But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!
Read Chapter 19
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
But when king David had suffered this injury at the hands of his impious and unnatural son, he not only bore with him in his mad passion but mourned over him in his death. He certainly was not caught in the meshes of carnal jealousy, seeing that it was not his own injuries but the sins of his son that moved him. For it was on this account he had given orders that his son should not be slain if he were conquered in battle, that he might have a place of repentance after he was subdued. When he was baffled in this design, he mourned over his son’s death, not because of his own loss but because he knew to what punishment so impious an adulterer and parricide had been hurried. - "Christian Instruction 3.21"
Head, continuing to mourn. See chap. xv. 30.
Absalom. The name is often repeated, as is usual on such occasions. (Virgil, Ec. v.)
Thus Bion says, "I bewail Adonis. The beautiful Adonis is no more"
