The fourth kind of garment is a round little cap, such as we see painted upon Ulysses, as if a sphere were divided in the middle and one part were placed upon the head; this the Greeks and our people call a tiara, some a galerus. It has no point at the top, nor does it cover the whole head down to the hair, but leaves a third part uncovered from the forehead; and it is so bound at the back of the head with a band of fillet that it does not easily slip off the head. It is, moreover, of fine linen, and so skillfully covered over with a little cloth that no traces of the needle appear on the outside. These four garments — that is, the breeches, the linen tunic, the girdle woven of purple, scarlet, fine linen, and blue, and the cap of which we have just spoken — both priests and high priests use.
The remaining four belong properly to the high priests. Of these the first is the 'meil,' that is, the ankle-length robe, wholly of blue, having sleeves of the same color sewn to its sides, and open in the upper part, where it is put on over the neck — what is commonly called the collar — with very firm edges woven of itself, lest they be easily torn. But at the lowest part, that is, at the feet, there are seventy-two bells and as many pomegranates woven of the same colors as above upon the girdle. Between two bells is one pomegranate, and between two pomegranates one bell, so that they are alternately set between each other; and the reason is given: the bells are attached to the garment for this purpose, that when the high priest enters into the Holy of Holies, he may go in wholly resounding,
about to die at once if he should not do this. The sixth garment is that which in the Hebrew tongue is called ephod, which the Septuagint call epomida, that is, the shoulder-piece; Aquila calls it ependyma, that is, the over-garment; we shall set down ephod by its own name. And wherever in Exodus or in Leviticus the 'shoulder-piece' is read, let us know that among the Hebrews it is called ephod. That this, moreover, is a high priest's garment, I remember I have written in a certain letter, and all Scripture testifies that it is something sacred and suitable to the high priests alone.
Nor let it at once occur to anyone that Samuel, who was a Levite, is written in the first book of Kingdoms to have had, while still of tender age, an ephod bad, that is a linen shoulder-piece, since David too is related to have worn the same before the ark of the Lord. For it is one thing to have it woven of the four colors mentioned above, that is blue, fine linen, scarlet, purple, and of gold; another to have a plain and linen one after the manner of the priests. The plates of gold, that is thin leaves, are beaten out with marvelous thinness, from which cut threads are twisted with a weft of three colors, blue, scarlet, purple, and with a warp of fine linen; and there is produced a little mantle of vermiculated beauty, dazzling the eyes with its brilliance in the manner of caracallas, but without hoods.
Against the breast nothing is woven, and the place is left for the future breastplate. On each shoulder it has single stones set and bound in gold, which in Hebrew are called 'soom,' by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion 'onyx,' by the Septuagint 'emeralds'; Josephus calls them sardonyxes, agreeing with the Hebrew and Aquila, so as to show either the color of the stones or their native land. On each stone are six of the patriarchs' names, by which the Israelite people is divided: on the right shoulder are written the elder sons of Jacob, on the left the younger, so that the high priest entering the Holy of Holies may bear upon his shoulders the people for whom he is to entreat the Lord. The seventh garment is small in measure, but more sacred than all those mentioned above.
Give heed, I pray, your attention, that you may understand what is said. In Hebrew it is called 'hosen,' in Greek logion, we may call it the rational (breastplate), so that from the very name you may at once know that what is spoken of is mystical. It is a short cloth, woven of gold and four colors, that is, the same as the shoulder-piece, having the size of a palm foursquare and double, lest it be easily torn. Woven into it are twelve stones of wondrous size and price in four rows, so that in each little line three stones are placed:
in the first row are placed a sardius, a topaz, an emerald — Symmachus differs on the emerald, rendering ceraunium in its place —; in the second a carbuncle, a sapphire, a jasper; in the third a ligure, an agate, an amethyst; in the fourth a chrysolite, an onyx, a beryl. And I greatly wonder why the hyacinth, a most precious stone, is not placed among their number; unless perhaps it is itself the ligure under another name. Searching among those who have written on the natures of stones and gems, I have not been able to find the ligure.
On each stone are carved the names of the twelve tribes according to their ages — these stones we read of both in the diadem of the prince of Tyre and in the Apocalypse of John, of which the heavenly Jerusalem is built — and under these names and the character of the virtues either the order or the diversity is indicated. Through the four corners of the breastplate are four golden rings, having over against them on the shoulder-piece four others, so that when the logion has been set in the place which we said was left in the ephod, ring may come against ring, and they may be mutually joined to each other by blue fillets. Furthermore, lest the size and weight of the stones should break the woven threads, they were bound and enclosed in gold.
Nor does this suffice for firmness, unless also chains of gold were made, which for beauty's sake were covered with golden tubes, and had both on the breastplate above two larger rings, which were fastened to the golden hooks of the shoulder-piece, and below two others. For behind, on the shoulder-piece against the breast and stomach on either side, were golden rings, which were joined by chains to the lower rings of the breastplate; and so it came about that both the breastplate was drawn tight to the shoulder-piece, and the shoulder-piece to the breastplate, and to those looking on it was thought a single fabric. The eighth is the golden plate, that is 'sis zaab,' on which is written the name of God in four Hebrew letters — ioth, he, uau, he — which among them is called ineffable.
This is added upon the linen cap, common to all the priests, and additionally upon the high priest, so that on the forehead it may be bound with a blue fillet, and the name of God may crown and protect the whole beauty of the high priest. We have learned which vestments are common with the priests, and which are proper to the high priest; and if there was such difficulty in earthen vessels, how great will be the majesty in the treasure that lies hidden within! Let us say first what we have received from the Hebrews, and then, after our custom, let us unfurl the sails to the spiritual understanding.
The four colors they refer to the four elements, out of which all things subsist — fine linen is assigned to earth, because it is born of earth; purple to the sea, because it is dyed from its little shellfish; blue to the air on account of the likeness of color; scarlet to fire and ether, which in Hebrew is called 'sani,' which Aquila interpreted diaphoron, Symmachus dibaphon, for 'scarlet' according to Latin speech among the Hebrews 'tolath,' that is 'little worm' —; and they record that it is just that the high priest of the Creator should pray not only for Israel but for the whole world, since indeed this world consists of earth and water and air and fire, and these elements are the elements of all things.
Hence the first, the linen garment, signifies earth; the second, the blue, shows the air by its color, because from earthly things we are gradually raised up to the heights; and this very blue garment, coming from head to heels, indicates the air poured out from the heavens to the earth. But the pomegranates and bells placed in the lower parts show forth thunder and lightning, or else earth and water and the harmony of all the elements among themselves, and thus all things so interwoven with each other that in single things all may be found. And because the aforesaid colors are woven with gold, they wish it to signify that vital heat and the providence of the divine mind penetrates all things.
The shoulder-piece and the two stones, whether emeralds or onyxes, which are above and cover each shoulder, they interpret as two hemispheres, of which one is above the earth, the other below the earth; or else the sun and moon, which glow red from above. That girdle, by which the priest's breast is bound tight and the linen tunic, that is the earth, is drawn together, they interpret as the ocean. The breastplate placed in the middle they expound as the earth, which, like a point, though it holds all things in itself, is yet walled about by all the elements. The twelve stones they interpret either as the zodiac circle or the twelve months, and to each little row they assign the individual seasons, and to these they allot three months each. Nor let the exposition seem to anyone pagan.
For if men have defamed the heavenly bodies and God's dispensation with the names of idols, God's providence is not therefore to be denied, which by a fixed law both runs and is borne along and governs all things. For in Job too we read of Arcturus and Orion and Mazzaroth, that is the zodiac circle, and the other names of the stars — not that among the Hebrews there are the same words, but because we cannot understand the things spoken of except by our accustomed terms. And beautifully this very thing which is in the middle is called 'the rational'; for all things are full of reason, and earthly things cling to the heavenly — nay, the reason of earthly things and of seasons, of heat and cold, and the twofold temperateness between the two, descends from the course and reason of heaven; whence also the breastplate is bound more firmly with the ephod.
Further, that it is said there is in the breastplate itself delosis and aletheia, that is, manifestation and doctrine, or truth, this very thing signifies that there is never any falsehood in the reason of God, but that Truth itself is shown to men by many signs and proofs and comes even to mortals. Whence it came about that we know the reason of the sun and moon and of the year and months and seasons and hours, of the weather also, of fair weather and of the winds and of all things, receiving the wisdom implanted in us by God, and He Himself, the Indweller and Teacher of His own dwelling, showing to us also the knowledge of the fabric.
Above all, the mitre and the blue fillet show heaven, and the plate of gold which is on the high priest's forehead, and the name of God inscribed, show that all things which are beneath are governed by the will of God. This same thing I think is figured under other names in the cherubim, the four living creatures, which are so mingled together and cling to one another that in one the rest also may be found, and that they go steadily forward before themselves and do not turn back; for the seasons glide away and, leaving the past behind, hasten to the future. And that they are always in motion signifies that which the philosophers also surmise, that the world runs in its own order and is turned unceasingly, like a wheel upon its axle.
Whence also there is a wheel within a wheel, that is time within time, and the year revolves back into itself, and the very wheels are lifted up to heaven, and above the crystal is a throne of sapphire, and above the throne a likeness of one sitting, whose lower parts are fiery, the upper amber-like, so that it may show that the things which are below have need of fire and purification, while those above abide in the purity of their own condition. And just as here, in the priest's attire, the plate of gold is above, so in Ezekiel the amber is placed upon the breast and upon the crown of the head.
It was therefore just — as we said above in part — that the high priest of God, bearing in his garments a type of all creatures, should indicate that all things have need of the mercy of God, and that all creation should sacrifice together with him, so that he should pray, not for children and parents and kinsmen, but for the whole creation, both with his voice and with his attire. We have touched upon the Hebrew exposition, and, reserving the boundless forest of meanings for another time, we have laid certain foundations of the future house. Concerning the linen breeches they are wont to say this: the principle of seeds and of generation, pertaining to the flesh, is assigned to the earth through it — whence God speaks to Adam:
'Thou art earth, and unto earth shalt thou go' — and the causes of this matter, how from a tiny seed and the foulest beginnings such great beauty of men or of diverse things is born, are wrapped up and do not lie open to human eyes. We read in Leviticus that, according to God's precept, Moses washed Aaron and his sons: even then the sacraments of baptism signified the purgation of the world and the sanctification of all things. They do not receive the vestments unless their filth is first washed away, nor are they adorned for holy things unless they are reborn as new men in Christ; for new wine is put into new wineskins. But that Moses washes them is a token of the Law: they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them, and from Adam to Moses all have sinned.
By God's precepts we are to be washed, and, when, ready for the garment of Christ, we have laid aside the garments of skins, then we shall be clothed with the linen garment which has in itself nothing of death, but is wholly white, so that, rising up from baptism, we may gird our loins in truth, and all the baseness of former sins may be hidden. Whence David also says: 'Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.' After the breeches and the linen tunic we are clothed with the blue garment, and we begin to ascend from earthly things to the heights. This very blue tunic — called by the Septuagint hypodytes, that is, the undergarment — is properly the high priest's, signifying that the understanding of sublime things does not lie open to all, but to the greater and the perfect.
This the prophets had, this Moses and Aaron and all to whom it is said: 'Go up onto a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Zion.' Nor does the former washing away of sins, the grace of baptism, the more secret doctrine, suffice us, unless we have also works. Whence the ephod also is joined, that is the shoulder-piece, which is coupled to the breastplate, so that it may not be loose or slack, but that they may cling to one another and be a help to each other. For reason too has need of works, and works of reason, so that what we conceive in the mind we may accomplish in deed. And the two stones on the shoulder-piece signify either Christ and the Church, containing the names of the twelve apostles who were sent to preach, or the letter and the spirit, in which all the mysteries of the Law are held:
on the right is the spirit, on the left the letter; through the letters we descend to the words, through the words we come to the meaning. How beautiful the order, and from the very attire showing forth the sacraments! On the shoulders are works, on the breast is reason; whence also the priests eat the little breast (of the sacrifice). But this breastplate is double, open and hidden, plain and mystical, having in itself twelve stones and four rows. These four rows I think to be the virtues: prudence, fortitude, justice, temperance, which cling to one another, and, while they are mutually mingled, make up the number twelve; or else the four Gospels, which are described in the Apocalypse full of eyes and radiant with the light of the Lord, illuminating the world — in one the four, and in the four each single one;
whence also delosis and aletheia, that is doctrine and truth, is upon the priest's breast. For when anyone has been clothed with the manifold vestment, it is fitting that the truth which he holds in his heart he should utter in speech. And for this reason in the breastplate is truth, that is knowledge, that he may know what things are to be taught, and manifestation and doctrine, that he may be able to instruct others in what he has conceived in his mind. Where are those who say that the innocence of a priest can suffice? The old law agrees with the new: Moses is the very thing the Apostle is. He adorns the priest's knowledge in the vestments; the other instructs Timothy and Titus in disciplines. But the very order of the vestments too is significant. Let us read Leviticus:
not first the breastplate and then the shoulder-piece, but first the shoulder-piece and afterward the breastplate. 'From thy commandments,' it says, 'I have understood': first we do, then we teach, lest the authority of doctrine be destroyed by empty works. This is what we read in the prophet: 'Sow for yourselves in righteousness, and reap the fruit of life; enlighten for yourselves the light of knowledge.' First sow in righteousness and reap the fruit of eternal life, and afterward claim knowledge for yourselves. Nor is perfection at once complete if one has the shoulder-piece and the breastplate, unless these very things are made solid between themselves by a firm joining and are bound to one another, so that both works may cling to reason and reason to works, and, these going before, doctrine and truth may follow.
The four elements, of which we spoke above, and the two stones, whether onyxes or emeralds, and the twelve gems which are set in the breastplate — if there were time, I would discuss them and set forth to you the natures and causes of each, and what each avails, and how each is compared to the individual virtues — and the holy pope Epiphanius has published an excellent volume on this, which if you are willing to read, you will attain the fullest knowledge —: but I now perceive that I am exceeding the measure of a letter, and I see that the waxen tablets of my scribe are filled up; whence I pass on to the rest, that at last the discourse may be brought to an end. The golden plate glows red on the forehead; for erudition in all things profits us nothing, unless we are crowned with the knowledge of God.
We are clothed with linen, we are adorned with blue, we are girded with the consecrated belt, works are given to us, the breastplate is placed on the breast: we receive truth, our speech brings forth doctrine; yet all things are imperfect, unless for so beautiful a chariot a worthy charioteer be sought, and the Creator, standing above His creatures, Himself govern the things He has made. What was once shown in the plate is now displayed in the sign of the cross. The blood of the Gospel is more precious than the gold of the Law. Then, according to Ezekiel, a sign was fixed on the forehead of those who mourned; now, bearing the cross, we say: 'The light of thy countenance is sealed upon us, O Lord.' Twice in Exodus we read, the Lord commanding and Moses doing what was bidden, of the eight kinds of the high priest's garments.
In Leviticus only seven are written of, and it is related how Moses clothed his brother Aaron with them: of the breeches alone nothing is said, for this reason, as I judge, that the law does not lay hand upon our genitals and private parts, but we ourselves ought to cover and veil our more secret parts, worthy of shame, and to reserve the conscience of purity and of our seed for God the judge. Concerning the other virtues — for example, wisdom, fortitude, justice, humility, meekness, generosity — others too can judge; but chastity, the conscience alone knows, and human eyes cannot be sure judges of this matter, except of those who are everywhere, after the manner of brute animals, exposed to lust. Whence the Apostle also says:
'Concerning virgins,' he says, 'I have no commandment of the Lord,' as if Moses were speaking: 'With breeches I do not clothe anyone, nor do I impose necessity on any; whoever wishes to be a priest, let him clothe himself.' O how many virgins, and the hoped-for chastity of how many, shall be dishonored in the day of judgment! and the defamed chastity of how many shall be crowned by God the judge! Therefore let us ourselves take up the breeches, let us ourselves cover our private parts, let us not seek the eyes of others. Let the genitals be so covered that they lie open to no one's eyes, lest, when we enter the Holy of Holies, if any shamefulness should appear, we die the death. Now the discourse is ended, and I am drawn back to what went before. So great ought to be the knowledge and erudition of the high priest of God, that both his going out and his movements and all things about him may be vocal.
that she may conceive the truth in her mind and echo it in her whole bearing and adornment, so that whatever she does and whatever she says may be instruction for the peoples. For without the little bells and the varied colors and the gems and flowers of the virtues she can neither enter the holy place nor possess the name of a high priest. These things I have dictated in a hurried discourse for a single short night's labor, now that the rope was being loosed from the shore and the sailors were shouting ever more insistently — such things as I could hold in memory and as I had gathered up in the long-continued reading of my thoughtful heart, well aware that I am carried along more by the rush of speaking than by the judgment of a writer, and that after the manner of a torrent I pour forth a turbid discourse.
It is reported in the index of Septimius Tertullian that there is a book On the Vestments of Aaron, which up to this day I have not been able to find. If it be discovered by you, on account of the great size of your city, I beg you, do not compare my little drop to that river of his. For I am to be judged not by the genius of great men, but by my own strength. LXV. TO THE VIRGIN PRINCIPIA, AN EXPLANATION OF PSALM XLIV. I know, Principia, my daughter in Christ, that I am censured by very many for sometimes writing to women and preferring the more fragile sex to the males. And therefore I ought first to answer my detractors and so come to the little disputation which you have requested. If men were asking about the Scriptures, I would not be speaking to women.
If Barak had been willing to go to battle, Deborah would not have triumphed over the conquered enemies. Jeremiah is shut up in prison, and because Israel, being about to perish, had not received the man who prophesied, the woman Huldah is raised up for them. The priests and Pharisees crucify the Son of God, and Mary Magdalene weeps at the cross, prepares ointments, seeks Him in the tomb, questions the gardener, recognizes the Lord, goes to the apostles, and announces that He is found. They doubt; she is confident — truly a πυργῖτις, truly a tower of whiteness and of Lebanon, who looks toward the face of Damascus, that is, toward the blood of the Savior calling to the penitence of sackcloth. The things of women had failed Sarah, and therefore Abraham is made subject to her, and it is said to him: 'In all that Sarah says to you, hearken to her voice.'
Those things of women had failed her; you never had them. She (the widow) is devoured by the virgin (the Church?); she carries Christ in her body, and already possesses what she is destined to be. Rebecca goes to inquire of God, and by His answer, being worthy, she hears the oracle: 'Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be divided from your belly.' She bears two who are at variance; you daily conceive One, travail, and bring forth — One fruitful in unity, manifold in majesty, harmonious in Trinity. Miriam, the sister of Moses, sings the victories of the Lord; (Rachel dying gives birth,) and by the stock of her own name marks out our Bethlehem and Ephrata among her descendants. The daughters of Zelophehad merit to receive an inheritance among their brothers.
Ruth and Esther and Judith are of such great glory that they have given their names to the sacred volumes. Anna the prophetess bears a son who is a Levite, a prophet, a judge, venerable by his sacred hair, and she offers him in the tabernacle of God. The woman of Tekoa hems in King David by her interrogation, teaches him by an enigma, and by the example of God mollifies him. We read also of another wise woman who, when her city was besieged and, on account of a single rebel, Joab the commander of the army was battering the walls with a ram, spoke to the people in her wisdom and by a woman's authority quieted the danger of so great a multitude. Why should I speak of the Queen of Sheba, who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and, by the Lord's testimony, is to condemn all the men of Israel?
Elizabeth prophesies with her womb and with her voice. Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, becomes in the temple a temple of God, and by daily fasting finds the heavenly bread. Women follow the Savior and minister to Him of their substance. He who fed five thousand men — besides the women and children — with five loaves, does not refuse to accept the food of holy women. He speaks with the Samaritan woman at the well, and, satisfied by the conversion of the believing woman, neglects the food that had been bought. Aquila and Priscilla instruct Apollos, an apostolic man and most learned in the Law, and teach him concerning the way of the Lord. If it was not shameful for an apostle to be taught by a woman, why should it be shameful for me to teach women after having taught men?
These things and things of this kind, my most venerable (σεμνοτάτη) daughter, I have touched upon briefly, so that neither you may be ashamed of your sex, nor men exalt their own name — men in whose condemnation the life of women is praised in the Holy Scriptures. I rejoice, and my spirit is carried away as in a kind of dance, when in Babylon are found Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, and Mishael. Oh, how many are the elders and judges of Israel whom the king of Babylon fries in his frying-pan! How many Susannas — which is interpreted 'lily' — who by the whiteness of chastity weave garlands for the Bridegroom and exchange the crown of thorns for the glory of Him who triumphs! You have there, in the study of the Scriptures and in holiness of mind and body, teachers: Marcella and Asella —
願其中一位領你穿過翠綠的草場和神聖典籍中各樣的花朵，到那在雅歌中說「我是田野的花，谷中的百合」的那一位面前；願另一位，她自己是主的花，得以與你一同聽見：「我的佳偶在女子中，好像百合花在荊棘內。」既然我們已開始論及花與百合，而童貞總是被比作花朵，我便覺得合宜，即在寫信給基督的一朵花時，論說許多花。我讀第四十四篇詩篇時，在標題中發現：「交與伶長，為那將被改變的人，可拉子孫的訓誨詩，愛慕之歌。」在希伯來文中寫作：「lamanasse al sosanim labne core meschil sir ididoth」，我們把它譯成拉丁文如下：
of whom let the one lead you through the green meadows and the varied flowers of the divine volumes to Him who says in the Canticle: 'I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys'; and let the other, herself the flower of the Lord, merit to hear together with you: 'As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters.' And since we have begun to speak of flowers and lilies, and virginity is always compared to flowers, it seems fitting to me that, writing to a flower of Christ, I should discourse concerning many flowers. Reading the forty-fourth Psalm, I found in the title: 'Unto the end, for those who shall be changed, for the understanding of the sons of Korah, a song for the beloved.' In the Hebrew it is written: 'lamanasse al sosanim labne core meschil sir ididoth,' which we translate into Latin thus:
1:1066
uictoriproliliisfiliorumCore, eruditioniscanticumamantissimi. Symmachusmoresuomanifestius \'triumphum\' pro \'floribus\' interpretatusest. igitur \'sosanim\' uel \'prohis, quicommutandisunt\' uelin \'lilia\' transferturet \'flores\' et \'meschil\' quoqueet \'eruditionem\' et \'doctissimum\' sonat; \' ididia \' antiquumSalomonisestnomen, quialiosensu \'pacificus\' appellatur. quattuorautempsalmi, licetinposterioretitulorumpartedissentiant, hocprincipiopraenotantur: quadragesimusquartus, quinquagesimusnonus, sexagesimusoctauus, septuagesimusnonus, quibusduomediiinscribuntur \'Dauid\', primusetnouissimus \'filiorumCoreetAsaph\'.
'To the victor, for the lilies of the sons of Korah, a song of instruction, of the most beloved.' Symmachus, after his manner, has more plainly interpreted 'triumph' instead of 'flowers.' Therefore 'sosanim' is rendered either 'for those who are to be changed' or as 'lilies' and 'flowers'; and 'meschil' too sounds as 'instruction' and 'most learned'; 'ididia' is the ancient name of Solomon, who in another sense is called 'the peaceable.' Now four psalms, although they differ in the latter part of their titles, are marked with this same beginning: the forty-fourth, the fifty-ninth, the sixty-eighth, and the seventy-ninth; of which the two middle ones are inscribed 'of David,' and the first and last 'of the sons of Korah and of Asaph.'
To speak of them all is not for this occasion; let us unfold the one we have begun. Rightly are those who are to be changed at the end of the ages — of whom the Apostle speaks: 'We shall all sleep, but we shall not all be changed' — referred to the end. And this very mystery prepares the reader for spiritual understanding. For where the sense is simple and open, what need is there for the hearer to be forewarned of understanding, and for it to be said to him: 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear'? A song too is sung to the dearest and beloved, because on his account the promised change will come to the saints.