Verse 9. — They did violence, plundering the orphans, and they despoiled the poor. 65. Heretics ensnare the weak and unlearned, now by force, now by allurement. — When heretics do not have the prosperity of the present life, they persuade perverse things to weak minds with more flattering words. But if any prosperity of the present time has smiled upon them, they do not cease even by violence to drag off those whom they can prevail against. By the name of orphans, then, are designated those who are still tender, established within holy Church, whose life a merciful father preserved in dying, who have already been led to good intention, but are not yet strengthened by any virtue in good actions.
The heretics, therefore, plundering the orphans, do violence, because against the weak minds of the faithful they rage with the violence of words and works. But the common crowd of the poor is the unlearned people, who, if they had the riches of true wisdom, would by no means lose the garment of their faith. For there are certain senators, as it were, within holy Church — the true teachers — who, when they multiply knowledge in their heart, abound with true riches in themselves. But the heretics despoil the common crowd of the poor, because, while they cannot prevail against the learned, they strip the unlearned of the covering of faith by pestilent preaching. There follows: