^40:20 Will you be able to draw out Leviathan with a hook, and will you bind his tongue with a cord?
^40:21 Will you place a ring in his nostrils, or pierce his jaws with a bracelet?
^40:22 Will he multiply prayers to you, or speak gentle things to you?
^40:23 Will he strike a pact with you, and will you take him as an everlasting servant?
^40:24 Will you play with him as with a bird, or bind him for your maidservants?
^40:25 Will friends cut him up, will merchants divide him?
^40:26 Will you fill nets with his skin, and a fish-basket with his head?
^40:27 Put your hand upon him. Remember the battle, and add no more to speak.
^40:28 Behold, his hope will frustrate him, and in the sight of all he will be cast headlong.

546. Will you be able to draw out Leviathan with a hook, etc. After the Lord described the properties of the devil under the likeness of the elephant, which is the greatest of terrestrial animals, he describes him under the likeness of Leviathan, that is, the whale, which is the greatest of marine animals and, as Pliny says, is the size of four iugera; and Isidore says that they have bodies equal to mountains. To this the name Leviathan is referred, which is interpreted their addition; and as Isidore says, this animal is called a whale from balyn, which means to emit, because it emits waters higher than the other animals. And it can be said that, just as the devil is compared to the elephant, which lives on land, because of the manifest effects that he works in earthly and bodily creatures, so he is compared to the whale, dwelling in the waves of the sea, because of the effects that he works in the fluctuation of interior movements.

547. And because above he had expressed the victory of man against the devil under the figure of hunting the elephant, lest it be believed that man can overcome the devil by his own power, he begins to exclude this under the figure of Leviathan.

Concerning him, first he shows that he cannot be overcome in the way that fish are caught, whence he says: Will you be able to draw out, namely, from the waters, Leviathan with a hook?

This indeed cannot be done for two reasons:

first, because he is of such great size that he cannot be lifted up by any human power or instrument; and to signify this he said: Will you be able to draw out?

Second, because he is of such great strength that he cannot be held by a hook; and to signify this he adds: and will you bind his tongue with a cord? For fish that are caught with a hook are held by the cord on which the hook is hung. By this is signified that no man can either draw the devil out from his malice or bind him so that he should not proceed in his malice.

548. Second, he shows that he cannot be overcome by man in the way that certain great terrestrial animals are overcome: for the buffalo is held by man through an iron ring that is placed in its nostrils, by which man leads it wherever he wishes; and to exclude this he adds: Will you place a ring in his nostrils? Man also subjects to himself the horse or the ass or the camel by placing a bridle or halter in its mouth; and to exclude this he adds: or will you pierce his jaws with a bracelet? For the jaws of the aforesaid animals are, as it were, pierced by a bracelet, that is, by the iron that is placed in their mouth. But just as the buffalo is led by a ring placed in its nostrils, so also the horse’s gait is governed by a bridle or halter placed on the jaws of the horse, so that it may carry man fittingly. Therefore, by this one is given to understand that no one can lead the devil wherever he wishes, nor direct him so that he may serve his will.

549. Third, he shows that Leviathan cannot be overcome in the way that man is subjected to man,

which indeed happens in two ways:

in one way by a simple word, for instance, when someone is humbled before another to such a degree that he begs him; and he touches on this when he says: Will he multiply prayers to you? Or even when he adds flattering words, and to this pertains what is added: or speak gentle things to you? That is, flattering words to placate you, according to Proverbs 15:1: A gentle answer breaks anger.

In another way, with the addition of some obligation, which happens either through some particular pact, to which pertains what he says: Will he strike a pact with you? Or through perpetual servitude, to which pertains what he says: and will you take him as an everlasting servant?

And these four sometimes stand in order:

for sometimes someone first offers prayers to the victor because of fear,

second, he flatters,

third, he is received into a pact,

fourth, through the pact he is yoked to perpetual servitude.

Through all these things one is given to understand that the devil does not fear man so as to offer him, as to one superior or stronger, prayers from fear, or flatteries, or a pact, or servitude; and if he pretends such things, he does so for the deception of men, so that he may subject them to himself rather than be subjected to them.

550. Fourth, he shows that he cannot be overcome in the way that birds are overcome by man,

concerning which it should be considered that birds are first caught by some deception, by nets or birdlime or something of this kind; and excluding this he adds: Will you play with him as with a bird, namely, so that by deceiving him you may bring him under your power?

Second, after they have already been caught, they are bound so that they cannot fly away, and they are presented to boys and maidservants for play; and this is signified when it is added: or will you bind him for your maidservants? By these things one is given to understand that man cannot overcome the devil by deceiving him through his own skill, nor expose him to be despised by others.

551. Thus, therefore, having shown that he cannot be subjected in the way that other animals are subjected, he consequently shows that man cannot use him, even if he were subjected, in the way he uses other great animals when they have been brought under man’s power.

And first he shows this by taking the way in which men use captured terrestrial animals, for instance deer and boars and others of this kind, whose flesh is divided in two ways: in one way by distributing it freely to friends, and he excludes this by adding: Will friends cut him up? as this is read interrogatively; in another way by selling it to various people, and with respect to this he adds: will merchants divide him? As though saying: no. For so great is the size of an animal of this kind that, if at times it is caught, it suffices for a whole region; hence it is neither divided in particular among friends nor sold in the market like other animals. By this is designated that man cannot either freely communicate the help of a demon to another or even sell it.

552. Second, he shows that man cannot use Leviathan in the way he uses captured fish, with the larger of which fishermen fill great nets; and with respect to this he says: Will you fill nets with his skin? And perhaps he expressly says skin to express the way in which the greatest whales are caught, which, by the very long stalks that they have, when they sleep among rocks, hang from stones, as is said; and then the fisherman, approaching, separates as much as he can of the skin from the fat near the tail: for it is a very fat animal, so that because of such fatness it does not feel such an incision; and so, when cords have been inserted, which he ties to rocks or trees, he rouses the whale with stones from a sling, and the whale, wishing to withdraw, leaves behind the skin. But with smaller fish they fill certain other smaller instruments, and with respect to this he adds: and a fish-basket with his head? For a gurgustium is said to be a certain instrument made of wicker that fishermen place in the deep to catch fish. But the size of a whale is so great that neither the whole of it nor even one part of it, for instance the head, can be contained in a fish-basket, however large: for it is said to have so great a head that forty jars of fat flow from it. And this is set down to show figuratively that the devil cannot be enclosed by human power, as certain necromancers suppose that they can enclose him, but all this comes from his cunning, which he uses to deceive men; and if one considers rightly, all the foregoing things seem to pertain to refuting the presumption of necromancers, who strive to enter into a pact with demons, or to subject them to themselves, or to constrain them in any way.

553. Therefore, having shown that man cannot in any way overcome the devil by his own power, as though concluding from all the foregoing, he adds: Put your hand upon him, supply: if you can, as though saying: in no way can you, by your own power, put your hand upon him so as to subject him to yourself. But although he cannot be overcome by man, nevertheless he is overcome by divine power, whence he adds: Remember the battle, namely, by which I fight against him, and add no more to speak, namely, against me, while, namely, you see him overcome by my power whom you cannot overcome by your own power. And concerning the overcoming by which he is overcome by God, it is added: Behold, his hope will frustrate him, which indeed is manifest if it is referred to the whale: for when the whale pursues fish, hoping to catch them, it strikes against some shore, whence, because of the shallowness of the water, it cannot free itself, frustrated in the hope that it had of catching fish; and thus, appearing above the water, it is cast headlong into death, and this is what is added: and in the sight of all he will be cast headlong, because men seeing it from all sides run together to kill it. By this is signified that the hope that the devil has for the subversion of the Saints will be frustrated, and he himself with all his followers, while the Saints look on, will be cast headlong into Hell on the day of judgment.