40:1
Aliquando litterali sensui inhaerendum. — Aliquando autem qui verba accipere historiae juxta litteram ne- gligit, oblatum sibi veritatis lumen abscond(??); cum- que laboriose invenire in eis aliud intrinsecus appe- tit, hoc quod foris sine difficultate assequi poterat, amittit. Sanctus namque vir dicit: Si negavi quod volebant pauperibus, et oculos viduae exspectare feci; si comedi buccellam meam solus, et non comedit pu- pillus ex ea; si despexi praetereuntem, eo quod non habuerit indumentum, et absque operimento pauperem; si non benedixerunt mihi latera ejus, et de velleribus ovium mearum calefactus est ( Job. xxxi, 16 et seq. ).
That sometimes the literal sense must be adhered to. — But sometimes he who neglects to receive the words of the history according to the letter hides the light of truth offered to him; and while he laboriously desires to find something else within them, he loses that which he could have attained outwardly without difficulty. For the holy man says: If I have denied to the poor what they wished, and have made the eyes of the widow to wait; if I have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it; if I have despised him that passed by because he had no clothing, and the poor man without covering; if his sides have not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleeces of my sheep (Job xxxi, 16 and following).
有時必須固守字面之義。——但有時，那忽略按字面領受歷史字句之人，把呈給他的真理之光遮蔽了；當他費力想在字句裡面尋得別的意思時，卻失去了那本可在外面毫無困難便獲得之物。因為那聖人說：「我若拒絕過窮人所願之事，或使寡婦的眼目久候落空；我若獨自吃我的一口食物，而孤兒未曾分享；我若因人赤身無衣而輕看那過路的，或輕看那無遮蓋的窮人；他的腰肋若未曾為我祝福，他若未曾因我羊群的毛而得暖」（約伯記三十一16及以下）。
40:2
Quae videlicet si ad allegoriae sensum violenter in- flectimus, cuncta ejus misericordiae facta vacuamus. Divinus etenim sermo sicut mysteriis prudentes exer- cet, sic plerumque superficie simplices refovet. Ha- bet in publico unde parvulos nutriat, servat in secreto unde mentes sublimium in admiratione suspendat. Quasi quidam quippe est 6 fluvius, ut ita dixerim, planus et altus, in quo et agnus ambulet, et elephas natet. Ut ergo uniuscujusque loci opportunitas postu- lat, ita a se per studium expositionis ordo immutat; quatenus tanto verius sensum divinae locutionis in- veniat, quanto ut res quaeque exegerit, per causa- rum species alternat.
If we forcibly bend these to the sense of allegory, we empty out all his deeds of mercy. For the divine discourse, just as it exercises the prudent with mysteries, so for the most part it refreshes the simple at its surface. It has in the open that with which it may nourish the little ones; it keeps in secret that with which it may hold suspended in wonder the minds of the sublime. It is as it were a certain river, so to speak, both shallow and deep, in which both a lamb may walk and an elephant may swim. As, therefore, the opportunity of each several place demands, so through the diligence of exposition the order shifts of itself; so that it may find the sense of the divine utterance the more truly, the more it alternates through the various kinds of matters, as each thing shall require.
我們若強行把這些話扭曲成寓意之義，便會使他一切慈悲的善行落空。因為神聖的話語，正如它以奧祕操練明智之人，同樣多半在其表面上滋潤純樸之人。它在明處備有可餵養幼小者之物，在隱處存有可使崇高者的心靈在讚歎中懸而不決之物。它彷彿是一條既淺又深的河流，在其中羔羊可行走，象也可游泳。因此，正如各處各自的機宜所要求的，詮釋的次序便藉勤勉而自行變換；好使它愈能照各事所要求的、藉諸般題材交替更迭，就愈真確地尋得神聖言語的意義。