Commentaria in Esther
Note that spouses sometimes address each other as brothers. Why?
10. And when he had lifted up his countenance, and with burning eyes had shewn the wrath of his heart,—which he had conceived, says Josippon as well as Josephus, from the fact that Esther had come in uncalled against the law, brothers and sisters, partly for the sake of modesty and chastity, partly of benevolence and close conjugal love, especially because the first marriages of the world after Adam and Eve were of brothers and sisters. So the bride in the Canticles is called sister by the bridegroom: so wisdom is called the spouse of the wise man, Wisdom viii, 2. The same is named friend and sister, Proverbs vii, 4. Finally (what is proper to this place) the Persians were wont to take sisters as wives, according to St. Jerome, book II Against Jovinian. The same Brisson teaches from Herodotus, Agathias, Clement of Alexandria, Diogenes Laertius, book II On the Kingdom of the Persians,
15. And kissed her,—as a beloved spouse, that by these caresses he might restore her to himself as one lifeless. Esther here represents the Blessed Virgin, who, approaching Ahasuerus, that is, God angry with the whole human race on account of the sins of Adam and his posterity, with two handmaids, that is, with a twofold creature, angelic namely and human, says St. Bonaventure in the Mirror, chapter iii; mystically with a twofold virtue and life, active namely and contemplative, and beseeching him, from the holy fear and reverence of the divinity fell as in a swoon; but God, caressing and kissing her, granted what she asked, namely the salvation of the human race, and therefore gave her his Son, that taking flesh in her he might become the propitiatory victim and Redeemer of the world. This is what she asked, Canticles i, 1: “Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.”
16. I saw thee, my lord, as an angel of God,—shining with angelic majesty and splendour, and therefore striking fear and terror into me and the rest. Hence Chosroes the Gentile king of the Persians, whom the Emperor Heraclius overcame, ordered a wonderful sphere to be made beside him, in which angels stood around the king. Hear Theophanes, and from him Baronius, volume VIII, year of Christ 622: “Heraclius, Chosroes being conquered, found an abominable image of Chosroes, and his effigy in the form of a globe, the dome of the palace representing it, as it were seated in heaven. Around were the sun, moon and stars, which that superstitious man served as gods, with angels bearing sceptres standing around him. The impious man had moreover prepared machines which from that place would send forth drops like rain, and give forth a sound rivalling thunder. All this, and the very temple of fire and the whole city, Heraclius burnt.” Behold how Chosroes affected divinity, by representing Angels, thunders and lightnings, which are proper to God.
17. And thy face is full of graces,—full of beauty, splendour, magnificence, angelic and divine majesty rather than human. By this reverence and flattering speech Esther soothed Ahasuerus, and plainly bound him to herself, so that he would grant whatever she asked. Letter of Ahasuerus by which he revokes the former decree about slaying the Jews, and issues a contrary one, namely that the Jews slay their enemies, and that the memory of this day be celebrated by a feast recurring yearly.