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19. But since we do not clearly see what the actual thought is
which the several translators
endeavour to express, each according to his own ability and
judgment, unless we examine it in the
language which they translate; and since the translator, if he be
not a very learned man, often
departs from the meaning of his author, we must either endeavour
to get a knowledge of those
languages from which the Scriptures are translated into Latin, or
we must get hold of the
translations of those who keep rather close to the letter of the
original, not because these
are sufficient, but because we may use them to correct the freedom
or the error of others, who in
their translations have chosen to follow the sense quite as much
as the words. For not only single
words, but often whole phrases are translated, which could not be
translated at all into the Latin
idiom by any one who wished to hold by the usage of the ancients
who spoke Latin. And though
these sometimes do not interfere with the understanding of the
passage, yet they are offensive to
those who feel greater delight in things when even the signs of
those things are kept in their own
purity. For what is called a solecism is nothing else than the
putting of words together according
to a different rule from that which those of our predecessors who
spoke with any authority
followed. For whether we say inter homines (among men) or inter
hominibus, is of no
consequence to a man who only wishes to know the facts. And in the
same way, what is a
barbarism but the pronouncing of a word in a different way from
that in which those who spoke
Latin before us pronounced it? For whether the word ignoscere (to
pardon) should be pronounced
with the third syllable long or short, is not a matter of much
concern to the man who is beseeching
God, in any way at all that he can get the words out, to pardon
his sins. What then is purity of
speech, except the preserving of the custom of language
established by the authority of former
speakers?
20. And men are easily offended in a matter of this kind, just in
proportion as they are weak; and
they are weak just in proportion as they wish to seem learned, not
in the knowledge of things
which tend to edification, but in that of signs, by which it is
hard not to be puffed up, seeing that
the knowledge of things even would often set up our neck, if it
were not held down by the yoke
of our Master. For how does it prevent our understanding it to
have the following passage thus
expressed: "Quae est terra in qua isti insidunt super eam, si bona
est an nequam; et quae sunt
civitates, in quibus ipsi inhabitant in ipsis?" (And what the land
is that they dwell in, whether it be
good or bad: and what cities they be that they dwell in.--Num.
13:19) And I am more disposed to
think that this is simply the idiom of another language than that
any deeper meaning is intended.
Again, that phrase, which we cannot now take away from the lips of
the people who sing it:
"Super ipsum autem floriet sanctificatio mea" (But upon himself
shall my holiness flourish--
Ps.132:18), surely takes away nothing from the meaning. Yet a more
learned man would prefer
that this should be corrected, and that we should say, not fliriet,
but florebit. Nor does anything
stand in the way of the correction being made, except the usage of
the singers. Mistakes of this
kind, then, if a man do not choose to avoid them altogether, it is
easy to treat with indifference, as
not interfering with a right understanding. But take, on the other
hand, the saying of the apostle:
"Quod stultum est Dei, sapientius est hominibus, et quod infirmum
est Dei, fortius est hominibus"
(Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than
men--1 Cor.1:25 ). If any one should retain in this passage the
Greek idiom, and say, "Quod
stultum est Dei, sapientius est hominum et quo infirmum est Dei
fortius est hominum" (What is
foolish of God is wiser of men, and what is weak of God is
stronger of men), a quick and careful
reader would indeed by an effort attain to the true meaning, but
still a man of slower intelligence
either would not understand it at all, or would put an utterly
false construction upon it. For not
only is such a form of speech faulty in the Latin tongue, but it
is ambiguous too, as if the meaning
might be, that the folly of men or the weakness of men is wiser or
stronger than that of God. But
indeed even the expression "sapientius est hominibus" (stronger
than men) is not free from
ambiguity, even though it be free from solecism. For whether "hominibus"
is put as the plural of
the dative or as the plural of the ablative, does not appear,
unless by reference to the meaning. It
would be better then to say, "sapientius est quam homines", and "fortius
est quam homines".
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23. In the case of figurative signs, again, if ignorance of any
of them should chance to bring the
reader to a standstill, their meaning is to be traced partly by
the knowledge of languages, partly by
the knowledge of things. The pool of Siloam, for example, where
the man whose eyes our Lord
had anointed with clay made out of spittle was commanded to wash,
has a figurative significance,
and undoubtedly conveys a secret sense; but yet if the evangelist
had not interpreted that name, a
meaning so important would lie unnoticed. And we cannot doubt
that, in the same way, many
Hebrew names which have not been interpreted by the writers of
those books, would, if any one
could interpret them, be of great value and service in solving the
enigmas of Scripture. And a
number of men skilled in that language have conferred no small
benefit on posterity by explaining
all these words without reference to their place in Scripture, and
telling us what Adam means,
what Eve, what Abraham, what Moses, and also the names of places,
what Jerusalem signifies, or Sion, or Sinai, or Lebanon, or Jordan, and whatever other names in
that language we are not
acquainted with. And when these names have been investigated and
explained, many figurative
expressions in Scripture become clear.
24. Ignorance of things,
too, renders figurative
expressions obscure, as when we do not know the nature of the
animals, or minerals, or plants,
which are frequently referred to in Scripture by way of
comparison. The fact so well known about
the serpent, for example, that to protect its head it will present
its whole body to its
assailants--how much light it throws upon the meaning of our
Lord's command, that we should be
wise as serpents; that is to say, that for the sake of our head,
which is Christ, we should willingly
offer our body to the persecutors, lest the Christian faith
should, as it were, be destroyed in us, if
to save the body we deny our God! Or again, the statement that the
serpent gets rid of its old skin
by squeezing itself through a narrow hole, and thus acquires new
strength--how appropriately it
fits in with the direction to imitate the wisdom of the serpent,
and to put off the old man, as the
apostle says, that we may put on the new; and to put it off, too,
by coming through a narrow
place, according to the saying of our Lord, "Enter ye in at the
strait gate!" As, then, knowledge of
the nature of the serpent throws light upon many metaphors which
Scripture is accustomed to
draw from that animal, so ignorance of other animals, which are no
less frequently mentioned by
way of comparison, is a very great drawback to the reader. And so
in regard to minerals and
plants: knowledge of the carbuncle, for instance, which shines in
the dark, throws light upon many
of the dark places in books too, where it is used metaphorically;
and ignorance of the beryl or the
adamant often shuts the doors of knowledge. And the only reason
why we find it easy to
understand that perpetual peace is indicated by the olive branch
which the dove brought with it
when it returned to the ark, is that we know both that the smooth
touch of olive oil is not easily
spoiled by a fluid of another kind, and that the tree itself is an
evergreen. Many, again, by reason
of their ignorance of hyssop, not knowing the virtue it has in
cleansing the lungs, nor the power it
is said to have of piercing rocks with its roots, although it is a
small and insignificant plant, cannot
make out why it is said, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean".
25. Ignorance of numbers, too, prevents us from understanding
things that are set down in
Scripture in a figurative and mystical way. A candid mind, if I
may so speak, cannot but be
anxious, for example, to ascertain what is meant by the fact that
Moses and Elijah, and our Lord
Himself, all fasted for forty days. And except by knowledge of and
reflection upon the number,
the difficulty of explaining the figure involved in this action
cannot be got over. For the number
contains ten four times, indicating the knowledge of all things,
and that knowledge interwoven
with time. For both the diurnal and the annual revolutions are
accomplished in periods numbering
four each; the diurnal in the hours of the morning, the noontime,
the evening, and the night; the
annual in the spring, summer, autumn, and winter months. Now while
we live in time, we must
abstain and fast from all joy in time, for the sake of that
eternity in which we wish to live;
although by the passage of time we are taught this very lesson of
despising time and seeking
eternity. Further, the number ten signifies the knowledge of the
Creator and the creature, for there
is a trinity in the Creator; and the number seven indicates the
creature, because of the life and the
body. For the life consists of three parts, whence also God is to
be loved with the whole heart, the
whole soul, and the whole mind; and it is very clear that in the
body there are four elements of
which it is made up. In this number ten, therefore, when it is
placed before us in connection with
time, that is, when it is taken four times, we are admonished to
live unstained by, and not
partaking of, any delight in time, that is, to fast for forty
days. Of this we are admonished by the
law personified in Moses, by prophecy personified in Elijah, and
by our Lord Himself, who, as if
receiving the witness both of the law and the prophets, appeared
on the mount between the other
two, while His three disciples looked on in amazement. Next, we
have to inquire in the same way,
how out of the number forty springs the number fifty, which in our
religion has no ordinary
sacredness attached to it on account of the Pentecost, and how
this number taken thrice on
account of the three divisions of time, before the law, under the
law, and under grace, or perhaps
on account of the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and
the Trinity itself being added over
and above, has reference to the mystery of the most Holy Church,
and reaches to the number of
the one hundred and fifty-three fishes which were taken after the
resurrection of our Lord, when
the nets were cast out on the right-hand side of the boat. And in
the same way, many other
numbers and combinations of numbers are used in the sacred
writings, to convey instruction under
a figurative guise, and ignorance of numbers often shuts out the
reader from this instruction.
26. Not a few things, too, are closed against us and obscured by
ignorance of music. One man,
for example, has not unskilfully explained some metaphors from the
difference between the psalters and the harp. And it is a question which it is not out of
place for learned men to discuss,
whether there is any musical law that compels the psalters of ten
chords to have just so many
strings; or whether, if there be no such law, the number itself is
not on that very account the more
to be considered as of sacred significance, either with reference
to the ten commandments of the
law (and if again any question is raised about that number, we can
only refer it to the Creator and
the creature), or with reference to the number ten itself as
interpreted above. And the number of
years the temple was in building, which is mentioned in the gospel
--viz., forty-six--has a certain
undefinable musical sound, and when referred to the structure of
our Lord's body, in relation to
which the temple was mentioned, compels many heretics to confess
that our Lord put on, not a
false, but a true and human body. And in several places in the
Holy Scriptures we find both
numbers and music mentioned with honour.
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