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| Please pray for the soul of Esther Clark. R.I.P. She gave a framed copy of this painting to the author in the 1980's. |
The work is offered on behalf of my family to Our Blessed Lady, Regina Martyrum et Consolatrix Afflictorum.
For EEKPTEE&EA.
👈The Tears of St Peter (1587-1596)
El Greco (Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos) 1541-1614
Museo Soumaya at Plaza Carso, Mexico.
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- 71 -
I, outcast from these worlds, exiled rome;
Poore saint, from heaven, from fire, cold salamander,
Lost fish, from those sweet waters' kindly home,
From land of life stray'd pilgrim still I wander.
I know the cause: these worlds had never hell, [425]
In which my faults have best deserv'd to dwell.
From these worlds I have been cast out and now I wander like an exiled vagrant.
Lacking the qualities needed for a saint, I have been cast down from the kingdom of heaven;
like a cold salamander thrust out of its fire, with my cold heart I have been cast out from the blazing warmth of the Lord’s love; like a fish cast on a foreign shore, I am lost and far from the sweet and sustaining waters of my heavenly home; I am like a pilgrim who has wandered far astray from the land which offered him life.
I understand the cause: there is nowhere in these heavenly worlds with a hell fitting for what my sins have merited for me.
421. these worlds. The worlds referred to in verses LXIX and LXX.
rome. Roam. v. To wander, rove, or ramble; to walk, move about, or travel aimlessly or unsystematically. One etymology derives it from a word for pilgrim: "Probably ultimately < the name of Rome Rome n., after a Latin or Romance word for a pilgrim; compare Middle French romier pilgrim (see roamer n.) and post-classical Latin Romeus Roman (6th cent.), pilgrim to Rome (10th cent.) and also ( < post-classical Latin Romeus )" OED.
422-424. The poet considers Peter as exiled from each of the elements (see lines 411. - 414. supra): the words used here are heaven (air), fire, waters, and land (earth)
422. poore. Poor. 1) Having a want or deficiency of some (specified or implied) possession or quality; lacking, ill-supplied. a1500 (▸c1400) Vision of Tundale (Adv.) (1843) l. 22 He was ryche ynow of ryches But he was poore of all gudnesse. 2) Used to express deprecation (for reasons of modesty, in polite formulae, etc.) of oneself, one's actions, or something belonging to or offered by oneself: of little worth or pretension; lowly; undeserving. 1605 W. Camden Remaines Ded. sig. A3 This silly, pittiful, and poore Treatise.
salamander. A lizard-like animal supposed to live in, or to be able to endure, fire. c1616 R. C. Certaine Poems in Times' Whistle (1871) 119 Yet can he live noe more without desire, Then can the salamandra without fire.
“This animal is so intensely cold as to extinguish fire by its contact, in the same way as ice does.” [Pliny, AD 23-79, Natural History, 10.86
“The salamander (salamandra) is so named because it prevails against fire.” [St Isidore of Sevilla, AD 560-636, Etymologies].
424. pilgrim. 1. A person on a journey, a person who travels from place to place; a traveller, a wanderer, an itinerant. Also in early use: a foreigner, an alien, a stranger. 2. A person who makes a journey (usually of a long distance) to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion.
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- 72 -
O Bethelem cisterns! Davids most desire,
From which my sinnes like fierce Philistims keep,
To fetch your drops what champion should I hire,
That I therein my withered hart may steepe? [430]
I would not shed them like that holy king:
His were but tipes, these are the figured thing.
The eyes of the Lord may be compared to the cisterns at Bethlehem, when surrounded by the unbelieving Philistines. David was hiding nearby and his keenest desire was to satisfy his thirst from their waters. I too have a thirst for water, the life-giving water of divine grace; I too am prevented from slaking my thirst, not by fierce Philistine soldiers but by my sins. Three valiant men went to fetch water for David, but what champion can I hire to fetch me waters of contrition and grace so that I may wash and steep my soul therein?
I would not shed tears like those of David, the good and holy king. The cisterns of Bethlehem prefigure the eyes of Christ, and perhaps David's tears foreshadow these tears of mine, for mine were shed for the Lord Incarnate.
Note. This verse makes reference to an incident described in the last words of King David as set out in 2 Kings xxiii. Three of David’s most valiant men are named, with brief allusions to their exploits. The text then continues:
Moreover also before this the three who were princes among the thirty, went down and came to David in the harvest time into the cave of Odollam: and the camp of the Philistines was in the valley of the giants. And David was then in a hold. and there was a garrison of the Philistines then in Bethlehem. And David longed, and said: O that some man would get me a drink of the water out of the cistern, that is in Bethlehem, by the gate. And the three valiant men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water out of the cistern of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and brought it to David: but he would not drink, but offered it to the Lord, Saying: The Lord be merciful to me, that I may not do this: shall I drink the blood of these men that went, and the peril of their lives? therefore he would not drink. These things did these three mighty men. [2 Kings xxiii. 12-17]
Here is the 1610 Douay-Rheims version:
Moreouer alfo before there went downe three which were Princes among thirtie , & came to Dauid in the harueft time into the cave of Odollam: and the campe of the Philiftians was placed in the Vale of the giants. And Dauid was in a hold : moreouer the ward of the Philiftians was then in Bethlehem. Dauid therfore defired , & fayd : O that fome man would giue me drinke of the water of the cefterne, that is in Bethlehem befide the gate. Three valiants therfore brake into the campe of the Philiftians , and drew water out of the cefterne of Bethlehem,that was befide the gate, and brought it to Dauid : but he would not drinke, but offered it to our Lord,faying: Our Lord be merciful to me , that I doe not this thing ; shal I drinke the bloud of thefe men that went, & the peril of their liues?Therfore he would not drink. Thefe things did the three ftrongeft. [2 Kings xxiii. 12-17, Douay-Rheims 1610]
427. cisterns. Cistern. An artificial reservoir for the storage of water; 1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne iii. lvi. 50 The towne is stor'd of troughes and cestrens, made To keepe fresh water.
The word in 2 Kings is in the singular but RS uses the plural, suggesting that he is continuing with his imagery of Christ’s eyes, as in the previous verses.
most. Most. As an intensive superlative: very great. 1555 in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) III. App. xliii. 118 So likewise is freewil a most untruth undoubtedly.
428. Philistims. Philistines. The Philistines were a people (suggested to have been of western Anatolian origin) who came into the Levant in the period c1370–1200 B.C. as one of the ‘Peoples of the Sea’ mentioned in Egyptian texts of c1180 B.C. (see etymological note). They settled in south-western Canaan in the 12th cent. b.c. and from there expanded inland, establishing control over their neighbours (this is reflected in the biblical saga of the Israelite leader Samson, who was betrayed to the Philistines by Delilah). The Old Testament describes the defeat of the Philistines by David, who slew the Philistine giant Goliath (1 Sam. 17) and records intermittent conflict between the Philistines and their neighbours until the period of Assyrian domination.
Orthography: cf. 1560 Bible (Geneva) 1 Sam. v. 1 Then the Philistims toke the Arke of God.
429. drops. Teardrops. 1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. I2 The maid with swelling drops gan wet Her circled eien. your drops : there are several possible interpretations here, not exclusive:
1. the word “your” in your drops may refer to the Bethlehem cisterns, i.e., to the eyes of Christ and thence to Christ Himself. Peter thirsts for the life-giving and life-sustaining water of divine grace. Cf. the story of the Samaritan woman at the well:
There cometh a woman of Samaria, to draw water. Jesus saith to her: Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone into the city to buy meats. Then that Samaritan woman saith to him: How dost thou, being a Jew, ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman? For the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans. Jesus answered, and said to her: If thou didst know the gift of God, and who he is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith to him: Sir, thou hast nothing wherein to draw, and the well is deep; from whence then hast thou living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered, and said to her: Whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst again; but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever: But the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting. The woman saith to him: Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw. [John iv. 7-15]
2. The drops of water may also be a reference to the Holy Sacrament of Baptism, for which the unbaptized, repentant sinners may be said to thirst.
3. There may also be a reference to the tears shed by David in contrition for his sins. Vid. 431. and 432.
430. withered. figurative in immaterial sense: Deprived of or having lost vigour, freshness, or ‘bloom’; shrunken and decayed; 1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer ii. sig. Y.iij In my withered reasoninges.
hart. Heart.
steepe. Steep. v. To soak in water or other liquid; chiefly, to do so for the purpose of softening, altering in properties, cleansing, or the like. 1577 W. Harrison Descr. Eng. (1877) i. ii. vi. 156 Our Mault is made of the best Barley, which is steeped in a cysterne..vntyll it be thorowlye soked.
431. shed them like that holy king. These words seem to refer clearly enough to the shedding of tears. David wept once he realized the enormity of his sins: see for example the first penitential Psalm:
I have laboured in my groanings, every night I will wash my bed: I will water my couch with my tears. [Ps. vi. 7]
432. tipe. Type. That by which something is symbolized or figured; anything having a symbolical signification; a symbol, emblem; spec. in Theology a person, object, or event of Old Testament history, prefiguring some person or thing revealed in the new dispensation; correlative to antitype. 1607 S. Hieron Abridgem. of Gospell in Wks. (1620) I. 104 The people of Israel were a tipe of Gods people: Canaan a tipe of heauen.
His were but tipes, these are the figured thing. The word His must refer to David and may relate either to a) the cisterns, Davids most desire; or b) the tears shed by that holy king. David’s tears of contrition would thus be a type which prefigured Peter’s own tears. David and Peter both sinned against the Lord God, but Peter’s sin of betrayal was against Christ Jesus, the Lord God incarnate. Davidson and Sweeney opt for a) and write: “The Old Testament cisterns are only the foreshadowing images of the eyes of Christ.” [RS-DS p167].
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Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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