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from above, and may no light come upon it; but may darkness 39 and the shadow of death take it. According to the literal sense, he requests that the night not be illuminated by the moon or stars, but be held by deep darkness, which he indeed also calls the shadow of death. But according to the spiritual sense, he prays that sin may be seen in its own evil, so that it may not have the power to feign virtue, but being known for what it is, gloomy and death-bearing, it may become something to be fled from and averted. 3, 56 May gloom come upon it. Cursed be that day and that night, may darkness carry it away. Gloom is a cloudy mist. According to the literal sense, then, he prays that both the day of his birth and the night may become lightless. But according to the spiritual sense, he requests that sin be seen just as it is, so that Satan, feigning to be an angel of light, might not show evil things as good, but that they, being known for what they are, evil and causes of darkness, might become things to be fled from by all. 3, 6 May it not be among the days of the year, nor be numbered among the days of the months. According to the literal sense: may the day of my birth, he says, be blotted out by the shortening of the yearly cycle. But according to the spiritual sense, he prays that not even a memory of sin may exist, which is why he also says: 3, 7 but may that night be pain. that is: let it be known that it is evil, and for this reason let it be hated as evil and a cause of pain. 40 3, 7 and may no gladness nor joy come upon it. But may no gladness, he says, or joy come upon the time of my birth. But according to the spiritual sense: let no one, he says, take delight in sin, let no one practice it as a cause of joy. So then, as I said, he seems to be casting the words of his despondency against a non-existent thing, but prophetically he curses the ancestral sin, asking for it to be blotted out. For this reason his words came to pass, when God and our Savior blotted it out through the washing of regeneration. 3, 8 But let him curse it who curses that day, he who is about to subdue the great sea-monster. Clearly here he has revealed the prophecy; for he is not speaking of a perceptible sea-monster, but of the spiritual dragon, the devil, whom, being a strong and great sea-monster, the stronger one bound, as we have heard in the Gospels, and plundered his goods, that is: the human beings taken captive by him. Who else, then, cursed sin and destroyed it in himself, and who subdued the spiritual sea-monster, but the Word of God who deigned to become man for our sake? He who, as a type of sin, cursed the fig tree, as we have been taught in the Gospels. For that he is not speaking of any perceptible sea-monster, we have heard in the Catholic Epistles: for every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But if man both has subdued and subdues beasts and sea-monsters, how could the scripture say concerning God that he had not yet 41 subdued the sea-monster, but was about to overcome it—he who is about to subdue the great sea-monster? And what great thing is it for God to overcome a sea-monster? It is clear, then, that these things were said by the just man concerning sin and the devil. 3, 9 May the stars of that night be darkened, and may it not endure and not come to light, and may it not see the morning star rising. According to the literal sense: may it not give, he says, its own light, that is: may the stars of that night not shine. But "ἄστρα" properly refers to things composed of many stars, like the Pleiades and the Bear; "ἀστὴρ" is each individual one. But "may it not endure," he says, that is: may they not remain shining nor complete their own course, and may no light succeed that night. For by "morning star rising" he means either the morning star or the sun as the bringer of dawn. But according to the spiritual sense: of sin, he says, which he indeed calls night, may its seeming delights and beauties be blotted out, and may evil things never conquer virtue. For this is what he means by "may it not come to light," that is: may the delights of sin be known for what they are, that they are darkness, and may they not have the power to deceive nor to pretend that they have some good in them. But "and may it not see the morning star rising" he says not as a wish, but he reports what is; for it does not

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ἄνωθεν, μηδὲ ἔλθοι εἰς αὐτὴν φέγγος· ἐκλάβοι δὲ αὐτὴν σκότος 39 καὶ σκιὰ θανάτου. πρὸς μὲν ῥητὸν μὴ καταλαμφθῆναι ὑπὸ σελήνης ἢ ἀστέρων τὴν νύκτα ἐξαιτεῖ, ἀλλὰ βαθεῖ κατασχεθῆναι σκότῳ, ὃ δὴ καὶ σκιὰν θανάτου καλεῖ. πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐπεύχεται ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ κακίᾳ φαίνεσθαι, ἵνα μὴ ἰσχύσῃ ὑποκρίνεσθαι ἀρετήν, ἀλλὰ γνωριζομένη, ὅτι ζοφώδης ἐστὶ καὶ θανατηφόρος, φευκτὴ γένηται καὶ ἀποτρόπαιος. 3, 56 ἐπέλθοι ἐπ' αὐτὴν γνόφος. καταραθείη ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη καὶ ἡ νὺξ ἐκείνη, ἀπενέγκοιτο αὐτὴν σκότος. γνόφος νεφώδης ἀχλύς. πρὸς μὲν οὖν ῥητὸν εὔχεται ἀφεγγῆ γενέσθαι τήν τε ἡμέραν αὐτοῦ τῆς γεννήσεως καὶ τὴν νύκτα. πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν ἐξαιτεῖ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν φαίνεσθαι, ὥσπερ καὶ ἔστιν, ἵνα μὴ ὁ Σατανᾶς ὡς ἄγγελος φωτὸς ὑποκρινόμενος δείξῃ τὰ φαῦλα ὡς ἀγαθά, ἀλλ' ἵνα γνωριζόμενα, ὅτι εἰσὶ φαῦλα καὶ σκότους αἴτια, φευκτὰ πᾶσι γένωνται. 3, 6 μὴ εἴη εἰς ἡμέρας ἐνιαυτοῦ μηδὲ ἀριθμηθείη εἰς ἡμέρας μηνῶν. πρὸς μὲν ῥητόν· ἐξαφανισθείη, φησίν, ἡ ἡμέρα τῆς γεννήσεώς μου συστελλομένου τοῦ ἐνιαυσιαίου κύκλου. πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν μηδὲ μνήμην εὔχεται γενέσθαι τῆς ἁμαρτίας, διὸ καί φησιν· 3, 7 ἀλλὰ ἡ νὺξ ἐκείνη εἴη ὀδύνη. ἀντὶ τοῦ· γνωσθήτω, ὅτι φαύλη ἐστίν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μισείσθω ὡς φαύλη καὶ ὀδύνης αἰτία. 40 3, 7 καὶ μὴ ἔλθοι ἐπ' αὐτὴν εὐφροσύνη μηδὲ χαρμονή. ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ἔλθοι, φησίν, εἰς τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἐμῆς γεννήσεως εὐφροσύνη τις ἢ χαρμοσύνη. πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν· μηδείς, φησίν, ἐπιτερφθείη τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, μηδεὶς ὡς χαρᾶς αἰτίαν ταύτην ἐργάσαιτο. ὁ μὲν οὖν, ὡς ἔφην, κατὰ πράγματος ἀνυποστάτου ῥίπτειν δοκεῖ τῆς ἀθυμίας τοὺς λόγους, προφητικῶς δὲ τὴν πατροπαράδοτον ἁμαρτίαν καταρᾶται αἰτῶν αὐτὴν ἐξαφανισθῆναι. διὸ καὶ εἰς ἔργον ἐξέβη τὰ ῥήματα, τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν διὰ τοῦ λουτροῦ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας ταύτην ἐξαφανίσαντος. 3, 8 ἀλλὰ καταράσαιτο αὐτὴν ὁ καταρώμενος τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην ὁ μέλλων τὸ μέγα κῆτος χειρώσασθαι. σαφῶς ἐνταῦθα τὴν προφητείαν ἀπεκάλυψεν· οὐ γὰρ περὶ αἰσθητοῦ κήτους λέγει, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ νοητοῦ δράκοντος, τοῦ διαβόλου, ὃν ἰσχυρὸν ὄντα καὶ μέγα κῆτος δήσας ὁ ἰσχυρότερος, ὡς ἐν εὐαγγελίοις ἠκούσαμεν, διήρπασεν αὐτοῦ τὰ σκεύη, τουτέστιν· τοὺς αἰχμαλωτισθέντας ἀνθρώπους ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. τίς οὖν ἕτερος τὴν ἁμαρτίαν κατηράσατο καὶ ἐξηφάνισεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, τίς δὲ τὸ νοητὸν ἐχειρώσατο κῆτος, ἀλλ' ἢ ὁ δι' ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπος γενέσθαι καταδεξάμενος τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος; ὃς ἐν τύπῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν συκῆν κατηράσατο, ὡς ἐδιδάχθημεν ἐν εὐαγγελίοις. ὅτι γὰρ οὐ περὶ αἰσθητοῦ τινός φησι κήτους, ἠκούσαμεν ἐν ταῖς Καθολικαῖς· πᾶσα γὰρ φύσις θηρίων τε καὶ πετεινῶν ἑρπετῶν τε καὶ ἐναλίων δαμάζεται καὶ δεδάμασται τῇ φύσει τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ. εἰ δὲ ἄνθρωπος καὶ τὰ θηρία καὶ τὰ ἐνάλια κήτη καὶ ἐχειρώσατο καὶ χειροῦται, πῶς περὶ θεοῦ ἔλεγεν ἡ γραφὴ ὡς μήπω μὲν 41 χειρωσαμένου τὸ ἐνάλιον κῆτος, μέλλοντος δὲ αὐτοῦ κρατήσειν ὁ μέλλων τὸ μέγα κῆτος χειρώσασθαι; τί δὲ καὶ μέγα θεῷ τὸ κήτους ἐναλίου κρατῆσαι; εὔδηλον οὖν, ὡς περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ διαβόλου ταῦτα τῷ δικαίῳ λέλεκται. 3, 9 σκοτωθείη τὰ ἄστρα τῆς νυκτὸς ἐκείνης, καὶ μὴ ὑπομείναι καὶ εἰς φωτισμὸν μὴ ἔλθοι καὶ μὴ ἴδοι ἑωσφόρον ἀνατέλλοντα. πρὸς μὲν ῥητόν· μὴ δώσῃ, φησίν, τὸ οἰκεῖον φέγγος, ἀντὶ τοῦ· μὴ λάμψωσι τὰ ἄστρα τῆς νυκτὸς ἐκείνης. ἄστρα δὲ κυρίως τὰ ἐκ πολλῶν ἀστέρων συγκείμενα ὥσπερ ἡ Πλειὰς καὶ ἡ Ἄρκτος· ἀστὴρ δὲ ὁ καθεῖς. ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ὑπομείναι, φησίν, ἀντὶ τοῦ· μὴ ἐμμείνοι φαίνοντα μηδὲ τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐκτελοῦντα δρόμον, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ διαδέξηται τὴν νύκτα ἐκείνην φῶς. ἑωσφόρον γὰρ ἀνατέλλοντα ἢ τὸν ἐωθινὸν ἀστέρα φησὶν ἢ τὸν ἥλιον ὡς τὴν ἕω φέροντα. πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν· τῆς ἁμαρτίας, φησίν, ἣν δὴ νύκτα καλεῖ, αἱ δοκοῦσαι τερπνότητες καὶ τὰ κάλλη ἐξαφανισθείησαν, καὶ μὴ νικήσοι τὰ πονηρὰ τὴν ἀρετήν ποτε. τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει τὸ εἰς φωτισμὸν μὴ ἔλθοι ἀντὶ τοῦ· γνωσθείησαν αἱ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τερπνότητες, ὅτι σκότος εἰσί, καὶ μὴ ἰσχυσάτωσαν ἀπατῆσαι μηδὲ πλάσασθαι, ὅτι ἔχουσί τι ἀγαθόν. τὸ δὲ καὶ μὴ ἴδοι ἑωσφόρον ἀνατέλλοντα οὐκ εὐκτικῶς φησιν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τὸ ὂν ἀπαγγέλλει· οὐ γὰρ