On Commentary — The Eleventh Method
Commentary — which in Greek is called ἀπομνημάτικη [apomnematike] 1 — is a brief exposition of divine scripture, somewhat more copious than Annotation or the scholastic Method; in which we gather together whatever things occur to us day by day, both from the daily reading of authors and from our own invention, and come into the mind; and we write down both our own opinions and those of other expositors, without much care and order, almost extemporaneously — preparing, as it were, material either for ourselves or for others toward constructing far greater and far ampler volumes of explanations. Ammonius Hermeas said that Hyponemata (that is, Commentaries) are “preparations for συντάγματα [syntagmata]” 2 — that is, coordinated writings, which over much time and with much skill are reduced into order. Now it has passed into custom that under the common name of “commentaries” almost all the kinds of explanation are understood. D. Jerome professed this order of commenting above the rest, in his exposition of the sixteen Prophets, and especially in the four books of Commentaries on Matthew — which he completed within the space of fifteen days with the swiftest haste. This Method needs no adducing of an example. Over against it certain men set another Method of expounding, which by a proper and peculiar appellation they call explanation 3 — entirely contrary to the brevity of Commentary; for “explanation,” according to their own definition, is a most broad and most copious explication, long and much meditated.