to become through grace what God is by nature (homo ex gratia quod Deus ex natura).99 What comes through so powerfully in this work is, as one scholar has observed, William’s conception of love as a gift; in humbling himself, the person thus receives the love that God graciously bestows.100 William, like Bernard, also wrote an Exposition of the Song of Songs, even if one not so long. Still, it is a marvelous work, redolent of Cistercian affective piety.101 William begins with a prayer of wondrous