Behold you are fair; your eyes are doves
Behold, you are fair, my friend; behold, you are fair; your eyes are doves. The doubled beauty can mark present and future: now fair by imitation of Christ, then fair by perfection itself. Dove-eyes signify spiritual understanding given by the Holy Spirit. Unless the soul receives dove-eyes, she cannot perceive the Word’s beauty.
Latin
Ecce tu pulchra es, amica mea; ecce tu pulchra es; oculi tui columbae. Iteratio pulchritudinis praesens et futurum significare potest: nunc speciosa imitatione Christi, tunc perfectione. Oculi columbae intelligentiam spiritalem denotant, quae a Spiritu sancto datur. Nisi oculos columbae acceperit anima, pulchritudinem Verbi perspicere non potest.
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.