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the mind to be delighted by the allurements of evil. He contrasts this material and worldly abundance with the gladness of the heart, saying that for those who look to the present, the stomach becomes the criterion of the good. For 5.36 by saying that corn and wine are multiplied for such people, he has by synecdoche included in his statement all the pleasures related to the stomach and feasting; which are the source of all material preoccupation, about which zeal succeeds to no end, for there is no storehouse in nature for the enjoyment which comes to men in an instant, so that they might make for themselves a deposit of the pleasure which they acquire with all zeal, but just as one of the deceitful phantoms, having seemed to be grasped by the pleasure-lovers, immediately vanished and passed into non-being. And of such a phantom one trace is left after its departure, shame, having stamped on them a deep and indelible impression of these things, through which it has passed, so that it is possible, according to the art of hunters, to discern the nature of the beast by its tracks. For they too, when the prey is unseen, recognize the animal by its track. If therefore the boar or the lion are identified by their own tracks, it certainly follows that the nature of pleasure is also recognized in the track it has left behind. But indeed, its track is shame. Therefore that which has stamped such an impression on the soul is either shame itself or the producer of shame. But this has been considered by us in a digression on this topic; for it was necessary to show in what preceded, through the psalmody, what the end is of each of the pursuits according to virtue and vice. Therefore, in the aforementioned psalm, having said the end of virtue is peace and repose and the uniform dwelling, unmixed with the passions, which is achieved in hope of partaking of God, he has indicated the opposite 5.37 to this here through silence, but in many places he cries out through the psalmody, saying But the lawless will be utterly destroyed, and The seed of the wicked will be utterly destroyed, and He who loves injustice hates his own soul; and he will rain snares upon sinners, and countless other things similar to these. And the whole book of the psalmody is full of praises of virtue and of condemnation of those living in evil. The memory of the histories is also divided toward two aims, making virtue an object of emulation through the esteemed persons, but wickedness an object of avoidance through the condemned. For when it incites you to virtue by example, it says: Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them. In a pillar of cloud he spoke to them. But when it shows the evil end of wickedness, it recounts the sufferings of those condemned in wickedness. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the congregation of Abiram. a flame burned up the sinners; and Make them like Midian and Sisera; and Make their princes like Oreb and Zeb and Zebah and Zalmunna, all their princes; and many other such things; and the psalmody cries out all the particular counsels to you from beginning to end, in no part omitting the exhortation to the good, and the ways by which one might flee evil; all are yoked together with maxims that guide toward the good. 5.38 For the acquisition of the good becomes the flight from and destruction of the contrary. But it would be superfluous to set all these things out with precision, since the earnestness of the word concerning such things is manifest to those who encounter this scripture.
CHAPTER 5
The entire treatise of the psalms is divided into five parts, and there is in the
these divisions an artful arrangement and division. The outline of the divisions becomes clear as it ends in a similar way with certain divine doxologies, which it is possible
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κακίας δελεάσμασι τὸν νοῦν ἡσθῆναι. ἀντιδιαστέλλει δὲ τῇ τῆς καρδίας εὐφροσύνῃ τὴν ὑλώδη ταύτην καὶ βιωτικὴν εὐθηνίαν, λέγων τοῖς τὸ παρὸν ὁρῶσι τὴν γαστέρα τοῦ καλοῦ κριτήριον γίνεσθαι. σῖτον γὰρ 5.36 καὶ οἶνον εἰπὼν τοῖς τοιούτοις πληθύνεσθαι, ἀπὸ μέρους πάσας τὰς περὶ γαστέρα καὶ θοίνην ἡδονὰς τῷ λόγῳ συμπεριέ λαβεν· αἳ πάσης ἄρχουσιν ὑλικῆς ἀσχολίας, περὶ ἃ ἡ σπουδὴ εἰς οὐδὲν εὐοδοῦται πέρας, οὐ γάρ ἐστι τῆς ἐν ἀκαρεῖ γινο μένης τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀπολαύσεως ἐν τῇ φύσει ταμιεῖον οὐδέν, ὥστε ἀπόθετον ἑαυτοῖς ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἡδονήν, ἣν κατὰ πᾶσαν κτῶνται σπουδήν, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τι τῶν ἀπατηλῶν φαντασμάτων κεκρατῆσθαι παρὰ τῶν φιληδόνων δόξαν εὐθὺς ἠφανίσθη καὶ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν μετεχώρησε. τοῦ δὲ τοιούτου φάσματος ἓν ἴχνος καταλείπεται μετὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν, ἡ αἰσχύνη, βαθύν τε καὶ δυσεξάλειπτον ἐνσημηναμένη τούτοις τὸν τύπον τούτων, δι' ὧν ἂν παρέλθῃ, ὡς δυνατὸν εἶναι, κατὰ τὴν τέχνην τῶν θηρευόντων τοῖς ἴχνεσι διαγινώσκειν τοῦ θηρίου τὴν φύσιν. καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι, ὅταν ἀφανὲς ᾖ τὸ θήραμα, διὰ τοῦ ἴχνους τὸ ζῷον γνωρίζουσιν. εἰ οὖν ὁ σῦς ἢ ὁ λέων τοῖς ἴχνεσι τοῖς ἰδίοις καταμηνύονται, ἀκόλουθον πάντως καὶ τῆς ἡδονῆς τὴν φύσιν ἐν τῷ ὑπολειφθέντι αὐτῆς ἴχνει γνωρίζεσθαι. ἀλλὰ μὴν τὸ ἴχνος αὐτῆς αἰσχύνη ἐστίν. ἄρα καὶ ἡ ἐνσημηναμένη τῇ ψυχῇ τὸν τοιοῦτον τύπον ἢ αὐτὸ πάντως αἰσχύνη ἐστὶν ἢ ποιητικὴ τῆς αἰσχύνης. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ἡμῖν ἐν παρεξοδίῳ προεθεωρήθη τῷ τόπῳ· δεῖξαι γὰρ κατὰ τὸ προηγούμενον ἔδει διὰ τῆς ψαλμῳδίας, οἷον ἑκατέρου τῶν κατ' ἀρετήν τε καὶ κακίαν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἐστὶ τὸ πέρας. ἐν τοίνυν τῷ προειρημένῳ ψαλμῷ τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς εἰπὼν τέλος εἰρήνην εἶναι καὶ ἄνεσιν καὶ τὴν μονοειδῆ τε καὶ ἀνεπίμικτον πρὸς τὰ πάθη κατοίκησιν τὴν ἐπ' ἐλπίδι τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ μετουσίας κατορθουμένην τὸ ἀντικείμενον 5.37 τούτῳ ἐνταῦθα μὲν διὰ τῆς σιωπῆς ἐνεδείξατο, πολλαχῇ δὲ διὰ τῆς ψαλμῳδίας βοᾷ λέγων Οἱ δὲ παράνομοι ἐξολοθρευ θήσονται, καὶ Σπέρμα ἀσεβῶν ἐξολοθρευθήσεται, καὶ Ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὴν ἀδικίαν μισεῖ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν· καὶ ἐπιβρέξει ἐπὶ ἁμαρτωλοὺς παγίδας, καὶ ἄλλα μυρία τούτοις ὁμοιότροπα. γέμει δὲ πᾶσα τῆς ψαλμῳδίας ἡ βίβλος τῶν τε τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπαίνων καὶ τῆς κατηγορίας τῶν ἐν κακίᾳ ζώντων. ἥ τε τῶν ἱστοριῶν μνήμη πρὸς τοὺς δύο σκοποὺς μεριζομένη, ζηλωτὴν μὲν ποιεῖ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῶν εὐδοκίμων προσώπων, φευκτὴν δὲ διὰ τῶν κατεγνωσμένων τὴν πονηρίαν. ὅταν μὲν γάρ σε πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἐπεγείρῃ τῷ ὑποδείγματι, λέγει· Μωυσῆς καὶ Ἀαρὼν ἐν τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ Σαμουὴλ ἐν τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις αὐτόν. ἐπεκαλοῦντο τὸν κύριον, καὶ αὐτὸς εἰσήκουεν αὐτῶν. ἐν στύλῳ νεφέλης ἐλάλει πρὸς αὐτούς. ὅταν δὲ τὸ πονηρὸν τῆς κακίας ὑποδεικνύει πέρας, τὰ πάθη τῶν ἐν πονηρίᾳ κατεγνωσμένων διέξεισιν. Ἠνοίχθη ἡ γῆ καὶ κατέπιεν ∆αθάν, καὶ ἐκάλυψεν ἐπὶ τὴν συναγωγὴν Ἀβειρών. φλὸξ κατέφλεξεν ἁμαρτωλούς· καὶ Ποίησον αὐτοὺς ὡς τὴν Μαδιὰμ καὶ τὸν Σισάρα· καὶ Θοῦ τοὺς ἄρχοντας αὐτῶν ὡς τὸν Ὠρὴβ καὶ Ζὴβ καὶ Ζεβεὲ καὶ Σαλμανά, πάντας τοὺς ἄρχοντας αὐτῶν· καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα τοιαῦτα· τάς τε μερικὰς συμβουλὰς πάσας σοι βοᾷ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς εἰς τέλος ἡ ψαλμῳδία, ἐν οὐδενὶ μέρει τὴν πρὸς τὸ καλὸν προτροπὴν παραλείπουσα, καὶ δι' ὧν ἄν τις φύγοι τὴν κακίαν· πάντα ταῖς πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ὁδηγούσαις συμπαρέζευκται γνώμαις. 5.38 ἡ γὰρ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ κτῆσις φυγὴ τοῦ ἐναντίου καὶ ἀναίρεσις γίνεται. παρέλκον δ' ἂν εἴη πάντα ταῦτα δι' ἀκριβείας ἐκτίθεσθαι, φανερᾶς οὔσης τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι τῇ γραφῇ ταύτῃ τῆς περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα σπουδῆς τοῦ λόγου.
ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Εʹ
Τέτμηται δὲ πενταχῇ πᾶσα ἡ τῶν ψαλμῶν πραγματεία, καί τίς ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς
τμήμασι τούτοις τεχνικὴ διασκευὴ καὶ διαίρεσις. ἡ δὲ περιγραφὴ τῶν τμημάτων φανερὰ γίνεται θείαις τισὶ δοξολογίαις ὁμοιοτρόπως ἐναπολήγουσα, ἃς ἔξεστιν