Esther comes into the king’s presence: she is terrified, but God turns his heart.
Mardocheus causeth Esther to goe to the king and intreate for the people. 10. She is terrified by this countenance, but God turneth his hart, and he calleth her curteously to him.
1And he commanded her (no doubt but he was Mardochai) to go to the king, and petition for her people, and for her country.E fece dire a lei (viene a dire senz'altro Mardocheo ad Esther), che si presentasse al re, e lo pregasse pel suo popolo, e per la sua patria.This also I found added in the common edition. AND he commanded her (no doubt but Mardocheus commanded Esther) that she should goe vnto the king, and make petition for her people and for her countrie.Et mandavit ei (haud dubium quin esset Mardochæus) ut ingrederetur ad regem, et rogaret pro populo suo et pro patria sua. 2Remember, (said he,) the days of thy low estate, how thou wast brought up by my hand, because Aman the second after the king hath spoken against us unto death.Ricordati (disse egli) del tempo di tua bassezza, come fosti educata sotto di me; perocché Aman, che è il secondo dopo del re ha parlato contro di noi per farci perire:Remember (quoth he) the daies of thy humilitie, how thou wast brought vp in my hand, because Aman the second after the king hath spoken against vs vnto death:Memorare, inquit, dierum humilitatis tuæ, quomodo nutrita sis in manu mea, quia Aman secundus a rege locutus est contra nos in mortem: 3And do thou call upon the Lord, and speak to the king for us, and deliver us from death.E tu invoca il Signore, e parla per noi al re, e libera noi dalla morte.and doe thou inuocate our Lord, and speake to the king for vs, & deliuer vs from death. Moreouer this also which foloweth I found in the common Greke.et tu invoca Dominum, et loquere regi pro nobis, et libera nos de morte. 4And on the third day she laid away the garments she wore, and put on her glorious apparel.E il terzo giorno ella depose le vesti, che aveva intorno, e si ammantò del suo fasto.And in the third day she layd away the garmentes which she ware, & was clothed in her glorie.Die autem tertio deposuit vestimenta ornatus sui, et circumdata est gloria sua. 5And glittering in royal robes, after she had called upon God the ruler and Saviour of all, she took two maids with her,E in mezzo allo splendore degli abbigliamenti reali, invocato il Reggitore, e Salvatore di tutti Dio, prese seco due cameriere,And when she glistered in royal apparel, and had inuocated God the ruler and sauiour of al, she tooke two wayting maydes,Cumque regio fulgeret habitu, et invocasset omnium rectorem et salvatorem Deum, assumpsit duas famulas, 6And upon one of them she leaned, as if for delicateness and overmuch tenderness she were not able to bear up her own body.Ad una delle quali ella si appoggiava come non potendo per la sua delicatezza, e fiacchezza sostenere il suo corpo:and vpon the one in deede she leaned, as it were for dilicatnes and verie much tendernes not able to beare vp her bodie:et super unam quidem innitebatur, quasi præ deliciis et nimia teneritudine corpus suum ferre non sustinens:
7And the other maid followed her lady, bearing up her train flowing on the ground.L'altra poi delle cameriere andava dietro alla sua signora, e reggeva le vesti, che strascicavan per terra.but the other of the maydes folowed her ladie, bearing vp her garmentes trayling on the ground.altera autem famularum sequebatur dominam, defluentia in humum indumenta sustentans. 8But she with a rosy colour in her face, and with gracious and bright eyes hid a mind full of anguish, and exceeding great fear.Ed ella aspersa il volto di colore di rosa, con occhi graziosi, e brillanti, nascondeva l'animo afflitto, e compreso da eccessivo timore.But her self in al her countenance of colour like the rose, also with gratious and shining eies hid her mind ful of sorow, and exceding feare.Ipsa autem roseo colore vultum perfusa, et gratis ac nitentibus oculis, tristem celabat animum, et nimio timore contractum. 9So going in she passed through all doors in order, and stood before the king, where he sat upon his royal throne, clothed with his royal robes, and glittering with gold, and precious stones, and he was terrible to behold.Passate adunque una dopo L'altra tutte le porte, si stette dinanzi al re assiso sul suo soglio reale, che era vestito del regio ammanto, e folgoreggiava per l'oro, e le pietre preziose, ed era di terribile aspetto.She therfore entring through al the doores in order, stood before the king, where he sate vpon the throne of his kingdom, clothed with royal garmentes, and glittering in gold, and pretious stones, and he was terrible to behold.Ingressa igitur cuncta per ordinem ostia, stetit contra regem, ubi ille residebat super solium regni sui, indutus vestibus regiis, auroque fulgens, et pretiosis lapidibus: eratque terribilis aspectu. 10And when he had lifted up his countenance, and with burning eyes had shewn the wrath of his heart, the queen sunk down, and her colour turned pale, and she rested her weary head upon her handmaid.E avendo egli alzato lo sguardo, dimostrando negli occhi ardenti il furore dell'animo, la regina venne meno, e mutato in pallidezza il suo colore, piegò la vacillante testa sopra la cameriera.And when he had lifted vp his face, and with burning eies had shewed the furie of his breast, the Queene fel downe, and her colour being changed into palenes, she rested her wearie head vpon her handmayde.Cumque elevasset faciem, et ardentibus oculis furorem pectoris indicasset, regina corruit, et in pallorem colore mutato, lassum super ancillulam reclinavit caput. 11And God changed the king’s spirit into mildness, and all in haste and in fear he leaped from his throne, and holding her up in his arms, till she came to herself, caressed her with these words:Ma Dio rivolse a clemenza il cuore del re, e frettoloso, e in timore sbalzò dal suo trono, e sorreggendola colle sue braccia, sino a tanto che fu rinvenuta, la accarezzava, dicendole:And God turned the kings spirit in to mildnes, and in hast and fearing he lept out of the throne, and holding her vp in his armes, til she came to her self, spake her fayre with these wordes:Convertitque Deus spiritum regis in mansuetudinem, et festinus ac metuens exilivit de solio, et sustentans eam ulnis suis donec rediret ad se, his verbis blandiebatur:
12What is the matter, Esther? I am thy brother, fear not.Che hai, o Esther? Io son tuo fratello; non temere:What ayleth thee Esther? I am thy brother, feare not.Quid habes, Esther ? ego sum frater tuus: noli metuere. 13Thou shalt not die: for this law is not made for thee, but for all others.Tu non morrai: perocché questa legge è fatta per tutti, e non per te.Thou shalt not die: for this law is not made for thee, but for the common sorte.Non morieris: non enim pro te, sed pro omnibus hæc lex constituta est. 14Come near then, and touch the sceptre.Appressati adunque, e tocca lo scettro.Come neere therfore, and touch the scepter.Accede igitur, et tange sceptrum. 15And as she held her peace, he took the golden sceptre, and laid it upon her neck, and kissed her, and said: Why dost thou not speak to me?E standosi ella in silenzio, prese il bastone di oro, e lo pose sul collo a lei, e baciolla, e disse: Perché non mi parli?And when she held her peace, he tooke the golden rod, & put it vpon her necke, and kissed her, and sayd: Why speakest thou not to me?Cumque illa reticeret, tulit auream virgam, et posuit super collum ejus, et osculatus est eam, et ait: Cur mihi non loqueris ? 16She answered: I saw thee, my lord, as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled for fear of thy majesty.Ed ella rispose: Io ho mirato te, o Signore, come un Angelo di Dio, e il timore di tua magnificenza turbò il cuor mio.Who answered: I saw thee, my Lord, as an angel of God, and my hart was trubled for the feare of thy glorie.Quæ respondit: Vidi te, domine, quasi angelum Dei, et conturbatum est cor meum præ timore gloriæ tuæ. 17For thou, my lord, art very admirable, and thy face is full of graces.Perocché tu, o Signore, sei grandemente ammirabile, e la tua faccia è piena di grazie.For thou, my lord, art exceding maruelous, and thy face is ful of graces.Valde enim mirabilis es, domine, et facies tua plena est gratiarum. 18And while she was speaking, she fell down again, and was almost in a swoon.E mentre così parlava, venne meno di bel nuovo, e perdo quasi ogni sentimento.And when she spake, she fel downe agayne, and was almost in a sowne.Cumque loqueretur, rursus corruit, et pene exanimata est. 19But the king was troubled, and all his servants comforted her.E il re si turbava, e tutti i suoi ministri la consolavano.But the king was trubled, and al his seruantes did comfort her.Rex autem turbabatur, et omnes ministri ejus consolabantur eam.
15:1
Haydock
Her. Literally, "And he commanded her (no doubt Mardochai did Esther) to go," etc. The parenthesis was added by St. Jerome. (Haydock)
15:2
Calmet
Remember. This is not here in Greek, but more regularly, Esther 4:8. (Calmet)
15:3
Death. St. Jerome subjoins, I found there "also what follows."
15:4
Day. Greek adds, "as she had finished her prayer."
Menochius
Wore. Literally, "of her ornament." But the Greek has properly, (Haydock) "of her mourning." (Menochius)
15:5
Glittering. Greek, "and was resplendent after," etc.
15:6
As if. Greek, "as being delicate. But the other followed, holding up her garment. But she, blushing in the height of her beauty, with a cheerful and most lovely countenance, felt the pressure of fear on her heart."
15:10
Haydock
Eyes. Greek adds, "with glory," with which he was surrounded. This made him at first resent the coming in of women uncalled, till he perceived Esther, and saw her fainting. (Haydock)
Capellus would represent this conduct of the king as ridiculous, and contrary to the true history. But this is false: and he improperly renders agoniasas, regem concidisse et animo defecisse; as if the king had fallen down in a swoon; whereas it only means that he experienced those sentiments of anxiety which every good husband would do on the like occasion. (Houbigant) (Chap. 5:2.)
Houbigant
Assuerus had at first only perceived the maid, who went before the queen, and the hall was very spacious. (Houbigant)
Pale. Greek, "in a fainting-fit, and she leaned upon the head of her maid, (Abra.) who was going before."
15:11
All. Greek, "being in an agony, he," etc.
Haydock
Caressed. Greek, "comforted her with words of peace, and said to her, What," etc. (Haydock)
15:12
Brother; (united by the closest bands, Canticle of Canticles 8:1.; Calmet) Greek, "Take courage, Thou," etc.
15:13
Houbigant
Others, is not expressed; (Haydock) and Esther might well suppose that she was included, as she probably was, (chap. 4:11.; Capellus) though the king now altered his mind. (Houbigant)
Calmet
Greek, "our decree is common," made for our subjects. According to the Roman law, the empress enjoyed the like privileges as her husband. (Calmet)
15:14
Then. Greek, "and taking the golden septre, he laid," etc.
15:15
Haydock
Why. Greek, "speak to me; and she said to him." (Haydock)
15:16
Haydock
Angel. The Chaldeans had the same notions as the Jews about angels; and the latter never shewed more devotion towards them than after the captivity, when the Scriptures speak more plainly on this subject. Jacob compares his brother Esau to an angel, (Calmet) or to God, Genesis 33:10. See also 1 Kings 29:9., and 2 Kings 14:17. (Haydock)
15:18
Almost. Literally, "almost dead." Greek, "she fell in a fainting fit."
15:1
G
15:3
H ch 13. v. 8.
15:4
Ves•im•nta oratus, not orn•••s, her playing w•ede.
15:8
A notable example for Noble wemen, how to kepe their state, & remaine neuer theles humble in hart.
15:16
By this comparison of angels she ment that the king excelled al or most part of men.
15:19
K ch. 5. v. •.
15:5
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.38
… And the queen feared, and her colour was changed through faintness, and she bowed herself upon the head of her maid, who went before her. And God changed him, and converted his indignation into mildness.”
15:2
Vers. 2. Thou wast nourished in my hand, — by my hand, that is by me, and my help and labour: although also properly infants are carried in the hand and bosom of nurses (such as Mordecai had been to Esther), and are nourished there. He spoke against us unto death, — that is unto death, so that he delivered us to death by the king's edict.
15:4
Vers. 4. She put off the garments of her glorious apparel — modest and sorrowful, with which she had clothed and adorned herself for mourning and penance. Whence in Greek it is: she put off the garments of mourning. And was circled about with her glory, — that is with a glorious royal crown, and other golden and jewelled garments, as being royal she clothed herself. Thus Job cap. XIX, vers. 9, says: "He hath stripped me of my glory," which he explains by adding: "And taken the crown from my head"; for Job was a king, and was crowned with a royal crown.
15:6
Vers. 6. And she leaned upon one indeed, as it were for delicacy (in Greek τρυφερευομένη, that is as it were acting delicately, conducting herself delicately) and her body, not sustaining itself through excessive tenderness. — Esther assumed this appearance of tenderness, so that through it she might move Ahasuerus to mercy. And truly she was tender and weak, both from her sex, and from fasting, and from fear; whence also she fell.
15:8
Vers. 8. She hid a sorrowful mind and contracted by excessive fear; — for she knew Darius to be terrible, and his edict concerning the slaughter of the Jews already made and promulgated, by the law of the Persians, could not be revoked; again it was capital to approach the king, unless one were called by him. Wherefore knowing that she was certainly going to face the danger of death, she was full of fear and trepidation, lest the matter turn out badly, and the king, becoming enraged, should order his edict concerning the slaying of the Jews to be carried out immediately. Whence follows.
15:9
Vers. 9. Having therefore entered through all things in order, she stood before the king. — It is probable that Esther, trembling, did not approach near to the king, but terrified by his terrible aspect stood at a distance at the door, which was opposite to the king sitting upon his throne. Whence cap. V, vers. 1, it is said that she stood "in the court of the king's house, which was before the basilica of the king."
15:10
Vers. 10. And when he had lifted up his face, and with burning eyes had shown the fury of his breast, — which he had conceived, says Josephus equally as Joseph, from the fact that Esther, not called, had entered to him contrary to law, thinking himself despised by Esther. For the kings of the Persians bore before them great, nay divine majesty, and demanded great reverence, nay even worship from their subjects, wishing to be adored as gods. It was added that Darius was by nature choleric and fierce, as is evident from what Seneca relates of him, lib. III De Ira, cap. XVI: "When," he says, "he had declared war against the Scythians encircling the East, being asked by Obazus a noble old man, that he would leave one of three sons to console the father, he would use the labour of two, more than asked he promised to remit all to him; and he put them to death in the sight of the parent, being cruel, if he had taken all away." He adds a similar account of Xerxes the son of Darius: "Who," he says, "to Pythius, when the father of five sons asked for the calling of one, permitted him to choose which he wished. Then he whom he had chosen, torn into two parts, he placed on either side of the road, and with this victim he purified his army." The queen fell down. — Some suspect that she feigned a fainting of mind, so that she might bend the king's anger. But truly the paleness, and those things which followed, indicate that it was a true fainting. For, as preceded, she herself approached contracted by excessive fear; then seeing the king in such majesty with glittering and furious eyes regarding her, struck with trembling, as if lifeless she fell. For royal majesty wonderfully strikes those approaching it. Grave men have related, who feared no one else, and were accustomed to drink with Princes and act familiarly, when they approached Philip II king of Spain to petition something, and the king fixed his eyes upon them with royal gravity, that they were confounded and became silent, and although the king courteously invited them to set forth their requests, yet they could not utter even a word.
15:11
Vers. 11. And God turned the king's spirit into mildness. — "Turned," both through the pitiful aspect of the collapsing queen, and through an internal instinct and impulse by which he bent him to compassion, so that he might change his anger into mildness and caresses. "The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, whithersoever he will he shall turn it," Prov. XXI, 2; especially because Ahasuerus saw that Esther had not approached from contempt, as he thought, but feared and revered herself exceedingly (for this is what kings seek), and therefore from reverence and fear fell and suffered a fainting.
15:12
Verse 12. What hast thou, Esther? I am thy brother. — Brother, that is, a husband who loves thee not as a husband and lord, but as a brother, companion and equal. Note that spouses are accustomed to call each other mutually brothers and sisters, and this partly for the sake of modesty and chastity, partly for benevolence and close conjugal love, especially because the first marriages of the world after Adam and Eve were of brothers and sisters. Thus the bride in the Canticles is called sister by the bridegroom: thus wisdom is called the bride of the wise man, Wisdom VIII, 2. The same beloved is named both friend and sister, Proverbs VII, 4. Finally (which is peculiar to this place), the Persians were accustomed to take sisters as wives, as testified by St. Jerome, book II Against Jovinianus. The same thing Brissonius teaches from Herodotus, Agathias, Clement of Alexandria, and Diogenes Laertius, in book II On the Kingdom of the Persians, page 214.
15:15
Verse 15. And he kissed her, — as a beloved bride, so that by these caresses he might render her as it were lifeless to himself. Esther here represents the Blessed Virgin, who, approaching Ahasuerus, that is, God angry with all mankind on account of the sins of Adam and his descendants, with two handmaids, that is, with a twofold creature, namely the angelic and the human, as St. Bonaventure says in the Mirror, chapter III. Mystically with a twofold virtue and life, namely the active and contemplative, and beseeching him, fell as it were into a swoon from sacred fear and reverence of the divine majesty; but God, caressing and kissing her, granted what she requested, namely the salvation of mankind, and therefore gave her His Son, so that, assuming flesh in her, He might become a propitiatory victim and the Redeemer of the world. This is what she herself requested, Canticles I, 1: "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth."
15:16
Verse 16. I saw thee, lord, as an Angel of God, — shining with angelic majesty and splendor, and therefore striking fear and terror in me and others. Hence Chosroes, king of the Persians, a pagan, whom the Emperor Heraclius overcame, ordered a wondrous sphere to be made beside him, in which angels stood around the king. Hear Theophanes, and from him Baronius, volume VIII, year of Christ 622: "Heraclius, having conquered Chosroes, found an abominable image of Chosroes, and an effigy of him in the form of a globe, reflected in the palace vault, as if sitting in heaven. Around were the sun, moon and stars, which that superstitious man served as gods, with scepter-bearing angels standing around him. Moreover, the impious man had prepared machines, which from that place would emit drops like rain, and produce a sound like thunder. Heraclius burned all these things, and the very temple of fire and the whole city." Behold how Chosroes affected divinity, representing Angels, thunders and lightnings which are proper to God.
15:17
Verse 17. And thy face is full of graces, — namely full of beauty, splendor, magnificence, angelic and divine majesty, rather than human. By this reverence and sweet speech Esther softened Ahasuerus, and bound him entirely to herself, so that he would grant whatever she requested.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.