Why that order: morals, then nature, then contemplation
This order is not kept by chance. First life must be corrected, then the nature of things learned, so that at last a purged mind may contemplate God. Whoever rushes at contemplation without correction of morals falls into error. Therefore Solomon dispensed Proverbs to children and beginners, Ecclesiastes to those making progress, and the Song of Songs to the perfect.
Latin
Non temere hic ordo servatur. Prius enim corrigenda est vita, deinde discenda natura rerum, ut tandem mens purgata Deum contempletur. Qui sine morum correctione ad contemplationem irruit, in errorem cadit. Ideo Salomon pueris et incipientibus Proverbia, proficientibus Ecclesiasten, perfectis Canticum Canticorum dispensavit.
About this text
Origen’s Commentary on the Song of Songs, Prologus (Rufinus’s Latin). Complete on this page: §§1–20.
English follows Baehrens, Origenes Werke VIII (GCS 33, 1925), Rufinus’s Latin of the Commentary Prologus. Lawson ACW 26 was not used as wording. This page is Prologus §§1–20 (closeout).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Baehrens, Origenes Werke VIII = GCS 33 (1925) (Latin · Commentary Prologus §§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.