The History of Monsters — 227

is considered the more noble part, drawing those parts that follow after it, as Saint Augustine elegantly and excellently explained in his book *On the Spirit and the Soul*.

We must now turn to the mouth, which in the sacred scriptures is attributed to God and is called both a generative and a spirative power. This is especially true in the Song of Songs, where the bride's mouth is interpreted as the power of God illuminating the mind. Indeed, Christ Himself is the mouth of God, and the law of God’s mouth is held to be the law of Christ, although sometimes the Prophets, through whom He reveals His will to us, are called the mouth of God. However, when Psalm 33 mentions the mouth of God, it signifies the will, mind, and thought that disseminate divine praise. In Ezekiel, the mouth opened after the destruction of Jerusalem signifies that the Gospel of Christ was shared with the whole world once Jerusalem was destroyed. Finally, the mouth from which fire issues, as read in Revelation, signifies the mouth of the Church—that is, its prayer. In the Psalms we find these words: *My bone was not hidden from you, which you made in secret.* In his commentaries on the Psalms, Hilary says these words indicate that the mysteries of the Church, fashioned in secret by God, are being revealed and spread abroad. Likewise, in the Book of Kings, it is written: *to depart from the old mouth*; thus we are taught that idle words belonging to the "old man" are to be cast aside. And when the boy restored to life by Elisha yawned seven times, the mystical meaning is that the soul must be strengthened and protected by the instruction of the seven spiritual gifts.

The phrase *They have mouths, but they shall not speak*, from Psalm 115, pertains to those who know the virtue of confession and how they ought to confess, yet nevertheless remain silent. In Psalm 22, it says: *They gaped upon me with their mouths*; this is nothing other than the mouths of the Jews opened against Christ during the Passion, for they spoke vanities, as the Psalmist expressed elsewhere. The mouth of the sinner and the deceitful man opened against me, as seen in Psalm 109, refers to the mouth of the traitor Judas. Furthermore, the mouth speaking great things in Daniel refers to the Antichrist, who will be filled with a diabolical mouth—though all the wicked and fraudulent are filled with such speech. Of these it is also read in Psalm 50: *Your mouth has overflowed with malice.* Finally, the mouth covered by a garment, as found in Leviticus, refers to the wicked and to heretics, who must be prohibited from preaching lest they infect their listeners with poisonous speech.

Teeth whiter than milk are mentioned in Genesis, signifying that the judgment of the Last Day will be pure, upright, and just. Alternatively, these white teeth can be applied to the Church, whose "teeth" are said to be the Apostles and Preachers, for they instill the pre-masticated Word of God into the ears of the faithful and remove men from their crimes by cutting them off with the tooth of admonition. In the Song of Songs, teeth are compared to flocks, which can represent the monastics in the Church who, stripped of worldly things, remain strong in doctrine and upright works like teeth firmly set in the gums. Otherwise, by the "teeth of sinners," as read in Psalm 3, we should understand the leaders of the wicked, by whose authority men are cut off and segregated from the company of the just. Therefore, God shall break their teeth, as stated in Psalm 58, when wicked men and heretics are confounded by their own words. Finally, a decayed tooth mentioned in Proverbs is compared to a man who places any hope in a fragile human being.

The tongue is a human member most excellent not only for forming the voice but also for discerning flavors; it is assigned to God in Psalm 45: *My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.* This tongue of God reveals the generative power of the Father producing the Word. It is called the scribe’s pen because it brought forth the permanent Word; or it also signifies the Holy Spirit, through whom God reveals His secrets to the human race. The "learned tongue" in Isaiah is interpreted as the tongue of Christ and of preachers.

In another sense, the tongue sticking to the jaws in Psalm 22 signifies Christ being silent during the Passion, or likewise the Apostles remaining silent during the Passion. However, others interpret the tongue sticking to Christ's jaws as the Church never departing from His precepts. Differently, the tongue of the bride in the Song of Songs, under which honey and milk are contained, demonstrates the mystical tongue of the soul or the Church, which, though it may pour out harsh words in the conversion of sinners, nevertheless beneath it some sweetness lies hidden,