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God has done this, so that by demonstrating the greatness of the athlete, He might convict the adversary, with Job nobly bearing not some small and insignificant assault, but the 29 destruction of seven thousand sheep, and along with them the shepherds, who were clearly not few. But again the one reporting was preserved for the reason we have stated before. "While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job: The horsemen made three companies against us and surrounded the camels and captured them, and they killed the servants with the sword. And I alone escaped and came to tell you." Perhaps it was an army in the country, which attacked, divided into three companies, against the camels. For he says, as if it were well-known: "The horsemen made three companies against us." But it is also possible that a continuous raid of enemy horsemen was happening at that time, and had been instigated by the devil's suggestion, and so, because it was happening customarily, the messenger said: "The horsemen made three companies against us." Not only did they snatch away the camels, but they also killed the servants. But notice how the succession of trials occurs in a certain more grievous order. For first the five hundred yoke of oxen are taken captive and the five hundred grazing female donkeys, 30 then fire, having come down from heaven against the seven thousand sheep, made the suffering more severe than what had come before. Third, the three thousand camels were taken away, and the servants were slaughtered as in the previous cases—an expensive thing and a sign of no insignificant wealth. After these things, the sudden death of his children, as will be clear in what will be set forth. For if the death of his children had been announced first, all the preceding things would have been light. But when it happened according to a certain intensification of grief, their succession was sharp and more capable of disturbing the mind, which is what the devil wickedly did after having requested it. And he was put to shame since the holy man's reasoning was in no way bent. "While he was still speaking, another messenger comes, saying to Job: Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking at their eldest brother's house, suddenly a great wind came from the desert and struck the four corners of the house, and the house fell upon your children and they died. And I alone escaped and came to report to you."

31 Not in vain is it added: "your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking," but for the intensification of sorrow, with the arch-evil devil contriving this too, so that the report of what had happened, being grievous, might create excessive grief in the holy man. For if the collapse had happened while the children were sleeping, considering the terrible thing insensible, he would not have been so distressed. But when he brought on the trial while they were engaged in the necessary care of the body, this makes the grief more severe. For there is no doubt that very many people happened to be present on such an occasion, whom the one reporting did not mention, being content with the surpassing unpleasantness concerning the children, which has as a consequence that concerning those present. For such a thing is customary in Scripture; for when the Savior broke the five loaves, from which he fed five thousand men, the evangelist records, saying: "besides women and children," counting only the men. But what is "the wind" that "came from the desert and struck the four corners 32 of the house" and threw it down, consider together, whether it was an exceedingly violent whirlwind that thus struck the house and brought it down, or a spirit serving the devil, or the devil himself. For he too is a great, wicked spirit, that struck the four corners of the house and brought it down. For in both ways

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θεὸς πεποίηκεν, ἵνα τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ ἀθλητοῦ παραστήσας ἐλέγξῃ τὸν ἀντικείμενον, γενναίως φέροντος τοῦ Ἰὼβ οὐ μικράν τινα καὶ εὐτελῆ προσβολήν, ἀλλ' ἑ29 πτακισχιλίων προβάτων φθορὰν καὶ μετὰ τῶν ποιμένων οὐκ ὀλίγων δηλονότι τυγχανόντων. ἐφυλάττετο δὲ πάλιν ὁ μηνύων δι' ἣν προειρήκαμεν αἰτίαν. "ἔτι τούτου λαλοῦντος ἦλθεν ἕτερος ἄγγελος καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς Ἰώβ· οἱ ἱππεῖς ἐποίησαν ἡμῖν κεφαλὰς τρεῖς καὶ ἐκύκλωσαν τὰς καμήλους καὶ αἰχμαλώτισαν αὐτὰς καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἀπέκτειναν ἐν μαχαίρᾳ. ἐσώθην δὲ ἐγὼ μόνος καὶ ἦλθον τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαί σοι." ἴσως στρατόπεδον ἦν ἐν τῆι χώραι, ὅπερ ἐπῆλθεν εἰς τρεῖς ἀρχὰς διῃρημένον κατὰ τῶν καμήλων. ὡς γὰρ εὔγνωστόν φησιν· "οἱ ἱππεῖς ἐποίησαν ἡμῖν κεφαλὰς τρεῖς." ἐνδέχεται δὲ καὶ συνεχῆ καταδρομὴν ἱππέων πολεμί ων γιγνομένην τότε καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς διαβολικῆς ὑποβολῆς κεκινῆσθαι καὶ οὕτως διὰ τὸ ἐξ ἔθους γίνεσθαι εἰρηκέναι τὸν ἀγγέλλοντα· "οἱ ἱππεῖς ἐποίησαν ἡμῖν κεφαλὰς τρεῖς." οὐ μόνον τὰς καμήλους ἀφήρπασαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἀπέκτειναν. ἐπίστησον δέ, ὅπως ἐν τάξει τινὶ ἀνιαρωτέρα ἡ τῶν πειρασμῶν γίνεται συνέχεια. πρῶτα μὲν γὰρ αἰχμαλωτίζεται τὰ ζεύγη τῶν βοῶν ὄντα πεντακόσια καὶ αἱ θήλειαι ὄνοι νομάδες πεντακόσιαι, 30 ἔπειτα πῦρ κατὰ τῶν προβάτων ἑπτακισχιλίων ὄντων ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ κατενεχθὲν χαλεπώτερον ἐποίει τοῦ φθάσαντος τὸ πάθος. τρίτον οἱ κάμηλοι τρισχίλιοι ὄντες ἀφῃρέθησαν καὶ τῶν παίδων σφαγιασθέντων ὡς καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν πρότερον, πρᾶγμα πολυτελὲς καὶ περιουσίας οὐκ εὐκαταφρονήτου γνώρισμα. μετὰ ταῦτα τῶν τέκνων ἀθρόος θάνατος, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἐκτεθησομένοις ἔσται φανερόν. καὶ γὰρ εἰ πρότερον ὁ τῶν παίδων θάνατος ἠγγέλλετο, κοῦφα πάντα ἦν τὰ φθάσαντα. ὅτε δὲ κατ' ἐπίτασίν τινα λύ πης συνέβαινεν, τὸ ἀλλεπάλληλον αὐτῶν δριμὺ καὶ ταράξαι διάνοιαν ἱκανώτερον, ὅπερ καὶ ὁ διάβολος πονηρῶς πεποίηκεν ἐξαιτησάμενος. καὶ κατῃσχύνθη πρὸς μηδὲν τοῦ ἁγίου κναμφθέντος τὸν λογισμόν. "ἔτι τούτου λαλοῦντος ἄλλος ἄγγελος ἔρχεται λέγων τῷ Ἰώβ· τῶν υἱῶν καὶ τῶν θυγατέρων σου ἐσθιόντων καὶ πινόντων παρὰ τῶι ἀδελφῷ αὐτῶν τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ, ἐξαίφνης πνεῦμα μέγα ἐπῆλθεν ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ ἥψατο τῶν τεσσάρων γωνιῶν τῆς οἰκίας καὶ ἔπεσεν ἡ οἰκία ἐπὶ τὰ παιδία σου καὶ ἐτελεύτησαν. ἐσώθην δὲ ἐγὼ μόνος καὶ ἦλθον τοῦ ἀπαγγεῖλαί σοι."

31 οὐ μάτην πρόσκειται τό· "τῶν υἱῶν σου καὶ τῶν θυγατέρων σου ἐσθιόντων καὶ πινόντων", ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἐπίτασιν ἀνίας καὶ τοῦτο τοῦ ἀρχεκάκου διαβόλου πραγματευομένου, ἵνα ἡ τῶν η γεγενημένων ἀπαγγελία βαρεῖα γινομένη λύπην ὑπερβάλλουσαν τῶι ἁγίῳ ἐνποιῇ. κοιμωμένων γὰρ τῶν τέκνων εἰ συμβεβήκει τὰ τῆς πτώσεως, ἀνεπαίσθητον τὸ δεινὸν λογι ζόμενος οὐχ οὕτως ἠνιᾶτο. ὁπότε δὲ καὶ πρὸς θεραπείαν ἀναγκαίαν τοῦ σώματος ἀναστρεφομένων ἐπῆγε τὸν πειρασμόν, τοῦτο ἔχει τὴν λύπην χαλεπωτέραν. καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀμφίβολον, ὡς παρεστηκότες πλεῖστοι ὡς ἐν τοιούτωι κα̣ιρ̣ῶι ἐτύγχανον, ὧν οὐκ ἐμνήσθη ὁ ἀπαγγέλλων ἀρκούμενος τῶι ὑπερβάλλοντι τῶν τέκνων ἀηδεῖ ἔχ̣οντι καὶ τὸ περὶ τῶν παρεστώτων ἑπόμενον. καὶ γὰρ τὸ τοιοῦτο δι' ἔθους ἐστὶ τῆι γραφῆι· τοῦ γὰρ ςωτῆρος τοὺς πέντε ἄρτους κλάσαντος, ἐξ ὧν ἐκόρεσεν πεντακισχιλίους ἄνδρας, ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς ἀπομνημονεύει λέγων· "χωρὶς γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων", τοὺς προηγουμένους μόνους ἀριθμῶν. τί δὲ καὶ "τὸ πνεῦμά" ἐστιν τὸ "ἐπελθὸν ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ ἁψάμενον τῶν τεσσάρων γωνιῶν 32 τῆς οἰκίας" καὶ καταβεβληκὸς αὐτήν, συνεπίσκεψαι, πότερον λαῖλαψ μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς κινηθεῖσα καὶ οὕτως ἐπιρράξασα τῆι οἰκίαι καὶ κατενεγκοῦσα ταύτην ἢ πνεῦμα τῶι διαβόλωι ὑπηρετούμενον ἢ αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος. καὶ γὰρ οὗτος πνεῦμα μέγα, πονηρόν, ἁψάμενον τῶν τεσσάρων γωνιῶν τῆς οἰκίας καὶ κατενεγκὸν αὐτήν. καὶ γὰρ ἀμφοτέρως