236 Ulysses Aldrovandi

restored to life, indicates a soul consenting to a wicked thought that has not yet resulted in action. This soul, though dead within, returns to the Lord by reviving through God’s grace. However, the dead youth whom the Lord recalled to the air of life outside the city gate and restored to his mother demonstrates a soul that has consented to evil thoughts which have already been carried into effect; nevertheless, because the soul repented, the Lord restored it to the grace of Mother Church. Finally, Lazarus—who was already stinking on the fourth day when he was returned to life by the Lord—manifests a soul habituated to committing crimes, which, entangled in sins, stinks as if buried in them. Yet the Lord, the parent of mercy, also restores such a soul to grace, according to the opinion of St. Augustine.

We must now turn to the names "man" (*vir*) and "human" (*homo*), to weigh their significance in mystical doctrine. The Man of God who rebuked Jeroboam, withered his arm and then healed it, and refused to eat bread with him at his invitation—but was later deceived on the road, ate with a prophet, and died, as told in the History of Kings—denotes those who boast insolently of certain great works and afterwards, by God's permission, fall into great sins.

A "man after God’s own heart," mentioned in the same history, is a person imbued with charity who is most pleasing to God. Alternatively, many understand the "Man of God" to mean the assembly of the Apostles. Similarly, the man dressed in white garments lifting his right and left hands to heaven, whom Daniel beheld, represents an Angel.

Furthermore, the man bringing a thousand pieces of silver for the fruit of the vineyard in the Song of Solomon is the person who spurns pleasures and worldly things for the sake of Christ. The rich man who takes the poor man’s sheep in the History of Kings is Christ redeeming the human race and liberating it from diabolical snares; he is elsewhere called a "man of sorrows" in Isaiah, as he underwent various tortures during his Passion. Indeed, he was even called the "man of God’s will," since in all things he satisfied the divine will. He is also called a "man of strife and discord" in Jeremiah, because he was set as a sign that would be contradicted. Hence he is named the "man of God’s right hand" in Psalm 79. Moreover, in Exodus, "the Lord is a man of war, Jehovah is his name," signifying Christ the Lord who would battle the enemy of the human race and ultimately report the victory. Likewise, according to Zechariah, the man riding a red horse standing among the myrtle trees in the valley is shown, in the view of Galatinus, to be Christ the Lord dwelling among just men; the horse signifies the body of our Lord, which was to acquire the redness of blood upon the altar of the Cross.

In another sense, the Lord God is called a "warrior man" in Exodus because no one can resist his power. To these may be added the man whom Jerusalem casts out in Ezekiel, for he is a symbol of the Word of God, which the sinning soul rejects. The one man fleeing from the battle line and announcing that the Ark has been captured, as read in the History of Kings, represents a preacher from the Jews hastening toward the faith—namely, the Apostle Paul. Likewise, the man fighting against his brother in Isaiah represents, according to the mind of St. Jerome, a person who approaches Christ after leaving behind precious and dear things. But the one man pursuing a thousand, as stated in Isaiah, designates a learned teacher putting the forces of the heretics to flight. Indeed, the man "who shall not be strengthened in his own strength," as found in the History of Kings, is the person strong in divine doctrine, without which all strength is considered as nothing. Conversely, the "talkative and unjust man" mentioned in Psalm 139 can be interpreted as Judas; and the man with "torn-away testicles" indicates someone who previously led a pious life but, over the course of time, turned to wickedness; for just as the "witnesses" (testicles) are signs of virtue, so conversely their removal signifies an effeminacy of character.

The name "men" in the plural form is assigned many mystical meanings in the Holy Bible. In the book of Numbers, the two men carrying a cluster of grapes on a pole can refer to the two thieves crucified with Christ, or they can designate the Jewish people going before and turning their backs on Christ, as well as the Gentile people following and consequently gazing upon the face of Christ. Alternatively, they manifest the twofold love of Christ—namely, for the Father and for humanity—or the two Testaments in which Christ is contained.

By the three men who appeared to Abraham in Genesis, we can understand the coming of Christ, accompanied by Moses and Elijah; namely the one, through the law, the coming of the Lord