How the captivity of the contemplative soul is undone in Christ

Sophia and every virtue, when multiplied and being built up, produce manifold structures. And after a little while: just as one can see Jerusalem nourished, increasing in people and nations and ruling over lands, so too, if virtue is subject to change, it once was solitary, then widowed and enslaved, so that it must even pay tribute to the enemy who has seized it, according to the soul of the one who has fallen from the truth. What then need be said also about the fact that, having begun to rule over regions, it is enslaved by its enemies to such an extent that it continually pays tribute, serving cruel masters who command nothing good; and perhaps for each of its failures in this place, it pays a certain tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, who is interpreted as "Enclosure" and "knowledge of distress"; not only to Nebuchadnezzar, but also to his satraps. Upon the first Lament, beginning with Aleph, we have preserved the word. As for this, what could one say, when it is said that the city wept in the night, so that its tears were upon its cheeks? Unless, indeed, one says that the inhabitants of the city, mourning, are those who also pay tribute, having been reminded of the peace and liberty from which they have come into such slavery and humiliation. How then shall we recount the night-weeping, or that in the time of rest for all mankind, the city, remembering its sorrows—namely, those who dwell in the city do not rest, but weep, and weep with heads covered, as the tears flow upon their cheeks? Moreover, the lamentation especially intensified upon them, and the tears overflowed,

Not even one comforter existing to console them from among so many who loved them, and every lover rejecting their friendship and turning it into enmity—who then, as regards the wording, were the lovers of her formerly, from whom not one comforter existed to console her? Perhaps the other cities of Judea, therefore possibly loving the metropolis, did not call upon her in time of distress. And shortly after: These things, then, concerning the literal sense. But if the word, as we have set forth in the preceding passages, Jerusalem signifies the affectionate soul, then this soul would be said to weep, having been cast out from its native dwelling, become confused in disposition, and holding a state contrary to laughter—the laughter that comes from joy and cheerfulness, which our Lord promises will exist for those who mourn, saying: “Blessed are those who weep now, for they shall laugh.” And in the Book of Job it is said: “My mouth is filled with true laughter.” Perhaps for this reason also one of the patriarchs is named Laughter. Therefore, the one who groans because he is in the tabernacle, as the Apostle has declared, saying: “For indeed we who are in the tabernacle groan, being burdened,” longs for the laughter promised in the promise and the divine cheerfulness, and weeps a nourishing and beneficial weeping for the soul. We suppose, then, that to love is more divine and, so to speak, spiritual, whereas to be fond is bodily and more human. Yet perhaps, regarding those who are better, it is to be observed that no one who loves poorly exists to comfort her from among all those who love her.

As for the lesser ones: all who loved her betrayed her, becoming to her enemies. For the more humble among them not only betrayed her but also became her enemies; while the more distinguished merely refrained from offering comfort. This is how one might understand the literal sense: Judah exchanged her own place, these reasons having come upon her—her humiliation, which she brought upon herself by sinning, losing the standing and the exaltation she once possessed in piety, having abandoned it—and furthermore, her extensive servitude, to which she had subjected herself, enslaved to her passions. Having been transplanted among the nations, she was settled, yet found no rest there; all her enemies, who pursued, seized, and prevailed over her, having made her dwell among the nations who oppressed her. This is the understanding of the literal sense: when the law declares, "Three times each year every male of yours shall appear before the Lord your God," the people, after the temple had been rebuilt in Zion from the time of Solomon, eagerly undertook to observe the prescribed festival. And around Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, roads led from every direction toward Zion. These, the prophet says, by reason of the captivity, mourn in desolate places, dwelling in every wilderness,