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| On the Song of Songs.
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On the Song of Songs.1270
| 1270
Simon de Magistris, in his Acta Martyr. Ostiens., p. 274
adduces the following fragment in Latin and Syriac, from a Vatican
codex, and prefaces it with these words: Hippolytus wrote on the
Song of Solomon, and showed that thus early did God the Word seek His
pleasure in the Church gathered from among the Gentiles, and especially
in His most holy mother the Virgin; and thus the Syrians, who boasted
that the Virgin was born among them, translated the Commentary of
Hippolytus at a very early period from the Greek into their own tongue,
of which some fragments still remain,—as, for example, one to
this effect on the above words. |
1. Arise, O north wind, and come, thou south; blow
upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out (Canticles iv. 16). As Joseph was delighted with
these spices, he is designated the King’s son by God; as the
Virgin Mary was anointed with them, she conceived the Word: then
new secrets, and new truth, and a new kingdom, and also great and
inexplicable mysteries, are made manifest.
2. And where is all this rich knowledge? and
where are these mysteries? and where are the books? For the only
ones extant are Proverbs, and Wisdom, and Ecclesiastes, and the Song of
Songs. What then? Does the Scripture speak falsely?
God forbid. But the matter of his writings was various, as is
shown in the phrase “Song of Songs;” for that indicates
that in this one book he digested the contents of the 5,000
songs.1271
In the
days moreover of Hezekiah, there were some of the books selected for
use, and others set aside. Whence the Scripture says,
“These are the mixed1272
| 1272
ἀδιάκριτοι,
“mixed,” or “dark.” | Proverbs of Solomon, which the friends
of Hezekiah the king copied out.”1273
And whence did they take them,
but out of the books containing the 3,000 parables and the 5,000
songs? Out of these, then, the wise friends of Hezekiah took
those portions which bore upon the edification of the Church. And
the books of Solomon on the “Parables” and
“Songs,” in which he wrote of the physiology of plants, and
all kinds of animals belonging to the dry land, and the air, and the
sea, and of the cures of disease, Hezekiah did away with, because the
people looked to these for the remedies for their diseases, and
neglected to seek their healing from God.1274
| 1274
In Gallandi, from Anastasius Sinaita, quæst. 41, p.
320. | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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