[97] Etym., 3, 4, 3.
[98] The explanation suggested accounts for the prevalence of allegory in medieval times. Among the less comprehensive and not characteristically medieval causes for it must be reckoned the influence of the parables that are explained in the New Testament, the occasional grossness of Biblical characters and language which called for an interpretation that would remove offence and offer edification, the congenial activity which allegorizing offered to the pious mind, and, finally, the fact that by a clever use of allegorical interpretation some desired end might be obtained.
[99] Migne, P. L., 83, col. 303. “Inter haec igitur omnia decem praecepta solum ibi quod de Sabbato positum est figurate observandum praecipitur. Quam figuram nos intelligendam, non etiam per otium corporale celebrandam, suscipimus. Reliqua tamen ibi praecepta proprie praecepta sunt, quae sine ulla figurata significatione observantur. Nihil enim mystice significant, sed sic intelliguntur ut sonant. Et notandum quia sicut decem plagis percutiuntur Aegyptii, sic decem praeceptis conscribuntur tabulae, quibus regantur populi Dei.” The Scriptures were for Isidore un vasto simbolismo (Cañal, San Isidoro, p. 51).
[100] D. N. R., 29, 2.
[101] De Natura Rerum, 14, 2.
[102] Sent., 1, 8, 6.
[103] Etym., 11, 3, 1 and 2.
[104] Diff., 2, 100.
[105] Diff., 2, 92.
[106] Diff., 2, 97.