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v. 24. Those who gather corruption are diminished in virtues; or those who gather words, and do not impart them. v. 29. He who is vexed at each of the faults of his own house will be homeless; and a foolish man will serve a wise one. v. 31. Therefore, he says, the one who hates God is impious; but a sinner is one who is wicked in his actions; and here he calls righteous the practical man with reason and knowledge; for the precision of righteousness is great.

39.1636 v. 2 The better, not as a comparative, but instead of the good. v. 9. The practical and unlearned man is more honorable than the one who is eloquent and refined and inactive. v. 12. The roots of the righteous will not be torn out, that is, their good dispositions. v. 17. Whatever he says, he says, is confirmed by his works; and if it is more credible than a work; or instead of, manifest, tested, irrefutable, able to prove itself; but a witness of the unjust is one who attempts to establish what unjust things he may do; and deceitful, as having nothing straight. v. 25. The account of punishments disturbs the one just now entering the practical life; but that of the promises gladdens. For the perfect righteous man will not be afraid of an evil report, having the fear of the Lord which surpasses all. v. 26. The righteous man, knowing human weakness, forgives, even if the friend’s deed is a sin; or that, recognizing that the friend is in the image of God, he is in harmony with himself, being sober-minded, and guarding himself, and having none of the enemy's malice, he has untroubled thoughts. v. 2. For the one will have the end of virtue, but the others will not have ripe fruit; but he will terrify himself, not finding a way to stand with his own sin. v. 14. The natural law, from which the cause of life flows; for a law is not laid down for a righteous man; but punishment leading to death for the one ensnared by evils; the fountain of life, the works of the commandments. To the righteous nations the wealth of those of the circumcision will be added. v. 10. The mind, perceiving sin, pains the soul; and the houses of the impious are dispositions and conditions; and the tents are the choices; and there is a way which seems to be right, that prefers appearances to realities. He considers steadfastly what must be done. They will have a portion, or they will share a portion; for the bold man would not be a coward. vv. 20, 23. This seems to me as though he has not set it in the order of exhortation, but reports things that have happened; then correctively what is brought in; the phrase, "He who dishonors a poor man sins;" for the evils are evident on the spot; nor is one corrected, he would not condemn such things; and who would praise the others? He who is concerned for virtue abounds in action and knowledge. For he who always considers what is to be done will have something more; but the pleasant and callous man, that is, he who shuns labors, will be in want of virtues. v. 16. The word, nest, sometimes signifies the place, sometimes 39.1637 the nesting creatures. Therefore, either the place of wisdom, the theorems in which it dwells, is more desirable than falsely named knowledge. or the offspring of wisdom. For just as gold is better than silver, so also is wisdom than prudence; for the one consists in knowing, the other in interpreting what is known. Or the nests of wisdom, the Churches, or the monasteries of the saints from there; and wisdom is Christ. v. 17. For having the unceasingness of actions, they have the length of the appropriate life, turning away from evils, that is, from death. v. 29. Here he calls the lawless man the devil, who tempts men, wishing to know which of them are like him and willing to transgress the law; and leading them away into ways, that is, into actions that are not good; and he is the same one who fixes his eyes upon each of the men, and perceives accurately to what passion someone is prone; and having known from their movements, he sets his snares; and having seized him, he leads him away into all evils. And he said "to define with his lips," because by his wicked suggestions, he strives to accomplish through men by deeds all that is according to his own desire; and this is the furnace of malice, which burns the one who has received it with

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Στ. κδʹ. Οἱ συνάγοντες φθορὰν ἐλαττοῦνται τῶν ἀρετῶν· ἢ οἱ λόγους συνάγοντες, καὶ μὴ μεταδιδόντες. Στ. κθʹ. Ὁ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἐλαττωμάτων τοῦ ἰδίου οἴκου δυσχεραίνων, ἄοικος ἔσται· δουλεύσει δὲ ἄφρων φρονίμῳ. Στ. λαʹ. Ἀσεβὴς τοίνυν, φησὶν, ὁ τὸν Θεὸν μισῶν· ἁμαρτωλὸς δὲ, ὁ περὶ τὰς πράξεις πονηρός· δίκαιον δὲ ἐνταῦθα τὸν πρακτικὸν μετὰ λόγου καὶ ἐπιστήμης λέγει· πολλὴ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀκρίβεια.

39.1636 Στ. βʹ Τὸ κρεῖσσον, οὐ συγκριτικὸν, ἀλλ' ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ. Στ. θʹ. Ὁ πρακτικὸς καὶ ἰδιώτης, τοῦ ἐν λόγῳ καὶ κομψοῦ καὶ ἀπράκτου, τιμιώτερος. Στ. ιβʹ. Αἱ ῥίζαι τῶν δικαίων οὐκ ἐξαρθήσονται, τουτέστιν αἱ ἀγαθαὶ ἕξεις. Στ. ιζʹ. Ὃ ἐὰν λέγῃ, φησὶ, πιστοῦται τοῖς ἔργοις· καὶ εἰ ἔργου ἐστὶ πιστότερον· ἢ ἀντὶ τοῦ, φανερὰν, βεβασανισμένην, ἀνέλεγκτον, ἱκανὴν αὐτὴν ἐπιδεῖξαι· ἀδίκων δὲ μάρτυς, ὁ συνιστᾷν ἐπιχειρῶν ἃ ἂν ἄδικα πράττῃ· δόλιος δὲ, ὡς οὐδὲν ἔχων εὐθές. Στ. κεʹ. Ὁ μὲν τῶν κολάσεων λόγος ταράσσει τὸν ἄρτι φοιτῶντα τῷ πρακτικῷ βίῳ· εὐφραίνει δὲ ὁ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν. Ὁ γὰρ τέλειος δίκαιος οὐ φοβηθήσεται ἀπὸ ἀκοῆς πονηρᾶς, φόβον ἔχων Κυρίου τὸν ὑπεραίροντα πάντα. Στ. κςʹ. Ὁ μὲν δίκαιος, εἰδὼς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀσθένειαν, συγγινώσκει, κἂν ἁμάρτημα ᾖ τὸ παρὰ τοῦ φίλου· ἢ ὅτι ἐπιγινώσκων ὅτι κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ ἐστιν ὁ φίλος, σύμφωνος ἑαυτοῦ ἐστι μετριοφρονῶν, καὶ φυλάσσων ἑαυτὸν, καὶ μηδὲν τῆς ἐχθρᾶς κακίας ἔχων, ἀστασιάστους ἔχει τοὺς λογισμούς. Στ. βʹ. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἕξει τὸ τέλος τῆς ἀρετῆς, οἱ δὲ καρπὸν οὐχ ἔξουσιν ὥριμον· πτοήσει δ' ἑαυτὸν, οὐχ εὑρίσκων συστῆναι τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίᾳ. Στ. ιδʹ. Νόμος ὁ φυσικὸς, ἀφ' οὗ βρύει τὸ τῆς ζωῆς αἴτιον· δικαίῳ γὰρ νόμος οὐ κεῖται· τιμωρία δὲ ἐπὶ θάνατον τῷ παγιδευθέντι κακοῖς· ἡ πηγὴ ζωῆς, τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἐντολῶν. ∆ικαίοις τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὁ τῶν ἐκ περιτομῆς πλοῦτος προσγενήσεται. Στ. ιʹ. Ὁ νοῦς αἰσθανόμενος ἁμαρτίας, ὀδυνᾷ τὴν ψυχήν· οἰκίαι δὲ τῶν ἀσεβῶν, ἕξεις καὶ διαθέσεις· σκηναὶ δέ εἰσιν αἱ προαιρέσεις· ἔστι δὲ ὁδὸς, ἣ δοκεῖ ὀρθὴ εἶναι, ἡ τῶν ὄντων τὰ δοκοῦντα προκρίνουσα. Καρτερικῶς τὸ πρακτέον λογίζεται. Μερίδα σχήσουσιν, ἢ συμμερίσονται· ὁ θρασὺς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν εἴη δειλός. Στ. κʹ, κγʹ. Τοῦτο ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ ὡς οὐκ ἐν τάξει παραινέσεως τέθεικεν, ἀλλὰ τὰ συμβάντα ἀπαγγέλλει· εἶτα διορθωτικῶς τὸ ἐπαγόμενον· τὸ, "Ὁ ἀτιμάζων πένητα ἁμαρτάνει·" τὰ γὰρ αὐτόθι δῆλα κακά· οὐδὲ διορθοῦταί τις, οὐκ ἂν καταγνοίη τῶν τοιούτων· τίς δ' ἂν τοὺς ἄλλους ἐπαινέσειεν; Ὁ ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς φροντίζων περιττεύει πράξει καὶ γνώσει. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ περὶ τῶν πρακτέων ἀεὶ σκοπῶν ἕξει τι πλέον· ὁ δὲ ἡδὺς καὶ ἀνάλγητος, ἤγουν ὁ τοὺς πόνους ἐκτρεπόμενος ἐν ἐνδείᾳ ἔσται τῶν ἀρετῶν. Στ. ιςʹ. Τὸ, νοσσιὰ, ποτὲ τὸν τόπον σημαίνει, ποτὲ 39.1637 δὲ τὰ ἐνοσσεύοντα ζῶα. Ἢ τοίνυν ὁ τόπος τῆς σοφίας, τὰ θεωρήματα ἐν οἷς οἰκεί, αἱρετώτερά ἐστι τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως. ἢ τὰ κυήματα τῆς σοφίας. Ὥσπερ γὰρ χρυσὸς ἀργύρου κρείσσων, οὕτω καὶ σοφία φρονήσεως· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῷ γινώσκειν ἐστὶν, ἡ δὲ ἐν τῷ ἑρμηνεύειν τὰ γινωσκόμενα. Ἢ νοσσιὰς σοφίας, τὰς Ἐκκλησίας, ἢ τὰς τῶν ἁγίων ἐκεῖθεν μονάς· σοφία δὲ ὁ Χριστός. Στ. ιζʹ. Τὸ γὰρ ἀδιάστατον τῶν πράξεων ἔχουσαι, τὸ τῆς ζωῆς τῆς καταλλήλου μῆκος ἔχουσιν, ἀπὸ κακῶν ἐκκλίνουσαι, τουτέστι θανάτου. Στ. κθʹ. Ἐνταῦθα ἄνδρα παράνομον διάβολον καλεῖ, ὃς ἀποπειρᾶται τῶν ἀνθρώπων, γνῶναι θέλων τίνες εἰσὶν ἐξ αὐτῶν ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ καὶ θέλοντες παρανομεῖν· καὶ ἀπάγων αὐτοῦς εἰς ὁδοὺς ἤτοι εἰς πράξεις οὐκ ἀγαθάς· ὁ αὐτὸς δέ ἐστιν ὁ στηρίζων τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐφ' ἕκαστον τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ νοῶν ἀκριβῶς πρὸς ποῖον πάθος ἐπιῤῥεπῶς τις ἔχει· καὶ γνοὺς ἐκ τῶν κινημάτων, ἱστᾷ αὑτοῦ παγίδας· καὶ συλλαβὼν ἀπάγει αὐτὸν εἰς πάντα τὰ κακά. Ὁρίζειν δὲ τοῖς χείλεσιν εἶπεν, διότι ταῖς πονηραῖς αὑτοῦ ὑποβολαῖς, ἔργοις τελειῶσαι σπουδάζει διὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πάντα τὰ αὐτῷ καταθύμια· οὗτος δέ ἐστιν ἡ κάμινος τῆς κακίας, ἡ φλέγουσα τὸν ὑποδεξάμενον τοῖς