into this life of toil, to see a certain paradoxical fruit of the winter, of a flowing black river; or, according to Symmachus, she went down to learn if the valley of life has autumn fruits; but also to see if the vine has blossomed, having escaped the winter; and having reached the spring, the season of Passover and the feast of unleavened bread; for then the vine is accustomed to blossom in Judea; and if the pomegranates have blossomed, whose fruit is abundant, and orderly contained by the rind; to which the cheek of the bride is compared; there, she says, I will give you my breasts, that is, the ruling faculty; But my soul, she says, did not know, and has been false to the promise, being unable to do anything of itself; but I was not abandoned in these things; for the father of Nahshon, the prince of my people Amminadab, made me to be chariots for himself; Nahshon is interpreted as 'serpentine'; the prince of the people of the bride; this Amminadab is the father in Numbers of the prince of the tribe of Judah, Nahshon; who is taken to mean Christ; because, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so, he says, he made me chariots for himself, driving my thoughts. Return, return, O Shulammite; return, return; and we will look upon you. CHAPTER 7. What will you see in the Shulammite? she who comes as the dances of the camps; for she came up from the bath, like the angelic orders. Aquila and the fifth edition rendered Shulammite as, for she who is at peace; and the bride of the Word is a soul, the Church of Christ, on account of the one who made the two one, and broke down the middle wall of the fence; but if Shulammite is, or 'despoiled', according to Symmachus, the bridegroom would say to her, O despoiled one and become subject to the one who took you captive, return to your former nobility; now indeed receiving as a first-fruit the pledge of adoption, and the hope of the resurrection; but if the garment of the promise and of incorruptibility, but more frequently for exhortation, the word 'return'; for then, he says, is it properly possible to see you; but I think the speech is from the companions of the bridegroom to the bride; to whom the bridegroom says, What will you see?; and she is compared to an army of victors; for the one bride has in herself a multitude of camps; for the members of the bride, being many companies, are indeed choirs, because they sing hymns to the divine in harmony, speaking theology to him; and because they cast down the enemies, they have the quality of peaceful camps; but no longer a warlike form, she 17.281 who toiled and was despoiled for the sake of those in the torrent on account of them; The friends of the bridegroom call. for Shulammite is interpreted as 'despoiled'; saying, Return, we will see in you; for they saw her despoiling, not fruitless, but having come to a good end, so that those in the torrent who were condemned, delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, having passed through the water of the torrent, she led victorious with herself, coming as dances of camps, of those returning from war, and dancing in different companies, and singing victory songs and saying: O Lord, as with a shield of good will you have crowned us. The curves of your thighs are like necklaces, the work of the hands of a craftsman. In many places Scripture places the thighs in the context of generation; it indicates here therefore the orderly and rhythmic quality of the bride in the place of generation, like necklaces fashioned by virtue. Your navel is a rounded bowl, never lacking mixed wine; your belly, a heap of wheat, hedged in with lilies. And to the navel, the bowl, Wisdom calls together, saying: Come, drink the wine which I have mixed for you; and it indicates the spiritual spirit; and he added also a heap of wheat, that he might signify spiritual food; for 'heap' is instead of a gathering of a multitude of virtues ordered into one by harmony. And lilies would be also the flowers of the grace of God, which he gathered from the midst of the thorns of life. Your neck is like an ivory tower. And they were called towers, those who do things pleasing to the bridegroom, having as a watchtower the contemplative soul, which observes all things from on high; and ivory, because of its brightness and smoothness; nothing

ἐπί μοχθον ταύτην ζωὴν, ἰδεῖν παράδοξόν τι γέννημα τοῦ χειμῶνος ῥέοντος μαύρου ποταμοῦ· ἢ, κατὰ Σύμμα χον, κατέβη μαθεῖν εἰ ἡ φάρυγξ τοῦ βίου ὀπώρας ἔχει· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἰδεῖν εἰ ἤνθησεν ἡ ἄμπελος, διαφεύ γουσα τὸν χειμῶνα· καὶ τὸ ἔαρ φθάσασα, τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ Πάσχα καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀζύμων ἑορτῆς· τότε γὰρ φιλεῖ ἀνθεῖν ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ ἡ ἄμπελος· καὶ εἰ ἤνθη σαν αἱ ῥόαι, ὧν ὁ καρπὸς πολὺς, καὶ τάξει περιει λημμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ λέπους· ᾧ ὡμοίωται τὸ μῆλον τῆς νύμφης· ἐκεῖ δὲ, φησὶ, δώσω σοι τοὺς μαστούς μου, τουτέστι τὸ ἡγεμονικόν· ἀλλ' ἠγνόησε, φησὶν, ἡ ψυ χή μου, καὶ τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν ἔψευσται, μὴ δυναμένη ἀφ' ἑαυτῆς τι ποιεῖν· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπελείφθην ἐν τούτοις· ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ τοῦ Ναασσὼν ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ λαοῦ μου Ἀμιναδὰβ, ἔθετό με ἑαυτῷ εἶναι ἅρματα· Ναασσὼν δὲ ὀφιώδης ἑρμηνεύεται· ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ λαοῦ τῆς νύμ φης· Ἀμιναδὰβ δὲ οὗτος ὁ ἐν Ἀριθμοῖς πατὴρ τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα Ναασσών· ὃς μεταλαμβά νεται εἰς τὸν Χριστόν· διὰ τὸ, καθὼς Μωϋσῆς ὕψωσε τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὕτως, φησὶν, ἅρματά με ἔθετο ἑαυτῷ ἡνιοχῶν μου τοὺς λογισμούς. Ἐπίστρεφε, ἐπίστρεφε ἡ Σουλαβίτις· ἐπίστρεφε, ἐπίστρεφε· καὶ ὀψόμεθα ἐν σοί. ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ζʹ. Τί ὄψεσθε ἐν τῇ Σουλαβίτιδι; ἡ ἐρχομένη ὡς χο ροὶ τῶν παρεμβολῶν· ἀνέβη γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ λουτ ροῦ, ὡς τὰ ἀγγελικὰ τάγματα. Ἀκύλας καὶ ἡ πέμπτη ἔκδοσις, τὸ Σουλαβίτις ἐξ έδωκαν, εἰρηνεύουσα γάρ· ἔστι δὲ ἡ νύμφη τοῦ λόγου ψυχὴ, ἡ τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησία, διὰ τὸν ποιήσαντα τὸ ἓν, καὶ τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ λύσαντα· ἐὰν δὲ ἡ Σουλαμίτις, ἢ ἐσκυλευμένη, κατὰ Σύμμαχον, λέγοι ἂν πρὸς αὐτὴν ὁ νυμφίος, Ὦ ἐσκυλευμένη καὶ ὑπὸ τῷ αἰχμαλωτίσαντί σε γεγενημένη, ἐπίστρεφε εἰς τὴν προτέραν εὐγένειαν· νῦν μὲν ὡς ἐν ἀπαρχῇ λαμβά νουσα τῆς υἱοθεσίας τὸν ἀῤῥαβῶνα, καὶ τὴν τῆς ἀνα στάσεως ἐλπίδα· ἐὰν δὲ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας καὶ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας τὸ ἔνδυμα, πυκνότερον δὲ εἰς προτροπὴν, τὸ ἐπίστρεφε· τότε γάρ φησι κυρίως ἐστὶν ἰδεῖν σε· τῶν ἑταίρων δὲ τοῦ νυμφίου πρὸς τὴν νύμφην εἶναι τὸν λόγον δοκῶ· πρὸς οὓς ὁ νυμφίος, Τί ὄψεσθε; φησίν· ἀπεικάζεται δὲ νενικηκότων στρατῷ· ἡ μία γὰρ νύμ φη πλῆθος ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἔχει παρεμβολῶν· τὰ γὰρ μέλη τῆς νύμφης συστήματα τυγχάνοντα πλείονα, χοροὶ μέν εἰσι, τῷ τὸ θεῖον ὑμνεῖν συμφώνως θεολογοῦντες αὐτῷ· τῷ δὲ καθελεῖν τοὺς πολεμίους παρεμβολῶν εἰρηνικῶν ἔχοντες· ἀλλ' οὐκέτι σχῆμα πολεμικὸν, τὴν 17.281 ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν χειμάῤῥῳ καμοῦσαν καὶ σκυλεῖσαν δι' αὐτούς· προσκαλοῦνται οἱ φίλοι τοῦ νυμφίου· ἐσκυ λευμένη γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται Σουλαμίτις· ἐπίστρεφε λέγοντες, ὀψόμεθα ἐν σοί· ἑώρων γὰρ αὐτῆς τὸν σκυλμὸν, οὐκ ἄκαρπον, ἀλλ' εἰς χρηστὸν τελευτή σαντα πέρας, ὅπως τοὺς ἐν τῷ χειμάῤῥῳ κατακρι θέντας παραδεδομένους τῷ Σατανᾷ εἰς ὄλεθρον τῆς σαρκὸς, παρελθόντας τὸ τοῦ χειμάῤῥου ὕδωρ, νικη φόρους ἦγε μεθ' ἑαυτῆς, ἐρχομένη ὡς χοροὶ παρεμ βολῶν, τῶν ἐκ πολέμου ἐπανερχομένων, καὶ κατὰ διάφορα συστήματα χορευόντων, καὶ ἐπινικίους ᾀδόν των καὶ λεγόντων· Κύριε, ὡς ὅπλῳ εὐδοκίας ἐστε φάνωσας ἡμᾶς. Ῥυθμοὶ μηρῶν σου ὅμοιοι ὁρμίσκοις, ἔργον χειρῶν τεχνίτου. Πολλαχοῦ τάττει τοὺς μηροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γενέσεως ἡ Γραφή· δηλοῖ τοίνυν ἐνταῦθα τῆς νύμφης τὸ τεταγμένον ἐν τῷ τῆς γενέσεως χωρίῳ καὶ εὔρυ θμον, ὁμοίῳ περιτραχηλίοις κατεσκευασμένοις τῇ ἀρετῇ. Ὀμφαλός σου κρατὴρ τορνευτὸς, μὴ ὑστερούμε νος κρᾶμα· κοιλία σου, θημωνία σίτου πεφρα γμένη ἐν κρίνοις. Ἐπὶ τὸν ὀμφαλὸν δὲ τὸν κρατῆρα ἡ σοφία συγκα λεῖ λέγουσα· ∆εῦτε, πίετε οἶνον ὃν κεκέρακα ὑμῖν· καὶ δηλοῖ τὸ πνευματικὸν πνεῦμα· καὶ προσέθηκε καὶ θημωνίαν σίτου, ἵνα τὴν πνευματικὴν τροφὴν ση μάνῃ· τὸ γὰρ θημωνία ἀντὶ τοῦ συναγωγὴ ἀρετῶν πλήθους εἰς ἓν τῇ ὁμονοίᾳ συντεταγμένη. Κρίνα δ' ἂν εἴη καὶ τὰ ἄνθη τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἃ συνελέξατο ἀπὸ μέσου τῶν τοῦ βίου ἀκανθῶν. Ὁ τράχηλός σου ὡς πύργος ἐλεφάντινος. Πύργοι δὲ ἐκλήθησαν, οἱ τὰ ἀρεστὰ τῷ νυμφίῳ ποιοῦντες, σκοπευτήριον ἔχοντες τὴν θεωρητικὴν ψυ χὴν, ἐκ μετεώρου σκοπεύουσαν ἅπαντα· ἐλεφάντινον δὲ, διὰ τὸ λαμπρὸν καὶ λεῖον· οὐδὲν