De XLII Mansionibus Filiorum Israel Tractatus

APPENDIX TO THE WORKS OF SAINT AMBROSE.

Part One.

COMPRISING THE WORKS ADMITTED BY THE BENEDICTINES IN THEIR EDITION.

TREATISE ON THE FORTY-TWO MANSIONS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.

The book of Numbers, of which we now speak, is one of the five books of Moses. It is called by this name because, by the command of God, it contains the number and reckoning of the perfect men of the Israelite people who went out from Egypt. For thus God spoke to Moses: Take the sum of the whole congregation of the children of Israel from twenty years old and upward, by the houses of their families, every one that goeth forth to war in Israel. Therefore, since the Lord commanded that men from twenty years old and upward, and those fit for war, be numbered, it is manifest that He meant perfect men. From this sum women are excluded by the obstacle of feminine weakness, slaves as being degenerate in life and morals, and Egyptians as foreigners and barbarians (Origen, Homilies on Numbers, from the version of Rufinus). Only Israelites are numbered, and not even all of them, but only those distinguished by strength and virtue. For thus it is written: The numbering of the children of Israel with their army from twenty years old and upward, every one that goeth forth to war in Israel, etc. (Num. 1:45). Nor is this without mystery: for while a childish and slippery understanding, or feminine and slack sluggishness, is in us, or while we bear Egyptian or barbarian customs, we do not deserve to be numbered by God's holy reckoning.

In that same book, next, the journeys, departures, and mansions of the children of Israel from the borders of Egypt up to the time and place where Moses died are recounted by the command of God. For it says: And Moses wrote their departures and their mansions, by the word of the Lord. Nor indeed was it without cause that Moses was commanded by the Lord to write this, since it was for our instruction; for the Apostle says: All these things happened to them in figure; but they were written for our correction, so that we, reading and testing how great the dangers threaten us in this departure to the land of the living, how great the snares of enemies, the conflicts of spiritual wars, the perils of seas and rivers, of the world and of pleasures, may not take up our journey sluggishly or half-heartedly, lest, as the day slips away, we faint in the middle of the road, overwhelmed by the darkness of night. For by night the firstborn of Egypt are struck down by the destroyer; by night the soul of the rich covetous man is demanded back by demons.

But let us gird ourselves wisely for the journey, and, bravely prepared for battles, pass on from virtue to virtue, and let the Lord our God go before us, fighting our enemies before our face, and carrying us as a mother her son, and leading us by a cloud in the day and by fire in the night; so that at last, once every difficulty of the journey has been overcome and the attacks of hostile powers, we may gloriously complete our departure. But the mansions of the children of Israel are counted as forty-two in number, which by the reckoning of the denary, quaternary, and binary number that they contain teach us many mysteries. Wishing, then, brothers, to explain this to you, look upon it, I beseech you, and fix it in your memory; lest you be found despisers of the word, and lest your soul become the wayside where the scattered seeds do not sprout: and the birds of the air, it says, come and snatch them away. Receive therefore these things, and store them in your hearts. The denary number is mystical, and not moderately commended by Moses: for to it he refers the first-fruits, the offerings, and the vows. For it says: Every tenth of the land, and of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's: and every tenth of the oxen and sheep, and whatever comes into the number, under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the Lord (Leviticus 27 and following). Finally Jacob, when he was setting out to Mesopotamia to Laban his uncle, promised to God who appeared to him on the journey, saying: Of all that he has given me, I will give a tenth to you (Genesis 28:22).

For this reason, that Noah who was the first in the Old Scripture to be pronounced righteous is introduced as the tenth from the first-formed man—not to show the age of the living at that time, nor to prescribe the number of men, but so that it might be openly taught that, just as the denarius is the most perfect of the numbers that follow unity, so tranquility in the soul is truly the end of the actions of life. For the ternary, multiplied by itself, completes the novenary, and by divine oracles it indicates strifes, dissensions, and wars, as is clear in the four and five kings disagreeing and attacking one another. But the useful, coming upon the novenary, perfects the denarius and designates peace and friendship. For when nine kings were fighting, the wise Abraham, coming upon them as a tenth, with God's favor brought tranquility in place of storm, peace in place of war, victory in place of death. Whence also he paid tithes to Melchisedech, priest of the most high God. The number ten, therefore, is perfect and designates unity. The number four also is itself mystical and is commended in Scripture: for the prophetic word declares that that beautiful light, which manifests itself and all other things, and the begetters of light, the sun and the moon, and the shining chorus of the stars, which by rising and setting determine night and day, months and years, were created on the fourth day. The roots of the world are numbered as four: earth, water, fire, and air. And the yearly changes of the seasons are just as many: winter, summer, spring, and autumn.

Finally, concerning the fruits of the earth, it is forbidden that offerings be made to God before the fourth year; for thus it is written: "For three years the fruit of the earth shall be unclean to you, you shall not eat of it; but in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy and praiseworthy to the Lord" (Leviticus 19:23-24). And not without reason: for all things are contained in the quaternary—the point, the line, the surface, and the solid, the measures of all things. The most excellent harmonies of music are also contained in it. Then too, the sides of a square must be equal. But equality is the mother of justice, which is the leader and mistress of the other virtues. The quaternary therefore signifies justice. The binary, moreover, is not itself devoid of mystery. For we read that the widow was commended by the Lord with outstanding praise, who cast two mites into the treasury (Luke 21:2). The Samaritan paid out two coins for the healing of the wounded man (Luke 10:35). Among the Samaritans Christ the Savior spent two days (John 4:43): for it signifies twofold charity—namely, of God and of neighbor. "On these two," says the Lord, "the whole Law depends and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:40). Therefore the mansions of the children of Israel from the borders of Egypt all the way to the land of promise are counted by Moses as forty-two. Thus also Saint Matthew, describing the generation of Christ, enumerates forty-two.

For he says: from Abraham to David, fourteen generations; from David to the transmigration of Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the transmigration of Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations (Matt. 1:17): to show that the true Israelite, who hastens from the Egypt of this world to heaven, the true land of the living, through so many trials of things and temptations of enemies, must be armed with peace through the denarius, with righteousness through the quaternion, with love through the binary. With peace, because it is written: God has called us in peace (1 Cor. 7). With righteousness, because the same Apostle says: Stand clothed in the breastplate of righteousness (Eph. 6:14). With love, because love covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8). Christ therefore comes to the Virgin, Israel to the Jordan, the Christian to heaven, by an equal number of mansions. But now let us consider one by one the very departures of Israel.

Ia, Ramesses. The order of the departures and the distinction of the stations of the children of Israel, as they went out from Egypt to the land promised to their fathers, are very necessary to be known by those who strive to walk after God and aspire to the advancement of virtues, because of the mysteries contained in them. For the things that were done bodily among the people of the fathers not only show us the history and the sequence of events, but, understood spiritually, they greatly profit our instruction. The Apostle had this in view when he said in the epistle to the Romans: Whatever things were written were written for our instruction (Rom. 15:4). And to Timothy: All Scripture, inspired by God, is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). We read, then, that the children of Israel, after all Egypt was struck with such great plagues, at the time designated by the heavenly oracle, so that they might go out into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord God, leaving the land of Goshen, which they had received to dwell in, first came together at the city of Ramesses; there they halted, and there they fixed their first station. Ramesses is a city of Egypt, fortified by the Hebrews when, with Pharaoh raging against them, they were oppressed with mud, bricks, and straw. For thus it is written: And they built fortified cities for Pharaoh, Pithom, Ramesses, and On (Exod. 1:11).

It is situated, finally, in the farthest borders of that kingdom, as is held in the book of Exodus (Exod. 12:37). In this station the people of the fathers, having slain the lamb and smeared the doorposts and both side-posts of the houses with its blood, escaped the plague of the destroyer; in this station Egypt saw her firstborn extinguished; in this station, by the word of God, the people gathered for themselves unleavened meal and silver and gold vessels received on loan from the Egyptians. Each of these things that have been said, brothers, is filled with mysteries and contributes to our instruction. First, because Ramesses, according to some, is interpreted as turbulent commotion, which signifies penitence; for through it a turbulent commotion is wrought in the sinner, so that the oldness of sin may be abolished and the newness of grace brought in: so that the old man may be fixed to the cross and the new man rise again; so that, with the old praise of the flesh's former manner of life laid aside, the newness of the spirit may be brought in. Penitence, therefore, begets a great commotion and disturbance. Hence the prophet says: After I was known, I groaned (Jer. 31). Whoever, then, desires to set out for the promised homeland of eternal inheritance, and comes near to sacrifice himself to the Lord God as a living, holy, and pleasing victim to the Father, ought first to go to Ramesses, that is, to the commotion that is made through penitence, and there to fix his station. There Ahab fixed his station, when he tore his garment, put on sackcloth, fasted, slept in sackcloth, and walked with his head bowed down (3 Kings 21:27).

There the king of Nineveh fixed his station, when he rose from his throne, put off his own robe, and, clothed in sackcloth, sat in ashes (Jon. 3:6). There the Corinthians fixed their station, when they were grieved according to God; which grief, as the Apostle writes, works repentance unto stable salvation (2 Cor. 7:10). Then what else is the slaying of the lamb than the passion of Christ, who, as the Prophet says, was led as an innocent lamb to be sacrificed (Jer. 11:19)? By his blood, afterward poured out upon the houses, we are freed from the Destroyer; because by Christ's passion, shared with us through the sacraments, we are freed from him who held the empire of death, that is, the devil, as the Apostle writes to the Hebrews (Heb. 2:14). Therefore in another place he says: Christ, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate (Heb. 13:12). In this station also the firstborn of Egypt are destroyed; that is, the depraved affections of the flesh and evil desires which war against the soul. The Egyptians are destroyed, indeed, when you do not do the works of darkness; the Egyptians are destroyed when you live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit; the Egyptians are destroyed when you either drive impure and filthy thoughts from your heart or do not admit them at all. Therefore to him who asks: Who will deliver me from the body of this death? the Apostle answered: The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:24-25). In this station flour, silver, and gold are heaped up.

The flour from which bread is made is the doctrine of Christ, because Christ is the bread, as John says: I am the living bread (John 6:51). The silver designates the divine eloquence: for the words of the Lord are pure words, silver tried by fire, proved in the earth, purified seven times (Ps. 11:7). The gold is a good mind, which is rightly compared to gold; for just as gold surpasses the other metals, so a good mind in a man is more excellent than the other portions of human substance. Three things, then, are heaped up in Ramesse: flour, silver, and gold—doctrine, eloquence, and a good mind—in which the wealth of the wise man consists. But meanwhile let us consider the precious exchange. The children of Israel gave straw, which is burned by unquenchable fire, and received the form in which that wise woman hid the leaven. They gave clay, which is destroyed, because it is written: I will destroy them like the clay of the streets (Ps. 17:43); and they received silver, which is the speech of the just man. For it is written: The tongue of the just man is silver tried by fire (Prov. 10:20). They gave bricks, which fall; because it is written: The bricks have fallen, and they received gold (Isa. 9:10), which is the good mind by which we serve the law of God. This, then, is the exchange; whence the Apostle says: You are now filled, you are now made rich (1 Cor. 4:8).

Let us acquire these riches for ourselves, with which we may fill the treasures of our intelligible souls; but the Lord Himself gives us grace, that we may be able to snatch them from the Egyptians. Therefore the Apostle says well to the Hebrews: It is best to establish the heart with grace (Heb. 13). Good, therefore, is the dwelling place Ramesse.

The second dwelling place, SOGOTH. — The second departure of the children of Israel was into Socoth; and there, pitching their tents after leaving Egypt, they had their second dwelling place. Therefore it says: But the children of Israel, having set out from Ramesse, encamped in Socoth (Num. 33:5). The intention of the holy prophet Moses, who by God's command described the people's advance from Egypt as far as the Jordan, was not to note each individual place to which they happened to turn aside throughout the whole journey, but only those in which some mysteries were prefigured. Socoth is a city in the mountains, outside the land of Egypt, yet bordering on it, as we read in the book of Joshua son of Nun (Josh. 13:7). Finally, Socoth is interpreted as tabernacles. Whence Jacob, when he separated himself from Esau, who met him as he was returning from Mesopotamia — Scripture says: He returned, into tabernacles (Gen. 33:17). Where another translation has: He returned to Socoth. And it adds there: And Jacob made for himself houses, and for his flocks he made tabernacles: for this reason he called the name of that place, Tabernacles. And there another translation says: He called the name of that place Socoth, that is, tabernacles.

In this station also they baked the dough; for it is said in the book of Exodus: And they made unleavened cakes baked under the ashes from the dough (Exod. 12:39); for it had not been leavened, since the Egyptians had driven them out. In this station there is also made the reckoning of the years during which Israel was in Egypt. For it says: And the dwelling of the children of Israel, which they and their fathers dwelt in the land of Egypt, etc. (Ibid., 40). In this station finally it is commanded that there be among them a perpetual memorial of this deliverance from Egypt. For it says: Moses said to the people: Remember this day, on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by a mighty hand the Lord brought you out from here (Exod. 13:3). In this station lastly the solemnity of unleavened bread, and the rite of eating unleavened bread, is prescribed. For it says: Six days you shall eat unleavened bread; but on the seventh day is a feast to the Lord: no leaven shall appear there (Ibid., 6). This according to the letter. But according to the mysteries, we say that the advance of the children of Israel into Socoth, which is interpreted Tabernacles, signifies that he who had his dwelling in Ramesse, that is, in the commotion of penitence, ought to advance into Socoth, that is, to walk as it were by contemplation in tabernacles. For just as he who is bound for another place, and has no fixed home, stays in tabernacles. Hence what else is it to dwell in tabernacles than to be a pilgrim? as the Apostle testifies, speaking of the fathers in Hebrews. For it says: Confessing that they were pilgrims and strangers upon the earth (Hebr.

and seeing himself a stranger in the land, let him say with the Prophet: I am a stranger on the earth (Ps. 38:13). Let him consider also the Apostle's saying: We have not here a lasting city (Heb. 13:14). Finally, let him know that as long as he is in the body, he is a stranger from the Lord; therefore let him cast away the things that are of this world, because there is the concupiscence of the flesh, because there is the concupiscence of the eyes, and because there is the pride of life. Let him follow the Apostle's counsel: Touch not, taste not, handle not, things which are all unto destruction by the very use; and let him groan for the habitation that is from heaven, striving earnestly to please God (Col. 2 and following). The baking of the unleavened cakes under the ashes teaches that, the old leaven of the wickedness of the philosophers and the malice of the Jews having been purged out, one should feast in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Let each one of us continually keep in memory that precept of the Lord who says: Look and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (Matt. 16:6), and let him not forget the Apostle's warning: See that no one despoil you through philosophy and vain deceit (Col. 2). Then at Succoth the reckoning is declared of the years in which the people was in Egypt, because it is said to the penitent that he ought to cry out like a swallow and to meditate his years in the bitterness of his soul like a dove (Isa. 38:14); and that he should not be without fear concerning the propitiation of sin (Sir. 5:5), but should grieve and say with the Prophet: And my sin is ever against me (Ps.

Let him not look back, desiring his former vanities, like Lot's wife, and like the dog returning to its vomit. Rather, just as he prostituted himself to uncleanness and iniquity, so let him present his members to serve righteousness unto sanctification, so that to the extent he glorified himself and lived in delights, by so much correcting his errors and taking vengeance on himself, he may feel torment and mourning. Finally, a feast and a perpetual solemnity of unleavened bread is prescribed, that is, perseverance in meditation and works is enjoined: because he who perseveres to the end, this one will be saved. Hence the Apostle: Persevere in discipline, children. The departure therefore from Rameses to Socoth is a departure to better things.

The third station, ETHAN. — The third station is Ethan. For the children of Israel, departing from Socoth, came into Ethan: and there, pitching their tents, they completed the third station. For it says: And setting out from Socoth, they encamped in Etham (Num. 33:5). Ethan is a region between Egypt and the wilderness in which is the town of Petra, in whose cave Samson lived when he was harassed by the Philistines: And he sat, it says, in the cave of Petra Ethan, which place was very strongly fortified, as Josephus testifies (Antiquities, book 10). This region was at the beginning of the wilderness. Therefore it says: And it is part of the desert. The prophet David makes mention of this region, saying: You dried up the rivers of Ethan (Ps. 73:15).

In this station the Lord first appeared by night in a pillar of fire, and by day in a pillar of cloud, showing the people the way even to the land of their inheritance: and the pillar of cloud did not fail by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before all the people (Exod. 13:21). But since Ethan means “strength” to us—whence Rehoboam, preparing to defend himself against Jeroboam, said, “He built fortified cities, Ethan and Tekoa” (2 Chron. 11:6), that is, cities of strength—we are taught that when a man has resolved to persevere to the end in Succoth, that is, in the pilgrimage of this life, in meditation and the exercise of good works, he ascends to Ethan, that is, to strength; because the Lord himself gives virtue and strength to his people. Hence the Apostle said: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me, Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:13); indeed, through the cloud and the fire he opens the way for him, and becomes the guide of his journey, until he sees the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. Let us therefore also ascend to Ethan, that we may resist the devil, strong in faith.

The fourth station is called Os Eroth. Whence it follows: And they set out from Etham and encamped at Os Eroth, which is opposite Beelsephon and opposite Magdalon (Num. 33:7). Os Eroth is called Phiairoth in another translation; it is a village and a suburb of Magdala, toward the Red Sea, as is found in the book of Exodus. At this station Pharaoh, indignant that Israel was leaving Egypt, gathered a great army and pursued them, saying: What have we done, that we should let the children of Israel go, so that they should not serve us (Exod. 14 and following)? And he adds: So Pharaoh yoked his chariots, etc. (ibid., 8). As for the moral sense: through Os Eroth, which is interpreted as "mouth of the nobles" (Jerome, ep. 127), it is shown that, having taken up strength in Etham, we ascend to Os Eroth, because we are made noble in the Lord. That Os Eroth is a village is not without mystery: so that small things are first grasped; for it is the order that one comes from small things to great. For immoderate prosperity has always been dangerous in beginnings, as has adversity (Origen, hom. 27 on Numbers, trans. Rufinus). Just as, therefore, we advance through the suburb to the city, so we ascend through low things to the highest. Finally, Beelsephon, which is interpreted as "Lord of the North," designates the devil: because he said, as the prophet Isaiah testifies: I will sit on the high mountain, above the lofty mountains, to the North (Isa. 14:13).

So then the mouth of Eroth is opposite Beelsephon, that is, opposite the devil, who always stands ready to oppose those going to Jerusalem, which is in heaven. Therefore the Apostle said: Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the snares of the devil (Eph. 6:13). The same thing is also signified by Pharaoh pursuing the people.

STATION FIVE, MARAH. — Marah is the fifth station; for thus it says: And they set out against Os Eroth, they passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and they walked a journey of three days through the desert of Etham, and they encamped at Marah. Marah is a place in the desert of Sur, called by this name because of the bitterness of its waters; for thus it is written in the book of Exodus: And they came to Marah, and they could not drink the water of Marah (Exod. 15:23). For it was bitter, and on this account the name of that place was called Bitterness. Concerning this station three things are to be considered: the departure, the station, and the action. The departure, because on the journey to this place the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea with dry foot; for the Scripture says: But the children of Israel went forward on dry ground in the midst of the sea, and the water was to them a wall on the right and a wall on the left, but Pharaoh with his army was submerged in the violent waters (Exod. 14:22); for thus it is written concerning him: And the water returned and covered the chariots and the riders, and all the army of Pharaoh, who had entered the sea after them, and not one of them was left (ibid. 28).

The station: because they found bitter waters, and sensing their bitterness they could not drink them, although they were greatly tormented by thirst. The working: because at the command of the Lord Moses touched the waters with a piece of wood, and those that had previously been bitter were turned to sweetness and made drinkable, so that they could quench their thirst. By these things it is first signified to us that Pharaoh with his army, that is, the devil with power so strong, meets those hastening to grace, so that, as it is written, nothing on earth has been made like to him; but at length, as Pharaoh with his army is submerged in the violent waters, so too the devil is cast into the pool of fire and sulphur. Therefore let us not be terrified on that account so as to make a desertion. Then at the station the bitter waters are tasted, since, while we still exist in grace, manifold bitterness of tribulations remains. Hence the apostle John was saying: I, John, your brother and partaker in tribulation. Indeed the apostle Paul was saying: If you are outside discipline, you are adulterous and not sons. Finally, in the working, just as the Lord is present by his word so that the waters may become sweet, so he grants us his presence in tribulations, as the Prophet says: I am with him in tribulation, that afflictions may grow mild. Hence Isaiah the Prophet proclaims: If you pass through water, I am with you, and the rivers shall not cover you; and if you pass through fire, you shall not be burned.

Therefore the stones of the torrent became sweetness to Stephen, and the thorns a refreshment to Laurence. Rightly, then, the Apostle says: We glory in tribulations (Rom. 5:3).

The sixth station is called Elim. For departing from Marah, the children of Israel came to Elim; there they halted and pitched their tents. Whence it says: And setting out from Marah, they came to Elim. Now in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters (Num. 33). The same is read in the book of Exodus. But fair is the order and blessed the progress of virtue, which always tends toward the best: from darkness to light, from hardships to happiness. Behold the children of Israel, after the cruelties of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, after the perils of the sea and the desert, after the burning of a three days' thirst and the bitterness of Marah, came at last to the palms, came to the springs. By this we are instructed that those who are weighed down by hardships at last receive joyful and pleasant places: since one comes to rest only through labor, and to joys only through sorrows. The people came to the palms, but first endured very many distresses from the Egyptians. They came to the springs, but first suffered the thirst of three days and the bitterness of the waters.

Yet the journey does not end here, nor is this the final rest from labors, because even heavier things remain. But God, the dispenser of all things, who orders all things sweetly, interposes certain refreshments even on the journey itself, so that the soul, refreshed by them and restored in strength, may return more readily to the remaining labors. Finally, it must be observed that Elim is interpreted as Rams. Rams are the leaders of sheep. Therefore the twelve springs and seventy palms designate the leaders of the Christian flock: namely the twelve Apostles, of whom Luke writes thus: He chose twelve of them, whom he named Apostles (Luke 6:13), and the seventy Disciples whom Saint Luke mentions elsewhere, saying: The Lord appointed also another seventy, and sent them two by two before his face (Luke 10:1). He sets down their distinction as Apostles, treating of the Lord's appearances after his resurrection. For he says to the Corinthians: He was seen by Cephas, and after this by the eleven, and then he was seen by all the Apostles (1 Cor 15:5). Yet all these are leaders and teachers of the Lord's flock. Wherefore it is written concerning them: He who hears you hears me, and he who despises you despises me (Luke 10:16). Let us therefore draw from these most abundant springs and drink; let us also pluck from the solid fruits of these victories, the fruits of palms, and eat eagerly, so that refreshed by such food and drink, we may be found stronger for completing the remaining stations.

The seventh station, the Red Sea. The seventh station is beside the Red Sea; for after crossing the Red Sea and passing through the stations of Marah and Elim, a certain bay of that same sea meets Israel again among the lilies. And because they encamped there and pitched their tents, they are now said to camp by the sea. For it says: And setting out from Elim, they camped by the Red Sea. But observe that they see the sea, yet they do not enter it, for it was sufficient to have entered and crossed it once only, since that sea was a figure of our baptism, as the Apostle writes to the Corinthians, saying: For all our fathers were baptized in the cloud and in the sea. But their baptism was in figure, ours in truth. And because baptism is not to be repeated, since it is written: One God, one faith, one baptism, just as it was necessary to be baptized once, so it was enough to enter the sea once. Now therefore, as the people journey to the promised inheritance, the sea meets them again, so that seeing it and beholding its waves, they may walk more cautiously, lest something worse befall them.

The eighth station, the desert of Sin. The eighth station is the desert of Sin. Therefore it says: And they set out from the Red Sea and encamped in the desert of Sin (Num 33:11). But it must be observed that this whole wilderness from the Red Sea all the way to Mount Sinai is called Sin. In it the children of Israel had five [stations] of the members of... [text corrupt]. ...fighting against the law of my mind (2 Cor 11:2)? But it is one thing to endure wars bravely, another to be enervated and conquered by wars. In the former, virtue is exercised, lest anyone should exalt himself; in the latter it is utterly extinguished, so that it cannot stand. Next the law commanded all the Levites to shave the hair of their flesh (Num 8:7), because those who are taken up for divine service ought to appear before God's eyes cleansed from all thoughts of the flesh, lest the mind bring forth illicit thoughts and make the beautiful form of the soul deformed, as it were, by hairs growing out. After this they are also commanded to make two trumpets, by whose blast the people would be stirred to battle. For thus it is written concerning these things to Moses: Make for yourself two trumpets of silver, of beaten work (Num 10:2); and a little later: And when the broken blast shall sound, the camps shall set forth (ibid., 5).

For by two trumpets the army is led, because by the two Testaments, or by the two commandments of charity, the people is called to the battle of faith; and these are therefore commanded to be made of silver, so that the words of the preachers' eloquence may shine with brightness, and may not confound the minds of the hearers by any darkening of themselves; they are therefore hammered out, because it is necessary that those who preach the life to come should grow through the beating of present tribulations. Well indeed is it said: When the broken blast shall sound, the camps shall be moved; because, namely, when the more subtle and minute discourse of preaching is treated, the minds of the hearers are more ardently stirred up against the struggles of temptations. From here now the children of Israel move on from Mount Sinai, and pass over to the Graves of Concupiscence.

The thirteenth station, the GRAVES OF CONCUPISCENCE. The thirteenth station is at the Graves of Concupiscence. Therefore it says: And setting out from the desert of Sinai, they encamped at the Graves of Concupiscence (Num 33:16). This station received its name from the event: for the people, having grown weary of manna, desired flesh, fish, melons, and the other enticements of gluttony that were among the Egyptians, and stirred up a tumult against Moses. Therefore the Lord, angered, sent an innumerable abundance of quails flying near the land, with which they might satisfy their gluttony: but Scripture says: The flesh was still in their teeth (Num

(11:33): that is, before they were digested, the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. And from this, he says, the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved (ibid., 34). From these things we are taught that we who have left behind the conduct of the world and have despised the pots of Egypt—that is, the fervent desires of carnal longings—ought not to murmur against the heavenly bread, nor to desire the poisonous things of the Egyptians, which are the flesh of great size, but to seek the simple food of manna, that is, the pure and heavenly life. Otherwise, if after the commandments, after the angelic food and the manna of the heavenly life or teaching, we wish again to desire the flesh of Egypt, which are the carnal pleasures of this world, and the lusts of old vices, we shall immediately be struck by the wrath of the Lord and tormented, and our desires shall be turned into tombs, so that we become whitewashed sepulchers, which outwardly appear beautiful to men, but within are full of all filthiness. In this station Moses, by the command of God, chose seventy elder men from the people, who were to be his helpers in ruling the multitude: And they shall bear with you, he says, the burden of the people, and thou shalt not bear it alone (Exod. 18:22). Upon them afterward the Spirit descended, and they prophesied.

What was done as a type, because the Holy Spirit poured himself into the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, so that they might be wise for founding the Church and strong for ruling it: "Take heed," he says, as is read in the Acts of the Apostles, "to yourselves and to the whole flock, over which the Holy Spirit was able to appoint you bishops to rule the Church of God" (Acts 20). And so the gift of heavenly power that once existed in Moses and in the Prophets appeared visibly upon the Apostles.

The fourteenth station, Aseroth. The fourteenth station is completed at Aseroth; for he adds: "And they set out from the Graves of Lust and encamped at Aseroth" (Num 33:17). Concerning the same station it is likewise read elsewhere as follows: "From the Graves of Lust the people set out for Aseroth" (Num 11:34). Here Aaron and his sister Maria, because Moses had taken an Ethiopian foreign woman as his wife, quite insolently opposed him. Hence she, immediately flooded with the contagion of leprosy, was cast out from the company of the others until the time of her healing. This bore the evident figure of a new mystery: namely, that that priestly people of the fathers would rise up in zeal for Christ our Savior against the Church gathered from the Gentiles. By the impure envy of this perfidy it would come to the tabernacles of God not to be admitted, until the appointed time should dawn in which the fullness of the Gentiles would be completed, as the Apostle wrote to the Romans (Rom 11:25).

For only then will it be able to recover its former health, when the sevenfold grace of the Spirit has come to its aid for forgiveness. But because Aseroth is interpreted as "blessedness," it is rightly from the graves of concupiscence that one comes to this station: since unless a person has buried the concupiscences of the flesh, he will not be able to reach eternal blessedness. Therefore the Apostle says, "Flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 15:50).

The fifteenth station, RETHMA. — The fifteenth station is called Rethma. Therefore it follows: "And they set out from Aseroth and encamped in Rethma" (Num 33:18). But because it is read elsewhere: "And after these things the people set out from Aseroth and encamped in the desert of Pharan" (Num 13:1): lest the passages of Scripture seem to contradict each other, it must be noted that from here all the way to Asiongaber, all the stations that are enumerated, eighteen in number—all, I say, the following ones up to the thirty-second—are contained under the name of the desert of Pharan. This station, then, is called elsewhere by the common name of the wilderness, Pharan, along with many others; but Rethma is its proper name. Scripture in another place commends Pharan, saying: "God will come from the South, and the Holy One from the shadowy mountain of Pharan" (Hab 3:3). Under this desert, by God's command, Moses sent twelve men to spy out the land, who brought back a cluster of grapes, pomegranates, and figs of the land (Num 13:4).

Under this desert Dathan, Abiron, and Core, the sons with their families, are swallowed by the opening of the earth because of their sedition. Under this desert Aaron the priest, placed midway between the living and the dead, appeased the angry God by the offering of incense and checked the plague. Under this desert Aaron's rod, placed in the tabernacle and dry, by a miracle both budded and blossomed; and many other things, as is read in the book of Numbers, were done, yet not distributed through the individual mansions. By these things we are mystically taught that the men sent to spy out the fertile land, and who despaired of the people's promised inheritance from the Lord, prefigured the image of the scribes and Pharisees: for just as they were sent by Moses so that, having considered the fruitfulness of the soil with careful attention, they might encourage the people to obtain it, so also these were appointed through the Law and the Prophets, so that by the investigation of the Scriptures they might behold the coming of the Lord, in which they could obtain eternal life; but just as those men withdrew the people from the hope of possessing the inheritance, or the people themselves by their report alienated themselves from God's promise, so also these men dissuaded the people by deceits from believing in Christ the Lord. Therefore it is said against them: Woe to you who have taken away the key of knowledge: you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered (Luke 11:52). But the cluster of grapes that they brought back is Christ. Therefore in the Song of Songs the Church says concerning Christ: My brother is a cluster of cypress to me in the vineyards of Engaddi (Song

The pomegranate, because of its redness, is the blood of Christ. Hence Isaiah says: Why is there redness in your garments from Bozrah? The fig, because of its sweetness, is the evangelical law: therefore my yoke is sweet. By Dathan and Abiron, what else is signified than those who introduce heresies and schisms into the church? These, having despised the authority of the priest, separating themselves from him and from the Church of God, dream of other churches, another altar, other customs, like Apollinaris, Novatian, and similar men; and having rejected God's ordinance, they attempt to establish their own vanities. When the heretics and schismatics have at last been swallowed by the gulf of the earth, Aaron the priest, that is, Christ the Lord, a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, is established as mediator to appease God, because he himself has an everlasting priesthood, always living to intercede for us. The dry rod of Aaron, which afterward budded by a miracle, is the flesh of Christ, which is called a rod by the prophet: A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse. This dry rod flowered because, having died, it rose again.

The sixteenth station is called Remon-phares. For it follows: And setting out from Rethma, they camped in Remon-phares (Num. 33:19). This is the second station in the desert of Pharan, which in our language is interpreted as "a lofty division," because when someone has stayed in Rethma, which means "the mouth of one seeing," that is, has attained a perfect understanding of things, he comes to Remon-phares, that is, to a lofty division, by which he can separate heavenly things from earthly and sublime things from the lowest. And not without reason: for when the intellect has been strengthened and the knowledge of things grows, judgment is poured in, by which eternal things are distinguished from temporal and perpetual things from transitory. Therefore it is said through the Prophet: If you bring forth what is precious from what is vile, you shall be as my mouth (Jer. 15:19).

The seventeenth station is Lebna. The seventeenth station is at Lebna, which is why he adds: And setting out from Remon-phares, they camped in Lebna (Num. 33:20). By this station we are mystically taught that on the journey of this life we ought to be washed in body and clean in heart, as the Apostle writes to the Hebrews, saying: Let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water (Heb. 10:22). For the interpretation of the word Lebna itself indicates this very thing: for in Latin Lebna means the same as "whitening." But it is not that whitening which is spoken of reproachfully, both "a whitened wall" and "whitened tombs" (Orig. hom. in Num. from vers.

But that cleansing of which the Prophet prays, saying: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow (Ps. 51:7), and which the Lord promises through the prophet, saying: If your sins be as scarlet, I shall make them white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, I shall make them white as wool (Isa. 1:18). This whitening arises powerfully from the brightness of judgment, from Remon-phares, and from the clarity of visions, from Rethma, where the true Israelite accomplishes his stations.

The eighteenth station, RESSA. — The eighteenth station is accomplished in Ressa. Hence he adds: And setting out from Lebna, they camped in Ressa (Num. 33:21). Mystically, by this station we are taught that however greatly a person may seem to have advanced, and however great the progress he may have attained, temptations nevertheless do not abandon him: for the apostle Paul had already advanced so far that he was even caught up to the third heaven, and heard secret things ineffable, and nonetheless he felt himself still pressed by monstrous temptations. Hence he complained: There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me (2 Cor. 12:7). Yet temptations of this kind are praiseworthy, as the apostle James testifies, saying: Count it all joy, brothers, when you fall into various temptations (James 1:2), for these are applied to a person as a kind of guard. For just as flesh, however excellent it may be, is corrupted unless it is sprinkled with salt, so too the soul, however perfect, is slackened unless it is salted with continual temptations (Origen, hom.

From Numbers, according to the version of Rufinus. Now this, because Ressa is interpreted as praiseworthy temptation.

The nineteenth station, CALATHA. — The nineteenth station is called Calatha: to which the children of Israel, departing from Ressa, came. Whence it follows: And setting out from Ressa, they encamped in Calatha (Num. 33:22). Calatha sounds in Latin as rod, and signifies dominion. According to that: A rod of equity: the rod of your kingdom (Ps. 45:7). Rightly, then, does Calatha follow after Ressa: since where the soul has overcome temptations in Ressa, it comes forth so strong that it ascends to Calatha, that is, so that it acquires dominion not only over its own lower powers, but even over the whole world. To this the Apostle had ascended when he said: The world is crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal. 6:14). Let us therefore encamp also in this station, crucifying the flesh with its vices and concupiscences; and putting to death its deeds, let us say with the Apostle: But that I live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God (Gal. 2:20).

The twentieth station, ARSAPHAR. — The twentieth station is at Arsaphar. Therefore it says: And they set out from Calatha, and encamped in Arsaphar (Num. 33). This station is a difficult one; for it invites us to arduous things, namely to wars, and the harshest wars, and against the strongest and fiercest enemies. Of these the Apostle was speaking: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers of this world, against the rulers of these darknesses, etc. (Eph. 6:12). To be hard pressed by these and to have force inflicted on himself, the same Apostle felt; whence he said: Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death (Rom. 7:24)? This, moreover, because Arsaphar is the clangor of the trumpet, or trumpeting, which is the signal of war. Nor undeservedly; since the soul, seeing itself now strong through the earlier stations, so many and so great virtues, cannot be contained, but proceeds into the midst, and not only offers itself for contests, but presents itself ready: indeed, with the clangor of trumpets it even summons the rest along with the Prophet, saying: Take up arms, bring shields to battle, spread out the horses, mount the horsemen, prepare the lances (Jer. 46:4). Indeed, when another prophet says: Proclaim this among the nations, sanctify war, rouse up the warriors, come together, men of war (Joel 3:9).

The fathers engaged in this war and won it, as the Apostle relates to the Hebrews: They stopped the mouths of lions, they extinguished the fury of fire, they turned away the edge of the sword, they became strong in battle (Heb 11:33). This station, then, is full of strength and spirit.

The twenty-first station, ARADA. — The twenty-first station is at Arada; therefore it says: And setting out from Arsaphar, they encamped in Arada (Num 33). This station too is to be recalled with lengthy praises. For Arada indicates a fit effect. A beautiful order is at hand; but the degrees of those making progress must be observed, and the sequence of their advances must be examined. For when the soul has overcome temptations, it dares to press down the lower powers; and when it sees that it has dominion over the Pis, it exults over the hostile powers, and not only does it not fear their might, but provokes them to combat. Now, however, secure in victory, it ascends into Arada, that is, it glories in the Lord that it has been made fit, and says with the Apostle: Our sufficiency is from God, who also made us fit ministers of the new Testament (2 Cor 4:5-6). Let us therefore pray God that we too may be able to come to Arada and there have our station.

The twenty-second station is called Maceloth; therefore it adds: And they set out from Arad and encamped in Maceloth (Num. 33:25). Maceloth is interpreted as "from the beginning," by which it is indicated that one who strives toward perfection, or feels that he has in some way attained it, ought to look back to the beginning of things, on which all things depend, and to refer all things to it, and never to withdraw from it (Origen, in the passage cited above). God is the beginning and the end, as it is written in the Apocalypse: I am the beginning and the end, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:8). Therefore all things must be referred back to God. The prophet acknowledged him as this beginning when he said: Are you not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my Holy One (Hab. 1:12). The Apostle acknowledged him when he said: I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named (Eph. 3:14).

The twenty-third station, Thaath. The twenty-third station is Thaath; therefore it follows: And they set out from Maceloth and encamped in Thaath (Num. 33:26). But because Thaath signifies in Latin longanimity or endurance, by it we are shown that one who strives to make progress in the way of God and to be of benefit to others must needs suffer many things and bear many things with equanimity. Therefore it is said to the apostles: In your patience you shall possess your souls (Luke 21:19). The Apostle invites us to endurance, setting before us the example of the fathers who came before and of Christ. For he says: Therefore let us also, having such a great cloud of witnesses set before us, laying aside every weight and the sin that surrounds us, run with patience to the contest set before us, looking to the author and finisher of faith, Jesus Christ (Heb. 12:1). For our Lord Jesus Christ displayed to us many examples of gentleness toward men and of endurance of evils, as is clearly recounted in the Gospels, so that we might follow in his footsteps, as the apostle Peter says (1 Pet. 2:21).

The twenty-fourth station, THARE. The twenty-fourth station is called Thare; for it follows: And they set out from Thaath and encamped in Thare (Num. 33:27). Thare is interpreted in Latin as stupor, in Greek as ekplēxis, which is a kind of intense astonishment, arising from the sight of rare and unusual things. For when certain unusual things, and things impossible to nature, present themselves to human gaze, then in the investigation of such a cause the senses fail and reason succumbs, and the mind is stunned. Daniel expressed this quite clearly, saying: I was stunned by the vision, and there was no one who understood (Dan. 8:27). Hence when the people had seen the paralytic who was carried by four men rise at the Lord's word alone, take up the bed on which he lay, and go away into his house, because this was beyond human capacity, they were astonished. Therefore Saint Luke says: And astonishment seized them all (Luke 5:26). Treating of this, the prophet Jeremiah says: Astonishment and horrible things have been done in the land (Jer. 5:30). And because in these stations many excellent and wonderful works were performed, whose causes the human mind cannot comprehend by reason, at length one comes to Thare, that is, to astonishment; for thus it is interpreted. Hence it is written: But they were all astonished at the mighty works of God (Luke 9:43).

The twenty-fifth station, METCHA. The twenty-fifth station is at Melclia; therefore it says: And they set out from Thare and encamped in Metcha (Num. 33:28). Metcha is interpreted in Latin as "new death." But so that it may be understood what this new death is, it must be observed that we read of a threefold death in the Scriptures. One is the death of the body, by which our earthly house of this habitation, to use the Apostle's words, is dissolved, and the soul withdraws from the tabernacle of the body. Of this the Apostle writes: It is appointed for men once to die (2 Cor. 5:1). By this death Abraham and the prophets died; by this death we shall all die, and like water poured out upon the earth, we shall not be gathered together. Another is the death of the soul, by which the soul, stricken by the contagion of sin, dies—not indeed in its own substance, which knows not how to die, but in the life-giving grace of God. For by the desert of sin, when God withdraws, the soul loses its spiritual life. Whence the Apostle says: She who lives in pleasures is dead (1 Tim. 5:6). But then it is said to die through sin, because the soul that has sinned, it shall die (Ezek. 18:4). But it dies to the Lord not by the weakness of nature, but by the desert of guilt, which is not a departure from this life, but a fall of error. The third is the death of guilt, by which the concupiscence of the flesh dies, so that the mind may live to God; of which the Apostle says: Our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, so that we may no longer serve sin (Rom. 6:6).

Nor is this without reason; for just as a dead man no longer has a life exposed to guilt, so one reborn through grace ought no longer to serve sin. Of this death the Apostle speaks, saying: For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:5). Rebuking such dead men, the same Apostle says: If you are dead with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you decree (Col. 2:20)? One death, then, is natural, another penal, the third spiritual. This last is designated by Metcha, which is called "new death," because it renews the old man and makes a new creature, as the Apostle says: The old things have passed away; behold, all things have been made new (2 Cor. 5:17). And so let us also make a station here, that, dead to sins, we may live forever to righteousness.

The Twenty-Sixth Station, ESMONA. — The twenty-sixth station is called Esmona; for it says: And setting out from Metcha, they encamped in Esmona (Num. 33:29). Esmona in Latin is called "haste," which is fittingly applied to this station. For when the soul, by the death of sin, has through the preceding station escaped into a new creature, it cannot stand still in spirit, nor grow sluggish in idleness, but strives to go further and to hasten its journey. But swiftness is most fitting for travelers; for this reason the people of the fathers is commanded to eat the passover, and that in haste. Hence it was commanded to the apostles: Greet no one along the way (Luke 10:4).

Thus Elisha is read to have instructed Gehazi in the Book of Kings: Gird up your loins, he says, and take my staff in your hand, and go; and if you find anyone, let him not bless him, and if anyone blesses you, do not answer him; for the work of God demands even a very hasty speed. Cursed, says the prophet, is he who does the work of God negligently. Therefore that disciple who outran Peter more quickly to the tomb is praised beyond measure. In the way of God there ought to be a swift advance, so that no space is left to the devil, who always stands at the right hand to oppose the saints, for hindering the journey once begun. We therefore who, dead to sins, live to righteousness through Melcha, should not merely follow on to the palm of the heavenly calling, but run in Esmon, hastening to the contest set before us. For the shepherds came hastening, and found the child Jesus.

XXVII. The twenty-seventh station is called Moseroth; for it says: And they set out from Esmona and encamped in Moseroth (Num. 33:30). Moseroth now follows fittingly; for it signifies disciplines, so that he who took to himself haste in Esmona may now wisely summon it for acquiring disciplines: And let it be as the apostle James teaches, every man swift indeed to hear (Jas. 1:19). God is the author of this discipline; for it is said through the prophet: Who has ascended into heaven and received her, and brought her down from the clouds? Who has crossed over the sea and found her, and will bring her for chosen gold? There is no one who knows her way, nor who considers her paths; but he who knows all things knows her, and has found her out by his prudence (Baruch 3:29 and following). Therefore she must be sought from him, as the apostle James says: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all abundantly (Jas. 1:5). She reveals God and his works. Solomon says, The discipline of God is a teacher, and a chooser of his works; her keeping is the rod of correction. For it is written: Blows and reproofs give wisdom (Prov. 29:15).

It is read in Numbers that a certain man gathering wood on the sabbath day was seized, ordered to be brought before Moses and the elders, and at last by the command of God punished with death, stoned with stones: "The man shall surely die; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp" (Num. 15:35). Some think this happened at this station. Hence the Apostle also said: "Rebuke a sinner before all, that the rest may have fear" (1 Tim. 5:20). Let us therefore have our station in Moseroth, that is, let us be held in check by the mortification of rebukes in the discipline of God.

XXVIII. The twenty-eighth station, BANEJACHAM. — The twenty-eighth station is completed at Banejacham; for it says: "And they set out from Moseroth and encamped in Banejacham" (Num. 33:31). He who has a station in the discipline of God ought earnestly to devote all zeal and all effort so that not even the least thing from the law of God should fall away violated; and, as the Savior says, so that not one iota or one apex should pass from the Law (Matt. 5:18). For he ought perpetually to retain in mind that saying of the gospel: "I say to you, you shall not go out from there until you repay even the least farthing" (Matt. 5:26). For just as a debt of interest is not discharged before the whole amount of the entire principal is paid down to the smallest coin by whatever kind of payment; so neither is the penalty of sin dissolved except by the compensation of charity and the other virtues, or by strict satisfaction.

Sin is not washed away, brothers, unless the guilty man is exercised by punishments for so long that he pays the penalties of the error he committed. The apostle James said: "Whoever keeps the whole Law but offends in one point has become guilty of all" (James 2:10). Weighty also is that sentence of God which is written in the Law: "I am the Lord your God, a jealous God" (Exodus 20:5). Therefore the Law of God is to be examined with the most exact scrutiny and kept with all the greater diligence than any that can be applied, lest we perhaps fall away from it. This the present mansion teaches us: for Banejacham designates thorough purification. But he who thoroughly purifies the Law of God, so that not even the least syllable or letter-point slips by negligently, observes it diligently.

The twenty-ninth mansion, GADGAD. — The twenty-ninth mansion is recorded at Mount Gadgad; for it says: "And they set out from Banejacham and encamped at Mount Gadgad" (Numbers 33:32). Temptation is, for the soul, faithful custody, strength, and an increase of virtue; for the soul of the just man, unless it sometimes felt itself pressed by temptations, would not only fail to remain in custody, but rather, as if flowing away in an abundance of graces, we would grow slack. This lesson is clearly had from holy Moses. When the people saw the lamps and the smoking mountain, and heard the voices, and fled in terror from the Lord, Moses said: "Take courage, for a cautious testing has come to you from the Lord, that his fear may be in you, and that you may not sin" (Exodus 20:20).

It is also called fortitude; for the soul, recognizing that it is hedged about by many temptations, walks more cautiously and asks for greater strength from the Lord, saying with the Prophet: "Have mercy on me, O God, for many are fighting against me" (Ps. 55:1). But the increase of virtue comes to the extent that the soul, exercised by temptations, emerges purified. Therefore Solomon says in Proverbs: "As silver and gold are tested in the furnace, so are chosen hearts before the Lord" (Prov. 17:3). The holy apostle James also testifies that the soul profits from temptations, saying: "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been tested, he will receive the crown of life" (James 1:12). Temptations, then, are not to be fled but to be sought; whence the prophet David says: "Test me, O Lord, and try me" (Ps. 26:2). Therefore, as they advance in the way of the Lord, temptations are brought upon them more frequently, so that they may walk more cautiously and more fruitfully. This station suggests this to us; for Gadgad is interpreted as temptation. So then, lest the traveler, through the abundance of such great virtues of the higher stations, should flow away or slip, this station succeeds the one before it.

The thirtieth station is celebrated at Jethebatha; whence it follows: And they set out from Mount Gadgad and encamped in Jethebatha (Num 33:33). The virtue of the righteous, made manifest by the trial of temptations, as was said in the preceding station, shines forth more conspicuously and more brightly. Hence also the apostle Peter says: "Now you shall exult, if it is necessary that you be grieved by various temptations; so that the proof of your faith, much more precious than gold which is tested by fire, may be found" (1 Pet 1:6-7). It also acquires greater grace through this; therefore it is written in the book of Wisdom: "But virtue, when proved, reproves the foolish" (Wis 1:3). Through this, virtue also shows itself and shines even when hidden in the midst of a depraved nation; therefore the apostle Paul says to the Corinthians: "There must be heresies, so that those who are approved may be made manifest among you" (1 Cor 11:19). Sincerer goodness comes forth from temptations, as purer silver from the furnace of fire; for Scripture says: "Since silver is tested in fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humility" (Sir 2:5). Since, therefore, purer goodness comes forth from trial as if from a furnace, rightly now Jethebatha, which is interpreted as goodness, succeeds.

The thirty-first station, Ebrona. The thirty-first station is celebrated at Ebrona; therefore it says: And they set out from Jethebatha and encamped in Ebrona (Num 33:34). The righteous man, even if in this life he has attained to goodness, indeed perfect goodness, still does not halt in his mind, nor is he content with his present state; but rather, passing through all things, he strives toward better things with burning desire. Hence the prophet David said: These things I remembered, and I poured out my soul within me; for I will pass over into the place of the wondrous tabernacle, even to the house of God (Ps 41:5). There he will rest, there every desire of his will be fulfilled. Therefore in another place the same prophet said: I shall be satisfied, Lord, when your glory has appeared to me (Ps 16:15). In this life there is no rest, but a perpetual passing over. Wherefore the bridegroom in the Song of Songs, because of the swiftness of his running, is likened to a gazelle and a young stag (Cant 2:9); whence also he leaps over the mountains and bounds over the hills. This station teaches us this, since Ebrona means "passing over"; so that even if through the preceding station you have arrived at goodness, nevertheless all things must be passed by: you must pass over to better things, until you come to that good which is the highest, and which satisfies every desire, and in which you must remain forever.

The thirty-second station, Asiongaber. The thirty-second station is called Asiongaber, where the children of Israel came to rest; whence it follows: And they set out from Ebrona and encamped in Asiongaber (Num 33:35). This is the last station of the children of Israel in the desert of Pharan; for, as we said above, that wilderness extends thus far with very many stations of the Arabs. It is interpreted, however, as the counsels of a man. And rightly does it fit the intention: since he who has completed so many stations, has penetrated the recesses of so many virtues, has felt the breath of so many charisms, has exercised himself in so many pursuits of perfections; now he has ceased to be a child in his senses, now he has come to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ, now he has grown into a perfect man. And therefore he has attained the counsels of a man, so that with the Apostle he may say: But when I became a man, I put away the things that were of a child (1 Cor 13:11). Rather, he has attained a deep counsel, because Solomon says in Proverbs: Counsel in the heart of a man is deep water (Prov 20:5). Of this counsel the wise man was saying: Do nothing without counsel, and when you have done it, do not repent (Eccl 32:24). This is not that counsel of which the Lord complains through the prophet, saying: Woe to the apostate children! Thus says the Lord: You have made a counsel, but not by me, and a covenant, but not by my Spirit (Isa 30:1). But that of which the wise man says: The knowledge of the wise man will abound like a flood, and his counsel like a pure fountain of life, which guards from evil (Eccl

...because good counsel will keep you, and holy thought will preserve you. Let us therefore press on to this place without delay, and here eagerly pitch our tents, so that we may be able to confess to God with our whole heart, as David did in the council and congregation of the just.

The thirty-third station, Sin. The thirty-third station is in the desert of Sin; therefore it follows: And they set out from Asiongaber and encamped in the desert of Sin (Num 33). The eighth station above is also called by the same name; for it says: And they set out from the Red Sea and encamped in the desert of Sin. But it must be noted that this place is different from that one; therefore below it is added: From the desert of Sin, this is Cades (Num 20:1). And elsewhere, while the people were staying at this station, Moses, sending messengers to the king of Edom, says: And now we are in the city of Cades, at the edge of your borders (Ibid., 14). The prophet David mentions this, saying: And the Lord will shake the desert of Cades (Ps 48:8). Here Mary, the sister of Moses, departed her day; she died and was buried, as is read above. Josephus also describes this, saying: Then her sister Mary came to the end of her life, when she had completed the fortieth year since she left Egypt; and they buried her publicly with very great splendor (Antiquities, Book 4, chap. 4).

Here at last the people labors under a scarcity of water; and so, enraged, they raise a tumult against Moses: at whose command, by the wondrous rod of God, the rock was struck and abundant water flowed out; from which, when all had drunk, the craving of thirst was taken away.

The thirty-fourth station is at Mount Hor; for it says: And setting out from the desert of Sin, which is Cades, they encamped at Mount Hor near the land of Edom (Num. 33:37). At this station at Cades in the desert of Sin, while the children of Israel were dwelling there, Moses sent envoys to the king of the Idumeans, that he might grant them passage through his borders together with his people; yet they were to inform him that they would not demand that water be supplied to them without payment. But he, not consenting to the request and not yielding passage, answered: You shall not pass through me, otherwise I will come out against you in war (Num. 20:18). Therefore the people, by the command of God, as is written in Deuteronomy, turned aside from him: and departing from Cades they came to Mount Hor, and had this station which we have read of (Ibid., and following). There, according to the Lord's command, Aaron ascended Mount Hor with Moses his brother and Eleazar his son: where Moses, by the word of God, having stripped Aaron of his pontifical garments, straightway clothed Eleazar, to whom the high priesthood fell by reason of age, with them, while the whole people who stood opposite marveled. And there, when Aaron had died and been gathered to his people, Eleazar his son was declared priest in place of Aaron his father. Memorable, therefore, is this station.

The thirty-fifth station, SALMONA. — The thirty-fifth station is held at Salmona; for it follows: And setting out from Mount Hor, they encamped in Sulmona (Num 33:38). Having departed from Mount Hor, the people did not continue on the straight road they had begun, but going around the land of Edom, they took the route toward the Red Sea, so that, according to the word of the Lord, they might not attack their brothers in war nor harm them at all; for he said: Do not stir up war against them (Deut 2:5). Therefore, wearied by so many winding paths and thoroughly tired of the manna, the people grumbled, saying, against God and Moses. For this reason the Lord, angered, sent among the people virulent and deadly serpents, which killed by their bite; and from these a great many of the people perished. The Apostle also mentions these, saying: Let us not tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and perished by serpents (1 Cor 10:9). Then, when Moses prayed for the destruction of the serpents, God answered: Make for yourself a bronze serpent and set it up as a sign: and everyone who is bitten and looks upon it shall live (Num 21:8). Moses did according to the command of the Lord, and the people were freed from the plague. But because Salmona is interpreted as shadow, that event is rightly fitted to this station.

For the serpent hung upon the wood was a type and shadow of Christ, who hung on the cross for our salvation, as he himself explains in the Gospel, saying: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life (John 3:14). Let us therefore frequent this station, that we may behold Christ hanging on the cross for the salvation of the world; for it is salutary.

The thirty-sixth station, PHINON. — The thirty-sixth station is called Phinon; for it says: And setting out from Salmona, they encamped in Phinon (Num 33:42). The moderation of the tongue, among the things that are no less necessary than difficult for man, the holy apostle James sets forth in a flowing discourse, saying: If anyone does not offend in word, this is a perfect man, able to bridle even the whole body with a rein (Jas 3:2). Behold, we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, though they are so great and are threatened by violent winds, are turned about by a very small rudder, wherever the impulse of the one steering wills. So too the tongue is a small member, and it boasts great things. Behold, how great a forest a small fire kindles. And the tongue is a fire, the whole world of iniquity (Sir 28:28-29); and the rest of what the holy apostle discusses, pertaining to the matter at hand.

If so many evils pour forth upon a man from the tongue, who will dare to say that it does not need restraint? Therefore the Wise Man gives this command, saying: Surround your possession with thorns, and make doors and bars for your mouth: refine your silver and your gold, and make a balance for your speech, and make a door and a bolt for your mouth (Ibid., 12). But since a balance, a door, and a bolt for the tongue would not readily occur to him, the same Wise Man said: Who will set a guard over my mouth, and a seal upon my lips (Eccl. 22:33)? But the prophet David, recognizing that these gifts are bestowed by the Lord, prayed to the Lord twice in the words: Set, O Lord, a guard over my mouth, and a door of circumstance around my lips (Ps. 141:3). The restraint of the tongue has its seat in this mansion. For Phinehas is interpreted as sparing of the mouth. Let us therefore take care to have our station here as well, so that we may be able to know what, when, how, and to whom it is fitting to speak: and let our mouth meditate wisdom, and let our tongue speak judgment (Ps. 37:30).

The thirty-seventh station is called Oboth, to which the children of Israel finally came; it follows, therefore: And they set out from Phinon and camped in Oboth (Num 33:43). Concerning this station it is read elsewhere: And the children of Israel set out and camped in Oboth (Num 21:11). But it must be noted that the greater and more pernicious temptations by which the soul is assailed in this life are judged by the common consent of all to be the illusions of demons and the deceits of magicians and soothsayers. For these men, by their sorceries and magical arts, claim to accomplish—in order to banish the worship of the divine from the hearts of men—those things which are possible only to the divine nature. Hence they dare to resist its power continually. But at last, their vanities being destroyed and their arts overthrown, the divine power always prevails. The magicians dared to resist Moses before Pharaoh, and they strove to make their rods become serpents. But at last, when Moses' rod was turned into a serpent by God's providence and power, it leaped upon the magicians' serpents and devoured them at once (Exod 7 ff.). For these things were done by Moses not by error, not by trickery, but by truth; therefore they stood firm with wondrous power. It is read also in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 13 ff.) that while the apostle Paul was preaching before Sergius the proconsul, who desired to hear the word of God, Elymas the magician resisted, it says, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

Finally, when he was rebuked by the Apostle, he was struck blind, so that, as it says, going about he sought those who would give him a hand. Therefore in their law their commerce is especially ordered to be guarded against; for it says: The soul that has followed after ventriloquists or enchanters, so as to fornicate after them, I will set my face against that soul and destroy it from among its people (Lev 20:6). This station is honored for the destruction of magicians; for Oboth is interpreted as "magicians." Let us therefore also come to Oboth, let us raise our tents there, so that, dwelling in the protection of the God of heaven, we may not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow flying by day, nor the business that walks in darkness, nor the attack and the noonday demon (Ps 91:5-6).

The thirty-eighth station is called Jeabarim. — The thirty-eighth station is called Jeabarim; for thus it is held: And setting out from Oboth, they camped in Jeabarim, in that which is Moab, in the borders of Joab (Num 33:44). Concerning this station it is read more clearly in another place: And departing, it says, from Oboth, they camped in Jeabarim, in the desert that is in the sight of Moab, toward the rising of the sun (Num 21:11). On this account it must be remembered that the Idumeans, as we said above, hostilely refused to grant the children of Israel passage through their lands. Whence, turning aside from them, they were compelled to go around the borders of the Moabites. Hence it is said that they came into the region of Moab toward the east.

Jeabarim means "the passing-through heap of stones," which is the Church of the righteous. For the passing stones are the righteous. They are indeed called stones because of their firmness, of whom the apostle Peter writes, saying: "And you yourselves, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house" (1 Pet. 2:5). Firmness is rightly ascribed to the righteous, because they neither waver nor are carried about by every wind of doctrine; whence in the Gospel they are compared to a house founded upon firm rock, upon which the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and it did not fall (Matt. 7:25). They are also called "passing through," because according to the Apostle they confess that they are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth (Heb. 11:13). Finally, with good reason the Church is called a heap of stones, because she herself is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). Let us therefore also have our station in Jeabarim, so that, according to the apostle Paul, we may hold fast the hope set before us, as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, and entering even to the inner place behind the veil (Heb. 6:19); and so that, according to the apostle Peter as well, forewarned, we may be on our guard, lest, led astray by the error of the wicked, we fall from our own firmness (2 Pet. 3:17).

The thirty-ninth station, DIBONGAD. — The thirty-ninth station is held to be at Dibongad; for thus it is read: And setting out from Jeabarim, they encamped in Dibongad (Num. 33:45). But concerning this station something far different seems to be read in another place; for it is written: And departing from Oboth, they encamped in Jeabarim, in the wilderness which is in the sight of Moab, toward the east of the sun. From there they departed, and encamped in the valley of Zared; these things are there (Num. 21:11). If therefore, according to Origen in the cited place, they encamped in the valley of Zared, you will say: How is it there at Dibongad? But there the place is expressed in a general way, here however specifically. For Dibongad is around the valley of Zared, which lies between the borders of the Amorites and the Moabites. Mystically, however, Dibongad signifies a hive of temptations. By this we are taught that although a righteous man may be very near to perfection, or even at its summit, temptations are nevertheless not lacking to him. This is the safeguard of divine providence, lest by good successes we seize the boldness to turn aside from the right. Hence Job said: Blessed is the man whom the Lord corrects: do not refuse the rebuke of the Almighty (Job 5:17). And even if, while we are in the flesh, temptations seem bitter to us, they nonetheless wonderfully profit us for the life to come, as the Apostle says: Every discipline indeed in the present seems not to be of joy, but of sorrow: but afterward it will render the most peaceful fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it (Heb. 12:11).

Let us therefore draw near, and hasten to enter into this station, knowing that we are sometimes rebuked by the Lord, lest we be condemned with this world (1 Cor. 11:32). Let us also hold the certain hope that God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way out, that you may be able to endure it (1 Cor. 10:13).

The fortieth station, ELMON DEBLATHAIM. — The fortieth station is completed by the children of Israel at Elmon Deblathaim; for thus it is written: And setting out from Dibongad, they encamped in Elmon Deblathaim (Num. 33:46). This word Elmon Deblathaim, just as it is twofold, so also it indicates two things—namely, contempt for figs, that is, contempt for earthly sweetness; for figs display sweetness. Hence the prophet Jeremiah saw good figs, very good (Jer. 24:3). And our Savior, hungering, forsaking the bitterness of the scribes and Pharisees, came to the fig tree, that he might find at least some sweetness in the people; and when he found nothing but leaves only, he cursed it, saying: May no fruit ever be born from you (Matt. 21:19). Contempt, therefore, for earthly delights is especially necessary for one hastening to heaven. For unless we have disregarded the enticements of pleasures and the things that seem delightful on earth, we cannot raise ourselves up to heavenly things. Therefore the Apostle admonishes, saying: Seek the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth (Col. 3:2). Indeed, to savor earthly things is confusion.

As the Apostle writes: Their glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things (Phil. 3:19). But because our conversation is in heaven, we who have risen with Christ (ibid., 20), with all eagerness of heart and having trampled underfoot the enticements of the world, let us enter into the tabernacles of that dwelling, seeking the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:4); and let us strive, whether absent or present, to please our Lord God.

The forty-first station, ARARIM. — The forty-first station is made by the children of Israel in the mountains of Abarim; for it follows: And departing from Elmon Deblathaim, they encamped on the mountains of Abarim opposite Nebo (Num. 33:47). But what is read elsewhere concerning this station seems far removed from this. For it says: They encamped in the valley of Zared; descending from there, they encamped beyond Arnon in the desert which rises up from the borders of the Amorites (Num. 21:12, 15). From these words it seems that the children of Israel had their station after Elmon not in the mountains of Abarim but in the desert beyond Arnon. But there is no discrepancy, since Abarim is in the desert beyond Arnon. What Scripture therefore expressed elsewhere under a general term, it here expresses under the proper name. Whence it adds: For Arnon is at the borders of Moab between the Amorites; and there we have mount Abarim, at whose roots near the Amorites the river Arnon flows.

Now Mount Abarim is said to be beyond the Arnon, not in relation to the Hebrews' crossing, but in relation to the location of the holy land, as is Moses' custom in this description; for in the book of Deuteronomy it is read: These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness toward the west (Deut. 1:1). Yet Moses never crossed the Jordan; it was therefore on this side with respect to the Hebrews' route, but beyond with respect to the location of the holy land. At this station Moses sent envoys to Sihon, king of the Amorites, that he might provide his people with passage through his lands, without any injury to them at all: We will pass through your land, they said, we will not turn aside to field or vineyard, nor will we drink water from a well; we will go by the king's highway (Num. 21:22). But Sihon refused this entirely and gave a harsh answer: indeed, with a strong armed force he at once came down to the river Arnon, where Israel was about to cross, to block the way and to oppose them as they fought. But it was brought about by divine power that, with the king slain in battle, the Hebrews struck down the people of the Amorites with the slaughter of the sword and, ravaging their lands, laid them waste. Meanwhile Og, king of Bashan, to bring aid to the Amorite his friend, mustered immense armed forces, with which he attacked Israel to assail them hostilely. But Israel, fighting with heavenly aid, both killed that king himself in war and destroyed his entire army, and finally subdued all their land; from this, with a distinguished victory, they carried off great abundance of riches.

Josephus has recorded all these things in a full account (Antiquities, Book IV, chapter 4).

The forty-second station is at the Jordan. The forty-second station is reckoned to be in the plains of Moab by the Jordan; therefore it says: And setting out from the borders of Abarim, they came to the west of Moab, above the Jordan near Jericho; and there they encamped by the Jordan between Bethsimon and Belsachin, in the west of Moab (Num 33:48). The Scripture mentions this same station in another place, saying: And the children of Israel departed and encamped at the west of Moab, by the Jordan near Jericho (Num 22:1). Finally, this is the last station of that long and arduous journey of the children of Israel described by Moses through the word of God. And although very many things worthy of remembrance were said and done in it, we shall nevertheless relate these few. First, Balak king of the Moabites, seeing the children of Israel advance with such great increase, and their affairs prosper with such favorable successes, conceived great fear for his own affairs, as appears in what he said beforehand to the people of Midian. For he said: Now this gathering will lick up all who are around us, as an ox licks up the living things from the field (Ibid., 4). Therefore, not daring to attack them openly with arms, he resolved, lest they become even more powerful, to have recourse to secret arts. Hence he summoned Balaam the magician to himself and asked him to curse and destroy the people by his imprecations and magical arts.

Because from him, with divine providence opposing, he could never obtain it either by persuasions or by gifts; indeed, rather, with the Lord himself opening his mouth, he prayed for good things for the people and foretold prosperous successes: "How beautiful," he says, "are your dwellings, Jacob, your tabernacles, Israel, like shadowing valleys, like gardens beside a river, and as tabernacles which the Lord has fixed" (Num. 24:5); and below: "Those who bless you shall be blessed, and those who curse you shall be cursed"; likewise: "A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall arise out of Israel" (Ibid.). Then, because the people, having forsaken the true God, had turned to idols through love of the Midianite women, Phinehas the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, zealous with zeal for the Lord of hosts, before iniquity could grow stronger through license, killed publicly with a drawn dagger the Hebrew man and the Midianite woman, caught in fornication and brought before Moses; provoked by his example, very many rose up against the fornicators with weapons seized, and on that day twenty-four thousand men were slain to utter destruction. Therefore, when the fornicators had been killed, God was reconciled with the people: "And the plague," it says, "ceased from the children of Israel" (Num. 25:8).

Moreover, because the land of the Canaanites, toward which the children of Israel were pressing to possess it by the word of God, was already looming near, and they were already, after forty and more years, as it were taking hold of the borders of that fleeing holy land; and because it was granted to them to capture it only by armed hand and with unbroken strength: therefore Eleazar the priest decreed by God's command to make a new census of the people fit for war, in which, apart from the tribe of Levi, set apart for the special worship of God, and the women, six hundred thousand and one thousand seven hundred and thirty men, from twenty years and upward, prepared for wars, as the Scripture says, were numbered. But very many other matters pertaining to religion and the worship of God, and also to the ordering of the state in war and peace, Moses and Eleazar the priest set in order in this station (Num. 26:51); and lest they draw out our reading to too great a length, or because we have often arranged these matters in other places, we judge that they should now be omitted. Nevertheless we have not thought it right to pass over in silence that Moses, at last recognizing that his final day was at hand for him through the word of God, with his successor declared to him and the leader of the people appointed by God's command, Joshua son of Nun, and with the blessings and curses prescribed (Deut.

(XXXIX, 1 et seq.), by which observers or transgressors of the divine law would be overtaken, and when the things that were to come upon them individually for each tribe had also been foretold, he ascended Mount Nebo, and from there the broad and excellent region of the Canaanites—the land, surely, flowing with milk and honey, promised again to the fathers even by repeated oracles—lying opposite Mount Nebo, he surveyed with his eyes, considered in his mind, and, to use the Apostle's words (Heb. XI, 13), greeted from afar. When this was at last completed, the Lord said to him: I have shown this land to your eyes, but you shall not enter it (Deut. XXXIX, 4). And immediately by the word of God he died and was buried in the valley; and no one has known his grave to this present day. This is the end of Moses, and of the mansions of the people, reviewed in order by God's command. As for the rest, certain mystical matters would now have to be explained, had we not scattered most of them throughout the present treatise and explained others in other places.

Finally, we judged it worth the effort to note this as well: that this whole crossing is commemorated here for this reason, and this whole course is set before us to be completed for this purpose—that at last, arriving at the Jordan, the river of God, we may be watered by the waves of divine wisdom; so that, purified in all things, we may at last, with God showing mercy, enter the land of promise and be able to say with the Apostle: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith, and the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award on that day to those who love his coming (2 Tim 4:7-8), may be laid up for us through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit is all honor, glory, and everlastingness forever and ever. Amen.

ADMONITION CONCERNING THE COMMENTARIES THAT FOLLOW.

As much as in times past, over many centuries, it was conspired that the following Work should be attributed to Saint Ambrose, so great is the consensus that as many learned men as now hear of it wish it to be adjudged to the same. For indeed, already from the ninth century, Hincmar (Treatise on the Divorce of Lothair, etc.), the Church of Lyon (Tom. IV Bibl. PP. part II), the third Council of Aachen (year 862, chapter 8), Amalarius, Prudentius, Haymo, and many other authors of the same time brought forth many things from these very Commentaries under the name of Ambrose.

Rabbanus, a contemporary of Hincmar, in his Exposition of the Pauline Epistles collected from the Fathers, adduces very many passages in the first five epistles as genuinely Ambrosian, which in fact exist in these our Commentaries. From there also Sedulius transferred certain passages into his explanation of the earlier epistles of the same Paul, with the name of Ambrose ascribed once. Lanfranc also, in his Compilation, attributed to the holy Doctor those fragments which he borrowed from this Work. Finally, this Work was accepted as Ambrosian by Gratian, Peter Lombard, Ivo of Chartres, and countless others. Nevertheless, since so universal an opinion seemed to Erasmus, Turrianus, and others not sufficiently certain, thereafter, with the matter more thoroughly examined, they all rejected it with a single vote.

Wherefore we would seem to be doing what is already done if we lingered longer in proving a matter that is indeed most thoroughly established. We shall not be silent, however, that the style of the Work is so far removed from the Ambrosian style that it is plainly a wonder, as he says, that this difference was detected so late. But neither is the disagreement between the teaching of the two authors any lighter; for in the Ambrosiaster not only do certain extraordinary opinions occur, and ones vastly discrepant from the views of the true Ambrose, but even in asserting the most catholic dogmas there is not sufficient agreement between the two, and for refuting those things which the Arians were accustomed to object, by that one are employed those responses which, being neglected, the holy Doctor proposes altogether different ones.

Besides this, it would be useless to observe what is obvious to everyone, namely that this writer was entirely a stranger to the Greek language. But what if we add that it is not so very clear whether Ambrose composed Commentaries on Paul at all? Yet even granting that the holy man published an exposition of this kind, it is at least quite credible that it had already perished by the time of Cassiodorus; for this can be inferred from his own words that follow: "It is said," he writes, "that the blessed Ambrose left behind a noted codex of all the epistles of Saint Paul, filled with a most sweet exposition; yet I have not been able to find it thus far," etc. (Book on Divine Instruction in Letters, chapter 8).

The whole difficulty, then, lies in discovering the true author of this work. It has pleased some to hold that its compiler was the man who, having cut patches from Chrysostom and Jerome, made a cento out of them. Others maintain that the prologues prefixed to the individual expositions belong to a clumsy patchworker, one who stole many fragments especially from Jerome. Yet in a comparison of the works of these same Fathers we by no means find this to be so. On the contrary, we quite frequently observe that this author disagrees with their opinions, offers other explanations, sometimes cites the apostolic text in a different way than they are accustomed to, and finally, wherever he agrees with them, this has come about because it is impossible for those who compose commentaries on the same book to differ everywhere.

Nevertheless, we shall not deny that our author appears to have borrowed certain things from Jerome, but for that reason we do not judge that he is to be regarded as a compiler in the sense in which they understand it. Moreover, among others who have attempted to discover the author of these Commentaries, those who attributed the same work to Remigius were mistaken. For both in the Library of the Fathers and in not a few manuscripts there exist works under the name of Remigius plainly different from these ours. Nor were there lacking those who contended that this commentary was the work of Julian or of some other Pelagian. But writers have likewise been found to whom the author of that work seemed deserving to be freed from that stigma, and if perchance anything that could favor those heretics occurs therein, this is to be referred to the fact that, since he wrote before the heresy of these same men had arisen, he spoke less cautiously and considerately. Finally, the last opinion, and the more common one, is that of those who say that Hilary, deacon of the Roman Church, who, when he had attached himself to the Luciferian schism, was received by Jerome in so harsh a style (Dial. adv. Lucifer. after the middle), is the true author of this work. But since there are also those by whom this opinion is contradicted, that matter must be weighed more carefully.

We shall observe first of all that there is scarcely any work of the true Ambrose of which more copies from every age are found over the past eight hundred years than of this Ambrosiaster; but some of these differ from one another not a little. Indeed, in the library of Corbie there is one copy comprised in two volumes, than which, whether you consider its antiquity or the elegance of its characters, we have been permitted to see nothing more distinguished. But since in it the Commentaries on all the epistles of Paul, except that which is inscribed to the Hebrews, are contained under the name of Ambrose, it agrees with other manuscripts, both written and printed, only in the first three epistles, but disagrees in the rest. Rabanus Maurus, having advanced further in his Commentary collected from the Fathers, bestows the name of Ambrose on all those things which he cites, taken from the Ambrosiaster, on the first five epistles; and whatever he inserts on the remaining ones under the title of the holy Doctor, these you would find only in the Corbie manuscript. Certain words are also cited by Ivo of Chartres (Decretum, part XVI, chapter 84) from the prologue of the exposition of the epistle to Philemon, which you would find nowhere except in Rabanus and in the Corbie manuscript.

Whoever has attentively considered all these things will now cease to wonder that many things are missed in our Author which are brought forward by Lanfranc as if from Ambrose's Commentaries on the Apostle; and he will easily perceive that the name of Ambrose was attached by copyists to various expositions of the Pauline epistles. It must further be added that these same scribes abused their great license at least in the first three epistles; since it is probable that long fragments were not rarely inserted there by them, which are not found in the older manuscripts, as will be noted in the variant readings. From this a strong conjecture can be drawn against the integrity and purity of this work; nor is it recognized to be a matter of easy judgment to affirm whether it is the lucubration of one author or of several.

But if we deny that it is the work of several, it will seem at the same time to be admitted that it is the work of an ancient commentator. For what he says (In Epist. I to Timothy, chap. 3) about the Church, whose ruler today is Damasus, must either be attributed to an interpolator (and indeed it does not savor of the usage of those times, nor is it necessary to the sense), or it will be plain that the same author wrote his Commentaries before the year 584, in which the same pope ceased to live. From this it can also be confirmed, that he testifies that Marcionites still survive there; although, he says (Ibid., chap. 4), I have almost failed. It is certainly clear from Epiphanius (Hæres. 42) and Theodoret (Book i of Hæres. fabul. chap.

24) These heretics were extinguished only very late; and it is evident that in several places they passed over without difficulty into the party of the Manichaeans, who are mentioned here more frequently. It also seems worth observing in passing that in this work mention is made (In the Second Epistle to Timothy, chapter 3) of a certain law promulgated against them by Domitian, which you will find only in the Collection of Mosaic and Roman Laws. This further points to the antiquity of the author, that he does not pass over the Patricians (In the First Epistle to Timothy, chapter 4), of whom Philastrius (Book on Heresies) and Augustine make mention as still surviving; whereas they by no means extended beyond the fifth century. Moreover, of the remaining heretics, whom he attacks by far the most numerous, none is reported as at all more recent. And since in refuting the Donatists, Novatians, Arians, and Photinians he applies himself more frequently and laboriously than to others, this is undoubtedly an indication that the later heretics, namely the Nestorians and the rest of subsequent times, had not yet emerged, and that the heresies of those we have just named were then flourishing. Add to this that the text of the Apostle is repeatedly cited by that writer from a different version than the one we now use, and that the testimonies of the Old Testament are drawn from the version of the Seventy Elders. This too points to the same conclusion, that from the ecclesiastical authors he adduces passages from none but Tertullian, Cyprian, and Victorinus, the last of whom equaled Damasus in antiquity.

Finally, from this same point the same age can likewise be established, because in the baptism of the sick and in not a few other heads it beautifully represents the ecclesiastical discipline of those times.

All the things mentioned here seem to me to support the opinion of those who wish these Commentaries to have been published by Hilary; they were led to this opinion by the testimony of Augustine, who writes against the Pelagians thus (Book IV against the two Epistles of the Pelagians, chapter 4): For even the holy Hilary understood what is written: In whom all have sinned; for he says: In him, that is, in Adam, and the rest which one may read in this work down to the details. But these things, they say, cannot fit anyone except Hilary the Deacon, who himself indicates that he was a contemporary of Damasus. Indeed, objection was made that the rebaptizers are sharply pressed by this author, whereas Hilary was hostile with the same charge; and besides, Augustine would never have attributed the title of saint to this Hilary, whom he did not ignore to have withdrawn from the Church by the act of schism. But it is answered that he did not judge all heretics to be rebaptized, but only the Arians, and that by this distinction he indicates that he was then led to this opinion by another consideration as well, namely that the same heretics, thinking wrongly about the Trinity, also used an illegitimate form in baptism; and that to this extent he forbade nothing, so that he attacked the heretics who rebaptized Catholics.

We seem to satisfy the second objection to ourselves: those who have denied that the aforementioned title of honor is an argument for taking Saint Augustine to mean the Luciferian Hilary; but rather from the same source it is to be inferred either that that deacon never made a separation from the whole Church, with peace and communion, of course, preserved with its head, blessed Damasus, or that he himself at last, before he departed from the living, returned into grace with the Catholics. But Jerome is plainly contrary to a response of this kind; indeed he speaks of Hilary not as one separated from a few bishops, or only for a time, but from all catholic society through the whole course of his life (Dialogue against the Luciferians, after the middle). Against this opinion this also makes the point, that Hilary, as being a deacon of the Roman Church, did not speak of it as a stranger or an outsider. For in what way could he have written of his own Church: "Now it is fitting that there be seven deacons, and some presbyters, so that there be two per church" (On the Epistle to Timothy, chapter 3)? For indeed, when under the emperor Diocletian (Optatus, book 2) there were already forty basilicas in the City, it was necessary that not some presbyters, but at the very least eighty, be ordained there.

Nor is there any doubt that these very considerations occurred to Petavius, so that he attributed the same Commentaries to Hilary, but to a different Hilary, a Luciferian, whoever he finally was. And indeed (Ughellus, Italia Sacra, vol. I, part II, p. 6) we would not have Hilary as bishop of Pavia under Damasus, distinguished by his sanctity and zeal against the Arians, to whom perhaps those works can be ascribed; there still survive many writings whose authors are known only by a slight name, and which we would be wholly ignorant of, had it not happened by chance that the same were once named by another. But although these things cannot be denied universally, yet they can be objected against him: that Augustine, most sharply contending against the Pelagians who attack the doctrine of original guilt, would not have used the testimony of his authority, who, if anywhere he seems to acknowledge it, sometimes nevertheless brings forward the contrary; and who is thought by the most weighty and most approved theologians openly to favor the Pelagians, and in at least one passage is manifestly pronounced a Semipelagian by Justinian of the Society of Jesus, a most learned man (Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. XIV). What if we add here also other errors, which are everywhere detected in the same Commentaries? Certainly the author of them cannot be defended from having thought with Origen (from Estius' Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians, chap. III) that it lies within the will of demons to recoil from error. It is also sufficiently established that he contends that it was lawful for a husband (In the First Epistle to the Corinthians

(Book II), when his wife had been repudiated on account of adultery, to marry another; but he denies that it is lawful for a wife separated from an adulterous husband to enter into marriage with another. But neither are those statements sufficiently sound: that woman was made in the image of God (On the Epistle to the Corinthians, chapters XI and XIV, and On the Epistle to the Colossians, chapter III); that bishops obtain a higher rank than presbyters (On the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter IV), or that he denies that diverse ordinations are instituted; and certain other things he hands down which are less in accord with the common sense of Catholics.

Moreover, even if there are many things which seem to favor the same antiquity for this Work as for Damasus, there also occur in it other things by which it can be relegated to a much later age. For to pass over here that no Latin commentary on Paul's Epistles except Victorinus's is acknowledged by Jerome in his Ecclesiastical Authors, it is by no means inconsistent with likelihood that very many things in these books were transferred from Augustine, Chrysostom, and Jerome; indeed even—which is certainly worth noting—from that very commentator whose work, published at the end of Jerome's works, is asserted by many to be Pelagius's. For since there are not a few passages which are covered by the very same words in each commentary, and therefore it is not doubtful that one took from the other, we consider it less probable that the Hieronymian, who is so brief and concise, borrowed certain things from the Ambrosian, than the reverse.

To these things it will further be permitted to add that it can be proved, with no less zeal, by this same author that the Lord Christ is the Son of God by adoption, just as Felicius and Elipandus had written after their error (In the Epistle to the Philippians, chapter 2).

To those differences of times one might add some discrepancy in diction and sentiment, in the expositions of the various epistles, concerning the same subject, and also an inequality of manner of discoursing, now most diffuse, now most compressed, so that perhaps someone may dissent, holding that all these Commentaries are from the same hand, or at least may judge that they must be attributed to some compiler of this sort, who, in measuring out various Works, many of which have perished, retained certain notes of the times of individuals in such a way that he likewise added some of his own age. But however great the difficulty may be, he says, in assigning the antiquity either of the author or of the work, the handwritten volumes of these same Commentaries, just as also the writers by whom they are found cited or excerpted, make it plain that a time later than the eighth century cannot by any means be adjudged to them.

There will perhaps be some who wish to know our opinion concerning the Author of the Questions on the New and Old Testament, who many of the Louvain theologians, by whom the same books were relegated to the appendix of the Works of Saint Augustine (Tom. III, part. I), have thought to be the same as Ambrosiaster. But the matters we have thus far discussed show well enough that it is not an easy task to decide this matter. Indeed, very many things are brought forward which meet the eyes in both works in the same words and with the same passages of Scripture cited; but nothing can be gathered from this except that these very things have been transcribed from one into the other. Yet it is more probable that the author of the Questions, if indeed there is one author of them, since he is much more diffuse in treating them and has added more of his own to the errors of Ambrosiaster, is the compiler of this work.

Moreover, since it cannot be denied that this work has its own usefulness, and since up to this edition it has held a place among the commentaries of Ambrose, and indeed is cited everywhere under his name, we have admitted it into this Appendix the more willingly because there were several manuscripts at hand, by whose aid it might come forth much more correct. Among other emendations, moreover, we restore at the end of the Commentary on the first epistle to the Corinthians, and likewise at the beginning of the following one, a very large fragment, whose loss some writer had repaired from a scrap of the Commentary of Pseudo-Jerome.

It remains only to give warning that the Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews has been omitted by us. The older men of that time recognized this, and neither Amerbach nor Erasmus did so. But when it was admitted by those who afterward undertook the care of the Ambrosian edition, it so far did not escape the notice of men of keen judgment that it was not even believed to be by the same author to whom the preceding works are attributed, and therefore much less by our Doctor. And in truth it is nothing other than a rather poorly arranged compilation of several of the Fathers, which, since it has been published more fully among the Works of Rhabanus Maurus, and there the authors of the individual fragments may be read alongside, it has seemed to us that there is no reason why it should be received into our edition.