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He was sitting and observing the sudden change, from what prosperity and way of life he had changed to what adversity by the tempter, so as to be both homeless and sitting upon a dunghill, with no kinsman with him, nor a friend, not even his wife herself, as has been said before; for she does not seem to be ill-disposed toward him, as we have presented. "And when a long time had passed, his wife said to him: How long will you endure, saying, ‘Behold, I will wait yet a little time, awaiting the hope of my salvation’? For behold, your memorial has vanished from the earth, sons and daughters, the pangs and labors of my womb, for whom I toiled with sorrows in vain. But you yourself sit among the rot of worms, spending the night outdoors. And I am a wanderer and a servant, from place to place and from house to house, awaiting the sun when it will set, so that I may rest 46 from the labors and pains which now possess me. But say some word against the Lord, and die." The devil, having grown weary from so many assaults and being unable to cast him down by the removal of his possessions and the destruction of his children, nor yet by the immeasurable affliction of his body, weaves for him a third contest: the speech of his wife. Perhaps through her he might deceive Job, just as he deceived Adam through Eve. For when a long time had passed and even he was unable to shake the athlete, the wife brought forth things of despair, perhaps thinking to deliver him from his suffering, if he would say some word irrationally against the Lord. And observe in each word how she calls him to despair: "How long will you endure"; suggesting to him a long duration of the disease to bring him to despair—then what follows: "saying, ‘Behold, I will wait yet a little time, awaiting the hope of my salvation’"—in a way, she leads his expectation into an impossibility. For perhaps many times when she was despairing, he, by setting forth matters of good hope, stopped her from despair, which, not seeing and having a weak mind, she summoned him to despair 47 as one hoping in falsehood; for an irrational soul is accustomed to always consider expectations uncertain. And intensifying what she considered the rendering of complete hopelessness, she says: "For behold, your memorial has vanished from the earth." No son nor daughter is left to you to preserve the memory of succession, as good as saying that: Even if you should happen to be healed, the enjoyment of health is useless since there are no children, those that existed having been destroyed. And if these things alone were present, perhaps patience would have reason, she says, but in addition to these, you yourself "sit among the rot of worms," while I, because of poverty, go about "from place to place." Having sent forth her dart of despair through all her words, she brings the end of her most wicked speech, saying: "say some word against the Lord, and die." To which one might say: how did the woman have this reasoning, that if he should say a word against the Lord, he would die? To which one might give various answers: either that the adversary suggested this to her, so that what he was eager for might be fulfilled, namely, "surely he will bless you to your face," or perhaps in those cities one who blasphemed against the Lord was put to death by the ruler or by the citizens. For perhaps she knew of no one who had both blasphemed and lived. For perhaps this was the case then, when wickedness had not yet been poured out. Perhaps she reasoned that not even God would allow him to live after uttering a blasphemous word. And she also indicates through this: "For behold, 48 your memorial has vanished from the earth," as if to say: You will not even have hope of ever coming to the same enjoyment of goods, which she alone considered to be goods, being irrational regarding the goods that are truly good. And being ignorant, she has in another way spoken a true word; for the memorial of those who have disdained human life is heavenly. And that scripture confirms this, the psalmist says: "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to destroy their memorial from the earth." For when

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ἐκαθέζετο καὶ θεωρεῖ τὴν ἀθρόαν μεταβολήν, ἐξ οἵας εὐετηρίας καὶ διαγωγῆς εἰς ποίαν μετέβαλεν ὑπὸ τοῦ πειράζοντος κακοπραγίαν, ὥστε καὶ ἔξοικος εἶναι καὶ ἐπὶ κοπρίας καθέζεσθαι, οὐ συνόντος οἰκείου, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ φίλου οὐδ' αὐτῆς τῆς γυναικός, ὡς προείρηται· οὐδὲ γὰρ φαίνεται ἀδιαθέτως ἔχουσα πρὸς αὐτόν, ὡς παρεθέμεθα. "χρόνου δὲ πολλοῦ προβεβηκότος εἶπεν αὐτῶι ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ· μέχρι τίνος καρτερήσεις λέγων· ἰδοὺ ἀναμένω χρόνον ἔτι μικρὸν προσδεχόμενος τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας μου; ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἠφάνισταί σου τὸ μνημόσυνον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες, ἐμῆς κοιλίας ὠδῖναι καὶ πόνοι, οὓς εἰς τὸ κενὸν ἐκοπίασα μετὰ μόχθων. σὺ δὲ αὐτὸς ἐν σαπρίαι σκωλήκων κάθῃ διανυκτερεύων αἴθριος. κἀγὼ πλανῆτις καὶ λάτρις τόπον ἐκ τόπου καὶ οἰκίαν ἐξ οἰκίας προσδεχομένη τὸν ἥλιον πότε δύσεται, ἵνα ἀναπαύσωμαι 46 τῶν μόχθων καὶ τῶν ὀδύνων αἵ με νῦν συνέχουσιν. ἀλλ' εἶπόν τι ῥῆμα εἰς κύριον καὶ τελεύτα." ἀτονήσας ἐκ τῶν τοσούτων προσβολῶν ὁ διάβολος καὶ μὴ δυνηθεὶς αὐτὸν καταβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς ἀφαιρέσεως τῆς περιουσίας καὶ τῆς τῶν τέκνων φθορᾶς, ἔτι τε μηδὲ ἐκ τῆς ἀμέτρου κακώσεως τοῦ σώματος, τρίτον αὐτῷ πλέκει πάλαι σμα τὴν τῆς γυναικὸς ὁμιλίαν· ἴσως δι' αὐτῆς τὸν Ἰὼβ ὡς καὶ διὰ τῆς Εὕας τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἀπατήσειεν. χρόνου γὰρ πολλοῦ προβεβηκότος ὡς οὐδὲ αὐτὸς δεδύνηται σεῖσαι τὸν ἀθλητήν, τὰ τῆς ὀλιγωρίας προφέρει ἡ γυνή, ἴσως ἐνθυμουμένη τοῦ π̣αθ̣ήματος αὐτὸν ἀπαλλάξαι, εἰ ῥῆμα πρὸς κύριον εἴποι ἀλογίστως. καὶ θέασαι καθ' ἕκαστον ῥῆμα, πῶς εἰς ὀλιγωρίαν ἐκκαλεῖται α̣ὐτόν· "μέχρι τίνος καρτερήσεις"· εἰς πολὺν αὐτῶι χρόνον τῆς νόσου πρόθεσιν εἰς ὀλιγωρίαν ὑποβάλλουσα-εἶτα ἑξῆς· "λέγων· ἰδοὺ ἀναμένω χρόνον ἔτι μικρὸν προσδεχόμενος τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας μου"-τρόπον τινὰ εἰς ἀδύνατον αὐτοῦ περιάγει τὴν προσδοκίαν. ἴσως γὰρ πολλάκις αὐτῆς ἀποδυσπετούσης αὐτὸς τὰ τῆς ἀγαθῆς ἐλπίδος προτιθεὶς ἔπαυσε τῆς ὀλιγωρίας, ἣν οὐχ ὁρῶσα ἅτε ἀσθενῆ λογισμὸν ἔχουσα ὡς ψευδῆ αὐτὸν ἐλπίζοντα εἰς ὀλιγωρίαν 47 ἐξεκαλεῖτο· φιλεῖ γὰρ ἄλογος ψυχὴ τὰς προσδοκίας ἀεὶ ἀβεβαίους λογίζεσθαι. ἐπιτείνουσα δὲ τὴν παρ' αὐτῆι νομιζομένην ἀπόδοσιν τῆς παν τελοῦς ἀνελπιστίας φησίν· "ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἠφάνισταί σου τὸ μνημόσυνον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς." οὐχ υἱὸς οὐ θυγατὴρ περιλείπεταί σοι τὴν μνήμην τῆς διαδοχῆς φυλάξοντες, μονονουχὶ λέγουσα ὅτι· εἰ καὶ ὑγ̣ια῀̣ναι συμβαίη, ἀνόνητος ἡ τῆς ὑγίας ἀπόλαυσις παίδων οὐκ ὄντων, ὑπαρχόντων ἀπολομένων. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἰ μόνον παρῆν, τάχ' ἂν εἶχε λόγον ἡ μακροθυμία, φησίν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τούτοις καὶ σὺ αυ αὐτὸς "ἐν σαπρίαι σκωλήκων κάθῃ", ἐγὼ δὲ ἀπὸ πενίας περίειμι "τόπον ἐκ τόπου". διὰ πάντων τῶν ῥημάτων ἑαυτῆς βέλος ὀλιγωρίας ἐξαποστείλασα ἐπάγει τῆς φαυλοτάτης ὁμιλίας πέρας λέγουσα· "εἶπόν τι ῥῆμα εἰς κύριον καὶ τελεύτα". πρὸς ὃ εἴποι τις ἄν· πῶς ἡ γυνὴ τοῦτον ἔχουσα λογισμόν, ὅτι εἰ εἴποι ῥῆμα εἰς κύριον̣, τελευτήσοι; πρὸς ὃ διαφόρως τις λέξει ἤτοι τοῦ ἀντικειμένου ὑποβαλόντος αὐτῇ τοῦτο, ἵνα τὸ σπουδαζόμενον αὐτῶι πληρωθῇ τό· "εἶ μὴν εἰς πρόσωπόν σε εὐλογήσει", ἢ τάχα ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐκείναις ὁ εἰς κύριον βλασφημήσας ἀπέθνῃσκεν ὑπὸ ἄρχοντος ἢ τῶν πολιτῶν. ἴσως γὰρ οὐδένα ἔγνω καὶ βλασφημήσαντα καὶ ζώσαντα. τάχα γὰρ τοῦτο συνέβαινεν τότε μήπω τῆς κακίας κεχυμένης. ἴσως ἐλογίσατο, ὅτι οὐδὲ θεὸς ε᾿̣άσει αὐτὸν ζῆν προέμενον βλάσφημον λόγον. ἐνφαίνει δὲ καὶ διὰ τοῦ· "ἰδοὺ γὰρ 48 ἠφάνισταί σου τὸ μνημόσυνον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς", ὡς ὅτι· οὐδὲ ἐλπίδα ἕξεις εἰς τὴν αὐτήν ποτε ἐλθεῖν ἀπόλαυσιν τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ἃ μόνα ἀγαθὰ εἶναι ἐνόμιζεν τῶν κατ' ἀλήθειαν ἀγαθῶν ἀλογοῦσα. καὶ ἀγνοοῦσα δὲ ἑτέρως ἀληθῆ εἴρηκε λόγον· τὸ γὰρ μνημόσυνον τῶν ὑπερφρονησάντων τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου ζῆν οὐράνιόν ἐστιν. ὅτι δὲ τοῦτο ἡ γραφὴ κυροῖ, ὁ ψαλμῳδός φησιν· "πρόσωπον κυρίου ἐπὶ ποιοῦντας κακὰ τοῦ ἐξολεθρεῦσαι ἐκ γῆς τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῶν." ὅταν γὰρ