Commentaria in Isaiam
Ships of the sea.—The Hebrew has ships of Tharsis, that is, of the sea; see what I said at chapter 21. The Septuagint render, ships of Carthage, because Carthage was a colony of the Tyrians and abounded in ships on the sea, with which she carried on great trade with Tyre and others. Hence Virgil, Aeneid 1:
There was an ancient city; Tyrian colonists held it, Carthage.
The house is laid waste,—the city of Tyre with its houses, or the houses of the city of Tyre are laid waste. The Hebrew word is: Tyre is laid waste from the house, that is, utterly, so that not even one house may remain, and that none may come in, that is, that henceforth no merchant may come to her; which our Version renders, “from whence they were wont to come,” namely merchants to her by ships, to which therefore he said, “Howl.” So Forerius, Vatablus, Pagninus and others.
From the land of Cethim it is revealed to them.—First, some take this of the destruction of Tyre accomplished by Alexander the Great, as if to say: The Tyrians first received the rumour of the war from Cethim, that is, from Greece: for there Alexander prepared the war against them.
Secondly and better, others take this of the destruction of Tyre by Nabuchodonosor: for this was earlier than the destruction by Alexander, and nearer to the times of Isaias. So St. Thomas, Procopius, Cyril and others. Cethim therefore, says St. Jerome, are the islands of Cyprus (where there is still the city Citium, the native place of Zeno the Stoic), also those of Italy and Macedonia: whence from Cethim went forth Alexander the Macedonian, 1 Machabees 1:1. The sense, therefore, is: From Cethim, that is, from the islands of the Mediterranean sea, to them, namely to the ships of the sea, that is, the sea merchants (it is a metonymy), it was revealed that Tyre, with which they traded, was laid waste, and therefore they howled.
It is revealed to them.—The Septuagint render: Tyre was led captive from the land of the Cethians, that is, was translated from her own land. For she herself was reckoned among the Cethim; for the Hebrew gala signifies both to reveal, as our Version has it, and to migrate, as the Septuagint have it.
Be silent, O Tyrians, from grief, shame and fear, because Nabuchodonosor has subdued and laid you waste. For silence is a sign of servitude, as of fear and stupor.
He calls Tyre the island, because it was once an island; but by Nabuchodonosor and Alexander it was made an accessible peninsula, and one that could be stormed by foot soldiers. The Septuagint render, to whom they are become like, those who dwell in the island. For the Hebrew dama signifies both to be silent and to be like, as if to say: The Tyrians, now besieged and laid waste, are become like other nations:
for as once all nations with their wares flocked together to Tyre, so now they flee with their wealth to other nations.
The merchants of Sidon, etc., have filled thee,—with their wealth and wares: for Tyre was a neighbour of Sidon and a colony of Sidon. St. Jerome punctuates this otherwise; for he connects it with what precedes in this way: “Be silent, ye that dwell in the island, merchants of Sidon,” as if to say: O Sidonians, lament as well as Tyre, both because with Tyre laid waste your commerce will cease, and because from Tyre he will go on to you, and the Chaldean will lay you waste likewise.
3. The seed of the Nile in many waters, the harvest of the river is her (Tyre’s) revenue; and she is become the mart of the nations.—“Seed of the Nile” he calls the produce and wealth of Egypt. For the Nile brings these to her, and as it were sows them by its overflow, silting and fertilising the fields, whence he calls the same the harvest of the river, namely of the Nile; for a copious overflow of the Nile brings a copious harvest; as if to say: The seed and harvest of grain, which in Egypt comes not from rain but from the many waters of the overflowing Nile, were the produce of Tyre, and the wares brought into Tyre, to be thence distributed through trade to the other islands and provinces. For Tyre was the most celebrated emporium of all nations. Hence the Arabic renders: thy merchandise which thou broughtest in much water (by water), the seed of the merchandise of the merchant, whereby he profited himself, gain to the harvest of grain, and the produce became the merchandise of the nation. So the Venetians say that their corn supply is in the sea, because nothing grows at home, but they make all things needful for livelihood by trade, and bring them in ships from the sea.
Sanchez adds that it is called the seed of the Nile, because the Nile, like the Indus, as Cicero testifies, rolls seeds along with it, which either the wind shakes off or ripeness takes from those plants that grow on the banks, and when it overflows into the fields it scatters and sows them: and in this way the Nile gives seed as well as harvest to Egypt. But that seed is small and uncertain: for it is plain that the Egyptians, like other nations, sow their own fields.
To Egypt, then, not rain, as elsewhere, but the overflowing Nile, silting the fields, gives harvest and fertility: and hence they think the Nile was so named, from bringing new mud, by which it makes Egypt fruitful. Hence Servius holds that it is called Nilus as if from words meaning new silt, that is, drawing new slime with which it fills the fields. Hence Claudian, epigram 6, sings of it thus:
Egypt, fertile without a cloud, and the serene showers she alone possesses, secure of the sky, needing no wind; she rejoices in the waters which she herself brings, and overflows with the Nile.
There are some, however, who think the Nile was named from king Nileus. By the Hebrews it is called Sichor, by the Greeks Melas, that is, black, because it is turbid on account of the slime it carries. Some hold that from this it was called Melo or Milo: for it is called Melo by Ennius, Servius and others. Moreover, a learned man contends that the Nile was named from Melo, the letter M being changed into N. For these letters alternate, as in Noph and Moph, that is, Memphis.
4. Be thou ashamed, O Sidon: for the sea saith.—First, St. Jerome explains thus: The sea, that is, the merchants of the sea, say to Sidon: Be ashamed, because Tyre thy daughter, upon whom thou hast heaped so much wealth, is laid waste and reduced to a wilderness. Again, be ashamed, says St. Thomas, because thou didst not defend thy daughter Tyre from the enemy. Say therefore: I have not been in labour, nor brought forth sons, to defend my Tyre.
Secondly, and this is the genuine sense: Be ashamed, Sidon, because thy colony Tyre, deserted by her own sons, has been so foully and miserably laid waste; for the sea saith, nay the very strength, citadel and pillar of the sea, namely Tyre thy daughter, enriching thee, who art situated not on the sea but on the mainland, by maritime commerce, saying: “I have not been in labour,” etc., as if to say: I seemed to myself once to have borne most valiant youths and most beautiful virgins; but now, laid waste, I recognise none of them: for all being slain or captured by the enemy, I am stripped, bereaved and widowed: be ashamed therefore, O mother Sidon, at this nakedness of Tyre thy daughter, and look for the like soon from the same enemy. So Cyril, Procopius, Lyranus and Vatablus.
Morally, St. Ambrose, in his book On Elias and Fasting, chapter 29, teaches that here the sea accuses the avarice of merchants: “This,” he says, “is the voice of the wearied element (the sea, namely): Be ashamed, Sidon, that is, merchant, you accuse my waves, though you are yourself more restless, and be ashamed as with shame, since you are not moved by danger; the winds are more bashful than your desires: they have their rest; do your eager pursuits of gain keep holiday?
And when the storm is idle, your ships are nowhere idle: I have not been in labour, it says, nor brought forth, nor nourished young men; why do they disturb me, whom I know not, whom I do not recognise?” And further on: “The seed, therefore, of these merchants is in the water, their merchandise is in the waves: for in the water they sow their labours, that they may reap dangers; he himself is in the water, never safe and secure.” And, as one says: “He who sails is distant from the sea, from drowning, and from death only by four fingers.”
Mystically, St. Gregory, Pastoral Rule, part 3, chapter 29: “As though by the voice of the sea Sidon is brought to shame, when, by comparison of the life of seculars, tossed about in this world, with that of him who is seen dedicated to God, and as it were fortified and stable, their life is reproved”; and, as Thomas à Kempis says as piously as truly, book 3, chapter 3: