Introduction Interpretation of the thema: God deprived the ungrateful Jews of the vinea, i.e. of the honor of divine law, and gave it to aliae agricolae, i.e. to the Christians, because they were more grateful.
Divisio (see above) 1) First part: only the Christians are (spiritually) regenerated by the water of baptism; all other peoples are not children of God, but of «carnal and earthly Adam», so they live «carnally and bestially, like Jews, Turks and Moors». 2) Second part: only the Christians are freed from the «chains of sin»; “Tibi dabo claves regni celorum; et quodcumque ligaveris super terram, erit ligatum et in celis» (God to Peter, quote from Matthew 16, 19). 3) Third part: only the Christians were delivered from the hands of the devil by Jesus Christ; the submission of other peoples to the devil is represented by the image of Samson turning the Philistines' millstone (reference to Judges 16, 21). 4) Fourth part: the Jewish people, although they received the Law from God, never had such true news of God as that contained in the “New Law of Christ” intended for Christians (Moses, Abraham and Jacob never saw God clearly, but always through forms temporarily assumed by God; Christians, on the other hand, received the New Law directly from God made man). 5) Fifth part: Christians are the only people to whom God has given his body and blood as nourishment. Caracciolo mocks the Jews («O Giudei, chi eravati già chiamati figliuoli de Dio, a la barba vostra! [i.e. “Take that, Jews!”], because the manna they received in the desert didn’t give them eternal and blessed life as the body and blood of Christ give Christians (“Patres vestri manducaverunt manna in deserto et mortui sunt […] qui manducat hunc panem [i.e. the body of Christ] vivet in eternum” [quote from John 6, 49 and 59]), provided they receive it in a worthy manner (“Chi lo manza indigniamente, se manza el iudicio in contra”, quote from 1Corinthians 11, 29). 6) Sixth part: only Christians have received many effective remedies from God to heal their sins (other peoples, on the contrary, “go to the hot house” [i.e. to Hell] whether they die with mortal or venial sin). For Christians, the remedy for original sin is provided by baptism (reference to Decretum Gratiani); the remedies for mortal sins are the general confession during mass, the holy water and the devout prayer of the Pater Noster. 7) Seventh part: only Christians, as true children of God, can inherit God's grace and all his glory (“Si autem filii et heredes: heredes quidem Dei, coheredes autem Christi” [quote from Romans 8, 17]); all the other peoples are like bastard children and will not be welcomed into Paradise. Christians, precisely because of this greater reward received from God, must love, fear and reverence God more than all other peoples (“The more each person must be humble and ready to serve God for the gifts received, the more he or she feels obliged to give credit for the good received"[reference to Gregory the Great]).