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Jerome
Catena Aurea · Matthäusevangelium 23
Mt 23, Verses 23–24English original
Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weighter matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
The camel I suppose to mean the weighty precepts, judgment, mercy, and faith; the gnat, the tithing of mint, anise, and cummin, and other valueless herbs. The greater of God’s commands we swallow and overlook, but shew our carelessness by a religious scrupulousness in little things which bring profit with them.