Commentaries 1 part 3/4

The sinews ('nervi') are the bonds of the body; when they are loosened, they render the body slack and flabby. 'Malis' means 'with infirmities.' Infirmity is given in five ways: first, for the glory of God, that God may be praised, as in Lazarus and in the man born blind; second, for the guarding of virtues, as in Paul, lest he grow proud at so great a magnitude; third, for the increase of virtues, as in Tobit and Job, who, bearing infirmity patiently, became holier; fourth, on account of sins, as in this paralytic; the fifth way is that of the reprobate, who here begin to be tormented for this reason, that through these torments they may come to eternal ones, as happened to Herod and Antiochus. 'With pleasing reward' — by an exchange, because he carried the one by whom he had been carried. These things are said by way of periphrasis. 'Clauso' means 'last.'

'Functa' stands for 'defuncta' (deceased). 'Adultae' means 'grown up,' because she was twelve years old, now fit for marriage. He says 'hope,' because in her was the hope of posterity. 'Funera' means 'corpse.' 'Inundantem' means 'overflowing'; by the term 'haemorrhousa,' one whose blood flows. 'Haema' in Greek means 'blood,' 'rheo' means 'I flow back.' He calls the hem of Christ's garment a 'thread' ('filum'). It was the custom among the Jews to place threads of hyacinth-blue at the four corners of the cloak, that by these they might be distinguished from the other nations. 'Lugentia' (the mourning ones). They mourn by metonymy. 'Culmina' means 'the sorrowful roof,' the weeping house in which there were those who wept, by that which contains for that which is contained. 'Moriens' stands for 'mortua' (dead). 'Trepidus' means 'doubtful.' 'Ululans' is of the neuter gender. 'Ululatus' is said of a pursuing army and a fleeing army. 'Funereos' means 'fit for a funeral, the flutes sounding.'

Such is the power of the musical art that it makes the joyful rejoice more and the grieving grieve more. 'Plangor' means 'lamentation.' 'Frequens' means 'great.' 'Versis' — there is implied the dirges of those who first wept through grief and now lament through unexpected joy. It seems contrary, what the evangelist says, that the girl was 'dead,' and what the Lord says, that she is 'not dead.' Yet both are true, for to men she was dead; to him who could raise her, she was not dead but sleeping. 'Biothanatus' means 'twice dead,' for 'thanatos' means 'mortal,' 'athanatos' 'immortal.' 'Inclite' means 'noble,' for 'kleos' means 'glory.' He is called 'Son of David,' not of the other fathers, because to him the promises concerning the Son of God were specially made. 'Cognosce' stands for 'cognoscere' (to know).

'Torpens' means 'growing sluggish, failing.' But 'the house of Israel only' — he charged them to go only to Israel, lest the Jews should have occasion to say to others, 'They go on and leave us.' For this reason he so named them, that they should be called Israel. The words are the poet's, by way of parenthesis. 'Gratis' is an adverb from 'gratia' (grace). Now grace is a spontaneous gift, which is bestowed on someone without merit, as if the Lord were saying: 'You too are mine, and the sheep are mine, and the pastures are mine. Do not, then, sell to my sheep the pastures' — that is, doctrine or the Holy Spirit, which is given by the imposition of the hand. He said this, that the priests might have an example, so that they should not sell the priestly ministry. In paradise there is a certain fountain, from which proceed four rivers: Gihon is the Nile itself;

Pishon is the Ganges itself; the Tigris and Euphrates are called by their proper names. 'Synagogue' means 'gathering together,' just as 'church' means 'calling together.' 'Dimenso' means 'diminished.' 'Reduci' means 'returning.' 'He takes away nothing,' as physicians are wont to cut away something of the limbs, that the whole body may be healed. 'Instaurans' means 'restoring.' 'Chelydrus' means 'the devil.' 'Cherson' means 'land,' 'hydor' means 'water'; whence the 'chelydrus' is a serpent, because it can live on land and in water. 'Despectans' means 'looking down.' 'Iuges' means 'continuous'; he says 'continuous' lest you should think the infirmity ran for only a few years. 'They seek the depths' means 'they gape after earthly riches'; to 'gape' is to strain after. Now he allegorizes. That woman signifies those who, pressed down by the weight of sins, take delight in earthly riches.

'Greater miracles' than even Moses worked — for it was a greater thing to satisfy a great multitude from two fishes and five loaves than from the immense largesse of the quails. The quail ('coturnix') is the same as the 'ortygometra.' The 'cophinus' and the 'corbis' and the 'canthara' (basket) are the same. 'Aucta' means 'amplified'; such an abundance of fragments was gathered up as had not been set out. 'Diem' means 'the sun.' 'Pallor' means 'darkness.' It is poetic that he says 'snatching away,' for the poets say that the sun sinks late into the ocean and rises in the morning in the east. Hesperus is a star which rises after the setting of the sun and is called Venus; at midnight, but in the morning it is called Lucifer. 'Arva' means 'the plains of the sea.' 'Arva' are whatever sustains something: the 'arva' of birds are the field, the 'arva' of ships the sea, the 'arva' of men the land.

'Glaucis' means 'of a green colour'; 'glaucus' means 'green,' and it is a colour between white and black. 'Sub calle pedestri' means 'beneath the path of the feet.' Gennesaret is a region beyond the Sea of Galilee, and it is called Gennesaret, 'generating a breeze for itself,' just as the sea generates a tempest. 'Quot' means 'how many.' Tyre and Sidon are coastal cities; Tyre is interpreted 'narrowness,' Sidon 'hunting,' which also was formerly called Sarra... 'For a vice' means 'an infirmity.' Ham was the son of Noah, whence all the Canaanites are named. 'Fragrant,' because it receives fragrance from foods; 'odorum' is that which gives off fragrance of itself, 'odoratum' that which receives it from elsewhere, like a garment; 'odorisequum' that which follows after a scent, like a dog. 'In thorns' means 'in the error of heathenism.'

'From the grass' means 'from the teaching of the Gospel, from the knowledge of the divine Scriptures,' which were given to the Hebrews. For the Hebrews then believed in God, but the other nations did not yet believe; whence the Psalmist: 'God is known in Judah.' 'Attemperat' means 'fits together'; he calls the functions of the limbs an 'instrument' ('organum'), for our body is composed as it were by the function of the musical art, because just as the musical art is tuned outwardly by strings, so the body by the equilibrium of the elements. For the infirmity of the body is nothing other than the inequality of the elements, while health is their equality. 'Organa' means 'the harmony of the limbs'; the sinews are the bonds of the body. 'Geminanda' means 'to be multiplied' — namely, if they returned fasting, the very toil of the journey would increase their hunger. 'What a crowd.' 'Enorme' means 'immeasurable';

'norma' means 'a rule or measure,' whence 'enormis' (enormous), whose measure, on account of its own greatness, cannot be found. 'Secundi' means 'female'; the first sex is the male, the second the female. 'And of the second age' the boys — or the first age is infancy, the second boyhood. 'Reliquias suas' and 'culmina' are the same; it is an epexegesis, which occurs when one thing is repeated twice in other words. 'Sportarum' (of the baskets). A 'sporta' is a vessel woven from the leaves of palms. He said poetically that hunger itself was terrified; he calls the leftovers themselves the 'harvest.' 'Lychnus.' 'Lychnus' in Greek, 'lucerna' (lamp) in Latin. 'Clarum' is a common figure, which in Greek is called 'koinon.' 'Unknown,' because they had not seen them before. Alpha is the first letter of the Greeks, omega the last.

Although the digamma comes afterward, it is not a letter but a numeral character, and by these is signified 'God the beginning and the end,' just as he himself says in the Apocalypse: 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.' By Moses, who was in the third age of the world, the 'beginning' is understood as Christ; by Elijah, who was in the fifth age, near now to the sixth, and who still lives, the 'end' is understood — or he stood between Elijah and Moses, because he himself is the beginning and the end of prophecy. 'On the threshold of life,' standing as it were in the doorway of the resurrection at the entrance, because the last age had now arrived, in which the elect, rising again, were to pass over to eternal life. 'Cast-down eyes.' It is a figurative expression: 'having cast-down eyes'; in the casting down of his eyes his humility is shown.

'Tribute' means 'a toll,' and it is so named from carrying ('vehendo'). The whole world used to pay tribute to Caesar: in the fifth year one gold coin, through the next five one silver, and through others a bronze one; thrice five is fifteen, and this is the 'indictum' or 'indictio' (assessment). 'Gerulum' means 'the bearer,' namely the fish which had in its mouth a stater of two drachmas. A 'drachma' is a kind of coin which weighs ten denarii, whence it is so called as if it were the tenth part of a stater; but a 'drachma' is otherwise two and a half denarii. The same is also a 'stater'; moreover 'statera' is where something is weighed. Otherwise 'drachma' in Greek is 'fabula' (story) in Latin; whence a 'dramatic poem' is called 'fabulous.' 'Aulae' means 'in the hall, in the palace.' The 'aula' is so named from the 'aulaea' (curtains, hangings). Now the 'aula' is a royal house.

'Not in years,' because we cannot be, as the Apostle says: 'Be little children in malice, but in understanding be perfect.' 'Nor proud and arrogant' — we call the 'resupini' those proud ones who are wont to go about thrown back and erect. INTO BOOK IV. 'Placidas' means 'tranquil.' 'Judea' is generally said of the whole kingdom of the Jews, but specifically of that southern part in which were Jerusalem and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin with the priestly tribe, which also is called Judea. 'Camelus' comes from the Greek 'kamir,' which means 'curved,' for it is a curved animal, curved and humped, fit for bearing burdens. 'Fertilitate' means 'abundance.' 'To be willing' is his act of will. 'Mitescere' means 'to grow cheap.' 'Sensum' means 'substance' — namely, by taking away from them the anxiety of riches.

This is impossible, that a rich man who is a lover of riches should enter into the kingdom of heaven. Yet with God on high all things are possible, because he himself can bring it about that a rich man may give his riches to the poor and, made poor, may follow God. 'Aerugo' (rust) and 'rubigo' (blight) are a vice of metals; but 'rubigo' of crops is named from gold ('aurum'), because it has a golden colour in itself. 'Tinea' (moth) is a worm — whatever consumes by gnawing — and it pertains to garments, while 'aerugo' pertains to gold. 'Nor does it serve, obey,' because here gold serves thieves, when it allows itself to be carried off. 'Considere,' from the verb 'sido, sidis,' means 'to settle, to sit down.' 'Vagas auras' means 'the empty air.' Bethany is a little village on the side of the Mount of Olives, a thousand paces distant from Jerusalem.

The fig ('ficus') is so named from fecundity, for sometimes it has ripe fruit, sometimes unripe. He said 'frondea' (leafy) for 'frondosa.' 'Frondeum' is that which consists of leafy branches, of twigs, whence is made a 'scena,' a bower; but 'frondosum' is that which has leaves, like a tree. 'He found it, being hungry' — the Lord did not seek fruit on the fig because he was ignorant that it was not the season; and according to the evangelist it was not the season for it to have fruit. What sin, then, did the tree commit? None; but that tree signifies the synagogue of the Jews, in which the Lord found no fruit and therefore cursed it. 'Stipite.' A 'stipes' is properly a trunk from which branches proceed; here he set it down for the whole tree. 'Sucis' means 'with sap, with greenness'; to 'widow' ('viduare') is to forsake, whence 'widow' (vidua) means 'forsaken.'

'It nourishes nothing fruitful' means 'nothing good.' Now he allegorizes. Allegory is an inversion, when one passes from the letter to the spiritual meaning. 'Amoeno' means 'beautiful.' A place is called 'amoenus' (pleasant) when fit for delight. 'Palma' (palm). The palm is so called as if 'pacis alma' (nurse of peace), because it is given to victors, or because it is set in the likeness of a hand. And rightly is the just man compared to the palm, because the palm does not have its strength and foundation in its root, like other trees, but is slender and thick at its top, and there it has its foundation; so too the saints do not look toward the earth nor care for earthly things, but have all their strength in heavenly things. Lebanon is a mountain in Judea, where cedars grow, the tallest of trees; and Lebanon is interpreted 'whitening.' 'By keeping silent':

because by keeping silent he showed himself to be mute, since it is customary for men to declare their infirmities by speaking. The Pharisees are interpreted 'the separated,' who by reason of a special sanctity separated themselves from the rest of the people. They are named from Phares, the son of Judah. 'Incumbens' means 'leaning back behind.' 'Flagrante nardo' means 'with precious nard giving forth its fragrance.' 'Fovens' means 'anointing'; the feet of the Lord signify his lowly members; he washes the Lord's feet with tears and wipes them with hair who has compassion on the poor and counts their need as his own. He anoints them with ointment when he gives off the fragrance of a good repute concerning himself. For no hand is empty of a gift whose field of the heart has been full of good will. Capernaum is a city set on Mount Tabor.

'Synagogue' means 'gathering together,' just as 'church' means 'calling together' or 'assembly.' There was among the Jews a house called a synagogue, into which they gathered on the Sabbath day to hear and to teach the Law, as is now done in church. 'Proterous' means 'horrible'; one is called 'protervus' as if 'porro torvus,' exceedingly grim. 'What is there common to us and to you?' — that is, 'what concern have we with you?' 'Why have you come to destroy,' to damn, us? 'And the holy one' — that you are the Son of God. For they spoke lesser things about the demons, to whom it was somehow granted to know the holy Son of God; but the greater things they did not know, until his glory and might broke open hell. For the demons, although they have lost their dignity, yet have not lost their nature.

For they are, as Augustine says, aerial animals in body, eternal in spirit, malign in mind; and they are of a subtler nature, and therefore sometimes they foresee future things. Three things lay hidden from the devil: the virgin's childbearing, the divinity of the man, and the suffering of the Redeemer. 'Daemonas' has a Greek accent, and therefore is shortened. 'He forbids,' he does not wish, that he be announced by such a witness, because it is not precious in the mouth of a sinner. 'Black death.' He calls it 'black death' from the Greek 'nekros.' For we call the dead 'black,' just as we call the living 'white.' 'A friend.' We say 'his friend' ('amicum illius'); 'amicum illi' is possessive, 'amicus illi' acquisitive. 'Legens' means 'sailing,' whence Virgil: 'they gather (legunt) the sails,' they sail. 'Spiramina.' He calls the senses 'spiramina,' through which we breathe.

'The innermost parts being broken open' means 'the inner parts being unbarred'; a 'penetrale' is a hidden penetrable place, which can be penetrated. 'Procumbens' means 'cast down at the eyes.' He calls blindness the 'appearance of a feigned death,' by which the dead do not see. 'Stagna' means 'the sea.' A 'stagnum' (pool) is so named from standing ('stando'), where water stands. 'In alno' means 'in the little boat.' The 'alnus' (alder) is a species of tree, of which ships are made; but he sets down the species for the genus. 'Aquosis gentibus' means 'fishes.' He calls the fishes 'nations,' just as Virgil says of bees, 'they lead forth their grown offspring,' and the same poet of fishes, 'around him went the moist race of the vast deep,' when he was speaking of Proteus. 'Exequiae' are the offices which are paid to the dead, so named from following out ('exequendo'). 'Funere' means 'death'; 'funus' (death) is named from the 'funes' (cords), the candles.

The 'funes' are cords smeared with wax. 'Urna' means 'the burial' either of the husband or of the son. The 'urna' was a vessel among the ancients in which the ashes of the dead were wont to be stored, whence it is set down for 'burial'; it is the same also as 'memory.' 'Feretro' means 'a bier'; 'feretrum' in Greek, 'capulus' in Latin, from taking up ('capiendo'). 'Feretrum' and 'pharetra' (quiver) come from one Greek word, 'phoron,' to carry. For the one carries a dead body, the other death (the arrow). 'Sitting up and speaking' are two signs of life, and it is a 'hysterologia' (reversed order), for first he came back to life, then he sat up. 'Candida pompa' means 'glad glory.' It was an ancient custom that in adversities and griefs they were clothed in dark, black garments, but in prosperity and gladness in white ones; this is what he means by 'white pomp.' 'Squameus' stands for 'squamosus' (scaly).

A snake is called 'scaly' as having scales, like a fish in the manner of a coat of mail, whence they are invulnerable. 'Gehenna' is compounded of 'ge' and 'Hennon,' and is interpreted 'the gratuitous valley'; for 'ge' in Hebrew means 'valley,' and Hennon was a certain man, after whom that valley was named, to which the children of Israel fled when departing from the temple of God, because of the pleasantness of that place, where they worshipped idols, since the fountain of Siloah watered it. Then they perished there in a twofold way: in soul, because they worshipped idols; in body, because they were slain by enemies. Hence 'Gehenna' is set down for 'hell,' because there is a twofold punishment: heat and cold. 'Seven coils.' 'Seven' means 'revolutions';

It is the same as 'sevenfold volumes': the number seven is set down for fullness, because all the time of this age revolves through seven days; hence he set down 'seven' for the fullness of the demons that were in her. 'Viperous'—the venoms of the devil. The viper (vipera) is so called because it brings forth by force (vi pariat), for when the mother is killed the offspring come out. 'Ceasing'—resting. 'You feigned'—you pretended by living wickedly: through miracles you wished to show yourselves good men, and while you did unjust deeds, you pretended that you were performing divine works. There are some who, when they see men working miracles, attend not to the life but to the miracles; but God regards a good life rather than miracles. 'By charms'—by incantations. 'Figures'—not true ones but false. The story is well known:

a rod turned into a true serpent. For God has power to change His creature into whatever He wills. But the magicians do not have power over the creature; rather they bewitch and deceive the eyes of those who look on. 'Fascinum' (bewitchment) is called envious praise, whence the verb 'fascino, fascinas' (to bewitch). 'Afterwards'—hereafter. 'Readily'—gently, because it is the custom of the rich that they are invited only with difficulty; but the Lord came at an easy request to the house of the Pharisee. Pharez was the son of Judah, from whom the Pharisees are named, and they are interpreted as 'the divided.' 'Into the breadth of the belly'—as though the whole man had been turned into belly. 'Dropsy' (hydrops): 'hydor' in Greek is water, whence 'hydropicus' means watery; dropsy is a disease beneath the skin and in Latin is called 'veternus'; the dropsical disease arises from a defect of the bladder, with a swollen belly and foul breath.

'Fluid' (or flowing), because the more he drinks, the more he thirsts. 'Pool'—the body of the dropsical man; he calls the belly a pool, the water being as it were in a pool. The Lord went to the houses of the chief men, not because He needed their banquets, but for the sake of their servants, because being held by service they could not come to Him and hear His preaching, for He cared equally for all. 'Portents.' A portent is something that suddenly appears and signifies something. The same is a 'prodigy'—a sign which is only something sudden and signifies nothing. 'Leprosy.' Leprosy is scurf or itch or eruption, because a putrid humour flows out from the body; leprosy itself is a portent. 'Foul'—with base things. We call those birds foul (obscenas) which bring a bad omen and augury, and then the word is compounded from the verb 'cano' (to sing/prophesy).

But 'obscenus' (obscene/base) is compounded from 'cenum' (filth), from mud. 'Restored'—turned back. He is called 'redux' (brought back) who comes back from some peril. For Christ is the true priest, who offered Himself and no other victim for the salvation of the world upon the altar of the cross. Melchizedek is interpreted 'king of righteousness.' 'Melchus' means king, '-sedech' means righteousness; he, by name and by deed, showed forth Christ—by deed, because Christ instituted bread and wine in the mystery of His body and blood, just as Melchizedek is read to have first offered bread and wine to God in sacrifice. 'Importunate'—hostile, persistent. A 'portus' (harbour) is a station and rest for ships, hence one is called 'importunus' as though without harbour and without rest. 'Of one mind'—dear, faithful. 'He sought bread'—he asked for it.

'I ask you for that thing,' and 'I ask that thing from you.' 'With the doors shut.' 'Fores' (doors) are properly the gates which open outward, 'valvae' those which open inward. 'Earnestly and confidently'—he sets down so many adverbs to show the persistence of the one refusing. 'Sojourner'—a foreigner. He is called 'accola' (sojourner) who, coming from elsewhere, dwells in a land not his own. 'Vault' (testudo). The 'testudo' (tortoise-shell vaulting) is so called from the likeness of this animal. A 'testudo' is the curved arch of a house, which used to be made in temples in the likeness of a stage. A 'testudo' is also a close formation of shields, by which the soldiers' heads were protected, in likeness of the tortoise animal, which is guarded by a very hard shell. 'To open ways'—to the uprightness of a good work. A 'pervius' (passable) place is one where there is a way. 'Guilt'—every fault which makes one guilty. 'Adulteresses'—the unchaste.

'Moechus' is the term for an adulterer; hence the 'mechanical' art is so called, which is done with such subtlety that it deceives the eye of the beholder. 'Through the enclosures'—through the orbs of the eyes. 'Of kindred clay.' He said 'kindred' deliberately, because man and clay (limus) are kindred and neighbours to one another. For man, formed from clay, returns into clay. 'Mystical': the Greeks call a secret 'mystice'; hence the miracles of Christ are called 'mystical,' because, although they were done bodily, yet they intimate something spiritually. 'Born,' because we were in darkness. That blind man signifies the human race. By the spittle is designated the wisdom of God. For spittle flows down from the head into the mouth; likewise wisdom flows down, as she herself says through Solomon: 'I came forth out of the mouth of the Most High.'

From spittle, then, and earth the Lord made clay, because divinity was joined to human nature. He allegorizes. By the spittle is understood the divinity, by the earth the humanity, which, conjoined together in Christ, stood forth for the cause of our salvation. 'Washed'—for the sake of the metre he shortened it. Bethania is a little town at the foot of the Mount of Olives, not far distant from Jerusalem, fifteen stadia, and it is interpreted 'house of obedience.' Lazarus is interpreted 'helped.' 'Populatio,' that is, a multitude of people, and it is an affected word, newly invented. As man God wept, because the divinity, being impassible, is not subject to suffering. 'After the funerals'—after death. A 'funus' (funeral) is properly the corpse of a dead man, named from the torches (funes/candelae). 'Deadly chaos'—the confusion of mortality.

'The law perishes.' It is the law of death that, having once received, it keeps and never gives back. 'Falling pinnacles'—transitory honours. 'With trappings'—with adornments. 'Phalerae' is the general name for all the ornaments of horses; in Greek they are called 'ephippia.' 'Purple'—the color purple. 'Ostrum' (purple) is so called from the little shellfish (ostreae) with whose blood it is dyed. 'Gold'—a golden bridle; it is the mark of a fine horse to throw out bloody foam from its mouth. 'Honos' for 'honor.' 'It was not unequal'—it was of equal dignity, this ass and that one which recognized Christ in the manger. 'On the solid'—on the hard ground. He addresses the Gentiles. INTO BOOK V. 'It had begun'—the day had come on which the Jews were to celebrate the Passover. 'Pascha' (Passover) is named from the 'passing over' (transitus), not from the 'passion' (passio) as some say.

For on that day the children of Israel passed over out of Egypt. Now the Passover among the Jews was a lamb, which was slain toward evening. 'Glory'—the majesty of Christ. It is a beautiful figure of speech when, by way of circumlocution, the quality is declared in place of the person, as Virgil says 'the strength of the Trojans' for Hector; so the Lord Christ is called 'the glory.' 'May I glorify'—in the resurrection. 'Concordant'—a sharer; because He had called upon the Father, the Father answered Him. Thus the voice was not the Father substantially—just as the dove was not the Holy Spirit, nor was it generated from other doves but from air—so that voice was not the Father substantially, but a sign that Christ might be shown to be the Son of God. 'Yearly,' which He celebrated each year;

'yearly, universal,' because in each single year, in the first month April, which in Hebrew is called Nisan, the Passover is celebrated among the Jews. And it is to be known that the Jews did not have a calendrical reckoning, but numbered the month and the moon by thirty days. On the first day of the month they made the first moon, on the tenth day the tenth, on the fourteenth day the fourteenth, and then the lamb was slain and the Passover took place. 'According to custom'—in eating the lamb with His disciples according to the practice of the Jews. 'Humble.' One is called 'humble' (humilis) as though 'inclined' (adclinis). A sepulchre is fair in form on the outside, but within full of the corruption of the dead; and it is called 'sepulchre' (sepulchrum) as though 'without pulse, without breath' (sine pulsu, sine flatu). 'Livor' (bruise/spite) is properly the swelling of blows, but sometimes it is set down for envy, as in this place.

'Promising'—pledging, vowing. 'Paciscor' (to make a pact) has two perfect forms, 'pepigi' and 'pactus sum,' and it is a polysemous word meaning many things. 'Paciscor'—I make peace and I promise, as in this place. 'Paciscor'—I obtain, as Virgil 'to obtain death in exchange for praise.' 'Nomisma' (coin) is named from 'name' (nomen), because the denarius is stamped with the name of the king. 'A barren mother'—would that his mother had been barren, so that he could not have been born! 'A better lot'—a better fortune. First the poet wishes that he had not been born, and, if born, that he had quickly died. 'Poured forth'—born. 'Standard-bearer'—bearing the standard. For he himself bore the sign with a kiss. 'You press' is 'imprimis' (you press in). 'Peace into swords'—into battles. He set 'swords' for war. By that which effects, that which is effected is understood. 'Or.'

A wolf never kisses a lamb. 'The boy Malchus.' 'Spare'—cease. 'Parco' means many things: I indulge or I preserve, whence we call bees 'sparing' (parcas), as preservers of honey. And 'parco' means I cease, as in this place. 'Wing-bearing'—bearing wings. 'Concilium' is the multitude itself, 'consilium' is the matter being deliberated, 'conciliabulum' is the place itself. 'A thousand'—a finite number set for an infinite one. 'With empty embers'—with sentiments or with evil intent. 'Favilla' (ember) is the food of fire, and is named from the Greek 'phage' (to eat). 'To strike'—to beat; 'colapto' in Greek is to hammer, whence 'colaphus' (a blow) is the striking of the neck, or to beat is to give 'alapae' (slaps). 'He applauded'—he favored, he smiled, because formerly we were under the bondage of the devil. An 'alapa' (slap) is a blow to the face, named from the broad palm (lata palma). 'Unfinished'—imperfect but done.

'Sanction'—a promise. 'He condemned'—he punished. That deed which he did when he was forgetful, he condemned when he became mindful. 'They depart'—they withdraw. 'Sins' (delicta). A 'delictum' is when we leave undone that which we ought to do, and it is so called as though 'left behind' (derelictum). 'Rigeo' (to be stiff) makes the perfect 'rigui,' whence 'dirigeo'—I make hard. 'Wages'—prices. 'Commercium' is the exchange of merchandise, and he cast it into the corban. For the 'corbanan' is the treasury where the gifts of the people were laid up. 'Corban' means gift, whence 'corbanan' is the treasure-house where kings and princes used to store gifts on the Sabbath. 'In vain.' 'Casses' (nets) is the name for the webs of spiders, whence the adverb 'incassum'—uselessly. 'May he overturn'—may he subvert. 'Sounder'—more just. 'Strangling'—constricting, choking.

Rightly was he hanged by the throat, because with it he spoke wickedly concerning Christ. Judas perished between heaven and earth, and, as some say, upon a fig tree, because he was not worthy to be received by these elements. 'Apostate'—going backward. 'Apostata' in Greek, 'turned back' or 'retreating' in Latin. Hence the verb 'apostato,' 'apostatas,' and the noun 'apostasia,' which is the thing itself, the going back. And that Judas was an apostate, because he forsook the fellowship of the apostles and joined himself to the blindness of the Jews. 'To the throat'—to the beheading. The 'jugulum' (throat) is near the neck, hence we say 'to cut the throat' (iugulare) for 'to behead.' 'Grove' (lucus). A 'lucus' is a pleasant and tree-filled place. The Jews used to worship idols in woods and in high places.