Plutarch (de sera uindict. 15) is strong upon the solidarity of a city, which is liable to be punished at any time for past offences. κολλᾶσθαι (“Heaped up to the sky are her sins”) in the familiar sense of haerere = to follow close upon, or to cleave, the idea being that the mass of sins actually presses on the roof of heaven. The figure would be different if, as Holtzm. conjectures, κολλ. referred to the gluing together of the leaves composing a roll; the record of Rome's sins would form so immense a volume that when unrolled it would reach the very heavens. “Etascendit contumelia tua ad altissimum, et superbia tua ad fortem” (4 Esd. 11:43).

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Old Testament