before it failed. And the Lord was angered at the people. And the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. A great plague is the death of many, according to what is said here: that He killed among the most numerous, that is, many. But O, the ingratitude! Before the meat in their teeth was consumed, they disbelieved, having forgotten the power of God. Therefore, they were filled with their desire as a demonstration of the divine providence concerning them; but it turned out for them, because of their unbelief and greed, into a disease of cholera, by which many were destroyed; of whom the example became sufficient for moderation for those themselves and for those who look to them. But the phrase, 'among the most numerous,' Aquila and Symmachus rendered, 'among the fat and the richest,' so naming the wealthier and stronger of the people. For it is likely that for this reason they gorged themselves more greedily. But according to the Septuagint, He killed 'among the most numerous,' that is, many, whom David also called the chosen, as warriors. And they were six hundred thousand five hundred and fifty from twenty years and older, apart from the younger age, and the women, and the whole tribe of Levi. God fed all these to satiety for a long time. For He said: 'You shall eat for a month of days, until it comes out of your nostrils.' Seeing a people full of desire, and wishing to cleanse it from desire, He saw that it is not cleansed by a word of teaching, but becomes disgusted by the desire itself being fulfilled. For there is a surfeit of all things, not only of sleep, but also of foods. Therefore He sent them quail for thirty days; but they, using their greed, were destroyed by a choleraic malady. I find that the people ate quail twice: once when they had just come out of the land of Egypt; and the second time, as is written in Numbers, when they spoke ill of the bread of God, and called it empty; when wrath also rose up against them, as though it were somewhere below before they sinned. For since, having had much experience of the divine power, they did not believe the benevolent one could supply them with food, He both gave this, and brought on the chastisement, as He is able to do both, both to provide good things and to bring on punishments. Therefore, gluttony, greediness, voracity 17.141 must be avoided; that is, the immoderation in the use of dainties, the madness concerning the throat, the intemperance concerning food, and the madness concerning the belly, so that we do not bury the mind in the kou...... But it harms nothing also to consider these histories anagogically. God indeed delivers us also always from the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, which is according to sin, in order to lead us in through many exercises, through many wonders, through heavenly bread, through water from the rock, and the rock is Christ, to the holy promise. It is therefore a great thing for me if, having understood the sea of life and the waves in life, and the bitter and salty surging of life's affairs, I should be able, having been blessed by God, to see the spiritual Egyptians and the spiritual Pharaoh drowned; and I myself, being in the light of day, might be sheltered by the light cloud, and by the illumination of fire, if ever dark and difficult ...... and the world is darkened, and all things are filled with ignorance; but I towards the spiritual things of wickedness pa.... may I be in light through the true light, Christ, through the cloud, whose substance was not from any vapors according to common nature, with the air being deepened by vapors through the misty composition, and being compressed upon itself by winds; but something better and higher than human comprehension, so that, even with the sun's ray shining hotly, it acted as a partition, both shading what was beneath, and with a fine dew moistening the heat of the air; and through the night to become a fire from evening until dawn, bearing a great light for the Israelites with its own light. If in the wilderness of life, where much folly of affairs prevails, having split his most solid word called a rock, he should give me drink abundantly and to satiety,

πρὶν ἢ ἐκλι πεῖν· καὶ Κύριος ἐθυμώθη εἰς τὸν λαόν. Καὶ ἐπά ταξε Κύριος τὸν λαὸν πληγῇ μεγάλῃ σφόδρα. Πληγὴ δὲ μεγάλη, ὁ πολλῶν θάνατος, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον ἐνταῦθα· ὅτι Ἀπέκτεινεν ἐν τοῖς πλείοσι, τουτέστι πολλούς. Ἀλλ' ὢ τῆς ἀγνωμο σύνης! Πρὶν ἢ δαπανηθῆναι τὰ ἐν τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν αὐτῶν κρέα, ἠπίστησαν ἐπιλαθόμενοι τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνά μεως. ∆ιὸ τῆς μὲν ἐπιθυμίας αὐτῶν ἐνεπλήσθησαν εἰς ἔνδειξιν τῆς περὶ αὐτοὺς θείας προνοίας· ἀπέβη δὲ αὐτοῖς, διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν καὶ ἀπληστίαν, εἰς νόσον χολέρας, ὑφ' ἧς πολλοὶ διεφθάρησαν· ὧν τὸ ὑπό δειγμα αὐτοῖς τε ἐκείνοις, καὶ τοῖς πρὸς ἐκείνους ὁρῶσιν, ἱκανὸν πρὸς σωφροσύνην ἐγένετο. Τὸ δὲ, ἐν τοῖς πλείοσιν, Ἀκύλας καὶ Σύμμαχος, ἐν τοῖς πίοσι καὶ λιπαροτέροις, ἐξέδωκαν, τοὺς πλουσιωτέρους τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ἰσχυροτέρους οὕτως ὀνομάσαντες. Εἰκὸς γὰρ αὐτοὺς διὰ τοῦτο ἀπληστο τέρως ἐμφορεῖσθαι. Κατὰ δὲ τοὺς Ἑβδομήκοντα, ἐν τοῖς πλείοσιν ἀπέκτεινεν, τουτέστι πολλοὺς, οὓς καὶ ἐκλεκτοὺς ἐκάλεσεν ὁ ∆αυῒδ, ὡς πολεμιστάς. Οἱ δὲ ἦσαν ἑξακόσιαι χιλιάδες καὶ πεντακόσιοι καὶ πεντήκοντα ἀπὸ εἰκοσαετοῦς καὶ ἀνωτέρω, χωρὶς τῆς κατωτέρας ἡλικίας, καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν, καὶ ὅλης τῆς φυλῆς τοῦ Λευί. Τούτους ἅπαντας ἔθρεψεν ὁ Θεὸς εἰς κόρον ἐπὶ πολύ. Ἔφη γάρ· Ἕως μηνὸς ἡμερῶν φάγεσθε, ἕως ἂν ἐξέλθῃ ἐκ τῶν μυκτήρων ὑμῶν. Ὁρῶν λαὸν ἐπιθυμητὴν, καὶ καθᾶραι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας βουλόμενος, ἑώρα ὅτι λόγῳ διδα σκαλικῷ οὐ καθαίρεται, ἀλλ' αὐτῇ τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ γενομένῃ προσκορεῖ. Πάντων γὰρ κόρος ἐστὶν, οὐχ ὕπνου μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ βρωμάτων. ∆ιὸ ἔπεμψεν αὐ τοῖς ὀρτυγομήτραν ἐπὶ τριάκοντα ἡμέρας· οἱ δὲ, τῇ ἀπληστίᾳ χρησάμενοι, χολερικῷ πάθει ἐφθείροντο. ∆ὶς δὲ εὑρίσκω τὸν λαὸν φαγόντα ὀρτυγομήτραν· ἅπαξ μὲν ἡνίκα εὐθέως ἐξῆλθον ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου· τὸ δὲ δεύτερον, ὡς ἐν τοῖς Ἀριθμοῖς ἀναγέγραπται, ἡνίκα κακῶς εἶπον τὸν ἄρτον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ διάκε νον αὐτὸν ὠνόμασαν· ὅτε καὶ ὀργὴ ἀνέβη ἐπ' αὐ τοὺς, ὡς τάχα κάτω που οὖσα πρὶν ἢ ἁμάρτωσιν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ, πεῖραν πολλὴν λαβόντες τῆς θείας δυ νάμεως, οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν τὸν φιλάνθρωπον δύνασθαι χορηγῆσαι αὐτοῖς τροφὴν, καὶ ταύτην ἔδωκε, καὶ τὴν παιδείαν ἐπήγαγεν, ὡς ἀμφότερα ποιεῖν ἱκανὸς, καὶ τὰ ἀγαθὰ παρέχειν, καὶ τὰς τιμωρίας ἐπάγειν. Φευκτέον τοίνυν ὀψοφαγίαν, λαιμαργίαν, γαστριμαρ 17.141 γίαν· τουτέστι τὴν περὶ χρῆσιν ὄψου ἀμετρίαν, τὴν περὶ τὸν λαιμὸν μανίαν, τὴν περὶ τὴν τροφὴν ἀκολασίαν, καὶ περὶ γαστέρα μανίαν, ἵνα μὴ τὸν νοῦν ἐγ κατορύξωμεν τὰ κου...... Λυπεῖ δὲ οὐδὲν καὶ κατὰ ἀναγωγὴν τὰς ἱστορίας ταύτας θεωρῆσαι. Ῥύεταί τοι ὁ Θεὸς καὶ ἡμᾶς ἀεὶ ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἐκ τῆς καμίνου τῆς σιδηρᾶς, τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα εἰσαγάγῃ διὰ πολλῶν γυ μνασίων, διὰ πολλῶν θαυμασίων, δι' ἄρτου ἐπουρα νίου, δι' ὕδατος ἀπὸ τῆς πέτρας, ἡ πέτρα δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς, ἐπὶ τὴν ἁγίαν ἐπαγγελίαν. Μέγα οὖν ἐμοὶ, ἐὰν, νοήσας τὴν θάλασσαν τοῦ βίου καὶ τὰ κύματα τὰ ἐν τῷ βίῳ, καὶ τὸ πικρὸν καὶ ἁλμυρὸν τῶν βιωτι κῶν πραγμάτων κλυδώνιον, δυνηθῶ, εὐεργετηθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἰδεῖν καταποντισθέντας τοὺς νοεροὺς Αἰγυπτίους, καὶ τὸν νοητὸν Φαραώ· αὐτὸς δὲ ὢν ἐν τῷ φωτὶ τῆς ἡμέρας σκεποίμην ὑπὸ νεφέλης τῆς κούφης, καὶ ὑπὸ φωτισμοῦ πυρὸς, ἐάν ποτέ γε σκο τεινὰ καὶ δύσκολα ...... καὶ ὁ κόσμος μὲν ἐσκότηται, καὶ πάντα ἀγνοίαις πεπλήρωται· ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας πα.... ἐν φωτὶ ὦ διὰ τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς τὸν Χριστὸν, διὰ τὴν νεφέλην, ᾗ οὐκ ἐξ ἀτμῶν τινων κατὰ τὴν κοινὴν φύσιν ἡ στάσις ἦν, βαθυνομένου τοῖς ἀτμοῖς τοῦ ἀέρος διὰ τῆς ὁμι χλώδους συστάσεως, καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐμπιλουμένου τοῖς πνεύμασιν· ἀλλὰ κρεῖττόν τι καὶ ὑψηλότερον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης καταλήψεως, ὡς, καὶ τῆς ἡλιακῆς ἀκτῖνος θερμῶς ἐπιλαμπούσης, διατείχισμα ἔχειν, σκιάζουσάν τε τὸ ὑποκείμενον, καὶ λεπτῇ δρόσῳ τὸ φλογῶδες τοῦ ἀέρος ὑπονοτίζουσαν· καὶ διὰ τῆς νυ κτὸς πῦρ γίνεσθαι ἀφ' ἑσπέρας εἰς ὄρθρον, τῷ ἰδίῳ φωτὶ τοῖς Ἰσραηλίταις δᾳδουχοῦσαν τὸ φέγγος μέ γα. Ἐὰν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τοῦ βίου, ἔνθα ἐπικρατεῖ πολλὴ ἄνοια τῶν πραγμάτων, διελὼν τὸν στεῤῥότατον αὐτοῦ λόγον πέτραν ὀνομαζόμενον, ἀφθόνως καὶ εἰς κόρον ποτίσῃ με,