Jerome

(Verse 3 and following) The shield of the strong is ablaze, the men of the army in scarlet; the fiery chariots are on the day of its preparation; and the drivers are asleep, they are disturbed on the journey, the chariots collide in the streets. Their appearance is like torches, like lightning running to and fro. They will remember their mighty men, they will rush on their way, they will quickly climb its walls, and the shelter will be prepared. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the temple is laid waste to the ground, and the captive soldier is taken away, and her maidservants threatened, moaning like doves, murmuring in their hearts. LXX: The arms of his power are from men, strong men mocking in fire, the reins of their chariots on the day of his preparation, and the horsemen will fear in the exits: and the chariots will be confounded, and they will collide in the streets. Their appearance is like lamps of fire, and like running lightning, and their nobles will be remembered, and they will flee in the days, and they will be weakened on their journey, and they will hasten to the walls, and they will prepare their defenses: the gates of the cities are open, and the royal palaces have fallen, and the wealth has been revealed; and she herself ascended, and her maids were led like doves speaking in their hearts. According to the history, the order follows against Nineveh, and the army of the Babylonians coming against it is described. Moreover, what it says: fiery reins of chariots, in burning cords, signifies the preparedness of speed, and is narrated as the parade of those preparing for battle. And now the Scripture weaves together things that Israel once suffered, things that Assyria did, and things that the Babylonians practice against the Assyrians. Therefore, he says, it is not surprising that they come so quickly to devastate, since the charioteers and strong men, either before or after, have been put to sleep, either in Israel or in Assyria. And returning to the order of description: The multitude of those coming is so great, that the marching column is mixed together on the path, and cannot be distinguished. The chariots themselves, while not finding the way, collide with each other in the streets due to the multitude. The appearance of the Babylonians is like lamps, like lightning running around, so that they terrify their enemies before they defeat them with the sword. Then Assyria will remember its strong ones, and will seek out those who fell on the journeys, and will quickly climb the walls of Nineveh, and because of the very long siege will prepare tents to drive away the heat. But what does it profit to build a house, unless the Lord builds it? What does it profit to close the gates, which the Lord opens? The gates of Nineveh are open, which had a multitude of citizens like rivers, and its temple, that is, its kingdom, is destroyed, and its soldiers are taken captive, that is, they are all led into Babylon. But understand that the handmaids of Nineveh, by metaphor, are the smaller cities, villages, and castles. Indeed, even the captive women will threaten before the faces of the victors; and there will be so great a terror that not even a sob or a wail of pain will burst forth, but they will silently groan within themselves and, with a muffled murmur, swallow their tears in the manner of cooing doves. This is according to Hebrew tradition. Now let us come to the translators of the Septuagint. They examined, who shook off Jacob and Israel, and dispersed their scourges; they also broke the weapons which they had been accustomed to have in order to hurl insults, and with which they had oppressed the weak; and not only did they do this, but they also burned the strong men who were mocking in the fire. Consider if you can say that strong men deride in the fire, the opposite strengths that serve as burning darts of the devil, who once had strong men deriding in the fire Jacob and Israel, having chariots and horses on which they were carried swiftly into battle on the day of their preparation. Therefore, the reins of these chariots and the horsemen will be confused on their journeys, and they will collide in the streets, when the illumination of the Lord shines upon Jacob and Israel, both demons and those who serve their will, will be overthrown by the Lord. We can understand these things by his coming, when brave men and charioteers and horsemen were speaking: What have we to do with you, Son of David? Have you come here to torment us before the time? (Matth. VIII, 29) But since we have once received a prophecy against Nineveh concerning the end of the world, it is better that we say that the weapons of the power of the devil were then taken away from men, and his strong ministers, who deceived men in fire. For all those who adulterate, their hearts are like an oven; the chains by which they were led into vices and the chariot's wheels will be released. The horsemen will be fearful at the exits, which is at the end of the world, and they will be confused and the chariots will collide in the streets. For although there is a wide and spacious road that leads to death, they will not be able to find the right path due to the pressure of time. They will collide with each other and yet continue to breathe out their old fury, flashing here and there like lightning. I saw, said the Lord, Satan falling like lightning from heaven (Luke 10:18). When the devil and all his officials understand this, they will remember the end that was predicted in the past, and they will flee in those days. For they will not move about at night, but as the day dawns, darkness will be driven away, and they will be weakened on their journey, making no progress and not fulfilling their efforts, and they will hasten to the walls. Indeed, such a great terror of the coming Lord will invade them, and they will be so weak to resist that they will flee to the ends of the world, where the world is enclosed and surrounded like walls, and they will prepare themselves to resist. When someone flees from an enemy, not daring to resist them, and comes to a solitary place, if by chance the enemy pursues them, they are forced to fight back out of necessity. But as they ponder these things, everything they have obtained and possessed will be brought forth and the doors they had closed will be opened, and their kingdoms will fall, and their wealth, that is, their riches, will be revealed. However, the substance of the world itself and all its servants, after they submit themselves to Christ and begin to serve Him, will be led joyfully and with gladness, and from the depths of their hearts they will believe, so that they may be compared to the cleanliness of doves, and they will murmur or speak in their hearts. And then will be fulfilled what is said in the sixty-seventh psalm about the victory of the Savior: He ascended on high, he led captivity captive.

(Verses 8, 9.) And Nineveh is like a pool of water; its waters are fleeing. Stand! Stand! But there is no one who can turn back. Plunder the silver, plunder the gold; there is no end to the treasures, the desirable vessels. LXX: And Nineveh is like a pool of water; and they who flee do not stand; there is no one who looks back. They plunder silver, they plunder gold, and there is no end to its ornaments; it is burdened with all the vessels of its desire. It is evident that, when the cities of Nineveh (which Scripture calls her daughters) were led into captivity, Nineveh herself, which had nourished such great populations that it could be compared to the waters of the sea, now has a useless multitude because there is no one who resists and endures the attack of the Babylonians. For it had populations that only fled, and when the mother shouted, 'Stand, stand, close the gates, climb the walls, resist the enemies,' there was no one who would return, no one who would look back at the mother, but everyone turned their backs and abandoned the city to the spoils of the enemies. Where it is said to the Babylonians, because they fled, plunder the silver, and in such a long time gather riches and seize them by sudden devastation. For there is no end to riches, furniture, and vessels that were stored up in Nineveh; nor can you plunder as much as it offers itself for plundering. But because we have already said that Nineveh is splendid, that is, the world, let us see what kind of pool the world is. Scripture does not say that the waters of Nineveh are like the waters of the sea, nor like the waters of rivers, nor like the waters of springs, nor like the waters of wells, but like the waters of a pool: just as, in the book of Jeremiah, the people are accused who have forsaken the fountain of living water and have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that cannot hold water (Jeremiah 2): so also in Nineveh, all those waters that have fallen from the sky, leaving behind their former depth, have poured down into the lowest depths. For all the teachings of the world, which are outside the Church's source and sealed garden, cannot say: The river's current makes the city of God rejoice (Ps. 45:4): nor are they the waters that praise the name of the Lord above the heavens, although they may seem great, yet they are small and confined within a narrow boundary. Let no one be disturbed because we understand the pool in a negative sense, while that pool is understood in a positive sense, to which Isaiah the son of Amos the prophet is commanded to ascend. For there, with an addition, it is said: A pool of flowing water, and a pool of the cloth washer (Is. VII and XXXVI), which is accustomed to wash away filth and stains of clothing (or filth). Because it is placed on high, therefore the prophet is commanded to ascend to it, and to promise victory in the encounter with the king from the two burnt towers. It follows: The fleeing did not stand firm, namely the inhabitants of Nineveh. First, indeed, they should not have fled from God, then also if they had fled, at some point they should have stood firm: For there is a great difference between someone who flees and stands firm, and someone who, fleeing, never stands firm. For the one who stands firm has ceased to flee; the one who does not stand firm always remains in flight. In such a great crowd of those fleeing, there was none who would look back, and repent, and hear the Lord speaking: Return to me, my children, returning, and I will heal your contritions (Jerem. III, 22). Hence also the Holy One speaks in the Psalms: Flight has perished from me (Ps. CXLI, 5). Indeed, I think this also signifies the mystery of leprosy, above which it is said in Leviticus: When a leper has been separated from the priest outside the camp: if the leprosy should stand firm, it [the person] is to be a clean human (Levit. XIII and XIV), and he who had been cast out like a leper is to be cleansed, and to return to camp, and to dwell among the people. But if, the text says, the leprosy has spread, that is, if it does not stand firm but grows and makes progress in evil, and has changed the color of its former health, then the leprosy is most plainly proved by the one who has the knowledge to examine and cleanse the leprosy. But we are also instructed by the true Solomon to dwell in Jerusalem, and to never go out from it. But if that which had been subjected before us flees from us, and goes to other nations, let us not go out of the walls of our city, nor follow the tracks of the fugitives: lest while we wish to save those who are fleeing, we ourselves perish: rather, let us allow them to bury their own dead (Matth. VIII): and let us cut off and cast away from us the eye, hand, and foot that causes scandal, while it is still possible (Marc. IX). Now, what is said: They plundered silver, they plundered gold, and there was no end to their treasures: it refers to the waters of Nineveh, and to those who fled and did not stand firm: there was no one who would look back; and not content with having fled and not looked back, they also plundered silver, whatever eloquence seemed to be in the world: they plundered gold, whatever brilliant sentiments there were in the doctrine of the age, so that they might adorn Nineveh, so that they might compose their teachings with the full flower of all senses and words. Therefore, Nineveh was weighed down with all the treasures of its desires; for the more it possessed a great amount of gold and silver wealth, and various valuable possessions, which were heavy, the more it itself was weighed down, for it loved things that were heavy. Hence, in the book of Zechariah, iniquity sits on a weighed-down talent (Zach. V); and the Egyptians, who were heavy with sins, were submerged in the sea like lead (Exod. XIV). And in the persona of a sinner it is said in the psalm: They were weighed down on me like a heavy burden (Ps. XXXVII, 5). And Peter, who before lightly stepped on the waves: after being weighed down by unbelief, was swallowed up by the waves, is lifted up by the hand of the Lord (Matth. XIV).

(Verse 10) She is scattered and torn and ripped apart, with a wasting heart, and knees loosened, and weakness in all the kidneys, and the faces of all like the darkness of a pot. LXX: Shaking, trembling, and bubbling, and the breaking of the heart, and knees loosened, and pains over every loin, and the faces of all like the burning of a pot. Under the metaphor of a captive woman, Nineveh is described as scattered, torn, and ripped apart: with a wasting heart, loosened knees, and broken kidneys, and the faces of all its inhabitants, due to the terror of the enemies and the magnitude of fear, appear burnt, wasted, and deformed with paleness. Furthermore, according to the Septuagint, a higher understanding is needed of what the terms 'excussio' and 'rediscussio' signify. As for the people of God, it is as if a person has sinned at some point and returns to their previous state, as Jerusalem is said to them: Shake off the dust from your feet and arise, Jerusalem (Isaiah 52:2). And for someone who is such, that after being shaken off, they may deserve to pass into the arrows of God and be aimed against the enemies by the Lord, it is sung about them: Like arrows in the hand of a mighty one, so are the children of those who are shaken off (Psalm 127:4). And when his footsteps, as though entering upon the earth, are sprinkled with dust, we hear from the Savior: Shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony to them (Mk. 6:11): doubtless he speaks of those who refuse to receive the preachers. But as for Nineveh, which was burdened with all the vessels of its desires, it is not merely shaken off once, but frequently. And after it has been shaken off again, and its surface has been cleaned (so that no impurity remains inside), there is even a boiling, which is more significantly called ἐκβρασμὸς in Greek: for properly speaking, ἐκβρασμὸς is used in such cases, when what was hidden inside erupts to the surface. And the pimples that also arise on the lips after an illness are called ἐκβράσματα, and it seems to indicate health, that the disease has erupted on the surface. But not only is this remedy applied in Nineveh, so that it is frequently shaken off and the hidden illness within its vital organs is forced to leave; but also the breaking and dissolution of the heart and knees ((or kidneys)) is proclaimed, just as the hard and stony heart of Pharaoh was broken, which as long as he had it, he did not let the people of God go (Exodus VII and thereafter): so too the broken heart of Nineveh is softened and transformed into flesh, and the stiff knees that were not previously bowed to God are dissolved, and bend to God: from which all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named: and at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth (Philippians II, 10). So after they come to know their creator, let them hear: Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees (Isaiah 35:3). And he says, 'Pain upon every loin.' We have already said that intercourse is signified by the loin, and that all works related to mingling are designated by the term 'loins.' Therefore, in the consummation, there will be great pains in the loins, because all the power of the dragon is in the loins (Job 40:11). And for all these things, because of which there is shaking, shaking again, bubbling, and breaking of the heart, dissolving of the knees, pains of the loins, the faces of all will be like the scorching of a pot, so that it either becomes close to fire and heat, or loses the shine of oil and turns black like coal, and is covered with eternal confusion, from which the saint is far off, saying, 'The light of your face has shone upon us, Lord' (Psalm 4:7). For when the face of God is revealed, He is contemplated in His glory (2 Corinthians III). And I think, just as the glory of the sun is different from the glory of the moon and from the glory of the stars, and one star differs from another in brightness (1 Corinthians XV, 41), so in the resurrection of the dead, there will be a great distance between the glory of the saints and the darkness of sinners.

(Verse 11) Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding ground of the lion cubs, to which the lion went to enter there with its lion cub, and there is no one to drive them away? The lion has taken enough for its cubs, and has killed for its lionesses; and it has filled its dens with prey and its lair with the spoils. Concerning dens and lionesses, seventy are carried off in translation, and the same meaning holds for the rest. However, it is still said about Nineveh: that it was the dwelling place of kings and the court of nobles; to which the Babylonian lion king, that is, Nebuchadnezzar, went, along with his lion cub, his sub-rulers, and there was no one to resist them. The lion captured its own cubs sufficiently, and killed its own lionesses. Likewise, Nabuchodonosor rightfully possessed all the spoils of victory, and he delivered the captured captives into slavery to his free cities or certainly to his wives, and he filled his caves with booty, or as it is said in Hebrew, his pits, and his den with plunder, fully enriching it with treasures, cities, gold, silver, clothes, and all kinds of ornaments, so that he would possess what he had in Nineveh, and conquered Babylon. But according to the ἀναγωγή (i.e., interpretation), both in Jonah and in this Prophet, we have interpreted the world as Nineveh; and according to John: The whole world is set in the evil one (1 John 5:18); after the world has passed through the dwelling place of beasts, and in which lions were fed, then amazed and rejoicing we will say: Where is the dwelling place of the lions that the devil went to, about which Peter speaks: Your adversary (or our adversary) the devil is like a roaring lion, prowling around, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). And the lion's cub, the Antichrist, and all perverse teachings, a contrary word. You have heard, says John, the Antichrist will come: but now there are many Antichrists (I John 2): for as many false doctrines as there are, there are as many Antichrists. And before the coming of Christ there was no one who expelled; but after our Lord came and entered Nineveh, he saw Satan falling from heaven like lightning (Luke 10): and Lucifer, who rose in the morning, fell from heaven (Isaiah 14). For the true Samson came to the Philistines; and while he was going to Thamna, which means his consummation, to take as his wife the poor girl from the nations, Delilah, he killed a lion to whom his consummation had come, and when it was dead, he ate the sweet honey. And the true David, keeping his father's sheep, seized the lion and killed it (1 Samuel 17); and Banias, which means the builder of the Lord (1 Chronicles 11), went down into the lake of this age, which is accustomed to refresh the hot waters, and killed the lion. And in the vision of Isaiah, which is seen against quadrupeds, first the distress of these beasts is mentioned: In tribulation and distress, a lion and the whelp of a lion (Isa. XXXV). This lion, before being killed by Christ, captured many as prey for his cubs: and he killed his lion cubs, his attendants, that is, demons. See the assemblies of the heretics and you will not find many captured by the lion. Consider the dead who have left life, and you will not call their churches the shepherd's flock, but rather the lion's dens, which are filled with corpses and the blood of the dead. You have set darkness (says David), and it became night: in it all the beasts of the forests will pass by. Lion's whelps roar and seek food from God. The lion is difficult to find during the day, but he always prowls at night, in order to snatch from the Church of Christ, in order to be satiated with the chosen ones, according to Habakkuk's foods. Finally, Judas was from the sheepfold of Christ, and he was snatched by the lion and suffocated by hanging. But that prophet, to whom the Lord had commanded not to eat bread in that region where the golden calves were, and who falsely claimed that he did not eat, was struck by a lion (3 Kings 13). Jeremiah also speaks about sinners: The lion has struck them from the forest, and the wolf has dispersed them even to their houses, and the leopard has watched over their cities. Everyone who goes out from them shall be caught (Jeremiah 5:6). Take note that no one shall be caught except those who have gone out from the cities of God. In the fourth book of Kings (verse 17), the inhabitants of the cities of Samaria, not knowing the judgment of God, were being killed by lions until they learned to worship God and were freed from the lions. For this reason, I believe and whatever is captured by beasts should not be offered in the sacrifices to God (Leviticus 22:8), and it is said by the prophet: 'Unclean and captured by a beast has not entered into my mouth' (Ezekiel 4:14). Therefore, the lion was slain, and the false doctrines were refuted, the food came out of the one who was eating, and the sweet came out of the strong (Judges 14).

(v. 13) Behold, I am coming to you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will set fire to your chariots until they are smoking, and the sword will devour your young lions, and I will eliminate your plunder from the land, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard. (LXX: Behold, I am coming to you, says the Almighty Lord, and I will set fire to your multitude until it is smoke, and the sword will devour your lions, and I will take away your plunder from the land, and your works will no longer be heard.) O Nineveh, all that has been said, with me as the author, you will suffer. I, the Lord, will set fire to your chariots until they are smoking and consumed, and I will make even your nobles and officials be devoured by the sword. You will no longer ravage the lands, nor demand tribute, and your messengers will not be heard throughout your provinces. Even if I do not hear the angels, who are your guardians, praying continuously for your protection. But these same words are also spoken to the world, where there is a multitude that travels along a broad and spacious road leading to death (Matthew 7), which the Lord threatens to set ablaze, suffocating in the smoke of its own wickedness (or excessive goodness). The sword will also devour lions, the living word of God, sharp and polished on all sides. It promises to take away its prey from the land, so that no one in Nineveh will be captured, and like a merciful one, it removes evil deeds and suppresses them, so that the sound of their voice and noise can no longer be heard. Hence it says: And your deeds will no longer be heard.

(Chapter 3, verses 1 and following) Woe to the city of blood, full of deceit and torn apart. The plunder will not cease. The sound of the whip, the sound of the rattling wheel, the galloping horses and the blazing chariots, the ascending knight and the flashing sword, the gleaming spear and the multitude of the slain, and the weighty destruction. There is no end to the corpses. They will stumble over their own bodies because of the multitude of the prostitute's charming and enticing acts of fornication, and her sorceries which she sold to the nations through her acts of fornication, and her enchantments which she used to deceive the families. LXX: O city of blood, completely deceitful, full of wickedness, the hunting will not touch you: the sound of scourges, and the sound of turning wheels, and of pursuing horses, and of a blazing chariot, of a rider ascending, and a gleaming sword, and of shining armor, and of a multitude of wounded, and of a heavy downfall, and there will be no end to its nations, and they will be weakened in their bodies by the multitude of their fornication. A beautiful and pleasing harlot, leader of wickedness, who sells nations in her fornication, and tribes in her wickedness. Where we have been placed, full of laceration, is called Pherec Malea in Hebrew, which Aquila interpreted as 'full of decapitation', that is, full of excision. Symmachus, on the other hand, interpreted it as 'full of amputation', which we can say is full of cruelty or severity. In another edition of his work, I found 'full of dismemberment', that is, with the sections of flesh and pieces torn through the limbs: finally, he immediately added, where there is uninterrupted prey. The Hebrew scholar Pherec does not interpret it as 'exervicationem', which we find in the edition of Aquila, but as 'gubernaculum', that is, 'governance': to show that the city was royal, and as if it held the governance of all nations like a ship. Its power, that is, Nineveh, is described, and it is condemned under the lamentation of cruelty. Woe, city of blood, in which there is no truth, but all falsehood, full of plunder and tearing of prey. The voice of a cruel whip always and of a raging empire, and the voice of the wheel's momentum. Let us understand the voice as a sound: the roaring wheel, racing through different places, and the snorting horses, and the fiery chariot, are heard in all. However, the description of an army preparing for battle, so beautiful and resembling the Hebrew and the pictures, is worthy of all my speech being considered cheap. For what is said: And heavy is the downfall, and there is no end to the corpses, let us understand it as referring to the adversaries who were killed by them. And they will fall in their own bodies, or they will fall from their multitude, while they crowd themselves together: or they will fall on the corpses of the slain; for it signifies both their own and others'. Because of the multitude, he says, of the harlot's fornications: because she has fornicated with many nations and has cultivated idols of the whole world, which she had subjected to herself. It signifies the beautiful and pleasing, and those having evil deeds, the magicians: who have sold nations in their own fornications, and families in their own evil deeds, that is, those whom she had power over all nations. These things about Nineveh are said simply. But if we understand the name 'world' in a rational manner, because of its beauty, rightly the world, which is situated in evil, is called the city of blood because of the multitude of archers and those who kill people with their tongues like swords. Therefore, consequently, the whole world is a liar, which pertains to the perversity of teachings, not having the word of God, where it should find its foundation, when all perverse doctrines possess it. There is none that understandeth, or seeketh after God: they are all gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Psalm 14:2-3). Although these things are partly done even now, they will be more completely fulfilled in the end, when charity of many shall cool because of the multiplied iniquity. (Matthew 24). How many are caught by the giant Nimrod, the most cruel hunter, who, being proud against God, has ensnared many with the snare of his own vices, of whom many will not touch as prey or game. For he has many followers, and likewise hunters who delight in his hunt, and they stand around him like captives. But the sound of whips is also heard in the world, for there are many tribulations of the just (Psalms 33), to which those who are whipped cry out and testify to the magnitude of their pain with a mournful voice: when one is seized by a demon, another by anger, which is similar to madness, another by desire, hatred, envy, and pride, the whip of the king of Assyria sound in them. But even in bodily ailments, we understand the whip of the devil, concerning which it is said to the just: And the whip will not approach your tent (Ps. XC, 10); when we see this royal disease decay, and its corpse still remaining: one cut open from water, and the body floating while swollen, with the limbs growing, the form of the former man diminishing, which we recently saw in the dissecting room: him expelling certain purulences and the wounds suffered by the damaged lung: him experiencing the dryness of the moisture turned to stones, the bitterness of the urine, and the torments of the bladder, let us not hesitate to say that the voice of the whips is in Nineveh: although some suspect that these things happen either from the corrupted air or from the variety of food and bodies. Let us who read and tremble at the feverishness (Luke IV), and the woman who had been bound by the devil for eighteen years (Ibid., XIII), healed by the Lord, know that all these are scourges for Nineveh. Hence it follows: And the voice of the wheels; while here and there the human race is carried away, uncertainly wandering in all directions, where there is danger, where there is safety, we do not know; concerning which wheel it is also written at the beginning of Ezekiel (Ezek. I): in the seventy-sixth psalm we read: The voice of your thunder is in the wheel (Psalm LXXVI, 19). But Nineveh also has a pursuing horse, whose neighing and hooves digging into the ground and chest boiling, always desires war, while the Lord speaks against the devil. From afar, war can be smelled: it does not spare those who flee with a leap and a cry; it does not allow those who turn their backs to escape; but it pursues in order to overthrow, kill, trample, and crush them. There is also in Nineveh the sound of a steaming chariot, like I imagine Pharaoh had, which were submerged by the Lord (Exodus 14). To this team are harnessed four horses, namely the four disturbances, about which both philosophers argue and Virgil does not remain silent, saying (Virg., VI Aeneid.):

They desire, fear, grieve, and rejoice... With these horses and this chariot, he disturbs all of Nineveh. But also the voice of the mounting knight resounds in it, who, prepared by a certain skill and a circuit, advances to battle not without danger against the one fighting against himself. This knight has a sword of speech, sharpened with the blade of dialectic and smoothed with the oil of rhetorical art: he has shining weapons, Satan transforming himself into an angel of light (II Cor. XI), which are contrary to the arms of apostolic armor. It is not surprising if there is a multitude of wounded in Nineveh, since there is a multitude of arrows. And just as we have four shields with which we fight and protect ourselves, they are the virtues of wisdom, justice, temperance, and courage; similarly, there are four vices: foolishness, injustice, luxury, and fear, with which we are struck by the enemy. Each of these vices contains numerous kinds of arrows that cause wounds. If these wounds are not immediately healed by medicine, they become a heavy burden and, I wish, as heavy as they are in Nineveh, falling lightly and being lightly wounded, they are so great in their weight of ruin that they sink down to the depths of hell. And there is no end to their nations' groaning: their wickedness has no end. As there are so many forms of sins, there are as many nations as Nineveh, which will be weakened in their bodies by the multitude of fornication. Although it can also be understood about those who, due to sexual desires, are also weakened in their bodies, and with the destruction of their soul, they also break the flesh they serve: nevertheless, these nations, of which we have spoken, do not fall, according to the Hebrew, except in their bodies, and do not offend (as Symmachus interpreted) except in the corpses of the dead, which are laid low by the multiplication of fornication. In this place, the 70 interpreters, when we have followed the Hebrew, because of the multitude of the harlot's fornications, wanted there to be another beginning, so that they would say: Before the multitude of fornication; and up to this point is the end of the sentence, afterwards they would begin, a beautiful and pleasing harlot, leader of evils. Aquila and Symmachus translated leader of evils, having evils. And it will not be surprising if Nineveh is now the most pleasing of harlots, who has seen such a great multitude of people fornicate with her, and is almost able to lead everyone to love her through her evils and certain enchantments. These sell nations in their fornications, which take away the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot; and they delight in their evil deeds. For they make themselves love those that they ought to hate, and hate those that they ought to love, so that when they are deceived, according to what is written: 'Evil communications corrupt good manners' (1 Corinthians 15:33), they may also overthrow others by their wicked arts. I have read in the Holy Scriptures that even malefactors can be taken in a good sense: 'The wise malefactor enchants' (Psalm 57). But this sorcerer uses such incantations that he can bring back those captivated by the love of a harlot of Nineveh to their right mind.

(Verse 5, 6.) Behold, I am coming to you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will reveal your shame before your face, and I will show your nakedness to the nations, and your disgrace to the kingdoms. And I will cast abominations upon you, and afflict you with insults, and make you an example. LXX: Behold, I am coming to you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will uncover your backside over your face, and I will show your confusion to the nations, and your disgrace to the kingdoms, and I will cast abomination upon you according to your uncleanness, and make you an example. Because you have sold, O Nineveh, nations in your fornications, and families in your sorceries, and have spread your feet as a public whore to all divided lands: therefore I myself will come to you to overthrow you, I will not send an angel, I will not trust others to judge you. I will uncover your private parts before your face, so that what you did not see before will be placed before your eyes. I will show your nakedness to the nations, and your shame to the kingdoms, so that those who fornicated with you will despise you, mock you, and treat you with contempt, and you will be an example to all who see you. But all these things are narrated under the metaphor of the adulterous woman, who, when she is caught, is brought into the middle and exposed before the eyes of all. Indeed, this is fully described through a prophetic sermon in the Book of Ezekiel, also concerning Jerusalem. However, they are more truly and usefully said about the world, to which the true doctor came from heaven, both to cut off and to heal. Behold, I am your Lord almighty, and because I am almighty, I can heal all diseases. And what is impossible for others is possible for me. I will reveal your behind on your face, that is, my virtues, precepts, and teachings, which you have cast behind your back. Although you do not deserve it, I will make you see. For I had commanded you concerning my teachings, that they should always be moved before your eyes, bound and hanging. But you, despising the command of the one who orders, left them behind your tracks, so that not only did you not do them, but you did not even deign to see what I had commanded. Indeed, I will make you see and understand your errors, which before, when you were blind and reckless, you thought were virtues. After this, I will also reveal your nakedness to the nations you have sold yourself to in your prostitution, so that they are not captivated by your love, but rather see your dirty and shameful body from within, which they were initially drawn to by its surface. With you, they will cease to prostitute themselves. I will also show the dishonor that you have brought upon kingdoms that are greater than nations, which you yourself created in order to have. And I will cast upon you the abomination according to your uncleanness, so that as you are unclean, you may appear unclean; and do not deceive many who were once united with you, who became one body with you. And I will make you an example, so that the terrifying likeness of punishment may prevent the likeness of wrongdoing (II Cor. V).

(Verse 7) And it shall come to pass, that whoever sees you will flee from you, and say: Nineveh is laid waste; who will mourn for her? In Hebrew, there is no 'head', but we have added it to make the meaning clearer. Finally, Symmachus interpreted it as follows: And whoever sees you will depart from you and say: Nineveh is dispersed, who will mourn with her? Moreover, the Seventy: And it shall come to pass, that whoever sees you will descend from you and say: Wretched Nineveh, who will lament for her? Where shall I find a consolation fitting for her? ** Whoever sees the ruins of Nineveh, and sets it up as an example for all, will be filled with awe and wonder, and will say: Nineveh is destroyed, who will shake their head at you? That is, who will grieve for you, who will be your comforter? As long as you were powerful, like a cruel mistress, you had no pity for the old ((or old men)) or the little ones: you did not look upon the small ones: you did not prepare a companion for your mourning, because you did not want to have a partner in ruling. But whoever despises these earthly things, and looks down on the evil deeds of the witchcraft of Nineveh, and is not ensnared by its false beauty when they see all its ugliness within, and begins to hate what others love, they will flee and reject it, or as it is said in the Septuagint, they will descend. For as long as we honor earthly things, and think them to be lofty, we are like those who were once on the summit of pride, and we admire the beauty of Nineveh. But when we consider its nature, and despise all earthly goods as lowly, subjecting ourselves to the power of God's hand, then we will have mercy on the Ninevites, and we will judge all earthly goods as worthy of lamentation, and we will say: Wretched Nineveh, how many are ensnared by your snares, how many are bound by your chains! Who do you think will break free from you and descend from your pride, and judge you as miserable? But when he says, 'Who, do you think, is the faithful and prudent steward?' (Matthew 24:45)? And, 'Who is wise and will understand these things?' (Hosea 14:10)? And, 'Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?' (Psalm 23:3)? Who, then, will lament over Nineveh? Who will be found, who, burdened with this tabernacle, will say with Paul, 'Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?' (Romans 7:24)? We see every day, if death comes close to someone and they realize that they are being taken away from this world due to fever, injury, or any kind of illness, they panic, tremble, and cling to the embrace of the beautiful prostitute, barely able to be pulled away from her body. But what follows: Where can I find consolation, or a consoler for you, who can tune the chord? It is yet spoken in the persona of the one who will rebound or descend from Nineveh, and say: Miserable Nineveh, who will mourn for her? Discussing the confusion of this age, in which nothing can please anyone forever: but what pleased displeases, and what displeased, pleases again. Who, therefore, can be found as such a consoler? And (so to speak) a lyric writer and a harpist who can bring its dissonant strings into one harmony, and make the vocal sound praise to God? What we have explained, which is to bring together a chord, or one bringing together a chord, is called in Greek, ἁρμόσαι χορδὴν, but we have not found it in Hebrew, nor in the translations of others, but instead the beginning of another speech: Are you better than Amon who dwells in rivers? Therefore, it seems to me that it should be more closely connected with the following.

(Verse 8 and following) Are you better than Amon ((Vulgate: Alexandria of the nations)), who lived by the rivers? Her water was like a sea, her walls were like fortifications, Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and there was no end to her wealth; Africa and Libya were her allies. But she too was led into captivity, her young children were dashed to pieces at every street corner, her nobles were cast lots upon, and all her dignitaries were bound in chains. And so you will be intoxicated and despised; and you will seek your help from your enemies, all your fortresses like fig trees with their ripe fruit, if they are shaken, will fall into the mouth of the eater. LXX: Aptly did Ammon, who dwells in rivers, water surrounding it, whose beginning is the sea, and its water is a wall. Ethiopia is its strength and Egypt, and there is no end to your flight. Put and the Libyans have become its helpers, and it itself will go into exile, and its little ones will be dashed to pieces at the head of its roads, and they will cast lots over all its noble men, and all its princes will be bound in fetters; and you will be intoxicated and despised, and you will seek there to stand against your enemies; all your fortresses, like fig trees with ripe fruit, if they are shaken, will fall into the mouth of the eater. Because in the Septuagint it is read, Apta chordam, the part of Ammon; and the other interpreters have translated: Are you better than Amon? The Hebrew scholar who instructed me in the Scriptures asserted that it could be read as: Are you better than No, Amon? And he said, in Hebrew No is called Alexandria: but Amon means multitude, or peoples, and is the order of reading: Are you better than populous Alexandria, or the peoples that dwell by its rivers, with water surrounding it? Not because at that time it was called Alexandria, since it received its name long after Alexander the Great, the Macedonian; but because under its first name, that is, No, it was always the metropolis of Egypt and exceedingly populated. Finally, even those who recorded the deeds of Alexander believe that it was the chief city of Egypt. Moreover, the prophet Jeremiah, understanding by Amon or No Alexandria in his vision against Egypt, to which he says: Beautiful heifer Egypt, a destroyer comes from the north to her (Jer. 46:20), also adds more clearly: The daughter of Egypt is put to shame, given into the hand of the people of the north, says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel. Behold, I will visit upon Amon of Menno () , that is, upon the mound (or tomb) of Alexandria (Ibid., 24 ff.): For Amon, as we said, signifies peoples; But Men the preposition de signifies; And No signifies Alexandria. And he says, I will visit upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt, and upon its gods, and upon its kings, and upon Pharaoh, and upon those who hope in it; and I will give into the hand of those seeking their souls, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Therefore it is said to Nineveh: Are you richer or more powerful than Alexandria? And the location of Alexandria is described, which is situated on the Nile and the sea, surrounded by waters and rivers on both sides. Water surrounds it, the wealth of the sea; its walls are made of water: on one side by the Nile River, on the other side by Lake Mareotis, and on another side by the sea. The fact that Ethiopia and Egypt, and Africa, which is called Phut in Hebrew, and Libya are under its protection, demonstrates the location of the provinces and the city. And so, as the prophet says, this is how your speech describes it, will be captured by the Babylonian king, and he will be both your devastator and his. This is also recounted by Josephus, a writer of Jewish history, in his books. Her little ones will be dashed in the streets, her nobles will be divided by the lot of the victors, and the once mighty princes will be led away in chains. Therefore, as Alexandria suffers these things, you, O Nineveh, will drink from the same cup, and you will be intoxicated and despised while lying in a state of unconsciousness, and you will come to such great necessity that you will seek help from the Babylonians or against the Babylonians, from your enemies. All your firmaments and walls stretching high, and the heights of towers, which you now think are impregnable, and your strong men and warriors will be compared to primitive figs, which if shaken with a light touch, will fall and be devoured. For what is read in the Septuagint: 'Fit, or compose a chord,' is still said to Nineveh. And the meaning is: Your disorderly and unarranged, and discordant in different ways, is fitted to the likeness of chords, Nineveh, because your appearance and greatness, which you believe to be exceptional, will be of no use to you unless you fit yourself for singing. Consider then all the part of the lot of the sons of Ammon, and whatever possessions are considered good, how did they not defend them so that they would not go into captivity, and so that their little ones would not stumble in the ways? What good were the rivers near which the city of Ammon was situated? What, besides the rivers, did the multitude of wells and springs, beginning from the Dead Sea and surrounding its region, provide to it? What help did Ethiopia and Egypt, once its allies, provide to it? How then did the help of the allies not benefit her? In this way, Ninive, there will be no end to your fleeing, but you will be devastated here and there. What can I say of the Ethiopians, and of the Egyptians who were rulers of the descendants of Ammon, when even the Libyans were allied with her? And so she will be led into captivity, and her little ones, because they will not be able to enter, will be killed in the streets, lying prostrate before their parents' eyes, and all her wealth will perhaps be divided among the victors. And no one of the leaders will escape, for they will be bound with iron and shackles. And so, o Nineveh, you will be intoxicated, and once rich and beautiful, who had so many lovers, you will be despised by all, and while your enemies pursue you, you will seek rest and not find it. All your warriors and all your allies will be plundered by the enemy, and without any effort they will be captured like ripe figs, which when shaken do not fall to the ground, so that at least there is some small labor for those gathering, but they will immediately fall into the mouth of the devourer. Let these words be paraphrased according to the Septuagint interpreters: for we have once proposed to follow the Vulgate edition, so that we do not appear to have given any occasion for reprehending the excetrae and Sardanapalus. Moreover, the example of the overthrow of Nineveh does not seem to me to be sufficiently congruent with the sons of Lot, who are called Ammon. For first, it is said Ammon (Genesis X), not Amman; secondly, Ammana, which is now called Philadelphia, is not situated beside rivers, nor are its riches gathered from the sea, since it is inland, neither does it have Ethiopia and Egypt and Africa and Libya as allies, when all these things, both according to power and according to example, and according to the description of the place and region, and the friendly nations, are more suited to being compared to Alexandria; and never would the most powerful city of Nineveh, compared to the lesser Philadelphia, have heard from the prophet: Are you better? But to whom is it said: Are you not better? It is shown that you are lesser than the one you are compared to, and you should not bear it unworthily if it is captured, since it was overcome by the same enemy who is greater, stronger, and more powerful both in the nature of the place and in brave men. But since we have interpreted Nineveh and this world, it is commanded to him to tune and compose his strings, and to prepare himself for a mournful song: for indeed the part of the sons of Ammon, which was much better than Nineveh and had dwelt over the rivers, because it was found in error, paid the penalties for its own crime. First, according to the history of Alexandria, it must be said that 'Ammon' interprets the people, and the meaning is according to the laws of allegory: Consider the people of the Church who dwell upon the rivers of the prophets, and it has teachers in its vicinity, from whose womb rivers flow, with its beginning being the sea. From the reading of the Law, which is bitter without the wood of Christ, we arrive at the likeness of Myrrh to its mystery, which has Ethiopia in its strength: Ethiopia indeed shall stretch out her hands to God (Ps. 68) : and Egypt into which the Lord came in a light cloud: and the Libyans who formerly dwelt in barrenness, but afterwards became his helpers. And if she does not realize this and guard her heart with all diligence, she will be taken captive and will mourn for her children. Her little ones, who are still in the early stages of their journey and have not reached the middle of the road, will be stumbled in their own beginnings. And the most cruel enemies will hasten to divide among themselves the splendid things of hers, and they will drag into captivity the noble ones whom we can understand as the leaders and governors, bound in chains and hindered by the weight of the heaviest fetters. And so, Nineveh, you, infidel men, who adhere completely to the world, will feel punishment, and you will drink from my cup and fall into the same vice as those who were on my side and fell by their own fault. And you will despise me; you will seek an end between the vices and disturbances that oppress you, and yet you will not be able to find a stop and an end to your evils. And all your desires and pleasures, and worldly powers, and the doctrines that you thought you had so firmly, will be devoured by the one who eats, as Samson says in a parable: 'Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness' (Judges 14:14). For then, all your strong things and the sweet fruits that promised delights to the eyes of the beholders will fall into the mouth of the devouring devil with the first shaking of the tree, by whom Nineveh had always been tested and possessed. Furthermore, what we have omitted: And there is no end to your flight, because it is said to Nineveh, and among those things which are written about Ammon, it is placed, and it seems extraordinarily inserted in a foreign place, as if we refer to Nineveh by way of excess: And you will be intoxicated, and there is no end to your flight, and you will be despised, and the rest of the things that are said to Nineveh. And we will interpret that there is no end to the flight of Nineveh from God, because it always makes progress in fleeing, and never wants to stop, according to what we said above: And those who flee did not stand, and there was no one to look back. And we will say that Holy Scripture is interwoven with these difficulties, especially the prophets who are full of riddles, so that the difficulty of meaning also involves the difficulty of language: so that the holy things may not easily be revealed to dogs, and pearls to pigs, and sacred things to the profane. And if we wish to interpret Ammon as referring to the sons of Lot, let us say that Lot had two sons from his two daughters, Moab and Ammon, of whom the older, Moab, is interpreted as from the father or paternal water, but the younger, Ammon, may be understood as either the son of my generation or our people (Genesis XIX). And I consider how (or in what manner) he who was born from Judah, because of sin, is said to him: Seed of Canaan, and not Judah (Dan. XIII, 56). And in Ezekiel to Jerusalem, the sinner (or harlot): Your root and your generation are from the land of Canaan, your father is an Amorite (or Canaanite), and your mother is a Hittite (Ezek. XVI, 3): thus those who were from the former people, that is, the Jews; and from the latter, that is, from us, Moabites and Ammonites are figuratively called. And because they had turned away from their father (for the name Lot means 'turning away'), they will be subjected to punishment and will suffer all that we have mentioned above. But if even those who were once holy incur the severity of God, and she who dwelt among the rivers will be purged by the fire of Gehenna, how much more will Nineveh, which had no law before and did not receive the yoke of God's commandments, fall in the end into the devouring mouth because of its pride!

(Verse 13 onwards) Behold, your people, women in your midst: the gates of your land will be opened wide to your enemies: fire will devour your bars. Draw water for the siege: build your fortifications, go into the mud, and trample: force the brick. There the fire will consume you; you will perish by the sword, you will be devoured like the chigoe: gather therefore like the chigoe: multiply like the locust. You have made more deals than there are stars in the sky: the chigoe has spread out and flown away. Your guards are like locusts, and your little ones are like the grasshoppers of locusts, which settle in the hedges in the cold weather. The sun rises, and they have flown away, and the place where they were will not be known. LXX: Behold, your people are like women in you, opening the gates of your land to your enemies: fire devours your bars. Draw water for the siege, strengthen your fortifications: go into the mud and trample in the straw, strengthen it upon the brick. There the fire will devour you, the sword will scatter you; it will devour you like a locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust, multiply your trades like the stars of heaven. Yet even now, in Nineveh, it is said: 'Your strong men are like the ripe figs, which when shaken fall into the mouth of the eater. Your people have become effeminate and unable to resist.' Your gates will be opened wide, and the city will be exposed to the enemy. The strongest bars that secured the gates will be consumed by fire. So, gather water and make sure there is no shortage of drink for the besieged garrison: make bricks, so that you can build up the interrupted walls, for the siege is close at hand. And when you have done all these things, just as the earth is devoured by drought, so shall you be devoured by the sword. But even when you have multiplied like the drought and gathered together like locusts, and gathered together your riches like the stars of the sky, like locusts and drought, and the small offspring of locusts, which are called attelabi (Al. adtelebi), flying away when the sun grows hot, they are not found: thus you will disperse and flee. For it is the nature of locusts that they become sluggish in the cold and fly in the heat. Furthermore, the attelabus, which the eagle interprets as a more significant devourer, is a small locust between the locust and the cankerworm, crawling with small wings rather than flying, and always leaping up: and for this reason, wherever it arises, it consumes everything to dust, because until its wings grow, it cannot fly away. I have explained these things more clearly, following the Hebrew text, in order to make it easier for the reader to understand. But I will speak according to the beginning of the Translation, following the Septuagint, first briefly, that is, as in an epitome, and then more fully, discussing each point separately: Your people, O Nineveh, that is, the secular men who are properly called the people of the city of Assyria, are so weakened by passions and enfeebled by vices that they are compared to the weakness of women; for they possess nothing strong or manly in their souls. Therefore, their enemies, prevailing against them, have opened all their senses and entered through the gates of their bodies. And notably, the senses of the body are called the gates of the Assyrian land. Moreover, even those who have enslaved themselves to vices have the opportunity to know God, like very strong bolts, with which they block and seal the gates of the senses. But they will also be consumed by the fire, which is carried by burning arrows, which is why it is said to Nineveh: Draw water for yourself, and cleanse yourself with the word and reason, and use the opportunities to understand God and to exercise the virtues that are inherent in you, for the sake of battle. But you, with your loose hands, that is, with the works of pleasure, have lost whatever strength you had: therefore turn back and repent, and again obtain your defences. And because you have once entered into mud, and are shut up in a body (which is compacted together like earth and straw and water, so also with flesh, blood, veins, nerves, and bones), endure the injuries and necessities of the body: and suffer to be trodden down by enemies, and endure all things that are worthy of repentance in order to accomplish the flesh. For once, assuming clay and chaff, and involved in the empty matters of this world, you must willingly endure injury and yet not completely despair of salvation: be confident, and subject your body, that is, your clay, to the assumed word as if you were bringing water into servitude, and submit yourself to it, so that you may rule over your clay; otherwise, unless you do this, the living flame will consume you afterwards, either as punishment through Gehenna, or by the burning darts of the enemy raised up: and not only will you be laid waste by fire, but the sword will also devour you like a green locust on the earth. And if you were not to endure this, you would fall heavily upon the brick, and, weighed down by your own burden, losing all elevation, you would be dragged down to the ground, just as a beetle suddenly falls to the ground when it can no longer fly. Therefore, you should have virtues so countless, just like a beetle, so that you are not dragged down to the ground by your own weight, just like a beetle. All of these things which you have suffered, since you have multiplied riches for yourself and engaged in various doctrines, thinking that they shine more brightly than the stars and gleam more than the stars of the sky. These things, as I have said, have been briefly spoken by us to comprehend the meaning: now returning to the beginning of the chapter, let us explain each one as best we can. Who would not say that beautiful Nineveh, a soul naturally beautiful, delving into the delights and pleasures of this age, has come to feminine delicacies and, having lost its manhood, has languished into a woman? For if a righteous soul, coming into perfect manhood and preserving the strictness of its condition, adhering to God, becomes one spirit with Him: why should not, on the contrary, a soul that loves the world, become one with the world and, reduced to softness, lose the strength of manliness? I think for this reason in Exodus, Pharaoh commanded that every male who is born to the Hebrews be thrown into the river, and every female be kept alive. For the Egyptian king, who says elsewhere: The rivers are mine, and I made them, could not command anything other than this, that whatever is Hebrew, and their descendants who pass through this age, perhaps even their males, be thrown into the water and carried away through their currents into the sea. And, on the other hand, whatever appears feminine, soft, and beautiful in this world, is vivified, grows, and generates. At the same time, consider that the Egyptian emperor cannot kill the Hebrew men, nor those who have already left infancy, but those whose age is still tender, and whose body is soft, and whose progress is beginning: he knows that women cannot be nurtured unless the males have been killed. Therefore, he wants to suffocate in the depths of his river whatever is by chance strong and masculine among the Hebrews, so that those things which are feminine may grow more freely on their own. But what follows: Your enemies will open the gates of your land openly, you will be able to understand, taking testimony from Jeremiah, in which it is written: Death has come up through our windows (Jer. IX, 21). And what is asserted to be demonstrated by Jeremiah through windows, you will relate to these very gates. For knowing that divine speech has twofold meaning, to distinguish evil meanings, it says in Proverbs: You will find divine understanding. But here you should not take 'sense' to mean 'mind and intellect,' which in Greek is called νοῦς, but rather 'sensation,' from which the five senses are named: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. Therefore, the gates of Nineveh are to be understood as bodily senses, while the gates of Jerusalem are heavenly, representing all divine and supernatural senses. The people of Nineveh open these gates through sight and hearing, as well as through all the other senses, by seeking to pursue bodily pleasures, which close the gates of God for humans, blocking their ears so they do not hear the judgment of blood, shutting their eyes so they do not see wickedness, closing their nostrils so they do not inhale the first scent of temptation into the softening of their souls, closing their mouths to gluttony and restraining their hands from soft touch, so that their belly, inflamed with desire, does not force their burning soul into embraces with women. But those who are the people of God open their senses, that is, the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, so that the word of God may enter them. An example of evil gates is: You have exalted me from the gates of death. And an example of good gates is: That I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion (Ps. IX, 15). When you see someone who loves pleasures more than they love God, and is given to luxury, immediately say about them: He has opened the gates of his land to his enemies, for they do not open the gates to their soul's friends, but to their enemies they open the gates of the land of Nineveh. But if these who are considered the leaders of the people also do the same, you will not hesitate to say about them: The rulers of my people have been driven out of their luxurious houses. But if you see them indulging in pleasures and being hindered by excessive luxury, having no compassion for the poor, and not being concerned for the people of God, you will apply to them what follows: Those who sleep on ivory beds and revel in their pleasures, those who eat young goats from the flocks and calves from the herds, those who drink wine to excess and are anointed with the finest oils; but they do not care about the downfall of Joseph (Amos 6:4). Furthermore, what is said: Your stakes are devoured by fire, is as follows: If there was any natural good in your soul, which could protect and defend against enemies who were attempting to break through the gates of your senses, like stakes, it was consumed by the fire of Babylon. And also, draw for yourself the water of fortification, it is said from the speech of God, that it may surround itself with the strongest wall of the teachings and reasoning of Scriptures, so that the enemy may not be able to invade its innermost parts. Get, he says, your defenses. Whatever good you have by nature and the beginning of the best creator in you, oh unfortunate soul of Nineveh, hold on to for your defense, and do not allow the outflow from the ruling authority of the heart. But what is added after this: Walk (or cut) into the mud, and trample in the streets: perhaps someone else might think that it speaks of the soul, which, being fixed in the mud of the body and the husks of this world, of course empty and fleeting, is completely trampled by demons. But it seems to me that this is said to her: Endure temptations, injuries, to which you are subject: the punishments you suffer are deserved; for if you tread upon the empty and fragile affairs of this world, you know that you sustain them for your remedy, if indeed you attain the mark and subjugate the flesh to the rule of the soul. Finally, it follows: There the fire shall consume you. If you are not on the mark, and do not have dominion over the flesh, but remain on the side, and love chaff, and live alongside the flesh in the fashion of the flesh, not only will the burning arrows of the enemy consume you; but his sword will also kill you, and whatever appeared green in you like locusts, and what was naturally producing good, will be consumed by the greedy tooth: and like a eating moth without flight: and burdened by its own weight: so too you, burdened by the weight of sins, are drawn down to the earth. Therefore, in order to avoid such things and endure such great things, you should multiply like a weevil, and have as many virtues as it has numbers. For you have multiplied your businesses and gathered riches by fair means and foul means, as if you desired to possess heavenly things, which are destined to perish. You should equal the multitude of your sins with the multitude of virtues. I had come close to understanding it according to the Hebrew text, up to the point where it says: The sun rose and they flew away, and the place where they were is not known. And I said what seemed to me in the context of the very discourse. Now because the LXX seem to have their own meaning, having set aside their testimony, I will follow the order of the explanation that has been begun.

LXX: The Bruchus attacked and flew away; it leapt out like your mixed-breed Attelabus, like a locust that rises above the hedge on a frosty day; the sun rose and it leapt out, and did not recognize its place. Woe to them. It seems to me that the multitude of Nineveh is without a ruler, mixed together without order, and wherever the rushing impulse takes it, it is compared to a bruchus, a small and innumerable animal, which appears to lift itself a little bit from the ground. But also the attelabus, which in Greek is called συμμικτὸς, and in Latin is translated as 'commixticium', is known among us as the common people gathered from different nations, that is, not citizens, but foreigners. Hence, it is said that the people of Israel who came out of Egypt had a great mixture, that is, Egyptians, Ethiopians, and various other nations. And here, so to speak, the mixed population of Nineveh is compared to the attelabus and the locust, which, during the day of cold when it cannot fly, remains in a hedge, and then, when the sun rises and warms it up, it leaps out and flies to other regions, completely forgetting the hedge where it had sat during the cold. These things have been said in a paraphrastic manner so that the speech of the prophet himself can be understood more easily. Nevertheless, you cannot doubt that the multitude of men, who travel along the broad way, moves about in the world like a caterpillar when you see them completely devoted to the earth, running around with the levity of opinion, and unable to fly to higher things. Behold Rome and Constantinople, changing their former name for poverty. See Alexandria, the head of Egypt, and when there is either a shortage of grain or (which is a shame and embarrassment) a riot stirred up on account of charioteers and mimes and actors, the people rush about like a caterpillar, attached to all vices with their levity, and fly here and there with the change of opinion in a single moment: then you can truly say: The caterpillar has gone away with a sudden attack and has flown off. Furthermore, what follows, the attelabus jumped out, and your mixticius like a locust, I think the difference between mixticius and bruchus is that bruchus is compared to an ignorant and countless multitude, while mixticius is collected from various nations. And just as some are citizens in cities and others foreigners who like to live in a city that is not their own, I believe mixticius is someone who lives in Nineveh, who seems to follow certain doctrines of truth according to their own opinion, and in this regard they are better than bruchus because bruchus does nothing but always stays on the ground, without wings, serving only its food and belly. The attelabus, on the other hand, at least has small wings, and even though it cannot fly high, it still tries to jump out of the ground. And finally, when it reaches the locust, it does indeed fly, but its flight is not perpetual, for its feathers become weak, and it contracts from the cold, and the locust settles down, not on a fruitful tree with green leaves, but on a hedge, entwined with thorns and shrubs, or on a wall made up of random stones from here and there. Let us consider the wise men of Greece, and the Egyptians and Persians, and the Gymnosophists of India, and the Samaritans, and the various opinions among them: and the Jews, their Pharisees and Sadducees, and the many heresies of the Church, and we shall see a web being slightly raised from the ground, and a locust flying indeed, but not with full speed: and because it does not have the heat of the sun of justice, sitting in thorny bushes while charity towards God grows cold. For all their teachings, when they are cold and cannot fly, they find a seat and rest among the thorns of Aristotle and Chrysippus. From there Eunomius says: What is born did not exist before it was born. From there Manichaeus, in order to free God from the creation of evil, introduces another author of evil. From there Novatus withdraws forgiveness in order to remove repentance. And so, in conclusion, in a brief speech, they draw streams of all their arguments from those sources, in such a way that they even inscribe the places themselves from which the arguments are taken as titles. Therefore, this locust, which now sits in the bushes, when the time of judgment comes and the world heats up at the rising of the sun, will leave its seat and the places in which it clung during the time of cold; and, turned towards better things, it will not remember the previous seat. What we have said generally about the time of judgment can now be understood in part, so that through learned and wise men the light of justice may rise for such locusts; and leaving behind their thorns, they may fly into the pure and free air.

(Verse 18 onwards) Your shepherds have fallen asleep, O king of Assyria; your princes shall be buried, your people are scattered on the mountains. There is no one to gather them, your injury is not hidden, your wound is severe. All who hear of your downfall clap their hands over you, for against whom has your evil not passed continually? Septuagint: Your shepherds have fallen asleep; the king of Assyria has fallen asleep, your strong men have gone away, your people have gone up to the mountains, and there was no one to support them, and there is no cure for your injury, your wound is swollen. All who have heard your message will applaud you, because against whom does your malice never attack? It is not surprising if your shepherds have fallen asleep, O king of Assyria, who ruled over Nineveh, and may they be buried or wander, your princes, the little kings and the rulers of all nations who once served you: when the women of your people are in the midst of your city; and the gates of the city are open to your enemies, and a multitude sits on the wall like a swarm of locusts, which flees at the approach of the scorching sun, so will Nebuchadnezzar flee from the fortifications and turn his back on the enemy, and no place will be found for him. Therefore, angry with God, because you devastated His people, O Assyria, and exalted yourself even to the heavens, where you are said to have great understanding, your city is destroyed. And with all the princes slain, who could resist your adversaries, the rest of your people, weak and ignoble, are scattered in the mountains, and there is no leader to be found who can gather them together, and from those scattered, gather an army again. Your wound is not hidden, nor is it such a blow that can be healed by the hand of physicians. All those who hear of the destruction of Nineveh and the defeat of the Assyrian king, and the once powerful city and its wounded and half-dead king, lying in his own blood and rolling around, will either be amazed at the greatness of the event and the unexpected news, and they will clasp their hands or, certainly, they will rejoice greatly and applaud you with their hands and make a joyful noise. For there is no one who can grieve over you and give tears to your destruction and wounds, because there is no one whom your malice does not always pass over. And it passes over beautifully: for the malice of the Assyrian king cannot always remain in his bones. Thus far let the order of the story be the text. But we must also, according to the Hebrew, before we discuss the Septuagint edition (for in that the meaning is far different and diverse), ascend a little from the story to the sublime, and teach that in the last prophecy of Nahum, a turning away is made to the devil, a great sense, the prince of the Assyrians, who once proudly said: By my strength I will do it, and by my wisdom I will remove the boundaries of nations, and I will break their powers, and I will shake the cities that are inhabited (Isaiah 10:13), and let it be said to him: O Lucifer, who used to rise in the morning, who used to send your flames to all the nations: how you have fallen to the earth, and you are shattered (Isaiah 14:12, 13)? Your beautiful and powerful city, Nineveh, has been destroyed, in which you presumed to have so much power that you dared to say to the Son of God: All these things have been given to me: if you fall down and worship me, I will give them to you (Matthew 4:9). Your shepherds and rulers slumbered, who did not feed the people for their salvation, but nourished them for your destruction, so that you could devour fatter sacrifices. Your entire population and the multitude of nations that once worshipped you have deserted you and your city, and have fled to the mountains, seeking refuge among the hiding places of the apostles of Christ and the learned, and in the meantime, none of your leaders are able to call back your once loyal followers. Your wound and your plague have spread throughout the whole world: all who were once deceived by your treachery have insulted you; for there is no one, or very few, whom you have not deceived at some point, and through whom your malice has not passed. And it should be noted that wherever the malice of the devil has stood, it cannot mock his downfall and wound, since it is from the shepherds and people of the king of Assyria; but wherever it passes, let it mock him, and let it resound upon his good and righteous works, as if the hands were clapping over him. And appropriately, according to the Hebrew, it has been said about the destruction of the world: in the end, it is also said about the devil himself, who was the prince of the world. For the world is placed in wickedness, it is proclaimed as a wound and a plague. But in the Septuagint it is still said to be mixed, that is, a mixture of the world, because its shepherds have slept and have been lulled to sleep by the Assyrian king; and thus it happens that while it is described among them what the Assyrian does among others, and not what he himself suffers, there is silence about the wound, plague, and killing of the devil. Woe therefore to those who are masters of perverse doctrines in Nineveh. And it is rightly said to them: Your shepherds have slumbered (Ps. CXXXI): for they have given sleep to their eyes, and slumber to their eyelids. And therefore they have not found a place for the Lord, nor a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. They have not heard of Ephrata, that is, the fruitful Church; nor have they found her in the thickets of the forests. But not only have the mixed shepherds of this generation, and the locusts, which, with impending frost, sit on the hedges, slumbered; but even the king of the Assyrians himself has been put to sleep. For the Assyrian king knows that he cannot deceive the sheep unless he first puts the shepherds to sleep. It is always the devil's endeavor to put to sleep vigilant souls. Finally, even in the Passion of the Lord, he oppresses the eyes of the apostles with a deep sleep, whom the Savior awakens and says: Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation (Mark 14:38). And again: What I say to you, I say to all: Watch (Ibid., 13:37). And because he never stops putting to sleep those who are vigilant, whomever he deceives, and bewitches as with a sweet and pernicious song of the Sirens to make them sleep, the divine word awakens and says: Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you (Ephesians 5:14). Therefore, with the arrival of Christ and the word of God and the teaching of the Church, and the destruction of Nineveh, once a beautiful prostitute, the people who had previously been asleep under their masters will be raised up and will hurry to the mountains of Scripture. There they will find the mountains of Moses and Joshua son of Nun; the mountains of the prophets; the mountains of the apostles and evangelists of the New Testament. And when they take refuge in such mountains and become skilled in their reading, if they do not find someone to teach them (for the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, Matt. IX, 37), then their zeal will be proven because they have sought refuge in the mountains, and the laziness of their teachers will be exposed: for they bring forth fruits, but there was no one to receive them. It follows: There is no healing for your fracture, your wound swells. Therefore, the mixed people of Nineveh cannot be healed, because they do not cast off their pride, and the wound is always fresh, and they are struck by the devil daily. And after all this, there is no healing for their fracture: although he may seem to be healthy, his soul is broken and crushed, struck by the hammer of the whole earth from above, and he is not healed, because he is always standing erect. But if he humbles himself and submits to Christ: God does not despise a contrite and humble heart (Ps. 50:19); And: The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit. In the end it is said: All who have heard of you will clap their hands over you. Against whom does your wickedness not always rush? When it begins, O shameless one, to endure punishments, all who have heard of it, with harmonious clapping and vocal sound, and (so to speak) with the sound and harmony of actions, will insult you and rejoice. For there is no one, or certainly very few, into whom your malice has not rushed or has not come upon. For if the city of Nineveh has mixed shepherds and strong ones, and every false doctrine and deceitful opinion of knowledge comes from the mixture, it must be feared that there is no one upon whom the malice of the mixture has not come. And carefully observe, because it does not say: Into whom your malice has not entered, O mixture, but into whom it has not come upon. For often false dogmas shoot their arrows at us, and they desire to enter into the secret of the soul: but with us closing the gates, there certainly comes σύμμικτος (a mixed thing), and as much as it can, it rushes forth, and it always does this: but with the help of Christ the Lord, and with all watchfulness guarding (or preserving), our heart (Prov. IV), it does indeed rush forth, but it cannot enter.

(Version 2, verse 2) Behold, I have made you a little one among the nations: you are very contemptible. The pride of your heart has lifted you up, dwelling in the clefts of the rock, exalting your throne, saying in your heart: Who will bring me down to the ground? If you elevate yourself like an eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars: from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. LXX: Behold, I have made you a little one among the nations: you are very dishonored. The pride of your heart has lifted you up, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, exalting your dwelling and saying in your heart: Who will bring me down to the ground? Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. Jeremiah, of whom we have mentioned above, agrees in almost the same words, saying: Behold, I have made you small among the nations; you are utterly despised among mankind. Your arrogance has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who live in the clefts of the rock, who strive to grasp the height of the hill: though you soar aloft like the eagle, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. In prophetic interpretation, we must follow our custom, that first we lay the foundations of history, and then, if possible, we raise lofty towers and the peaks of roofs. 'O Edom,' He says, 'though you are the least among all the nations around, and small in comparison to the other peoples, you rise up in arrogance beyond your strength. And though you dwell in caves, or rather in the rocky caverns, humble and poor, and not possessing the lofty roofs of buildings, you are lifted up as an eagle to the heights, and you swell with such pride in your thoughts, that you believe yourself to dwell among the stars. Even if you could penetrate the heights of the heavens beyond nature, I would bring you down from there and bring you to the earth,' says the Lord God. But what is added in Jeremiah, and which you strive to understand, reveals the height of the hill, representing Mount Zion, and through this either the city of Jerusalem itself or the temple built within it. As for the eagle, it is known by those who discuss the nature of birds that it flies higher than all other birds. It is said to have such a keen sight that while it soars above the motionless sea with its steady wings, it can see fish swimming from such a great height and, when they are near the shore, descend like a weapon and drag its captured prey with its wings to the shore. If we learn history, let us follow spiritual intelligence. Although you, o heretic, may seem great and despise the smallness of the Church, you are nonetheless small among the nations, and contemptible, and not only contemptible, but also very contemptible with arrogance. The pride of your heart has lifted you up. For who among heretics is not lifted up in pride, despising the simplicity of the Church and considering faith as ignorance? Dwelling in the clefts of the rock, and exalting his throne. Although the rock is often seen as representing the Lord Himself or His steadfastness (hence the prophet says, He set my feet upon a rock (Ps. XXXIX, 5)) and is also said to Peter, You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church (Mat. I, 8), yet it is often interpreted in the opposite sense: I will take away the stony heart, and will give you a heart of flesh (Ezek. XXXVI, 26). And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham (Matt. 3:9). Especially here, where it does not say dwelling upon the rock, upon which the wise builder builds his house, but in the clefts of the rock, in order to signify the heresies that arise from Christ the rock and from the Church. Moreover, what follows, ‘Exalting your throne,’ and, ‘Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?’ reveals the arrogance of a heretical mind, confident in its mysteries and its secrets, and insofar as it is able (but we should take this hyperbolically) promising itself the kingdoms of heaven. Where the Apostle writes to such people: 'Now you reign without us, and I wish you would reign, so that we may also reign with you' (I Cor. IV, 8). So also David speaks: 'They have set their mouth in heaven, and their tongue has passed through the earth' (Psalm LXXII, 9). If therefore they are exalted, like the eagle (for they also promise themselves a likeness to eagles, which are accustomed to gather around the Lord's body), and if they have set their nest among the stars, from there I will bring them down, says the Lord. For just as a father of a family, while sleeping, an enemy man oversows darnel among good seed (Matthew 13): so does that great eagle, (Ezekiel 17, 3), with its large wings, long body members, full of feathers and variety, which has the way of entering into Lebanon, and takes from the top of the cedar, and plants on many waters, so that shoot out into a vineyard, as plantings among the stars of the Church, concerning which it is also said in another place: But the just shall shine as the brightness of the firmament (Matthew 13, 43), they shall set their nest. I said above that this very thing, contrary to the flesh, can be understood as its strength being diminished in the coming of Christ, and it is contemptible, subject to the soul's rule, and is in vain exalted when it dwells in the caves of the rock, either in our senses or in our thoughts, and it desires to dominate the soul, exalting its own throne, and not believing that its works can be overcome. It is said to this, that although it exalts itself and imitates the lofty eagle, and deceives many of the saints, nevertheless it is overcome and cast down by the Lord. What we understand in heretics and in the flesh can also be understood against the Jews.