Cedar beams and cypress paneling — Liber II frame
The beams of our houses are cedar, our paneling cypress. The soul’s or church’s house is upheld by beams of faith and hope; the paneling is charity. Cedar and cypress are woods that do not rot, because the theological virtues do not decay. These belong to the close of the Second Book, where the Bride speaks no longer only of blackness, but of the adornment of a shared dwelling with the Bridegroom.
Latin
Tigna domorum nostrarum cedrina, laquearia nostra cypressina. Domus animae vel ecclesiae trabibus fidei et spei fulcitur; laquearia caritatis. Cedrus et cypressus imputribilia ligna sunt, quia virtutes theologicae non putrescunt. Haec ad clausulam Libri Secundi pertinent, ubi sponsa iam non solum de nigredine, sed de ornatu communis habitationis cum sponso loquitur.
About this text
Origen’s Commentary on the Song of Songs, Liber II (Rufinus’s Latin). Complete on this page: §§1–20.
English follows Baehrens, Origenes Werke VIII (GCS 33, 1925), Rufinus’s Latin of Commentary Liber II. Lawson ACW 26 was not used as wording. This page is Liber II §§1–20 (closeout).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Baehrens, Origenes Werke VIII = GCS 33 (1925) (Latin · Commentary Liber II §§1–20)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.