Let him kiss me: kisses through Moses and the prophets
But now the very words must be set down in which first the voice of the Bride at prayer is heard: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. The sense is this: How long will my Bridegroom send me kisses through Moses, send me kisses through the prophets? I want already to touch his own mouth; let him come himself, let him come down himself. So she prays to the Bridegroom’s Father and says to him: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. And because she is such that that prophetic word is fulfilled over her — While you are still speaking I will say, Here I am — the Bridegroom’s Father hears the Bride and sends his Son. Seeing him whose coming she had begged, she ceases to pray and speaks to him close at hand: For your breasts are better than wine, and the fragrance of your ointments than all spices.
Latin
Verum iam ipsa verba ponenda sunt, in quibus primum vox sponsae deprecantis auditur. Osculetur me ab osculis oris sui. Quorum iste sensus est: quousque mihi sponsus meus mittit oscula per Moysen, mittit oscula per prophetas? Iam ipsius cupio ora contingere, ipse veniat, ipse descendat. Orat igitur sponsi patrem et dicit ad eum: Osculetur me ab osculis oris sui. Et quia talis est, ut compleatur super ea propheticum illud, in quo dicitur: Adhuc loquente te dicam, ecce adsum, sponsam sponsi pater exaudit, mittit filium suum. Videns illa eum, cuius deprecabatur adventum, orare desistit et ad ipsum cominus loquitur: Quoniam bona ubera tua super vinum, et odor unguentorum tuorum super omnia aromata.
About this text
Origen’s Homilia I on the Song of Songs (Jerome’s Latin). Complete on this page: §§1–10.
English follows Baehrens, Origenes Werke VIII (GCS 33, 1925), Jerome’s Latin of Homilia I. Lawson ACW 26 was not used as wording. This page is Homilia I §§1–10 (closeout).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Baehrens, Origenes Werke VIII = GCS 33 (1925) (Latin · Homilia I §§1–10)
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.