§17ad ludam quidem patriarcham dirigi uidetur alloquium, sed Iuda ille posterior uerus confessor exprimitur, qui ex ea tribu natus est, qui solus laudatur a fratribus, de quibus dicit: narrabo nomen tuum fratribus meis, dominus per naturam, frater per gratiam, cuius manus, quas expandit ad populum non credentem, super dorsum inimicorum.
The address indeed seems to be directed to the patriarch Judah, but that latter true Confessor is expressed, who was born of that tribe, who alone is praised by his brothers, concerning whom he says: "I will declare your name to my brothers," Lord by nature, brother by grace, whose hands, which he stretched out to an unbelieving people, are upon the back of his enemies.
isdem enim manibus atque eadem passione suos texit et subiugauit aduersarias potestates omnesque fidei et pietatis exortes subditos sibi fecit.
For with those same hands and by the same passion he protected his own and subjugated the adversary powers and made all those devoid of faith and piety subject to himself.
de quibus ait pater ad filium: et dominaberis in medio inimicorum tuorum. quos inimicos sua fecit malitia, non Christi uoluntas.
Concerning whom the Father says to the Son: "And you shall rule in the midst of your enemies." Their own malice made them enemies, not the will of Christ.
in quo magna gratia domini.
In which is the great grace of the Lord.
etenim spiritales nequitiae, quae ante ceruicem nostram iugo solebant captiuitatis inflectere, ita ut Dauid ipse manus quodammodo super se triumphantium sentire se scriberet dicens: super dorsum meum fabricauerunt peccatores, ipsae nunc subditae Christi triumpho et quibusdam manibus eius, id est factis operibusque subiectae perpetuae subeunt captiuitatis aerumnam. ipse <est> utique.
For indeed the spiritual wickedness, which formerly used to bend our necks under the yoke of captivity—so that David himself wrote that he felt, as it were, the hands of those triumphing over him, saying: "Sinners have built upon my back"—is now itself, subjected to the triumph of Christ and subjected to his hands, that is, to his deeds and works, undergoing the hardship of perpetual captivity.
qui adoratur a filiis patris sui, quando adoratur a nobis, quibus ipse permisit ut patrem uocemus, cuius seruum esse uirtutis est.
He is indeed the one who is adored by the sons of his father, when he is adored by us, to whom he himself permitted that we should call his father Father, to be whose servant is a virtue.
§18Catulus leonis Iuda. nonne euidenter et patrem expressit et filium declarauit? quid tam euidens, quo unius naturae filius deus cum patre esse doceatur? leo ille, hic catulus leonis.
"Judah is a lion's whelp." Does he not evidently express both the Father and declare the Son? What is so evident, by which the Son is taught to be God of one nature with the Father? That one is a lion, this one a lion's whelp.
uili conparatione eiusdem naturae aut potentiae unitas intellegitur.
By a humble comparison, the unity of the same nature or power is understood.
rex ex rege processit, fortis ex forte.
A king proceeded from a king, a strong one from a strong one.
quia futuros praeuidebat qui filium adsererent iunioris aetatis, occurrit his subiciens: ex germine mihi ascendisti.
Because he foresaw that there would be those who would assert that the Son is of a younger age, he met them by subjoining: "From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
recumbens dormisti ut leo et tamquam catulus. et alibi habes quia catulus ipse est leo de tribu Iuda.
Couching, you slept as a lion and as a whelp." And elsewhere you have that the whelp itself is the lion of the tribe of Judah.
ergo quia catulum dixerat. bene statim leonem posuit, hoc est dicere: non capiantur aures uestrae, quia catulum audierunt; filium expressi, non dixi minorem.
Therefore, because he had said "whelp," he rightly placed "lion" immediately after, which is to say: "Let not your ears be caught because they heard 'whelp'; I have expressed the Son, I have not said he is lesser." And he himself is a lion just as the Father is.
et ipse est leo sicut pater. audiant quia et leonem et catulum appellauit, leonem quasi perfectae plenaeque uirtutis, catulum quasi filium, ne quis cum audiret, aequalem patris non putaret filium.
Let them hear that he called him both lion and whelp—lion as if of perfect and full virtue, whelp as if the Son, lest anyone, when he heard it, should not think the Son equal to the Father.
non sic laudatur filius, ut separetur a patre.
The Son is not praised in such a way that he is separated from the Father.
§19ille probat aequalem qui filium confitetur.
He proves him equal who confesses him as Son.
mirifice autem et incarnationem eius expressit dicens: ex germine mihi ascendisti, eo quod tamquam frutex terrae in aluo uirginis germinau<er>it et ut flos boni odoris ad redemptionem mundi totius maternis uisceribus splendore nouae lucis emissus ascenderit, sicut Esaias dicit: exiet uirga ex radice Iessae et flos ex radice ascendet. radix familia Iudaeorum, uirga Maria, flos Mariae Christus.
Moreover, he wonderfully expressed his incarnation, saying: "From the prey, my son, you have gone up," because he germinated like a shrub of the earth in the womb of the virgin, and like a flower of good odor rose up, sent forth from his mother's womb for the redemption of the whole world with the splendor of a new light, as Isaiah says: "A rod shall go forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root." The root is the family of the Jews, the rod Mary, the flower of Mary is Christ.
recte uirga, quae regalis est generis de domo et patria Dauid, cuius nos Christus est, qui faetorem mundanae conluuionis aboleuit, odorem uitae infudit aeternae.
Rightly a rod, which is of royal descent from the house and country of David, whose flower is Christ, who abolished the stench of the worldly pollution and infused the odor of eternal life.
§20habes ergo incarnationem, accipe passionem.
You have therefore the incarnation, now receive the passion.
recumbens inquit dormisti ut leo, quando iacuit in sepulchro uelut quodam corporis sui somno quietus, sicut ipse ait: ego dormiui et requieui et surrexi, quoniam dominus suscipiet me. unde et Iacob ait: quis suscitabit eum? hoc est: quem dominus suscipiet.
"Couching," he says, "you slept as a lion," when he lay in the tomb quiet as if in a certain sleep of his body, as he himself says: "I slept and took my rest, and I rose up, because the Lord will sustain me." Whence also Jacob says: "Who shall rouse him?" That is: "He whom the Lord will sustain." Who else is there to raise him up, unless he rouses himself by his own power and that of the Father?
quis est alius qui resuscitet, nisi ipse se sua patrisque resuscitet potestate? uideo natum auctoritate propria, uideo mortuum propria uoluntate, uideo dormientem potestate propria.
I see him born by his own authority, I see him dead by his own will, I see him sleeping by his own power.
qui omnia suo fecit arbitrio cuius alterius ut resurgat egebit auxiliis? ipse igitur resurrectionis suae auctor est, qui mortis est arbiter, qui expectatur a gentibus.
Since he did all things by his own judgment, whose other aid will he need to rise again? He therefore is the author of his own resurrection, who is the arbiter of death, who is expected by the nations.