Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/115

 TJ^ The Rise of the Papacy 79 Hence that art of speaking which is conveyed by rules A reaction of worldly training I have despised to observe ; for as the a S ainst the tenor of this epistle also will tell, I do not escape harsh- Horary sounding consonants, nor do I avoid barbarisms, and I pay bombast, little attention to rhetorical situations and arrangements, and the cases of propositions. For I account it very far from meet to submit the words of the divine oracle to the rules of Donatus 1 ; neither are these observed by any of the translators thereof, in the authoritative text of Holy Writ. Now as my exposition takes its origin from thence, it is plainly meet that this production, like a kind of offspring, should wear the likeness of its mother. The manner of this allegorical interpretation, so pop- An example ular throughout the Middle Ages, may be illustrated by Gregory's commentary on the statement that Job pos- tion - sessed, among other property, "five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she asses." We have said above that by the number fifty, which is completed by seven weeks and the addition of an unit, rest is signified, and by the number ten the sum of perfection is set forth. Now, forasmuch as the perfection of rest is promised to the faithful, by multiplying fifty ten times, we arrive at five hundred. But in Sacred Writ the title of oxen sometimes represents the dullness of the foolish sort, and sometimes the life of well-doers. For because the stupidity of the fool is represented by the title of an ox, Solomon says rightly, " He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter." Again, that the life of every laborer is set forth by the title of oxen, the precepts of the Law are a testimony, which enjoined through Moses, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." And this again is declared in plain words, " The labourer is worthy of his hire." 1 A grammarian, St. Jerome's teacher, who wrote the elementary grammar most widely used during the Middle Ages.