Cornelius a Lapide

Canons That Bear a Torch Before the Prophets

Table of Contents

CANONS THAT BEAR A TORCH BEFORE THE PROPHETS.

Canon I. -- The Prophets were sometimes instructed about future events through words, sometimes through visions presented to their eyes, or rather to their imagination, as if through symbols. Thus Daniel, chapter 7, verse 3, saw four beasts portending the four Monarchies. Ezekiel, chapter 1, saw the chariot of the Cherubim, portending the magnificence of God and a great victory and vengeance -- both upon the Jews and other nations through the Chaldeans, and upon sin and the devil through Christ. All the prophetic visions were colle-

CANON II. The Prophets possessed the prophetic spirit, not as a permanent habit, but by way of a certain divine motion, inspiration, and illumination, passing briefly and seizing and enlightening them at intervals.

Wherefore St. Chrysostom, on the Gospel of St. Mark, volume 3, asks why the Prophets so often say and repeat the words "thus says the Lord," and he replies: Because, he says, the Holy Spirit, who had previously departed from them, was then returning to them. For of Christ alone is it said: "Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining." In the Prophets, therefore, that saying of St. Augustine is true: "God is the King of minds." Hence their prophecies, although they are written consecutively in the same book, were nevertheless made and spoken at different times — indeed, under different kings, as is clear from Isaiah, chapter I, verse 4. So St. Jerome in the same place. Hence again it is no wonder that they repeat and press home the same thing again and again; for good preachers, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, customarily do this. Hence, thirdly, they not infrequently pass on immediately within the same chapter to another prophecy and subject. Hence, fourthly, the later Prophets from time to time repeat and confirm the words of the earlier ones. Thus Micah, chapter IV, verse 1, repeats the saying of Isaiah, chapter II, verse 2. Thus the burdens of Babylon, Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Tyre, etc., which Isaiah assigns in chapter XIII and following, Jeremiah repeats and confirms in chapter XLVI and following.

Canon III. In the Prophets, and especially in Jeremiah and Ezekiel (as will be clear from the Chronological Table I shall prefix to them), the order of kings and times is often not observed; rather, a prophecy that happened later is placed first, and vice versa. St. Jerome assigns the reason at the beginning of his commentary on chapter XXV of Jeremiah: "For the Prophets," he says, "did not take care to preserve the chronological order that the laws of history demand, but to write whatever they knew would be useful to those hearing and reading. Hence also in the Psalter, some wrongly seek the historical order of the Psalms according to the text, which is not observed in the Hebrew poem." Add to this that some prophecies, spoken at different times and written down by the Prophets on different sheets, seem to have been afterwards compiled and arranged by someone else in the order we now have, though with neglect of chronological order. In the case of Jeremiah, Baruch seems to have done this. And from this appear to have come those last fragments of Daniel — namely the story of Susanna in chapter XIII, and of Bel and the dragon in chapter XIV. Likewise, that the Proverbs of Solomon were arranged not by Solomon himself but by his men, is clear from Proverbs XXV.

Note here that the Prophets ordinarily first announced and proclaimed their revelations, which they received from God, by living voice, after the manner of heralds or preachers, to the people. Hence God so often says to them: "Say to this people; you shall say to them," etc. Again: "Cry out, do not cease, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their sins," Isaiah LVIII, 1. Then after the sermon, they would write down this same address, or its summary, and, as some believe, post it on the doors of the temple, so that all —

even those who had not heard it might have access to it; and those who had heard it might refresh their memory of it, and be spurred to obey it. When it had been posted long enough over several days, it was removed by the ministers of the temple and stored in the halls of the temple, so that a permanent record of it would exist. From this it is likely that the books of the Prophets were compiled. Habakkuk intimates this in chapter II, verse 2, saying: "And the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision, and explain it upon tablets, so that he who reads it may run through it." And Isaiah, chapter VIII, verse 16, saying: "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples." By the singular providence of God it came about that, through the labors of the priests — whose office it was to preserve these writings and transmit them to posterity — they have reached us. For the priests were often most hostile to the Prophets, because the Prophets exposed their crimes and sharply rebuked them. God therefore impelled and directed them to perform this task. For even though the Prophets also preserved these same writings at home, the high priests could have snatched them away and destroyed them. Moreover, those writings would have lacked authority among posterity unless they had been endorsed by the testimony and approval of the high priests and the Synagogue — just as the sacred books now require the testimony of the Church. For how would we know that these are the very oracles of Isaiah, unless the Synagogue had handed this down to us?

CANON IV. Because the Prophets possessed an ample light, they extend their oracles to many persons and to many future events at different times.

For they desire to benefit as many as possible; for which reason they also wrote down their oracles — which they had first proclaimed by voice as preachers — afterwards, either by themselves or through others, so that they might preach and prophesy to all ages. Accordingly, when Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the others rebuke the Jews of their own time, they also rebuke the Jews who would come after, especially those at the time of Christ who imitated their ancestors, as is clear from Isaiah I, 7. Hence when they threaten them with the Babylonian captivity, under that figure they threaten their descendants with the similar captivity under the Romans through Titus and Vespasian; for both captivities were similar — both because they befell the same nation, and because they were inflicted for similar sins, and in a similar manner of cruelty and devastation. Again, in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem they give the type and figure of the destruction of the world at the end of time; hence Christ, in Matthew XXIV, depicts the latter under the former, and passes from the one to the other at verse 29. In a similar way they pass from the Assyrian captivity of the ten tribes to the Babylonian captivity of the two tribes — namely Judah and Benjamin — and they do all this very quickly, leaping from the earlier to the later and immediately springing back to the earlier; sometimes they do so after a long discourse and, as it were, a parenthesis.

Finally, the Prophets often pass from history and preaching to Christ — for they have Him as their aim — and from Christ they return again to history and the events of their own time. They do this for three reasons. The first is so that it may appear to be prophecy, not an orderly narrative or history; hence in it, as in a richly embroidered and gold-interwoven robe, they often cut the thread of history in order to weave and interweave Christ into the history. So St. Jerome on Hosea chapter I. The second reason is that the Prophets, elevated by the prophetic and divine light, beheld all things (which seem to us remote and far distant) beneath them as if small, near at hand and joined together — as indeed they are if compared with the eternity of God (in which the Prophets saw these things). In this way St. Benedict, elevated to God, saw the whole world gathered together as if in a small globe, as St. Gregory narrates, Dialogues II, chapter XXXV. The third reason is that, as St. Chrysostom says, it is the custom of the Prophets to join together prophecies of different times, so that from what the listeners themselves, or their successors, saw fulfilled, they might also believe what was deferred to a later time — for example, that what was foretold about Christ and the Church would be fulfilled. St. Jerome delivers this canon at the beginning of his commentary on chapter II of Nahum: "Hence," he says, "the Prophets are most especially obscure, because suddenly, while one thing is being treated, the person changes to others." And on chapter I of Malachi he fixes this canon: "The Prophets weave the prophecy of future things so as not to abandon the present time; for they mix the discourse of both, and from the occasion of the present, they predict the happiness of Christ." See Driedo, book III, On Church Dogma, chapter V, treatise 2. Therefore, says St. Cyril on Isaiah chapter XVI, verses 3 and 4, among the Prophets there are frequent transitions, or digressions, and this in order to veil the mysteries of prophecy.

Note, however, that the Prophets make these transitions not rudely or abruptly, but suitably, on fitting occasion, and with a gentle and smooth transition, especially when the history was a type of Christ or the Church. Thus Isaiah, in chapter VII, from the deliverance of the Jews and Achaz from the hand of Rasin, king of Syria, and Phacee, king of Samaria, suddenly passes to the birth from the Virgin, and the coming of Emmanuel, and the liberation of mankind from the power of the devil through Christ, of which that deliverance was a type. Thus they often mingle the devastation of a city (as the allegory within the letter) with the destruction of the world and the day of judgment, of which the former was a mirror and prelude. So St. Jerome on Hosea chapter I.

Hence again, when some shadow of the Messiah presents itself, or something that could stir up His memory, the Prophet is aroused, and with great emotion is seized toward Him, and unfolds Him who lay hidden in that figure, salutes Him, and presents Him to all for recognition. Then, as if recovering from his amazement and ecstasy, he returns to the narrative he had begun. And so, given the occasion, suddenly, as if with a sigh, the Prophet flies away to Christ — as to his aim, his love, and his delight — and soon returns to the history or the subject he had begun. Examples are Isaiah XVI, 1, where, while predicting the destruction of Moab by the Chaldeans, foreseeing that Christ would be born from Moab through Ruth the Moabitess, he suddenly flies to Him, say-

as a pig. Again, in Act VI: "The Sicilians," he says, "cursed the Priest who had left behind so wicked a Verres." For C. Sacerdos, the praetor, departing from Sicily, had left Verres as his successor; and the priest, that is, the sacrificer, left behind a verres, that is, a pig for sacrifice, which he did not sacrifice. Again: "For when Verres," he says, "became praetor, having risen auspiciously from Chelidon, he obtained by lot the jurisdiction of the urban province." He plays on the word "Chelidon": for this was the name of Verres's mistress, who transacted everything during his praetorship; and from the flight and chattering of the chelidon, that is, the swallow, new praetors used to take auguries and auspices for their office.

Why, then, should not the Holy Spirit embrace in one concept and discourse both the sign and the thing signified, the type and the antitype? Thus in II Kings VII, 12, God speaks of Solomon and promises him many good things; but He weaves in certain things that apply to Solomon only by hyperbole, while to Christ — who is the true Solomon — they apply properly and adequately in the literal sense. Thus in Isaiah XIV, the fall of Belshazzar, the last king of the Chaldeans, is described under the figure of the fall of Lucifer; for he was himself, as it were, another Lucifer. Thus in Ezekiel XXVIII, 14, the king of Tyre is described as another Cherub. Here many things properly apply only to Belshazzar and the king of Tyre; yet some are interwoven that better apply to the type, that is, to Lucifer and the Cherubim — such as the statement: "You said: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, etc., I will be like the Most High." Therefore in this and similar passages there is, as it were, a parable, in which there is a twofold literal sense: the first of the parable itself, the second of the thing signified by the parable. In this, some elements properly fit the parable, while others fit it only hyperbolically or figuratively; and these latter properly belong to the thing signified by the parable — just as, conversely, those elements that properly fit the parable sometimes apply to the thing signified by it only figuratively.

Again, the Prophets, sometimes ascending gradually from the type to the antitype (for example, from Cyrus to Christ, from Sion to the Church), at first embrace both in the literal sense. Then, proceeding further, they dwell literally in their ascent, namely in the antitype, merely alluding to the type, and finally return to the type. Therefore it is difficult to judge whether they intend one literally and merely allude to the other, or whether they wish to signify both literally. This must therefore be skillfully investigated and distinguished from the aim, from the phrasing, from the grandeur of the thing said, from the argument, and from other circumstances. Hence Francisco Forerio on Isaiah XLV, 8: "Whenever," he says, "the Prophets insert into the history of things done or to be done words that more aptly suit the thing prefigured than the history itself, then you should judge that method of interpretation is to be embraced as coming from the Holy Spirit, which narrates the mystery together with the history." That is to say, sometimes they intend to signify both in the literal sense, as I have said; but sometimes they signify only one and merely allude to the other,

ing: "Send forth the lamb, O Lord, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion"; and immediately after this sigh of his, inserted as if in a parenthesis, he returns to prophesying the destruction of Moab. Thus Isaiah, in chapter XLV, prophesying about Cyrus as the liberator of the Hebrews from Babylon, foreseeing that Cyrus would be a type of Christ the redeemer of the world, is suddenly carried away to Him and says in verse 9: "Drop dew, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One; let the earth open and bud forth the Savior." Then immediately he returns to Cyrus and the Jews. Thus Jacob, blessing his son Dan and foreseeing that the Antichrist would be born from him, sighs for Christ, the one who would overthrow him, saying: "I will wait for Your salvation, O Lord," Genesis XLIX, 18. Thus Zechariah, chapter XIII, verse 7, when a faint shadow of Christ the shepherd had presented itself, flies to Christ saying: "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, etc. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." So lovers, when they see an image or something that refreshes the memory of the beloved, are wont straightway to think of him, speak of him, and yearn for him. For this is the nature of love.

Canon V. It is often doubtful whether the Prophets are speaking of the type or of the antitype — that is, whether of history or of the allegory signified through the history.

To distinguish this, observe this twofold canon. The first rule is: when the Prophets announce or predict something about Sion, about the Jews, about Jerusalem, about Cyrus, about Zerubbabel, etc., if the words contain nothing contrary to sound doctrine of faith or morals, and if everything properly coheres with what precedes and follows, then the words are to be taken properly as applying to those very persons and places as they sound, and this is the literal sense. So St. Augustine, book III, On Christian Doctrine, chapters X and XI, and St. Jerome in the Prologue to Isaiah, and commenting throughout on Isaiah — where he first gives the literal sense concerning Sion and the Jews, then the mystical sense concerning Christ and the Church, or the tropological sense for the shaping of morals. But if the promises, or what the Prophets say, are too great to be applicable to Jerusalem, the Jews, Cyrus, etc., then it is certain that they are not speaking literally of those things, but are flying to their antitypes — for example, if they speak of Jerusalem, they mean not the earthly but the spiritual one, that is, the Church, of which the earthly city was a figure. So St. Jerome on Isaiah chapter XXX.

The second rule is: the Prophets sometimes in the literal sense simultaneously embrace both the thing that the words properly signify and also the allegory that the thing represents; and then there is a twofold literal sense — the first quasi-historical, the second quasi-prophetical. Just as clever young men often play and joke with their companions, saying, for instance: "You are a Plato" — meaning a philosopher, and at the same time a man with flat, broad feet (for that is why Plato was so called). "You have a long nose" — meaning you have a large nose, and at the same time you are curious and shrewd; you are well-nosed as well as nosy. So Cicero plays in Act III against Verres: "People," he says, "said it was no wonder that the law was so wretched — it was verrinum" (piggish). For "Verres" signifies both the man and a pig; and jus means both civil law and

or they merely touch upon the other in passing, as a type or shadow; and this happens especially when the discourse has grown and is now, as it were, at its peak. For then, the figure and parable being set aside, or rather presupposed, they are carried entirely toward the thing figured, and depict it graphically and magnificently. This matter will become most clear from Isaiah XIV, Ezekiel XXVIII, and other examples in the course of the commentary.

CANON VI. Whatever great promises we read as having been made to Sion or Jerusalem, we must refer them not generally to all Jews, but only to those who were chosen from Israel as Apostles and who believed in Christ, and we must understand them specifically of these.

So St. Jerome at the end of his commentary on Isaiah chapter LIX. Here note that the Prophets speak of Sion and Jerusalem both in the proper sense — that is, as the Jewish city — and in the mystical sense — that is, as the Church — as if speaking of one and the same, and they rise from the former to the latter, as in Isaiah II, 3, and chapter LX, verse 1, and chapter LXII, verse 1, and often elsewhere. This is both because the old Church of the Jews and the new Church of Christians is one and the same; and because the new Church began in Jerusalem and was substituted in that very place for the old one as it declined; and finally because Jerusalem, formerly Jewish, was afterwards made Christian through the preaching of the Apostles. For in the same way, Rome is the same city — formerly pagan, now Christian. In the same way, the Gentiles are called the same — formerly idolaters, now believers.

CANON VII. By Sion and Jerusalem, the Prophets sometimes mean Jews persisting in Judaism and unbelieving in Christ, and sometimes Jews converted to Christ; and they immediately pass from the one to the other, and vice versa.

for this is what the prophetic rapture permits — indeed, requires. An example is Isaiah chapter LI, verses 17 and 21. So St. John in the Gospel, by "Jews," sometimes means only the leaders, Scribes, and Pharisees, the rivals of Christ; sometimes only the people and the crowd following Christ; and therefore he introduces the Jews now as hostile to Christ, now as favorable; now he rebukes them, now he praises them, as is clear from chapter VII, verses 11 and 13, chapter VIII, verse 31, chapter IX, verse 13, and elsewhere.

CANON VIII. The Prophets customarily compare the happiness of spiritual goods and the grace of the Gospel of Christ with the earthly abundance of the old law and of earlier times, and signify the former through the latter.

so that they say God through Christ will give abundance of oil and wine, and plenty of flocks and pastures, gold and silver, houses and palaces; by which they mean not these material things themselves, but spiritual goods and charisms. They do this both because those material things were types of these spiritual ones, and because the Jews to whom the Prophets spoke scarcely knew or esteemed any other goods. This is clear from Joel II, 23, Isaiah XXXV, 1 and following, Jeremiah XXXI, 38, and elsewhere.

CANON IX. These prophecies and promises begin to be fulfilled in the Church on earth, but will be perfectly fulfilled in the heavenly Church.

Again, they pertain only to the genuine children of the Church, who live holy lives according to faith and the laws, but not to the degenerate — that is, to the impious, disobedient, and wicked — who dishonor and corrupt the holy faith by their evil conduct. Thus Isaiah, chapter II, verse 1, says that the faithful, in the time of Christ, will beat their swords into plowshares, and will no longer train for war. The same is said in chapter XI, 6. It is clear that this pertains only to the good and holy Christians; for among the proud and impious we see quarrels and wars, and they prowl like wolves and leopards against the innocent and the poor. In a similar way, the prophecies of the conversion of the Jews to Christ began to be fulfilled in the time of Christ and the Apostles, and continue to be fulfilled daily; but they will be perfectly fulfilled at the end of the world, when all Israel shall be saved, Romans XI, 26.

Canon X. When the Prophets speak of the economy of Christ and of the salvation won through Christ, they speak as if of a fierce battle.

Hence they introduce Christ as an armed soldier, fighting, conquering, and triumphing, and they say He trampled the world, slew His enemies, etc. — both because the type of Christ was David, the warrior and conqueror; and because the Jews were expecting such a Messiah, who would avenge them by war and free them from their enemies; and finally because Christ waged a fierce war, indeed a duel, against His enemies and ours. By these phrases, therefore, they signify: first, that Christ fought against the devil and sin, and either routed or destroyed them; second, that He will defeat the unfaithful, impious, and reprobate, His enemies, both in this life and especially on the day of judgment, and will punish them with eternal death, as is clear from Isaiah LXIII, 3, as St. Jerome explains there; third, that when Christ subdues impious nations to His faith, He will slay impiety and vices within them — about which more in Canon XLVI.

Canon XI. By the familiar names of the barbarian nations that were neighbors and enemies of the people of God, that is, of the Jews — namely the Philistines, Arabs, Egyptians, Moab, Ammon, and the Edomites — they synecdochically signify all the impious nations to be subdued by Christ, and the whole world to be converted to Him.

So St. Jerome on Isaiah chapter LX. Likewise, from one person or nation they understand all others that are similar. So St. Augustine, book IV, On Christian Doctrine, chapter VII, at the end.

Canon XII. The Prophets customarily first terrify their hearers, then console those whom they have terrified, raise them to hope, and rouse them to repentance; and conversely, they strike the slothful and obstinate with threats.

For this is the duty of a good preacher. "It is the custom of Sacred Scripture," says St. Jerome in book VI on Isaiah at the end, "that after they have lifted up the despair of the human mind with a joyful spirit, they again deter the negligent and those unwilling to do penance by threats, lest the goodness of God harden our heart." Moreover, they are accustomed to add joyful things to adverse ones, so that when they have predicted imminent punishments for the people, they immediately show God as appeased, and even promise the benefits of God — as though He were striving against and avenging evil deeds with His benefits, by which He consoles those afflicted by past punishments. For the heart

of man must be so balanced midway between hope and fear that it is neither puffed up by excessive joy, nor swallowed up by excessive dread or sadness and brought to despair. Moreover, these benefits are generally not temporal, nor to be received at that time, but spiritual, and to be fulfilled in the time of the Gospel; for this is what they mean when they say: "In that time, in those days." For all future time was one and the same to them, and it seemed small and brief to them in comparison with the prophetic light, by which they beheld the immense foreknowledge and eternity of God. For, as the Psalmist says: "A thousand years before Your eyes are as yesterday, which is past." Examples are Jeremiah XXXI, Daniel IX, and Hosea XIII.

CANON XIII. The Hebrews often interchange tenses, so that they take the past for the future or the present; again, the future for the past, as when they narrate something that has already happened.

This is clear from Habakkuk chapter III, verses 7, 9, 11. It is however peculiar to the Prophets that they use past tenses for future events, and predict and narrate future things as if they had already happened — and this because of the certainty of the prophecy, namely to signify that these events are so certainly future as if they had already taken place. Now this interchange of tenses especially occurs when a similar tense has preceded — for example, when a past tense precedes and futures follow with the conjunction "and": for this conjunction, since it links tenses, signifies that the futures are to be explained and connected in the same past tense. Conversely, if a future has preceded and past tenses follow with the conjunction "and," those past tenses are to be explained as futures. The same reasoning applies if a present has preceded and futures or pasts follow: then those should be rendered as present. See Pagninus, book III of the Institutes, chapter LII. Examples are found everywhere. See Psalms CVI and CVII, where very often what is future in the Hebrew, our translator renders as past because a past tense preceded — as Psalm CV, 12: "And they praised"; verse 17: "The earth opened"; verse 18: "It burned"; verse 19: "They made a calf." And Psalm CVI, verse 6: "He rescued them"; verse 13: "He freed them"; verse 14: "He led them out"; verse 18: "It was abhorred." Likewise verses 19, 20, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 35 — in all of which places the Hebrew has futures.

Again, it is customary in the Scriptures for one tense, whichever it may be, to be used for all differences of tenses when the endurance and permanence of a thing is signified — as in Psalm I, 1: "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners. Has not walked" — that is, does not walk, has not walked, will not walk. "Has not stood" — that is, does not stand, has not stood, will not stand. Likewise John I, 1: "In the beginning was the Word: was" — that is, always was, was from eternity. It is moreover peculiar to the Hebrews that by the future tense they signify the nature, custom, habit, and continuance of a thing — as in Ecclesiastes chapter VIII, verse 17: "The more he shall have labored" — in Hebrew "will labor," meaning "is accustomed to labor." Isaiah VI, 2: "With two they were flying" — in Hebrew "will fly," meaning "they used to fly." Thus we explain the difficult passage

CANON XIV. The Prophets often change the persons as if through a dialogue.

For now they introduce themselves speaking, now God, now the people, now the enemies, and yet they do not specify these persons. Hence great obscurity arises, which must be resolved from the context, so that each thing may be assigned to its proper place, cause, time, and person. Thus Jeremiah, to move the emotions, now addresses God, now the people, and soon the Chaldeans; and now speaking in his own person, now in God's, now in the people's, now in the Chaldeans', he terrifies and drives the people to repentance — just as good preachers now make apostrophes to God, now to the soul, now to the Saints, now to Christ crucified, and turn themselves in every direction and turn the people about, in order to move and stir them. So Jerome on Jeremiah chapter VIII, and St. Chrysostom on Psalm CXXXVI, volume I.

CANON XV. Mimesis — that is, the imitation of words said by another, with the speaker's name left unspoken — is frequent in Scripture.

For the Prophets often speak in the person of the impious and adopt their words. Thus Isaiah, chapter XXVIII, verse 13, adopts the words of the Jews mocking and ridiculing the Prophets, saying: "Command, command again, expect, expect again, a little here, a little there." Thus Jeremiah, chapter VIII, verse 14, adopts the words of the Jews afflicted and devastated by the enemy, saying: "Why do we sit still? Assemble, and let us enter the fortified city, and let us be silent there; for the Lord has made us silent, and has given us water of gall to drink." Thus the Psalmist, Psalm II, 3, adopts the words of kings struggling against God and Christ, saying: "Let us break their bonds, and let us cast their yoke from us." Thus St. Paul, I Corinthians XV, 32, from Isaiah chapter XXII, 13, adopts the words of the Epicureans: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Thus Jeremiah, chapter X, 11, imitates the words of those speaking Chaldean, and speaks in Chaldaic: Elahaia discemaia vearka la abadu, iebadu meara umin techot scemaia — that is, "The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth and from those things which are under heaven." In a similar way, through mimesis, Sacred Scripture alludes to and occasionally cites the fables of the Gentiles, as I shall explain at the end of Canon LVI. Again, it alludes to commonly held opinions, even fanciful ones — such as those about the powers of the hyacinth, sapphire, carbuncle, etc., to drive away melancholy, diseases, demons, etc., as I showed at Apocalypse XXI, 19. For Scripture does not assert that these opinions are true about the gems in themselves, but that they are true in the Apostles, who

are individually designated there by these gems, as our Alcazar rightly noted in that place.

CANON XVI. The Prophets use manifold enallage (interchange of grammatical forms).

First, of person: although they speak of the same subject, they pass from the second person to the third and vice versa, and even speak of themselves in the third person.

Second, of number: they pass from singular to plural and vice versa, especially when they are speaking of a people or assembly of men. For collectively, insofar as it is a people, it is singular; but distributively, insofar as it embraces many, it is plural. Therefore a singular noun or verb is sometimes taken collectively and means "each one."

Third, of gender and subject: when speaking of the same thing, they now use the masculine gender, implicitly meaning, for example, the people; now the feminine, implicitly meaning the vine or the Synagogue — for thus they often designate the people. A clear example is Isaiah chapter LXVII, verses 3, 5, 6. Again, to men who are not manly but soft, or timid, or lustful, they assign the feminine gender and call them women. Thus Isaiah says, chapter III, verse 12: "And women" (that is, effeminate princes, and "weaklings," as he said in verse 3) "have ruled over them." Similar is chapter LI, verse 12, and II Kings XIII, 37, in the Hebrew. So the poet said:

"O truly Phrygian women, for you are not Phrygian men."

Fourth, of noun and verb: they often take a verbal noun in place of a verb, and accordingly construe it with the case of the verb — as in Hosea I, verse 13, in the Hebrew: "according to the love of God for the children of Israel," meaning "as God loved the children of Israel." St. Paul likewise uses a similar enallage and Hebraism, as in Romans II, 7: "To those who according to the patience of good work" — meaning to those who patiently persevere in good works; and shortly after: "But to those who are of contention" — meaning those who are contentious, who contend and quarrel. So in chapter VIII, verse 5, he says: "Those who are according to the flesh" — meaning those who are carnal, who live carnally — "mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit" — meaning the spiritual, who follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and live spiritually — "mind the things of the spirit." The Greeks also use a similar enallage.

Fifth, of verb for adverb — as in Jeremiah IV, 5. The Hebrew has: "Cry out, fill" — meaning "cry out fully and strongly," as our translator renders it, "fill everything with cries." Isaiah XXXI, 6: "Be converted, as deeply as you had departed, O children of Israel" — in Hebrew, "as you made deep" or "made a depth," that is, "as far and deeply as you had departed and descended." Hosea IX, 9: "They have sinned deeply, as in the days of Gibeah" — in Hebrew: "They made deep, they are corrupted as in the days of Gibeah." Jonah IV, 9: "Do you think you do well to be angry?" In Hebrew: "Do you think it was well done, has anger come to you?" — where "did well" is the same as "well."

CANON XVII. The Hebrews often leave the subject of the verb unstated, leaving it to the reader to supply it as something known from the context.

Thus Amos V, 6, says: "Let Bethel extinguish" — that is, the fire of Bethel. Thus John XIX, 14: "It was the preparation of the Passover" — that is, of the Sabbath of the Passover, or of the week of the Passover. Thus Isaiah chapter I, verse 28: "He shall crush" — namely God — "sinners."

Canon XVIII. Sacred Scripture speaks of provinces and cities as if they were men, or rather women and daughters, on account of their beauty and splendor.

Hence when it rebukes cities for idolatry, it calls them "harlots." For it is well known that the Prophets call idolatry "fornication" or "adultery," because through it the soul or city, having abandoned God its spouse, clings to an idol as to an adulterer. Other cities they call "virgins" — first, because of their wealth and beauty; second, because such a city, guarded at home like a virgin, has never yielded to the lust — that is, the power and arms — of enemies, nor been violated by their sword, destroyed, or led into captivity, but has preserved the bloom and appearance of its dominion and liberty untouched. For thus we call honey "virgin" when it comes directly from the bees, and has not been processed, colored, or adulterated by human hands; thus land is called "virgin" that has not been opened or broken by the plowshare to receive seed. Third, because the city has been treated, nourished, and guarded tenderly and gently by God or by its king or inhabitants, like a virgin. For just as fathers tenderly love their virgin daughters, treat them delicately, and seek throughout the whole city and even the whole world whatever pertains to their adornment, so to those cities that the Prophets call "virgins," everything that was beautiful, delightful, and precious in other places was conveyed. Thus Babylon is called a "virgin" in Isaiah XLVII, 1, because the

world's delights, riches, and merchandise flowed into it; whence he soon adds: "You shall no longer be called soft and tender." Thus Jerusalem, and mystically the Church, is often called "the virgin daughter of Sion," as if to say: O Sion! O Jerusalem! O Church! tenderly beloved by God, like a virgin recently betrothed to a noble youth, who is in his love and delight.

CANON XIX. The Prophets delight in metaphors and allegories, and in parabolic expressions.

and this both for obscurity, so that the style may appear prophetic rather than historical, and for elegance. Hence they call the Gentiles wolves, serpents, lions, and dragons, and say they are to be tamed by Christ and, as it were, turned into lambs. "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb," says Isaiah, chapter XI, verse 6, "and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion and the sheep shall abide together." Here by the names of lion, wolf, and leopard he signifies barbarous and savage nations which, converted to Christianity, laying aside their former cruelty and barbarism, would conspire in holy zeal toward unity of faith with the simple and humble Christian people; and this is the literal sense of that passage.

Conversely, of animals, plants, and inanimate things they sometimes speak as if they were human beings, when by prosopopoeia they give them speech, feeling, joy, sorrow, etc. — as when they say: "Let heaven exult, let earth rejoice, the desert shall be glad, and the wilderness shall exult," Isaiah XXXV, 1. Thus they give a soul to idols and stone images: "Their soul shall go into captivity," says Isaiah, XLVI, 2.

By a similar trope they compare men and their vices or virtues to an arid desert and to a field blooming and fertile with trees, vines, mountains, rivers, cities, and inhabitants. A clear example is the whole of Isaiah chapter XXXV.

CANON XX. Scripture customarily passes from one metaphor to another, and then returns to the earlier one.

Thus in Hosea II at the end, the Synagogue is called a woman, then a vineyard. Thus in Isaiah XXVII, 1, the devil is called "Leviathan," that is, a whale, then a "bar," and then again a "dragon or whale." Thus in Isaiah XLV, 7, Cyrus is compared to light and the sun; and shortly after in chapter XLVI, verse 11, to a bird and an eagle. They are also accustomed to turn from the metaphor to the thing itself, and then return again to the same metaphor. Thus Joel II speaks of the Chaldeans as if they were locusts, and now uses the epithets of locusts, now of men. St. John imitates this in Apocalypse IX, 7, where he calls the innumerable army of barbarians that the demon will send against the impious at the end of the world, to torment them for five months, locusts, and attributes to them crowns like gold — that is, helmets gleaming like gold — the faces of men, the hair of women, the teeth of lions, iron breastplates, and the sound of war chariots.

CANON XXI. The name of the figure is attributed to the thing figured.

Thus the feasts of Christians are called "sabbaths," Isaiah LVI, 4; the same are called the feast of Tabernacles, Zechariah XIV, 16, because these Jewish feasts were types of Christian feasts. Thus Christ is called "David," as in Ezekiel XXXIV, 23: "I will raise up over them one shepherd, my servant David" — that is, Christ. Hosea III, 5: "After this the children of Israel shall return and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king" — that is, Christ. So St. Augustine, On the Eight Questions of Dulcitius, question V. Thus Christ is called "Zerubbabel" in Haggai II, 24, for a twofold reason: first, because David and Zerubbabel, leaders of the people, were types of Christ, the leader of the faithful; second, because Christ descended from them — for it is customary for the name of a parent to be taken patronymically for his children and descendants, as when Israel, Jacob, and Abraham are taken for the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, and the posterity of Abraham. Again, they take the name of a man distinguished in some quality for anyone else who excels in the same quality. Thus Samson is taken for a strong man, Daniel for a wise man, Solomon for a powerful and wealthy man, the king of Assyria for any monarch and tyrant, as I shall show on Isaiah VIII, 4. Likewise among the pagans, "Achilles" is taken for a warlike and strong man, "Cicero" for an eloquent one, "Caesar" for an emperor and monarch. Thus Virgil, Aeneid book VI, says: "Another Achilles has already been born for Latium" — that is, Turnus. Thus Juvenal calls Domitian — whose wife had been cor-

Canon XXII. By a similar figure, they interchange the proper names of nations for their morals, or for the likeness and imitation of morals.

rupted by the actor Paris — an "Atrides," and calls the adulteress herself a "Clytemnestra of the quarter-coin," meaning a penny prostitute, because she would sell herself for practically a quarter. So in Plautus, "a man of three letters" means a thief.

so that they call the truly faithful and upright "Israel," but the unfaithful and impious they call Canaanites, Amorites, Sodomites, and Gomorrheans. Thus Isaiah, I, 10, speaking to the Jews, says: "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah." Thus Ezekiel, XVI, 45, preaching to the same: "Your mother," he says, "was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite." Likewise Daniel, addressing the elder who laid a trap for Susanna, chapter XIII, 56, says: "O seed of Canaan and not of Judah, beauty has deceived you, and lust has perverted your heart." Thus St. John, Apocalypse XVIII, 2, and St. Peter, First Epistle, last chapter, verse 13, call Rome "Babylon." Thus the world is called by the Prophets now "Egypt" because of the darkness of superstition, now "Edom" because of the likeness of savagery and curse. So Eusebius, book VII of the Demonstration of the Gospel, chapter IV, and Tertullian, book III Against Marcion, where he also adds: "For it is nothing new for the Creator to use figuratively the transference of names from the comparison of crimes." Thus the names of certain nations have passed into terms of reproach — such as the Laconians, Lesbians, Ambrones, Oscans, Opici, Cilicians, Sybarites, etc.

Canon XXIII. "In" is a general preposition, and almost the only one frequently used by the Hebrews.

for they have it almost constantly on their lips. And so they use "in" now for "through," now for "with," now for "among" or "at," now for "on account of," and now for other prepositions. Thus it is said: "The word came to pass in the hand of Isaiah, of Haggai, of Zechariah the Prophet" — meaning through Isaiah, Haggai, and Zechariah the Prophet. For the hand is the instrument of instruments, as Aristotle says; hence it often signifies the instrumental cause. For the Prophets were the instruments and tools of God.

CANON XXIV. The Hebrews often omit the marks of comparison — "thus, as, just as" — and so they must be supplied.

as is clear from Isaiah LIV, 9. Sometimes also they give only one member of the comparison and omit the other, as is clear from Hosea XI, 2. Likewise they often omit the servile letters, beth, lamed, and others that signify conjunctions or adverbs — "with, however, etc." Again, they interchange one with another, so that they take "because" for "so that," and "therefore" for "nevertheless," as is clear from Jeremiah chapter XXX, verse 16. Thus "because" often signifies not a cause but a connection or apposition, and has the same force as "but indeed, nevertheless" — as in Psalm XXXVI, 20: when he had said of the just, "They shall not be confounded in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be filled," opposing sinners to them, he adds: "Because" (that is, but indeed) "sinners shall perish." Likewise, Psalm XIII, 6: when he had said of the impious, "They trembled with fear where there was no fear," concerning the pious

he adds: "For" (that is, but indeed) "the Lord is in the just generation." Isaiah LXVI, 8: when he had said, "Shall the earth bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born all at once?" — as if to say "No" — he adds: "For" (that is, but indeed) "Sion has travailed and brought forth her children." Furthermore, "because" and "for" are sometimes taken to mean "although" — as in Psalm XLIII, 20: "Our heart has not turned back, etc., for You have humbled" (that is, although You have humbled) "us in the place of affliction." And Psalm LXXVII, 20: "For He struck the rock and waters flowed, etc., can He also give bread?" — that is, although God struck the rock and gave waters from it, can He therefore also give bread in the desert? In the same way, "so that" often signifies not the cause or the purpose, but the outcome and consequence. Hence it is so often said in the New Testament: "So that" (that is, whence it followed that) "what was spoken by the Prophets might be fulfilled." Thus, Romans V, 20: "The law entered in so that sin might abound." And Psalm L, 6: "Against You alone have I sinned, and have done evil before You: so that You may be justified in Your words, and may prevail when You are judged." John IX, 39: "For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."

Canon XXV. The Prophets, especially Isaiah — because he is elegant and rhythmical — in the manner of Hebrew poets often say the same thing, or nearly the same thing, in the latter hemistich and verse that they said in different words in the former.

This is equally very frequent in the Psalms, since they are poems composed in rhythm and meter. Thus, "O God, attend to my help" is the same as what follows: "O Lord, make haste to help me." And Psalm L: "Wash me yet more from my iniquity" is the same as what he adds: "And cleanse me from my sin." Likewise, "For I know my iniquity" is nearly the same as "And my sin is always before me." Likewise, "For behold, I was conceived in iniquities" is the same as "And in sins did my mother conceive me." The same can be seen in Isaiah chapter XIII, verses 2, 3, 4 and following, and chapter XIV, verses 13, 14, 15 and following.

CANON XXVI. Whatever stings, strikes, torments, or tortures, says St. Jerome on the last chapter of Isaiah, Sacred Scripture calls a "sword."

by which those who have not done the will of God shall be wounded or slain. They understand the same by fire, tempest, whirlwind, hail, storm, etc.; for these signify by catachresis any torment, or disaster, or destruction.

CANON XXVII. The Prophets often say that God has blinded the Jews and other impious people, hardened them, and mingled a spirit of dizziness.

This is to be understood not positively, directly, and causally — as though God properly caused and produced in them hardness or blindness, as Calvin blasphemously teaches — but permissively, indirectly, and occasionally, as I explained more fully at Exodus VII, 4.

Canon XXVIII. When the Prophets distinguish the ten tribes from the two, they call the two "the kingdom of Judah, the house of David, Jerusalem, or Sion." The ten they call, first, "Israel" or "Jacob," appropriating to them — as the more numerous — the name of the first parent or patriarch Jacob; second, "Samaria," because this city was the capital of the kingdom of Israel; third, "Joseph" or "Ephraim," because from Ephraim, the son of Joseph, descended Jeroboam, who first made the schism and led the ten tribes away from the house of David

and claimed them for himself, according to the prophecy of Ahijah, III Kings XII, 19.

Canon XXIX. The Prophets sometimes take mental or vocal words as equivalent to real actions.

Thus "to be called" they take as meaning "to be." As when Christ, in Isaiah VII, 14, is said to be called "Emmanuel," and in chapter VIII, verse 3, to be called "Make haste to plunder, Hasten the spoil," and in chapter IX, verse 6, to be called "Wonderful, Counselor, God, Mighty, Father of the age to come, Prince of peace" — the meaning is not that He will actually have such a proper name and be so called, but that He will be such that the things signified by these names will apply to Him. As if to say: "He shall be called Emmanuel" — that is, He will be God with us. "He shall be called 'Make haste to plunder'" — that is, He will be a swift despoiler of enemies, and a quick plunderer of them. Thus Jeremiah IV, 12, says: "I will speak my judgments with them" — that is, I will inflict just punishments upon them. See Father Salmerone, Prolegomenon X, Quinquagena II, Canon 6.

Conversely, active and real verbs are more often taken for mental or vocal ones — for example, "I do" is taken for "I think," I foresee, I intend to do. Thus in Jeremiah I, 10, it is said: "Behold, I have appointed you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to scatter, and to build and to plant" — that is, to preach and prophesy that nations and these kingdoms are to be uprooted, destroyed, scattered, and laid waste, while those others are to be built up and planted. And Daniel, chapter II, verse 23, says: "You have given" (that is, declared) "strength to me." And often elsewhere the Prophets are said to bring and bring about future disasters or prosperities — because they predicted them with such certainty, and they came to pass just as certainly as they had been predicted, as if they had been caused and brought about by the Prophets themselves. Hence in Hebrew the Prophet is called nabi, that is, "one who speaks forth," as I said in Question I. Hence also prophecy is called an "oracle" or a "decree" (fatum). A decree, moreover, is the sanction or utterance of the divine mind, as St. Augustine teaches in book V of the City of God, chapter IX — namely, as Statius says in Thebaid I:

"A heavy and immutable weight attends holy words, and the fates shall follow the voice."

CANON XXX. Various phrases peculiar to the Hebrews and to the Prophets should be noted.

as "as is this day" — that is, as appears, is evident, and is seen today. Likewise "all" means "many, most" — whence they soon except some, as is clear from Micah I, 7, and Hosea IX, 15. Likewise "to command, to order, to bid" are very general terms for the Hebrews; hence God is said to command the clouds, beasts, and the sword — that is, by His command and authority to summon and produce them, or to move and direct them wherever He pleases, for example, to the vengeance upon men and the chastisement of the impious. Likewise they say a city or people "upon whom your name has been invoked" — that is, who is called by your name, namely, the city, temple, or people of God, dedicated to God, worshipping God, not idols as other nations do. This is a hypallage, as is clear from Ecclesiasticus chapter XXXVI, verse 14; for where the Vulgate has: "Have mercy on your people, upon whom your name has been invoked," the Greek has: "Have mercy on the people called by your name." For just as wives used to be called by the name of their husbands — so that from Gaius she was called Gaia, from Julius Julia, from Titius Titia, from Tullius Tullia, from Solomon Sulamitis (as if you said "Solomonia"), Song of Songs VI, verse 12 — so the Church, as the bride of God, received from Him her name, honor, and glory, as well as His protection and safeguard.

CANON XXXI. Names among the Hebrews are sometimes taken simultaneously as both proper and appellative, because Scripture alludes to their etymology and meaning, which aptly fits and suits the person at hand.

Thus in Hosea chapter I, verse 6, he is commanded to call his daughter Lo-Ruhamah, that is, "Without mercy," and to call his son, verse 9, Lo-Ammi, that is, "Not my people," because these children of his foreshadowed the rejection and reprobation of the Jews. Thus Micah, chapter I, verse 10, says: "In the House of" Ophrah (that is, "Dust"), aphar, that is, "sprinkle yourselves with dust." Thus Zephaniah, chapter II, verse 13, says: "He shall make the beautiful one a desolation, and impassable, and like a desert." For "the beautiful one," the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Septuagint have "Nineveh," which in Hebrew means "beautiful," and the Prophet alludes to this — as if to say: All the beauty, splendor, and glory of Nineveh shall be taken from her, and she shall be turned into a wilderness and desert. Thus Esau says of his brother Jacob, Genesis XXVII, 36: "Rightly is his name called Jacob" — that is, "supplanter." "For he has supplanted me a second time."

And this is the reason why the translator sometimes places the interpretation of a name instead of the proper name itself, as he does in Hosea, Zephaniah, and Micah, in the passages just cited. Hence St. Jerome (if indeed he is the author), in the Traditions on the Book of Paralipomenon, says: "Great secrets of mysteries are often contained in the very names." Therefore all Hebrew names are significative. Hence in Isaiah X, 21, the Hebrew is: "Call his name Shear-Jashub," which our translator renders: "Call his name, The remnant shall return" (for this is what Shear-Jashub means), because of the mystery that I shall explain in that place. Likewise Psalm LXXV, verse 3: "In Salem is His place, and His dwelling in Sion" — our translator renders "in Salem" as "in peace," because of the mystery.

CANON XXXII. The Prophets describe the destruction of Babylon, Jerusalem, and other cities in such a way that they say the sun, moon, and stars were then darkened, or fell from the sky.

as is clear from Isaiah XIII, 9, Joel III, 15, and Ezekiel XXXII, 7. Not that they truly fell, but first, to signify the bitterness of the disaster and destruction, which was so great that to the Babylonians, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and others struck dumb with excessive fear and anxiety, the sun, moon, and stars appeared to be darkened or to fall — so that this is a hyperbolic hypallage. The reason why things appear thus to those who are grieving and stricken is that to those who are distressed in spirit, everything appears bitter and sad, because the mind perceives all things not as they are in themselves, but as it itself is disposed — sick and afflicted. For what is received in something is received according to the mode of the receiver, as the Philosopher says. For example, if the vessel is foul and you pour even the best wine into it, it becomes foul; and so it is also with the soul. Hence the poet truly said: "Fear is the worst prophet in doubtful times" — for it forebodes the worst of everything. Therefore Theodoret truly says on Jeremiah IV: "To the sad and afflicted, light does not seem to be light, nor day to be day, nor sweet things to have sweetness; but all things are changed for them into their contraries. So much does the anxiety of grief cloud the eyes that the serene sky seems covered with darkness, and the stable mountains and hills seem to move." For intense grief and anxiety bring vertigo to the head, by which everything seems to them to be turning and spinning; not that things themselves are spinning, but that the images and phantasms in their heads are turning and spinning from the disturbance of the spirits. Since they do not perceive this, they suppose that the things themselves are spinning — just as those who are sailing, not feeling themselves or the ship moving and advancing, and yet truly moving, seem to see the trees and everything on the shore moving and advancing.

Second, because the destruction of Babylon, Jerusalem, Samaria, etc. was a type of the destruction of the world, in which the sun and moon will truly be darkened and the stars will fall from heaven, Matthew XXIV, 25. Therefore these phrases are verified properly and fully not so much in the type as in the antitype, to which the allegory points.

CANON XXXIII. Scripture, or the translator, customarily puts a definite species in place of the genus, and an individual or example in place of the species, either for clarity or for amplification.

Thus in Haggai II, 17, he translates "twenty measures and jars," where in the Hebrew there is only "twenty"; for the measure is understood — that is, modii for grain, jars for wine. Thus every sin is called "blood and murder" in Isaiah I, 15, because among sins harmful to the human race the first and gravest is murder. Thus every disaster is called pestilence or the sword, as I said in Canon XXVI. Thus every virtue and holiness is called now "justice," now "mercy," as in Psalm CXI, 9: "He has distributed, he has given to the poor; his justice" (that is, his almsgiving) "endures forever." Likewise all the just and holy are called in Hebrew chasidim, that is, pious, merciful — because the proper virtue and mark of the saints is piety and mercy.

CANON XXXIV. Scripture customarily promises certain things that are to be fulfilled not in the person to whom the promise is made, but in his descendants.

Thus, in Genesis XIII, 15, God promises Abraham the land of Canaan, which however not he himself but his descendants occupied after 400 years under Joshua. Thus to Zerubbabel, in Haggai II, 24, is promised — not in himself but in Christ to be born from him — an eternal kingdom. Thus that curse of Noah upon his son Ham, the father of Canaan — "Let Canaan be his servant," Genesis IX, 26 — was fulfilled in his descendants, namely the Canaanites, who served under Joshua. Thus that word of Isaac to Jacob, Genesis XXVII, 29 — "Be lord of your brothers" — took effect not in Esau, who did not serve but rather dominated Jacob, but in the Edomites, his descendants, who in the time of David were subdued and served the Hebrews. So St. Chrysostom, Homily 8 on Matthew, and Euthymius on Matthew II. Finally, proper names are often taken patronymically for children and descendants — so that "Isaac" means the descendants of Isaac, and "David" means the descendants of David, namely Christ, sprung from the line of Isaac and David. Thus "Israel" means Israelites, that is, the descendants of Israel, or Jacob.

CANON XXXV. Scripture can have various versions and canonical senses, even literal ones.

as St. Augustine teaches. Leo Castro adds in his Prooemium to Isaiah that it also has at times various readings even in the original Hebrew, intended by the Holy Spirit, as I explained more fully in Canon VIII on St. Paul.

Note: It is difficult — indeed, sometimes impossible — to reconcile the Septuagint version with ours, or with the Hebrew; whether because the Septuagint translators read otherwise in the Hebrew, or because their manuscripts have been corrupted, or because, with the Holy Spirit suggesting something else, they were carried in another direction. For their translation is looser and freer, and at times more abundant than the text.

Canon XXXVI. Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldeans, the Assyrians, and other tyrants are called servants, soldiers, and priests consecrated and sent by God for the punishment of crimes and of the impious.

so that they might plunder, subdue, and destroy the Jews, the Edomites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and other nations — not because they did this by God's command and revelation, as Abulensis holds on Isaiah chapter V, 26, and on chapter X, 5, but because God gave them arms, wealth, strength, courage, prosperous successes, and victory, which however they wickedly and unjustly misused against the Jews and other nations. But God permitted this abuse of theirs and used it to chastise the sins of those who were to be trampled and laid waste by them. Bossuet says nearly the same in his Preface to Apocalypse XV.

Isaiah XXIV, 22, where he says of those to be condemned: "And after many days they shall be visited"; for "they shall be visited" does not signify liberation and consolation, as Origen wished, but the continuation of punishment and perseverance in torment. For the meaning is, as if to say: Whatever duration you may conceive in your mind as unfolding or having unfolded after the day of judgment, their visitation — that is, their punishment and torment — will still remain.

is for justly punishing the Jews and the nations. So St. Augustine, in his book On Grace and Free Will, chapters 20 and 21, where he teaches that God used them, though they were unaware and intended something else, namely empire and spoils, for His own vengeance.

The first part, namely that they did not do these things by God's command, is clear from the fact that God did not send to them any Prophet who would appoint them as emperors and give them authority over other kings and nations, as He sent a Prophet to Jeroboam to confer upon him the kingdom of the ten Tribes, and to Jehu, who would anoint him as king; each of them therefore, by rebelling against their own masters and seizing the kingdom, acted justly, as St. Augustine teaches, City of God XVII, 21, and as is clear from III Kings 11. It is otherwise with the others, as I have said. Secondly, it is clear from the fact that they either did not know or did not care about this will of God, but served their own ambition. For this is what Isaiah says of Sennacherib, chapter 10, verses 5 and 7: "Assyria, the rod of My fury; against a deceitful nation I will send him, to carry off spoils, etc., but he himself does not think so, nor does his heart so reckon: but his heart will be set on destroying, and on cutting off nations not a few." And to Cyrus Isaiah says, 45:3-4: "I will give you treasures, etc., and you have not known Me." Thirdly, because He calls them "plunderers and robbers," Jeremiah 4:7: "The plunderer of nations," namely Nebuchadnezzar, "has risen up;" and 17:22: "You shall bring upon them a robber suddenly." Fourthly, because Scripture charges them with tyranny and ambition, and immediately predicts their destruction, precisely because they invaded and laid waste other nations, especially the Jews, as God says of the Babylonians, Jeremiah 51:24: "I will repay (them) all the evil that they have done in Zion;" and chapter 50:29: "Because she has risen up against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel." The same is clear concerning the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, Jeremiah 48:27. Fifthly, because in the same way Attila, Totila, and now the Turks have been and are the scourge of God, by which He chastises Christians; and yet it is certain that God did not give them dominion over Christians; indeed Luther himself admits this, although he taught that the Turk should not be resisted, because he comes to us to chastise us by God's will: Just as, he says, a son ought not to resist his father's rod — in which matter he shamefully errs; for it is one thing to be a rod in the soul, another to be a tyrant: the latter may be resisted, the former may not, since it is inflicted by a father or one having authority.

The latter part, namely that the tyrants are called servants of God, because God used them and directed their tyranny to punish the sins of the Jews and other nations, is clear firstly from the fact that God says He will do what the Chaldeans and Assyrians were about to do: for what one does through another is the same as if he did it himself, as the rule of Law holds.

Secondly, for this reason God is said to have commanded the Persians to invade Babylon, Jeremiah 50:21; and to kill everyone and leave nothing in it, ibid. verse 26.

Thirdly, because in Jeremiah 27:6, God is said to have given all nations to Nebuchadnezzar, that they should serve him for seventy years.

Fourthly, because the destruction of Babylon is called the work of God, that is, of divine justice and vengeance, Jeremiah 50, verse 25.

Fifthly, because God, for this work of His in which Nebuchadnezzar had materially served Him by besieging and conquering Tyre for thirteen years, promises him Egypt as a kind of material reward and payment, Ezekiel 29:19. I say materially: for this was not a formal and intended merit: therefore neither was it a formal reward.

Sixthly, because those who serve God in this holy work of justice are blessed and called blessed, even if they only do so materially, while formally they intended to serve not God but their own ambition and greed. So Psalm 136:9 says: "Blessed (is Cyrus) who will repay you (O Babylon) the recompense which you repaid to us: blessed is he who will seize and dash your little ones against the rock." So the wood (of Noah's ark) is called blessed, through which justice was accomplished, Wisdom 14:7. For the ark, by preserving the just man Noah, freed God's hands, as it were, to destroy the other sinners by the flood. For just as the work of justice is holy and blessed, so those who cooperate with it in any way, even if only materially, are called holy and blessed; but only insofar as they cooperate with that holy work.

Conversely, of the Babylonians punishing and laying waste to the Moabites, it is said in Jeremiah 48:10: "Cursed is he who holds back his sword from blood," as if to say: Let that man be unhappy, and let it go badly for him who carries out this work of divine justice half-heartedly, who does not kill the guilty Moabites but spares them; speaking, that is, in general terms and abstracting from this or that particular individual who tyrannically or unjustly invades them, and considering this work solely insofar as it is the work of divine justice and vengeance, which God wills to be carried out. For in the same way a lictor or executioner who is negligent in this work and its execution deserves to be cursed and punished.

This work, then, namely the destruction of the Moabites, insofar as it was a work of divine justice and decreed by it, was just and holy; and whoever cooperated with it acted justly and holily, and was blessed: but insofar as the same work was carried out by the Chaldeans, who wished to increase their own wealth and empire, to that extent it was a work of tyranny and plunder, and therefore unjust and accursed.

CANON XXXVII. God is said to have commanded the Chaldeans, Assyrians, and other tyrants, and to have summoned, stirred up, and sent them to invade Judea and other nations, not because He positively and directly incited them to this tyranny, but because He so directed and bent their foreseen tyranny by His providence that it burst forth only against the Jews and the nations destined by Him for punishment.

For all of God's providence and ordering is called in Scripture a command, a summoning, a stirring up. For God presides over all evil wills and governs and directs them, so that, although they are evil by their own fault, nevertheless by God's providence they are permitted to be directed toward one evil rather than another. St. Augustine teaches this on Psalm 73: "Their wickedness," he says, "became like God's axe: they were made the instrument of an angry God, not the kingdom of a pleased one." Then St. Augustine adds the example of a rod with which a father chastises his son, and then throws the rod itself into the fire. For the wicked are the rod with which God chastises the pious; but once they are chastised, He casts the wicked into hell. Hugh of St. Victor teaches the same thing more clearly, in his work On the Sacraments, Book I, Part V, chapter 29: "God," he says, "does not give corruption to evil wills, but order. For to will evil is evil, and comes from an evil will; but that it tends toward this rather than that is good, because it is order, and comes from the One who disposes well (God). Therefore an evil will can be corrupted in itself and dissolved through its own fault, which is not given to it from elsewhere; but it cannot be cast headlong beyond itself by its willing, except where a way is opened to it. And He who opens a way to the headlong will, toward whatever ruin He wills, in a sense inclines it, not by pushing, but by permitting and not restraining; nor is He the author of its falling, but the director of its path." Therefore, just as one who holds a fierce lion or dog bound by hand, and now restrains it lest it bite this or that friend, now releases and lets it go when an enemy passes by, is said to have set the lion or dog upon that enemy: so God holds bound by the hand of His omnipotence all the wills of the wicked: and when He releases them and permits them to be directed toward this evil and not another, He is said to stir them up or send them toward this: because without His releasing, and quasi-consent or permission, indeed cooperation, they could not have burst forth into this evil. Thus He released the Chaldeans and permitted them to invade the Jews, not the Indians.

Add that God is said to have stirred them up. First, because, as I said in the preceding Canon, He gave them great courage, strength, resources, and victories. Courage, I say, to dare great things, and to extend their empire far and wide. Second, because He presented to their minds the Jews and other nations as wealthy and easily conquered. Third, because through Jeremiah and other Prophets He predicted that Nebuchadnezzar would subjugate those nations, and that He willed all to serve him for seventy years. What was this other than sounding the trumpet for him, and as it were summoning him to invade other nations? For there is no doubt that Nebuchadnezzar learned this partly from messengers and ambassadors, partly from deserters, partly from common rumor and report; and therefore he himself commanded Nebuzardan at the capture of Jerusalem to take care of Jeremiah, as one who favored his cause, and to treat him kindly, chapter 39, verse 11.

Fourth, because He outwardly placed obstacles that would divert Nebuchadnezzar from invading other nations, and removed obstacles that would make a clear path for him to invade the Jews and the nations which He wished to punish through him. So in Ezekiel 21:21, when Nebuchadnezzar cast lots with two arrows and sought an omen from them, whether he should march against the Ammonites or against Jerusalem, God caused the lot to fall against the Jews, and thus as it were impelled him to invade Jerusalem. "For lots, says the Wise Man, are cast into the lap, but they are tempered and disposed by the Lord." Moreover, how God calls this war to which He summons the Chaldeans "holy," I will discuss at Jeremiah 6:4.

CANON XXXVIII. Abstract nouns are commonly used for concrete ones, both actively — as "terror" is used for the terrifying Nebuchadnezzar, who struck fear into the Jews and the whole world, Isaiah 2:19 (so Priapus in the gardens is called by Horace "the terror of birds") — and passively, especially when an act or a capacity is used for its object.

So God is called "our love, our hope, our fear," that is, the One who is supremely to be loved, hoped in, and feared by us. So Psalm 70:5 says: "You are my patience, O Lord," that is, You are the One for whose sake I suffer. So the Church, and St. Paul in Ephesians 3:10 and Colossians 1:16, calls some angels "Dominations," that is, those who dominate; others "Powers," that is, the powerful; others "Principalities," that is, princes, etc. So Isaiah, chapter 60:17, says: "I will make your visitation (that is, your overseers) peace (that is, peaceful ones), and your rulers justice," that is, most just, so that they would seem to be the standard of justice and justice itself.

CANON XXXIX. The regions, or zones of the world, are designated in Scripture according to the position of Jerusalem and the Temple, says St.

Jerome on Zechariah 2:6: "From the land of the North." Hence Egypt is said to be to the South, namely in relation to Jerusalem. So Daniel, chapter 11, predicts "the kings of the South," that is, the kings of Egypt, will fight with the kings of the North, that is, of Syria — namely the Ptolemies with the Antiochuses. So the Assyrians and Chaldeans are called Northerners, namely in relation to Judea. Hence Jeremiah, chapter 1, verse 14, says: "From the North," that is, from Babylon, "evil shall spread." Hence also by "the sea" they commonly signify the West: because the Mediterranean Sea is for the most part to the west of Judea; yet since the same sea is partly to the south as well, "the sea" sometimes signifies the southern region, as in Psalm 88:13: "The North and the sea," that is, the South or Meridian, "You have created;" and Psalm 106:3: "From the rising and the setting of the sun, from the North and the sea," that is, the South: for here the four regions of the world are named.

CANON XL. What is said of Christ in Scripture is sometimes said of the Head alone, that is, of Christ Himself; sometimes of the Body alone, that is, the Church; sometimes of both; and one must carefully discern what is said of which: for Scripture passes secretly from one to the other.

So St. Augustine from Tichonius, On Christian Doctrine, Book III, chapters 31 and following.

CANON XLI. The Prophets foretell many things that certainly had to be fulfilled, even though neither sacred Scripture nor profane history records how and when they were fulfilled.

So Isaiah, chapter 23, verse 17, predicts that Tyre will be laid waste by the Chaldeans, and after 70 years will return to its former splendor. Jeremiah predicts the same of the Ammonites, chapter 49, verse 6. Ezekiel predicts something similar of Egypt laid waste by the Chaldeans and to be restored after 40 years, chapter 29, verses 12 and 13. When these things were fulfilled, we do not know. So Haggai, Zechariah, Obadiah, and Malachi predict many things from the return of the Jews from Babylon up to Christ, which neither Ezra, nor the Books of Maccabees, nor other historians record as having occurred.

CANON XLII. The Prophets, after prophesying against the Jews, are accustomed to turn their discourse and threats to nations hostile to the Jews, for the consolation of the Jews, and for both the just punishment and the consolation of those very nations, through the salvation to be brought by Christ.

So Zephaniah, after predicting in chapter 1, verse 4, the disaster of Judah and Jerusalem, immediately in chapter 2 predicts the destruction of Gaza, Ashkelon, Moab, Ethiopia, Nineveh, and the Assyrians. So Isaiah, after the burden of Judea, passes in chapters 13 and following up to 24, to the burdens of Babylon, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Tyre, and other nations that had afflicted the Jews. Jeremiah does the same in chapter 46 and following.

CANON XLIII. As regards the allegorical sense, St.

Basil on Isaiah chapter 2 and St. Augustine in Letter 99 to Evodius note that one thing in Scripture can simultaneously be a figure of two things, even contrary ones; as the flood was for the faithful a type of baptism, but for the unfaithful a type of death and hell. So Christ was for believers the stone of salvation, but for unbelievers a stone of stumbling and a rock of scandal. So a strong man is called a lion and an eagle, and likewise a tyrant, says St. Jerome on Ezekiel 17.

CANON XLIV. In sacred Scripture all sentences and all words must be applied to the thing signified in the literal sense, but not in the allegorical sense.

So St. Jerome on Hosea chapter 5. See Canon 40 in the Pentateuch.

CANON XLV. As for the tropological sense, it is easy to transfer what the Prophets predict, promise, threaten, command, urge, and reproach to the Jews and other nations, changing the name, to Christians.

Likewise, what is said of the Synagogue, as of one woman, by them, is easily applied through tropology to the soul of each individual believer. Hence St. Jerome rightly says on Jeremiah chapter 23: "Whatever is said literally about the land of Judea, refer tropologically to the congregation of the faithful: because on account of their adulteries, lies, perjuries, etc., a barrenness of virtues and of God's gifts occurs in the Church."

So by the king of Babylon understand tropologically the devil; by the Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, and other enemies of the Jews, understand the unfaithful, heretics and the wicked, as well as vices and the vicious; by Cyrus understand Christ.

CANON XLVI. The Prophets are accustomed to describe the redemption of Christ as a military victory, in which enemies are slain and subjects are freed and saved.

Hence they simultaneously call it slaughter and salvation, vengeance and redemption, indignation and peace. Hence again they present Christ as an armored soldier cutting down and trampling everything; both because Christ crushed His enemies, namely the devil, sin, the flesh, and death; and because He subdued to Himself unfaithful and wicked people, and thus killed the wickedness and crimes in them, and from them raised up new men — pious, sober, and chaste. See Canon 42 in the Pentateuch. This is what Isaiah says, chapter 59, verse 17: "He put on justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head: He put on the garments of vengeance, and was covered as with a cloak of zeal: as if for retribution of indignation to His enemies, and recompense to His foes: He will repay the islands their due." And chapter 63, verse 1: "Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This one, beautiful in his robe, striding in the greatness of his strength. Why then is your garment red? I have trodden the winepress alone, etc., I have trampled them in my fury, etc. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, the year of my redemption has come." Namely, as Claudian says in the Sixth Consulship of Honorius:

No victory is greater Than that which subjugates in spirit also those enemies who confess defeat.

So St. Augustine explains that passage of Psalm 149:6: "Two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance upon the nations, etc. Pagans, he says, are slain when they become Christians: I look for the Pagan and do not find him: therefore the Pagan has died. For if they are not slain, whence was it said to Peter: Kill and eat? So Saul the persecutor was slain, and Paul the preacher was raised up."

CANON XLVII. The Prophets speak of God anthropopathically, that is, in a human manner.

Hence they attribute to Him a human form, mouth, eyes, hands, feet, etc., as well as anger, indignation, love, joy, exultation, and other human passions. For the natural and good aspects of these emotions are truly in God, if you remove from them what is faulty, excessive, turbulent, and beyond reason. For the emotions of love and joy regarding good, as well as hatred and detestation regarding evil, are truly in God.

CANON XLVIII. God is said not to pour out, but to distill His punishments; because He tempers His anger with mercy.

Hence Ezekiel 20:46 says: "Distill toward the South" — so that God's wrath may not seem entirely poured out, but only a drop and a part. "But if a drop is of such great severity, what must be reckoned in full downpours?" says St. Jerome on that passage. So also Ezekiel 21:2, and Daniel 9:11: "The curse and the execration that is written in the book of Moses the servant of God has been distilled upon us, because we have sinned against Him." Hence also in Revelation 15, the wrath of God is said to be contained in vials and poured out from them: for vials have a narrow mouth, whence wrath can only flow drop by drop. For divine mercy compresses and constrains the judgments, so that they distill rather than pour out wrath, according to Psalm 77:38: "But He is merciful, and will be gracious regarding their sins: and He will not destroy them. And (God's mercy) abounded to turn away wrath: and He did not kindle all His wrath: and He remembered that they are flesh."

CANON XLIX. The Prophets use metalepsis, so that from antecedents one may understand the things that naturally follow.

Thus they take "to hear" to mean to act on what was heard, and to obey: "not to know" to mean not to act on what is known; for he who knows what must be done and does not do it, is just as if he did not know. So in Isaiah 30:2, it is said to the Jews fleeing to Egypt: "You did not consult the mouth (of the Lord)," that is, you did not follow the Lord's inquiry and response: for they had indeed inquired and heard from Jeremiah the response of God not to flee to Egypt, but they had refused to follow it. So poets often use metalepsis, as Virgil, Eclogue 1: "After some ears of corn, seeing my kingdom, I shall wonder." For by "ears" he means crops, by crops summers, by summers years. So: "He hid them in dark caverns," that is, deep ones; for deep places are shady, and shady places appear dark.

Likewise, both the Prophets and the poets often use catachresis, that is, the borrowing of a foreign name — for example, when "parricide" is used for one who kills a brother, or "fish-pond" for one that has no fish. So Virgil, Aeneid VII, says: "Or they stretch their keen bows." Where Servius says "keen" means strong, by catachresis; for keenness properly belongs to the mind. So the Prophets call "open" what offers no hindrance to one passing through, even if it is closed. So Stephen saw the heavens open to him, Acts 7:55. So Christ alone is said to have opened His mother's womb, that is, to have penetrated through it while it remained closed, and to have sprung forth into the light and the world as if it had been opened. So speak St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, Origen, and Theophylact, whom I cited at Exodus 13:1, and they thus explain of Christ that passage in Luke 2:23: "Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord."

CANON L. The oracles of the Prophets often differ from chapter to chapter, being issued at different and various times: hence they also have various titles from time to time, as is clear in Isaiah 14:28, etc.

; 21, verses 11 and 13. Therefore the chapters (indeed, sometimes parts of the same chapter) often have no connection or continuity with each other, nor do they preserve the order of time: but individual chapters are individual prophecies, like individual books dictated and written at different times, which were later collected into one volume. For this reason, hysteron-proteron is frequent here.

CANON LI. The particle "if" is for the Hebrews a mark of swearing, and is an aposiopesis for the sake of euphemism and good omen — for example: "The Lord lives, if the enemy comes," that is, I swear that the enemy will not come, and so if he does come, let God not be considered truthful.

It can also, secondly, be taken without aposiopesis as "if" meaning "not." Note here that when the particle "if" follows words of swearing, then "if" turns an affirmative sentence into a negative one, and a negative sentence into an affirmative one, as in Psalm 94:11: "As I swore in My anger: If they shall enter into My rest," that is, that they shall not enter. Conversely, Isaiah 14:24: "The Lord has sworn: If it shall not be as I have thought, so shall it be," that is, He has sworn that as He Himself thought, so it shall be. So Maldonatus on Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 3.

CANON LII. When the Hebrews want to signify everything in a certain category, they join the feminine to the masculine, as in Isaiah 3:1: "He takes away from Jerusalem the strong and the mighty;" in Hebrew it is, the male sustainer and the female sustainer; the Septuagint has, the strong man and the strong woman; that is, all the strong people, both men and women, who could defend and sustain the city.

So Ecclesiastes 2:8: "I made for myself male singers and female singers," that is, every kind of musician. Jeremiah 7:34: "I will cause the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride to cease," that is, all nuptial celebration. Similar is Isaiah 22:16 and chapter 38:16, and elsewhere in Hebrew.

CANON LIII. The relative pronoun sometimes refers not to what has been expressed, but to what one is silently thinking.

As in Song of Songs 1:1: "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth;" where "his" refers to "the bridegroom," who had not been previously mentioned, but was deeply fixed in the heart of the bride. Psalm 86:1: "His foundations are in the holy mountains;" where "his" refers to "Jerusalem," which the Prophet had not named but was pondering in his mind. Psalm 113:2: "Judea was made his sanctification," namely "God's," whose works David was admiring within himself. Lamentations 3:1: "I am the man who sees my poverty under the rod of his indignation," namely "God's," for he was pondering God's indignation in his mind. John 20:15, Magdalene says to Christ, whom she did not recognize, thinking He was the gardener: "Lord, if you have taken him away," namely "Christ," in whom she was wholly absorbed, and about whom she believed the gardener was also thinking.

CANON LIV. The Prophets frequently play on the same word taken in contrary senses, as in Isaiah 29:1: "Woe to Ariel, Ariel;" and verse 2: "It shall be to Me as Ariel," as if to say: Jerusalem, which was Ariel, that is, the lion of God, preying on other nations, shall be to Me as prey, that is, as an Ariel of cursing.

So the Apostle plays on the word "sin": "Him who knew no sin, for us He made sin (that is, a victim for sin)," II Corinthians 5:21.

So they take "to bless" to mean "to curse" by euphemism, as "Naboth blessed," that is, cursed, "God," III Kings 21:13. So they take "to sanctify" to mean "to pollute," as in Deuteronomy 22:9. So kades, that is "holy," is used for a male prostitute, and kedeshab for a harlot, as if you said "most unholy."

So "sacred" is taken by the Latins as meaning accursed, as in Horace, Ode 7: "Blood sacred (i.e. accursed) to grandsons," and Virgil, Aeneid III: "Accursed hunger for gold." So "anathema" is used for a gift offered to God, as well as for a thing accursed, devoted to death and destruction.

Again they play elegantly on the same word through antiphrasis, so as to seem to propose a riddle. So Isaiah plays, chapter 26:11: "Lord, let Your hand be exalted, and let them not see: let them see, and be confounded." And Hosea 1:10: "And it shall be in the place where it shall be said to them: You are not My people: it shall be said to them: Sons of the living God." And chapter 2:24: "I will say to that which was not My people: You are My people," or, as the Apostle cites it in Romans 9:26: "I will call those who were not My people, My people: and her who was not beloved, beloved: and her who had not obtained mercy, one who has obtained mercy." So also Gentiles and secular writers form elegant riddles through antiphrasis, such as that of Plato, Laws Book 5, and in Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae Book 10: "A man not a man, seeing not seeing, with a stone not a stone, struck a bird not a bird, sitting on a tree not a tree" — that is, a eunuch with one eye struck a bat with a pumice stone, sitting on an elder bush.

Such an antiphrastic riddle is the Bolognese one found in Francesco Schott, century 2 of riddles:

Aelia Laelia Crispis, neither man nor woman, Nor hermaphrodite, nor girl, nor youth, Nor old woman, nor harlot, nor chaste, But all of these: Carried off neither by hunger, nor by the sword, nor by poison, But by all: Neither in heaven, nor in water, nor on earth, But everywhere she lies. Lucius Agatho Priscius, neither husband, Nor lover, nor kinsman, neither Mourning, nor rejoicing, nor weeping, This neither tomb, nor pyramid, Nor sepulcher, But all of these, Knows and knows not for whom he placed it. This is a sepulcher having no corpse within, This is a corpse having no sepulcher without; But the corpse is itself its own sepulcher.

Which many interpret as referring to the human soul, others to Cupid, others to the water of the clouds, and others (perhaps more correctly) to Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, who, overwhelmed by violence and grief, is said by the poets to have been turned into a rock.

Such also is the riddle of the poet Alexis in his Sleep: "Neither mortal nor immortal, but having a certain temperament of both, so that it lives neither by the part of man nor of God, but is always being born." This is Sleep.

CANON LV. Among the Hebrews there is hypokalysmos: for they express shameful things with decent words.

So "to know one's wife" among them signifies the conjugal act: so they call "the water of the feet" urine, which flows down to the feet. So Ezekiel 7:17 says: "All knees shall flow with waters," that is, with urine, as if to say: Out of fear they shall urinate on themselves. So they call "one who urinates against the wall" a dog. For the name of dog is vile and shameful among the Hebrews, and sounds most base, as in I Kings 25:34 David says to Abigail: "Unless you had quickly come to meet me, there would not have remained of Nabal, etc., one that urinates against the wall," as if to say: I would have killed everyone in Nabal's household, and would not have left even a dog surviving, had you not come to meet me and appeased me with your sweet words and humility. So "great flesh" in Ezekiel 16:26, and "the flesh of asses" in Ezekiel 23:20, are used for large genitalia. So also in the same place and often elsewhere the Prophets say, "she spread her feet," meaning she prostituted herself.

CANON LVI. The Prophets, especially Ezekiel and Daniel, delight in riddles, emblems, and proverbs.

So Daniel, through the riddle of the tree in chapter 4, describes the empire of Nebuchadnezzar. And in chapter 2, through the riddle of the four-part statue, he represents the four monarchies; he represents the same through four beasts in chapter 7. In chapter 5, through mene, tekel, peres, he portends the destruction of the Babylonian king and kingdom. In chapter 8, through the emblem of a goat fighting and defeating a ram, he predicts the battle and victory of Alexander the Great against Darius. Ezekiel, in chapter 1, through the four living creatures and the chariot of the Cherubim, depicts God's magnificence, power, and vengeance. In chapter 5, through the riddle of a razor shaving hair and beard, the Chaldeans killing both the common people and the leaders of the Jews. In chapter 9, through the sign of the tau he represents the cross and the patience of Christ and the Saints. In chapter 16, through the fornication of a spouse he rebukes the idolatry of Jerusalem. In chapter 17, through the battle of two eagles, he presents to view the battle of Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh. In chapter 19, through lions and young lions, he depicts the kingdom and tyranny of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. In chapter 23, through the prostitution of Oholah and Oholibah, he describes the idolatry of Samaria and Jerusalem, etc. So in chapter 18:2, the Jews say: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge;" that is, the fathers sinned, the children are punished. So Jeremiah in chapter 6:29, says of the obstinate Jews: "The bellows have failed, the lead is consumed in the fire, the smelter has smelted in vain: for their wickedness has not been consumed." Such also is Lamentations 4:7: "Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, brighter than milk, more ruddy than old ivory, more beautiful than sapphire." Isaiah also delights in such figures, as in chapter 1:22: "Your silver has turned to dross: your wine is mixed with water." And chapter 5:18: "Woe to you who draw iniquity with cords of vanity." And chapter 14:29: "From the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and its seed shall swallow the bird." And chapter 16:1: "Send forth the lamb, O Lord, the ruler of the earth, from the Rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Zion." And chapter 18:1: "Woe to the land of the cymbal of wings, etc. Go, swift messengers, to a nation torn apart." And chapter 29:1: "Woe to Ariel, Ariel the city which David conquered: I will add to Ariel, and it shall be to Me as Ariel."

There are two reasons for this: the first, because prophecy, being secret and obscure, delights in a secret and obscure style; the second, because the ancient wise men transmitted their wisdom through riddles, to sharpen the desire and study of their disciples. So the Egyptians concealed their teachings and transmitted them through hieroglyphic figures. So the sophist of the Egyptian king Nectanebo proposed this riddle to Aesop: "There is, he said, a great temple, and in it a column having twelve cities, each of which is supported by thirty beams, and two women go around these beams." To which Aesop replied: "The temple is the world, the column is the year, the cities are the months, the beams are the days, and the two women are day and night." Moreover, Aesop himself through his fables, that is emblems, ingeniously and wittily composed his mythology, that is, his moral philosophy. The teaching of Crates of Thebes was, according to Plutarch: "The pot should not be enlarged on account of the lentils, lest we be thrown into sedition," that is, the body should not be stuffed or burdened with food, lest it be led into disturbance and excess.

Amphion in Pacuvius proposed this riddle about the tortoise: "Four-footed, house-carrying, slow-walking, rustic, lowly, rough, short-headed, snake-necked, fierce-looking, gutted, lifeless with a living sound." Such is the riddle of the physician prescribing to a sick man that he should take "an earth-born, grass-walking, house-carrying, bloodless creature" — that is, a snail. Such was the oracle given to Philip: "You will conquer all things, if your weapons are made of silver." For it taught him that cities must be conquered with silver lances, that is, with money, by corrupting the garrisons with silver.

Such was that riddle of Virgil in the Bucolics, Eclogue 3, by which he claimed to have fixed a cross for the grammarians:

Tell in what lands flowers are born With the names of kings inscribed upon them.

This is commonly interpreted as referring to the hyacinth flower: about which a double story is told, namely of Hyacinthus the youth of Chalcis beloved by Apollo, and of Ajax son of Telamon, both of whom are said to have been changed into the same flower: on which flower indeed that mournful Greek cry "ai, ai" is found formed and inscribed by nature. Our own Juan de la Cerda, however, interprets this riddle as referring to Augustus Caesar, whose image and name were stamped on coins among flowers; and hence the name "florins" in coinage seems to have originated.

Such is this one from the same poet:

Tell in what lands, and you shall be my great Apollo, The space of heaven is open no more than three cubits.

Which is interpreted as referring to a well dug at Syene, which mathematicians had dug for the purpose of indicating the solstice; for at that time the sun is said to cast no shadows there. Such also was the riddle of the Sphinx about man: "In the morning four-footed, at midday two-footed, in the evening three-footed." And this is the reason why Scripture sometimes cites by mimesis the poets, apologues, and fables of the Gentiles, such as the fable of the Titans in Judith 16:8, the horn of Amalthea in Job 42:14 according to the Septuagint, and the fable of the Centaurs in Isaiah 34:14, as I will discuss more fully there.

CANON LVII. In the same way the Prophets use symbols and symbolic figures, ideas, and phrases, especially in divine matters.

The same was done by the ancient theologians of the Gentiles, and by the lawgivers who were considered divine, such as Zoroaster, Zamolxis, Zaleucus, Dardanus, Charondas, and Numa. The impostor Mohammed did the same in his Quran. And Christ Himself did the same, teaching through parables and symbols, Matthew chapter 13, verse 34. For as the impious Emperor Julian himself rightly said: "Divine nature loves to be hidden, and its hidden substance does not allow itself to enter polluted ears through bare words." And as Macrobius says: God, just as He has withdrawn the understanding of Himself from the common senses of men by the varied covering and concealment of things, so He willed His mysteries to be treated through mysteries by the wise, so that, covered with figures and veils, they might be set apart from cheapness and obtain the proper reverence. Wherefore they say that the philosopher Numenius incurred the offense of the divine power because he had popularized the Eleusinian rites by interpreting them. For he saw in dreams the goddesses themselves dressed as harlots, standing in a doorway; when in amazement he inquired what this meant, he was told that the goddesses were angry at having been violently dragged by him from the sanctuary of modesty and everywhere prostituted by him. Aristeas writes that Theodectes was struck blind and Theopompus mad, because they had published and profaned certain sayings of Moses and Sacred Scripture in verse. Therefore St. Dionysius calls these "sacred symbols," and for the same reason some theologians speak of a threefold theology — symbolic, mystic, and telestic. Note here: St. Dionysius, in On the Divine Names and On Mystical Theology, St. Thomas in the First Part, Questions 12 and 13, and the Scholastics generally teach that God and divine things are known by us in three ways. First, by the way of ascent from creatures to the Creator, as to their origin and author. For, as the Apostle says, Romans 1:20: "The invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen through the things that have been made — both His eternal power and divinity." Second, by the way of negation — for example, by thinking and saying: God is not a stone, not the sky, not a man, not an angel, but an essence and majesty infinitely transcending all these things, on which see St. Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy chapters 2 and 4. Third, through corporeal figures and symbols, which represent His incorporeal nature to us who are corporeal, as through a shadow and image. This third way is easier and more pleasant; for we gaze upon God more sweetly and more delightfully through symbols, as through a mirror. Therefore the Scriptures, and especially the Prophets, use this third way most frequently.

Among the Gentiles, Pythagoras excelled in this regard, who transmitted and wrote down his golden teachings about God and about morals and virtues through symbols. That he learned these from Moses and the Prophets is taught by Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel, Book 10, chapter 2; Theodoret, On First Principles, Book 2; Origen, Against Celsus, Book 1; St. Ambrose, Book 3, Letter 20 to Irenaeus; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book 1; Josephus, Against Apion, Book 1; Lilius Gyraldus in the preface to the Symbols of Pythagoras; and Hermippus openly demonstrates it in his Book 1 On Pythagoras: whence some have even thought that Pythagoras was circumcised, and indeed that he was the same person as the Prophet Ezekiel (who abounds in symbols), as I will show in the preface to Ezekiel.

Following him, not only the Greeks but also the Romans had their own symbols, among which the poppy was a symbol of fertility and the city; the quince of marriage, Adonis of fruits, Father Liber of liberty, Attis of flowers, foam of generation, and Satyr of lust, as Eusebius and Plutarch attest.

Now the symbols of Pythagoras were of three kinds: first, theological and divine; second, ethical; third, political. The divine symbols, that is, those concerning God, were chiefly the following. First: "Do not heap up cypress wood," that is, do not convert things consecrated to God to your own uses: for Jupiter's scepter was made of cypress, says Hermippus. Second: "Do not stir the fire with a sword," that is, do not curse God with the sharpness of your tongue. So some interpret it, though others differently, and perhaps better, as I will say presently. Third: "Do not engrave the figure of God on a ring," that is, do not readily disclose and spread abroad your opinion and discourse about God, lest it fall into contempt. So Cyril; or, as Gyraldus says, do not have the image and memory of God among luxuries or in public view. Fourth: "Nourish a rooster, but do not sacrifice it," that is, maintain soldiers to guard the city, but do not mix them into sacred rites. Fifth: "Do not cut your nails during a sacrifice," that is, do not occupy yourself with superfluous or sordid matters during sacred rites. Sixth: "Rising from bed, fold the bedclothes," that is, when you rise in the morning for the contemplation of divine things, abandon the bodily senses. Seventh: "Do not leave your post, that is your life, without the commander's (that is, God's) order," that is, do not rashly throw away or squander your life. Eighth: "Do not make libations to the Gods from unpruned vines," that is, offer to God your actions and sacrifices pure, that is, pruned and purified; for God hates all impurity. Ninth: "Perform divine worship with bare feet," that is, with purified affections (for feet are their symbol) perform sacred worship. Tenth: "When about to worship, sit," that is, when you pray, be of a calm and tranquil mind, so that you may gather it wholly and pour it into God. Eleventh: "When you come to the temple, worship, and do nothing else in the meanwhile." Twelfth: "Do not enter the temple from a journey without prior intention," that is, do not mix sacred and divine things with profane and irreligious matters. Thirteenth: "Do not speak about divine matters without light," that is, do not speak about God without heavenly illumination, that is, without faith and divine wisdom. Fourteenth: "When it thunders, touch the earth," that is, when signs of God's wrath are imminent, humble yourself mindful of your origin, and thus beseech God. Fifteenth: "Restrain your tongue, imitating God:" for "nearest to God is he who knows how to keep silence with reason." Hence Pythagoras first required his disciples to keep silence for five years. Sixteenth: "Among other things, the most perfect Trinity is to be worshipped." Pythagoras seems to have drawn from the Egyptians and Hebrews some faint knowledge of the Most Holy Trinity, or at least he judged that the number three, as the first perfect number, ought to be dedicated to God. For Theodoret truly said, in On First Principles, Book 2: "Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, and Plato collected certain enigmatic sayings about God from the Egyptians and Hebrews."

Second, the ethical symbols of Pythagoras are notable, which he drew from the Hebrews and Chaldeans. For Solomon too transmitted his Ethics through symbols; hence he also titled the same work Proverbs and Parables. The more illustrious of Pythagoras's symbols in this category are the following. First: "Do not step over the yoke or the balance," that is, do not transgress the standard of equity and justice. So St. Jerome and Plutarch, though Cyril of Alexandria interprets it differently: Do not step over the balance, he says: that is, do not be greedy. Second: "Do not keep swallows as pets," that is, do not associate with chatterers and triflers; cultivate the silent and silence itself. Third: "When you have set out, do not turn back or look behind," that is, when you have changed your life for the better, do not return to your former desires. Fourth: "Do not travel by the public road," that is, do not follow the errors and customs of the crowd. Fifth: "Do not add fire to fire, and do not stir the fire with a sword," that is, do not contend with an angry man, especially a rich one, lest you sharpen his bile. So Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book 6. Sixth: "Do not raise animals with curved claws," that is, beware of having thieves or plunderers in your house. Seventh: "Do not wear a tight ring," that is, do not live anxiously, do not entangle yourself in servitude or other obligations from which you cannot then extricate yourself. So St. Jerome. Eighth: "Abstain from beans," that is, abstain from voting (for this was done by means of beans) and from lawsuits, that is, from public office; or, as Cicero says in On Divination: "Pythagoras forbade beans to his followers, because the bean causes great inflammation (and hence is said to excite lust, and therefore this food is contrary to those seeking tranquility of mind)." Ninth: "Do not eat the heart," that is, do not torment yourself, do not consume yourself with cares. So Cyril. Tenth: "Set out salt," that is, always use discretion and prudence. Eleventh: "Do not break your teeth," that is, do not slander anyone or speak ill. Twelfth: "Do not pluck the crown," that is, do not attack or provoke princes and magistrates. Thirteenth: "Erase the trace of the pot in the ashes," that is, after enmity, retain no trace of anger, but abolish all memory of it. Fourteenth: "Do not urinate toward the sun," that is, maintain modesty and propriety in every place. Fifteenth: "Do not speak against the sun," that is, do not clamor against manifest truth. Sixteenth: "Do not cut wood on the road," that is, do not disturb what is common and public. Seventeenth: "Do not roast what has been boiled," that is, do not provoke the gentle; for their anger is slow, but long-lasting and implacable. Eighteenth: "Turn away a sharp sword," that is, keep away from danger. Nineteenth: "Do not pick up what has fallen," that is, do not be an excessively ardent lover of your own possessions. Twentieth: "A wife should not be taken for the sake of wealth;" for character and virtue should be considered more. Twenty-first: "Echo is to be worshipped when the wind passes," that is, one must serve the occasion and the time, and not blow against the winds. Twenty-second: "Do not violate or cut down a gentle tree," that is, do not disturb or harass the innocent and gentle. Twenty-third: "Do not stand upon a bushel," that is, flee idleness. Twenty-fourth: "Do not stain a seat with oil," that is, do nothing that disturbs anyone's rest. Twenty-fifth: "Do not eat the cuttlefish," that is, do not take up complicated affairs. Twenty-sixth: "Never point your finger at a star," that is, do not speak rashly about great men. Twenty-seventh: "Do not converse in a reed-bed," that is, do not have familiarity with the most frivolous people. Twenty-eighth: "Do not hold a candle against the wall," that is, do not commend the praises of wisdom to dull and cold-hearted people. Twenty-ninth: "Do not write in snow," that is, commit nothing to stupid and soft souls. Thirtieth: "The vulture is the most unlucky bird in augury," that is, harmful people easily become unhappy. Thirty-first: "A man whose eyes are closed dies more easily," that is, a person easily falls into misery through his own negligence.

Third, the political symbols of Pythagoras, or rather those that are partly political, partly economic, and partly ethical, are the following. First: "Do not go outside the public road," that is, observe customs and public institutions. Second: "Give way to a flock that is advancing," that is, do not oppose the multitude. Third: "Draw back from a weasel crossing your path," that is, flee from slanderers; for they say the weasel gives birth through its mouth. Fourth: "Reject weapons supplied by a woman," that is, do not take courage from fraud or any effeminate habit. Fifth: "Do not go in darkness without some clothing," that is, do not put forth a bare and open opinion in obscure matters. Sixth: "Put your right foot forward," that is, put forward what is right and just. Seventh: "Do not leave a residue at the bottom of a cup," that is, thoroughly master the arts you have begun. Eighth: "Do not kill a snake that has fallen into your house," that is, treat a guest, even a harmful one, with great courtesy. Ninth: "If an ugly old woman is encountered at the threshold, do not go out," that is, do not pursue matters whose beginnings are shameful. Tenth: "Beware of walking in darkness at night," that is, strive to be seen as having lived a worthy life. Eleventh: "Do not carry fire when the sun shines," that is, do not bring reasoning to things that are already clear and obvious. Twelfth: "To throw a stone into a fountain is a crime," that is, to cast something harsh against one who works for the public good is a crime. Thirteenth: "When your foot strikes the threshold, draw back," that is, do not pursue things that are harmful from their very beginning. Fourteenth: "Do not neglect a lamp hung behind your head," that is, do not put industry and foresight last. Fifteenth: "Do not take food with the left hand," that is, live only by honest and legitimate gain. Sixteenth: "Do not sleep in a consecrated tomb," that is, do not subject things consecrated to God to pride, pleasure, and sloth. Seventeenth: "Do not trample small pieces of bread with your feet," that is, do not despise even the smallest means of livelihood. Eighteenth: "When going out and coming in, kiss the door-posts," that is, embrace the beginnings and endings of your actions and undertakings. Nineteenth: "Do not touch the lyre with unwashed hands," that is, one who speaks must be most pure. Twentieth: "Do not wipe sweat away with iron," that is, do not take from anyone by force and violence what was acquired by labor. Twenty-first: "Do not walk in solitude without a staff," that is, consult and confer with friends in times of need. Twenty-second: "Do not sing a poem before a four-footed beast," that is, do not put forward serious matters before the ignorant. Twenty-third: "Do not wash or look at your face in a river," that is, do not seek a model from a transient and utterly unstable thing. Twenty-fourth: "Do not pierce the footprints of a man with iron," that is, do not tear apart a man's memory. Twenty-fifth: "Do not place a whole bundle in the fire," that is, do not put all your resources at once into a single risk. Twenty-sixth: "When leaving your home, scratch the front of your head; when returning, scratch the back," that is, when undertaking tasks, arouse precaution and diligence; after completing them, review them in memory. Twenty-seventh: "Do not jump from a chariot with your feet bound together," that is, do not pass from one state of life to another except gradually. Twenty-eighth: "A boy or a woman wandering with a drawn sword is an evil omen," that is, evil will not be lacking if governance is entrusted to inept and frivolous persons. Twenty-ninth: "Do not sit on a choenix (a daily measure of grain)," that is, have care not only for the present but also for the future; for the choenix is a day's ration. Thirtieth: "Take the greatest care of two times — morning and evening," that is, of what we are about to do and of what we have done.

Moreover, I have collected the hieroglyphics, parables, adages, and riddles of each individual Prophet and arranged them in order at the beginning of this work: from which it will be clear that Pythagoras, Plato, and other philosophers drew their teachings from these sources.

"Let the Reader know, says St. Jerome on Ezekiel 40, that nearly all Hebrew words and names which have been placed in the Greek and Latin translations, corrupted by extreme age and depraved by the fault of copyists, have — as they were copied from uncorrected texts into even more uncorrected ones — been made from Hebrew words into Sarmatian words, or rather words of no nation at all; since they have ceased to be Hebrew without having begun to be anything else. So in Ezekiel 40:7 and following, for the Hebrew taim, that is 'chambers,' one reads corruptly in the Septuagint the. In Genesis 41:44, for the Hebrew, or rather Egyptian, Tsophnath Paneach, that is 'savior of the world' (which name Pharaoh gave to Joseph), corruptly in the Septuagint Psonthomphanech. So for the Hebrew Pascha, for Yeshua or Yehoshua we say Jesus, for Mashiach we say Messias, for Tsor we say Tyrus, for Kasdim we say Chaldaei."