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bring the saint into the midst, and you will overcome the passion; and if common people misuse you, consider what he suffered from his servants, and you will receive great healing; and if someone surrounds you with an evil suspicion, consider what they said about this man, that he had not yet paid a worthy penalty for his sins, and what reproaches they cast, and you will overcome this passion. For there is no misfortune among men that this man did not endure, he who was stronger than any adamant, having at once endured famine, and poverty, and sickness, and the loss of his children, and the loss of so much wealth; and after that, plotted against by his wife, insulted by his friends, plotted against by his servants, through all things he was shown to be 64.509 stronger than any rock; and this, before the Law and grace. For indeed we will not have an ordinary defense, when we who after the Law and grace have enjoyed so great a gift, bear less than this man, who in the beginning and preliminaries of human life showed such great philosophy.

CHAPTER ONE

"There was a certain man in the land of Ausitis, whose name was Job." What does the introduction mean, and for what reason did the writer begin this way? He was about to narrate a virtuous life, and one that far surpassed our condition; therefore, lest anyone, looking up at the excess of his struggles and his patience, should think that he was of some strange and not human nature, he first shows his nature, so that you might marvel at his purpose, that he was a man, by nature one of the many, but in virtue higher than the many. He stated the commonality of his nature, in order to show the particularity of his choice, that having shared the same nature with all, he lived beyond nature, and greater than a man. And he proclaims him also from his country, so that from this too you may marvel, what a rose sprouted from a thorn. See then a first encomium, that the land of Ausitis bore such an offspring. For to be so approved in Arabia, where all were corrupt, where there was no model of good order, this was marvelous. "And that man was true, blameless, just, devout, abstaining from every evil thing." The wise men from without, defining man, say: Man is a rational, mortal animal; but the divine Scripture defines as man him who has kept the image, and is known by his virtue, but him who has confounded and corrupted the godlike types and characters it does not even wish to call a man; for if someone has the character of nature, but insults it by the wickedness of his choice, he hears from the Prophet: A man being in honor did not understand, he is compared to the senseless beasts, and is become like them. And so here, Scripture, using its custom, and showing that nothing so characterizes a man as being blameless, just, devout, from this it also declares Job to be known, and says that he was a true man. For the wicked are false men, like those who are painted. For this reason Ecclesiastes also, summarizing all the commandments at the end into the fear of God, says, The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for 64.512 this is the whole man. And another, prophesying in Jerusalem, since he saw no one listening, says, I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was no one who answered. And we too according to common custom, whenever we send a servant or a son upon some business, are accustomed to say to him, "As a man, take up the task," that is, the human

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ἅγιον εἰς μέσον ἄγε, καὶ περιέσῃ τοῦ πάθους· κἂν οἱ τυχόντες ἀποχρήσωνται, ἐννόησον ἅπερ ἔπασχε παρὰ τῶν οἰκετῶν, καὶ πολλὴν δέξῃ τὴν ἰατρείαν· κἂν πονηρᾷ τις ὑπολήψει σε περιβάλῃ, λόγισαι οἷα περὶ τούτου ἔλεγον, ὅτι οὐδέπω τῶν ἡμαρτημένων αὐτῷ δέδωκεν ἀξίαν δίκην, καὶ οἷα ὠνείδιζον, καὶ περιέσῃ τούτου τοῦ πάθους. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐν ἀνθρώποις συμφορὰ, ἣν οὐχ ὑπέμεινεν οὗτος, ὁ παντὸς ἀδάμαντος στεῤῥότερος, λιμὸν, καὶ πενίαν, καὶ νόσον, καὶ ἀποβολὴν παίδων, καὶ ζημίαν τοσούτων χρημάτων ἀθρόον ὑπενεγκών· καὶ μετ' ἐκεῖνο παρὰ γυναικὸς ἐπιβουλευθεὶς, παρὰ φίλων ἐπηρεασθεὶς, παρὰ οἰκετῶν ἐπιβουλευθεὶς, διὰ πάντων ἀπεδείκνυτο πέτρας ἁπάσης στεῤῥότερος 64.509 ὤν· καὶ ταῦτα, πρὸ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῆς χάριτος. Καὶ γὰρ οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἕξομεν ἀπολογίαν, ὅταν οἱ μετὰ νόμον καὶ χάριν τοσαύτης ἀπολαύσαντες δωρεᾶς, ἐλάττω φέρωμεν τούτου, τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ προοιμίοις τοῦ βίου τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοσαύτην ἐπιδειξαμένου φιλοσοφίαν.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΠΡΩΤΟΝ

«Ἄνθρωπός τις ἦν ἐν χώρᾳ τῇ Αὐσίτιδι, ᾧ ὄνομα Ἰώβ.» Τί βούλεται τὸ προοίμιον, καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν ὁ συγγραφεὺς οὕτως ἤρξατο; Ἔμελλε βίον ἐνάρετον διηγεῖσθαι, καὶ πολὺ τὴν ἡμετέραν ὑπερνικῶντα κατάστασιν· ἵνα γοῦν μή τις εἰς τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν ἀγώνων καὶ τῆς ὑπομονῆς ἀναβλέψας, νομίσῃ ξένην εἶναί τινα φύσιν, καὶ οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνην, προλαβὼν δεικνύει τὴν φύσιν, ἵνα σὺ θαυμάσῃς τὴν πρόθεσιν, ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ἦν, κατὰ φύσιν μὲν εἷς τῶν πολλῶν, κατ' ἀρετὴν δὲ τῶν πολλῶν ὑψηλότερος. Εἶπε τὸ κοινὸν τῆς φύσεως, ἵνα δείξῃ τὸ ἰδιάζον τῆς προαιρέσεως, ὅτι τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως ἅπασι κοινωνήσας, ὑπὲρ φύσιν, καὶ μεῖζον ἢ κατ' ἄνθρωπον, ἐπολιτεύσατο. Κηρύττει δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας, ἵνα κἀντεῦθεν θαυμάσῃς, ὁποῖον ῥόδον ἐξ ἀκάνθης ἐβλάστησεν. Ὅρα δὲ πρῶτον ἐγκώμιον, ὅτι τοιοῦτον βλαστὸν ἤνεγκεν ἡ Αὐσῖτις χώρα. Τὸ γὰρ ἐν Ἀραβίᾳ οὕτως εἶναί τινα δόκιμον, ἔνθα πάντες διεφθαρμένοι, ἔνθα ὑπόδειγμα οὐδὲν ἦν εὐνομίας, τοῦτο ἦν θαυμαστόν. «Καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος ἦν ἀληθινὸς, ἄμεμπτος, δίκαιος, θεοσεβὴς, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς πονηροῦ πράγματος.» Οἱ μὲν ἔξωθεν σοφοὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁριζόμενοί φασιν· Ἄνθρωπός ἐστι ζῶον λογικὸν θνητὸν, ἡ δὲ θεία Γραφὴ, τὸν τηρήσαντα τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα, καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἀρετῆς γνωριζόμενον, τοῦτον εἶναι ἄνθρωπον ὁρίζεται, τὸν δὲ συγχέαντα καὶ διαφθείραντα τοὺς θεουδεὶς τύπους καὶ χαρακτῆρας οὐδὲ ἄνθρωπον καλεῖν βούλεται· εἰ γάρ τις ἔχει μὲν τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς φύσεως, ὑβρίζει δὲ αὐτὸν τῇ κακίᾳ τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἀκούει παρὰ τοῦ Προφήτου· Ἄνθρωπος ἐν τιμῇ ὢν οὐ συνῆκε, παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὡμοιώθη αὐτοῖς. Κἀνταῦθα τοίνυν τῇ συνήθῃ ἑαυτῆς ἡ Γραφὴ κεχρημένη, καὶ δεικνῦσα ὅτι τὸν ἄνθρωπον οὐδὲν οὕτω χαρακτηρίζει, ὡς τὸ ἄμεμπτον, τὸ δίκαιον, τὸ θεοσεβὲς, ἐντεῦθεν καὶ τὸν Ἰὼβ γνωριζόμενον ἀποφαίνει, καί φησιν, ὅτι ἦν ἄνθρωπος ἀληθινός. Οἱ γὰρ φαῦλοι, ψευδεῖς ἄνθρωποι, ὥσπερ οἱ ζωγραφούμενοι. Ταῦτά τοι καὶ ὁ Ἐκκλησιαστὴς, πάσας ἐπὶ τέλει τὰς ἐντολὰς εἰς τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβον συγκεφαλαιούμενος, Πέρας, φησὶ, λόγου τὸ πᾶν ἄκουε· τὸν Θεὸν φοβοῦ, καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ φύλασσε, ὅτι 64.512 τοῦτο πᾶς ἅνθρωπος. Ἕτερος δέ τις προφητεύων ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἐπειδὴ οὐδένα ἑώρα τὸν ἀκούοντα, Ἦλθον, φησὶν, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄνθρωπος· ἐκάλεσα, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ ὑπακούων. Καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ κατὰ τὴν κοινὴν συνήθειαν ἐπειδ' ἂν ἐπί τινα πρᾶξιν τὸν οἰκέτην ἢ τὸν υἱὸν ἀποστέλλωμεν, εἰώθαμεν μὲν λέγειν πρὸς αὐτὸν, ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἅψαι τῆς πράξεως, τουτέστι τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην