse prophets, but through the mouth of the wisdom of God itself. And the fig tree buds forth, which can be understood in the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which now for the first time are opened and shown to the Church; or even in the letter of the law, which before the coming of Christ was closed and constricted, and covered over with a certain garment of carnal understanding. But from his presence and coming there was brought forth from it the bud of spiritual understanding, and the green and living sense which was hidden in it appeared, so that the Church, which was hidden by Christ within the fig tree—that is, within the law—should not appear dry and following the letter that kills, but the flowering and life-giving spirit.

But the vines also are said to flower, and to have given their fragrance. Now the diverse Churches which are held throughout the world can indeed be called flowering vines, or vineyards. For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the house of Israel, and the house of Judah is his beloved young plant. These vineyards, therefore, when they first come to the faith, are said to flower; but when they are adorned through the religion of their works with sweetness, they are said to have given their fragrance; not without reason, I think, that he did not say, "they gave a fragrance," but "their own fragrance": so as to show that there is present in each soul the force of possibility and the freedom of will, by which it can do all that is good. But because this good of nature, plucked away by the occasion of transgression, had been bent either to ignominy or to wantonness, when it is repaired through grace, and restored through the teaching of the Word of God, it renders without doubt that fragrance which God the first Creator had implanted in it, but which the fault of sin had taken away. And by "vines" or "vineyards" there can also be understood the heavenly and angelic powers, which bestow upon men their fragrance, that is, the good of teaching and instruction, by which they instruct and imbue souls, until they come to perfection and begin to be made capable of God. Just as the Apostle also, writing to the Hebrews, says: Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth in ministry for the sake of those who receive the inheritance of salvation? And therefore men are said to receive from these, as it were, the first flower and fragrance of good works: but the very fruits of the vine they are to hope for from him who said: I will not drink of the offspring of this vine, until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father. Those perfect flowers and fruits, therefore, are to be hoped for from him: but the beginnings and, so to speak, the sweetness of making progress can be ministered by the heavenly powers, or certainly through those who were saying, as we said above, that we are the good fragrance of Christ to God in every place.

But we can also understand in yet another way these matters that are before us, so that we may say that there seems to be here, as it were, a certain prophecy made to the Church, by which she is called to the promises of things to come — so that, as it were, after the consummation of the age, when the time of the resurrection has arrived, it is said to her: Arise. And because this word at once designates the work of the resurrection — as though, made brighter and more splendid by the resurrection, she is invited to the kingdom — it is said to her: Come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove, for the winter has passed. By "winter" he undoubtedly names the storms and whirlwinds of this present life, by which human life is tossed about with the tempests of temptations. That winter, then, has passed with its rains, and has gone its way. Each one has done for himself in this life everything that he has done. But the flowers are the beginning of the promises to come. Understand as the time of pruning the axe laid to the root of the tree at the consummation of the age, that it may cut down every tree not bearing good fruit. But mark as the voice of the turtledove — which is heard in the writings of the promise, which the meek shall receive in their inheritance — the person of Christ teaching face to face, and no longer through a mirror and in a riddle. And let the fig tree that puts forth its shoot be reckoned the fruit of the whole congregation of the just. But those holy and blessed angelic powers, with whom each of the elect and the blessed shall be joined out of the resurrection — who shall be as the angels of God — these are themselves the vines and the flowering vineyards, which impart their fragrance to each soul, and the grace which it first received from its Creator, and now has recovered again after it had been lost; and by the sweetness of the heavenly fragrance they at last drive away from them the stench of mortality and corruption, once it has been cast off.

» Arise and come, my neighbor, my dove, into the coverings of the rock, beside the outwork. Show me your face, and make your voice heard by me, for your voice is sweet and your face is beautiful. «

According to the order of the drama set forth, the bridegroom, who leaping upon the mountains and bounding over the hills had come to the bride, looking upon her and gazing through the windows, now in the second place says to her: Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove. But now he adds this also, in order to show her the place to which she ought to come, which place is set under the covering and shelter of the rock. And let this same place be not so much beside the wall as beside a certain outwork. Now it is called an "outwork" when, outside the walls that encircle the city, another wall is drawn, and there is a wall before the wall. Then next, as though for the sake of reverence the bride herself is covered over and veiled, the bridegroom himself asks that, coming to that place which he showed above — being, as it were, more secret — she may there, with the veil as it were thrown back, show him her face. And because out of much reverence the bride would be silent, the bridegroom at some point desires also to hear her voice, and to be delighted in her words, and he says that she should make her voice heard by him. It seems, however, that her face is not entirely unknown to him, nor is he ignorant of her voice, but that something has come between, in which he has neither seen her face nor heard her voice. Let this be the text of the drama set forth. To which this also is added, that the season of spring seems to be in progress, since flowers are recorded to have appeared in the earth, and the voice of the turtledove to sound, and the trees to have put forth their shoot. On account of this, as at an opportune time, he calls the bride forth to advance — she who undoubtedly had remained the whole winter within the enclosures of the house. But these things seem to me (so far as pertains to the historical narrative) to confer no benefit upon readers, nor at least to preserve any consequence of the narrative itself, such as we find in the other histories of Scripture. Hence it is necessary to transfer everything to the spiritual understanding.

First, then, understand for me the winter of the soul, when it is still tossed by the waves of the passions, and beaten by the storms of the vices and by the harsh blasts of the malignant spirits. While she is set in these, the Word of God does not exhort her to go outside, but to gather herself within herself, and to be united on every side, and to be sheltered against the destructive blasts of the malignant spirits. Then no flowers of studies in the divine writings are with her, nor do the secrets of deeper wisdom and the hidden mysteries resound as it were through the voice of the turtledove. But neither does her sense of smell receive anything of grace as it were from the flowers of the vineyard, nor is her sight delighted as it were in the shoot of the fig tree; but it is enough that in the tempests of temptations she remain safe and fortified from the fall of sin. But if she obtains this, that she endure unharmed, the winter passes for her, and spring comes to her. For it is spring for her when rest is given to the soul, tranquillity to the mind. Then the Word of God comes to her, then it calls her to itself and exhorts her to go out, not only outside the house, but outside the city: that is, that she may come to be not only outside the vices of the flesh, but outside whatever is bodily and visible contained in the world. For we have already clearly shown above, figuratively in the law, what the city is.

The soul, therefore, is called forth beyond the wall, and is led as far as the outwork, when, casting away and leaving behind those things which are seen and are temporal, she presses on toward those things which are not seen and are eternal. This journey, then, is shown to her as one to be made under the covering of the rock, not under the naked air, nor in such a way that she should suffer the burning of the sun, lest she become dark again, lest she say again, "the sun has looked askance at me"; and for this reason she makes this journey under the covering of the rock. But this covering itself He does not wish to be of leaves or of linen cloths or of skins, but He wills the rock to be her covering — that is, the firm and solid teachings of Christ. For that the rock itself is Christ, Paul declares, saying: "And the rock was Christ." If, then, the soul is covered and veiled with the doctrine and faith of Christ, she can safely arrive at that hidden place where, with unveiled face, she may contemplate the glory of the Lord. And rightly is this covering of the rock believed to be safe, since Solomon too says of it in the Proverbs that the tracks of the serpent cannot be detected upon the rock. For he says thus: "There are three things which it is impossible for me to understand, and a fourth which I do not know: the tracks of a flying eagle, and the way of a serpent upon a rock, and the paths of a ship on the sea, and the ways of a man in his youth." The tracks of the serpent, therefore — that is, certain signs of sin — cannot be found in this rock which is Christ, because He alone is the one who did no sin. By the true covering, then, of this rock, the soul arrives safely at the place of the outwork — that is, at the contemplation of things incorporeal and eternal. Of this same rock, under another figure of speech, David says in the thirty-ninth psalm: "And He set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps." And do not wonder if in David this rock is, as it were, the foundation and footing of the soul by which she journeys to God, while in Solomon it is the covering of the soul reaching toward the mystical secrets of wisdom; since Christ Himself is now called the way by which believers walk, and now also the forerunner, as Paul says: "Whither the forerunner Jesus has entered in for us." Like to this also is that which is said by God through Moses: "Behold, I have set you in a hole of the rock, and you shall see My back parts." Therefore this rock, which is Christ, is not closed on every side, but has a hole. And the hole of the rock is that which reveals God and makes Him known to men. No one, then, sees the Father except the Son; no one, then, sees the last things of God — that is, the things which come to pass in the last times — except one placed in the hole of the rock, namely when he has learned those things by the revelation of Christ. And here too, under the covering of the rock, the Word of God invites the soul, made near to Himself, to the place of the outwork, as we have already said above, to the contemplation of those things which are not seen and are eternal; and there He says to her: "Show me your face" — assuredly that He may see whether she has upon her countenance anything still of the old veil, or whether she can behold the glory of the Lord with fearless gaze, so that she may say these very words: "And we saw His glory, as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." But also, when she has become worthy that it may be said of her as it was said of Moses, that "Moses spoke, and the Lord answered him," then is fulfilled in her that which He says: "Make me hear your voice."

But a great praise of her is shown in what is said: Your voice is sweet. For thus the most wise prophet David spoke: "May my discourse be sweet to him." And the voice of the soul is sweet when it speaks the word of God, when it expounds concerning faith and the doctrines of truth, when it explains the dispensations of God and his judgments. But if either foolish talk, or scurrility, or vanity proceeds from her mouth, or an idle word, for which an account must be rendered in the day of judgment, that voice is unsweet and unpleasant. From such a voice Christ turns away his hearing. And therefore every perfect soul sets a guard upon her mouth, and a door of restraint about her lips, so that she may always bring forth such speech as, seasoned with salt, may give grace to the hearers, and that the Word of God may say of her, "Your voice is sweet." "But also your face," he says, "is beautiful." If you understand that face of which Paul speaks: "But we all with unveiled face"; and again when he says: "But then face to face": then you will see what is the face of the soul which is praised by the Word of God and is said to be beautiful. That face, without doubt, which is daily renewed after the image of him who created it, which has in itself no spot, or wrinkle, or anything of this kind, but is holy and immaculate; such as Christ also presented the Church to himself, namely the souls which have come to perfection, which all together make up the body of the Church. Which body will assuredly appear beautiful and comely, if the souls out of which that body is made up remain in every beauty of perfection. For just as, when the soul is in anger, it renders the countenance of the body troubled and fierce; but when it persists in gentleness and tranquillity, it renders the appearance placid and mild: so also the face of the Church is pronounced either comely or foul according to the virtues and morals of believers, according to that which we read written: "The trace of the heart in good things, a cheerful countenance." And again elsewhere: "The face of a glad heart is flourishing, but of one placed in sorrows the countenance is mournful." Therefore the heart is glad when it has in itself the Spirit of God: whose first fruit is charity, the second is joy. From these I think certain wise men of the world took up that saying by which one says, that only the wise man is beautiful, but every wicked man is foul. It remains for us to say something also more openly concerning the word "before-the-wall" (promuralis). Which, as we said above, indicates that there is a wall before a wall, which is also said in this manner in Isaiah: "Set a wall, and around the wall." A wall is the fortification of a city. But another wall before the wall, or around the wall, designates greater and stronger fortifications. By which it is shown that the word of God, calling the soul and leading it away from bodily affairs and corporeal senses, desires to teach it concerning the mysteries of the age to come, and thence to gather fortifications for it, so that, fortified and surrounded by the hope of things to come, it may in no way be either conquered by allurements or wearied by tribulations.

Now let us also see how these words may be spoken by Christ to the Church, who is near to him and beautiful. And beautiful to no one else but to him alone. For this is what he means when he says, my beautiful one. This one, then, Christ rouses up, and to her he announces the Gospel of the resurrection, and therefore he says: Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one. And because he also gave her the wings of a dove, after she slept in the midst of the lots: now the Church was called midway between the two callings of Israel, because first Israel was called, and afterward, when he himself stumbled and fell, the Church of the Gentiles was called; but when the fullness of the Gentiles has entered in, then again all Israel, being called, shall be saved. In the midst, therefore, of these two lots the Church sleeps. And on this account he gave her the silvered wings of a dove, which signifies the rational wings within the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And the hinder parts of her back, either "in the greenness of gold," as some read, or, as others have it written, "in the paleness of gold." This can show that that later calling which the Apostle says will come from Israel will not be in the observance of the law, but in the preciousness of faith. For faith, flowering with virtues, bears the appearance of the greenness of gold. But it can also be said that the Church sleeps, or rests, in the midst of those lots, in the midst of the two testaments; and her wings are silvered from the senses of the law. The gold on the hinder parts of her back can be understood as the gift of the evangelical office. To this Church, then, Christ says: Come, my dove, and come in the covering of the rock; teaching her to come covered, lest she suffer anything from the temptations that rush upon her, but let her walk covered under the shadow of the rock, saying: The Spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord, of whom we said: In his shadow we shall live among the nations. And she walks covered and veiled, because she ought to have power over her head, on account of the angels. But when she has come to the place before the wall, that is, to the state of the age to come, there he says to her: Show me your face, and make your voice heard by me, for your voice is sweet. He wishes the voice of his Church to be made heard, because whoever shall confess him before men, he also will confess him before his Father who is in heaven. For your voice is sweet. And who does not admit that the voice of the catholic Church confessing the true faith is sweet, but that the voice of the heretics is unsweet and unpleasant, who speak not the doctrines of truth, but blasphemies against God, and iniquity against the Most High? So too the face of the Church is beautiful, but that of the heretics base and foul; if, however, there is anyone who well knows how to test the beauty of a countenance, that is, if anyone is spiritual who knows how to examine all things. For among the unskilled and animal men, the sophisms of falsehood seem more beautiful than the doctrines of truth. But concerning the place before the wall we can further add this also, that the place before the wall is the bosom of the Father, in which the only-begotten Son, being placed, sets forth all things and declares to his Church whatsoever things are contained in the secret and hidden bosom of the Father. Whence one who had been taught by him said: No one has ever seen God. The only-begotten Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he himself has declared him. Hither, then, Christ calls his bride, that he may teach her about all the things that are held with the Father, and may say: For I have made known to you all things which I heard from my Father; and that he may say again: Father, I will that where I am, there also may be my minister.

» Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vineyards, and our vineyards shall flourish. «

According to the order of the drama the speaker has changed, for now the bridegroom no longer speaks to the bride, but to the companions, and to them he says that they should catch the little foxes that lie in wait for the vineyards, where they have first put forth their buds, and do not allow them to reach the flower. He commanded, therefore, that they be caught, taking counsel for the welfare and benefit of the vineyards. But these things, as we have begun to do, must be examined by spiritual exposition. And I think that if you consider these things concerning the soul which joins itself to the Word of God, the foxes ought to be understood as the opposing powers and the wickednesses of demons, which through depraved thoughts and perverse understanding destroy the flower of virtues in the soul and kill the fruit of faith. Therefore the foresight of the Word of God, who is the Lord of hosts, commands his angels who are sent for service, on behalf of those who receive the inheritance of salvation, that they catch from each soul thoughts of this kind sent in by the demons, so that, these being cast out, the souls may be able to bring forth the flower of virtue. And they catch the evil thoughts in this way: when they suggest to the mind that these are not from God, but are from the malignant spirit, and they give to the soul the discernment of spirits, so that it may understand which thought is according to God, and which is from the devil. But that you may know that there are thoughts which the devil sends into the hearts of men, see in the Gospel what is written: "When the devil," it says, "had put into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him." There are, therefore, thoughts of this kind which are cast by the demons into the hearts of men. But because divine Providence is not lacking, lest perhaps through importunity of this kind the freedom of the will should be disturbed, and there be no just cause for judgment, therefore the care of men is entrusted to the kindly angels and friendly powers, so that when the deceivers, like foxes, begin to assail a man, they may lift him up with their right-hand helps. And therefore it is said: "Catch us the little foxes." Fittingly indeed he commands that they be caught and seized while they are still little. For while an evil thought is in its beginnings, it can easily be cast out of the heart. But if it is frequently repeated, and remains for a long time, it without doubt leads the soul to consent; and after consent, once it has been confirmed within the heart, it is certain that it tends toward the disposition of sin. While therefore it is in its beginnings, and is little, it ought to be caught and cast out, lest, if it should become grown and inveterate, it can then no longer be expelled. Finally, Judas too had the beginning of evil in the love of money, and this was for him the little fox. But when the Lord saw the soul of Judas, like a flowering vineyard, being harmed by this too, wishing to catch it and cast it out of him, he entrusted to him the money-bags, so that, possessing what he loved, he might cease from covetousness. But he, inasmuch as he had the freedom of his own will, did not embrace the wisdom of the physician, but gave himself up rather to that counsel by which his soul was being destroyed, than to that by which it was being healed.

But if we understand these things of Christ and the Church, the discourse will seem to be directed to the teachers of the Church, and a charge to be laid upon them concerning the catching of the foxes that lay waste the vineyards. Now by "foxes" we may understand the perverse teachers of heretical doctrines, who by the cunning of their arguments seduce the hearts of the innocent, and lay waste the Lord's vineyard so that it may not flourish in the right faith. A precept, therefore, is given to the catholic teachers, that while these foxes are still small, and have not yet deceived many souls, but the depraved teaching is only at its beginning, they should make haste to convict and restrain them, and to refute by the word of truth those who contradict, and to catch them by true assertions. For if these foxes remain in their first principles and grow strong, their word creeps like a cancer and becomes incurable; so that many are found who, deceived by them, now begin to fight on their behalf and to defend the authors of the error they have taken up. Thus, then, it is fitting to catch the foxes while they are small, and at the very first beginnings to confute the deceitful sophisms of the heretics with true assertions. But that the assertion of both our expositions may shine forth more clearly, let us gather from the divine volumes wherever mention has been made of this animal. We find, then, in the sixty-second Psalm that it is said of the impious: "But they have sought my soul in vain; they shall go into the lower parts of the earth, they shall be delivered into the hands of the sword, they shall be portions for foxes." But also in the Gospel according to Matthew the Savior answered the scribe who said to him, "Master, I will follow you wherever you go": "The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests where they may rest, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." And likewise in the Gospel according to Luke, to those who said to the Lord, "Go out, and depart hence, for Herod wishes to kill you," Jesus answered: "Go and tell that fox: Behold, I cast out demons and accomplish healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I shall be consummated." In the book of Judges also, Samson, when the wife who was of the race of the Philistines had been taken from him, said to her father: "I am innocent this time before the Allophyli, for I will do evil to you." And Samson went, and took three hundred foxes, and took torches, and bound tail to tail, and set one torch between the two tails of the foxes, and kindled fire in the torches, and sent them through the harvests of the Allophyli, and burned all their harvests and their stubble, and their vineyards, and their olive groves. And further, in the second book of Ezra, where Tobiah the Ammonite hindered the building of those who had returned from captivity, that they might build the temple and the wall, he said to the Allophyli: "Will these men sacrifice, or eat things offered in this place? Do not the foxes go up, and will they not destroy the wall of these men which they are building of stones?" These, for the present, are the things that could occur to us from the divine Scriptures, in which the memory of this animal has been made, so that from these every wise reader may prudently conjecture whether we have used a fitting exposition in the things that have been set before us, for explaining that which it says: "Catch us the little foxes." And although it is laborious to explain each of the things we have taken up by way of example, nevertheless we shall briefly touch upon what we can.

And first, in the sixty-second Psalm, let us see, where, when the impious were persecuting the soul of the just man, he sang, saying: "But they have sought my soul in vain; they shall go into the lower parts of the earth, they shall be delivered into the hands of the sword, they shall be portions for foxes." In which it is surely shown that the depraved teachers, wishing by vain and empty words to deceive the soul of the just man, are said to go into the lower parts of the earth—being wise, as it were, in earthly things, and speaking of the earth, and descending into its lower parts, that is, into the depth of foolishness. For I think that those who live more carnally, because they harm only themselves, are said to be earth and to dwell in the earth. But those who understand the Scriptures with earthly and carnal senses, and by so teaching deceive others—for this very reason, that they contrive certain subtleties and arguments of carnal and earthly wisdom, they are said to enter into the lower parts of the earth: or certainly it is thus, because those who teach earthly things sin more grievously than those who merely so live, a still heavier punishment threatens them; and these same are prophesied to be delivered into the hands of the sword, perhaps of that flaming and turning sword.

But let us also see how they become the portions of foxes. Every soul is either a portion of God, or a portion of whoever has received power over men. For when the Most High divided the nations and scattered the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God, and the Lord's portion became Jacob. Since, then, it is established that every single soul is either in the portion of God or in the portion of some other, seeing that through the freedom of the will it is possible for each one to pass over from the portion of another — either to the portion of God, if with his help he chooses the better, or, if more wickedly, to the portion of the demons — hence mention is made of these in the psalm: "Those who have sought the soul of the just in vain shall be the portions of foxes," as if it said that they shall be the portions of the worst and most wicked demons: so that every malicious and crafty power, through which the deceptions and frauds of a false knowledge have been introduced, is figuratively called foxes; and those who are led into this error, and are unwilling to acquiesce in the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the teaching which is according to godliness, but suffer themselves to be deceived by such, these shall become the portions of foxes of that kind, and shall enter with them into the lower parts of the earth. These same are also those in whom, according to the Gospel, these foxes which we mentioned above are said to have holes, in which the Son of Man has not where to lay his head. Herod too, we must believe, was named a fox for his deceitful cunning. For concerning Samson, who is recorded to have caught three hundred foxes, and to have bound them together by their tails, and to have set burning torches in the midst of the tails, and to have sent them through the harvests of the Philistines, and to have burned them up along with the standing grain and the olive groves and the vineyards, the explanation of this form or figure seems to me exceedingly difficult. Nevertheless let us attempt to knock at some of these things according to our strength, and let us suppose, as our exposition in the foregoing maintains, that the foxes are the deceitful and perverse teachers. These Samson, who holds the image of the true and faithful teacher, catching them by the word of truth, will bind tail to tail — that is, he will confute those who are opposed to him and who think and teach things at variance with one another; and, taking from their own words their premises and conclusions, he will send the fire of his conclusion into the crop of the Philistines, and out of their own arguments will burn up all the fruits and vineyards and olive groves of that most wicked generation. But the very number of the three hundred foxes, which were divergent and dissonant from one another, indicates the threefold form of sins. For every sin is committed either in deed, or in word, or in the consent of the mind. Yet not even that which we said is written in the second book of Ezra is wholly to be passed over: where, when the Holy of Holies was being built — that is, when the faith of Christ and the mysteries of his saints were being founded — the enemies of the truth and the adversaries of the faith, who are the wise of this world, seeing the walls of the Gospel rise up without the art of grammar and without philosophical skill, say, as with a certain mockery, that this can very easily be destroyed by the cleverness of words through cunning fallacies and dialectical arguments. Let these things, meanwhile, said about the examples we have taken up, suffice as far as brevity could allow. Now let us return to our theme.

It seems, then, that in the Song of Songs a command is given by the bridegroom to the virtues that are dear to him, that they should catch and refute the opposing powers which lie in wait for the souls of men, lest these powers exterminate the beginnings of faith and the flower of the virtues under the appearance of some secret and hidden wisdom—hiding themselves, like foxes in their holes, in those men who have offered themselves up to these second matters. And in order that they may the more easily be confuted and refuted, while they are still little foxes and hold only the beginnings of a most wicked persuasion, the command is given that they be caught. For if perchance they should grow and become larger foxes, they can no longer be caught by the enemies of the bridegroom, but perhaps by the bridegroom himself alone. But the holy teachers too, and the masters of the Church, just as they have received power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, so also they receive power even to catch foxes. For thus power has been given to them over every power of the enemy. Without doubt one of the enemy's powers is the fox, which exterminates the flowering vineyards, and which, while it is still small, is commanded to be caught—just as in the hundred and thirty-seventh psalm he is called blessed who takes and dashes the little ones of Babylon against the rock, and does not permit the Babylonian understanding to grow and increase within himself, but while it is still small in its beginnings dashes it down and holds it against the rock: for then it is easily destroyed. So, then, let the order run thus: "Catch us the little foxes, which foxes exterminate the flowering vineyards." When it says "us," this means "me the bridegroom and the bride"; or "me and you who are my companions." It can also be taken thus: "Catch us the foxes," and afterward, "the little ones exterminating the vineyards," so that it refers not so much to the foxes as to the vineyards, so that the little vineyards seem to be the ones that can be exterminated—that is, the small souls, which have only beginnings and are not firm and robust, and can be injured by the opposing powers. As it is said in the Gospel: "If anyone shall scandalize one of these little ones." In this it is shown that a great and perfect soul cannot be scandalized, but a small and untrained one can, as it is said in the psalm: "Much peace to those who love your name, and there is no scandal for them." By a similar example, therefore, it can be seen that any little vineyard, a soul that is beginning, can be injured by the foxes—that is, by malignant or depraved teachers—but a perfect and strong one cannot. But if these foxes are caught by good teachers and cast out of the soul, then it will advance in the virtues and flourish in faith. Amen.

[Commentary ends here at Song of Songs 2:15 — Rufinus's translation goes no further (intrinsic).]