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works a more grievous calamity. However, the phrase, 'I alone have escaped,' which in other cases somehow made sense, here makes the suffering greater, if indeed, with the children having perished, this one bringing the news 'alone escaped'. Whence it seems to me that it is the devil himself who is announcing these things, he himself the author of the evils, having come in many forms, and making his announcements with contrivance. For this reason he visits continually, and speaks wickedly, and places the more difficult of the dangers last; that having first corrupted the strength of the soul with the lesser ones, he might prepare an unbearable assault of the greater ones. That it was not one of the servants who brought the messages is clear from this: for how could the house, which was struck from the four corners, save the one? and how in each plague was one, and only one, found to be superior to the dangers, as if preserved for this very purpose? but it was he himself, both performing and announcing the difficult things. For no other is found more bitter, which is why he did not entrust the ministry of such evil dramas to another. And he who is wise in wickedness varies the plagues, intending nothing moderate, so that he might thus shake the strongholds of the soul with successive assaults; and just as one who brings engines against walls deceives the one being warred against, stealing his security with manifold plots; so the envious one, with a certain order in disorder, and impiety, brought dangers upon the tower of piety. «So when Job heard this, he arose and tore his garments, and shaved the hair of his head.» If therefore he tore his garments, and shaved his hair, 64.533 do not be amazed; for he was a father, and a loving father; and it was necessary both for the sympathy of nature to be shown, and the philosophy of his mind. For if he had not done this, one might have thought this philosophy to be a kind of insensibility; for this reason, he both shows his heart, and the precision of his philosophy, and though he grieved he was not overthrown. Do not think the matter to be a defeat; this especially shows the victory; for if he had not done this, someone might have said that God had made him insensible in his sufferings. But now he shows that even while grieving he is a philosopher; truly he built his soul upon the rock. The rain came down, 'For fire,' he says, 'fell from heaven and consumed all the flocks'; the rivers came, the frequent, and continuous, and successive messengers of calamities, one telling of the loss of the goats, another of the camels, another of the children; the winds blew, the bitter words of his wife; 'For say,' she says, 'some word against the Lord, and die.' And the house did not fall, the soul was not tripped up, the just man did not blaspheme, but even gave thanks, and yet it was the devil who was warring, the wicked one, the savage one, who is never reconciled to the nature of men, but has taken up an implacable war and a truceless battle against our race; and he was not simply enraged, but he moved every device, and brought every enchantment to bear. And not even so did he convict the just man's courage, but the noble one laughed at his arrows, and bore that unbearable war nobly; and this not in grace, but before the Old Testament, and before grace; and he showed that it is not the nature of temptations, but the negligence of the slothful, that is accustomed to cause the fall; since affliction makes the strong man even stronger. 'For affliction,' he says, 'produces endurance.' And just as the force of the winds falling upon strong trees, and fanning them from all sides, does not uproot them, but even makes them stronger by these assaults; so also the onsets of afflictions do not trip up a steadfast soul that lives with piety, but anoint it for greater endurance, and cannot harm a man's virtue. But what is a man's virtue? Not riches, so that

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συμφορὰν χαλεπωτέραν ἐργάζεται. Τὸ μέντοι, Ἐσώθην ἐγὼ μόνος, ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων ὅπως δήποτε λόγον εἶχεν, ἐνταῦθα δὲ πλέον ποιεῖ τὸ πάθος, εἴγε τῶν παίδων ἀπελθόντων, οὗτος ἐσώθην μόνος ὁ τὴν ἀγγελίαν κομίζων. Ὅθεν μοι δοκεῖ, αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος εἶναι ὁ ταῦτα ἀπαγγέλλων, αὐτὸς ὁ πρόξενος τῶν κακῶν, πολυτρόπως παραγενόμενος, καὶ μεμηχανημένως τὰς ἀπαγγελίας ποιούμενος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο συνεχῶς ἐπιφοιτᾷ, καὶ πονηρῶς διαλέγεται, καὶ τὰ χαλεπώτερα τῶν κινδύνων τίθεται τελευταῖα· ἵνα τοῖς ἥττοσι προσδιαφθείρας τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ψυχῆς, τῶν μειζόνων ἀνύποιστον παρασκευάσῃ τὴν ἔφοδον. Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἦν τῶν θεραπόντων εἷς, ὁ τὰς ἀγγελίας φέρων, ἐκεῖθεν δῆλον· πῶς γὰρ ἡ οἰκία, ἡ ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων γωνιῶν ἁλοῦσα, διέσωζε τὸν ἕνα; πῶς δὲ καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην πληγὴν, εἷς, καὶ μόνος, ἦν ὁ κρείττων εὑρισκόμενος τῶν κινδύνων, καθάπερ εἰς τοῦτο τηρούμενος; ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἦν, ὁ καὶ ἐνεργῶν, καὶ ἀπαγγέλλων τὰ δυσχερῆ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εὑρίσκεται πικρότερος ἄλλος, διόπερ οὐδὲ ἑτέρῳ κατεπίστευσε τὴν τῶν τοιούτων πονηρῶν δραμάτων διακονίαν. Ποικίλλει δὲ τὰς πληγὰς ὁ σοφὸς τὴν κακίαν, μηδὲν διανοούμενος μέτριον, ἵν' οὕτως τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀχυρώματα, ταῖς κατὰ μέρος προσβολαῖς κατασείσῃ· καὶ καθάπερ τις μηχανὰς τείχεσι προσάγων, τὸν πολεμούμενον παρακρούεται, κλέπτων πολυτρόποις ἐπιβουλαῖς τὴν ἀσφάλειαν· οὕτως ὁ βάσκανος, κατά τινα τάξιν ἐν ἀταξίᾳ, καὶ ἀσεβείᾳ, τῷ τῆς εὐσεβείας πύργῳ τοὺς κινδύνους ἐπήγαγε. «Οὕτως ἀκούσας Ἰὼβ, ἀναστὰς διέῤῥηξε τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκείρατο τὴν κόμην τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ.» Εἰ οὖν διέῤῥηξε τὰ ἱμάτια, καὶ τὴν κόμην ἀπεκεί 64.533 ρατο, μὴ θαυμάσῃς· πατὴρ γὰρ ἦν, καὶ πατὴρ φιλόστοργος· καὶ ἔδει, καὶ τὴν τῆς φύσεως δειχθῆναι συμπάθειαν, καὶ τὴν τῆς γνώμης φιλοσοφίαν. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ τοῦτο ἐποίησε, τάχα καὶ ἀναισθησίας ἐνόμισεν ἄν τις εἶναι τὴν φιλοσοφίαν ταύτην· διὰ τοῦτο, καὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα δείκνυσι, καὶ τῆς φιλοσοφίας τὴν ἀκρίβειαν, καὶ ἀλγήσας οὐ περιετράπη. Μὴ νομίσῃς ἧτταν εἶναι τὸ πρᾶγμα· τοῦτο μάλιστα δείκνυσι τὴν νίκην· εἰ γὰρ μὴ τοῦτο ἐποίησεν, εἶπεν ἄν τις, ὅτι ἀναίσθητον αὐτὸν κατεσκεύασεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τοῖς πάθεσι. Νῦν δὲ δείκνυσιν, ὅτι καὶ ἀλγῶν φιλοσοφεῖ· ὄντως ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ᾠκοδόμησε. Κατέβη ἡ βροχὴ, Πῦρ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἔπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ κατέφαγε πάντα τὰ ποίμνια· ἦλθον οἱ ποταμοὶ, οἱ πυκνοὶ, καὶ συνεχεῖς, καὶ ἐπάλληλοι τῶν συμφορῶν ἄγγελοι, ὁ μὲν τῶν αἰπολίων, ὁ δὲ τῶν καμήλων, ὁ δὲ τῶν παίδων λέγων τὴν ἀπώλειαν· ἔπνευσαν οἱ ἄνεμοι, τὰ πικρὰ τῆς γυναικὸς ῥήματα· Εἰπὸν γὰρ, φησὶ, τὶ ῥῆμα πρὸς Κύριον, καὶ τελεύτα. Καὶ οὐκ ἔπεσεν ἡ οἰκία, οὐχ ὑπεσκελίσθη ἡ ψυχὴ, οὐκ ἐβλασφήμησεν ὁ δίκαιος, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐχαρίστησε, καίτοι διάβολος ἦν ὁ πολεμῶν, ὁ πονηρὸς, ὁ ἄγριος, ὁ μηδέποτε καταλλαττόμενος τῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσει, ἀλλὰ πόλεμον ἄσπονδον καὶ μάχην ἀκήρυκτον πρὸς τὸ γένος ἡμῶν ἀράμενος· καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς ὠργίζετο, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἐκίνει τὰ μηχανήματα, καὶ πᾶσαν προσῆγε μαγγανείαν. Καὶ οὐδὲ οὕτως ἤλεγξε τοῦ δικαίου τὴν ἀνδρείαν, ἀλλὰ κατεγέλασεν αὐτοῦ τῶν βελῶν ὁ γεννάδας, καὶ τὸν ἀφόρητον πόλεμον ἐκεῖνον γενναίως ἤνεγκεν· καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐν τῇ χάριτι, ἀλλὰ πρὸ τῆς Παλαιᾶς ∆ιαθήκης, καὶ πρὸ τῆς χάριτος· καὶ ἔδειξεν, ὅτι οὐχ ἡ τῶν πειρασμῶν φύσις, ἀλλ' ἡ τῶν ῥᾳθυμούντων ὀλιγωρία, τὴν πτῶσιν ποιεῖν εἴωθεν· ὡς τόν γε ἰσχυρὸν, καὶ ἰσχυρότερον ἡ θλίψις ἐργάζεται· Ἡ θλίψις γὰρ, φησὶν, ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται. Καὶ καθάπερ τὰ ἰσχυρὰ τῶν δένδρων, ἡ τῶν ἀνέμων ῥύμη προσπίπτουσα, καὶ πάντοθεν ῥιπίζουσα, οὐκ ἀνασπᾷ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἰσχυρότερα ταῖς προσβολαῖς ταύταις κατασκευάζει· οὕτω καὶ ψυχὴν παγίαν, καὶ εὐλαβείᾳ συζῶσαν, αἱ τῶν θλίψεων ἐπαγωγαὶ οὐχ ὑποσκελίζουσιν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς πλείονα ὑπομονὴν ἀλείφουσι, καὶ τὴν ἀνθρώπου ἀρετὴν βλάψαι οὐ δύνανται. Τί δέ ἐστιν ἀρετὴ ἀνθρώπου; Οὐ χρήματα, ἵνα