Theological Dissertation on the Theologoumena of Macarius Magnes

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reeds, as CLAVD. SALMASIVS teaches in his Exercises on the Homonyms of Iatric Hyle, Chapter XIX, and in his Epistle on the Cross, p. 286 sq. 14) Furthermore, that from the same vessel of the Roman soldiers, filled with vinegar ὄξος, which among the Romans was accustomed to be given in place of wine to men of slender fortune and especially to common soldiers, the thirsty Christ was provided a drink, such that ὄξος denotes not vinegar properly so called, but sour wine, is something that other learned men have finally observed after our Magnes, whose testimonies are cited and confirmed with arguments by the Ven. SAL. DEYLINGIVS, Part I, Sacred Observations, p. 136 sq. Although, therefore, according to the opinion of MACARIUS MAGNES, the Evangelists preserved the law of history, indulging the simplicity of facts, not curiosity, and wrote nothing beyond what was commonly said in that age in that tumult and fury of the people; yet TVRRIANVS too boldly concludes from this that the sacred writers sometimes took their name not from the very truth of the matter, but from the custom and opinion of the common people. That such accommodation of Scripture to the erroneous opinions and customs of the common people, conflicting with the truth of the matter, does not in any way agree with the interpretation and reconciliation of our MAGNES brought forward above, is evident to anyone who considers these things more deeply: since one thing must be considered an accommodation to the popular and commonly received form of speaking, but quite another to the prejudices and errors of the unlearned common people, whether they consist of things natural, or historical, or moral, or theological. 16)

14) Compare STEPH. LE MOYNE, Notes and Observations on Various Sacred Things, p. 739 ff., and SAL. DEYLINGIVS, Sacred Observations, Part I, p. 139 ff.
15) LIGHTFOOT in Hebrew Hours on Matthew p. 386 explains vinegar mixed with myrrh and gall according to the custom of the Jews. Just as P. GALATINVS also reports from the book Sanhedrin, that when the accused were convicted and condemned, the Jews gave them wine conditioned with incense or myrrh. Already alluding to which custom HIERONYMUS writes in his Commentary on Matt. XXVII: "Until this day the Jews and all unbelievers of the Lord's resurrection drink Jesus with vinegar and gall, and give him myrrhed wine, so that they may stupefy him, and he may not see their evils." Compare NIC. FABER, Disputation on the Myrrhed Potion, to the Ill. Cardinal Baronius, which is found among his Collected Works published in Paris, 1618, p. 89 ff., where he judges on this argument very piously and learnedly as follows: "Christ, who wanted to atone for our crimes not only with an infamous but also a most cruel punishment, refused the office of humanity usually provided to the vilest criminals, so that he would not seem to have shunned any torture for our sake..."