They say to their mothers, Where [is] corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.
Ver. 12. They say to their mothers.] Lege et luge. Gather and mourne.
“ Tu quibus ista leges incertum est, Lector, ocellis:
Ipse quidem siccis scribere vix potui. ”
As oft as I read the Lamentations of Jeremiah, saith Gregory Nazianzen, a my voice faileth me, and I am overwhelmed with tears. The misery of that poor people cometh under my view, as it were, and my heart is therewith very much affected and afflicted.
Where is corn and wine.] Frumentum dicunt, non panem. They say grain not bread. Grain they would have been glad of, though unground, saith one; wine they ask for, and not water, which noteth an ill custom in their mothers to drink wine, and to give it their little ones; but by grain and wine here may be meant necessary food, to keep them alive.
When their soul was poured out into the mother's bosom.] As it were giving them their lives again, seeing they yielded them no food to preserve them alive.
a Orat. i. Pacificat.