In cantica canticorum interpretatio

Eusebius of Pamphilus's interpretation of the Song of Songs. It is called the Song of Songs because after all the other songs, this one comes, and after this one there is no other to be expected; by "other" I mean not a book, but what is signified by the book. What it says is as follows. Every divine scripture prophesies concerning the descent of the Word to us and his incarnate presence. For this is the will of God, that this should be the primary message of the prophets and of all the divine writing. As a consequence of the divine narrative, they make speeches concerning the nations of Babylon, Damascus, Moab, and the others; and through each writing they rebuke those who sin, and exhort those who have been overtaken to repent, threatening the future judgment of fire. Now the other scriptures foretell, for example Moses says: "He will raise up a prophet," saying, "The Lord God from among our brethren like me." Isaiah says: "Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son." And Micah says: "In the last days the mountain of the Lord will be manifest." And another foretells in another way. According to the grace of the Spirit, while these were speaking, the promised Lord was expected; therefore many announced him, and when he came, those prophesying ceased, and all these are songs singing about the coming savior. But the Song of Songs is not as prophesying, nor as signifying beforehand, but it shows the one whom the others announced beforehand as already come and already having taken flesh, and justly sings an epithalamium for the union of the Word and the flesh.

Other scriptures, when speaking about the Savior, also report about certain other things in between. But this book sings only of the union of the Word with the body. And other scriptures, because of the things accomplished in between, contain words of anger and wrath and threats of fear; but this book, since it signifies nothing other than the presence of the Word alone, contains only words of delight, joy, and gladness. When the bridegroom is present, it is fitting for all to rejoice and for no one to mourn, as the Lord himself has said. For he, being present, bore our weaknesses and turned our sorrows into joy. Just as after the economy of the Savior we no longer expect a prophet, so after the things signified in the Song of Songs, there is nothing else newer to study or expect to be signified. For the things signified in the Song are also found, spoken at intervals, in the prophets and in the other scriptures. Again, just as when John points to the Lamb, the law and the prophets exist up to John, so the things signified in the Song of Songs are the end of all things signified in divine scripture. For what else must one expect after the Savior except resurrection and judgment? For this reason, those of the Phrygian sect, who introduce prophets after the Lord, err and have been condemned as heretics. It is called the Song of Songs because after the literal sense there is nothing else to expect. And just as after the law there was the Holy Place, and after the Holy of Holies there was no more inner place, so after the Song of Songs there is no longer any more inner, newer promise to expect.

For once the Word became flesh and accomplished the work. The whole book is full of dialogues of these: of the ancient people with the Word, and of the whole human race with the Word, and of the church from the nations with him, and of the Word with her, and again with the human race, then dialogues of the church from the nations with Jerusalem, and of Jerusalem concerning the church from the nations and concerning herself; and also of the ministering angels with the men called to the proclamation. Now of the ancient people, who deem it worthy that he should come down and be united with the flesh, these words: "Kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your breasts are better than wine." And again through these words he is exhorted: "New against old, my brother, I have kept you." And a common voice of all to the Word, that he should take up our body: "Who would give you, my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother? Finding you outside, I will kiss you, even if you do not despise me. I will take you, I will lead you into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of the one who conceived me." For they deemed it worthy that he should take up the body not from outside, but from the womb from which he was born, even if not as we from man and woman; for from the Virgin alone, as the creator took a body for himself, except that it was from a human; for the God-bearer Mary is human. And of the Word to those who deemed it worthy, as he already takes up the flesh from the Virgin, these words: "I entered my garden, my sister bride, I gathered myrrh with my aromatics. I ate my bread with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk.

For entering into his own garden, creation, he took to himself from the Virgin a body and became man: a mortal body, indeed, but with fragrance; for it is united in hypostasis to the all-holy Word. And though as a man the body gave milk to eat, yet it also filled it with the wine of his own perfection; for just as it ate milk, so also it works itself and everything proper. Then the Word, having taken the body, first summons the ancient people, as first entrusted with the oracles, through these words: "Arise, come, my near one, my beautiful one, my dove, for behold the winter has passed, the rain has gone, it has gone its way; the flowers have appeared on the earth, the time of pruning has arrived, the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land, the fig tree has put forth its unripe figs, our vines are in bloom." As the first people received until the time the shadow of the teaching in the law, and as it gave the voice of the turtledove, it reminds. And having summoned Jerusalem, the Word then also summons those from the nations through these words: "Come from Lebanon, bride, come from Lebanon, you will come and pass through from the beginning of faith, from the head of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards." For from idolatry and a beastly manner it summons her to faith. Having been called, then, from the nations and already pricked, she says to the Word these things: "Tell me whom my soul has loved. Where do you pasture, where do you lie down at noon?

Lest I become like one who is cast about among the herds of your companions. For having experience of change into many things, she deemed it right to be finally fixed and confirmed, lest she suffer the same again. The Word, being entreated, then teaches her through these words: "If you do not know yourself, O fair one among women, go out after the heels of the flocks, and pasture your goats at the tents of the shepherds." For one cannot know God without first knowing oneself. For piety toward God begins with perception; and perception is not external, but the mind of the soul with faith. Jerusalem, seeing that the accusation against the nations had become a matter of the foreskin of faith, says in wonder: "What will you see, she says, in the Shunammite, who comes like the choruses of encampments?" For they came not from one nation, but from every nation, having left their own encampments, and having broken their swords, and henceforth thinking peaceful thoughts. The one from the nations, seeing Jerusalem as if reproaching, defends herself, saying that her calling is not idle. "I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not look at me because I

I am blackened, because the sun has looked askance at me. The sons of my mother fought against me; they set me to guard the vineyard, but I did not guard my own vineyard." For, she says, if I am black, yet I am under the same sun; and if I am uncircumcised, yet I have renounced idols; and I came out of the house of my mother, just as Abraham did, for I am of that faith. And for this reason I ask, "Bring me into the house of wine; set love upon me; support me with ointments, pile me with apples, for I am wounded with love." Do not pay attention to the uncircumcision, but receive me in love, O Law and Prophets. And I am foul with wildness, but you discipline me, and support me with your fragrance. For I am wounded with love, and for this reason: "I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and by the strengths of the field, if you raise up and awaken love, until he wills." I adjure you, O fathers, not by the powers—for that is not possible—but by the powers of paradise, so that looking to that one as to Adam, you may receive me thus; for there too there is no circumcision, but now renew me with Adam. The Word, seeing the faith from the nations and accepting it, says, "My neighbor is beautiful as good will, lovely as Jerusalem, a wonder as those who are arrayed." For it is necessary that those from the nations be as Jerusalem in no other way, so that one people may come to be; and this happens when, along with honoring the law, we believe in Christ. For the God of the law and of the Gospels is one; and one who does not become as Jerusalem does not become a neighbor of God.

Jerusalem, seeing the faith of the nations and the benevolence of the Word, says: "I went down into the walnut garden to see among the produce of the winter torrent, whether the vine had blossomed, whether the pomegranates had blossomed; there I will give my breasts to you; my soul did not know; the chariots of Aminadab set me." I entered the garden of the walnut, that is, the scriptures, which are like walnuts, hard on the outside but spiritual within. And I saw that I must be yoked, as in chariots, by the calling of the nations. When both peoples were thus yoked, the proclamation was sent everywhere, and the angels become its servants, saying: "Go out and see in King Solomon, in the crown with which his mother crowned him, on the day of his wedding, and on the day of the joy of his heart." For he who departs from wickedness will also see the benevolence of the Word toward us, through the assumption of the body, and then he has accomplished the victory over death, on account of which he has filled everything with joy. Such are the things in the Song of Songs, those of the dialogues; from which, taking a starting point, one can, from the book itself, join like to like according to the mind. The book has 1100 lines.