The Egyptian darkness.
Horrible darkenes falling in Aegypt. 19. the rest of the world had ordinarie light.
1For thy judgments, O Lord, are great, and thy words cannot be expressed: therefore undisciplined souls have erred.Grandi sono i tuoi giudizj, o Signore, e ineffabili le opere tue: per questo le anime privo di scienza, caddero in errore.FOR thy iudgements ô Lord are great, & thy wordes inexphcable, for this cause the soules lacking discipline haue erred.Magna sunt enim judicia tua, Domine, / et inenarrabilia verba tua: / propter hoc indisciplinatæ animæ erraverunt. 2For while the wicked thought to be able to have dominion over the holy nation, they themselves being fettered with the bonds of darkness, and a long night, shut up in their houses, lay there exiled from the eternal providence.Conciossiachè mentre gli iniqui si persuadono di potere opprimere il popol santo; legati da catene di tenebre, e di lunga notte, chiusi dentro le loro case, giacevano esclusi dalla eterna Previdenza.For whiles the wicked are perswaded that they can rule ouer the holie nation: fettered with the bands of darknes, and long night, shut vp vnder roofes, they haue lyen fugitiues from the euerlasting prouidence.Dum enim persuasum habent iniqui / posse dominari nationi sanctæ, / vinculis tenebrarum et longæ noctis compediti, / inclusi sub tectis, / fugitivi perpetuæ providentiæ jacuerunt. 3And while they thought to lie hid in their obscure sins, they were scattered under a dark veil of forgetfullness, being horribly afraid, and troubled with exceeding great astonishment.E mentre credono di potere restare ascosi coi neri loro peccati, furon disgiunti l'uno dall'altro con tenebroso velo di obblivione, pieni di orrende paure, e turbati da eccessivo sbigottimento.And whiles they thincke that they lie hid in obscure sinnes, they were dispersed by the darke couert of obliuion, being horribly afrayd and disturbed with exceding admiration.Et dum putant se latere in obscuris peccatis, / tenebroso oblivionis velamento dispersi sunt, / paventes horrende, / et cum admiratione nimia perturbati. 4For neither did the den that held them, keep them from fear: for noises coming down troubled them, and sad visions appearing to them, affrighted them.Conciossiaché i nascondigli dove erano ritirati, non li facevan sicuri, ma erano spauriti dai rumori, che si levavano, e spettri orribili ad essi apparivano, da' quali erano spaventati.For neither did the denne that conteyned them, keepe them without feare: because the sound coming downe trubled them, and sorowful visions appearing to them, put them in feare.Neque enim quæ continebat illos spelunca sine timore custodiebat, / quoniam sonitus descendens perturbabat illos, / et personæ tristes illis apparentes pavorem illis præstabant.
5And no power of fire could give them light, neither could the bright flames of the stars enlighten that horrible night.Né il fuoco per grande, ch'ei fosse, poteva ad essi dar lume, né il chiaro splendor delle stelle poteva dar luce a quella orrenda notte.And no force certes of the fyre could geue them light, neither could the clere flames of the starres lighten that horrible night.Et ignis quidem nulla vis poterat illis lumen præbere, / nec siderum limpidæ flammæ / illuminare poterant illam noctem horrendam. 6But there appeared to them a sudden fire, very dreadful: and being struck with the fear of that face, which was not seen, they thought the things which they saw to be worse:Ma un repentino fuoco terribile compariva dinanzi ad essi, e sbalorditi per la paura di que' fantasmi, che mal vedevano, peggiori si figuravan le cose, che comparivano.But there appeared to them soden fyre, ful of feare: and being stroken with the feare of that face, which was not sene, they estemed the thinges that were sene to be worse:Apparebat autem illis subitaneus ignis, timore plenus; / et timore perculsi illius quæ non videbatur faciei, / æstimabant deteriora esse quæ videbantur. 7And the delusions of their magic art were put down, and their boasting of wisdom was reproachfully rebuked.Ed eranvi aggiunti gli scherni dell'arte magica, e i voltamenti di saggezza furon redarguiti con ignominia;and there were added derisions of the magical art, and contumelious rebuke of the glorie of their wisdom.Et magicæ artis appositi erant derisus, / et sapientiæ gloriæ correptio cum contumelia. 8For they who promised to drive away fears and troubles from a sick soul, were sick themselves of a fear worthy to be laughed at.Perocché quelli, che facevan professione di sbandire dagli animi abbattuti le paure, e i turbamenti, sopraffatti dal timore con lor vitupero languivano;For they which promised that they would expel feares and perturbations from the languishing soule, these with derision languished ful of feare.Illi enim qui promittebant / timores et perturbationes expellere se ab anima languente, / hi cum derisu pleni timore languebant. 9For though no terrible thing disturbed them: yet being scared with the passing by of beasts, and hissing of serpents, they died for fear and denying that they saw the air, which could by no means be avoided.Conciossiachè quantunque nulla di mostruoso gli offendesse, al passar, che facevano le bestie, e al fischiar dei serpenti si sbigottivano, e morivano di paura, e avrebbon eletto di non veder l'aria, che da nissuno può evitarsi;For although none of the monsters disturbed them: being moued with the passing by of beasts, and hissing of serpents, they perished trembling: and denying that they saw the ayre, which by no meanes any man could avoyde.Nam etsi nihil illos ex monstris perturbabat, / transitu animalium et serpentium sibilatione commoti, / tremebundi peribant, / et aërem quem nulla ratione quis effugere posset, negantes se videre.
10For whereas wickedness is fearful, it beareth witness of its condemnation: for a troubled conscience always forecasteth grievous things.Perocché la malvagità essendo paurosa ai condanna colla propria testimonianza: e nella agitata coscienza presagisce cose crudeli.For wheras wickednes is fearful, it geueth testimonie of condemnation: for a trubled conscience doth alwayes presume cruel thinges.Cum sit enim timida nequitia, / dat testimonium condemnationis: / semper enim præsumit sæva, / perturbata conscientia: 11For fear is nothing else but a yielding up of the succours from thought.E il timore altro non è, se non la privazione degli ajuti della ragione.For feare is nothing els but a bewraying of the aydes of cogitation.nihil enim est timor nisi proditio cogitationis auxiliorum. 12And while there is less expectation from within, the greater doth it count the ignorance of that cause which bringeth the torment.E quanto meno dentro di se uno aspetta soccorso, tanto più ingrandisce la ignota cagione, che a lui da tormento.And whiles inwardly there is lesse expectation, the greater doth he count the ignorance of that cause which maketh the torment.Et dum ab intus minor est exspectatio, / majorem computat inscientiam ejus causæ, / de qua tormentum præstat. 13But they that during that night, in which nothing could be done, and which came upon them from the lowest and deepest hell, slept the same sleep,Quelli però in quella notte veramente intollerabile, e venuta sopra di loro dall'intimo profondissimo inferno, assopiti dal medesimo sonno,But they that during the night in deede impotent, and coming vpon them from the lowest and highest hel, slept the same sleepe,Illi autem qui impotentem vere noctem, / et ab infimis et ab altissimis inferis supervenientem, / eumdem somnum dormientes, 14Were sometimes molested with the fear of monsters, sometimes fainted away, their soul failing them: for a sudden and unlooked for fear was come upon them.Ora dal timor degli spettri erano agitati, ora venivan meno per l'abbattimento dell'animo; sorpresi da subitaneo, e inaspettato terrore.were sometime molested with the feare of monsters, sometime fayled by passing away of the soule: for soden feare and vnlooked for came vpon them.aliquando monstrorum exagitabantur timore, / aliquando animæ deficiebant traductione: / subitaneus enim illis et insperatus timor supervenerat. 15Moreover, if any of them had fallen down, he was kept shut up in prison without irons.Che se alcuno di quelli fosse venuto a cadere, ivi si stava rinchiuso, e serrato in prigione senza catene di ferro.Moreouer if any of them had fallen downe, he was kept shut vp in prison without yron.Deinde si quisquam ex illis decidisset, / custodiebatur in carcere sine ferro reclusus.
16For if any one were a husbandman, or a shepherd, or a labourer in the field, and was suddenly overtaken, he endured a necessity from which he could not fly.Imperocché o fosse egli un contadino, od un pastore, o mercenario, che lavorasse alla campagna, si trovava involto da quella insuperabile necessità;For if one were a husbandman, or if a shepheard, or worker of the labours in the silde were sodenly taken, he susteyned necessitie ineuitable.Si enim rusticus quis erat, aut pastor, / aut agri laborum operarius præoccupatus esset, / ineffugibilem sustinebat necessitatem; 17For they were all bound together with one chain of darkness. Whether it were a whistling wind, or the melodious voice of birds, among the spreading branches of trees, or a fall of water running down with violence,Conciossiaché tutti erano avvinti dalla stessa catena di tenebre. E il susurrare de' venti, e il canto soave degli uccelli trai folti rami degli alberi, e il precipitoso impeto dell'acqua corrente,For with one chayne of darkenes they were al tyed together. Whether it were the hissing winde, or among the thicke boughes of trees the sweete sound of birdes, or the force of water running downward exceedingly,una enim catena tenebrarum omnes erant colligati. / Sive spiritus sibilans, / aut inter spissos arborum ramos avium sonus suavis, / aut vis aquæ decurrentis nimium, 18Or the mighty noise of stones tumbling down, or the running that could not be seen of beasts playing together, or the roaring voice of wild beasts, or a rebounding echo from the highest mountains: these things made them to swoon for fear.E il forte romore de' sassi cadenti, e il correre dei non veduti animali, che scherzavano, e il forte suono delle bestie, che urlavano, e l'eco da' monti altissimi ripercosso li facean venir meno per lo spavento.or the mightie sound of rockes tumbled headlong, or the running of playing beasts, that were not sene, or the mightie noyse of roaring beastes, or an Echo resounding from the highest mountaynes: they made them swoone for feare.aut sonus validus præcipitatarum petrarum, / aut ludentium animalium cursus invisus, / aut mugientium valida bestiarum vox, / aut resonans de altissimis montibus echo: / deficientes faciebant illos præ timore. 19For the whole world was enlightened, with a clear light, and none were hindered in their labours.Conciossiaché il mondo tutto da luce chiarissima era illuminato, ed era occupato senza impedimento ne' suoi lavori.For al the world was illuminated with a cleare light, & none was hindered in their workes.Omnis enim orbis terrarum limpido illuminabatur lumine, / et non impeditis operibus continebatur.
20But over them only was spread a heavy night, an image of that darkness which was to come upon them. But they were to themselves more grievous than the darkness.Sopra quelli soli posava gravosa notte, immagine di quelle tenebre, che dipoi gli aspettavano; per la qual cosa eran eglino più insopportabili a loro stessi, che quelle tenebre.But ouer them onlie was layd an heauie night, the image of darkenes, which was to come vpon them. They therfore were vnto themselues more heauie then the darknes.Solis autem illis superposita erat gravis nox, / imago tenebrarum quæ superventura illis erat: / ipsi ergo sibi erant graviores tenebris.
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Souls. The Egyptians, who were punished with horrible darkness, as they had followed an unjust, dark, and cruel policy against the Hebrews.
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Calmet
Providence, and day-light, like incorrigible slaves, in prison. (Calmet)
Worthington
The Egyptians were three days in darkness, (Exodus 10:22.) and the Gentiles continued without faith in God, till after Christ's resurrection. (Worthington)
Only few served him, before that glorious event.
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Calmet
Sins. This interior darkness was punished with the exterior one. (Calmet)
Menochius
Forgetfulness. Of each other, being concerned only for themselves, (Haydock) or they seemed to be forgotten by Providence, or buried in Lethean, most dismal obscurity. The interpreter thus mentions Cocytus, without sanctioning poetical fables, Job 21:33. (Menochius)
Calmet
Exceeding. Greek, "spectres." (Calmet)
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Calmet
Fire. Like lightning, which would not allow them leisure to distinguish objects. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Rebuked. Or chastised. (Haydock)
Calmet
The magicians could not imitate this miracle, nor secure themselves from its horrors. (Calmet)
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Fear. the Egyptians kept serpents in their houses, and fed them. But now, neglecting to shew this attention, they were affrighted with their hissing.
Haydock
Air. Or could live. They seemed to wish for death, (Calmet) like the damned, but it fled from them. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Things. The wicked are most cowardly. (Calmet)
Seneca
"Crimes may be safe; they cannot be secure." (Seneca, ep. xcvii.)
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Thought. And giving way to despair, when it is extreme.
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Expectation. Or fear. Such an one is filled with a mortal anxiety.
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Them. From the sight of spectres, and remorse of conscience.
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Calmet
Irons. Darkness forced them to stay where they were. (Calmet)
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Menochius
Birds. Nothing can afford comfort to the affrighted. (Menochius)
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Concordance Exo. • & 10.
Literally the 〈…〉s ••••a knes thier dayes together Exo 10. v. 22. Morally they & other g•n• les vvere in darknes vvithout faith in God, til Christs Resurrection the third day.
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A trubled conscience is a great torment.
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This signified the conuersion of al nations to Christ.
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 6.36
… and we require some breadth of mind and some ability to solve the difficulties raised against Providence, to be able to account for such things and to see that they are mysteries and exceed our human nature. Then we shall say,
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Shut up under their roofs (the Septuagint and Philo have under their beds, as if throughout this three-day period the Egyptians did not dare to rise from their beds: for those who fear esteem themselves safest in their beds), FUGITIVES FROM THE ETERNAL PROVIDENCE; — in Greek, φυγάδες τῆς αἰωνίου προνοίας, that is, exiles from eternal providence; Vatable, fugitives from eternal providence. First, Our Lorinus thus expounds it, that is to say, The Egyptians, when they thought they could flee from God's providence and vengeance, from it as if fleeing servants and slaves were seized, bound as if with chains of darkness, as if shut up in a prison. Second, Jansenius, that is to say, The Egyptians lay in darkness as fugitives, that is, destitute and exiles from God's providence, which perpetually illuminates men through the sun: thus also Castro: Fugitives, he says, that is, expelled and routed by God's providence, which visits men through each day with the brightness of the sun, from which they were entirely deprived for that whole three days. Third, Peter Nannius, that is to say, The Egyptians in darkness were fugitives, that is, ignorant and deprived of eternal providence, and banished from knowledge of it, inasmuch as they thought ill of its eyes and regard: for they denied the true God's divinity, providence and vengeance; hence explaining further he adds, "while they think themselves hidden in the darkness of sins:" all these things are fitting and appropriate to this place. Hence tropologically Cantacuzenus: Fugitives, he says, from eternal providence are those who despise the commandments of God, who has eternal providence over all things. THEY LAY: — thus the Roman and Greek texts; therefore some read incorrectly pleased; others hid, in which in interpreting them St. Bonaventure, Hugh, Lyra and Dionysius labor in vain.
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Moreover, Peter Nannius takes τὸ λήθης as a proper name, signifying the river Lethe of hell, which is said to bring forgetfulness of all things to those descending into it, whence he translates: By the dark covering of Lethe, because in the following verse 13, the Wise Man asserts that that night emerged from the depths of Hades, that is, of the underworld, as if that darkness were truly the shadow of death, and woven from the mists of Lethe; whence from the Greek λήθη the Latins derive lethum, that is, death, in which there is the deepest darkness and forgetfulness of all things, both active and passive: for the dying forget all things, and in turn are consigned to oblivion by all. Nannius therefore thinks that the Wise Man here alludes to the river Lethe, which the poets have handed down to be in the underworld, whose waters if anyone tastes, he immediately forgets all things of the past; hence λήθη, that is, it has its name from forgetfulness. This fable has been given credence, because forgetfulness of all things arose for the dying. Now it is established that the river Lethe exists in Africa near the extreme horn of Syrtis, and washes the city of Berenice; but among all it is the report that from an infernal inundation it bursts forth to those places; whence Lucan, book IX: Beside which Lethe, silent, flows along, Bringing (as fame reports) oblivion from infernal veins. Thus the sense will be, as if to say, The Egyptians were so veiled and blinded by these Cimmerian darknesses, that, forgetful of all things, they seemed to have drunk forgetfulness itself from the Lethean river of hell; whence Abulensis in Exodus chapter x, says that the Egyptians, surrounded by the deepest darkness, with soul, memory and imagination disturbed, could not remember where food was, nor where drink, nor where table or seat, or anything similar. THEY WERE SCATTERED, FEARING TERRIBLY, AND DISTURBED WITH EXCESSIVE WONDER. — They were scattered, not in the sense that the Egyptians wandered about seeking light, for because of fear "no one moved from the place where he was," Exodus chapter x, 23; but they were scattered, that is, disjoined and separated from one another, so that no one could approach another, help him, console him, nor in turn receive aid or consolation from him in such great fear: for "no one saw his brother," Exodus chapter x, verse 23. Fearing terribly, both on account of the darkness and on account of specters, concerning which presently: on account of both they were so fearful and dismayed, that they did not know which way to turn, indeed they did not dare to speak or open their mouths, nor could they think of food, drink, clothing, or anything else: thus Abulensis in Exodus x, Question II. And disturbed with excessive wonder: in Greek it is, ἐν φάσμασιν, that is, in simulacra, visions, phantoms, phantasms, specters, by which they were so struck that they thought themselves would be killed by them if they moved from their place, and feared and expected worse things at every moment; whence with excessive wonder, as Our translator renders it, that is, with unusual stupor and consternation, they appeared astonished and bereft of mind. What these specters were is explained in the following. Moreover, these specters were produced partly by fear and the consciousness of crimes, for these, equally as fear, present sad and vehement imaginings to the mind, so that the fearful one seems to hear them with his ears and see them with his eyes; partly God sent them to them through angels or demons.
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BECAUSE A SOUND DESCENDING DISTURBED THEM. — τοῦτο, ἦχοι δὶ καταβράσσοντες αὐτοὺς περιεκόμπουν, that is, sounds indeed disturbing them surrounded them, or with force and crash (such as water emitted from opened and broken cataracts bursting forth impetuously) roared around them, or sounds with vehemence falling and striking resounded around them, that is, crashes like thunder surrounded them and struck terror: for it seemed to them that thunder from on high struck them, and that God hurled lightning upon their heads. AND SAD FACES APPEARING TO THEM. — In Greek, φάσματα, that is, visions, apparitions, specters, ghosts with sad and dejected faces, sad and fierce, were offered to them, which phantasms greatly increased the terror of the darkness of the Egyptians: for although these were most dense, so as to prevent all vision, yet in them fire intermittently flashed, as follows in verse 7, by whose light specters could be seen by the Egyptians. Moreover these faces and specters were not merely imaginary, as Dionysius and St. Bonaventure wish, who believe that demons and dead men were presented to the imagination of the Egyptians; but also real, which were perceived by bodily eyes, not only at night in sleep, but also by day in waking, as Abulensis teaches, Exodus x, who believes these darknesses to be called horrible, on account of the horrible visions of shades and ghosts. Again these specters appear to have been the infants of the Hebrews, whom the Egyptians unjustly drowned in the Nile; also of grown youths and men, whom they killed by the same excessive labors, scourges and injuries; likewise of demons, whom they worshipped in their various idols with different forms and shapes, as Apis in the form of a calf, Anubis in the form of a dog, Ammon in the form of a ram, etc.; justly therefore were they punished with ghosts, who by killing infants thought their souls passed into shades and ghosts, and worshipping the ghosts of demons adored them. Furthermore these ghosts are often fashioned by angels or demons, yet sometimes they are the very souls of the dead existing in purgatory or hell, whom God permits to go forth and appear to the living, for their admonition or punishment, as I said cap. ii, verse 1, to those words: "There is none that is known to have returned from hell." Finally shades and spirits, because they appear, are especially wont to be those who were tyrants, violent men, oppressors of the poor, impious toward parents, or cruelly slain; or miserably deceived and seduced by fraud, as has been discovered by many examples: see our Delrio in Magic., and Thyræus in Visions. Note, here the Wise One supplies much which Moses passed over in Exodus: first indeed of these ghosts Moses makes no mention. Second, verse 16, the Wise One says that fire flashing in the darkness struck and smote the Egyptians, concerning which there is deep silence in Exodus. Third, for example, he says the hissings of serpents, and the noise and roaring of beasts (of which Moses has nothing) wonderfully terrified the Egyptians fearful in the dense darkness, especially since they were ignorant of the cause of these things, as verse 12 has in Greek. Whence by catachresis he calls these darknesses verse 2 and 18, a chain, so much were they terrified by them, that no one dared to move himself from his place, just as if he had been bound by a chain: for fear so stupefies men and animals, that they cannot move themselves, but as if stupefied and astounded stand immobile, because in fear the heat and animal spirits, which are the cause of motion, withdraw themselves from the brain to the heart, so as to strengthen and fortify it as it were as a seat: wherefore the brain is so little able to use itself for motion and sensation. Moreover the consolation and joy was greater for the Hebrews, in that at the same time they dwelt in the brightest light, as it is said verse 13.
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would fail; the sun, moon and stars would not give them light; yet at home candles and lamps provided them light, by which they were able to eat, drink, work and walk; but this is forced and violent. Wherefore fire is to be understood properly, as the other interpreters understand it, that is to say: So dense were the darknesses to the Egyptians, that no torches, no tapers, no lamps, no fires could by their force, in Greek βίᾳ, that is violence (for fire is a violent force, and violently illuminates and inflames all things) dispel or illuminate them, both because God withdrew from them His concurrence, which is necessary for acting and illuminating; and because, as Philo says in book I of the Life of Moses, "the fire which we use daily, its splendor was either extinguished by the turbid air, or was overcome by the thickest darknesses, so that with their eyes preserved, the sense of sight, most necessary for seeing, they required as if they were without eyes." Where note, all earthly light is mixed with fire, indeed it proceeds from it as its dowry and property: wherefore the light of a candle, lamp, torch, etc., is truly luminous fire, or shining fire: many hold the same opinion concerning the heavenly light of the sun and stars, as I said on Ecclesiasticus XLIII, 3; hence the Wise Man here calls the clear flames of the stars. NOR OF THE STARS,—that is to say: Just as no earthly fire, so no heavenly light could give light to the Egyptians, on account of the causes already mentioned; hence for "nor could they," in Greek it is, οὔτε ὑπέμενον, that is they did not endure, did not dare, namely to strive against God, and to attempt so arduous a work, as to presume to dispel such dense darknesses brought upon them by Him: for a creature does not dare, nor is able, to resist and struggle against the Creator: Whence Philo: "On a clear day, he says, darknesses were suddenly poured forth, with continuous and thick clouds covering the sky, and with excessive compression shutting off the rays of the stars, so that day differed in nothing from nocturnal gloom: for so great was the horror, that is the density of the misty air, that it did not admit the light of the stars on account of dreadful thickness." Justly were the Egyptians deprived of all heavenly light, who strove to extinguish the light of divine knowledge in Moses and the Hebrews, as is taught in chapter XVIII, 4. Allegorically these Egyptian darknesses were a living image, and thus a prelude of the darknesses of hell, thus Hugo; tropologically moreover they signified the blindness of a mind obstinate in evil, says Origen on Exodus chapter x, verse 23, which neither the fire of God's benefits, nor the furnace of hell, nor the flames of sermons, nor the stars of inspirations could dispel or illuminate. For "clear flames," in Greek it is, ἔλλαμπροι φλόγες, that is splendid, bright, illustrious flames, thus he calls the rays of the sun and stars, because they have the appearance of flames equally as the force of illuminating and heating, whence Plato with his followers held that stars are truly fires, whom the Poet followed: "You, he says, eternal fires (that is stars), and inviolable divinity, I call to witness."
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For "there appeared to them suddenly a fire," in Greek is, "διαφαίνετο δ'αὐτοῖς μόνον αὐτομάτη πυρά," that is, "there appeared to them alone, or only spontaneous fire:" where each word has emphasis, and brings in a new cause of terror: for first "διαφαίνετο," that is "appeared," shone through, flickered, gleamed, signifies that this fire flashed forth in passing and in transit through the darkness, like a flash of lightning and a thunderbolt, and soon disappeared, and after a short time suddenly and unexpectedly flashed again, and thus by this showing and disappearing of itself brought continuous fear upon the Egyptians: for flashes and lightnings wonderfully strike men with terror. Again, this fire appeared not from a distance as lightnings do, but from near at hand, so that it breathed upon the eyes of the Egyptians, and almost burned them. Second, "τὸ" alone marks that the Egyptians alone saw these things, not the Hebrews; again, that the Egyptians saw nothing but flashes with phantoms, but as for the rest there were the densest darknesses, which all joined together increased the terror: for we shudder at flashes in darkness more than in light. Third, "τὸ αὐτομάτη" signifies that this flashing was fortuitous, spontaneous, casual, unforeseen, without prior cause or impulse; for unforeseen evils terrify more, since foreseen weapons strike less. Fourth, "πυρά" signifies that this fire was immense, so much so as to make a pyre, that is a great heap of fires shining together, which threatened them with the burning of all things: for this pyre was a lightning pyre, and thus seemed to be nothing other than massed thunderbolts; whence they rightly feared lest they be struck by these thunderbolts and killed, as Simeon Stylites, a man of wonderful prayer, was struck by lightning, as John Moschus testifies in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter LVII. AND BEING STRUCK WITH FEAR OF HIS FACE WHICH WAS NOT SEEN, THEY ESTEEMED THE THINGS WHICH THEY SAW TO BE WORSE. — For "face," in Greek is "ὄψεως," that is "of vision," that is of the thing seen, namely the fire which was seen, and of the faces or phantoms which were seen through the fire; whence the Greek words taken literally have, "being terrified moreover at that vision not fully (that is completely and perfectly) seen, they thought worse things which they beheld," as if to say: The Egyptians were more terrified from the fact that they saw the fire and phantoms not fully, but under an obscure face and surface; whence they thought them worse and of horrible aspect than they really were, because they imagined that greater things were hidden beneath what was seen, which did not show themselves to be seen, from which they feared the gravest harms, indeed death and destruction, were hanging over them, and they feared most of all lest phantoms and specters would invade them and kill them. Hence Cantacuzenus explains that they so shuddered at this fire showing these specters, that they would have preferred to be in dense darkness rather than in so fearful a light, and with so many horrible specters. Note "τὸ of his face which was not seen:" for shadows and specters are wont to have a shadowy, dark, obscure face, and often covered with a garment or veil like those in mourning; indeed sometimes they show themselves to be seen only through a thin shadow, and even without a shadow, or face and form, by mere motion, noise, or voice they present themselves to hearing, so that they are not seen, but only heard, as the shade of Samuel showed itself to be seen by the Pythonness, but to be heard only by Saul, I Kings xxviii, 14.
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wisely when he adds: "For those who promised to drive away fears from a languishing soul, these very ones were languishing with fear full of mockery." Wherefore here properly there is no discussion of the third plague of Egypt, which was gnats, although some wish it, in which the magicians being overcome, since they could not produce them like Moses, were forced to confess their weakness and exclaimed, Exodus vii, 19: "The finger of God is here;" but here there is discussion of a new plague of darkness and specters, which caused wonder and terror not only to the Egyptians, but more to themselves, and thus it showed them ridiculous along with their magic, and proposed them to all to be hissed at with laughter and cackling. Therefore from this place it is clear that the magicians of Pharaoh, although overcome by Moses in the third sign of gnats, nevertheless did not cease to resist Moses, and therefore in this new plague of darkness, when they wished to disperse it by magic and could not, they exhibited themselves as ridiculous to all, in which matter they paid the penalty of their magic: thus Cantacuzenus. To this is added Vatablus who translates, meanwhile the mockeries of the magical art lay with calumny through boastful contumely of wisdom; and Jansenius who explains thus, that is to say, Those illusions of the magicians, by which performing the same wonders which Moses performed, they mocked Pharaoh and the other Egyptians against Moses, now lay, that is were overcome and succumbed, nor could they resist Moses: the Greek words signify this. This sense is true, but does not adequately reach nor exhaust the depth of Scripture, which moreover asserts that the arts of the magicians along with the magicians themselves went into mockery and ridicule. Secondly, our Castro explains it aptly thus, that is to say, Mockeries were appointed, that is ridicules, illusions and tricks were present: for masks and specters mocked and dazzled the eyes of the magicians and Egyptians, so that they thought they saw horrible things which were not really seen; by these mockeries therefore the eyes of the magicians, captured by empty and false appearance of things, were held, and this was a fitting penalty of retaliation, so that namely by these specters those were mocked who had deluded others by their impostures, and the very tricksters were dazzled by tricks. Holcot digresses here in lecture 189, to show that those addicted to magical arts are mocked, not only by God, angels and men, but also by their own demons. AND THE CORRECTION OF THE GLORY OF WISDOM WITH CONTUMELY, that is a contumelious "correction," or refutation of "glory," that is of boasting "of wisdom," that is concerning wisdom, repeat was appointed, that is to say, The magicians boasted and claimed themselves to be more powerful than Moses and the God of the Hebrews: for they kept saying that they knew magic, that is an art more arcane and wonderful than Moses knew; but God through Moses corrected and refuted this vain and proud boasting of the magicians with their disgrace and contumely, while he struck them with such terror through darkness and specters, that they grew pale and trembled, from which they could not free and extricate themselves by all their magical art: wherefore they learned to their harm that all their magic availed nothing against God's power, nor could their arts remove the punishment by which they were pressed. That this is the sense is clear from the Greek, which has, καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ ὀφρονήσει ἀλαζονείας ἔλεγχος ἐπισμεριέρος, which the Complutensian editors translate, and the correction of arrogance in prudence with contumely; the Vatican, and the arrogance concerning wisdom was a correction with contumely; Jansenius concerning prudence) clearly Clarius, and the correction of arrogant boasting with contumely: for "where pride is, there also is contumely; but where humility is, there also is wisdom," Proverbs cap. xi, vers. 2. For correction, in Greek is ἔλεγχος, that is a stringent refutation, a convincing argument, a demonstration showing the fault and falsehood: for the fear and trembling of the magicians refuted them to the eye, and showed their weakness and fallacy to all.
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The sense therefore is, that is to say, The magicians promising to completely drive away the darkness with specters and the fears born from it, these very ones were struck by those same fears, so that fearful, anxious, pale, trembling, they did not know where to turn. He calls it ridiculous fear, because they feared shadows and specters of things which were not really there, nor actually existed, just as children are struck by empty fear of shadows, according to that Psalm lii, 6: "There they trembled with fear, where there was no fear."
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to hide and shut themselves in caves: for those who are struck with fear flee to see and to be seen, and thus they fear and shudder to look upon the sky, the air and the earth with their eyes. It is a metonymy and catachresis: for the air, because it is most subtle, cannot properly be seen and perceived; yet the timid are said to flee from its sight, both because they do not wish to see those things which visibly happen in the air, such as specters and monsters; and because they wish to avoid the air itself, and seek corners and hiding places, by which they might withdraw and hide themselves from the terrifying things which happen in the air.
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Akin to this maxim are these: "The guilty fears punishment, the innocent not even misfortune. Neither thorn harms the good, nor mouse the wicked. Evil beginning, evil end. The guilty man never absolves himself as his own judge." Morally, learn here how great is the power of conscience, inasmuch as it makes man blessed or miserable. Hear St. Ambrose, book I of the Duties: "Not, he says, according to forensic abundance is the blessedness of individuals to be estimated, but according to the interior conscience, which discerns the merits of the innocent and the wicked, the true and uncorrupted arbiter of punishments and rewards;" and more abundantly St. Chrysostom, homily 2 on the epistle to the Romans: "Tranquility and joy of mind, he says, are not brought about by the greatness of principality, nor by abundance of money, nor by the swelling of power, nor by bodily strength, nor by the expense of the table, nor by the ornament of garments, nor by anything else of human affairs, except by a good conscience, which certainly whoever has pure, even if he be in rags, even if he struggle with hunger, is nevertheless more tranquil and more blessed than those who live amid delights." Wherefore the author of sermon 10 to the brothers in the Desert, found in St. Augustine, rightly exclaims: "O holy conscience, thou art still on earth, and thou dwellest in the heavens! Rejoice, O holy soul, adorned with holy conscience, rejoice in heavenly and eternal glory." Do you wish examples? Accept these. St. Augustine, in the book to Secundinus the Manichaean, chapter 1: "Feel, he says, about Augustine whatever you please, only let my conscience not accuse me in the eyes of God;" St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 27: "In all things, he says, I have reason as counselor and the justifications of God, by which often even with no one accusing I am convicted, and again when many condemn I am absolved;" St. Bernard, to Eugenius: "What, he says, is quieter and more secure on earth than a good conscience? It fears not the loss of things, not the insults of words, not the tortures of the body, which indeed it is raised up by rather than depressed by even death itself;" finally St. Job, chapter xvi, 20, exults in the testimony of a good conscience amid so many afflictions: "Behold, he says, my witness is in heaven, and my knowledge is on high." FOR THE WICKED CONSCIENCE ALWAYS PRESUMES GRIEVOUS THINGS (in Greek χαλεπά, that is, grave, troublesome, wicked, difficult, harsh, bitter, hard and dire) DISTURBED: — some Codices add, for frequently the worst things forestall, with conscience rebuking; but the Roman and Greek texts delete this, for it seems to be another version, or certainly an explanation of the meaning already stated; the Arabic version renders, and he (the impious man) always receives difficult and perverse things. "Presumes," namely timid wickedness, which preceded, for this is disturbed and terrified by its own conscience: for conscience here is in the ablative case: in Greek it is, συνεχομένη τῇ συνειδήσει, that is, contained within conscience, or hidden in conscience, or joined to conscience, whose voice and testimony wickedness and the wicked man cannot escape, ever crying out to themselves. Others read, ἐμπεριπίν, as if to say, Malice presumes grievous things, which befit and accord with an evil conscience; others read more forcefully συναγχομένη τῇ συνειδήσει, that is, wickedness constricted, narrowed, or compressed by conscience, as a guilty man is constricted by a noose, while being strangled and suffocated: in a similar manner conscience constricts, anguishes and strangles wickedness and the wicked man: for ἄγχω means the same as strangle, constrain, restrain with a constricted throat, lead with twisted neck into bonds, suffocate, anguish, constrict the throat or gullet. Our author, following this, renders, disturbed by conscience, as if to say, Wickedness and the wicked man everywhere fearful, always fears that the punishments of crimes threaten him, because he is constricted by the terrors of conscience, which accuses him of his wickedness and condemns him to punishment: for conscience like a torturer constricts, narrows, anguishes, strangles, suffocates wickedness and the wicked man, as a guilty man with a thousand fears, anguishes, sorrows, suspicions as with snares. For presumes, in Greek it is, προσείληφε, that is, assumes, takes to itself, applies to itself as to a guilty man, represents to itself, likewise adjoins and increases, so that impending evils it suspects to be greater than they really are. Our author seems to have read, προείληφε, that is, presumes, forestalls, anticipates, presages, foreknows, foresees, anticipates in mind and spirit the punishment before it is actually inflicted and comes upon him: for, as Plutarch says in the book On Tranquility of Mind, from a guilty conscience there is implanted in the soul an ulcer in the body, inasmuch as it leaves behind a constantly lancing repentance, tearing and wrenching the soul; and in the book On the Slowness of Divine Vengeance: "Wickedness," he says, "joined with itself and constantly torments and afflicts with pain: for just as every wicked man must finally be affixed to torture, bearing his own cross in his body, so wickedness from itself prepares its own punishment," etc. Morally, how fearful and timid an evil conscience is, Job describes graphically, chapter 15, verse 11, saying: "The sound of terror is always in his ears; and when there is peace, he always suspects snares. He does not believe that he can return from darkness to light, looking about everywhere for the sword;" and Solomon in Proverbs 28:1: "The wicked man flees when no one pursues him;" and St. Cyril, book 11 on John, chapter 32: "The sting of conscience is a great thing, which when we do something wrongly, even with no one present, agitates us with great fear." St. Ambrose moreover in book 1 of the Duties, chapter 12: "The sinner," he says, "although he abounds outwardly and flows with delights, is fragrant with perfumes, yet lives his life in bitterness of soul. The life of the wicked, like a dream, opened its eyes, his rest passed away, his pleasure vanished, although that very rest which seems to be, even while they live, the rest of the impious is in hell; for the living descend into hell. Do you see the banquet of the sinner? ask his conscience: does it not reek more heavily than all sepulchers? Do you behold his joy, his abundance of riches? look into the wounds and welts of his soul, and the sadness of his heart." Elsewhere: "There is nothing that brings such supreme pain as when each one placed under the captivity of sin remembers from what he has fallen: so grave is guilt to the conscience, that without a judge it punishes itself, and desires to hide itself, and yet before God it is naked." Most elegantly however St. Chrysostom, homily 1 On Lazarus, speaks thus of the conscience of the rich man: "Explain to me the conscience of that man, and you will see within a grave tumult of sins, constant fear, a tempest, a disturbance: you will see as if a mind has ascended to the throne of conscience as to a royal throne, and as if some judge sitting there, and thoughts serving in place of executioners, suspending on the rack, and scraping the sides of conscience with claws, crying out vehemently for the things committed, when no one knows, except that God alone knows how to see these things." And illustrating the matter by example, he proceeds thus: "For indeed he who commits adultery, even if he were rich a thousand times, even if he had no accuser, does not cease nevertheless to accuse himself within, and pleasure is indeed temporary, but pain is perpetual, fear and trembling everywhere, suspicion and anxiety: he fears corners, he dreads even shadows, his own servants conscious and unconscious, that very woman whom he corrupted, and the husband whom he affronted; he walks about carrying a bitter accuser, his conscience, since he is condemned by his own judgment, nor can he even for a brief time catch his breath. The same things are suffered by those who practice robbery, and those who make gain by fraud, this also by the curious, and in sum by all who live in sins." Furthermore St. Augustine in Psalm 45: "Among all," he says, "tribulations of the human soul there is no tribulation greater than the conscience of sins;" the same in Psalm 36, discourse 2: "Whoever," he says, "is evil, is evil with himself, he must necessarily be tormented, he is a torment to himself: for his own conscience torments him. He flees from an enemy as far as he can, from himself where will he flee?" Finally Seneca, although a pagan: "A good conscience," he says, "wishes to come forth and be seen, it fears the very darkness of wickedness. The first and greatest punishment of sinners is to have sinned, nor is any crime unpunished, because the punishment of crime is in the crime itself. It is proper for the guilty to tremble." This he himself, epistle 27. Examples are in Adam and Eve, who after sin hearing the voice of God walking through paradise, fearfully hid themselves, Genesis III: in Cain, who having killed Abel, urged by conscience: "Whosoever findeth me, shall kill me," Gen. iv, 14: in the brothers of Joseph, who were harshly received by him, Gen. xlii, 21: "Deservedly," he said, "do we suffer these things, because we sinned against our brother." See Seneca in the Oresteia, whose furies he himself depicts graphically, and Cicero, Pro Roscio Amerino, where he graphically depicts the furies of the wicked and their crimes, describes flames and torches. On the other hand, I John iv, 18, "charity (which is born of integrity and a good conscience) casteth out fear;" and Proverbs xxviii, 1: "The wicked man fleeth when no one pursueth him: but the just, as bold as a lion, shall be without dread," see the sayings there: for, as St. Gregory says, lib. XII Moral. cap. xxi, "nothing is happier than a simple heart, because what it exhibits in innocence toward others, there is nothing it fears to suffer from others, for it has as it were a certain fortress of fortitude, its own simplicity; nor is it suspected to suffer what it does not remember having done, whence it is well said through Solomon: In the fear of the Lord is the confidence of strength; and again he says: A secure mind is like a continual feast. For it is as it were a continuous refreshment, this very tranquility of security." Truly St. Ambrose in Psalm. xxxix: "What," he says, "is a sweeter fruit of purity of heart? What food is more pleasant than that which a mind well-conscious of itself, and an innocent mind, enjoys?" hence that saying, Proverbs xv, 15: "A secure mind is like a continual feast;" see the sayings there; nothing therefore is more timid than a sinner, nothing bolder than the just: the causes are three, first, that concupiscence and passions of the mind, which create sins, soften and enervate the soul; but the victory of these same, which is achieved through virtue, makes the soul strong and manly. Second, that the stings of conscience continually wound the mind of the sinner, gnaw at it, and consume its vigor; but to the just, virtue itself, which he exercises, and the integrity of conscience add strength to the soul. Third, that the sinner is abandoned by the grace of God, but the just possesses the same; for the grace of God is omnipotent, for through it all things can be done, however difficult, without it nothing good can be accomplished; whence the just man is magnanimous and confident, the sinner however pusillanimous and timid like a wall.
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He proves what he said, that wickedness is timid, and therefore always presumes savage things, from the cause of this matter, which is that fear is so evil that what it fears it apprehends and dreads, so that it almost as a conquered thing succumbs to it, and surrenders itself: wherefore it cannot think of finding its aids and remedies; but it is almost a traitor and destroyer of them. It is a metaphor taken from timid soldiers besieged in a citadel, who from fear betray and surrender the citadel to the enemy besieging it: in a similar manner fear so weakens, constrains and binds the citadel of reason and mind, which could devise various modes and ways of escaping the evil that is feared, that it betrays and surrenders it to the enemy, namely to the evil that is feared, and to desperation, whence it comes to pass that he augurs that the worst things are impending upon him, and persuades himself that they are impossible for him to avoid. For fear ought to be subject to reason and mind, and to allow itself to be ruled and moderated by it, wherefore it fails the faith owed to it, nay it betrays it, while it takes away counsel and confidence from it, and makes it powerless, fearful, anxious and despairing: wherefore this betrayal of fear in the matter is nothing other than lack of counsel, and defection and desertion of thoughts, namely that man through the trembling and heat of fear is so carried away that he is betrayed, that is deserted by thoughts of the means and aids by which he could escape the evil that he fears. Whence some translate from the Greek, there is nothing fear is except defect or despair of devising counsel: for thus timid soldiers, while they desert their leader, betray and surrender him to the enemy; hence also to betray in Latin is sometimes the same as to cast off, desert, dismiss, repel: for to betray is the same as to give forth, that is to cast out, propel, exclude, says Servius; whence Virgil, I Aeneid: "With ships (unspeakable) lost on account of one man's wrath, We are betrayed, and far from Italian shores are sundered." We are betrayed therefore is the same as we are sundered: thus also here it is plain to be understood from verse 14, where he says: "Souls were failing in betrayal," in Greek, προδοσίᾳ, that is in betrayal. Morally, learn here how great an evil fear is, as one which betrays and destroys man; whence "always in battle the greatest danger is to those who fear most," boldness is held as a wall, says Sallust, On the Conspiracy of Catiline. "Whatever is added as aid is corrupted by the fear of those fleeing," says Caesar, in the book On the Civil War. "For the most part in the greatest danger fear does not receive mercy," says the same in book VII. "This is the nature of great fears, that they believe what happens to be worse," says Tacitus, Annals book XV: "In dangers to the republic, those who fear individually are oppressed rather in fear than in virtue," says Julius Capitolinus, in Maximus and Balbinus. "Fear driving the mind astounded does not allow it to decide on more useful things," says Procopius, On the Persian War book II. "The peaks of mountains present the appearance of enemies to a mind once oppressed by fear," says G. Pachymus, History book IV. "The timid and cowardly hasten to desperation through dread," says Tacitus, book II of the Histories. "He who is born of such a kind that he fears all things, even if a mouse makes a noise, is to be held as timid with a certain beastly cowardice, and he who fears a mousetrap by force of disease," says Aristotle book III Ethics chapter vii. "Without presence of mind art against danger avails nothing: for fear shakes the memory, and art is lost when the mind is weakened," says Thucydides, book II. "The timidity of princes is the greatest cause of slaughter: confidence in themselves renders them peaceful and gentle, and free from suspicions. Thus also of wild beasts, which are most alien from taming, they are timid and are terrified by every noise: but noble ones do not disdain such gentle handling, because on account of confidence in themselves they more easily commit themselves to others," says the same in Artaxerxes. "Hesitant and fearful skill is not at all accustomed to dare something outstanding," says Procopius On the Gothic War book II. "Timidity is a corruption of legitimate judgment concerning things to be feared or not to be feared, or ignorance of terrible things and non-terrible things, and neutral things," says Hierocles, book On Justice. For the fearful fear lesser evils, but do not apprehend nor fear greater ones, wherefore while they flee lesser ones, they fall into greater ones. Thus the sinner fearing to lose wealth, reputation, life, perjures himself and commits crimes, by which he loses heaven and eternal happiness; but the wise and steadfast man fears things to be feared, does not fear things not to be feared; but fears things to be feared in that manner and moderation in which it is fitting and right reason dictates. Otherwise Lyra: betrayal, he says, here is the same as showing and manifestation: for fear producing pallor in the face, betrays, that is manifests the thought of aid, because it signifies that he who fears desires aid, and thinks of it; but this is weak: moreover the Syrian goes another way, what, he says, is fear, except the consummation of malice, and the helper of thoughts, which is inward? The Arabic is nearer, because fear, he says, is nothing other than dread of torments on account of thought. Mystically Hugo: The impious man, he says, fearing does not think of the aid of God, for if he thought of this surely he would say, Psalm 55, 12: "In God have I put my trust, I will not fear what man can do to me;" and Psalm 5, 1: "Trusting in the Lord I shall not be weakened."
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Whence St. Chrysostom, in the homily On the Patience of Job, teaches that ignorance of the cause which brings punishment greatly increases calamity: thus in this place the Egyptians were ignorant of the cause of the darkness, of the specters, of the bellowing of animals and the hissing of serpents, and therefore thinking worse things lay hidden in it, they feared much graver and harder things would befall them; hence the Vatican translators render, they reckon greater ignorance (that is ignorance) of the cause providing torment. (that is ignorance) of the cause providing torment. It could also be translated in the ablative, they think greater ignorance, with the cause providing torment, as if to say, While there is less expectation of escaping the evil that is feared, then he who fears thinks greater ignorance, that is, he suspects the unknown evil to be greater, which he fears will come to pass and befall him, while the cause torments him: for this reason he fears the impending unknown evil more, because it has in itself both the cause of torment and the cause of many evils unknown to him, in like manner he fears and augurs will be: for the fearful mind can suspect nothing but sad things which increase fear. Wherefore the Egyptians, placed in the densest darkness and struck by horrible specters and fires flashing intermittently, could think of nothing but what was deadly, ominous, threatening and horrible; whence Josephus adds: "With that fear impending, lest perchance he be wholly absorbed by that darkness:" perhaps also they feared the ancient chaos and some confusion and dissolution of the world, as if the world were about to perish and return to its primeval chaos: for they knew God to be most hostile to them, and therefore they fearfully awaited from him all the thunderbolts of wrath and dire vengeance. Vatablus wrongly for ἄγνοιαν reads ἄγνείαν, from ἀγνός, which signifies uncorrupted by gifts, which can in no way be moved from justice, and therefore implacable; whence he translates, while residing within, slight hope reckons more the cause of torment, moving implacability, or imagines greater implacability: for all codices read ἄγνοιαν, not ἄγνείαν; nor does ἄγνεια signify implacability to the Greeks, but purity and sanctity. LESS IS THE EXPECTATION — of aids, thus commonly interpreters, although Nannius, Clarius and Jansenius take the expectation of future evil to be less: for, they say, for less, in Greek it is ἥττων, that is inferior, overcome and oppressed is the expectation, or hope in the timid and fearful through desperation: in Greek there is an elegant paronomasia: Fear, he says, is μαρτυρία, that is a betrayal of aids, and therefore in it the expectation is less, προσδοκία, that is expectation and hope of escaping. OF THE CAUSE FROM WHICH TORMENT PROVIDES, — which namely provides torment to the timid one, as the Greek texts have, or on account of which the timid one torments and tortures himself: the cause providing torment to the impious and timid is threefold, the first is their own guilt, namely the multitude, gravity and magnitude of crimes, which the impious one does not perceive sufficiently, but fears to be greater than he himself knows: besides, it is greater torment to suffer on account of guilt than to suffer on account of justice and innocence: for to suffer and be killed on account of this is the honor and glory of martyrdom. The second is that which chastises and punishes the impious, just as darkness and specters here tormented the Egyptians, whose force, number and quantity they themselves could not perceive. The third is the wrath and vengeance of God, which is perceived much less by the impious: wherefore they always fear lest that wrath, not content with the punishment inflicted, inflict other and graver punishments. Moreover the Syriac here goes off in quite another direction: for thus it translates, and what is less than it (fear) it hides, and he himself is superior to what is unknown, which words are obscure and need an Oedipus. 13 and 14. AND THEY WHO WERE POWERLESS (some wrongly read it with a diaeresis, as powerful, for in Greek it is ἀδύνατον, that is, powerless: see Francis Lucas here reviewing various corrupted readings) TRULY THE NIGHT, AND FROM THE LOWEST, AND FROM THE HIGHEST DEPTHS OF HELL COMING UPON THEM, THE SAME SLEEP SLEEPING, SOMETIMES WERE HARASSED BY FEAR OF MONSTERS, SOMETIMES THEIR SOULS FAILED BY DISSOLUTION: FOR A SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED FEAR HAD COME UPON THEM; — in Greek, they who were powerless truly the night, and from the powerless Orcus caves coming, sleeping the same sleep, now were agitated by phantasmal monsters, now their souls were dissolved by failing: for a sudden and unexpected fear had come upon them. He calls the powerless night the three-day and densest darkness of Egypt, which made it so that for the Egyptians night was continuous and three days long; but why is it called powerless? First, Jansenius: Powerless, he says, passively, that is, unable to be endured, intolerable: powerless therefore, supply, to endure. Second, night is called powerless actively, which cannot be overcome and illuminated, namely inescapable; or again passively powerless night, that is, weak and conquered, which namely could not overcome and dispel the darkness by the rays of the sun, but was wholly overcome by them. Third, powerless night, that is, weak and feeble, is said metonymically from the effect, says Castro, because it rendered the Egyptians powerless and weak for any human work, either hindered by the darkness of gloom, or weakened by fear like those who, bound by sleep, accomplish nothing, for on this account he said the Egyptians slept the same sleep throughout that entire night: for the same reason he calls Orcus or hell powerless, because it renders its guests powerless and weak for any work. Fourth, and more forcefully, night is called powerless, that is, excessively powerful, excessive, immoderate, which namely by its force induced upon all Egypt the densest and insuperable darkness, and which tortured the Egyptians most powerfully and strongly through darkness, phantoms, specters, hunger, thirst, dread and anguish, and gave them no rest or sleep, as other nights do. Finally, fifth, night is called powerless, says Cantacuzenus, because it seemed to have arisen as it were from the deepest caves of powerless hell, which cannot impose any limit upon the evils with which it afflicts those whom it contains, nor moderate and temper the torments, but with a blind sort of impulse tortures all: and so deservedly that night was thought to be the powerless daughter of powerless Orcus: for Orcus is called the darkness of the underworld, and hell itself, and its ruler Lucifer, who spares no one, according to that saying of Horace, book III of the Odes: A victim of the merciless Orcus. Liquefied they melt and flow away. By dissolution — Powerless namely is the same as excessively powerful, says Donatus: thus powerless dominion is called, or tyranny, that is, excessively powerful and imperious; whence Quintilian: "The Decemvirs," he says, "whose rule was immoderate, are called by Livy powerless masters;" and Cicero, Philippic V: "He was summoning to the city from Brundisium a most powerless man, burning with hatred, with hostile spirit toward all citizens with his army, Antony;" and again, powerless, wrathful, abusive, proud. Thus love, spirit, joy is called powerless, but movements of the spirit powerless, that is, prevailing, which man cannot restrain, but rather they themselves powerful dominate man, and to pursue what they desire, like a horse they drive ardently with spurs, and compel. Wherefore some interpret the powerless night too coldly as empty: because, they say, there were not true darknesses, since throughout the rest of the world it was day, and for the Hebrews there was clear light; but for the Egyptians blinded by God they appeared to be darknesses: but this is false, for they were true and mere and supreme darknesses, as I showed in Exodus x, 21 and 22. AND FROM THE LOWEST, AND FROM THE HIGHEST (that is, deepest) depths of hell coming upon them, — in Greek, and from the powerless Orcus caves coming, as if to say, This night and darkness was supreme and as it were infernal. Note, Scripture, just as it attributes light to heaven, so it attributes darkness to hell, both because hell is the region and matrix of darkness, just as heaven is of light, just as one speaks of a region fertile in gold, silver, etc.; and because these Egyptian darknesses were produced by the demons of hell presiding, through the densification of air and vapors drawn from the depths of the earth. Yet the most powerful cause of the darkness was God, withdrawing His concurrence from the sun and light, so that it might not scatter light upon the Egyptians. By a similar phrase we say that Etna, Vesuvius, Hecla, and other fire-breathing mountains, are the mouth, gateway, windows of hell: thus Virgil depicts hell in the VI Aeneid, saying: This is the place of shades, of sleep, and of night's slumber. THE SAME SLEEP SLEEPING, etc., because although the Egyptians were awake in fear in the darkness, nevertheless as if sleeping, stunned and drowsy they were idle from all activity, and were troubled by vain dreams, monsters, in Greek phantasmata, visions and specters; here therefore was the same as it were a sleepless sleep of all: again the same, that is similar to a powerless night, was the powerless sleep of all. Unexpected, that is unforeseen, unlooked for, unforeseen, fear had come upon and burst in upon the Egyptians. They were failing, in Greek παρελύοντο, that is they were dissolving, and became as it were paralyzed, in mind more than in body: for from παραλύω paralysis is said, that is a dissolution of nerves, limbs and strength, which like wax before verse 11 our translator renders, that is by defect, abandonment, desperation, as if to say the Egyptians from fear were as it were failing in mind, and suffered a fainting of the mind: less correctly some by translation understand the separation of soul from body, by death, and others punishment.
17:16
17 and 18. FOR ALL WERE BOUND TOGETHER WITH ONE CHAIN OF DARKNESS. WHETHER A HISSING BLAST, OR THE SWEET SOUND OF BIRDS AMONG THE THICK BRANCHES OF TREES, OR THE FORCE OF WATER RUNNING DOWN TOO MUCH, OR A LOUD SOUND OF PRECIPITATED STONES, OR THE UNSEEN RUNNING OF PLAYING ANIMALS, OR THE LOUD VOICE OF ROARING BEASTS, OR AN ECHO RESOUNDING FROM THE HIGHEST MOUNTAINS, THESE THINGS MADE THEM TO FAINT FOR FEAR. In Greek, indeed, all were bound together with one chain of darkness. Whether a hissing blast, or the sweet and numerous sound of birds among the dense branches, or the murmur of water going forth with force, or a loud sound of precipitated rocks, or the invisible running of leaping animals, or the voice of howling most savage beasts, or an echo reverberated from the caverns of mountains, fear rendered them lifeless. He explains the necessity already mentioned, and calls it a chain of darkness, because by the horror, dread and anguish of these things the Egyptians were so struck that they became as if stupefied, dull and immobile, just as if they had been bound with chains in a prison: the cause a priori was that fear causes cold; indeed, as Aristotle says in the second book of the Rhetoric, chapter thirteen: "Fear is a certain coldness; but cold binds a man and as it were ties him, so that he cannot move himself from place." Whence Plautus in the Amphitryon says: I fear, he says, I am altogether numb: Now I know not where on earth I am, Wretched me, I cannot move myself for dread. And in the Truculentus: Neither alive nor dead am I, nor do I know what now to do, Nor do I know how to depart hence, nor how to approach him, I am numb with fear. of horses, the trumpeting of elephants, the grunting of pigs, the roaring of lions; all which things here by "roaring" he understands synecdochically (whence Vatablus translates "roaring"), namely any voices and cries whatsoever of any animals: for all animals were struck by these so great and so prolonged darknesses, because they were hindered from seeking prey and food, whence from hunger and thirst they roared horribly, and with growling belly they roared: wherefore the Egyptians, fearing so many and such great roarings, were almost rendered lifeless. For he who fears is struck, and therefore trembles, shudders, grows pale, his spirit flees, his limbs are shaken by fear: which thing causes that he who is here bound by fear, is there abandoned by confidence, and not only weakened in strength, but also destitute of hope, since it is necessary that one who fears all things excessively be also destitute of hope: for fear has a breaking of the spirit, and as it were a flight, and therefore the fearful are often terrified not only by things and dangers, but even by uncertain and vain rumors, and, as it is said, by the shadow of a rose. AN ECHO RESOUNDING FROM THE HIGHEST MOUNTAINS. — Highest, that is deepest: for in Greek it is "from the hollowness," that is from the concavity of mountains: for an echo is made when a voice reverberated in caverns returns to itself, and as if answering itself repeats and reiterates what was said, so that to the rude and ignorant it seems that a man hidden in the caverns is answering and repeating the voice: wherefore they marvel and are struck. An echo therefore is made while air, and thence sound striking a smooth and hollow body, rebounds like a ball: on account of this reverberation a resonant or resounding sound is made, as our author aptly translates: for the rebounding air returns reciprocal voices, that is similar to the first, renders; whence Evodius, in the fourth book of Epigrams, calls echo an imitator of speech, the dregs of voice, the tail of a word. Echo is a Greek word, ἠχώ, that is sound, echo, resonance, from ἠχέω, that is I sound, I resound, I clang; whence Ovid in the third book of the Metamorphoses, describing echo poetically as it were a nymph, gives this riddle of it, by which he at the same time insinuates through it that deer are struck by fear and driven into nets by hunters: for thus he sings: She sees him driving trembling deer into nets, The vocal Nymph, who neither could be silent to one speaking, Nor learned herself to speak first, resonant Echo. But Ausonius, the familiar of the Emperor Theodosius, gives this riddle of Echo: I am the daughter of air and tongue, mother of empty sound, I bear a voice without mind: Bringing back the final modes from the end as they perish, Mocked I follow the words of others with mine. In your ears; I dwell in your window-like openings, Echo, But if you wish to paint one like me, paint sound. A hissing spirit—namely a wind or breeze making a thin noise, or the breathing and hissing of an animal: refer all these things to the end, verse 18: "They were made to fail through fear": for the fearful in darkness fear all safe things, and as it were faint away and lose their senses at them. Hear Seneca, epistle 13: "We are tormented both by what is to come and by what is past; many of our good things harm us; the torment of fear brings back memory, foresight anticipates: no one is miserable from present things alone, etc. There are more things that terrify us, that press upon us, and more often we suffer from opinion than from reality. We quickly assent to opinion, and thus we turn our backs, just as those whom dust stirred up by the flight of cattle drove from their camps, or whom some tale spread without authority frightened: I know not how empty things disturb us. For true things have their measure. It is likely that some evil will happen, it is not immediately true: how many unexpected things have come! how many expected things have never appeared!" The sweet sound of birds—that is the concert of birds, especially nightingales and blackbirds, which sing most sweetly at the beginning of spring, namely around Passover, when the Hebrews went out from Egypt, and a little before this plague of darkness befell: for Pharaoh and the Egyptians were forced by it and the others to let the Hebrews go: for to the fearful and sorrowful all things are unpleasant, and all melodies seem sad and mournful. THE MIGHTY VOICE OF BELLOWING BEASTS.—For bellowing, in Greek it is ὠρυομένων, that is howling, which is properly of wolves, as bellowing is of oxen, neighing Rude and impious men, conscious of evil to themselves, fear an echo, as it were a secret voice in caverns from an angel, or a sentence sent from the divine will against crime Mystically, a chain of crimes is woven together from seven capital vices as from seven rings, of which one draws another, and is bound to it: for gluttony draws lust, lust draws anger, anger draws envy, envy draws pride, pride draws avarice, avarice draws sloth: thus Hugh. Or, as St. Bonaventure says: The suggestion of the devil begets the delight of thought, delight begets consent, consent begets the perpetration of the deed, this begets repetition and evil habit, habit begets shameless glorying and boasting about sin. It is called a chain because, by grasping, it holds itself, because in it one ring grasps and holds another ring. to be punished: for as Statius says in the third book of the Thebaid: "They keep watch in their minds, and cares exercise the punishment of the crime committed; then fear, the worst of augurs, turns over many things in doubts." 19 and 20. FOR THE WHOLE WORLD WAS ILLUMINATED WITH CLEAR LIGHT, AND WAS OCCUPIED WITH UNIMPEDED WORKS. BUT UPON THEM ALONE WAS LAID A HEAVY NIGHT, AN IMAGE OF THE DARKNESS THAT WAS TO COME UPON THEM. THEY THEMSELVES WERE HEAVIER TO THEMSELVES THAN THE DARKNESS,—that is to say, The whole rest of the world was shining with the clear light of the sun, while in Egypt alone there were the densest darknesses; nay, in Egypt itself among the Hebrews the light was splendid, as will be said in chapter XVIII, 1. So also the seventh plague, which was hail, and the fifth, which was pestilence, and all the others touched only the Egyptians, but no Hebrews, as is evident from Exodus ix, 4 and 26: Philo and Josephus testify the same. For clear in Greek is λαμπρῷ, that is splendid, bright, shining. From what has been said it is clear that Jansenius does not rightly conclude from τὸ that the whole world was illuminated with the light of the sun, but that the Egyptians did not see it, because their eyes were blinded: for from the whole world he soon excepts the Egyptians, saying: "But upon them alone was laid a heavy night." Add that these darknesses were palpable, as is said in Exodus x, 21; therefore they did not consist in the eyes of the Egyptians, nor in the mere withdrawal of God's concurrence, by which he withdrew his cooperation from illuminating the Egyptians, but moreover there was a thick fog, vapor and cloud brought on by God, as I said on Exodus x, 22. AND WAS OCCUPIED WITH UNIMPEDED WORKS,—that is was held, was occupied, that is to say, The inhabitants of the whole world dwelt in light, and occupied and engaged themselves happily in their duties and works: for there was nothing that impeded their works, since darkness impeded the Egyptians, so that they could do nothing; whence Vatablus translates, and was frequent in expedited works, that is to say, All the rest were in light, and therefore busy; the Egyptians alone were in darkness, and therefore idle. AN IMAGE OF THE DARKNESS THAT WAS TO COME UPON THEM,—then in death and the grave, then more in hell and Gehenna; therefore that long and dark night of Egypt was a shadow and image of death, which threatened them in Gehenna. Thus Job, chapter x, verse 22, calls the grave "the dark land, and covered with the mist of death, the land of misery and darknesses, where the shadow of death and no order, but eternal horror dwells." TO THEMSELVES THEREFORE THEY WERE HEAVIER DARKNESS,—on account of the consciousness of sins, and thence the disturbance of mind, blindness, fear, anguish: for there is no greater torment than the bite and remorse of a wicked conscience: therefore the Egyptians labored under a twofold darkness, namely of body and of mind, but this was far heavier than that, and tormented them more. The Wise Man here notes threefold, nay fourfold darknesses: the first are of the eyes; the second of the mind and of sin; the third of death; the fourth of hell: the first deprive of the light of the sun; the second deprive of the grace of God; the third deprive of life; the fourth of the vision of God. Moreover, the darkness of sin is the cause of the other three darknesses; see therefore how dark, horrible and dreadful sin is: for just as on account of darkness the light appeared to the Egyptians bright, the moon moonless, the heavens blind, the sun sunless, so to sinners God, heaven, angels, virtue, wisdom and all good things appear dark, black, gloomy, horrible: wherefore St. Augustine in Psalm XLV: "Among all, he says, tribulations of the human soul there is no greater tribulation than the consciousness of sins;" and St. Ambrose, lib. I of the Offices, cap. XII, asserts "that very thing, which appears to be, even while they live, the rest of the impious in hell, for living they descend into hell;" and St. Bernard, serm. 4 On the Assumption of the B. Virgin: "Hell indeed, he says, and the prison of the soul, is a guilty conscience." This is what God threatens to the impious, Levit. xxvi, 36: "I will send fear into their hearts: the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them: and they shall flee as if from the sword: they shall fall when no one pursueth:" where I have collected more on this matter. The Hebrews therefore were worshippers of God, children of light, the Egyptians however were idolaters, children of darkness. Add, that to the Hebrews, exulting on account of this disparity, this light was most great, just as when by the same means through Esther, cap. viii, vers. 16, they were freed from death, to them "a new light seemed to arise, joy, honor, and exultation:" see the words at Exod. x, 23.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
17:1
… The portent is amply described in Wis. 17:1-21, which offers a fine
17:7
… The magic of the Egyptians is highlighted (Ex. 7:11 ff.; Wis. 17:7) and that of the Babylonians (Is. 47:12 f.; Dan. 1:20; 2:10-12), among whom it was of great importance. …
17:14
… It was the world of all the dead (at least until the resurrection: so the Pharisees) in II Mach. 6:23; Enoch 22:1-14; 51:1; 102:5; 103:7; IV Esd. 4:41; 7:32; Bar. syr. 11:6; 21:23. It was the prison of the wicked and sinners alone in Wis. 2:1; 17:14 (21); Enoch 63:10; Jubil. 7:29; 22:22; Filonc. …
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.