Commentaria in Tobiam
Chapter 6
Synopsis of the Chapter. Raphael teaches Tobias how to draw out of the river a fish rushing upon him by its gills, to gut it, and to reserve the heart, gall and liver for medicines; then, how to ask Sara for himself as wife from her father Raguel.
1. And Tobias went forward, and the dog followed him, and he lodged the first night by the river of Tigris. 2. And he went out to wash his feet, and behold a monstrous fish came up to devour him. 3. And Tobias being afraid of him, cried out with a loud voice, saying: Sir, he cometh upon me. 4. And the angel said to him: Take him by the gill, and draw him to thee. And when he had done so, he drew him out upon the land, and he began to pant before his feet. 5. Then the angel said to him: Take out the entrails of this fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his liver for thee: for these are necessary for useful medicines. 6. And when he had done so, he roasted the flesh thereof, and they took it with them in the way: the rest they salted, as much as might serve them, till they came to Rages the city of the Medes. 7. Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him: I beseech thee, brother Azarias, tell me what remedies are these things good for, which thou hast bid me keep of the fish? 8. And the angel answering, said to him: If thou put a little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kinds of devils, either from man or woman, so that they come no more to them. 9. And the gall is good for anointing the eyes, in which there is a white speck, and they shall be cured. 10. And Tobias said to him: Where wilt thou that we lodge? 11. And the angel answering, said: Here is one whose name is Raguel, a near kinsman of thy tribe, and he hath a daughter named Sara, but he hath no other son or daughter beside her. 12. All his substance is due to thee, and thou must take her to wife. 13. Ask her therefore of her father, and he will give her to thee to wife. 14. Then Tobias answered, and said: I hear that she hath been given to seven husbands, and they all died: moreover I have heard, that a devil killed them. 15. Now I fear lest the same thing should happen to me: and whereas I am the only child of my parents, I should bring down their old age with sorrow to hell. 16. Then the angel Raphael said to him: Hear me, and I will shew thee who they are over whom the devil can prevail. 17. For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, over them the devil hath power. 18. But thou when thou shalt take her, go into the chamber, and for three days keep thyself continent from her, and give thyself to nothing else but to prayers with her. 19. And on that night lay the liver of the fish on the fire, and the devil shall be driven away. 20. But the second night thou shalt be admitted into the society of the holy patriarchs. 21. And the third night thou shalt obtain a blessing that sound children may be born of you. 22. And when the third night is past, thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, moved rather for love of children than for lust, that in the seed of Abraham thou mayest obtain a blessing in children.
1. “AND THE DOG FOLLOWED HIM,”—“as familiar dogs follow their masters, by whom they are fed.” He says this for the connexion of the history: for the sorrowing parents knew Tobias’s return from the dog running before, chapter 11, verse 9. 2. “AND HE WENT OUT (from the lodging to the river Tigris) TO WASH HIS FEET,”—wearied from the journey, soiled and foul with dust and sweat. “AND BEHOLD A MONSTROUS FISH CAME UP TO DEVOUR HIM.”—You will ask: What was this fish? Some think first it was a whale; for it devours and swallows men. But whales, being most vast, the river Tigris does not hold, but the vast sea. Again Tobias alone could not have drawn out a whale. “AND HE LODGED THE FIRST NIGHT BY THE RIVER OF TIGRIS,”—namely in a house, or lodging, adjoining the Tigris. For that day he had gone out from Ninive, which adjoins the Tigris.
Secondly, Dionysius the Carthusian thinks it was a crocodile: for this comes out of the Nile and pursues men on land, kills and devours them. For it is amphibious, and lives and feeds on land as well as in the waters. But Tobias could not have drawn out a crocodile. Add: a crocodile lives on land; but this fish, drawn out on land by Tobias, began “to pant before his feet,” to fail and die, as fishes do out of water.
Thirdly, the Rabbis, whom George of Venice follows, tome 6, Problem 185, think it was the pike, a ravenous fish, which devours other fishes, and therefore is called lucius, in Greek lykos, that is, wolfish, as a wolf of fishes. But pikes are not so large and bold as to dare to attack a man.
Fourthly, and more truly and probably, Francis Valesius, Sacred Philosophy chapter 42, from Pliny, Menander and Cilicia, thinks this fish was the callionymus, a fish of beautiful name, which is very large, carnivorous and most voracious, having serrated teeth and eyes set on the top of the head; whence it is also called uranoscopus, that is, looking at heaven, and its mouth is placed between the eyes, and is therefore called by the Italians bocca in capo; whence Tobias was terrified at the sight of it. It abounds in gall, which avails to wipe whitenesses from the eyes. So Dioscorides, book 2, chapter 96, Galen and Pliny, book 32, chapter 7, near the beginning, whom hear: “The gall of the callionymus heals scars, and consumes superfluous flesh of the eyes; no fish has more of it. The same fish is also called uranoscopus from the eye which it has in the head.” This fish therefore “came up” not on to the land but out of the water, raising and stretching out head and throat, “to devour him,” namely Tobias. Add: Oppian, book 3, calls the callionymus the day-sleeper, because by day it sleeps, by night it is awake for seeking prey, as thieves sleep by day and are awake by night to steal. This fish could therefore come out of the Tigris on to the neighbouring sand, and there attack Tobias. Oppian adds that this fish is so voracious that, its belly overdistended by the abundance of food, it bursts and dies, by which sad end it deters men from luxury and surfeit. William Rondelet, book 10 On Fishes, last chapter, describes this fish vividly in all its members, where he adds that it is called callionymus, that is, of beautiful name, because though in itself foul and ugly, it has eyes on the top of its head so as always to look up to heaven, a form more worthy of man than of a fish. For it is proper to man to look upward and contemplate heaven in mind, to despise fragile and perishable things which are falsely held by the vulgar to be goods, and to look down on what is set beneath him: the mind of man therefore should be uranoscopic, according to that of Ovid:
He gave man a lofty countenance, and bade him look at the heavens, and raise his upturned eyes to the stars.
You will say: The callionymus, according to Pliny and Oppian, is a sea fish; but this was from the river Tigris. I answer: Sea fishes are often found in great rivers, especially at the reflux of the sea, when rivers overflow. For fishes love fresh water, such as is in rivers; but it is strange that the callionymus, which does not exceed two feet in measure, according to Rondelet and Aldrovandus, dared attack Tobias: but this fish is as voracious as it is stupid; and therefore it attacked Tobias.