Verse 2. — Others have removed the landmarks, they have plundered the flocks and fed upon them. 56. Heretics remove the boundaries established by the fathers. — Whom, under the name of 'others,' does he designate but the heretics, who stand as strangers from the bosom of holy Church? For they themselves remove the landmarks, since by their transgressing they overstep the ordinances of the fathers. Concerning which ordinances it is surely written: Pass not beyond the ancient bounds which thy fathers have set (Proverbs 22:28). They plunder the flocks and feed upon them, because they draw to themselves all the unlearned by perverse persuasions, and nourish them with pestilent doctrines unto their destruction.
For that the unlearned peoples are designated by the name of flocks, the words of the Bridegroom testify, who addresses his bride, saying: If thou know not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth, and follow after the tracks of the flocks (Song of Songs 1:7); that is, unless by living well thou come to know thine own honor, in which thou wast created after the likeness of God, go forth from the sight of my contemplation, and imitate the life of unlearned peoples. There follows: