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'Whithersoever' ('quocumque'), that is, into whatever part. 'Vain' ('uana') or 'shrines' ('fana'), that is, idols. 'On the left' ('sinistro'), that is, perverse. The poet grieves over the errors of the pagans. 'Idol' ('idolum') is a diminutive from 'idea,' form. 'Madness' ('dementia'), that is, ravings. 'Lira' is the furrow of the plough; hence 'deliro' (I rave) means I go off course, I deviate from the path of reason. Properly to 'rave' ('delirare') is when the oxen wander off the furrow ('de sulco exorbitant'); so too old men are said to rave, since they depart from true speech. 'The ox Apis' ('bouem apin'), for 'Apis' was the name given to a bull which was offered to Queen Isis. 'And the half-man ape' ('simiam'), for the ape is half-man and half-dog. There are three kinds of apes:
one is hairy, which is called the 'sphinx'; another is called 'cercopithecus,' having a tail; the third is without a tail, which is named 'simia' (ape), having a face and feet after the likeness of a man, but the rest of its body after the likeness of a dog. 'As the bird ibis' ('ibin'). He means the Egyptian domestic storks, which the Egyptians worshipped on account of the serpents which they devoured. 'Twin,' that is, equal ('geminum aequalem'). He put 'twin' for 'equal,' because those three days at the beginning of the world were equal; but afterward, the sun having been created on the fourth day, the days are unequal, for they either increase or decrease, not only at the equinoxes. 'They are put to flight' ('fugantur'), that is, they are darkened; and this is poetic, because the stars ('stellae') are so called from gleaming ('stellando'). 'Wooden' ('Lignee').
A man is called 'wooden' ('ligneus') who worships wood, just as one is called 'stony' ('lapideus') who worships stone. 'To the deaf' ('surdis'), that is, toward the deaf. The deaf man ('surdus') is so called because he retains the filth ('sordes') of the head; the dumb man ('mutus') is so called from 'mugitus' (lowing), because he retains the sound of his voice in his nostrils. 'Summits' ('culmina') are so called from 'culmus' (stalk). 'Thistle' ('carduus'); the thistle is a thorny herb, which is commonly called 'calcatripa.' 'Monsters' ('monstra'), that is, idols; 'idea' is form. 'Dulia' is servitude; hence 'idolatry' is the servitude of idols, and an 'idolater' is a man serving idols. 'The mountain' ('montem'). By 'mountain' he means the difficult song of the Gospel. 'Tolus'; the 'tolus' is the topmost part of a roof, from which the framework proceeds. 'Where worthy things are given to him who asks.' He touches upon what is said in the Gospel: 'Ask and you shall receive.' 'Reprobate' ('reprobus'), that is, rejected. 'The corner,' the people of the Jews.
That stone is Christ, who was rejected by the Jews when they said, 'We will not have this man reign over us,' and in the psalm: 'The stone which the builders rejected,' etc. Christ is called the corner-stone, because he joins to himself the Gentile people and the Jewish, just as a stone joins together the walls. 'Let it make simple' ('simplet'), that is, let it make single. THE HISTORY OF ARIUS. Arius was a teacher of the city of Alexandria, which is the chief city of Egypt, which Alexander the Great built. In it Peter was bishop, under whom this man was a teacher of the school. He secretly taught that the Son was less than the Father, and the Holy Spirit less than both. Then Peter was sent to prison by Licinius, the colleague of Constantine, on account of the catholic faith which he was preaching.
To him Christ appeared in the form of a most beautiful boy, clothed in a most white tunic, so much so that he could scarcely be looked upon — but torn as if by dogs. Then Peter, weighed down by the burden of the chains with which he was bound and unable to rise, cried out, saying: 'Lord, who has thus afflicted and torn you?' To him the Lord said: 'Arius has rent me, for he has divided me from my Father; but see that you do not commune with him.' Afterward, Licinius having been killed by Constantine, because he wished to seize his empire, Constantine gathered a very great synod, namely of three hundred and eighteen bishops, not counting deacons and abbots, where Arius was ordered to come, that there his faith might be made plain.
When he had drawn near to the synod, while the holy bishop Alexander persevered in prayer, he was seized with such excessive terror that all his entrails failed from the pain. Then he ordered a latrine to be prepared for himself. When he had come to it, all his entrails were poured out, because by the just judgement of God, just as he was empty in mind, so he remained empty in belly. 'Through crooked, trackless ways' ('curua per auia'), that is, through the falsehood of a depraved doctrine. 'Auium' is a place without a way, 'a' being put for 'sine' (without). 'Nephew' ('nepos'); 'nepos' means the son of a son, and 'nepos' is as it were 'natus post' (born after). When it signifies a son or daughter, it makes 'hic nepos' and 'haec neptis'; but when it means a profligate, it makes 'hic et haec nepos.' 'Grandfather' ('aui'); 'auus' is so called as it were 'auitus,' ancient. 'The whole' ('totum'), that is, common.
當他走近會議時，正當聖主教亞歷山大持守禱告之際，他被極大的恐懼攫住，以致他一切的臟腑都因疼痛而衰竭。於是他吩咐為自己預備茅廁。當他到了那裡，他一切的臟腑都傾流出來，因為照神公義的審判，正如他心思空虛，他的肚腹也照樣空虛。「藉著彎曲無路之途」（curua per auia）就是藉著邪僻教義的虛謊。「Auium」是無路之處，「a」用來代替「sine」（沒有）。「孫」（nepos）；「nepos」表示兒子的兒子，「nepos」彷彿「natus post」（後生的）。當它表示兒子或女兒時，作「hic nepos」和「haec neptis」；但當它表示放蕩者時，作「hic et haec nepos」。「祖父」（aui）；「auus」之所以如此稱呼，彷彿「auitus」，古老的。「全部」（totum）就是共有的。
Communion or community in the Holy Trinity exists, except for the relative names. Whatever can be categorically predicated of the Father, this also of the Son, this also of the Holy Spirit: such as 'good,' 'great,' 'pious,' 'almighty,' etc., except, as was said above, for the relative names. 'By which he grows' — he is everywhere perfect, not created. Arius said that he was 'a creature,' but he lied, for he was not created but begotten. 'For he who, the highest,' that is, the most exalted. Understand the force of the words: This is not a Son who is also Father, but this is Son which is also Father — one substance. There is a difference between 'this man' ('hic') and 'this thing' ('hoc'): 'hic' pertains to persons, 'hoc' to substance. 'We are one.' He did not say 'one' (masculine, 'unus') but 'one' (neuter, 'unum'), one substance. Arius ought to know that 'unum' means one substance.
For he (Arius) said well that there are three persons, but wrongly that there are three substances. For he said that the Son was less than the Father, and the Holy Spirit less than both; and on the contrary Sabellius said well one substance, but wrongly one person. For he said: the Father, when he wills, is Father; when he wills, is Son; when he wills, is Holy Spirit. This Sabellius ought to know the threefold faith. 'But here Arius.' A 'cachinnus' is a dissolute, rippling laughter. This can also be referred to the philosophers, for some philosopher talks much, like Epicurus, who said many things about the creation of the world. For he said that the world consists of atoms. 'The other is too silent,' like the Pythagoreans, who learned for five years, and for five years meditated in silence;
the Peripatetic walks, the Stoic stands, Socrates loves weeping — who always wept because he saw the men of this age following after vices; Democritus wrinkles up in laughter, who is said always to have laughed, because he saw men following after greed and the base gains of this age. Hence Juvenal: 'Democritus used to shake his lungs with perpetual laughter.' 'Banners' ('uexilla') are so called from carrying ('uehendo'). A 'uexillum' is a military standard. 'The door, you.' He makes an apostrophe to those who serve Christ as soldiers. Christ is called the 'door,' because through him one comes to him. The door is the beginning of a house, and it is named from the god Janus, to whom the beginning of every matter was consecrated. Hence the month of January ('Ianuarius') is so called, because it is the beginning of the year. 'On the roll' ('in albo'), that is, in the heavenly book.
The 'album' is a tablet where were written the names of those who were received into military service; and if any of them was slain, at the head of his name the letter theta was written, which signifies death. 'It trembles, it sounds, and it says: Prepare the way of the Lord.' The lion has a great voice and is himself the king of beasts; and for this reason Mark is depicted in the likeness of a lion, because with such a voice he began his Gospel, as 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness,' and he describes the royal dignity of Christ. 'Bullocks' ('iuuenci'), that is, calves. A 'iuuencus' (bullock) is so called from 'iuuamen' (help), because it provides help to men for ploughing the earth. For the bullock used to be sacrificed in the temple, and Luke describes those things which the Lord did in and about the temple.
John is designated by the eagle, because just as the eagle gazes upon the sun with unflinching eyes, so John, soaring above all the heavens, describes the divinity of Christ, which the other evangelists described. 'Nobles' ('proceres'), that is, princes. Properly 'proceres' are called the 'mutuli,' the heads of beams which project in buildings. Hence princes are called 'proceres' because they project above the rest. A month ('mensis') is named from 'mene,' the moon, because the months change according to the course of the moon. 'Sheaves' ('maniplos'); the primitive is 'maniplus'; hence 'manipulus' is the diminutive; properly, however, a 'manipulus' is five hundred soldiers — the same as a cohort. By 'sheaves' he means good works. 'Meto' is 'I gather'; hence 'messis' (harvest) is so called, because it is gathered each year. 'Metior, metiris' is 'I measure'; 'metor, metaris' is 'I choose out.'
From this place the poet begins to carry out what he promised. For he promised that he would write from Adam down to the nativity of Christ. INTO BOOK II. 'First-begotten' ('primogenitum'), that is, the first-formed ('protoplastum'). 'Protos' in Greek is 'first,' 'plastus' is 'formed'; hence 'protoplastus' is 'first-formed.' 'From the seat' ('de sede'), that is, from paradise. 'Paradise' is interpreted 'the garden of delights'; 'Adam' is 'the earthly man' or 'red earth.' 'With enticements' ('illecebris'), that is, with pleasures. 'Enticements' ('illecebrae') are so called from enticing ('illiciendo'), deceiving. 'Alas' ('heu'). The poet grieves over the fault of the woman. 'Noxious' ('noxia'), that is, culpable. He makes an interrogation to the woman: O spouse, were you more guilty, or that treacherous dragon? Now he himself answers: That dragon was treacherous and fraudulent; but you too are not without fault, because you consented.
There is, moreover, in this place a complete syllogism, consisting of a proposition, an assumption, and a conclusion. He is called 'treacherous' ('perfidus') as it were 'betraying faith' ('prodens fidem'), for the devil destroys faith, when he said: 'You shall be as gods.' For he did not fulfil what he promised, because not only were they not made gods, but they were even made mortal. A 'demon' is so called as it were 'daimon,' that is, exceedingly ('ualde'). 'Eve' is interpreted 'mother.' 'Nine hundred.' Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, Methuselah eight hundred and eighty. 'Grandson of the first earth-born' ('terrigenae'), the descendants of Adam. The 'fauces' (jaws) are so called from the Greek 'fage,' to eat. 'Slow' ('difficilis'), that is, tardy, because he does not always take vengeance. 'Venial' ('ueniale'), that is, worthy of pardon. God founded two rational natures:
the angel and man; of whom one (the angel) sinned with no one persuading him and not surrounded by the frailty of a body, and therefore perished irrecoverably; but man, because he was frail in body and sinned with the devil persuading him, therefore merited pardon. 'Distended' ('tensos'), that is, heavy and laden. 'From the threshold' ('de limine'), that is, from the beginning, from the entrance. 'Made flesh,' and this is a synecdoche, the whole from the part. For man consists of flesh and soul. 'Closed,' leaving her a virgin. 'Before the sons' ('prae natis'), that is, before the sons; he took this from the psalm, where it is read: 'Beautiful in form before the sons of men, upon whose fair lips grace is poured,' because even according to his humanity he was more beautiful than the rest. 'Beset' ('obsitus'), that is, surrounded. 'Hail' ('salue'). The poet greets the mother of Christ. 'He holds' ('tenet'), that is, he rules.
'In a circle' ('giro'), that is, in a ring; just as a circle or crown seems to have neither beginning nor end, so does the empire of Christ. 'Woman' ('femina'). 'Femina' and 'mulier' (woman) are not names of corruption, but of sex and nature, for a virgin can be called both 'femina' and 'mulier.' 'To shepherds.' There were shepherds in the wilderness beyond Bethlehem, near the tower of the flocks, which is called Ader. If they had any fear, they would climb it. There was a plain there suitable and useful for cattle. 'Eastern' ('Eous'). 'Eous, eoa, eoum' is variable (an adjective). 'Eous' fixed (as a noun) is a part of the sky. 'Tyrant' ('tyrannus'); 'tyrannus' is Greek, in Latin 'rex' (king). Among us 'tyrannus' means the invader of another's possession; whence he also calls Herod a 'tyrant.'
For he was a foreigner, his father an Idumean, his mother an Arab, brought up by Hyrcanus, the high priest of the Jews; and when he (Hyrcanus) had died, he seized the kingdom. 'Clouds' ('nubila'), that is, the sadness of his mind. 'Nourishing' ('alens'), that is, fostering; in face he was glad, but in mind sad. 'He ponders' ('tractat'), that is, he meditates. 'You do not heed' ('neglegis'), that is, you do not understand, because he had read in the law of the Jews that Christ ought to be born of Judah. 'The divine power' ('numina'), that is, power or will, because the will is taken for the effect of the work. 'To be accomplished' ('patrandum'), that is, to be completed. 'Eager' ('alacres'), that is, glad, hastening. 'Treasures' ('thesauris'). By 'treasures' he means the caskets or boxes where the gifts were. 'Loosed' ('solutis'), that is, fitting. By the gold they believed him a future king, by the frankincense God, by the myrrh mortal, because the bodies of the dead are embalmed with myrrh.
The three Magi signify the human race scattered abroad from the three sons of Noah throughout the three parts of the world — Asia, Africa, and Europe — because it came to Christ with the three natural disciplines: Physics, Ethics, Logic. Why three and not more? On account of the number of the Holy Trinity, or on account of the three times which God always beholds. After we have come to Christ, let us not seek again the wicked one, let us not return to the devil, just as the Magi did not return to Herod. 'Herod' is interpreted 'leathery' or 'the glory of the skin,' and signifies the devil, who, having stripped our first parents of their robe, clothed them in the leathern garments of mortality. For after we have come to Christ through baptism, we ought not to return to the devil, whom we renounced in baptism.
'He opens' ('aperit'), that is, he reveals — namely, that wrath which he was concealing — just as above he said, 'having clouds of the mind.' 'Crime' ('facinus'), that is, the wickedness which he willed to do, he was not able to accomplish, for Christ had fled into Egypt. 'Facinus' is of the middle voice (neutral), for it is put both in a good and in a bad sense. 'Undeservedly' ('inmerito'), that is, unjustly. 'Scarcely yet' ('uixdum'), like 'agedum' ('come now'); 'dum' is a syllabic addition. 'Wailing' ('uagitus'), the first cries of infants; hence the god 'Vagitanus' is so called, who presides over infants. 'Countless wickedness' ('innumerum nefas'), that is, manifold sin. 'Bereaved' ('orbata'), that is, deprived of a son. 'Butcher' ('lanio'), that is, cruel. A rebuke to Herod. The wolf is called 'lanio' from 'lana' (wool), because it kills sheep, for 'laniare' is to kill. 'In another's body,' that is, in the bodies of the saints, just as he himself says to Paul: 'Saul, why do you persecute me?'
He did not say 'my saints'; in this it is made clear that God suffers in the holy martyrs. 'Emeritus' means 'perfected'; we say 'merere' with a short e. Those soldiers were called 'emeriti' who, having completed their fiftieth year, ceased from military service, and some honour was given to them; hence one fully perfected is called 'emeritus.' 'Nec mora' means 'without delay.' After Christ was twelve years old, he was found teaching in the temple. If anyone should ask, by way of inquiry, why the poet said 'nec mora,' since there is a great span between the twelfth and the thirtieth year, as far as a man is concerned, he answers through a parenthesis, a phrase inserted with the question. 'Fluens' means 'being born.' The poet alludes. 'It is no wonder,' he says, 'that one prophesies over himself without speech, since he has a mute father.' 'Spiramina' (breathings).
We call 'spiras' the coilings of the ropes on ships; hence he says that certain coilings of eight months are called 'spiramina.' But since this example is lacking, we do better to say 'silent breathings,' the issuings of the new month and the back-and-forth of the prophet's spirit without voice up to the birth of John. When he says 'to take away,' he sets forth what he says of the one coming 'to take away the sin of the world.' 'For me' means 'for all,' for he offered himself for all. 'Decutit' means 'drives out.' 'Not obscured' means 'not darkened, not made dark.' For just as light, when it comes into darkness, receives no darkness but rather shakes off the very shadows, so Christ, although he took up flesh, yet received into himself no stain of sinful flesh. 'By his touch' means 'by baptism.'
'Flesh' is sometimes taken for 'sin,' and Christ is said to have borne sin when he took up the likeness of sinful flesh. 'Torrentum' (of the torrents) stands for 'currentum' (of those running), and is both an adjectival noun and a fixed one. What the Greeks call 'nymphae' we call 'lymphae' (waters); for the sign of that same name among the Greeks is N, whose value is fifty for us as L. 'Reflues' means 'flowing backward': it is poetic. 'It came to pass' — namely, when the children of Israel crossed the Jordan, going toward the land of promise. Then the priests first crossed over, and at once, as soon as the water covered their feet, the part of the Jordan that was below fled and fell into the Dead Sea; but that which was above stood in a single heap. This the poet has applied to the Lord's baptism. 'Sands':
「肉身」有時取作「罪」，當基督取了罪身的樣式時，便被說成是擔負了罪。「Torrentum」（眾激流的）代替「currentum」（眾奔流者的），它既是形容詞性的名詞，也是固定形。希臘人稱為「nymphae」者，我們稱為「lymphae」（諸水）；因為這同一名稱在希臘人那裡的記號是 N，其數值如同我們以 L 代表的五十。「Reflues」意即「向後逆流」：這是詩意的用法。「事就這樣成了」——即以色列子民過約旦河、前往應許之地時。當時祭司首先過河，水一蓋過他們的腳，約旦河下游的水便逃退、落入死海；而上游的水卻立成一堆。詩人把這事應用於主的洗禮。「沙礫」：
'Harenae' (sands) are so called from dryness ('ariditas') when they are written without aspiration; but when they are spoken with aspiration it is because they cling ('haereant') to buildings. 'He will be honoured with honour.' 'That dove...' 'Mansuetum' means 'merciful.' One is called 'mansuetus' as if 'manu suetus' (tamed by hand), gentle. 'Mitem' (the meek): 'mitis' is so called as if 'mutus' (mute), one who through excessive humility is thought to be without speech. God dwells in the meek, as he himself says: 'Upon whom shall my spirit rest, if not upon the humble and quiet one who trembles at my words?' 'Through a bird.' Birds ('volucres') are so called from frequent flight; therefore the Spirit appeared in a dove, to show Christ to be simple, and to fill men's hearts through the simplicity and innocence which they love.
The Father is proved present in the voice, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, the Son in the person of the man who was being baptized. The Father is there, the Son is there, the Holy Spirit is there: there he shows forth the Trinity. 'De caute' means 'from hard rock.' 'Cautes' and 'cotes' are the same. 'Vipereis' means 'serpentine, venom-bearing'; the viper ('vipera') is so called because it brings forth by force ('vi pariat'), for it lacks a womb but is said to conceive through the mouth. 'Power' — namely, angelic and archangelic. Nor is it any wonder if the devil, who is a spirit, could show Christ all the kingdoms of the world, since blessed Benedict, while still set in the body, could behold the whole world — not because the world was made small, but because his mind was enlarged by the grace of contemplation.
Therefore the devil tempted the Lord after his baptism, to show that we are then more fiercely tempted, when he sees us forsake ourselves and apply ourselves more diligently to the service of God. 'Delapsus' means 'sent down' or 'descending.' 'Labere' means 'cast yourself down.' It is an imperative from the verb 'labor' (to slip). 'Fastigia' means 'the summit'; the 'pinnae' are the peaks, the loftier parts of a house. Here, however, he has used it for the floors of the temple. The Lord's temple was triple-chambered, of three storeys: from the ground up to the first were thirty cubits, from the first up to the second another thirty, from the second up to the third sixty — behold, one hundred and twenty. 'He bent, he shaped'; he bent it because the heavens are arched in the manner of a vault. 'Borne' means 'carried by his own power,' just as we read passively of the Holy Spirit, 'The Spirit of the Lord was borne over the waters.'
For by whom would he be borne, if not by his own power? 'Cuspide' means 'with a lance, with a javelin-throw.' He called the word of God a 'sword,' whence the Apostle speaks of 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,' with which God then strikes someone, when he makes a just man out of a sinner. 'Praecipites' means 'falling headlong.' 'Confringens' refers to wisdom. He said 'sapientia' in the neuter. God breaks the strong when he casts them down from the fear of pride and leads them to true humility. He destroys the wise when he tears down their vain wisdom and brings them to the true wisdom, which is Christ. God did not choose orators and the wise and emperors, but the poor and the lowly and fishermen. 'Tractare' means 'to follow after.' 'Germanum' (a true brother), because we are brothers; one is properly called 'germanus' as if springing from one seed ('germen') of the father.
'Vetusti doli' means 'of the ancient deceit.' The 'old deceit' is original sin. It is called 'deceit' because it was brought in by the fraud of the devil; therefore we ought to wipe out envy from our hearts, which is truly the mark of the devil. One is called 'degener' (degenerate) who does not measure up to the nobility of his parents, who by his own deeds shows himself ignoble; thus we degenerate from God when we hate one another. 'Just as to be blessed' — it is the same, and a great ellipsis is to be understood: thus he commands himself to be hallowed by us, by whom we all are hallowed, just as he likewise commands himself to be blessed by us, by whom we all are blessed. 'Now, now' is an adverb of one desiring quickly; the Lord always and everywhere reigns, yet we ask that, gathering us to himself, he may reign in us. 'They do not succeed' means 'they do not come.' 'Through the age.'
'Aenum' (aevum) is set down for perpetuity, and it comes from the Greek 'aeon,' which means 'time'; it is nothing other than the course and alternation of things, when night succeeds day and day succeeds night. The 'crown' is set down for eternal recompense, because just as a crown has neither beginning nor end, so that reward will lack beginning and end. 'Nusquam' means 'in no place'; 'usquam' on the contrary means 'in some place,' just as 'numquam' means 'in no time,' 'umquam' 'in some time.' 'And as for the pole.' By 'pole' understand the soul, by 'ground' the human body. 'Hydrus': the hydrus is a water-serpent. 'Vendicet' means 'usurps and makes its own.' 'Artus' means 'limbs'; 'artus' is so called from binding tight ('artando, stringendo'), because it binds the body. 'Our bread.'
Not this bread, but a spiritual one is understood, which is the Son of God, who is called 'substantial' ('supersubstantial') because he surpasses every substance or essence; and although the dialecticians say that the category which is 'ousia' (being) falls upon God, yet God is beyond ousia, and therefore according to human understanding he is nothing, because he exceeds all understanding, as the Apostle says, 'the peace of God, which surpasses all sense.' 'Annonam' means 'wages'; it is the same as a 'prebend.' 'Annona' is so called because it is renewed for each one. 'Diurno': from 'dies' (day) 'diurnus' means 'of one day'; from 'diu' (long) 'diuturnus' means 'of a long time.' 'In that spiritual body' — by a spiritual mystery. 'Both word and food': 'word,' because he is God before the ages, begotten of God the Father; 'food.'
because, although he was God, he became man, so that he who was the food of angels might be the food of men. 'Cautio' means 'confirmation'; 'cavo, cavis' (I make hollow, I make firm) makes its perfect 'cavi'; hence 'cautio' is called 'a making firm,' whence in the Gospel 'take your bond' means 'confirmation' or 'writing.' 'To the torturers' means 'to the demons.' By the 'ten thousand talents' are understood the greater sins, such as fornication, adultery, homicide; by the 'hundred denarii' the lesser ones, such as anger, hatred, and the rest. If, then, we forgive our brothers the lesser things, God will forgive us the greater; if not, we shall be bound more grievously, having now been loosed from sins. Here he touches on the Gospel, where it is read, 'A certain man settled accounts with his servants.'
'Donec' (until) is here set down as a finite term for an infinite one, because those who are to be damned in hell will never merit pardon — not as Origen says, that after a thousand years Satan with his own will be released, but rather the Lord's sentence will be sure, by which he says, 'the wicked shall go into eternal punishment.' Therefore 'until' is set for 'forever,' just as is read in the Psalm, 'so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us' — that is, forever. 'Brevem' means 'the very least.' 'Amen.' This little particle is a sign and a certain seal of the Lord's Prayer, by which all that has been said above is confirmed. 'The evil one' means 'the devil.' 'The good' means 'Christ.' We approach God not by the step of the body but by the intention of the mind, for we draw near to God or distance ourselves from him not by place but by mind. 'Leads' means 'directs.'
A 'versus et hemistichium' of Virgil is one and a half lines. 'And good freedom,' because they are able to escape, to flee away. 'Through pastures' means 'through the dwellings of the heavenly Jerusalem'; the 'pasture' is the sweetness of the divine vision. INTO BOOK III. 'Thalamis' stands for 'nuptials' (marriage-chambers): 'thalame' in Greek means 'pleasure,' whence 'thalamus' is so called, where pleasure is consummated. 'In the water-jars.' He calls the basins 'hydriae,' and they are so called from lying hidden ('latere'), because the waters lay hidden there; 'hydor' in Greek means 'water,' whence the 'hydriae' are called vessels prepared for the receiving of water. 'Joys' — it is a fancy, a certain imagining of the poet, since he gives sensation to an insensible thing, that they might cease to be what they were, and begin to be what they were not. 'Unfailing grapes' means 'the unfailing faithful,' those who will never perish.
維吉爾的「versus et hemistichium」是一行半的詩句。「以及美好的自由」，因他們能逃脫、逃離。「經過牧場」意即「經過屬天耶路撒冷的居所」；「牧場」就是神聖異象的甘甜。進入卷三。「Thalamis」代表「婚禮」（洞房）：希臘文「thalame」意即「歡愉」，故此「thalamus」（洞房）由此得名，是歡愉完成之處。「在水缸裡。」他把水盆稱為「hydriae」，它們得名自「隱藏」（latere），因諸水藏在那裡；希臘文「hydor」意即「水」，故此「hydriae」被稱為預備盛水的器皿。「喜樂」——這是詩人的一種幻想、某種想像，因他賦予無知覺之物以知覺，使它們不再是原來所是的，而開始成為先前所不是的。「不衰殘的葡萄」意即「不衰殘的信徒」，就是那些永不滅亡的人。
The 'pampinus' is the leaf of the vine, which protects the clusters from the heat of the sun and the injury of the rains. So divine protection guards and fortifies the faithful of the holy Church, lest they fail, against the adversaries of this world. 'Post' means 'afterward,' after he turned the water into wine. 'Febris' (fever). 'Febris' is so called from burning ('fervendo'), and although it is named from heat, it is sometimes cold; and in divine Scripture all infirmities are called by the name of 'fever.' 'How much of dominion,' of power. It is an exclamation of wonder; we say 'how much of a thing,' as 'how much wine, how much water.' 'Rura' means 'farmhouses.' 'Casas' means 'shepherds' huts.' 'Castellum' is a diminutive of 'castra' (camp). 'In whiteness' the wretched man — others rejoiced because of their fair complexion; this man grieved, because leprosy rejoices in the body.
'Lepra' in Greek means 'variegation,' whence one is called 'leprosus' who has a body spotted with various colours. It is asked why the leper met the Lord on the road; because the Law commanded that every leper be separated from the fellowship of common dwelling. 'Febris' (fever): though it is named from heat ('fervor'), yet sometimes it torments the body with cold. 'In funere' means 'in a doubtful death.' From 'funes' (cords) 'funus' (death) is so named. The 'funes' are candles; candles are cords smeared with wax. 'It cooked,' because fever is first cold, afterward hot. By 'fountain' he means the faith of the woman, which lay hidden in her heart.
'Iras' means 'the vexations of the black ones'; he says this not because the spirits are black — for colour befalls only bodies — but we call the damned or the dead 'black' from the Greek 'nekros'; and the malign spirits are called 'black' on account of their malignity, because although they live perpetually, yet they are dead to eternal felicity. By 'honour' he means man, because man is the honour of all natures, for through him all things are honoured. 'He knew' — Christ knew; the devil is of God according to substance, because God himself created him; but according to that by which he is evil, he is not of God, because God created him good and made all things very good. 'Arentes algae' means 'dry seaweeds, withered plants.'
Seaweeds ('algae') are called the refuse of the sea or of some other thing; therefore he sought out the sea-places, so that there anyone might show God to be the true God. 'Cymbae' means 'little boats.' 'Cymba' in Greek, 'cumba' in Latin. 'Librabant' means 'they stretched, they balanced.' To 'librare' is properly to extend something on high. A 'ratis' is properly a framework of beams or a pile of timbers. 'Flabris' means 'winds'; whence 'flabellum,' a diminutive, means 'a little wind' (fan). 'Hiems' is the fourth part of the year, but by abuse it is set down for 'tempest.' 'Procellis' means 'with great waves'; a 'procella' (storm) is wind mixed with water. 'Vada salsa' means 'the brackish waters of the sea.'
It is poetic that he says 'salt,' because the Sea of Galilee has sweet water, fit for drinking; he says this because the sea is generally named from its bitterness, and it must be known that the Lord's voyages on the sea are said to have been on the Sea of Galilee. 'Naufragia' — they thought they would suffer shipwreck. 'To sleep' ('dormire') is to be at rest; 'to doze' ('dormitare') is to be sluggish and drowsy before rest. 'Citus' means 'quickly'; the words of the troubled, for in troubled people speech is not continuous but disjointed. 'Exiliens' means 'rejoicing' on account of Christ. 'Avidas' means 'eager.' The winds are said to have 'wings' on account of their swiftness. 'Prosiluere' means 'they leapt out with force'; he said 'twin' because there were two. 'Mala' means 'torments.' 'Legion.' A legion is six thousand six hundred and sixty-six demons;
a legion is called 'keras' in Greek, 'phalanx' in Macedonian. 'Double,' because within were the demons who had invaded, and without he was entangled with chains. 'According to deserts,' because it was fitting that the unclean one should seek out the unclean place. 'Oletum' and 'olidum' (filth, stinking) are the same, and are of the neuter gender ('ton meson'), whence they always need an epithet, an adjectival noun. 'Phalanges' means 'multitudes,' and it is the tongue of the Medes for what we call 'legions.' 'Horrens' means 'grim, horrible'; there are three epithets without a conjunction, a figure which is called 'asyndeton.' 'Sine usu' means 'without function, without service.' When he says 'loosened' ('resoluta') he shows what paralysis is. 'Lysis' means 'loosing'; 'paralysis' means 'a complete loosing,' whence a 'paralytic' is one loosened in his limbs. 'Vincula' means 'the joinings.'