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declaring piercingly to the Corinthians, “for this reason many are weak and sick among you, and a number are asleep,” as if sin indeed untimely cuts off its own lovers and sends them on to oblivion? For in reality, according to that sacred voice, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire and is burned." I know also of a people being destroyed on account of a census; for when David delivered the Jewish people to a numbering and entrusted those he governed to a census, and "a chosen people" was counted, he grieved the God over all, and this became a sin for David, and for this reason the threefold suffering was commanded to the king and he was forced to proceed to a choice of disaster. And since the calamity was inevitable and the evil had been taken up in the portion of choice, death was appointed to rule the people, and the disaster was entrusted with supervision of the peoples. For, it says, "David chose death for himself," thrusting aside both famine and war, saying, “‘I will fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercies are very great; I will not be ensnared into the hands’ of enemies.” And did not the incense of Aaron and the uplifted serpent cut short the power of death? And did not the upraised hands of Moses save Israel when it was engaged in battle? And when Job was being tempted, did not his sons and daughters end their human life by some sudden attack? Therefore, it was not when the limits of their life had been fulfilled, but the trial of childlessness came upon the athlete for the testing of the steadfastness of his soul. And was not the little daughter of Jephthah slaughtered on account of the harshness of the vow? And how, O divine one, is Abel killed by his brother, if indeed the murdered one had been allotted the limits of life? And if he was in fact given over to death when the limits of his life were fulfilled, why then is Cain condemned to groan and tremble, and was preserved from suffering the same fate? And how also will he who draws the sword perish by the sword, if indeed the limits of life are fixed for men? And how have fasting and prayer been able to deliver the suppliant from the hand of death, when the limits of life have arrived and do not allow for their undoing by some device? And an encounter with wild beasts and the untimely things that happen to men, how will they be able to preserve the limits? Have you not heard David singing hymns, crying out to the God over all and saying, “you have delivered my soul from death”? Was there then, was there any single limit of life for the men who were inhabitants in Sodom and Gomorrah, or for the people of Pharaoh who perished in the Red Sea as if at a signal? And if it is also possible to find from scripture one who asked for and received “life” and “length of days,” and the “seed of the wicked” being utterly destroyed and the lawless one being sent on to withering like grass and “green herbs,” where for you could the limits of life have their firm basis? Have you not heard, “the righteous one will flourish like a palm tree” and “will be multiplied like a cedar in Lebanon,” “and yet a little while, and the sinner will be no more; and you will seek his place, and you will not find it,” “and I passed by, and behold, he was not”? or how should one pass over the text, “were it not for the wrath of the enemies, lest they should live long,” you who prattle on about limits of life and scornfully reject the teachings of Moses? Is not “the face of the Lord upon them that do evil, to destroy their remembrance from the earth”? Will not the Lord chasten the righteous one with chastisement, without giving him over to death? Whose “days have failed in vanity, and their years with haste”? Is it not of those who cast away piety? And concerning whom does the scripture say, “Let his days be few,” if not concerning those who do not fear the Lord, on account of whom the prophet cried out "with bared head" that the wickedness of sinners might be brought to an end? Whose “days did he make as a handbreadth”? And the text, “Bring my soul out of prison,” and “Take me not up in the midst of my days,” how is it possible to accept the scripture making such a decree, if indeed the limits of life unchangeably hold their fixed state

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διαπρύσιον τοῖς Κορινθίοις ἀποφαινόμενος «"διὰ τοῦτο πολλοὶ ἀσθενεῖς ἐν ὑμῖν καὶ ἄρρωστοι καὶ κοιμῶνται ἱκανοί"», ὡς οἷα δὴ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τοὺς ἑαυτῆς ἐραστὰς ἀώρως ἀποτεμνομένης καὶ παραπεμπούσης πρὸς τὴν ἀφάνειαν; τῷ ὄντι γὰρ, κατὰ τὴν ἱερὰν ἐκείνην φωνήν, "πᾶν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται καὶ καίεται". Οἶδα καὶ λαὸν δι' ἀπογραφὴν ἀπολλύμενον· ὁπηνίκα γὰρ ∆αυὶδ ἀριθμῷ τὸ ᾿Ιουδαικὸν παραδέδωκε καὶ ἀπογραφῇ τοὺς ἰθυνομένους ἐπέτρεπε καὶ κατεμετρεῖτο "λαὸς περιούσιος", παρελύπει τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν καὶ γέγονε τοῦτο τῷ ∆αυὶδ εἰς πλημμέλημα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ τριττὸν πάθος τῷ βασιλεῖ προσετέτακτο καὶ πρὸς ἐπιλογὴν συμφορᾶς χωρεῖν ἠναγκάζετο. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀπαραίτητον τὸ δυστύχημα καὶ τὸ κακὸν ἐν αἱρέσεως μοίρᾳ παρείληπτο, ἄρχειν τοῦ λαοῦ κεχειροτόνηται θάνατος καὶ τὴν ἐπιστασίαν τῶν δήμων τὰ τῆς συμφορᾶς ἐπιστεύετο. "ἐξελέξατο" γάρ, φησίν, "ἑαυτῷ τὸν θάνατον ὁ ∆αυὶδ" λιμόν τε καὶ πόλεμον παρωσάμενος, «"ἐμπεσοῦμαι"» φάσκων «"εἰς χεῖρας κυρίου, ὅτι πολλοὶ οἱ οἰκτιρμοὶ αὐτοῦ σφόδρα· εἰς χεῖρας" ἐχθρῶν οὐ παγιδευθήσομαι». τὸ θυμίαμα δὲ τοῦ ᾿Ααρὼν καὶ ὁ ὑψούμενος ὄφις οὐ θανάτου κράτος διέκοπτεν; αἱ Μωσέως δὲ χεῖρες ἀπαιωρούμεναι οὐ διέσῳζον τὸν ᾿Ισραὴλ συμπλεκόμενον; οὐ πειραζομένῳ δὲ τῷ ᾿Ιὼβ οἱ υἱοί τε καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ἀθρόᾳ τινὶ προσβολῇ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον κατεστρέψαντο βίον; οὐκοῦν οὐ τῶν ὅρων τῆς ζωῆς πληρωθέντων, ἀλλὰ διὰ ψυχῆς στερρότητος βάσανον τῷ ἀθλητῇ τὰ τῆς ἀτεκνίας ἐπήρχετο. τοῦ ᾿Ιεφθάε δὲ τὸ θυγάτριον οὐ διὰ τὸ σκληρὸν τῆς εὐχῆς ἀπεσφάττετο; πῶς δὲ ὁ ῎Αβελ ἀδελφοκτονεῖται, θεσπέσιε, εἴπερ ὅρους ζωῆς ὁ δολοφονηθεὶς ἐκληρώσατο; εἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν ὅρων τῆς ζωῆς πληρωθέντων θανάτῳ που παραδέδοτο, τί δῆτα Κάϊν στένειν καὶ τρέμειν καταδικάζεται καὶ πρὸς ταὐτοπάθειαν διεφυλάττετο; Πῶς δὲ καὶ ὁ σπασάμενος μάχαιραν διὰ μαχαίρας διαφθαρήσεται, εἴ γε ὅροι ζωῆς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πεπήγασι; νηστεία δὲ καὶ προσευχὴ πῶς δεδύνηται ἐκ χειρὸς ῥύσασθαι θανάτου τὸν ἱκετεύοντα τῶν ὅρων τῆς ζωῆς ἀφικομένων καὶ λύσιν οὐκ ἀνεχομένων σοφίσματος; ἐντυχία δὲ θηρίων καὶ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ παρήκοντος τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συμβαίνοντα πῶς ὅρους διαφυλάττειν δυνήσονται; ὑμνολογοῦντος οὐκ ἀκήκοας τοῦ ∆αυὶδ πρὸς τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν κεκραγότος καὶ λέγοντος «"ἀπὸ θανάτου τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐρρύσω"»; ἆρά που, ἆρα εἷς τις ὑπῆν ζωῆς ὅρος τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τοῖς ἀνὰ τὰ Σόδομα καὶ τὴν Γομόρραν οἰκήτορσιν, ἢ τῷ φαραωνίτῃ λαῷ τῷ κατὰ τὴν ᾿Ερυθρὰν θάλατταν διολωλότι ὡς ἐν συνθήματι; Εἰ δὲ καὶ "ζωὴν" αἰτοῦντα καὶ λαβόντα καὶ "μακρότητα ἡμερῶν" παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς ἔστιν εὑρεῖν, καὶ "σπέρμα ἀσεβῶν" ἐξολοθρευόμενον καὶ ὡσεὶ χόρτον καὶ "λάχανα χλόης" τῷ μαρασμῷ τὸν παρανομοῦντα παραπεμπόμενον, ποῦ σοι σχοίησαν οἱ τῆς ζωῆς ὅροι τὸ βάσιμον; οὐκ ἀκήκοας «"δίκαιος ὡς φοῖνιξ ἀνθήσει" καὶ "ὡσεὶ κέδρος ἐν τῷ Λιβάνῳ πληθυνθήσεται"», «"ἔτι δὲ ὀλίγον καὶ οὐ μὴ ὑπάρξει ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς καὶ ζητήσεις τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ μὴ εὕροις"», «"καὶ παρῆλθον καὶ ἰδοὺ οὐκ ἦν"»; ἢ πῶς παραλειπτέον τὸ «"εἰ μὴ δι' ὀργὴν ἐχθρῶν, ἵνα μὴ μακροχρονήσωσιν"», ὁ ζωῆς ὅρους περιθρυλλῶν καὶ τὰ Μωσέως ἀποσκορακίζων διδάγματα; οὐ "πρόσωπον κυρίου ἐπὶ ποιοῦντας κακά, τοῦ ἐξολοθρεῦσαι ἐκ γῆς τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῶν"; οὐ "παιδεύων" τὸν δίκαιον παιδεύσει ὁ κύριος μὴ παραδοὺς τῷ θανάτῳ; τίνων "ἐν ματαιότητι αἱ ἡμέραι ἐξέλιπον καὶ τὰ ἔτη μετὰ σπουδῆς"; οὐ τῶν ἀποβαλλομένων εὐσέβειαν; περὶ τίνων δέ φησιν ἡ γραφὴ «"γενηθήτωσαν αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτοῦ ὀλίγαι"» εἰ μὴ περὶ τῶν μὴ φοβουμένων τὸν κύριον, δι' οὗ συντελεσθῆναι πονηρίαν ἁμαρτωλῶν ὁ προφήτης "γυμνῇ τῇ κεφαλῇ" ἀνακέκραγε; τίνων "παλαιστὰς τὰς ἡμέρας" διέθετο; τὸ δὲ «"ἐξάγαγε ἐκ φυλακῆς τὴν ψυχήν μου"» καὶ «"μὴ ἀναγάγῃς με ἐν ἡμίσει ἡμερῶν μου"» πῶς οἷόν τέ ἐστι τὴν γραφὴν νομοθετοῦσαν ἐκδέξασθαι, εἴπερ ὅροι ζωῆς ἀκινήτως ἔχοντες τὸ εὐδόχιμον