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from freedom to slavery, and they have become, instead of glorious, darkened and obscure from dishonor and insolence; for which reasons the city has fallen into perpetual grief. 31 Providence, he says, has not slept concerning my impieties; for God, as if taking them into his hands through examination, has entangled them in the deeds for retribution. and these things became for me like a yoke upon the neck and imposed slavery; for the slavery I served to Nebuchadnezzar is my own impieties, wherefore I have become weak, handed over to those whose dominion I cannot withstand. And a little later: His yoke is upon my neck. and it is shown through the present saying that the things spoken as if about our passions <concerning> God must be understood more figuratively. For how else could the impieties of Jerusalem be understood as intertwined with the hand of God, except figuratively? For one would not say these things in a bodily sense. And how is it not absurd, that while Jerusalem is a city, its neck is taken figuratively, but the so-called members of God are not understood in the same way? Let these things now be said as by a soul having fallen asleep into impiety, in that it has cast off the saving yoke of sound reason, which the savior calls good, and has submitted to the yoke of impieties, through which it became weak, being abandoned by divine oversight and handed over to the reigning sin of evils, whose desires, because of the boundless and infinite nature of wickedness, it cannot entirely serve and provide satiety for it. For sin truly humbles and chokes and makes one look down; a yoke also is the conscience, always choking and wounding and not allowing one to look up and depriving of all boldness. And a release, he says, also of the strength which I did not use well he has made, and I am freed, beholding the evils that hold me. 32 He did not remove them from my midst (for even if I were deprived of them, it was still possible to misuse them for other things), but in my midst he condemned them to suffer for the things wherein I was impious, and my chosen ones have suffered the most grievous things, the Lord himself having trodden the wine of his wrath in a winepress to satiety for me and for the virgin of the most royal Judah. And one might say the strong are those mighty in war and defending the fatherland, and the chosen are the noble or the wise. And the phrase "he trod the winepress" clarifies what is said in the Psalms about the punishment of sinners: "a cup in the hand of the Lord, of unmixed wine full of mixture," being passed from this one who is punished to that one who is punished, until "all the sinners of the earth" drink, with the dregs remaining for those who are yet more sinful than these, on whom last of all "the dregs" will be poured out. 33 And it is not difficult to see how the Lord trod a winepress for the virgin daughter of Judah; for since "whatever each one sows, this he will also reap," so perhaps also whatever he cultivates, this he also harvests. Therefore, the one who makes better wine will rejoice from his own produce, but the one who cultivated "a vine of Sodom and a branch of Gomorrah and bore a cluster of gall and a bunch of bitterness and the incurable wrath of asps, with all things being gathered by the Lord" into one winepress, with his evil works being trodden and pressed, will drink according to such fruits in order to vomit out the gall and the bitterness and the wrath. and he will drink, according to Jeremiah, so that he may vomit, but according to Isaiah, so that he may be roused and put on his kindred glory; for not in vain does the Lord tread the winepress, and especially for the virgin daughter of Judah. 34 Therefore the soul, having received many mighty and choice gifts from him who created it, being deprived of these through wickedness and paying the penalty, confesses what it has suffered. And the time called for being crushed is the time of retribution, when according to Ezekiel "all the righteous deeds which the righteous man has done will not be remembered on the day of his sin." But by mourning the things that have happened, it is benefited, since those who mourn and weep have the promise of comfort and laughter. 35 He said the cause of the lamentations was that there was no one to turn back the

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ἐλευθερίας εἰς δουλείαν, καὶ γεγόνασιν ἀντὶ ἐνδόξων ἠμαυρωμένοι καὶ ἀφανεῖς ἐξ ἀτιμίας καὶ ὕβρεως· δι' ἅπερ εἰς διηνεκῆ πέπτωκε λύπην ἡ πόλις. 31 Ἡ πρόνοια, φησίν, ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἀσεβήμασιν οὐ κεκοίμηται· θεὸς γὰρ ὥσπερ εἰς χεῖρας λαβὼν αὐτὰ διὰ τῆς ἐξετάσεως τοῖς διὰ τὴν ἀνταπόδοσιν ἐνέπλεξεν ἔργοις. καὶ γέγονέ μοι ταῦτα καθάπερ ἐπὶ τραχήλου ζυγὸς καὶ δουλείαν ἐπέθηκεν· ἣν γὰρ ἐδούλευσα τῷ Ναβουχοδονόσορ δουλείαν, τὰ ἐμά ἐστιν ἀσεβήματα, διόπερ ἄτονος γέγονα παραδοθεῖσα τούτοις ὧν ὑποστῆναι τὴν δεσποτείαν οὐ δύναμαι . Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Ὁ ζυγὸς αὐτοῦ κατὰ τοῦ τραχήλου μου . δείκνυται δὲ διὰ τοῦ παρόντος ῥητοῦ τροπικώτερον δεῖν ἐκλαμβάνεσθαι τὰ ὡς περὶ παθῶν ἡμετέρων λεγόμενα <περὶ> τοῦ θεοῦ. πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἄλλως νοηθείη τὰ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀσεβήματα τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ συμπεπλεγμένα χειρὶ ἢ τροπικῶς; οὐ γὰρ ἄν τις λέγοι καὶ ταῦτα σωματικῶς. πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἄτοπον, τῆς μὲν Ἱερουσαλὴμ πόλεως οὔσης τὸν τράχηλον λαμ βάνεσθαι τροπικῶς, τὰ ὡς θεοῦ δὲ λεγόμενα μέλη μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀκούεσθαι τρόπον; λεγέσθω δὲ τὰ νῦν ὡς ὑπὸ ψυχῆς εἰς ἀσέβειαν ὑπνωσάσης, ἐν τῷ ἀφηνιακέναι μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ σωτηρίου ζυγοῦ τοῦ ὑγιοῦς λόγου, ὃν ὁ σωτὴρ ὀνομάζει χρηστόν, ὑποδῦναι δὲ τὸν τῶν ἀσεβημάτων, δι' ὧν ἠτόνησεν ἀφεθεῖσα τῆς θείας ἐπισκοπῆς καὶ παραδοθεῖσα τῇ βασιλευούσῃ τῶν κακῶν ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἧς τοῖς θελήμασι διὰ τὸ ἀπεριόριστον καὶ ἄπειρον τῆς κακίας οὐ δύναται πάντῃ ὑπουργῆσαι καὶ κόρον αὐτῇ παρασχεῖν. ταπεινοῖ δὲ ὄντως ἡ ἁμαρτία καὶ ἄγχει καὶ κάτω βλέπειν ποιεῖ· ζυγὸς δὲ καὶ τὸ συνειδὸς ἄγχον ἀεὶ καὶ τιτρῶσκον καὶ ἀνανεύειν μὴ συγχωροῦν καὶ πάσης ἀφαιρού μενον παρρησίας. πάρεσιν δέ, φησί, καὶ τῆς ἰσχύος ᾗ μὴ καλῶς ἐχρησάμην ἐποίησε, καὶ λύομαι τὰ συνέχοντά με θεωροῦσα κακά. 32 Οὐκ ἐκ μέσου μου ἐξῆρεν αὐτούς (εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀπεστερήμην αὐτῶν, ἀλλ' ἐξῆν εἰς ἕτερα καταχρήσασθαι), ἀλλ' ἐν μέσῳ μου πα θεῖν αὐτοὺς κατεδίκασε δι' ἅπερ ἠσέβησα, καὶ πεπόνθασιν οἱ ἐκλεκ τοί μου τὰ χαλεπώτατα, αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου τὸν οἶνον τοῦ θυμοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐν ληνῷ πατήσαντος εἰς πλησμονὴν ἐμοὶ καὶ τῇ παρθένῳ τοῦ βασιλικωτάτου Ἰούδα . λέγοι δ' ἂν ἰσχυροὺς μὲν τοὺς δυνα τοὺς ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ τῆς πατρίδος ὑπερασπίζοντας, ἐκλεκτοὺς δὲ τοὺς εὐγενεῖς ἢ σοφούς. σαφηνίζει δὲ τὸ ληνὸν ἐπάτησεν τὸ περὶ τῆς τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τιμωρίας ἐν Ψαλμοῖς εἰρημένον· «ποτήριον ἐν χειρὶ κυρίου, οἴνου ἀκράτου πλῆρες κεράσματος», κλινόμενον ἐκ τοῦδέ τινος τοῦ κολαζομένου ἐπὶ τόνδε τὸν κολαζόμενον, ἕως πίωσι «πάν τες οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ τῆς γῆς», τῆς τρυγὸς ὑπολειπομένης τοῖς ἁμαρτω λοτέροις ἔτι τούτων ὑπάρχουσιν, εἰς οὓς τελευταίους «ὁ τρυγίας» ἐκκενωθήσεται. 33 Οὐ χαλεπὸν δὲ ἰδεῖν, πῶς ληνὸν ἐπάτησε κύριος παρθένῳ θυγατρὶ Ἰούδα · ἐπεὶ γὰρ «ἃ σπείρει ἕκαστος, ταῦτα καὶ θερίσει», τάχα δὴ καὶ ἃ γεωργεῖ, ταῦτα καὶ τρυγᾷ. ὁ μὲν οὖν κρείττονα οἶνον ποιήσας εὐφρανθήσεται ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων γεννημάτων, ὁ δὲ γεωργήσας «ἄμπελον Σοδόμων καὶ κληματίδα Γομόρρας καὶ καρποφορήσας στα φυλὴν χολῆς καὶ βότρυν πικρίας καὶ θυμὸν ἀσπίδων ἀνίατον, πάν των ὑπὸ κυρίου συναγομένων» εἰς μίαν ληνόν , πατουμένων τῶν κακῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ καὶ θλιβομένων, τοῖς τοιούτοις ἀκολούθως καρποῖς πίεται ὑπὲρ τοῦ τὴν χολὴν ἐμέσαι καὶ τὴν πικρίαν καὶ τὸν θυμόν. καὶ πίεται, κατὰ μὲν τὸν Ἱερεμίαν εἰς τὸ ἐξεμέσαι, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἡσαΐαν εἰς τὸ ἐξεγερθῆναι καὶ ἐνδύσασθαι δόξαν τὴν συγγενῆ· οὐ γὰρ μάτην ληνὸν πατεῖ κύριος , καὶ μάλιστα παρθένῳ θυ γατρὶ Ἰούδα . 34 Ἡ τοίνυν ψυχὴ πολλὰ παρὰ τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτὴν λαβοῦσα δυ νατά τε καὶ ἐκλεκτὰ χαρίσματα, τούτων διὰ κακίαν ἐστερημένη καὶ τίνουσα δίκας, ὃ πέπονθεν ὁμολογεῖ. ὁ δὲ κληθεὶς εἰς τὸ συντρι βῆναι καιρός ἐστιν ὁ τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως, ὅτε κατὰ τὸν Ἰεζεκιὴλ «οὐ μνησθήσεται πάντων τῶν δικαιωμάτων ὧν πεποίηκεν ὁ δίκαιος ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ». πενθοῦσα δὲ τὰ συμβεβηκότα ὠφελεῖται, τῶν πενθούντων καὶ κλαιόντων ἐπαγγελίαν ἐχόντων τὴν παράκλησιν καὶ τὸν γέλωτα. 35 Αἴτιον εἶναι τῶν ὀδυρμῶν ἔφη τὸ μὴ εἶναι τὸν ἐπιστρέφοντα τὴν