The prophet complains of the wickedness of the people: God reveals to him the vengeance he is going to take of them by the Chaldeans.
The prophet lamenteth the imminent ruine of the people, by the insolent crueltie of the Chaldees: 12. especially for that the holie citie shal be ransacked by idolaters, and most wicked men.
1The burden that Habacuc the prophet saw.Annunzio grave rivelato ad Habacuc profeta.THE burden that Habacuc the prophete saw.Onus quod vidit Habacuc propheta. 2How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save?Fino a quando, o Signore, griderò io, e tu non mi esaudirai? I getterò alte strida per le violenze, ch'io patisco, e tu non darai salute?How long ô Lord shal I crie, and thou wilt not heare? shal I crie out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not saue?Usquequo, Domine, clamabo, / et non exaudies ? / vociferabor ad te, vim patiens, / et non salvabis ? 3Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful.Perchè mi fai tu vedere dinanzi a me iniquità, e dolori, rapine, e ingiustizie? E i contenziosi, e rissosi prevalgono.Why hast thou shewed me iniquitie and labour, to see praye and iniustice against me? and iudgement is made, & contradiction more mightie.Quare ostendisti mihi iniquitatem et laborem, / videre prædam et injustitiam contra me ? / Et factum est judicium, et contradictio potentior. 4Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore wrong judgment goeth forth.Per questo è straziata la legge, e non arriva al suo fine il giudizio; perocché l'empio ne può più, che il giusto; per questo i giudizj sono corrotti.For this cause is the law torne, & iudgement came not to the end: because the impious preuaileth agaynst the iust, therfore doth there come forth peruerse iudgement.Propter hoc lacerata est lex, / et non pervenit usque ad finem judicium; / quia impius prævalet adversus justum, / propterea egreditur judicium perversum. 5Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished: for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told.Gettate gli occhi sopra le genti, e osservate: resterete ammirati, e stupefatti; perocché è avvenuta una cosa a' vostri giorni, la quale da nissuno sarà creduta, quando si annunzierà;Behold ye in the nations, and see: meruel, and be astonied: because a worke is done in your dayes, which no man wil beleue when it shal be told.Aspicite in gentibus, et videte; / admiramini, et obstupescite: / quia opus factum est in diebus vestris, / quod nemo credet cum narrabitur. 6For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not their own.Perocché ecco che io farò muoversi i Caldei, gente cruda, e agile, che scorre tutta quanta la terra, per occupare le case altrui.Because loe I wil rayse vp the Chaldees, a bitter & swift nation, walking vpon the latitude of the earth, to possesse tabernacles not their owne.Quia ecce ego suscitabo Chaldæos, / gentem amaram et velocem, / ambulantem super latitudinem terræ, / ut possideat tabernacula non sua.
7They are dreadful, and terrible: from themselves shall their judgment, and their burden proceed.Ella è orribile, e tremenda: ella da se stessa semenziera, e gastigherà.It is horrible, and terrible: out of it self shal the iudgement, and the burden therof procede.Horribilis et terribilis est: / ex semetipsa judicium et onus ejus egredietur. 8Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat.I suoi cavalli son più leggeri dei pardi, e più veloci, che i lupi sul far della notte; e i suoi cavalli si spanderanno per ogni parte; i suoi cavalieri verranno da lungi, voleranno com' aquila a far suo pasto.His horses lighter then leopards, and swifter then euening wolues; and his horsemen shal be spred abrode, for his horsemen shal come from a far, they shal flie as an eagle hastening to eate.Leviores pardis equi ejus, / et velociores lupis vespertinis: / et diffundentur equites ejus: / equites namque ejus de longe venient; / volabunt quasi aquila festinans ad comedendum. 9They shall all come to the prey, their face is like a burning wind: and they shall gather together captives as the sand.Verranno tutti al bottino: la loro presenza è un vento, che arde: e metteranno insieme gli schiavi come l'arena.Al shal come to the praye, their faces a burning winde: & he shal gather together as the sand, captiuitie.Omnes ad prædam venient, / facies eorum ventus urens; / et congregabit quasi arenam captivitatem. 10And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it.E quegli trionferà dei regi, e si farà beffe de' potentati: egli si burlerà di tutte le fortezze, e alzerà la trinciera, e le espugnerà.And he shal triumph ouer kinges, & tyrants shal be his laughing flocke, and he shal laugh vpon euerie munition, and shal cast vp a mount, and shal take it.Et ipse de regibus triumphabit, / et tyranni ridiculi ejus erunt; / ipse super omnem munitionem ridebit, / et comportabit aggerem, et capiet eam. 11Then shall his spirit be changed, and he shall pass, and fall: this is his strength of his god.Allora si cangerà il suo spirito, e svanirà, e caderà: tale è la possanza di quel suo Dio.Then shal the spirit be changed, and he shal passe, & fal: this is his strength of his God.Tunc mutabitur spiritus, et pertransibit, et corruet: / hæc est fortitudo ejus dei sui.
12Wast thou not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one, and we shall not die? Lord, thou hast appointed him for judgment: and made him strong for correction.Ma non se' tu fin da principio, o Signore Dio mio, mio Santo, e noi non morremo? Signore tu hai destinato costui a far vendetta, e per correzione nostra lo hai fondato in possanza.Why wast thou not from the beginning ô Lord my God, my holie one, & we shal not dye? Lord thou hast appoynted him for iudgement: and strong to chastise, thou hast founded him.Numquid non tu a principio, / Domine, Deus meus, sancte meus, / et non moriemur ? / Domine, in judicium posuisti eum, / et fortem, ut corriperes, fundasti eum. 13Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself?Gli occhi tuoi son mondi, né tu puoi vedere il male, e tu non potrai mirare in faccia l'iniquità. Perchè volgi tu lo sguardo a que', che fanno del male, e taci allorché l'empio divorasi chi è più giusto di lui?Thine eyes are cleane, from seing euil, & thou canst not looke toward iniquitie. Why lookest thou not vpon them that doe vniust thinges, & holdest thy peace when the impious deuoureth him that is more iust then him self?Mundi sunt oculi tui, ne videas malum, / et respicere ad iniquitatem non poteris. / Quare respicis super iniqua agentes, / et taces devorante impio justiorem se ? 14And thou wilt make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping things that have no ruler.E tu fai degli uomini, come de' pesci del mare, e come degli insetti, che non hanno re.And thou wilt make men as the fishes of the sea, & as the creeping beast not hauing a prince.Et facies homines quasi pisces maris, / et quasi reptile non habens principem. 15He lifted up all them with his hook, he drew them in his drag, and gathered them into his net: for this he will be glad and rejoice.Quegli ogni cosa ha tratto fuora coll'amo, tira colla sua sagena, e ammassa colla sua rete. Di questo egli si goderà, ed esulterà:He lifted vp al in the hooke, he drew it in his traine, and gathered it into his nette: vpon this he wil be glad and reioyce.Totum in hamo sublevavit, / traxit illud in sagena sua, / et congregavit in rete suum. / Super hoc lætabitur, et exsultabit. 16Therefore will he offer victims to his drag, and he will sacrifice to his net: because through them his portion is made fat, and his meat dainty.Per questo offerirà vittime alla sua sagena, e sagrifizj alla sua rete, perchè per mezzo di queste si è accresciuta la sua porzione, e il suo cibo gradito.Therfore wil he immolate to his trayne, and he wil sacrifice do his nette: because by them his portion is fatte, and his meate chosen.Propterea immolabit sagenæ suæ, / et sacrificabit reti suo, / quia in ipsis incrassata est pars ejus, / et cibus ejus electus.
17For this cause therefore he spreadeth his net, and will not spare continually to slay the nations.Per questo stende la sua sagena, e non si resta giammai dal fare strage de' popoli.For this cause therfore spreddeth he his trayne, and alwayes to kil the nations he wil not spare.Propter hoc ergo expandit sagenam suam, / et semper interficere gentes non parcet.
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Year of the World about 3404, Year before Christ 600.
Challoner
Burden. Such prophecies more especially are called burdens, as threaten grievous evils and punishments. (Challoner)
Worthington
He says not against whom, because the menace is directed to persecutors in general. (Worthington)
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Haydock
Opposition. Septuagint, "the judge receives" bribes. (Haydock)
Such was the state of Juda after Josias, Jeremias 21:12.
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Calmet
Among. Septuagint ye despisers. St. Paul nearly agrees with this version, Acts 13:41. The copies vary, as the Hebrew has done. (Calmet)
Worthington
The apostle gives the mystical sense; the literal is very obscure. (Worthington)
God answers the prophet's complaints, and shews that the Chaldeans shall punish the guilty, and afterwards be themselves chastised.
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Calmet
Chaldeans. Nabuchodonosor was the first of this nation who attacked Joakim, and having conquered all as far as the Nile, returned to succeed Nabopolassar. He afterwards came upon Jechonias and Sedecias, etc. The prophet might have all this in view, particularly the first invasion. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Bitter; warlike, as all the Greek historians remark. (St. Jerome)
Worthington
The Chaldeans were not yet arrived at such greatness, and of course this is not the Habacuc specified [in] Daniel xiv. (Worthington)
Haydock
Yet the same prophet might foresee it. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Proceed. They admit no authority but their own. (Calmet)
Haydock
This pride will prove their ruin. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Leopards: the swiftest quadrupeds. (Calmet)
Oppian
The horses near the Euphrates were swift and warlike. (Oppian.)
Swifter. Hebrew, "sharper" (Haydock) in seeing, even when there is no moon. (Elian 10:26.)
Haydock
Evening. Septuagint, "Arabian." (Haydock)
Guevar
It may denote the hyena of that country, which is most terrible. (Guevar.)
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Calmet
Burning. Hebrew also, "eastern," which is hot, and raises the sand of Arabia so as to be very detrimental. (Calmet)
Haydock
Out of 2,000 travellers from Mecca to Aleppo, only twenty-nine escaped such a storm, or kamsin, in that vast desert, August 23, 1813. (Rock. 312.) (Haydock)
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Prince, or "it," the nation, ver. 10. Hebrew, "They," etc.
Haydock
Laughingstock, (ridicule.) Nabuchodonosor raised or deposed princes as in jest. (Haydock)
Sennacherib's officers were or had been kings, Isaias 10:8.
Calmet
Mount. Thus cities were chiefly taken, Ezechiel 4:1. (Calmet)
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Challoner
Spirit; viz., the spirit of the king of Babylon. It alludes to the judgment of God upon Nabuchodonosor, recorded [in] Daniel iv., and to the speedy fall of the Chaldean empire. (Challoner)
Worthington
It shall yield to the Medes, etc., after conquering the Assyrians. (Worthington)
Fall. Hebrew, "sin." Septuagint, "obtain pardon."
Haydock
God: "idol," Chaldean. "This is the strength of my God," Septuagint. God forced the proud king to confess that his great exploits were not to be attributed to himself or to idols. (Haydock)
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Die? We hope that this scourge will not entirely ruin us.
Correction, like Pharao, Exodus 9:16.
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Look, with approbation (Calmet) or connivance.
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Haydock
Ruler. People are subdued by Nabuchodouosor. (Haydock)
Calmet
They make little resistance. (Calmet)
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Drag, adoring his own arms and prowess, (Sanct.) like Mezentius and Capaneus: ---
Stat. x
Dextra mihi Deus, (Virgil, Aeneid x.) Te voco, te solum, superum contemptor, adoro. (Stat. x.)
Calmet
Guevare thinks fishes were adored, as they were among the Syrians. Nabuchodonosor attributed all to his own genius, or to Bel, whose statue he set up, Daniel 3:(Calmet)
Victorious nations thus honour themselves and not God.
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Worthington
Nations, of every country. (Worthington)
Calmet
Few have been so much addicted to war as Nabuchodonosor. (Calmet)
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Burden.... Such prophecies more especially are called burdens, as threaten grievous evils and punishments.
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Then shall his spirit, etc.... Viz., the spirit of the king of Babylon. It alludes to the judgment of God upon Nabuchodonosor, recorded Dan. 4., and to the speedy fall of the Chaldean empire.
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This prophet expresseth not against vvhat kingdom citie or person this burden is the reason vvherof semeth to be, because it is against very manie and diuers, yea against al persecuters of Gods seruantes.
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Concordance Act 13. v. 41.
S. Paul alleageth this place in the mystical sense Act 13 in the literal the coherence is very obscure.
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The Chaldees vvere not yet comen to their greatnes; and therfore this could not be the same Habacucmentioned. Daniel. 14. v. 32.
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After that the Chaldees shal haue subdued the Assirians, they shal also be ouerthrowne by others, to witte, by the Medes and Persians.
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The Chaldees and other victorious nations conquering other countries attribute al to their owne industrie, & forces, honoring themselues, and not God.
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Men of al nations.
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.60
… Judgment has been given against me, and the judge is a spoiler. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth. Then comes the denunciation, and what follows upon it. Behold, ye despisers, and regard, and wonder marvellously, and vanish away, for I work a work.
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.28
Habakkuk iii. 1 . Vulgate. A prayer “for sins of ignorance” (“upon Shigionoth”), supposed to be in recognition of over-boldness in
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.10
… to whom He also says, See, ye despisers, behold, and wonder and perish?
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 60.16
… I have mentioned only a few cities, but these once the capitals of no mean states. The East, it is true, seemed to be safe from all such evils: and if men were panic-stricken here, it was only because of bad news from other parts. But lo! in the year just gone by the wolves (no longer of Arabia but of the whole North
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 51.6
… “He derides every stronghold, and his fare is choice, and he hath gathered captives as the sand.”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.18
… Another has turned aside the way of the meek, and turned aside the just among the unjust; another has hated him that reproveth in the gates, and abhorred him that speaketh uprightly; another has sacrificed to his net which catches much,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.4
… wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God.” The devil looks not for unbelievers, for those who are without, whose flesh the Assyrian king roasted in the furnace. It is the church of Christ that he “makes haste to spoil.” According to Habakkuk, “His food is of the choicest.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 12.6
… nor is it (like the other vices) simply fatal to the virtue opposite to it (in this case, humility), but it is also at the same time destructive of all virtues: nor does it only tempt ordinary folk and small people, but chiefly those who already stand on the heights of valour. For thus the prophet speaks of this spirit, “His meat is choice.”
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1. THE BURDEN WHICH HABAKKUK SAW. — For burden the Septuagint renders λῆμμα, that is, an assumption, by which namely God, correcting the mind of Habakkuk with prophetic grace, and drawing it away from human things, seizes-
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2. HOW LONG, O LORD. — Some think that the Prophet foresaw the destruction of Jerusalem about to come soon by the Chaldaeans, and that he prayed earnestly and frequently to avert it; and when he saw that he was not heard, but that the sentence of destruction remained unmoved, he complains here to God about it, not from impatience, but from sorrow and compassion for his people. Thus Vatablus and Ribera. Indeed, St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Hugh and Lyran think that the Prophet said these things after Jerusalem was laid waste, and complains that God permitted it to be so devastated by the unfaithful and impious Chaldaeans. Better do St. Chrysostom, Nazianzen, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Guevara and a Castro, whom I cited in the Proem, think that the Prophet complains of the depravity of the morals of his age and of his people, namely that, although he had often besought God to restrain and check it, he was not heard, but rather saw the very crimes themselves increase and multiply. For this is what the words clearly signify, when he adds: "The law is torn in pieces; because the wicked prevails against the just, therefore judgment goes forth perverted." He speaks therefore not of the tyranny and violence of the Chaldaeans who were lawless, but of the perversity of the Jews, who violated the law which they had received from God by oppressing the just and perverting their causes and judgments. Whence the Septuagint translates: Against me judgment is made, and the judge receives. He complains therefore of the Jewish people, that, although it be faithful and chosen by God, yet it is full of force, rapine and crimes, and he torments himself because God does not purge and free it from these things. Wherefore God answers him in verse 5, that He will punish and expiate these crimes through the Chaldaeans. He says therefore: "How long, O Lord, shall I cry," that thou mayest cause these rapines and crimes to cease in thy people, "and thou wilt not hear?" that is, and thou dost not hear me continually crying, I WILL CRY OUT TO THEE SUFFERING VIOLENCE. — In Hebrew: I will cry out to thee חמס chamas, that is iniquity, as if to say: Seeing continually so many rapines and injuries, I cry out chamas at each one, and I say: Behold, O Lord, chamas, behold chamas, behold new force, behold new rapine and new crime. For each crime of my people so afflicts me that I seem to suffer violence from them. Whence the Chaldaean translates: I cry out in thy sight, is there, O Lord, with thee power to save? as if to say: I see, O Lord, in thy people and mine there is no reverence of God, no shame or fear of men, but they perpetrate injuries and iniquities with shameless face, trample upon divine and human laws, afflict and oppress the rich and powerful the poor and innocent, and scrape together their goods now by force, now by fraud; nay, and by craft or arms, seize magistrates and the helm of the commonwealth, and gain supreme power. Thou seest the same things, O Lord: why therefore art thou silent? why dost thou dissemble? why dost thou not remedy such great evils? Does thy providence sleep, thy vengeance, that thou sufferest the innocent to be oppressed, the guilty to rule? I suffer violence, I am afflicted and tormented, and I cannot bear it: for the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. Thou also sufferest violence: how dost thou bear it? thou seemest to the tyrants and the impious either unable or unwilling to defend and save the innocent. For Habacuc mourns, and the good and zealous Prophets, not only those themselves injured and suffering wrong, but also (nay rather) those themselves injuring and wronging: for, as Aristotle says: "It is a lesser injury to suffer injury; it is a greater injury to inflict injury." And Socrates in Plato's Gorgias says: "He who wrongs, and is unjust, is altogether more miserable than others; but more miserable if he never pays the penalty for his wrongs; less miserable however if he pays it, and receives just punishment from gods and men." And Cato used to say that he would rather receive no gratitude for a benefit conferred than not give punishment for a wrong committed: signifying that nothing is more dangerous than impunity, which always invites to worse things, as Plutarch relates in the Apophthegms.
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3. WHY HAST THOU SHEWN ME INIQUITY? — Some place emphasis on the word "shewn," as if this connects what follows to what precedes, meaning: Art thou so angry with thy people that it is not enough for thee not to hear my prayers and cries: thou also wishest to close my mouth, so that I cannot cry out; lest perhaps, as is thy goodness and mercy, thou shouldst turn away thy wrath. For when thou showest me so many and such great crimes of the people, and settest them before my eyes, thou dost as it were put a bridle and chains upon my lips. For who, when he sees such great iniquity of the people, and the injuries with which thy holy name is affected and continues to be affected, would dare to interpose himself as an intercessor for them, or even to come before thy sight? Dost thou therefore wish to destroy this people with no one interceding for it? Thus Martin de Roa, lib. I Singul. cap. II. Secondly and more simply, "shewn," that is, exhibited, that is, thou hast permitted to be exhibited and done, meaning: Why dost thou permit, why dost thou allow such great iniquity to be done, which, being shown and exhibited to my eyes, dreadfully torments me? AND LABOUR. — This labour can be taken passively for the pain and trouble of those suffering violence and injuries from the impious; whence the Septuagint translates: Why hast thou shewn me labours and sorrows of the afflicted? for these move me to compassion, and a like sorrow to my own; or rather actively for the affliction which the wrongdoers inflict upon the innocent. Whence the Chaldee translates: I behold those working the labour of falsehood, meaning: Why do I see the impious afflicting the pious? for it is thine, O Lord, to take vengeance upon them. Thus Vatablus and Pagninus, who for labour translate perversity. For violence and injury, and indeed any sin whatsoever in Scripture is called עמל amal, that is, labour, both because it is begun and carried on with labour, and ends in labour and pain. For how many and how great labours and pains does the avaricious man endure, running through lands and seas even to the Indies, that he may gather riches? the luxurious man, that he may satisfy lust; the gluttonous man, that he may satisfy gluttony; the wrathful man, that he may satisfy wrath and vengeance? Truly they purchase a small pleasure at great labour, which afterwards turns into eternal labours and torments; also because to others whom he either afflicts or scandalizes, he inflicts pain and labour: for the labour of the agent and wrongdoer is labour, and also the labour of the patient and one sustaining injury is labour: for these are connected and correlative; finally, because to the Prophets and holy men zealous for God and justice, the injury both active of the wrongdoer and passive of the one sustaining it, stirs up immense pain. Whence Habakkuk, explaining this labour of his, adds: TO SEE PREY AND INJUSTICE (in Hebrew chamas, that is, violence, force, injury, oppression) AGAINST ME, — that is, before me, as the Hebrew and Chaldee have it, meaning: with me seeing, groaning and resisting. Thus sin is called labour or pain, Psalm VII, 15: "Behold he hath conceived injustice, conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity." Psalm X, 7: "His mouth is full of cursing, and bitterness, and deceit: under his tongue are labour and sorrow." Psalm LIV, 11: "Day and night iniquity shall surround it upon its walls, and labour in the midst of it, and injustice." Psalm CXXXIX, 10: "The labour of their lips shall cover them," meaning: They shall be caught by their own frauds and deceitful lips, their deceits shall return upon their own head. Eccles. X, 15: "The labour of fools shall afflict them." Isaiah LIX, 4: "They have conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity." This is what the wicked, groaning on the day of judgment, shall say: "We are wearied in the way of iniquity and perdition, and have walked difficult ways, but the way of the Lord we have not known. What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us?" Wisdom V, 7. For the labour of the impious ends in greater, nay eternal pain: but the labour of the pious, though small, ends in immense and eternal joy. AND JUDGMENT IS MADE AND CONTRADICTION PREVAILS. — In Hebrew: And it shall be that strife, and contention shall exult, or shall exalt itself, so that it may become stronger, and prevail over others. For judgment in Hebrew is ריב rib, that is, litigation, quarrelling, that is, as he explains by adding, contradiction; Pagninus, contention, meaning: The perverse, who sow and press forward quarrels and disputes, are more powerful than the just, the simple and the peaceful, and they supplant and plunder them in judgment and quarrelling. Whence the Chaldee translates: Plunderers and robbers are before me, and by contention and pride they themselves prevail. Thus we often see the proud and shameless obtain by contention and quarrelling what they cannot attain by right and reason: because grave and modest men are unwilling to quarrel with them, unwilling to have their heads beaten by their importunate clamours. Whence that they may free themselves from them, they give them what they demand. Vatablus translates: Why is there one who takes up quarrel and contention? understand, against me.
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4. THEREFORE THE LAW IS TORN. — The Septuagint, the law is scattered; Vatablus, the law is weakened; the Chaldean, the law languishes; the Zurich Bible, therefore the law does not prevail, both because the wicked by their power pervert laws and rights, judgments and judges: thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Hugo and Lyra; and because the pious, seeing the wicked prevail by their impiety, languish in the study of law and piety, and incline toward the part and lot of the wicked. Thus Clarius, Arias and others. So Seneca says in Hercules Furens: Right is in arms, fear oppresses laws. And Ennius: Wisdom is taken from the midst, matters are conducted by force. They do not recover the matter by joining hands according to law, but rather by the sword. AND JUDGMENT DOES NOT REACH UNTO THE END. — Thus also the Septuagint, that is to say, On account of this power of the wicked and their perversity, judgment cannot attain its end, which is that justice may prevail and rule in the dispute, while injustice and violence are overcome and banished, so that the just may be defended and the unjust punished: so that men may live justly and peacefully, with law and justice ruling. For the end of judgment is justice, says St. Ambrose, sermon 16 on Psalm CXVIII. The Zurich Bible translates: Nor does judgment have effective execution; because the powerful and wicked hinder and pervert it by their bribes and their force and power. Secondly, Clarius, Arias and Vatablus interpret it differently, that is to say, For this reason impious men tear and violate the law, because they think that judgment will not reach them, that is, just vengeance and retribution from God, unto the end, that is, eternally; namely that God will never punish them, or that there is no God, but all things are governed by chance; or that He does not care for human affairs, or that He has entrusted them to be governed by some perverse demon. Thirdly, for unto the end in Hebrew is לנצח lanetsach, which can be translated, unto victory. Whence you may clearly translate thus: And judgment, namely just judgment, does not reach unto victory; because it is overcome and overwhelmed by prevailing injustice, namely by unjust powerful men. The first sense is the genuine one, and it is required by the Latin version and the Septuagint. BECAUSE THE WICKED PREVAILS AGAINST THE JUST (In Hebrew, because the wicked surrounds like a crown (that is, as the Zurich Bible has it, surrounds, constrains, oppresses the just), THEREFORE JUDGMENT GOES FORTH PERVERTED, — that is to say, Because the wicked oppress the pious, therefore judges and judgments are perverted, so that they bring forth unjust sentences in favor of the wicked and to the harm of the just. He repeats and emphasizes the same thing. Otherwise Vatablus, that is to say, Because men see the wicked prevailing over the pious, therefore they perversely think that God's judgment is unjust, that is, that God does not care for the just, nor punish the unjust, for the reasons stated a little before. He speaks not of Nebuchadnezzar oppressing the Jews, as St. Jerome and his followers wish; but of the Jerusalemites and Jews oppressing their own simple and poor citizens. Thus Theodoret, Theophylactus and others cited above. Here ends the Prophet's complaint concerning the tyranny and dominion of the wicked over the pious, expostulating with God: there follows God's response to it. Morally, learn here not to scrutinize, but to admire the mystery of God's judgments, by which He permits the pious to be oppressed and the wicked to prosper and rule. For many, wishing to scrutinize this and being unable to penetrate it, have fallen into such a state that they doubted God's providence, namely whether there were some divinity presiding over the universe, whether God cared for human affairs, or whether, wandering about the hinges of heaven, He neglected them and despised them as unworthy of Him. Thus Ovid, book III of the Amores, elegy VIII: When evil fates snatch away the good, forgive my confession, I am inclined to think there are no gods. Furthermore, the causes on account of which God permits these injuries and crimes of the wicked against the pious, apart from the secret ones which God keeps in His mind, are various and manifest and revealed by Him to us. First, so that He may show His longsuffering, impassibility and sublimity, namely that He is not touched, not pricked, not afflicted, not disturbed by these crimes; but in the most serene glory He stands far above the rights and wrongs of mortals. For just as the sun, illuminating sewers, is not defiled by their filth: so neither is God, who nourishes the wicked, defiled or touched by their crimes. "Just as light is illuminated by nothing, but shows itself: so God, who cannot be illuminated (nor indeed obscured) by any human works, by His divine essence alone illuminates Himself," says Philo, book I of the Monarchy. Again St. Anselm, in the book Cur Deus Homo: "God," he says, "it is impossible for Him to lose His honor. For either the sinner pays willingly what he owes, or God receives it from the unwilling. Just as man by sinning snatches what is God's, so God by punishing takes away what is man's." Second, that He may give to the pious matter for patience, constancy and virtue, while He permits them to be vexed, afflicted and tormented by the wicked. Wherefore Seneca in the book On Providence: "Nothing," he says, "is more unfortunate than he to whom nothing adverse happens: because the gods have judged badly concerning him." And again: "Those you would rightly call wretched who are torpid from excessive felicity, whom, as it were in a sluggish sea, inert tranquility holds fast." Diodorus the philosopher, according to Antonius and Maximus in the discourse On Good and Bad Fortune, used to say that it is the mark of a more excellent mind to bear misfortunes with dexterity than to govern great prosperity with prudence. For, as Epictetus says in the Enchiridion, "the fool who enjoys prosperity excessively, as though the pleasure of drunkenness, becomes more foolish." Far more excellently St. Augustine in book IV of The City of God, chapter III: "To the just," he says, "whatever evils are inflicted by wicked rulers is not the punishment of crime, but the testing of virtue. Therefore the good man, even if he serves, is free; but the wicked man, even if he reigns, is a slave: and not of one man, but, what is more serious, of as many masters as he has vices." The same, in book XIII, chapter IV: "Now," he says, "by the greater and more wonderful grace of the Savior, the punishment of sin has been converted to the uses of justice. For then it was said to man: Thou shalt die, if thou shalt sin; now it is said to the martyr: Thou shalt die, that thou mayest not sin." Again, the wicked are the rod and scourge of God, by which, as a father, He chastises and corrects the sins of His children, as He punished the sins of Christians through the Alans, Vandals and Goths: concerning which matter Salvian writes much in eight books On Providence. Thus of Sennacherib it is said in Isaiah X, 5: "Assur is the rod of My fury." Thus Attila, king of the Huns, used to say that he was the scourge of God. Thus Nebuchadnezzar was a rod watching, or, as others translate it, of the Watcher, namely God, Jeremiah I, 11. Third, because God awaits the wicked with long and divine patience for repentance, and therefore chastises them with remorse of conscience, which is no small punishment for crimes. For, as Pythagoras says according to Stobaeus, discourse 24: "The wicked man suffers more evil afflicted by conscience than he who is chastised in body and beaten with scourges." Just as therefore a boy is beaten with rods that he may amend his vice; so also the wicked man is scourged by conscience, that he may change his mind and correct his ways. But if they will not repent, at length He punishes them so severely that He compensates for the slowness of punishment by its severity. Rightly Zonaras, book III: "Even if," he says, "providence advances slowly against the unjust, by the allowance of space for repentance; yet unless they depart from malice, it overtakes them with slow step and exacts penalties." And Virgil, I Aeneid: "But hope that the gods are mindful of right and wrong." More divinely indeed the Apostle in Romans II, 4: "Knowest thou not," he says, "that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" that is, strives to lead thee: "But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath." Fourth, that He may show that all the riches, pomp and prosperity of this world are as things of little moment to be despised: for this reason He often gives them to His enemies, but denies them to His friends. Truly St. Augustine in chapter XXVII on St. Matthew: "If thou hadst," he says, "the wisdom of Solomon, if the beauty of Absalom, if the strength of Samson, if the long life of Enoch, if the riches of Croesus, if the felicity of Octavian: what do these profit, when at length the flesh is given to worms and the soul to demons, to be tormented without end with the rich man?" The same in Psalm XXXVI: "Smoke," he says, "bursting forth from the place of fire is lifted on high, and by that very elevation swells into a great globe; but the larger that globe is, the more empty it becomes: thus the wicked man, the more he is exalted, the more quickly he fails." And Constantine Manasses in the Annals, page 160: "Prosperity," he says, "is like heavy lead; if it does not find a strong man who is equal to bearing the burden, it casts him down to the earth and crushes him." And Sallust in the Catiline: "Prosperous circumstances fatigue the minds of the wise." And Tacitus in book I: "Prosperous circumstances explore the mind with sharper goads; because miseries are tolerated, but we are corrupted by felicity." Hence Menander: "The wicked man," he says, "is wretched, even if fortunate." And Publius: "The joys of the wicked quickly fall into ruin." And Ausonius: "No one blessed by crimes will be so for long." The Psalmist: "I saw," he says, "the wicked man greatly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon: and I passed by, and behold he was not: I sought him and his place was not found," Psalm XXXVI, 35. Fifth, that He permits the wicked to their own liberty, and shows how great is the force of concupiscence contracted from the fall of Adam, inasmuch as it drives men to so many robberies, violences and crimes, which harm the wrongdoer more than the wronged; and that from this mortals may recognize their own foolishness, weakness and misery, and may seek and earnestly beseech the wisdom and grace of Christ the Redeemer. Most excellently St. Athanasius, in his sermon On the Passion of the Lord: "Just as," he says, "if anyone seizes a serpent by hand, and while he strives to cast it upon another, he himself is utterly bitten: or if anyone holding fire in his hand, while he wishes to harm an enemy, does not understand that he himself is utterly burned; so malice wars against those who use it, and harms more those by whom it is held than those against whom it is directed." The same St. Augustine teaches and declares the same thing by the similitude of fire and other comparisons of a pit and poison in the Psalms, chapter XXXIV. Indeed, even Seneca: "That poison," he says, "which serpents contain without their own destruction, they pour out upon others: but malice drinks the greatest part of its own poison itself." For sin is a sweet poison, which brings bitter death to the sinner. Sin is a most bitter wound of nature. Sin is the greatest fever, plague and death of the soul. Sin is man's most hostile enemy, which separates him from God and enslaves him to the devil. "All iniquities," says St. Augustine in sermon 175 On the Seasons, "press us down as it were with certain chains, and sin strives to bind us in its nets." The same, in sermon 139: "Sin is the cause of all our evils." Sixth, that He may show the present time to be the time of working well or of meriting or demeriting. But the time to come will be that of judgment, of rewards and punishments, by which He will reform all the perverse judgments of men, correct them and restore them to equity, according to that: "When I shall receive the time of judgment, I myself will judge justices." Whence St. Augustine in Psalm VII: "Let no one," he says, "congratulate a man who prospers in his life, whose sins lack an avenger and have a praiser. This is greater wrath of the Lord: for the sinner has provoked the Lord, so that he suffers this, that is, so that he does not suffer the scourges of correction." And St. Gregory in book V of the Morals: "God," he says, "strikes some things and leaves some things unavenged. For if He cut down nothing, who would believe that God cares for human affairs? and again if He struck all these things, where would the final judgment remain?" A wise man has said that the glory which awaits the holy and patient is so great that it is a wonder that all demons and wicked men, and even stones and elements, do not rise up against them and afflict and torment them, so that they might merit such great glory; on the other hand, the punishments which await the wicked are so great that it is a wonder they do not abound in the greatest delights, and all things are not turned to honey and roses for them, so that some small pleasure might weigh against the weight of hell. For just as the sufferings of this time are not condign to the future glory which shall be revealed in the saints; so the pleasures and pomps of this world are not condign to the future hell which shall be revealed in the wicked and the damned. Therefore a prudent man will rather feel compassion for their present happiness than envy it.
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5. BEHOLD AMONG THE NATIONS — that is, behold the nations, as the Chaldean translator rendered it: for the Hebrews construct words of contact, or adhesion, whether corporeal or spiritual, such as sight, with beth, that is, in, governing the ablative or accusative. Here God responds to the complaint of Habakkuk, why He permits the impious Jews to prevail over the pious. He responds that He will not permit this for long, but will soon punish them through the Chaldeans: and this is the burden which he saw, and which Habakkuk prefixed as it were as a title to his prophecy. You will ask, what are these nations which He commands to be beheld? First, St. Jerome with his followers, thinking these words were spoken after Jerusalem was destroyed for the consolation of the Jews, takes the nations to be the Moabites, Ammonites, Egyptians, and others whom Nebuchadnezzar subdued, as if to say: Do not marvel, O Jews, that you were destroyed by the Chaldeans, for by the same people were destroyed all other nations neighboring you, which were far superior to you in strength, number and glory. Second and genuinely, these nations are the Chaldeans: for these are the burden which God threatens against the wicked Jews, as if to say: Do not complain, O Habakkuk, about the wickedness of the Jews, as if I would leave it unpunished: for I will punish it immediately. Behold the nations and armies of the Chaldeans, which I bring to destroy the impious Judea. Thus the authors cited in verse 2. Whence, explaining these nations, he adds: "For behold I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter nation," etc. Note: For in the nations the Hebrew is בגוים baggoim, and thus read Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, the Chaldean and Our translator, who all render it, in the nations. But the Septuagint reads בגדים bogedim, namely reading the letter ד in place of ו; bogedim moreover signifies contemners and transgressors; or, as others according to St. Jerome render it, slanderers, or those who turn aside. The Septuagint is followed by St. Paul in Acts XIII, 40, saying: "See therefore lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the Prophets: Behold ye contemners, and wonder, and perish." You will ask, which reading is here genuine and canonical? Ribera and others respond that the true reading is baggoim, that is, in the nations; because thus read Our translator, Aquila, and many others already cited; the reading of the Septuagint, however, namely bogedim, although it is less literal, yet agrees with the sense of the prophetic words: because from what precedes and follows it is clear that this is said of contemners, namely the Jews, who despised the laws of God and justice. But this response does not satisfy, because from it follows that the Septuagint and St. Paul, following them, used not the true, but a false reading of Holy Scripture: for in place of baggoim, which is the true reading, they read bogedim; whence it follows that their version is not genuine, nor canonical; indeed it is distorted and corrupted. For in place of in the nations, as the text of Scripture has it, they substituted contemners. Others add other things, but do not untie the knot, indeed they tangle it more. Second, others respond that nations here mean the same as contemners, as if to say: "Behold in the nations," that is behold the nations, namely the Jews, who like the nations despise law and right. This response would be fitting, if contemners were in the accusative case: but now it is in the nominative, as is evident from the Greek καταφρονηταί. Hence third, you would better respond that the Hebrew Scripture was variable, or certainly ambiguous, and this by the intention of the Holy Spirit wishing both to be trans- You will say that in these places only the vowel points are changed, but the same consonants remain, which alone the Hebrews esteem; here however in baggoim and bogedim, the consonants themselves are changed, namely vav into daleth. I respond first, the change is equally great whether you change vowels or consonants; for between mitta and matte there is as great a difference of pronunciation and meaning as between a bed and a rod; between kieb and keab as great as between he scourges and as a father; second, in Hosea XIII, 14, Our translator reads אהי ehi, that is, I shall be; whence he renders: "I will be thy death, O death!" But the Septuagint, and from them St. Paul in I Corinthians XV, 55, read with the consonants changed, that is transposed, איה aie, that is, where, whence they render: "Where is, O death, thy victory?" And yet both readings and versions are canonical. Thus in Isaiah VIII, 9, Our translator reads רעו rou, through res, that is, be gathered together; but the Septuagint reading דעו deu, through daleth, render, know ye. Thus in Isaiah III, 12: "Women have ruled over them;" for נשים nascim, that is, women, the Septuagint and Aquila read נגשים nogescim, that is, exactors, usurers. Thus in Lamentations II, 7, Our translator reads נאץ niets, that is, he despised: "He hath cursed his sanctuary;" but the Septuagint reading אור mer, render: He cast off, he rejected his sanctuary. Leo Castrius cites many things in the Prolegomena to Isaiah, chapters XXIII and XXIV. Where he also adds that, since there is a double reading in the Hebrew, each reading presents admirable mysteries; and therefore it happened from the abundance of the Holy Spirit that in many places there is intentionally a double reading, so that there might be a double sense, and a double mystery might be revealed. St. Augustine adds in book XVIII of the City of God, chapter XLIV, that the Seventy did not translate certain things from themselves and their own understanding, but from the instinct of the Holy Spirit, otherwise than they are in the Hebrew. For writing about the place of the prophet Jonah, which the Seventy translate thus: After three days Ninive shall be overthrown; whereas in Hebrew it is read thus: After forty days Ninive shall be overthrown, he adds here that two mysteries were signified by the Holy Spirit, one through the Seventy, another through the Hebrew by the prophet Jonah (whence he seems to hold, as other grave men have held, that the Seventy themselves had the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and wrote from His inspiration, and therefore were themselves as it were prophets and hagiographic writers), namely that the Seventy signified that Christ would rise after three days; but the Hebrew, that He would ascend into heaven after forty days: "In forty," he says, "seek Him, in which you will also be able to find three days; you will find that in the ascension, this in His resurrection." The same is found in book I, Questions on Genesis, chapter CLXIX. Thus here for "in the nations" the Seventy translate "contemners," because in their manner they regard the times of Christ and censure the Jews, who were to be contemners of Christ and the Gospel, and this from the occasion taken from the proximity of the Hebrew words baggoim and bogedim; especially because baggoim can be expounded thus, so that it is the same as bogedim in the nominative, namely if you interpret thus: Behold, O Jews, who are baggoim, that is in the nations, that is like the nations, bogedim, that is contemners of God and men. Wherefore if you admit each reading, you will very aptly arrange each thus: behold contemners, that is bogedim, in the nations, that is baggoim, that is, who among the nations and like the nations, nay rather before the nations despise the laws and commands of God. Or rather, as if to say, Behold, O Jews, contemners of God, in the nations, that is the nations, namely the Chaldeans, who will drive you Judea out; likewise the nations which in the time of Christ will expel you from the Church, and from the blessing and inheritance of Abraham, namely from faith, salvation and the election of God. And so the sense of the version of the Seventy and of St. Paul here is this. The Prophet accuses the impious Jews, perverting right and law, of audacity and contempt toward the Lord, as St. Jerome says, in that they dared to despise the majesty of God, as if it did not care for its own laws, nor would punish their violators; for thus they acted freely against others, as if there were no providence, no divinity to avenge the injuries of the innocent, as if to say, You, O Jews, who are contemners of God and men, behold the horrible work of vengeance, by which I will punish this contempt of yours. For I will bring the Chaldeans, ADMIRE AND BE ASTONISHED. — In Hebrew התמהו תמהו hittammehu temahu, that is, as Pagninus says, admire, admire, that is greatly admire and be astonished; for the doubling of the same verb among the Hebrews signifies the vehemence of the action, and as it were a superlative degree. The Seventy and from them St. Paul translate: "Admire and be destroyed," because they read ח for ה, namely they read תמחו timchu or temachu for תמהו temahu, that is be destroyed, perish. For timchu is the future tense from the root מחה macha, that is he destroyed, he dispersed. You see here again a double reading and version, plainly diverse; namely temahu, that is admire; and timchu, that is be destroyed, each canonical. Now be destroyed, that is be destroyed and blotted out, both you by the Chaldeans, and your descendants by Titus and the Romans. WORK. — Namely of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem and the temple, and the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, to be accomplished through Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans. Whence explaining he adds: "Behold I will raise up the Chaldeans." Which allegorically was a type and prelude of the destruction of Jerusalem to be made by the Romans, and of the spiritual desolation, that is the blinding and reprobation of the Jews to be in the time of Christ, as St. Paul teaches in Acts XIII, 41. Leo Castrius adds, in book V of the Apology, number 147, that by the Chaldeans the Romans are to be understood literally, the devastators of the Jews in the time of Christ; because, he says, St. Paul explains this passage concerning the Romans in Acts XIII. But this is scarcely probable. For St. Paul and the other Apostles not rarely cite the Prophets in the sense, not literal, but allegorical. It shall be done,—that is, it shall soon come to pass. He speaks prophetically, namely of the future by means of the past, on account of the certainty of the future, as if it had already been done. What no one will believe when it is told.—The Hebrew and the Septuagint: what you will not believe if it be told, or if anyone shall tell it, namely before it comes to pass. For when it does come to pass, you will not only believe, but will also behold it with your eyes. Namely, the Jews could not believe that the temple of God and the holy city, to be delivered by God himself to the unfaithful and impious Chaldeans, would be utterly destroyed and burned by them. For this seemed to them so strange and unexpected that it surpassed all belief; indeed, they would sooner believe that heaven would fall. Hence those cries of theirs resounded against the threats of the Prophets: "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord is," Jer. VII, 4.
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6. For behold I will raise up the Chaldeans,—"I will raise up," namely indirectly and objectively, that is, by adding courage, arms, and allies to the Chaldeans; and you, O Jews, by stripping you of these, so that they themselves devour you and yours with sure hope; and I am ordaining this directly for your just punishment and deserved chastisement. See Canons XXXV and XXXVI, which I prefixed to the Major Prophets. The word "I will raise up" has emphasis, as if to say: The Chaldeans are idle, indulging in leisure and sleep, they do not think of invading Judea; behold, I will rouse them from this idleness and sleep; for I will inject into them the thought of Judea's riches, of the crimes that provoke my wrath, of their weakness to resist, and other similar things, which will stir up the Chaldeans to desire to attack it with war. A bitter nation,—that is, fierce and savage, which travels about and goes around with its arms, and subdues for itself the breadth of the whole earth, namely all the regions adjacent in the circuit, so that they not only plunder them, but also "possess" them stably, as if "tents," formerly "not theirs," now truly theirs, as having been captured by war. Truly did the Poet say: Wickedness arms the wicked against the wicked.
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7. Terrible.—The Septuagint: illustrious; for the Hebrew נורא nora signifies both. For if you derive it from the root ראה raa, that is, he saw, it is the same as visible, conspicuous, illustrious; but if you derive it from the root ירא iare, that is, he feared, it is the same as terrible, as the Zurich version renders it. From itself judgment, and its burden shall go forth.—For burden the Hebrew is שאת seet, which first, Symmachus rendered δόγμα, that is, decree; the Chaldean, a definite sentence; second, Vatablus, excellence and magnificence, as if to say: The glory and greatness of empire, which it shall obtain, shall go forth from itself, not from without; that is, the Chaldean nation shall obtain the dominion of the world by its own virtue, not by foreign resources and strength; third, Our translator with the Septuagint better renders it, burden, or weight; for seet, or משא mussa, properly signifies this, from the root נשא nasa, that is, he bore, he carried. Now St. Jerome, Remigius and Lyra take this burden passively, as if to say: The Chaldeans prepare for themselves judgment and burden, namely God's vengeance and destruction, which they themselves shall bear. For just as they burden others with their calamities,
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8. LIGHTER THAN LEOPARDS ARE HIS HORSES. — The leopard is a fierce and spotted animal, whose female is called a leopardess and panther, concerning which Pliny writes in book X, chapter LXXIII: "Leopards lie in wait in the same Africa in dense trees, and hidden in its branches they leap down upon those passing by, and they prey from the seat of birds." Thus leopards in Brazil leap down from trees upon passing Portuguese soldiers and tear them apart, which our Fathers who lived a long time in Brazil told me at Rome. Hence by Claudian leopards are called thunderous; because like lightning they rush down from on high upon things below. Thus Alexander the Macedonian, who was the thunderbolt of war (whom therefore Apelles painted holding in his hand the lightning striking the world; because he traversed and subjugated it most swiftly and powerfully), Daniel chapter VII, verse 6, is compared to a leopard, as I explained more fully there. Where note politically and morally: in battles and in accomplishing any matters whatsoever, speed accomplishes much, so that what you have deliberated upon maturely, you execute swiftly. Whence Alexander, being asked by what means he had obtained the empire of the world, replied: "By delaying nothing," that is, by speed, by which like lightning he struck down and destroyed all things. Thus Julius Caesar, when he had conquered Pharnaces in the first encounter, writes Plutarch in the Apophthegms, sent word to friends: "I came, I saw, I conquered." Which the Emperor Charles V, having obtained a most swift victory over the German heretics, used more piously thus: "I came, I saw, God conquered," indicating the supreme swiftness of the deed accomplished. SWIFTER THAN EVENING WOLVES. — For swifter the Hebrew is חדו chaddu, that is, sharper (whence the Arabic Antiochene translator rendered it, sharper than deaf men and honey flies; but this is beside the point: for we are not dealing with deaf men and flies here, but with leopards and wolves) both in teeth and appetite, for tearing and rending prey; whence the Zurich Bible translates it, more greedy; then in feet and running. Whence Our translator with the Septuagint most excellently renders it, "swifter." It is a metaphor from sharp swords, which are accustomed to pass lightly and swiftly through the thing they cut, says Vatablus, or rather from sharp arrows, which swiftly cut through the air and fly across. You will ask, what are evening wolves? Many, with Gesner in his work on the Hyaena, think they are a certain species of wolves, which under evening is more famished, and therefore then preys and rages more. Guevara holds them to be hyaenas. There is a twofold kind of wolves, he says: one which is commonly called wolf, the other which is called hyaena: the former under dawn, as soon as digestion is completed, begins to hunger; the latter exercises plunder by night, because it has dull and darkened eyes, and therefore sees better by night than by day: For indeed day is night to it, and it follows dark shadows everywhere, wearied by the bright light, says Oppian in book III of his work On Hunting. For the hyaena is crueler, more voracious and more cunning (whence also it changes into a thousand colors, if we believe Pliny in book XI, chapter XXXVII) than the wolf, and an implacable enemy of dogs. It also imitates human vomit, so as to allure dogs; and devours them when solicited by false retching. It also lays snares for man and follows the folds of shepherds, and by constant hearing learns their voice, which it can express by imitation of human speech, so that it may rage upon man drawn in by cunning at night. So much is it greedy for human flesh, that it even digs up graves and tears out corpses. Thus Pliny in book VI, chapter XXX, Solinus in his Polyhistor chapter XL, and others. The Septuagint and the Arabic Alexandrian translator, reading ערב ereb, that is, evening, with other points as ערב arab, translate it, wolves of Arabia, that is, wolves who are plunderers and robbers. For the Arabs were infamous for brigandage: hence Arab is taken for plunderer, just as Canaanite for merchant, Boeotian for dull, Chaldean for soothsayer, says Delrio. For, as Aristotle says in his work On the Marvels of Nature Heard, there is in Arabia a certain kind of hyaena, which when it foresees a beast or man, causes them to swell up, and thus to stick in their tracks, so that bodies re- One thing stands against this opinion, namely that hyenas are not wolves, but a species of animal different from wolves. Guevara responds that hyenas are also reckoned under the name of wolves. He proves this from Oppian, book III On Hunting, whose Greek verses John Bodinus rendered into Latin thus: Now two, Goddess, relate the destructive kinds of wolves, Armed with serrated teeth bearing weapons: Namely the slayers of sheep (common wolves) and blind hyenas. However, as Ribera rightly observes, the word "wolves" is not in the Greek. Oppian therefore merely wishes to say that in extreme Ethiopia there are two kinds of beasts which have serrated teeth, namely the wolf and the hyena. Yet it could be said in favor of Guevara that hyenas, although properly they are not wolves, are nevertheless referred to them. Whence Gesner in his work on the Wolf, among beasts akin to the wolf, numbers hyenas, lynxes (which are also called Canary wolves), panthers, lycaons, and thoes, which are generated from the hyena and wolf. For the hyena is similar to the wolf, says Philoponus, and from him Niphus. And Aristotle in book VI of the History of Animals, chapter XXXII: "The hyena," he says, "is nearly the color of a wolf, but more hairy and furnished with a mane throughout the whole back." Wherefore the Arabs call the hyena alzabo, which is the same as the Hebrew זאב zeeb, that is, wolf; for al is the article, which the Arabs commonly prefix to nouns. For many things are common to the wolf and hyena, namely first, size; second, color; third, voracity; fourth, the snares which they lay for other animals, the former for flocks of sheep and goats, the latter for dogs and sometimes for man. Second, others here commonly understand wolves properly so called, and think the Chaldean horsemen are compared to them. For wolves are noble, fierce and treacherous, says Aristotle. Whence Isidore in book XII of the Origins, chapter II, thinks wolves are called as it were leopos, because, as in lions, in those feet is their strength; for whatever they press with their feet, they kill. Moreover wolves are most voracious and almost insatiable: they devour rather than eat: they swallow hairs and bones, and these they return whole again from the belly. Now "evening" is a common epithet of wolves: for these prowl in the evening and at night. Whence Virgil in the Georgics I: Through the night the cities resound with howling wolves. Whence also the wolf in Greek is called λυκός, that is, shining. For his eyes, like those of a goat, shine and cast forth light at night, thus Pliny in book XI, chapter XXXVII. Wolves therefore are called evening wolves, because by day on account of fear of hunters they rest fasting in their dens; whence in the evening and at night, maddened by hunger, they go forth to prey, and tear and devour whatever they meet. Thus St. Jerome. Others moreover, more voracious, having consumed the evening prey at night, go forth again to prey in the morning, and can be called morning wolves. Furthermore, how great is the ferocity of wolves at night, Virgil graphically describes in book IX of the Aeneid: And as when a wolf, lying in wait at a full sheepfold, Rages at the pens, having endured winds and rains, In the middle of the night, the lambs safe beneath their mothers Exercise their bleating: he, rough and wicked with anger, Rages against the absent: the collected madness of eating Wears him out from long hunger and his dry jaws with blood. In the evening therefore the wolf is most acute, most bold and most savage, inasmuch as he wishes to satisfy not only his hunger but also his cruelty. Whence at night he covers many miles, and when he reaches a sheepfold or other prey, he goes around all places, tries all entrances, runs about everywhere, looks around at everything, so that he may break in and gain possession of the prey. Hence Jeremiah chapter V, 6, calls the evening wolf, the wolf at evening, namely raging and prowling: and Oppian in book I On Hunting calls the wolf νυκτιπόρον, that is, one who walks at night. All these things are easily adapted allegorically to the devil, and tropologically to gluttony and wickedness: for the evening wolf is the symbol, image and example of both. For the devil too is nocturnal and walks in darkness, Psalm XC, 5 and 6. Whence in Compline the Church admonishes and sings that verse. The Parthian held the standards, the glory of Roman war, And the Roman eagle's standard-bearer was the enemy. And Lucan in book I: When the well-known eagles shone forth, and the Roman standards. Hence Ezekiel chapter IX, and Jeremiah often call Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans eagles. Note: In the leopards of the Chaldeans he indicates savagery, in the wolves voracity, in the eagles rapacity. Wherefore Jeremiah in the same chapter V, verse 6, compares them to a lion, leopard and wolf. "Therefore," he says, "a lion from the forest hath smitten them, a wolf at evening hath laid waste them, a leopard watching over their cities." Moreover, he aptly compares the horsemen and horses of the Chaldaeans to a leopard, wolf, and eagles; because the war-horses of the Chaldaeans are swift in speed, fierce in spirit, and become more ferocious through the custom of conquering; they delight in shed blood, and exult when they hear the sound of trumpets and horns, as Job says in chapter XXXIX, 21, and Virgil in book III of the Georgics: If arms have given forth any sound from afar, He cannot stand in place, his ears quiver, and his limbs tremble, And pressing together he rolls the collected fire beneath his nostrils. And he adds that the horses of the Chaldaeans excel others: Armenian horses surpass those of Sicily, and Parthian horses surpass those at the waves of the Euphrates. Oppianus teaches the same thing more clearly, saying: Those who dwell at the green waves of the Euphrates use great-souled horses in the wars of lions. Their eyes gleam with a pale light, and great strength in the breast Brings forth bold spirits to fierce battles. There is added the swiftness of running, and because they can intrepidly endure the roar of a lion and its proud voices: When other fierce sounds cannot bear to be tolerated. St. Peter says: "Brethren, be sober and watch; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour." For in the evening he urges men toward gluttony, lust, quarrels, and murders; whence the Poet: Night and love, and wine counsel nothing moderate: That lacks shame, and Bacchus and love lack fear. It is added that the devil often transforms himself and his magicians into a wolf; for such are the lycanthropes, namely men who through magic by the aid of a demon transform themselves into the form and likewise the ferocity of wolves, and attack and tear apart sheep and men, concerning which Delrio says much in his work on Magic. Hence also the Gentiles thought that remedies against sorceries were provided through wolves. Whence Pliny in book XXVIII, chapter X: "Against sorceries," he says, "they say that the aged snout of a wolf resists, and for this reason they fix it before the doors of farmhouses. The same thing is thought to be provided by the skin from the solid neck; for such is the power of the animal, besides what we have related, that its footprints, when stepped upon by horses, bring about torpor." Hence also it is commonly believed that a wolf makes a man hoarse or speechless if it sees him first. Whence that passage of Virgil in eclogue IX: The voice itself of Moeris now flees; wolves saw Moeris first. Where Servius clearly teaches this, and Isidore in book XII of the Origins, chapter 11, who also adds: "Whence also to one suddenly silent it is said: A wolf in the story. Certainly if he perceives himself to have been seen first, he will put aside the boldness of his ferocity." And Pliny in book VIII, chapter XXII: "In Italy also it is believed," he says, "that the sight of wolves is harmful, and takes away the voice from a man whom they first behold." Thus the devil closes the mouth of the sinner, by injecting shame and fear, so that he may not confess his sin, and seek pardon, or aid, or counsel for his evil. Moreover the devil, like a hyena and wolf, feeds on the corpses and deaths of men; he lies in wait for dogs, that is, preachers, so that with them overthrown or removed, he may seize the sheep. Hence also he imitates their voices, while he transfigures himself into an angel of light. For he deceives many wise men by the appearance of good, by which he conceals his frauds. Evening wolves therefore are tropologically demons, says St. Jerome. Likewise rapacious prelates and judges. Furthermore heretics: for Christ compares these to wolves in Matthew VII, 15, who, clothed in the skins of sheep, deceive the unwary, and by the appearance of truth, spread darkness. Hence also they are accustomed to celebrate their assemblies in the evening. For heretics, like famished and gaping wolves, circle the folds of the Church, so that they may tear the faithful from them and destroy them, and after the manner of Arabs they depopulate the territories and kingdoms of Catholics with robberies and murders, as we have seen them do in our age in England, Scotland, Holland, France, Hungary, etc. THEY SHALL FLY AS AN EAGLE, — which is rapacious and fierce, swoops down swiftly from on high upon a hare or other prey with force "like a machine," that is, a cannon, when it hurls forth a ball, says Isidore in book XII, chapter VII. He alludes to the eagles, which the Chaldaeans carried before them on their standards.
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9. ALL SHALL COME TO PLUNDER. — Tigurinus: Whoever of them comes to this, that he may use force; Vatablus: All shall come to plunder, namely that they may despoil the Jews; Pagninus: The whole nation shall come on account of plunder. Morally St. Augustine in Psalm CXXIII: "For this reason," he says, "the greater robber seeks you, because he found you the lesser: for this reason the greater eagle seeks you, because you first seized the hare: you were prey to the lesser, you shall be prey to the greater." THEIR FACE A BURNING WIND. — Understand a mark of similitude, as it were, or in the manner of, that is to say, the Chaldaeans like a burning wind, or rust, shall dry up and lay waste all things. Pagninus translates: Against the faces of them they shall come toward the East; the Chaldee: Their appearance is very like a vehement wind, which gathers AND SHALL GATHER AS SAND, CAPTIVITY, — as if to say: As the wind in Judaea gathers sands, so the Chaldaeans from the same shall gather captives. Thus the Chaldee and Tigurinus. He hints that there shall be very many captives, as sand is very abundant. It is a metonymy; for the abstract is put for the concrete, captivity for captives. Thus Christ ascending in triumph to heaven is said to have led captivity captive, that is, to have led captive the holy ones, whom he snatched from the captivity of the devil and made his own, now in a better condition as captives, namely in that he asserted them in the liberty of the sons of God, Ephesians IV, 8. Note: He now speaks of the Chaldaeans in the plural, saying: they shall be scattered, they shall fly, they shall come; now in the singular, saying: he shall gather, he shall triumph, he shall carry off, understanding the army, or certainly their leader and king, namely Nebuchadnezzar. All these things are easily adapted tropologically to the devil, whose minister and scourge was Nebuchadnezzar: for he raged like a leopard, wolf and eagle, and captures very many, and plunges them into the abyss, playing and laughing.
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10. And he, — namely Nebuchadnezzar, prince of the Chaldaean nation. Note: Scripture speaks now of the nation, now of its prince in a mixed manner. For these are politically one, namely one army, one empire, which entirely depends on its prince, as the whole body depends on the head. This is true in wars, where the cause of victory is an spirited, vigilant and wise commander. Whence that celebrated saying: "An army of deer led by a lion is stronger than an army of lions led by a deer." THE TYRANTS SHALL BE A MOCKERY TO HIM, that is to say, — Nebuchadnezzar shall hold kings and princes in derision, shall make them his jesters, grooms, indeed footstools of his feet; as Sapor did to the Emperor Aurelian, and Tamerlane to Bajazet the Emperor of the Turks. Thus St. Jerome. Secondly, "mockery," or, as in Hebrew, laughter to him: because he himself, most powerful, shall deride their arms and forces. Whence explaining, he adds: HE HIMSELF SHALL LAUGH AT EVERY FORTIFICATION, — that is to say, He himself shall despise any fortifications, as if laughing and playing he shall storm them. Thus Theodoret, Vatablus and Arias. Significantly the Septuagint translates: Tyrants shall be his zaiyna, that is, mockeries, as when the Emperor Zeno, defeated in battle, said: "Man is the mockery of God." The Syriac and Arabic: He himself shall deride kings, and shall scoff at princes. HE SHALL CAST UP A MOUND, AND SHALL TAKE IT. — A mound is called an aggerata, that is, heaped up earth, according to that passage of Virgil, Aeneid IX: "And they fill the ditches with a mound." Where Servius: "A mound," he says, "is a heaping up of any thing, whence ditches or valleys can be filled." Habakkuk signifies especially the mound, which the Chaldaeans carried for thirteen years around Tyre, that they might fill the sea which surrounded it, and thus make it from an island into a continent, which they could invade and storm on foot, as they finally did, concerning which I have spoken at Ezekiel XXIX, 18. Again, commanders are accustomed, when they measure out camps, to surround them and fortify them against the assaults of enemies with a mound, that is, a rampart and ditch like a city. Whence Virgil in book VII of the Aeneid: And first on the shore he establishes the seat of the camp in the manner of a fortress, encircling it with wings and a mound. Moreover they are accustomed to besiege and attack cities by means of mounds. Whence Cicero in his letter to Cato, book XIII: "I surrounded with a rampart and ditch: I enclosed with six strongholds and very great camps: I attacked with a mound, with mantlets, with towers." Thus Virgil in book VI of the Aeneid calls the Alps mounds, that is, walls and fortifications of Italy. In Hebrew for mound is עפר aphar, that is, dust, which Christopher a Castro thus explains, that is to say, Nebuchadnezzar shall make very high mounds from dust, so that by its sprinkling, with the blast of an opposing wind made, he may overwhelm and kill the eyes, nostrils and throats of those resisting; by which art Plutarch narrates in his Life that Sertorius stormed the Charatini. Wherefore it is a military axiom, "the commander must capture the sun and the wind," that he may have both favorable to himself and adverse to the enemy. Yet our version is better, and signifies the common mound of camps: for this is made from earth, dust, stones, wood and every thing. Add, that the Hebrews call aphar, that is, dust, any earth whatever. Whence Adam is said to have been made from dust, that is, from earth, according to that passage of Genesis III, 19: "Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return."
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11. Then shall his spirit be changed, — that is to say, Nebuchadnezzar, exalted by so many victories, shall not contain himself, but shall assume a lofty spirit, thinking himself to be some invincible deity, and therefore shall wish to be adored in the golden statue which he shall erect, and shall compel all to adore it, Daniel III, 1. Wherefore, God avenging, his human spirit shall be changed into a bestial one, so that from a man he becomes as it were an ox, and therefore shall be cast out from his kingdom, shall pass away and fall, and as a quadruped shall live his life in the forests with wild beasts, Daniel IV, 30. Thus St. Jerome, Albert and Lyra. In like manner, on account of so many victories and such a great monarchy, the spirit of the Chaldean nation shall be changed into pride and arrogance, and therefore its empire shall pass away and shall fall in Belshazzar, to be destroyed by Cyrus and the Persians, say Arias and Vatablus. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it: Because of the exaltation of his spirit the kingdom was transferred. Otherwise the Septuagint: Then shall he change his spirit, and shall pass through, and shall be merciful: This is the strength of my God. Which Theodoret thus explains, that is to say, When God has sufficiently chastised the Jews through the Chaldeans, then shall he change his wrath into mercy, and shall be merciful, and shall soften the harshness, namely when he shall bring Cyrus the liberator, who shall give invincible strength, and thence most glorious victories. AND SHALL FALL. — In Hebrew אשם ascham, that is, first, shall transgress; second, shall expiate the transgression, by metonymy, by which transgression and sin in Leviticus often signifies the victim for sin: whence the Septuagint renders it, shall be merciful; third, ascham, in Hebrew is often put for the cognate shamam, that is, to fail, to be desolate, to fall: for guilt and punishment are cognate, or transgression and desolation: for this is the inseparable companion of that, just as the executioner is of the condemned man, whom he leads to punishment; whence Our translator rightly, with Aquila and Symmachus, renders for shall transgress, shall fail, shall fall, especially because failure and ruin are transgression and sin, not of custom and vice, but of nature. From these three meanings a threefold version and interpretation arises here. First indeed the Chaldean translator renders: He transgressed and sinned, because he multiplied glory to his god; namely because he abundantly worshipped his own gods, not the true God. Second, the Septuagint: Then shall he change his spirit, and shall pass through, and shall be merciful: this is the strength of my God, that is to say, as St. Jerome says: God, the vengeance of the Jews through the Chaldeans being accomplished, shall change the spirit of wrath into a spirit of mercy: whence he shall pass through them, and shall not punish them further, but being sufficiently punished shall be merciful to them. Third, most excellently Our translator renders, "and shall fail," or shall fall, according to the sense assigned a little before. For thus ascham, that is, to transgress, often signifies to fail; as: "And they shall not fail," that is, shall not be wanting, "all who hope in him," Psalm XXXIII, 23. Similar is Ezech. VI, 6, in the Hebrew, Joel I, 18, and elsewhere. THIS IS THE STRENGTH OF HIS GOD, — which namely he boasts to be the strength of his god, which he attributes to his god, that is to say, So weak, small and brief is the strength, the victories and triumphs of Nebuchadnezzar, which he himself ascribes to his god, namely Bel. For, as I said a little before, all this shall immediately fall in Belshazzar, when he is slain by Cyrus. It is irony and sarcasm, or hostile mockery. Otherwise according to Castro, that is to say, Nebuchadnezzar, exalted by victories, shall grow proud, and shall fall into crime, so that, forgetting the true God, he shall attribute the victories obtained to the strength of his god Bel. The Septuagint renders: This is the strength to my God, which Theodoret thus explains: The prophet, he says, marveling at God's mercy, changed from wrath in Cyrus the liberator of the Jews, exclaims: This is the strength of my God. To thee alone, O Lord, belongs the power both of punishing at will and of changing vengeance into mercy. But the Hebrew texts have, of his god, and the Chaldean, of his idol. Wherefore our version and explanation is more genuine. Whence also the Syriac renders: His strength shall be overcome with his god; the Arabic: His strength shall obey God, not his false one, but the true God of Israel.
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12. ART THOU NOT FROM THE BEGINNING, O LORD? — The prophet, after the prophecy concerning the strength and tyranny of the Chaldeans and the destruction of the Jews by them, here grieving and lamenting over this, turns himself to prayer and beseeches God to avert so great a slaughter of the Jews, and not to permit these threats to be fulfilled, but to have mercy upon His people and spare them, as if to say: Thou, O Lord, art our God, thou art holy and worshipped by us in thy holy temple. Thou art that holy one of ours from ancient times, who didst love our fathers and didst choose their seed after them. Thou art he who didst make a holy covenant with them and didst promise holily that thou wouldst be their God and that of their posterity. Thou didst sanctify us to thyself as a people, and didst set us apart from other gentile nations, unbelieving and impious, as thy peculiar possession, and didst adorn us with thy holy law, prophets, sacrifices, miracles and many benefits, and didst bind us most strictly to thee and to thy holiness: thou wilt not therefore suffer us to be laid waste by the impious Chaldeans: wherefore thee, as we hope and beseech, protecting us, "we shall not die," as they threaten. Otherwise John of Alba, on the Elect, cap. LXIV: "Art thou not from the beginning?" A is put, he says, for before, as if to say: Thou art before all the beginning of things, thou art eternal. And because eternal signifies to the Hebrews that which is great in its kind, hence to be from the beginning, or to be eternal, signifies to be most powerful. And eternal can also be taken for merciful, as if to say: Art thou not, O Lord, supremely powerful and merciful? Assuredly. Show therefore in us wretched ones and well-nigh consumed thy omnipotence and mercy, which thou hast always shown from the beginning hitherto in us and our fathers. Thus Alba, who also adds: so also holy signifies great, a king and powerful; and holy, that which is great and excellent. Note first: He says, we shall not die, assertively, not however, we shall not die, optatively, although he does beseech the same; for the efficacy of prayer, so that namely he may signify a certain hope, and as it were faith of not dying, and may constrain God by it, lest He suffer them to die. For who hath hoped in God and been confounded? For, as St. Bernard says, Sermon 3 On the Annunciation of the Lord: "God putteth the oil of mercy in the vessel of confidence." More readily we shall say that the word numquid which preceded is to be repeated, as if to say: Shall we not die, since we have thee as our holy and eternal God protector? The Syrian Vaticanus for we shall not die has, without law; the Arabic, without likeness. For thus the Syrian translates: Since thou art from the beginning, O Lord, my holy God, without any law, that is by no law, by no decree, by no determination, by no fate art thou constrained. Note secondly: For לא נמות lo namut, that is we shall not die, some codices read לא תמות lo tamut, that is thou shalt not die, as if to say: Thou, O Lord, as thou art holy, so art thou also immortal: wherefore suffer not us to die and to be slain by the Chaldeans: for they, Note thirdly, a fourfold antithesis. For he opposes God to idols and to men: first, in that God is "from the beginning," namely from eternity, as if to say: God is eternal, idols and Chaldeans are temporal and shall endure for a short time; secondly, God is the creator and lord of all, idols and Chaldeans are creatures and servants; thirdly, he himself is God immense, immortal, omnipotent, etc., they are small, perishable, weak formations of men; fourthly, God is holy, and is himself by essence the highest and most perfect holiness, they are unclean and wicked, as if to say: Destroy therefore, O Lord, idols and Chaldeans, opposed and hostile to thee in so many respects diametrically. Moreover, for greater pathos, greater affection and supplication, so that he may wheedle grace from God, he calls him "my God, my holy one," not, our: both because the prophet here speaks in the person of the people, which collectively is one and singular; for he takes upon himself and assumes the person of the people, as being one and principal of the people, so that in himself and with himself he constitutes the whole people as suppliants to God, and thus offers to God prayers armed with so many heads, and extorts pardon; and because God of each faithful and just man is God, that is father, provider, keeper, friend, etc., and as if He were God of that one alone. Thus St. Augustine says, Book III of Confessions, cap. XI: "O thou good omnipotent one, who carest for each one of us so, as if thou carest for him alone; and so for all, as for individuals." And St. Paul says Christ is his: "Who, he says, hath loved me and delivered himself for me," Galatians II, 20. O LORD, THOU HAST SET HIM IN JUDGMENT. — It is a concession, as if to say: We confess to thee, O Lord, that thou didst send Nebuchadnezzar "in judgment," that is in just vengeance, so that namely through him, as through a rod, thou mightest chastise our sins and those of other nations, and therefore thou didst make him strong. Thou didst found, — thou didst establish and strengthen Nebuchadnezzar with so many riches, forces, armies, dominions, victories.
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13. THY EYES ARE TOO PURE TO BEHOLD EVIL. — "Behold," that is, approve and favor. It is a catachresis; for those things which we approve, and which please us and are agreeable to us, we continually and gladly look upon; but those things which are hateful and disagreeable to us, we turn our eyes away from. Whence Virgil: The goddess, turning away, kept her eyes fixed on the ground. And it is commonly said: "Where the eye is, there is love; where the hand is, there is pain." The sense is, as if to say: Thy eyes, and thy mind, are most pure and most just; wherefore evil, that is, sin and injury, thou canst not behold and see with equal and benign eyes, so as to favor it and fight for it. Why therefore dost thou look upon the Chaldeans acting wickedly, violent and injurious, and permittest them to devour us? For although we are sinners and unjust: yet we are better and more just than the Chaldeans, inasmuch as they are idolaters and tyrants. Let it suffice therefore, O Lord, that thou punishest our sins lightly through them; but suffer us not to be cut off and destroyed through them. For thus thou wilt seem to favor tyrants and idolaters against thy faithful ones and worshippers; and the idolaters will boast that thou favorest their tyranny and idolatry; or certainly that thou canst not, or wilt not, help thy people devoted to thee. Note: The Prophet here does not murmur against God, as Calvin blasphemously charges, but from grief freely complains, entreats, and amicably expostulates with God, that he would punish and lay waste the Jews through the Chaldeans, who are worse than the Jews. Thus David grieves at and wonders at the prosperity of the wicked, Psalm LXXII, 12; Jeremiah, chapter XII, 1; Job, chapter XXI, 7. Otherwise St. Jerome answers that these things are said by the Prophet: "Not that he himself thinks thus, but that he expresses human impatience in his own person; as we frequently see the Apostle receiving various opinions of men in himself and now saying: I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin," Rom. VII. "And as if he were unwise: Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. And again as if he were perfect: As many therefore as are perfect, let us mind this," Philip. III. And: "But these things, brethren, I have transferred to myself and Apollo for your sakes, that in us you may learn," etc. THY EYES ARE TOO PURE TO BEHOLD EVIL. — For since thou art very purity and holiness itself, thou extremely hatest all sin, and therefore: "Thou wilt destroy all that work iniquity," Psalm V. For as light is opposed to darkness, and naturally turns away from it and hates it, and beauty to deformity, and purity to stains and filth, and rectitude to crookedness, and life to death, and goodness to malice, so also holiness turns away from and abhors all sin. Wherefore as God necessarily loves holiness with infinite love, so necessarily he hates mortal sin with infinite hatred. Of which hatred he gives many signs. For God first, on account of mortal sin, deprives man of infinite good, namely the possession of God himself; secondly, because on account of it he inflicts on the sinner infinite torment and reproach, namely the eternal fires of hell; thirdly, because, even if one had infinite merits, God would nevertheless abolish them all on account of one deadly sin; fourthly, because he willed his Son to undergo infinite humiliation and affliction to destroy sin. For such was his incarnation and death, because, as the Apostle says: "He emptied himself," that is, he made himself out of all Moreover, holiness consists in conformity with the eternal law, which is in the mind of God. For he is perfect and holy whose will and works are exactly conformed to the eternal law, namely to the mind and will of God. For the will of God, since it is in reality the same as his mind and intellect, is therefore necessarily and essentially conformed to the eternal law, and corresponds to it equally; hence it is likewise the measure and rule of all holiness; and because this conformity in God is infinite, hence his holiness is likewise infinite. Wherefore secondly, holiness consists in love and union with God, who is the origin and fullness of holiness. Holiness therefore is the love of God: "For holiness is complete purity," says St. Dionysius, chapter XII, On the Divine Names. Now as impurity is born from contact with inferior things, namely from love and attachment to food, pleasures, vain honors, and other earthly and lowest goods; so purity arises from contact with superior things, namely from love and attachment to God and divine and heavenly things. Pure therefore and holy is he who with his whole affection cleaves to God; and the more he transfers all his affection to God, the more holy he becomes day by day, while he directs all his thoughts, desires and works to God, so that day by day he may draw nearer to him. Thus he imitates God, of whom it is said, Psalm CXLIV: "The Lord is just in all his ways, and holy in all his works;" and he follows his precept: "Be ye holy, because I am holy," Levit. XI.
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14. AND THOU MAKEST MEN AS THE FISHES. — First, that is to say, Why dost Thou permit, O Lord, that, just as a fisherman catches fishes, with no one watching them; so Nebuchadnezzar catches, seizes and plunders all nations. For these are to him fishes. Thus Rupertus and Vatablus. Where note a remarkable allegory: The fisherman of God is Nebuchadnezzar, his hook is his deceits and stratagems; the nets and snares are arms, soldiers and open violence, the fishes are the Jews and other nations, whom, as fishes (which belong to no one, nor have a leader or protector, but become the property of the first occupant, namely the fisherman who draws them out of the waters and drags them away) thus he subjugates, tramples and kills, as if they were truly fishes and reptiles, not men. Hence also through the fish gate the Chaldaeans broke into the city, as I shall say at Sophonias I, 40. Secondly, more genuinely and forcefully, that is to say, Why dost Thou permit, O Lord, that, just as larger and stronger fishes, namely whales, wolves, octopuses, devour smaller ones: so more powerful men and tyrants, for example the Chaldaeans, devour those who are weaker; so that among men, equally as among fishes, justice does not rule, but strength, force and tyranny, and he is lord who prevails in strength? Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius and Theophylactus. Hence that proverb of Polybius commonly used: "The larger fishes swallow the smaller." Excellently St. Basil in homily 7 on the Hexaemeron: "The greater part of fishes, he says, devour one another, and the smaller is food for the larger among them. And if it happens that he who had overcome the smaller becomes the prey of another, both are then swallowed together, and enter into the belly of the last immersed fish as one. What therefore do we men do otherwise, when we inflict force on our inferiors?" Symbolically, the Prophet aptly compares men to fishes, on account of many analogies. The first is: Just as God created a multitude of men, so also a multitude of fishes; many fishes, many also men. The species of fishes are very varied; likewise varied are the orders, degrees, temperaments, languages, families and nations of men; the sea is the world of fishes, the earth is the world of men. For all the species of animals which are on the earth are proportionally also in the sea, as pigs, dogs, horses, calves, indeed even sea-men, as Pliny teaches with many examples in book IX, chapter V, and Olaus Magnus in his work On the Northern Peoples. Moreover, "the greater part of fishes is gregarious, nor is any flock without a leader," says Aristotle in book VIII of the History of Animals, chapter XVIII. Thus also men have their republics and kingdoms, and in all of them there is a leader and prince. The second: Men in the world are tossed about in various storms of temptations and changes, as fishes in the sea; and just as these play in those, so also men play in theirs, and in both the wisdom and power of God play, Proverbs VIII, 30. The third: Fishes are watery and luxuriate in moisture: thus also in most men, especially in winter phlegm predominates, by which indeed almost all the aged, and very many young men die, and are suffocated by catarrh. Wherefore the Philosopher, defining man: "Man, he says, is the sport of fortune, the image of inconstancy, the mirror of corruption, the spoil of time, the slave of death, a passing traveller, the mockery of God; the rest, phlegm and bile." The fourth: Fishes, just as they are generated from water, so they live in the same (for outside it they die), and are nourished and fed from it, as Rondeletius teaches in book I on Fishes, chapter XIII; for although the water of the sea is salt, and therefore unsuitable for nourishment, since its food is sweet juice; yet in the midst of the salt waves much sweet liquid is contained, and is mixed in, which fishes transform into their familiar food; for which reason they are accustomed frequently to migrate into the Pontus, and there to grow fat, because that sea is abundantly washed by fresh waters, as Aristotle teaches in book VIII of the History of Animals, chapter XIII. And in chapter II, he proves that there is sweet liquid in the sea, from the percolation of water. For if thou shouldst fashion a thin vessel of wax, and having suspended it by a rope shouldst lower it into water day and night for one, The fifth: Larger fishes devour smaller ones, thus also men, according to that saying: "Man is a wolf to man." Again, just as the whale absorbs almost all fishes, even the largest: so also the devil, who, as it were a whale in the sea of this world, preys upon any souls whatsoever, even those of kings and princes, indeed even of saints, according to that Psalm CIV, 26: "This dragon whom thou hast formed to play with him." Hear Aristotle in book IX of the History of Animals, chapter II: "Larger fishes engage in battle against smaller ones; for each larger and stronger one devours the smaller and inferior." The same, in book VIII, chapter II: "One, he says, eats another of its own kind, except the mullet, but especially the conger." Sixth: Fish are mute: so also men before God, however wise and holy, like little fish become silent, and by this argument they place themselves with St. Job, cap. XXXIX, 34, their hand upon their mouth: and on the day of judgment before Christ the judge, all like fish will be silent, I Reg. II, 9; Matt. XXV, 46. Seventh: Fish have two fins near the head, like two wings of feathers, by which as with oars they furrow the sea: so also man has two arms, by which he works all things. Moreover the fish's tail, like a rudder and helm, directs the course of its ship; whence from the swimming of fish men learned to build ships, and to furrow the seas with them. For the fish is as it were a swimming and sailing ship in the sea, as Pliny says of the nautilus fish and shell, lib. IX, cap. XXIX, XXX and XXXIII; thus also men move themselves by their feet wherever they wish. Again, just as some birds are semi-fish, because they fly in the air and swim in water, like divers, ducks, coots; so conversely there are fish which are semi-birds, because they have huge fins, like wings, by which they fly over the waters like birds, such as I saw at Rome in the library of the Duke of Altheimps. Symbolically, birds are angels, who dwell in the ether and fly up to God: fish are men, who roll about in the sea of this world. Just as therefore angels are semi-men, when they assume a body and converse with men; so conversely men are semi-angels, when lifted up by the wings of contemplation, they fly up to God. Eighth: Fish brood in the waters with their belly; so also many men brood in watery pleasures. "Whose God is their belly, and their glory in their shame, who mind earthly things," Phil. cap. III, 19. For this reason Christ made man became a fish of this world, so that from watery and earthly men like fish, he might make them ethereal and heavenly. Wherefore the name of Christ was ἸΧΘΥΣ, that is fish, as is evident from the acrostic of the Sibyl, whose first letters combined bore these words: Ἰησοῦς Χριστός Θεοῦ υἱὸς σωτήρ, that is, Jesus Christ Son of God, Savior: if you join the initial letters of these Greek words, you will have ἰχθύς. Eusebius recounts this acrostic in lib. IV De Vita Constantini. Hence also Christ chose fishermen and made them apostles, whom "with the nets of faith he sent to the sea of this world, and thus from every kind captured so many fish, and so much more wonderful, the rarer they were, even the philosophers themselves," says St. Augustine lib. XXII De Civit. cap. V. And De verbis Domini in Evangel. secundum Joan., serm. 59: "The words of fishermen are read, he says, and necks are bent to the orators." Most excellently St. Chrysostom in serm. De S. Andrea, which is found in Surius on the 30th of November: The Apostles, he says, were fishermen, but their instruments were new and unaccustomed. For instead of a rod they use preaching, instead of a line memory, instead of a hook power, instead of bait miracles, instead of a rock the heavens, from which they exercise this kind of fishing: instead of a boat they have the altar; they even capture kings as fish; they spread the Gospel as a net; they employ divine grace as art; they handle human life as the sea; Ninth: Fish needs salt lest it rot; so also man needs prudence. Again, fish first rots and stinks from the head; so also man from reason and will, by which he allows himself to be overcome and corrupted by desire. For just as fish are soft, so also are effeminate men; hence both are caught by foods and allurements as by snares. In like manner monasteries, colleges, Orders, republics draw vice and ruin from the head. For as long as they have good and vigilant and keen rulers, magistrates, princes, they flourish and remain intact; but when they receive wicked, or idle and remiss ones, all the rigor of discipline, and consequently the vigor, integrity and dignity of the republic, like salt liquefied in water, dissolves and vanishes. Tenth: Fish "wander and roam about, especially those which are nourished by flesh," says Aristotle lib. IX Histor. Animal. cap. XXXVII. Thus also men wander and roam about, especially those desirous of gain and pleasures. Again the same, lib. VIII, cap. XII: "As men, he says, some return to their dwellings in winter, others who are princes of a larger province change their seat according to the season, so that they spend time in summer in cold places, in winter in warm ones, etc. So also fish come from the deep to the shores in winter for the sake of warmth: on the contrary in summer they depart from the shore to the deep, avoiding the heat." Eleventh: "Fish have fins, so that they swim: they lack feet, so that they are not terrestrial, but aquatic." Man, however, because he is terrestrial, is pedestrian: "For the addition of feet is useful for motion, which is carried out on the foot, that is, on the ground: whence also the name given to feet is," says Aristotle, lib. IV De Part. Animal. cap. XIII. Twelfth: Some fish breathe and sleep, like man. Hear Aristotle, lib. VI Histor. Animal. cap. XII: "All things that have a blowhole breathe and take in air: for they do not lack a lung. And indeed the dolphin has been seen to sleep with its snout raised and to snore." Pliny teaches the same thing, lib. IX, cap. VII, and proves it from the panting of fish in summer, their yawning, and the spouting of bubbling waters. Thirteenth: Fish grow old like men. Thus Aristotle, lib. VIII Histor. Animal. cap. ult.: "Fish are spoiled, he says, by old age: and indeed tuna are quite unsuitable for salting when old; for much of their flesh is consumed: what happens in other fish is shown by their old age in the hardness and size of their scales. A large old tuna has been caught, whose weight was Fourteenth: Men have many and frequent teeth, and the front ones sharp for cutting and chewing food: so also fish have many teeth, and sharp and serrated ones. Whence Aristotle, lib. III De Part. Animal. cap. I: "Fish, he says, all have serrated teeth, except one which is called the parrotfish: many also have teeth on the tongue and on the palate. The reason for this is that, since they live submerged in water, they take in moisture with their food, and must spit it out as soon as possible; for they cannot linger in chewing, when moisture breaks into the belly; therefore all are sharp and frequent everywhere; namely so that by their multitude they cut into small pieces, which they cannot subdue by rubbing. Moreover they are hooked, because almost all the strength of fish is situated in their teeth." Fifteenth: Men labor under diseases, so also do fish; yet they are immune from plague. Thus Aristotle, lib. VIII Histor. Animal. cap. XIX: "A pestilent disease, he says, seems to befall no fish universally, etc., yet they themselves are thought to become sick; and indeed fishermen take it as a sign of disease; when they have caught some among many fat and strong ones of the same kind that are wasted and similar to the languishing, and changed in color." The same author adds a little earlier that summer rains are more favorable to fish, and a milder winter: "To say almost the utmost, he says, when the year goes well for men; then it also happens that fish live happily." Moreover, when fish are sick, Pliny reports that they are healed with green parsley, lib. XX, cap. XI; the same author teaches that fish are of great use in the medicines of men, lib. XXXII, cap. V. Sixteenth: Fish have a heart and its position similar to man. Hear Aristotle, lib. III De Partib. Animal. cap. IV: "The heart, he says, in other animals is in the middle of the chest, in man alone it inclines somewhat to the left, so that it may moderate and compensate for the cooling of that part: for of all animals man has the left side most cooled. In fish also the heart holds a similar position. Only in these does the point of the heart look toward the head, since that part is first: for motion is carried out in the same way." Again, fish generate like men; for they have distinct sex, some are males, others females; and the eggs of females are not perfected for generation without a male, as happens in hens and birds, as testified by the same Aristotle, lib. VI Histor. Anim., cap. XI, and lib. IV, cap. ult., where he teaches that female fish are larger than males, but males are superior to females for food, except the catfish, the same author asserts, lib. VIII, cap. XIX. Seventeenth: Every kind of fish is voracious and gluttonous, as testified by Aristotle, lib. III De Partib. Animal. cap. XIV; likewise prolific and fertile, for they abound in moisture; so also men are inclined to gluttony and lust. Again, fish "have slippery eyes, because of the thickness of the surrounding moisture," says Aristotle, lib. II, cap. XIII; so also men. Whence many rightly groan and say that word from Lamentations, cap. III, 51: "My eye hath wasted my soul." And vers. 48: "My eye hath run down with streams of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people." Eighteenth: Fish have memory, and live a life akin to human reason. Some have denied this; but St. Augustine testifies that it is most certain, and that he has learned it from experience, in book III of Genesis Explained Literally, chapter VIII: "For the spring," he says, "of the Bullensi regions is almost full of fish. But men looking down from above are accustomed to throw something to them, which the fish either snatch away as it flows toward them, or tear apart from one another in contention. Accustomed to this food, when men walk along the edge of the spring, the fish themselves also go and return swimming together with them, waiting for something to be thrown, sensing their presence. Therefore, fish do not lack memory, or there is in them a slower sense of the soul." I myself have experienced this same thing from time to time in fish ponds. Wherefore the same Augustine, in tract. 123 on John: "They saw," he says, "coals laid, and a fish laid upon them, and bread. A roasted fish is Christ who suffered. He himself is the bread which came down from heaven. Fish are called men." Hence the ancients, being temperate and chaste, ate not flesh, but fish, as being easy to digest, and cooling both natural heat and the heat of anger and lust; witness is Athenaeus, On the Banquets of the Wise, books III, IV and VIII. Conversely, as the same author says in book VII: "Any fish delights in human flesh." Pliny recounts the augury of fish in book IX, chapter XVI: "In the Sicilian war," he says, "when Augustus was walking on the shore, a fish leapt from the sea to his feet; by which sign the soothsayer responded: Neptune, adopting him as his son, with Sextus Pompeius rejected. So great was the glory of naval affairs, that those who would hold the seas at that time would be under the feet of Caesar." The same author, in chapter XLII, has marvels concerning the cunning of fish, such as the fin-fish, the torpedo, the turbot, the stingray, etc. The same, in chapter LIII, relates that certain fish lived sixty years, which is the age of men. The same, in book X, chapter XLV, says that sea calves and many other fish are tamed and become gentle. And in chapter LXX, he says that in Caesar's fish ponds certain fish, when called by name, immediately swam up. The same, in book IX, chapter VIII, narrates from Maecenas that dolphins eat from the hand of men, receive boys on their backs and carry them, and love them so much that when they die, they die with them. Nineteenth: St. Augustine in Psalm LXIV: "The sea," he says, "is said in figure to be this world, bitter with saltiness, turbulent with storms, where men, made perverse and wicked by corrupt desires, are like fish devouring one another. Behold the evil sea, the sea fierce with waves. Behold with what men it is full. Who desires an inheritance except through the death of another? Who desires gain except through the loss of another? How many wish to be exalted through the abasement of others! How many, in order to buy, wish others to sell their possessions? How do they oppress one another, and those who are able devour? And when one larger fish has devoured the smaller, it is itself devoured by a larger one. O fish, you wish to seize prey from the small, you will become prey to the great!" Finally, St. Bernard, in his sermon On the Blessed Mary, page 394, assigns a threefold pool of men and threefold fish: "First," he says, "a flood is that of vices; second, of tribulations; third, of misery and darkness. The first is of sin, the second of the world, the third of hell. The fish of the first are pleasures, of the second wicked temptations; of the third eternal torments. Hence in the Gospel concerning good fishermen, trampling vices, overcoming temptations, avoiding eternal torments, it is said: They chose the good into vessels, but cast the bad out, Matthew chapter XIII, 47. Whence it is clear that the reprobate and damned themselves are fish which swim, are tossed about and rage in a pool burning with fire and sulphur, Apocalypse chapter XXI, 8. The far greater part of men, indeed the greatest, and almost innumerable, wallows and burns in this pool. Alas, O Lord, wilt Thou make men as the fishes of the sea? and would that they were fishes of the sea! would that they were devoured by a whale! but now they are fishes, nay rather bellows and fuel of hell, the chariot and slaughterhouse of the devil, nay of many thousands and millions of demons: where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not extinguished. Alas, O Lord, wilt Thou suffer hell to enlarge its soul, and open its mouth without any limit, that it may swallow so many nations and peoples, whose number is as the sand of the sea? Spare, O Lord, spare Thy creatures, whom Thou hast created in Thy image, whom Thou hast destined as stars in heaven, whom Thou hast redeemed with the precious blood of Thine only-begotten Son. Close this monstrous mouth of Tartarus, that it may not swallow so many souls. Send Thy Spirit upon us, that struck with fear and horror by the meditation of this flaming pool, we may avoid sins, resist concupiscence, give ourselves to penance, and embrace a holy life as a way to heaven; that we may deserve to be transferred into that place, and there as heavenly fishes in the river of paradise, Apocalypse chapter XXII, 1, namely in Thee and in Thy vision, fruition and eternal joys, to swim, Amen. AND AS A CREEPING THING HAVING NO RULER. — A creeping thing is an animal which does not walk on feet, but creeps and crawls on its belly, as serpents, worms, earthworms do, or certainly one which has such small feet that it seems to creep rather than walk with them, as the lizard, weasel, mouse, mole, etc. These are creeping things of the earth: for creeping things of the sea and rivers are fishes. Now the Prophet, in order to represent to God the injuries, afflictions and hardships of men, compares them not only to fishes, but also to creeping things, which are weaker than fishes, and more subject to injury. For first, fishes in the vastness or depth of the sea or rivers can hide themselves from fishermen and voracious fishes; Tropologically, again see here how miserable is the condition of men: for men are as creeping things. Whence Jesbaam, that is, sitting in the chair, the first of the mighty men of David, is called "the most tender little worm of wood," II Kings XXIII, 8. And this first, because man when he is born is as a creeping thing; for on hands and feet he creeps upon the earth. Hence that riddle of the sphinx concerning man: "In the morning four-footed, at midday two-footed, in the evening three-footed." For man in the morning, that is in infancy when he is born, as it were four-footed leans on hands and feet: then in youth he walks two-footed: in the evening, that is in old age, he walks three-footed: because besides two feet he takes on a third, namely a staff on which he leans. Second, because most men creep on hands, feet and whole body, nay even in mind upon the earth: for they think of nothing but earthly things, all their labor and occupation is on the earth, many also cast down into the belly, strive to fill and stuff it with nothing but earthly delights. Third, which properly here concerns the Prophet, because men, equally as creeping things, are exposed to the injury and prey of the more powerful. The Turks, Tartars, and Indian kings lead into battle three hundred and five hundred thousand men, and cast them before enemies like fleas to be slaughtered for themselves. Are not these creeping things before their kings, equally as before enemies? Slaves and bondsmen condemned to gold mines and metals; peasants bound to the cultivation of the fields of lords; slaves and workmen appointed to the earthly and vile commands and services of masters, are they not as creeping things of the earth? Finally, Guevara probably understands by reptile the fishes of the sea, which have no prince, namely one powerful to protect them and to vindicate them from plundering, so that it may be the usual epanaphora of the Prophet: for all the following things regard fishes, and the fisherman to whom he here compares Nebuchadnezzar. Thus fishes are called reptiles, Psalm CIV, 25: "This great and spacious sea: therein are creeping things without number." Thus the sense will be, as if to say, Is it so, O Lord, that Thou dost deliver us faithful ones to a barbarous Chaldean like fishes, which are nothing but vile and wretched reptiles of the sea, to be fished out and devoured? Is it so that Thou, who art our peculiar possession and our inheritance, dost cast us to a savage tyrant like a sumptuous feast of fishes? Is it so that Thou dost set Israel, Thy beloved, to be swallowed by this most fierce beast, so as to fatten it with so precious a food? God forbid, O Lord, God forbid. Thus was the opinion of Pope Pius II: "Litigants are birds, the forum is the field, the judge is the net, advocates are fowlers. Wherefore dignities ought to be given to men, not dignities to men. It is a grave burden of the Pontiff; but blessed is he who bears it well."
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15. The whole, — namely the whole catch of fish, the whole fishable [area], to wit all fish, that is, all nations, this great fisherman caught, namely Nebuchadnezzar with his hook, net and seine. The word whole denotes his insatiable avarice and rapacity, on account of which while he seized the whole, he lost the whole, according to that saying of St. Cyprian, book V, epistle 2: "While we insatiably wish for much, we lose the whole." And that: "The camel desiring horns, also lost his ears." Therefore that paradox is most true: "In doubtful matters, the half is more than the whole." Concerning which Hesiod: "The foolish, he says, do not know how much more the half is than the whole." For it often happens that he who more eagerly desires, loses even what he has. One can see this in litigants, who while they desire the whole, often lose the whole, either by the judgment of the judge, or by the monstrous expenses which they pour into the lawsuit, according to that in Ecclesiastes IV, 6: "Better is a handful with rest, than both hands full with labour and affliction of mind." And that in Proverbs XV, 16: "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasures and unsatiable." And chapter XVI, 8: "Better is a little with justice, than many fruits with iniquity." And Ecclesiasticus XIV, 9: "The eye of the covetous is insatiable in his portion of iniquity: it shall not be satisfied till he consume his soul drying it up." Truly the Philosopher: "All virtue is a mean." And he is rich whose mind is content with itself, and sufficient to itself: he is poor who desires more. Pittacus, when the Mytileneans offered him much, accepted only a little, saying: "Small gifts are divine, which no one envies: riches are wont not to be one's own." Thus Probus in Thrasybulus. IN THE HOOK HE LIFTED UP. — A hook is a curved instrument to which bait is attached; when fish swallow it, they ensnare themselves with the barb and fix themselves, and thus by the hook they are drawn and pulled out by the fisherman. Whence gifts with hooks are called those which are given in such a way that Thirdly, by these three things he alludes to three expeditions which Nebuchadnezzar made into Judaea. For first, in the 3rd year of his reign he invaded it; but he carried away few, namely Daniel with his companions, Daniel I, 1; then therefore he fished as it were with a hook. Secondly, in the 8th year of his reign he returned, and killed King Joakim, and his son Joachin, or Jechoniah with many others he carried captive to Babylon; this therefore was fishing by the seine. Thirdly, in the 18th year of his reign he took and destroyed Jerusalem, he put out the eyes of King Zedekiah, he killed his sons and other princes, he transferred all the rest to Babylon, IV Kings XXV. This therefore was fishing by the net, by which he enclosed, destroyed and captured not only all Judaea, but also the other nations. Finally Ribera understands by the hook deceits and stratagems, by the seines and nets the open violence of Nebuchadnezzar. For the hook, being small, is more hidden than nets, and catches the fish more secretly. Note: The seine is among the Greeks a kind of fishing net: the Latins call it a drag-net, because it sweeps the fish from the sea or river as it were, and gathers them into itself, that is into its corner, concerning which Manilius in book V: It is caught by the vast encircling seine. Whence explaining he adds: "And he gathered them into his net." For when the seine is drawn by fishermen through the sea or river, and sweeps it, the fish fleeing it are gathered into nets narrowed and angled, arranged in certain places, to which the seine drives them. By the hook therefore, seine and net, by which fishermen ensnare and trap fish, he signifies all the arts, forces and machines, both smaller and larger, which Nebuchadnezzar used to overcome and capture all nations. Whence Delrio, in adage 1000: "By the hook, he says, individually captured cities seem to have their citizens lifted up, but by the seine truly the whole nation is drawn together and led away into captivity." Secondly, by the hook, as being small and hidden, his stratagems, deceits and tricks can be understood; by the seine and net the public, open force and battles. Thirdly, others understand by the seine and net idols, namely Bel, to whom the Chaldean ascribed his victories. Whence he adds: "Therefore he will sacrifice to his seine, and will sacrifice to his net," namely to Bel. Thus Remigius and Lyra. Fourthly, St. Jerome and Remigius thus distinguish these three: "As a fisherman what he could not catch with a hook, he catches with a net, and what escapes the net, he surrounds with larger seines; thus Nebuchadnezzar what he could not overcome with smaller forces, he defeated with larger, so much so that he devastated all things, and made the whole human race his prey." Somewhat differently the Chaldean: All, he says, are like a fisherman, who when he has caught a fish, gathers it with a hook into his seine, and throws it into his net. Nebuchadnezzar is aptly compared to a fisherman, because he himself reigned in Babylon, which is adjacent to the Tigris and Euphrates: his army to seines, because he surrounded the Jews and nations like fish, destroyed and captured them. Excellently the Wise Man, Ecclesiastes chapter IX, verse 12: "Man knoweth not his end, he says; but as fishes are caught with the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare: so men are taken in the evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon them."
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16. THEREFORE HE WILL SACRIFICE TO HIS NET. — By net, St. Jerome and others understand the god of the Chaldeans, to whom they attributed their victories, and to whom they offered sacrifices in thanksgiving: and this god was Bel. But Guevara thinks this goddess is Derceto, the mother of Queen Semiramis, whom the Syrians fable to have been transformed into a fish: wherefore they depicted her with the face of a woman, but in all other respects in the form of a fish, and they erected a notable temple to her at Ascalon near a lake full of fish. Pliny therefore called this Atargatis a prodigious creature; for it was a monster compounded of a woman and a fish. Athenaeus is the author that Atargatis is called in Syrian from atar, that is, without, and gatis, that is, fish, as if to say, Without fish, because abstinence from fish was observed in her worship. Some think that Dagon, the god of the Palestinians, of whom in 1 Kings V, 4, is the same as Derceto; for Dagon in Hebrew signifies fish, and had the form of a fish. Thus from Diodorus, Xenophon, Pliny, Cicero and Ovid, Guevara, who therefore thinks there is here a metonymy; for net and snare are used for fish. Of which sort is that of Virgil: Now pour libations to Jupiter, May God be my right hand, and the missile weapon from my quiver. We still see such political and atheistic princes. And Antiochus, or rather Antichrist, will worship the god Maozim, that is, strength, namely his own military forces, Daniel cap. XI, 38. Thus Ribera, Emmanuel Sa, Mariana and others. Otherwise John Alba explains this in his Electorum cap. LXV, namely: to his net, and to his snare, he says, is put for, from his net, and from his snare, as if to say, He sacrifices, namely to his gods, he offers to them sacrifices from his net and from his snare, that is, from the spoils of the nations, which he has caught, that is, devastated and plundered. But here he overturns the Vulgate version by supplying much: for to sacrifice to a net is to sacrifice to the net itself, not to gods from the net. For who would otherwise understand this phrase? Because in them his portion is made fat, — as if to say, He has procured for himself rich and luxurious feasts, namely the choice riches of all nations, as his own portion and lot, by means of this his net and snare. Whence, baited by these, he does not cease to expand it ever further, so that he may capture more kingdoms, and spread his dominion far and wide. This is what he says: "and his food is choice." Tropologically, St. Theophilus of Alexandria, in his 2nd Paschal epistle: "The food," he says, "of the devil, are the deniers of God, Habakkuk speaking, His choice foods: but the food of all the impious is the devil himself execrable, the prophecy of the Prophet resounding: Thou hast given him for food to the peoples of Ethiopia." Note: St. Jerome must be read here with caution at the end of this chapter; for he seems to deny that God has knowledge and providence of fish, gnats, and minute things, which is a manifest error: for God cares for and feeds sparrows, lilies, grass, etc., as Christ says in Matthew VI, 29 and 30, and Matthew X, 29. Wherefore St. Jerome must be cleared on a twofold count: first, that he speaks of knowledge not of any kind, but only of that which God acquires anew, newly of fish and gnats being born, as we acquire it. For this is temporal; hence it is not in God; for God from eternity, all at once and once for all, knew all future things. Second, that he wishes to say that God on the part of the effect does not have so great providence and care of fish as he has of men, to whom he gives greater aids and benefits, and especially has established a greater guardianship of angels: for each man has a guardian angel, but not every fish. That St. Jerome wishes to say this is gathered from his own words, when he says: "Moreover, it is absurd to lead God's majesty to this point, that he should know (that is, that by experiencing and numbering he should learn, as if he had not known before; for this is unbecoming to his majesty: for otherwise all eternal knowledge most befits him, and is proper to him, or rather, that he should know, that is, that he should care to know and be concerned, that he should attend with peculiar regard, that he should fix his knowledge and his eye attentively and carefully upon these things, as he fixes them upon man) at each moment, how many gnats are born, how many die, what the multitude of bugs, fleas, and flies on earth is, how many fish swim in the water, and which of the smaller ought to yield to the prey of the greater. Let us not be such foolish flatterers of God, that, while we drag his power down to the lowest things, we do injury to ourselves, saying that the providence of rational and irrational creatures is the same. From which that apocryphal book is to be condemned for foolishness, in which it is written that a certain angel, named Tyri, presides over reptiles; and in this likeness also to fish, and to trees, and to all beasts, proper angels are assigned in guardianship." Behold, this is what St. Jerome intends, namely, that individual fish do not have guardian angels, and other singular aids of God, which men have; in which sense the Apostle said in I Corinthians IX, 9: "Is it a care to God about oxen?" For otherwise St. Jerome shortly before expressly asserts that God's general knowledge and providence extends to fish and all creatures, even the most minute, as also in chapter X of St. Matthew, explaining that passage: Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father? "The sense is," he says, "if small and vile animals do not fall without God the author, and there is providence in all things, and those things in these which are to perish do not perish without God's will; you who are eternal, ought not to fear that you live without God's providence." Therefore St. Jerome here denies only the knowledge and providence of flies and fish in God acquired anew, or rather so singular as he has of men, as if God ought to be occupied at each moment in investigating, caring for, feeding flies and fish; as a shepherd is occupied in surveying and feeding his sheep. For this knowledge and care is unworthy of God; just as it was unworthy of the Emperor Domitian to be occupied for whole hours in numbering and catching flies, neglecting the affairs of the empire. Hence the proverb: "Not even a fly," as Suetonius testifies in his Life. For it suffices for caring for these things that God's general providence, namely by preserving and continuing the course of the universe and nature, first instituted by him; for from this it follows that the number and series of gnats follows.
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17. FOR THIS CAUSE THEREFORE HE SPREADETH HIS NET. — The Chaldean: Does he (for in Hebrew it is he, an interrogative particle) for this reason send forth his armies (these therefore are his net), that he may perpetually consume the nations, and that without any mercy? i.e., Surely he will send them; thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Remigius, Albert and Hugh. Otherwise Clarius, Vatablus and Arias, i.e., Does he, because he attributes these plunderings and victories to his own strength, have to be permitted by you, O Lord, to continue in this his pride, and in the plundering and slaughter of nations? i.e., By no means: it is time that you humble him, restrain him and punish him. Note: For spreadeth, in Hebrew it is יריק iaric, that is, he shall empty. For fishermen are accustomed to empty nets full of fish, and then to spread them again for catching. Thus Nebuchadnezzar, conquering one city and nation, would empty its riches and send them to Babylon; and again would invade another nation with his army, intending to empty and fish out the same in like manner, that is, to plunder it. It is therefore a metalepsis: for from the antecedent the consequent is understood, namely from emptying the spreading, from the despoiling of one nation the invasion and despoiling of another. Morally, learn here how great is the force of ambition and avarice: for these drove tyrants into so many robberies and wars. Excellently Seneca, epistle 94, near the end: "There acted," he says, "unhappy Alexander, driven by the madness of laying waste what belonged to others, and sent him to unknown lands. Do you think him sane, who begins from the first calamities of Greece, in which he was educated; who snatches away what is best for each? He orders Lacedaemon to serve, Athens to be silent. Not content with the slaughter of so many cities, which either Philip had conquered, or had bought, and casts others in another place, and carries arms around the whole world: nor does cruel madness ever cease; in the manner of savage beasts, which bite more than hunger demands. Now he has thrown many kingdoms into one kingdom; now Greeks and Persians fear the same man; now even from Darius free nations accept the yoke. Yet the same man is indignant beyond the Ocean and the sun to turn victory from the footsteps of Hercules and Liber; he prepares violence against nature itself. He does not wish to go, but cannot stand still: not otherwise than weights cast down a precipice, to which the end of going is to have lain down." Then from Alexander he passes to Pompey, Caesar and Marius: "Nor did even Gnaeus Pompey's virtue or reason persuade him to wage foreign or domestic wars; but mad with love of false greatness, now he went to Spain and Sertoriana arms, now to gathering pirates, and to pacifying seas. These were pretexts for continuing power. What drew him to Africa? what to the North? what to Mithridates and Armenia, and all the corners of Asia? Surely infinite desire of growing, since he seemed to himself not great enough alone. What sent C. Caesar into his own fates equally and the public? Glory and ambition, and no mode of excelling above others. He could not bear one before him, when the republic bore two above itself. Why do you think C. Marius, once consul (for he received one consulship, the rest he seized), when he was cutting down the Teutons and Cimbri, when he was pursuing Jugurtha through the deserts of Africa, sought so many dangers, by the instinct of virtue? Ambition led Marius's army, led Marius. These men, while they shook all things, were shaken in the manner of whirlwinds, which roll up what they seize, but are themselves rolled first, and for this reason they rush on with greater force, because they have no control of themselves. And so while they were evil with many, they themselves also feel that pestilential force by which they harmed most. There is no reason to believe that anyone becomes happy by another's unhappiness."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 9 « Usquequo, Domine, clamabo et non exaudies? vociferabor ad. te vim patiens, et non salvabis » ? — hebr. ita quoque intelligi potest : per quantum temporis iam clamavi ! et tu non exaudis? vocifcror ad te « violentia » neque eripis; ex duobus dolor eius stimulatur : quod iam diu, sed frustra, maxima desiderii significatione Domini opem imploraverit, et quod interea « violentia » i. e. iuris oppressio et recti ordinis eversio omnis que generis iniuria ita omnia occupaverit, ut uno hoc nomine rerum publicarum privatarumque conditio denominetur oporteat. At dum vates omni conatu eum statum studet avertere, Deus impios prospere agere sinit neque remedium afferre vidctur iniquitati terribili violatae iustitiae ultione poenisque immissis; id quod eo magis perplexitatis prae se ferre videbatur, quia ex veteris foederis norma, uti virtuti praemia erant proposita maximam partem temporalia, ita sceleribus castigaticnes (cf. Lev. 26. Deut. 28. 29). De populi sui iniquitate vatem eas querelas fundere, ex v. 5 et scq. patet, in quibus Deus se immissurum esse Chaldaeos ulteres minatur, et hunc in modum verba accipiunt Cyr. Theod. Sanct. Lep. Mcn. Tir. Gord. Calm. et recentiores plerique. Alii Chaldaeos perstringi et oppressionem ab iis illatam exagitari censent; ita Jlier. Hai-no, Rup. Rib. Mar. Ros. Ewald. At perperam ; nam Chaldaei ad ultionem immitv^ tuntur et a v. 6 tamquam futuri ultores describuntur ; quare immerito asserunt aliqui, praesentem oppressionem a Chaldaeis inflictam de- | pingi. Neque convenit inter interpretes, quo animo propheta talia protulerit. Sunt qui eum nimiae in Deum audaciae accusent. Ita fere censet S. ITier. : « nullus enim tam audaci voce ausus est Deum ad disceptationem iustitiae provocare et dicere ei : cur in rebus humanis et in mundi istius xo)se'a tanta rerum versatur iniquitas 23... vides quod temeraria vox sit et quodamm ?dlo blasphemantis, sic Creatorem suum ad iudicium provocare, et vas fragile adversum figulum, cur tale vel tale factum sit, disputare » ? Neque absimilia S. Gregorius Naz. : « quid autem Ilabacuc? hic quidem acriori etiam oratione utitur, atque adversus Deum ipsum stomachatur uc benignum Dominum propter iudicum iniquitatem velut* clameribus insequitur, dicens : usquequo, Domine, clamabo » (orat. apolog. n. 60. M. 35, 469)? Eam acerbitatem alii vel removere vel saltem emollire student interpretantes prophetam non suos prodere animi sensus, verum aliorum induere personam vel populi oppressi et impatienter gementis (ita inter alia S. Hier. quoque) vel eorum, quibus propter impiorum prosperitatem dubia de divina providentia suboriantur (Theod.). Aliis placet, non eos referri sensus, quos nunc foveat propheta, sed quos antea mente volverit et nunc, cum ab illo errore divino responso liberatus sit, ipse in se reprehendat, eo fere modo, quo psalmista Ps. 72 animi tentationem, dubia, victoriam demum voartam non sine sui castigatione referat (cf. apud Sanct. )- At neque opus est vatem impatientis animi vel violatae in Deum reverentiae incusare, neque alia eum indui persona, quam neque verba ipsa admittunt neque sequentia v. 12 ; 2, 1. 2 ullo pacto permittunt ; neque opus est ad praeterita tempora confugere, de quorum querelis iam agat poenitentiam. Verba enim non sunt adeo dura; verum est expostulatio| v^ cum Dco amica et familiaris, profecta ex animo, qui honorem Dei et| virtutis praestantiam summopere exoptet. Bene notat Sanct. : « est hocl orandi genus usitatum, quod affectum indicat non tam indignantis et offensi, quam aestuantis animi et desiderantis illa, propter quac instituitur ea' quae iudicari possit querimonia, cum tamen non sit" nisi ardens et humilis oratio ; sic Ps. 19 ». Immo Deum ardenti oratione tali et si placet audaciore delectari, quippe qua vehementissimum amici Dei desiderium magno cum dolore mixtum manifestetur, inde concludas velim, quia statim amplissima responsione conquerentem remuncratur. [nter varía, quae ex prophetae verbis ad doctrinam et mores utilia sancti Pa- tres colligunt (vide apud Sanct.), duo afferre libet. Alterum S. Cyr : « scite admodum inexplicabilem. Dei benignitatem testificatur. Demonstrat enim malorum perquam tolerantem, quamvis improbos odisse soleat. Peccantibis autem non protinus solere poenam infligere, clare ostendit, dum eo silentii et longanimitatis venisse ait, ut iam etiam expostulatione opus sit... qua enim oratione Deum ut immodice patientem incusat, eadem illi immensae benignitatis testiionium praebet ». Alterum S. /lier. : « quomodo si aegrotus et aestuans febribus aquam frigidam postulet et dicat ad medicum : vim patior, erucior, uror, exanimor, usquequo, medice, clamabo et non exaudies? et respondeat ci sapientissimus et clementissimus medicus : scio, quo tempore debeam dare quod postulas : non misereor modo, quia misericordia ista crudelitas est et voluntas tua contra te petit ; ita et Dominus noster sciens clementiae suae pondera atque mensuras, interdum non exaudit clamantem, ut eum probet et magis provocet ad rogandum ». Aegre fert, quod tam multiplicem iniustitiam oculis suis cernere debeat, « iniquitati irascens principum populi, qui multam variamque pauperibus iniuriam faciebant, magnopere quidem cognoscens digna esse suppliciis ea quae fiebant, dolens autem, quod Deo ultionem differente multa adversus pauperes vigeret iniustitia » (Theod. M.). Unde
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v. 3 « quare ostendisti mihi iniquitatem et laborem, videre pracdam et iniustitiam conira me? et factum. est. iudicium et. contradictio potentior » ; — hebr. quare videre me facis iniquitatem. et cernis! molestiam? vastitas et violentia (est) coram me et fit contentio et iurgium extollitur ? Gravius et molestius est oculis cernere per singulos dies inique facta, quam talia solo rumore accipere (cf. Sanct.) ; demiratur propheta eam miseram molestamque rerum conditionem spectar? a Domino, ita ut quasi iners ac quietus eam toleret ; quae Dei patientia quo magis videatur ab humana exspectatione aliena, quattuor modis rerum omnium perturbationem, vim, iniurias, lites iniustas effert, quibus omnia circa vatem perstrepant. " Contra me ex textu hebr. idem est ac coram meised prophetam ipsum quoque iniuriis ac molestiis esse impetitum, facile concesseris. Tudicium, quod vulg. habet, sensu malo esse accipiendum, iam monet Lap. : « est enim hebr. 21i. e. litigium, iurgium, hoc est ut explicans subdit contradictio ; Pagnin. contentio, q. d. perversi qui lites et iurgia serunt urgentque, potentiores sunt iustis simplicibus et quietis, eosque in iudicio et iurgio supplantant et expilant ». Quia igitur iniusti regnant in iudiciis et e contra iustiac pii in omni 1. Textus mas. habet qj*2rj, quod perperam aliqui quasi duplex Aiphil exponunt: ceriudicio et foro conculcantur (Sanct.' Tir. sim. S. Ilier.) vel potius, id quod melius aptiusque videtur, quia Dominus iniquam rerum conditionem tacitus ac quietus spectat nec grassantem impietatem iustis poenis cohibet, res in deterius labuntur et impii impunitatem sibi polliciti audaciores ad malum perpetrandum spiritus assumunt (cf. Rib.). Unde
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v. 4: « propter hoc lacerata est lex et non pervenit usque ad finem iudicium ; quia impius praevalet adversus iustum, propterea, egredictur iudicium perversum » ; — hebr. propter hoc torpescit! lez i. e. nil valet, est sine vi et efficacia ; eius observatio iacet sepulta, neque prodit in fjmem i. e. ita ut stabile sit atque firmo et perpetuo consistat iudicium vcl rectus rerum ordo ; mpii enim circumcingunt iustum i. e. dolis et insidiis eum supplantant atque deiiciunt ; unde fit ut tota rerum conditio iam sit tudicium perversum 1. e. talis status qui recto ordini plane et e contrario opponatur; quidquid scil. duris nomine venit et tali nomine ab impiis cohonestatur, contortum, perversum, iniustum est. Talem autem ambitum nacta est impietas, quia Deus patientia usus singulos passus est Suas persequi vias ; « etenim quia non profertur cito contra malos sententia, absque timore ullo filii hominum perpetrant mala » (Eccl. 8, 11). Finem ? latini exponunt de scopo : ipsum iudicium non habet finem suum ; finis autem iudicii est. iudicare iuste (cf. S. Hier.) ; sed hebr. non admittit hunc sensum. | U
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v. 5. « Aspicite in gentibus et videte, adiniramini et obstupescite ! quia opus faclum est «n dicbus vestris, quod nemo credet, cum narrabitur » ; — scil. generali quodam prooemio minas primum praeparat ac veluti introducit Deus ; impios iubet oculos aitollere et respicere in longinquum et gentium agmina perlustrare, quae totidem sunt divinae ultionis instrumenta parata ad internecionem iussu Dei inferendam ; innumera enim gentium agmina Deus in promptu habet, quibus immissis Iudaeos praevaricatores conculcet, neque semel tantum id experti sunt. Verum iam non communi, sed prorsus inaudito et plane incredibili modo Dei vindictam illos esse in se suscepturos docet; quare praecipit, ut stupore et admiratione defixi haereant, quia opus operans ego (hebr.) in diebus vestris, quod punitiones eousque inflictas in tantum superabit et excedet, ut ei nuntio fidem plane non adhibeant, quippe qui nihil simile experti sint. Etaugentur minae, cum dicat eam calamitatem non adeo longe abfuturam, sed in diebus vestris fore, esse quasi iam in foribus et instare neque illos iniqua securitate tutos esse posse (cf. Cyr.). Praefatio haec al terrorem incutiendum tota est facta statimque ostendit Deum sicut quandoque mira cum longanimitate ac patientia praevaricatores peccatis insordescere sinat, ita maiorem impietatis molem etiam maioribus poenis demum esse ulturum. Stragem a Chaldaeis illatam revera inexspectato evenisse, etiam leremias testis est : « non crediderunt reges terrae et universi habitatores orbis, quoniam ingrederetur hostis et inimicus per poraS Ierusalem » (Lament. 4, 12). ad literulae unius formam paulo mutatam reducitur, si consonantes spectaveris, quibus solis scriptura hebr. olim constabat. In concilianda citatione S. Pauli cum textu hebr. operose sudant Rib. et Sanct. quos vide ;at multo operosius Lap., qui demum vult lectionem hebr. ex intentione Spiritus S. fuisse ambiguam volentis scil. utramque translationem significare et stabilire. At frustra ; nam saepe Apostolorum non interest verba referre, sed sensum ac sententiae pondus, ad quod efferendum sua quandoque verba explicationis gratia interserunt. Iam causam admirationis et stuporis subdit et quale opus operaturus sit Dominus, declarat (cf. Hier. Theod. M. ) :
Mala, de quibus conquestus est propheta, non impune grassari a Dco sinuntur. Statim enim Deus respondet monetque omnes, ut mentes oculosque dirigant ad gentes, ex iis enim fore, ut ultores exsistant, qui ultionein hucusque inauditam in iniquos perpetraturi sint. Et cum propheta de impiorum securitate, praepotentia, temeritate verba fecisset, potissimum ipsos impios alloquitur Deus eosque videre et respicere iubet, quam poenam exitio parem et stupore plenam iis sit impacturus (cf. Cyr. Theod. M. Theoph.). Yta
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v. 6 « quia ecce, ego suscitabo Chaldaeos, gentem amaram et velocem, ambulantem super latitudinem terrae, ut possideat tabernacula non sua » ; — «terrificus profecto sermo ! quis enim sufferre queat a Deo excitatum ? at natura etiam acerbi sunt; et hoc ad intentionem et exaggerationem facit » (Theoph.). Chaldaei apud prophetas Dabylonii vel regni babylonici milites appellantur (cf. Is. 13, 19 ; 43, 14 ; 4'1, 1. 5; 48, 14. 20. Ier. 21, 4. 9, 22, 25; 24, 9 et saepe; Ez. 4, 3; 19, 13 etc.) ; idem in libris historicis (cf. 4 Reg. 24, 2; 23, 4. B. 10. 13. 24 etc.). De Babyloniorum! invasione etiam Habacuc loquitur. Eorum ingenium ad terrorem incutiendum factum est ; quare apti sunt, ultores ; sunt enim gens amara i. e. atrox, acerbitate, iracundia, | crudelitate plena (cf. Is. 14, 6. Ier. 6, 93) ; velor i. e. praeceps et cum impetu ad quodvis ruens, et insuper cupidissima expugnationum et occupationum alienarum regionum i. e. ambulans super latitudinem... sese diffundunt in vastissimas regiones, quas tamquam domini ingrediuntur et secure occupant. Securitatem et divinam protectionem Deus pollicitus ad Abraham dixit : « surge et perambula terram in longitudine et in latitudine sua» (Gen. 13, 17), idem iam ad hostes Chaldaeos dicit, quibus suum populum tamquam praedam committit (cf. Schegg). Dura eorum atque crudelis indoles magis declaratur
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v. 7 « horribilis et terribilis est ; ex semetipsa iudicium et onus eius egredietur » ; — i. e. formidinem etterrorem ubique spargit, omnibus incutit iam solo aspectu ; veri tyranni in modum non agnoscit aliam legem vel aliud ius, nisi quod ipse pro lubitu et arbitrio statuerit ; tale ?udicium et onera, tributa, servitia et cetera servitutis officia non ad iusti iuris normam, sed pro sua libidine et beneplacito imponit'et exigit (cf. Alb. Rib.) ; ez semetipsa... ita apposite describuntur, qui iurium aliorum conculcatores non legem superiorem agnoscunt, sed cuncta pro sua voluntate atque cupidine constituunt (cf. Cyr.). In hebr. ex ?pso egreditur ius suum et maiestas sua ! Il. e. pro sua superbia omnem sibi gloriam et maiestatem vindicat, suo imperio cuncta subiiciens, et quid iuris sit, ipse sibi statuit pro libitu. Accedit ad spiritus eorum truces et tumentes, quod optimo apparatu bellico instructi sunt, praeprimis equitatu velocissimo, cuius ope et inopinato irruunt et furam omnem intercipiunt ;
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v. 8 «leviores pardis equi etus et velociores lupis vespertinis et diffundentur equites eius ; equites namque eius de longe venient, volabunt quasi aquila festinans ad. comedendum » ; — verba ipsa indicant iamiam instare impletionem minarum, quibus olim Moyses contumaces terruerat : « adducet Dominus super te centem de longinquo et de extremis terrae finibusin similitudinem aquilae volantis cum impetu ; cuius linguam intelligere non possis, gentem procacissimam, quae non deferat seni, nec misereatur parvuli » (Deut. 28, 49. 50) ; unde novus quidam horror ei annuntiationi tanto cum pondere repetitae pro diebus ipsorum accedat oportet. Chaldaeorum equitatus et currus ad bellum valentissimi saepius laudantur; cf. ler. 4, 13. 29; 6, 93. Ez. 93, 23 et insuper vide Rawlinson l. c. III p. 10. Impetum, furorem, rapacitatem optime depingit propheta in lupis vespertinis ?, « siquidem lupi saeviores esse dicuntur nocte vicina ct tota die fame ad rabiem concitati » ( Hier. sim. Aib. Rib. Sanct. qui rem eam etiam ex poetis illustrat etc.). Idem alio exemplo aquilae ad praedam e longinquo volatu rapidissimo festinantis docet; « Babylonios igitur ad cursum levissimos, mire audaces et confidentes, et ab agrestibus feris nihil distantes et qui capiendis quasi involent, rursus ipsis denuntiat» (Cyr.); insuper aquilae omnia volatilia subiacere, monet S. IIier. Cum tales sint, fieri non potest, ut non maximam cladem et terrorem afferant;
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v. 9 « omnes ad. praedam venient, facies eorum ventus urens ; et congregabit quasi arenam captivitatem » ; — versionem explicat S. Hier. : « quomodo ad flatum venti urentis virentia cuncta arescünt, ita ad aspectum eorum omnia vastabuntur, tantusque erit numerus captivorum et praedae, ut per üxep5oA1» etiam arenae possit aequari ». 2. Cf. Ier. 3, 6. Soph. 3, 3. LXX hic et apud Soph. legerunt non zy sed ans, unde do De vento urento cf. Os. 19, 4; 13, 15. Iob 21, 91. Simul innuitur, quanta cum facilitate captivi colligantur; sicut arena, quae corradenti non resistit, sed quae contemptui est utpote innumera et vilis multitudo. Uu S. Hier. vertit, ita Sym. quoque et Chald. et fere Syrus habet. Ventum urentem explicite efferunt Sym. et Chald. et aspectum faciei praeter illum etiam Syrus exprimit. Textus mas. fert: iwavTo On5 n222. Ditficultas estin voce TY22:2, quae hoc solum loco occurrit, quam alii turbum , coetum, alii desiderium, utrumque ex radicibus arabicis, explicant (cf. Ges. Fürst, Keil) ; unde vel : turba facierum ipsorui prona specí(at, aut orientem versus spectat ; vel : desiderium, misus facierum est in adversum ; omni conatu et impetu antrorsum nituntur (Keil, Reinke) vel oricntem versus (Hitz.). Verum hac recentiorum explicationes minime satisfaciunt. Nam turba facierum pro mullitudine exercitus est. mirus loquendi modus ; neque quid Sibi velit antrorsum niti cernitur, cum nullius facies retrorsum nitatur, atque omnis qui incedat antrorsum incedat ; quomodo autem Chaldaei orientem versus ingrediantur, si Palaestinam petant, nemo explicaverit. Quod [litz. habet, Chaldaeos a septemtrione profectos versus maris litus processisse et iam a litore, ergo ab occidente advenire, gratis dicitur, cum Habacuc Chaldaeos iam ad mare mediterraneum pervenisse indeque Iudaeam invasuros minime innuerit.— Veterum acceptio sensum praebet meliorem et vastationem à Chaldaeis illatam optime comparatione venti urentis C"TD (Gen. 41, 6. 23. Iob 27, 21; 38, 24 ctc.) exprimit, quamvis forma m'vip, non satis explicetur ; aliqui volunt agnosci 1 emphaticum seu aj£z:txóv, quo significatio intendatur (cf. ftos.). Praeplacet formam statuere duplicem Qvrp et novip ; cf. Ez. 41, 18 3 48, 3 ct vide D7p et map Ez: 27, 135 38, 13, 45, 71. — LXX habent : $ovisia Ex &osÓzt; Seer. unde legerunt n52, non 1:52 universitas eius ad violentiam veniet ; sed lectionem mas. confirmantSym. Syrus, Cha ld. praetor S. Hier. Neque impetum illum, quo omnia deiiciat et rapiat, ullius regis potestas coercere neque arces munitae inhibere possunt ; nam de omnibus victoriam reportabunt Chaldaei egregiam et facilem ;
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v. 40 « et tpse. de regibus triumphabit et tyranni ridiculi eius erunt ; ipse super omneni munitionem ridebit et comportabit aggerem et capiet eam » ; — in hebr. etiam magis contemptus exprimitur, quo Chaldaei adversariorum potcstatem habent : regibus illudit et duces (principes) risusi. e. irrisioni e: despicatui e sunt; si qua munitio eis obiicitur, de ea quoque rident et collirunt pulverem (hebr.) i. e. prompte ac facillime aggerem exstruunt et expugnant omnem arcem. Qui de regibus locisque munitis ita rident, nonne tremendi erunt ultores ? nonne iure ab Ieremia vocantur malleus universae terrac (Ier. "0, 23)? Ergo praeclare oratio haec ea confirmat, quae v. 5 minaciter dicta erant. Tota sententia de Chaldaeorum gente pronuntiatur neque ullum adest vestigium, cur de Nabuchodonosor cum Lap. Tir. eliisque speciatim intelligatur ; immo versu sequenti specialis haec explicatio excluditur, cum non huius regis, sed totius gentis historia et res gestae paucis comprehendantur ; v. 11 in hebr. tunc revirescit Spirits (renovatur animus) et supergreditur (excedit limites) et delinquit ; haec eius fortitudo est deus eius i. e. ex successu prospero novos audacioresque spiritus haurit ; hisce tumens ac turgidus iam omnes limites transsilit et ita reum se reddit ; quod delictum ruinam eius necessario adducturum esse, hoc loco obiter innuitur ; qua re potissimum delinquat, declaratur ultima sententia : suam fortitudinem i. e. seipsum colit tamquam deum, id quod superbiae fastigium est. Babel sibi attribuisse numen divinum, etiam Isaias accusat : « et dixisti : in sempiternum ero domina... ego sum et non est praeter me amplius » (Is. 41, "1. 8. cf. 44, 13. Dan. 4, 271-29). Haec facem praeferunt ad rite intelligendum textum vulg.
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v. 44 « tunc mutabitur spiritus et. pertransibit et. corruet ; haec est fortitudo eius dei sui » ;—i. e. audaces spiritus augentur, renovantur ; cf. Is. 40, 34 « qui sperant in Domino, mutabunt fortitudinem » ; et hoc innovato vigore ad maiores sesé accingent expeditiones vel terminos omnes ac fines perrumpent et ita se culpis illigabunt. Notat S. Hier. : « pro corruet Aquila et Symmachus transtulerunt «AqugeXáce, id est delinquet » et eodem loco hebr. GUN explicat delinquere ; quare corruere rite dices esse idem h. l. ac culpa corruere (cf. Rib. Mar.). Ultimum in versione quam dedit ei deus suus ; miserum habebunt exitum tam grandia coepta. Alii textum hebr. ita vertunt : tunc pervadit, (sicut) ventus et perlustrat (omnia) — ita ut Chaldaei tempestati omnia pervadenti comparentur (cf. Keil). At prior explicatio melior est ratione habita sensus, cum revera sermonem augeat et quomodo vires Chaldaeorum magis magisque ex parto successu crescant, bene ostendat. Secunda explanatio non continet nisi repetitionem languidam eorum, quae jam v. 8. 9 dicta erant. Neque prior verbis ullam infert vim ; nam cum EE in hiphil significet revirescere facere, vide Is. 9, 9; 40, 31; 44, 1. lob 44, 7 ; 29, 20, ea notio quam pro qal postulavimus, non potest abesse a verbo et revera invenitur Ps. 90, 5 (hebr.) de gramine virente. Textum latinum multi de Nabuchodonosor accipiünt et eam tangi censent mutationem, de qua Daniel (4, 30) ; « mutabitur spiritus eius humanus in belluinum, ut ex homine fiat quasi bos, ideoque regno expellatur, transeat et corruat » (Lap. sim. Hier. Sanct. Men. Tir. Gord. Calm.). At, ut alia omittam, iam bene Rib. monet, omnia de gente, non de uno rege dici. LXX intellexisse videntur CUN de sacrificio pro delicto ; unde vertunt xol iu cezat ; explicat Cyr. Deum consilium puniendi mutaturum, ad misericordiam transiturum et afflictis Iudaeis propitium futurum ; sim. Theod. Theod. M. Theoph. Versionem vulg. in ultimo membro ScAegg sic explicat : haec est fortitudo ejus, fortitudo scil. Dei sui i. e, talis fortitudo et talis rerum successus Chaldae- :S a Deo vero est concessus ; ita apte sermonem Dei claudi ct minas augeri censet cum Deo favente ad talem potentiam Chaldaei dicantur pervenire, quo efficacius vindictam in impios Iudaeos exerceant. Sensus quidem non est spernendus ; immo facile concesseris, tali epilogo magno cum pondere neve minore elegantia orationem absolvi; at quin ei expositioni subscribam, vehementer unpedior textu hebraico, qui eam nullo pacto admittit, ncque video neque sinili unquam exemplo didici, Iahve vocari Deum Babyloniorum.
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13, 9) : v. 19 « Numquid non tu a. principio Domine Deus meus, sancte meus ? et non moriemur. Domine, in iudicium posuisti eum, et fortem, ut corriperes, fundasti cum » ; — hebr. nonne tu a principio lahve, Deus meus i. e. nonne tu es Deus foederis, fidelis, immutabilis ex prisco illo tempore, quo nos in populum tuum et peculium et hereditatem elegisti? fierine igitur poterit, ut peuitus perdas ? Minime sane (cf. Hier. Theoph. Rib. Sa, Tir. Calm.) ; nam ipsum nomen Zahve Deum dicit foederis (vide quae ad Os. 2, 92; 12, $ et Ioel 2, 32 adnotata sunt); unde solius nominis tessera Deus promissionum admonetur, quae simul pro populo certissima sunt pignora salutis. Ei foederi, quod irritum fieri nequeat, innixus propheta magno cum affectu lahve vocat. Deum meum : « haec loquitur blandientis et poenitenüs affectu » (S. Ilhier.) ; « ad maius pathos maioremque affectum et obsecrationem, ut gratiam a Deo eblandiatur, vocat eum Deus meus, sancte meus » (Lap.). Porro titulo sanctitatis alia Deo proponitur ratio, cur populi sui excidium non permittere possit. Deus enim ut sanctus necessario vult suam sanctitatem relucere in creatura rationali. Propterea enim sibi populum elegit, ut sit gens sancta (Ex. 19, 6); unde voluntas Dei et electio effectu privari nequit; quare propheta eum per sanctitatem efficaciter obsecratur, ut quia hanc in terris stabilire velit, populum sibi cónsecratum non repudiet. Unde S. Cyr. apte infert Deum misereri, utpote sanctum ; nam ut sanctus elficere vult in aliis sanctitatem, id quod Consistit entm, ut notat Lap., sanctitas in conformitate cum lege aeterna, quae est in mente Dei. Haec conformitas in Deo est infinita; hinc pariter infinita eius sanctitas. Ad quam conformitatem ut genus humanum lapsum revocaret, erudiret, efformaret, populum Israel a multitudine profana segregavit suoque servitio addixit 1. e. in populum sibi sanctificavit. Hoc autem Dei opus irritari minime posse propheta optimc perspicit ; quare Deum sanctum suum appellans obsecratur, ut operi incepto insistens populum ab illa conformitate abevrantem revocet eumque sanctum restituat. Hac simul fiducia fretus, confidenter enuntiat : et non moriemur ! i. e. non penitus exscindemur (TÀ^op/A.), fieri nequit, ut intereamus deleti a Chaldaeis ; « hic loquendi modus eius est, qui de rerum eventu ct voti complemento non dubitat : tu. es Domine Deus noster et sanctus noster, ergo non moriemur, aut propterea non moriemur » (Senct.). Praeterea vide quae ad Os. 11, 9 adnotata sunt. Non igitur Chaldaeus mitti potest, ut conterat et deieat, sed solum, ut iudicium ultionis, correptionis, eruditionis exerceat ; « positium. esse autumamus, ut impleret quod divinitus contra Israelitas eczressum fuerat 1udicium, hoc est, expugnuationem, captivitatem, urbium inflammationem et ut semel ac simul dicam, Iudaeae vastitatem » (Cyr.). Et ut Chaldaeus hoc munere rite fungeretur, fortem fundasti eum sccundum vulg. i. e. ei magnam atque inconcussam potestatem pro aliquo tempore concessisti. Hebr. verte : Jahve, in iudicium posuisti eum, petra, ad. corripiendum fundasti eum ; est perfectus parallelismus; nomen lIahve alio membro excipitur rup?s vel petrae appellatione (*3), qua Deus, utpote saxum et fundamentum inconcussum super quo populus electus fundatus sit et collocatus, saepius consalutatur ? in textu hebr. ; cf. Deut. 32, 15. 31. Ps. 31, 3; 89, 971; 94, 22, Is. 11, 10. 9 Sam. 22, 41; 23, 3 etc. Talia utique ex Dei (Iahve) notione et foedere consequuntur, quae vates v. 12 magna cum (fidei fiducia protulerat. Verum minae divinae v. 5-11 prorsus universales sunt, immo iustum in Israel et impiumeadem strage involvere videntur nullo discrimine facto ; quare non solum totius populi excidium, sed etiam iustorum simul cum impiis interitum annuntiare videntur. Haec duo prophetae animum angunt vehementer neque ea cum numinis divini sanctitate et providentia conciliare potest; unde talia deprecans Deum per suam ipsius sanctitatem et curam de populo suo providam obtestatur :
Cum tanta Chaldaeorum potestas et fortitudo insuperabilis et atrocitas summa ad omnia conculcanda et vastanda verbis Domini, sit descripta, propheta talem stragem mente iam praeoccupans supplices manus ad Deum tendit eique sacra illa foedera et promissa in memoriam revocat, quibus spoponderat se salutem et beneficia populo praestaturum ; quare inagna cum fiducia vates profitetur, Deum non excidium, sed solum castigationem et eruditionem populo posse immittere. Minis igitur divinis quae maximam stragem denuntiabant, hisce vates occurrit opponens murum pro domo Israel (Ez.
1:13
v. 43 « mundi sunt oculi (ti ne videas malum et respicere ad, iniquitatem non. poteris : quare vespicis super iniqua agentes et taces devorante impio iustiorem se?
1:14
v. 44 et facies homines quasi pisces maris et quasi reptile non. habens principem » ? — i. e. Deus malum, quod suae voluntati repugnat, approbare nequit neque iniquum ac miseriis plenum rerum statum (hebr. 5v) diutius invalescere vult ; et tamen, uti minae prolatae indicant, statuit Chaldaeos praevaricatores et contemptores prosperum nancisci successum et vult permittere, ut ipsi iusti ab impiis devorentur, i. e. tamquam a feris vexentur, scin dantur, spolientur, miserrima morte intereant. Immo statuisse videtur, ut interitus populi sui sibi tam parum cordi ac curae futurus esset, quam si pisces ac reptilia caperentur; in tantum populum suum contemnere et abiicere videtur. Haec animum prophetae perturbant et. ancipiti sollicitudine premunt ; unde fluit locutionis forma aliquid expostulationis prae se ferens : quare respicis... taces. . . facies? neque opus est cum TAeod. Theoph. — ut omnis absit vel offensio vel loquendi durities acerbitasque — assumere, prophetam non suo nomine, sed ex aliorum persona talia effari, quorum querulas cogitationes depingere velit. Atque quo efficacius Deum precibus moveat, rei indignitatem piscium comparatione elatam Deo proponit ; populum scil. electum iam ad censum et ordinem piscium esse abiectum ; « quomodo pisces qui non habent principem et irrationabilia iumenta et multitudo reptilium absquc providentia subiacet fortiori et quicumque plus valuerit viribus, dominatur in alterum ; sic inter homines, animal rationale et ad similitudinem tuam conditum, non valebit ratio, non merita, sed vires corporis et irrationabilis fortitudo » (S. Hier. sim. Theod. Theoph.) ; vel potius uti alii melius comparationem illustrant : ita contemni populum a Deo, perinde ac si essent pisces vel reptilia, quoniam quicumque eos vexare velit et spoliare, nemo prohibet et ita impune fit, ac si pisces aut reptilia occidisset ; « his reptilibus, quibus neque ex suo genere dux cst aut princeps, neque ex alieno dominus, qui illa ab aliorum iniuria tueatur, aut repetat, si per vim aut fraudem ablata fuerint, comparantur Iudaei, quos Deus ita videtur deseruisse et Chaldaeorum exposuisse telis, ac si ad se nullo pertinerent modo » (Sanct. sim. fib. Lap. Mar. Men. Calm. Trochon). hei indignitatem ulterius delineat ex duobus : ex strage universa, quam in tali rerum conditione piscator afferet, et ex ipsius piscatoris impia insolentia, quae ex copiosa praedaori etur :
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v. 145 « totum in hano sublevavit, traxit illud in sagena sua et congregavit in rete suum: super hoc laetabitur et exsultabit » ; — nullo prohibente, impune, potest piscator ille Chaldaeus totum ! populum internecione delere ; licet ei omnem adhibere modum, quo exitium inferat; id quod variis piscandi instrumentis designatur (cf. Ez. 12, 13. Ier. 16, 16). De quo successu hostes ingenti laetitia et tripudio efferentur ; immo in superbia sua et cultu idololatrico, quo sibi et suo numini cuncta prospera attribuant, eximia ratione confirmabuntur. Id iam proponit propheta, ut etiam ex hac parte Deo supplex exhibeat, quantopere sibi ipsi et suo honori debeat, ut impetus Chaldaeorum cohibeatur neve eo modo irruere sinantur, quem minae divinae prae se ferant :
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v. 16 « propterea immolabit sagenae suae ct sacrificabit reti suo, quia in ipsis incrassata est pars eius et cibus eius electus » ; — «inde superbia elatus, gestorum suorum causam solas proprias vires esse putat et hisce divinos honores haberi iubet» (Theod. ; sim. Theod. M. Sanct. Mar. Men. Tir, Gord.Calm.) ; sibi ipsi et numini suo, suae sollertiae et sagacitati cuncta adscribit; cf. v. 44 hebr. haec fortitudo est ipsi in deum, quatenus Chaldaei ea omnia sibi prospere succedere censent ex ope et favore deorum. Cernebant enim veteres intimo nexu inter se unita et coniuncta fata nationis prospera et gloriosa atque deorum popularium potentiam et maiestatem. Gentium spoliis divites effecti sunt, possessiones creverunt; pretiosa quaeque iis . penduntur a subiectis : hisce omnibus ad deorum suorum laudem et cultum abutuntur eaque cuncta iis accepta referunt. Quare miratur propheta, cur Deus ista omnia fieri permittat, quibus gloria idolorum adee celebretur. Aliqui alludi volunt ad morem Scytharum et Sauromatarum quem refert Herodotus (&, 59. 60), acinacem scil. Martis symbolum ab iis fuisse adoratum et sacrificiis cultum (cf. apud Reinke et Trochon). Sed nihil tale de Chaldaeis est : notum et reti vel sagenae i. e. armis fuisse oblata sacrificia vcl rete et sagenam i. e. arma symbolum fuisse numinis bellorum praesidis res est apud Chaldaeos plane inaudita. Quare explanationi inhaerendum est quae communiter et recte proponitur : omnia tribuent propriae virtuti, propriis viribus, propriae industriae (Vat.). Censet Schegg, deos Chaldaeorum a propheta per contemptum vocari rete et sagenam, quia eorum numinum favore sibi multiplicia suppeditari auxilia ad nationes conterendas opinati sint. , H |i . 1. LXX. iterum legerunt 7152, uti v. 9; undo cvvtDheixv $v &qxictpo — ávíaxaosvw sed Versus 13 - 1'] esse e textu prophetae eiiciendos, utpote perperam insertos asseruit I. v. Gumpach (cf. apud Reinke, Hab. p. 90). Ratio praecipua est, quia hisce vaticinium contineatur post eventum editum et quia tempore prophetae relicto invasiones Scytharum describantur. At immerito id affirmari, ex nexu horum versuum cum antecedentibus facile ostenditur. Árcte enim illis adiunguntur et eos magis magisque declarant. Quod dixerat vates v. 13 ab impio iustum devorari comparatione v. 14 instituta illustrat ; hanc ipsam v. 15 magis explicat, ut rei indignitas quam clarissime ostendatur; insuper ut iam monui, alia adduntur quae ad affectum augendum non parum conferunt: hostis stragem infert universam, ipse de hac omnium ruina impotenti superbia et arrogantia effertur, suis viribus omnia effici sibi, persuadet, opibus ditescit et ingenti cupiditate alias et alias subiugandi nationes stimulatur. Talia autem in oratione apte Deo proponi, quibus ad opem ferendam moveatur, quis negaverit? Ergo nisi rationes potissimas et quae maxime affectum precantis pandant resecare velimus, versus isti ex rationibus internis retineri debent. Neque obstat modus 1oquendi sublevavit etc. quasi ea ut iam gesta referrentur. Notum est enim in descriptionibus posse adhiberi tempus praeteritum apud Hebraeos et a prophetis saepe usurpari, quippe qui quae visione perceperunt et quasi gesta mentis oculis aspexerunt, eodem dicendi genere enarrant. Verte igitur sublevavit tempore praesenti (cf. Is. 19, "7 hebr. ; 43, 3. Ier. 31, :9 etc. vide Ewald, Lehrb. 2. 135, Porro ex tali successu ad alias nationes bello invadendas et occidendas incessanter exstimulantur (cf. Cyr. Rib.); quae alia est ratio, cur Deus eos impune grassari sinere non debeat: v. 1'l « propter hoc ergc expandit sagenam suam et semper interficere gentes non parcet » ; — hebr. num propter hoc ezpandet! rete suum... ? vates Deum hac interrogatione adit : num iegitur ferri potest, ut Chaldaei rebus prosperis elati insatiabili cupiditate omnes devorent et ad maiora semper appetendo prospero rerum eventu sollicitentur? Hebr. num continuo ad. gentes inter ficiendas (ita incumbet), ut non parcat? i. e. sine ulla misericordia vel venia. Sagenam metaphora relicta Chald. exercitum explicat : numquid propterea mittet exercitus suos; sim. S. Hier.: «et quia semel piscatione opulentissima saturatus est et sagenam suam i. e. suum replevit exercitum, propterea gentes interficere i. e. semper pugnare et iugulare non cessat ». In textu latino ? malus ille effectus assertione per modum expostulationis Deo proponitur et obiicitur, quem a Deo permitti indignum sit et plane intolerabile. Magnam indignationem et expostulationem prae se fert illud ergo; num S. Jlier. ita reddidit interrogationis particulam n? Hisce igitur vates obviam it minis a Deo propositis. Ipse quidem postulaverat, ut Deus scelera cohiberet cf. 1, 2- 4 ; verum Dei responsione adeo ampla et minaci totius populi interitum et simul cum impiis iustorum quoque excidium sibi audire visus cst ; quare Deum adit deprecabundus, foederis admonet et ne Chaldaeos in immensum saevire permittat, rei indignitate ex variis capitibus proposita supplex efflagitat. Neque diu caret divino responso.
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… purity, the criteria of leprosy, etc.), to those who consulted them; cf. Hag. 2, 11; Mal. 2, 6-9. The depositaries and dispensers of the t. were the priests: Mic. 3, 11; Jer. 2, 8; 18, 18; Zeph. 3, 4; Ez. 7, 26; 22, 16; 44, 23 (cf. Lev. 14, 57); cf. Hab. 1, 2-4 and Lam. 2, 9. Entrusted to the priesthood (cf. II Kings 17, 27-28; II Chron. 15, 3), the t. demanded absolute fidelity to certain principles of moral and ritual purity, individual …
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.