Chapter 16.—The Knowledge Both of Language and Things is Helpful for the Understanding of Figurative Expressions.

23.  In the case of figurative signs, again, if ignorance of any of them should chance to bring the reader to a stand-still, their meaning is to be traced partly by the knowledge of languages, partly by the knowledge of things.  The pool of Siloam, for example, where the man whose eyes our Lord had anointed with clay made out of spittle was commanded to wash, has a figurative significance, and undoubtedly conveys a secret sense; but yet if the evangelist had not interpreted that name,86    John ix. 7. a meaning so important would lie unnoticed.  And we cannot doubt that, in the same way, many Hebrew names which have not been interpreted by the writers of those books, would, if any one could interpret them, be of great value and service in solving the enigmas of Scripture.  And a number of men skilled in that language have conferred no small benefit on posterity by explaining all these words without reference to their place in Scripture, and telling us what Adam means, what Eve, what Abraham, what Moses, and also the names of places, what Jerusalem signifies, or Sion, or Sinai, or Lebanon, or Jordan, and whatever other names in that language we are not acquainted with.  And when these names have been investigated and explained, many figurative expressions in Scripture become clear.

24.  Ignorance of things, too, renders figurative expressions obscure, as when we do not know the nature of the animals, or minerals, or plants, which are frequently referred to in Scripture by way of comparison.  The fact so well known about the serpent, for example, that to protect its head it will present its whole body to its assailants—how much light it throws upon the meaning of our Lord’s command, that we should be wise as serpents;87    Matt. x. 16. that is to say, that for the sake of our head, which is Christ, we should willingly offer our body to the persecutors, lest the Christian faith should, as it were, be destroyed in us, if to save the body we deny our God!  Or again, the statement that the serpent gets rid of its old skin by squeezing itself through a narrow hole, and thus acquires new strength—how appropriately it fits in with the direction to imitate the wisdom of the serpent, and to put off the old man, as the apostle says, that we may put on the new;88    Eph. iv. 22. and to put it off, too, by coming through a narrow place, according to the saying of our Lord, “Enter ye in at the strait gate!”89    Matt. vii. 13.  As, then, knowledge of the nature of the serpent throws light upon many metaphors which Scripture is accustomed to draw from that animal, so ignorance of other animals, which are no less frequently mentioned by way of comparison, is a very great drawback to the reader.  And so in regard to minerals and plants:  knowledge of the carbuncle, for instance, which shines in the dark, throws light upon many of the dark places in books too, where it is used metaphorically; and ignorance of the beryl or the adamant often shuts the doors of knowledge.  And the only reason why we find it easy to understand that perpetual peace is indicated by the olive branch which the dove brought with it when it returned to the ark,90    Gen. viii. 11. is that we know both that the smooth touch of olive oil is not easily spoiled by a fluid of another kind, and that the tree itself is an evergreen.  Many, again, by reason of their ignorance of hyssop, not knowing the virtue it has in cleansing the lungs, nor the power it is said to have of piercing rocks with its roots, although it is a small and insignificant plant, cannot make out why it is said, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.”91    Ps. li. 7.

25.  Ignorance of numbers, too, prevents us from understanding things that are set down in Scripture in a figurative and mystical way.  A candid mind, if I may so speak, cannot but be anxious, for example, to ascertain what is meant by the fact that Moses and Elijah, and our Lord Himself, all fasted for forty days.92    Ex. xxiv. 18; 1 Kings xix. 8; Matt. iv. 2.  And except by knowledge of and reflection upon the number, the difficulty of explaining the figure involved in this action cannot be got over.  For the number contains ten four times, indicating the knowledge of all things, and that knowledge interwoven with time.  For both the diurnal and the annual revolutions are accomplished in periods numbering four each; the diurnal in the hours of the morning, the noontide, the evening, and the night; the annual in the spring, summer, autumn, and winter months.  Now while we live in time, we must abstain and fast from all joy in time, for the sake of that eternity in which we wish to live; al though by the passage of time we are taught this very lesson of despising time and seeking eternity.  Further, the number ten signifies the knowledge of the Creator and the creature, for there is a trinity in the Creator; and the number seven indicates the creature, because of the life and the body.  For the life consists of three parts, whence also God is to be loved with the whole heart, the whole soul, and the whole mind; and it is very clear that in the body there are four elements of which it is made up.  In this number ten, therefore, when it is placed before us in connection with time, that is, when it is taken four times we are admonished to live unstained by, and not partaking of, any delight in time, that is, to fast for forty days.  Of this we are admonished by the law personified in Moses, by prophecy personified in Elijah, and by our Lord Himself, who, as if receiving the witness both of the law and the prophets, appeared on the mount between the other two, while His three disciples looked on in amazement.  Next, we have to inquire in the same way, how out of the number forty springs the number fifty, which in our religion has no ordinary sacredness attached to it on account of the Pentecost, and how this number taken thrice on account of the three divisions of time, before the law, under the law, and under grace, or perhaps on account of the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the Trinity itself being added over and above, has reference to the mystery of the most Holy Church, and reaches to the number of the one hundred and fifty-three fishes which were taken after the resurrection of our Lord, when the nets were cast out on the right-hand side of the boat.93    John xxi. 11.  And in the same way, many other numbers and combinations of numbers are used in the sacred writings, to convey instruction under a figurative guise, and ignorance of numbers often shuts out the reader from this instruction.

26.  Not a few things, too, are closed against us and obscured by ignorance of music.  One man, for example, has not unskillfully explained some metaphors from the difference between the psaltery and the harp.94    Ps. xxxiii. 2.  And it is a question which it is not out of place for learned men to discuss, whether there is any musical law that compels the psaltery of ten chords to have just so many strings; or whether, if there be no such law, the number itself is not on that very account the more to be considered as of sacred significance, either with reference to the ten commandments of the law (and if again any question is raised about that number, we can only refer it to the Creator and the creature), or with reference to the number ten itself as interpreted above.  And the number of years the temple was in building, which is mentioned in the gospel95    John ii. 20.—viz., forty-six—has a certain undefinable musical sound, and when referred to the structure of our Lord’s body, in relation to which the temple was mentioned, compels many heretics to confess that our Lord put on, not a false, but a true and human body.  And in several places in the Holy Scriptures we find both numbers and music mentioned with honor.

CAPUT XVI. Ut translata signa intelligantur juvat tum linguarum notitia, tum rerum.

23. In translatis vero signis si qua forte ignota 0047 cogunt haerere lectorem, partim linguarum notitia, partim rerum, investiganda sunt. Aliquid enim ad similitudinem valet, et procul dubio secretum quiddam insinuat Siloa piscina, ubi faciem lavare jussus est cui oculos Dominus luto de sputo facto inunxerat (Joan. IX, 7): quod tamen nomen linguae incognitae, nisi Evangelista interpretatus esset, tam magnus intellectus lateret. Sic etiam multa, quae ab auctoribus eorumdem Librorum interpretata non sunt, nomina hebraea, non est dubitandum habere non parvam vim atque adjutorium ad solvenda aenigmata Scripturarum, si quis ea possit interpretari: quod nonnulli ejusdem linguae periti viri, non sane parvum beneficium posteris contulerunt, qui separata de Scripturis eadem omnia verba interpretati sunt; et quid sit Adam, quid Eva, quid Abraham, quid Moyses; sive etiam locorum nomina, quid sit Jerusalem, vel Sion, vel Jericho, vel Sina, vel Libanus, vel Jordanis; vel quaecumque alia in illa lingua nobis sunt incognita nomina: quibus apertis et interpretatis, multae in Scripturis figuratae locutiones manifestantur.

24. Rerum autem ignorantia facit obscuras figuratas locutiones, cum ignoramus vel animantium, vel lapidum, vel herbarum naturas, aliarumve rerum, quae plerumque in Scripturis similitudinis alicujus gratia ponuntur. Nam et de serpente quod notum est, totum corpus eum pro capite objicere ferientibus, quantum illustrat sensum illum, quo Dominus jubet astutos nos esse sicut serpentes (Matth. X, 16); ut scilicet pro capite nostro, quod est Christus, corpus potius persequentibus offeramus, ne fides christiana tanquam necetur in nobis, si parcentes corpori negemus Deum! vel illud, quod per cavernae angustias coarctatus, deposita veteri tunica vires novas accipere dicitur, quantum concinit ad imitandam ipsam serpentis astutiam, exuendumque ipsum veterem hominem, sicut Apostolus dicit, ut induamur novo (Ephes. IV, 22, 24; Coloss. III, 9, 10); et exuendum per angustias, dicente Domino, Intrate per angustam portam (Matth. VII, 13)! Ut ergo notitia naturae serpentis illustrat multas similitudines quas de hoc animante dare Scriptura consuevit; sic ignorantia nonnullorum animalium quae non minus per similitudines commemorat, impedit plurimum intellectorem . Sic lapidum, sic herbarum, vel quaecumque tenentur radicibus. Nam et carbunculi notitia, quod lucet in tenebris, multa illuminat etiam obscura librorum, ubicumque propter similitudinem ponitur; et ignorantia berylli vel adamantis claudit plerumque intelligentiae fores. Nec aliam ob causam facile est intelligere pacem perpetuam significari oleae ramusculo, quem rediens ad arcam columba pertulit (Gen. VIII, 11), nisi quia novimus et olei lenem contactum non facile alieno humore corrumpi, et arborem ipsam frondere perenniter. Multi autem propter ignorantiam hyssopi, dum nesciunt quam vim habeat, vel ad purgandum pulmonem, vel, ut dicitur, ad saxa radicibus 0048 penetranda, cum sit herba brevis atque humilis, omnino invenire non possunt quare sit dictum, Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor (Psal. L, 9).

25. Numerorum etiam imperitia multa facit non intelligi, translate ac mystice posita in Scripturis. Ingenium quippe, ut ita dixerim, ingenuum non potest non moveri quid sibi velit quod et Moyses, et Elias, et ipse Dominus quadraginta diebus jejunaverunt (Exod. XXIV, 18; III Reg. XIX, 8; et Matth. IV, 2). Cujus actionis figuratus quidam nodus, nisi hujus numeri cognitione et consideratione, non solvitur. Habet enim denarium quater, tanquam cognitionem omnium rerum intextam temporibus. Quaternario namque numero et diurna et annua curricula peraguntur: diurna matutinis, meridianis, vespertinis, nocturnisque horarum spatiis; annua vernis, aestivis, autumnalibus, hiemalibusque mensibus. A temporum autem delectatione dum in temporibus vivimus, propter aeternitatem in qua vivere volumus, abstinendum et jejunandum est: quamvis temporum cursibus ipsa nobis insinuetur doctrina contemnendorum temporum et appetendorum aeternorum. Porro autem denarius numerus Creatoris atque creaturae significat scientiam: nam trinitas Creatoris est, septenarius autem numerus creaturam indicat, propter vitam et corpus. Nam in illa tria sunt, unde etiam toto corde, tota anima, tota mente diligendus est Deus (Id. XXII, 37); in corpore autem quatuor manifestissima apparent, quibus constat, elementa. In hoc ergo denario dum temporaliter nobis insinuatur, id est, quater ducitur, caste et continenter, a temporum delectatione vivere, hoc est quadraginta diebus jejunare monemur. Hoc Lex, cujus persona est in Moyse, hoc Prophetia, cujus personam gerit Elias, hoc ipse Dominus monet; qui tanquam testimonium habens ex Lege et Prophetis, medius inter illos in monte, tribus discipulis videntibus atque stupentibus, claruit (Id., XVII, 2, 3). Deinde ita quaeritur quomodo quinquagenarius de quadragenario numero existat, qui non mediocriter in nostra religione sacratus est propter Pentecosten (Act. II), et quomodo ter ductus propter tria tempora, ante Legem, sub Lege, sub Gratia, vel propter nomen Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus sancti, adjuncta eminentius ipsa Trinitate, ad purgatissimae Ecclesiae mysterium referatur, perveniatque ad centum quinquaginta tres pisces, quos retia post resurrectionem Domini in dexteram partem missa ceperunt (Joan. XXI, 11). Ita multis aliis atque aliis numerorum formis quaedam similitudinum in sanctis Libris secreta ponuntur, quae propter numerorum imperitiam legentibus clausa sunt.

26. Non pauca etiam claudit atque obtegit nonnullarum rerum musicarum ignorantia. Nam et de psalterii et citharae differentia, quidam non inconcione aliquas rerum figuras aperuit: et decem chordarum psalterium (Psal. XXXII, 2; et Psal. XCI, 4), non importune inter doctos quaeritur utrum habeat aliquam musicae legem, quae ad tantum nervorum numerum cogat; an vero, si non habet, eo ipso magis sacrate accipiendus sit ipse numerus, vel propter decalogum 0049 Legis, de quo item numero si quaeratur, nonnisi ad Creatorem creaturamque referendus est, vel propter superius expositum ipsum denarium. Et ille numerus aedificationis templi, qui commemoratur in Evangelio, quadraginta scilicet et sex annorum (Joan. II, 20), nescio quid musicum sonat; et relatus ad fabricam Dominici corporis, propter quam templi mentio facta est, cogit nonnullos haereticos confiteri Filium Dei non falso, sed vero et humano corpore indutum: et numerum quippe et musicam plerisque locis in sanctis Scripturis honorabiliter posita invenimus.