63. What are these hidden
and unseen mysteries, you will say, which neither men can know, nor
those even who are called gods of the world can in any wise reach by
fancy and conjecture; which none can discover,3371
| 3371
The construction is a little involved, quæ nulli nec homines
scire nec ipsi qui appellantur dii mundi queunt—“which
none, neither men can know, nor those…of the world can reach,
except those whom,” etc. |
except those
whom
Christ Himself has thought fit to bestow the
blessing of so
great
knowledge upon, and to lead into the
secret recesses of the inner
treasury
of wisdom? Do you then see that if He had
determined that none should do Him
violence, He should have striven to
the utmost to keep off from Him His
enemies, even by directing His
power against them?
3372
| 3372
In the Latin, vel potestate inversa, which according to
Oehler is the ms. reading, while Orelli speaks
of it as an emendation of LB. (where it is certainty found, but without
any indication of its source), and with most edd. reads
universa—“by His universal power.” |
Could not He,
then, who
had restored their sight to the
blind, make
His enemies blind if
it were necessary? Was it hard or troublesome for Him to make
them
weak, who
had given strength to the
feeble? Did He
who bade
3373
| 3373
So the ms. according to Hildebrand,
reading præcipi=bat. Most edd., however,
following Gelenius, read faciebat—“made them
lame.” |
the
lame
walk, not know how to take from them all
power to move their
limbs,
3374
| 3374
Lit., “to bind fast the motions of the members,” adopting
the reading of most edd., motus alligare membrorum
(ms. c-al-igare). |
by making
their sinews stiff?
3375
| 3375
The ms. reads nervorum
duritia-m, for which Ursinus, with most edd., reads as above,
merely dropping m; Hildebrand and Oehler insert in, and
read, from a conjecture of Ursinus adopted by Elmenhorst,
c-ol-ligare—“to bind into stiffness.” |
Would it have been difficult for
Him who drew the dead from their
tombs to
inflict death on whom He
would? But because reason required that those things which had
been
resolved on should be done here also in the
world itself, and in
no other fashion than was done, He, with
gentleness passing
understanding and belief, regarding as but childish trifles the wrongs
which men did Him, submitted to the
violence of savage and most
hardened robbers;
3376
| 3376
Ursinus suggested di-, “most terrible,” for
the ms. durissimis. |
nor did
He think it worth while to take account of what their
daring had aimed
at, if He only showed to His
disciples what they were in
duty
bound to look for from Him. For when many things about the perils
of
souls, many evils about their…; on the other
hand, the
Introducer,
3377
| 3377
So the ms. reading, multa mala
de illarum contra insinuator (mala is perhaps in the abl.,
agreeing with a lost word), which has been regarded by Heraldus and
Stewechius, followed by Orelli, as mutilated, and is so read in the
first ed., and by Ursinus and LB. The passage is in all cases
left obscure and doubtful, and we may therefore be excused discussing
its meaning here. |
the
Master and
Teacher directed
His
laws and
ordinances, that they might find their end in fitting
duties;
3378
| 3378
Lit., “to the ends of fitting duties.” |
did He not
destroy the arrogance of the
proud? Did He not quench the
fires
of
lust? Did He not check the craving of
greed? Did He not
wrest the
weapons from their
hands, and rend from them all the
sources
3379
| 3379
In the original, seminaria abscidit,—the former word used
of nurseries for plants, while the latter may be either as above (from
abscindo), or may mean “cut off ” (from
abscido); but in both cases the general meaning is the same, and
the metaphor is in either slightly confused. |
of every
form of corruption? To conclude, was He not Himself
gentle,
peaceful, easily approached, friendly when addressed?
3380
| 3380
Lit., “familiar to be accosted,”—the supine, as in
the preceding clause. |
Did He
not, grieving at men’s miseries, pitying with His unexampled
benevolence all in any
wise afflicted with troubles and bodily
ills,
3381
| 3381
So the edd., reading corporalibus affectos malis, but the
ms. inserts after malis the word
morbis (“with evil bodily diseases”); but according
to Hildebrand this word is marked as spurious. |
bring them
back and restore them to soundness?
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
