Receiving The Book

Accepi librum de manu angeli et comedi illum. Accipere librum et comedere, ostensione sibi facta memoriae est mandare. Et erat in ore meo tamquam mel dulcis et cum devorassem eum, amaricatus est venter meus. Dulcem esse in ore praedictionis est fructus loquentis, et audientibus dulcissimus, sed et praedicantibus et perseverantibus in mandatis per passionem amarissimus. Victorinus Petavionensis, Scoli in Apocalypsin Beati Joannis Source: Migne PL 5 333

I received the book from the hand of the angel and ate it. 1 To receive the book and to eat is the placing into memory the things revealed to him. And it was in my mouth as sweet as honey and when I had eaten it, it was bitter in my stomach. To be sweet in the mouth of the preacher is the fruit of speaking, and to the hearers it is most sweet, but it is most bitter to both those who preach and those who persevere in the commandments on account of suffering. Victorinus of Pettau, from the Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John 1 Apoc 10.10