276 – The expression ‘aula regalis,’ applied to the Mother of
our Lord, may be illustrated from De Instit. Virg. ch. xii.
§ 79. Ipse ergo Rex Israel transivit hanc portam, ipse Dux
sedit in ea, quando Verbum caro factum est et habitavit
in nobis, quasi Rex sedens in aula regali uteri virginalis.
Compare also the expression in S. Ambrose’s Hymn on the
Nativity, Procedit e thalamo suo, Pudoris aula regia, &c.
277 – With this Letter begins what the Benedictines have called
a second division of the Letters, containing those which
furnish no internal evidence of their date sufficient
to justify their being assigned a place in chronological
order. They are arranged according to their matter,
1st, those which contain expositions of passages of
Holy Scripture, (lxi–lxxv.), 2nd, those which discuss as
important, and mostly doctrinal subjects, (lxxvi–lxxxiii.),
3rd, a few brief letters of ordinary friendly intercourse,
(lxxxiv–xci.)