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and to nourish the nature of men, and with wine to gladden and make life more cheerful, and with oil not only to nourish from within, but also to make bodies shine from without, and to gladden and brighten the face of the inner man with the oil that nourishes the divine light, differing only in conception from the wine that was given. For the Word of God is both a vine and an olive tree. For I, he says, am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God. For his teaching, in different relations, is both wine and oil and bread. The trees of the plain shall be satisfied. But the Hebrew and the others have put, "Of the Lord." Having gone through the fruit-bearing trees, he necessarily mentions also the non-fruit-bearing, as they too provide a necessary use for men. For this reason he also called them "of the Lord," as growing of themselves and not made by hand, but having sprung up by the divine word. With what shall they be satisfied? Clearly, with the knowledge of God. And how are they satisfied? By the study of the law. Therefore he also called them trees of the Lord, since those who study the law day and night are said to be a tree planted by the channels of waters. The cedars of Lebanon, which you planted, there the sparrows will nest. The dwelling of the heron leads them. But Aquila thus: "There birds will nest." And as necessary things, after the fruit-bearing trees he also mentions the non-fruit-bearing. And through Lebanon, a famous mountain, and its cedars, he has signified the other mountains and trees of the earth. These trees provide houses for men, and receive the dwellings of birds. But Aquila rendered it: "There birds will nest; for the heron the firs are their house." But one of the Fathers said: "For the heron, every place is suitable for a dwelling, and it comes everywhere as to a prepared house." For this is the meaning of "leads them." And he calls sparrows the souls persecuted for piety by the devil and those who do his will, but who were able to flee his snares, about which David said: "Our soul has been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers." And you would not be wrong to call Peter a heron, since he followed Christ continually, just as the heron is said not to wish to be separated from its owners. This one leads the sparrows; for he shows them how one must leap over the snares of the fowlers, and he himself, having been snared by his denial, escaped the snare through repentance. The high mountains are for the harts; the rock is a refuge for the conies. Providence, he says, does not overlook even the small animals, but to the harts it has given the peaks of the mountains as a dwelling, and to the smaller of the 55.650 animals the recesses of the rocks. And so nothing has been made in vain by you, O God; for if these things did not exist, on the plain the weak among the animals would easily be caught by the stronger, and they would have perished more quickly, being hunted especially in the time of sleep. And by "rocks" he means caves and dens, into which both hares and rock-badgers flee. For indeed the race of harts is hostile to the race of serpents. Such also are all the disciples of Christ, having power against the spiritual serpents, according to what was said by Christ: "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." But Symmachus rendered it, "The hares and the rock-badgers," which are ranked among the unclean and weak animals. Moses therefore says, "The camel and the swine and the rough-foot," which is the hare, "you shall not eat." Through these, therefore, David alludes to the gentiles. For these have the spiritual rock, the Church, as a refuge, through which they are strengthened and purified. But the harts, since they happen to be clean animals according to the law, are necessarily the souls of the just, as many as have kept the law. He made the moon for seasons. Having gone through all things on earth, and having shown the creation of the invisible natures, and

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καὶ διαθρέψαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν φύσιν, οἴνῳ δὲ εὐφρᾶναι καὶ θυμηρε στέραν ἐργάσασθαι τὴν ζωὴν, ἐλαίῳ δὲ οὐ μόνον ἔνδοθεν διαθρέψαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔξωθεν λαμπρῦναι τὰ σώματα, ἱλα ρῦναι δὲ καὶ φαιδρῦναι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ ἔσω ἀνθρώπου ἐλαίῳ τῷ θρεπτικῷ τοῦ θείου φωτὸς, ἐπινοίᾳ μόνῃ δια φέροντι τοῦ ἀποδοθέντος οἴνου. Ὁ γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, ὥσπερ ἄμπελος, οὕτω καὶ ἐλαία ἐστίν. Ἐγὼ γὰρ, φησὶν, ὡσεὶ ἐλαία κατάκαρπος ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἡ γὰρ αὐτοῦ διδασκαλία κατὰ διάφορον σχέσιν οἶνός τε καὶ ἔλαιόν ἐστι καὶ ἄρτος. Χορτασθήσεται τὰ ξύλα τοῦ πεδίου. Ὁ δὲ Ἑβραῖος καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ, Τοῦ Κυρίου, τεθείκασι. ∆ιεξελθὼν τὰ κάρπιμα, ἀναγκαίως μνημονεύει καὶ τῶν ἀκάρπων, ὡς ἀναγκαίαν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ αὐ τῶν παρεχόντων χρείαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ Κυρίου αὐτὰ προσηγόρευσεν, ὡς αὐτοφυᾶ καὶ οὐ χειροποίητα, ἀλλὰ τῷ θείῳ λόγῳ βλαστήσαντα. Τίνος δὲ χορτασθήσεται; Θεογνω σίας δηλονότι. Πῶς δὲ χορτάζονται; Τῇ μελέτῃ τοῦ νόμου. Τοιγαροῦν αὐτοὺς καὶ ξύλα τοῦ Κυρίου ἐκάλεσεν, ἐπειδὴ οἱ μελετῶντες τὸν νόμον ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς ξύλον παρὰ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων πεφυτευμένον λέγονται. Αἱ κέ δροι τοῦ Λιβάνου, ἃς ἐφύτευσας, ἐκεῖ στρουθία ἐν νοσσεύσουσι. Τοῦ ἐρωδιοῦ ἡ κατοικία ἡγεῖται αὐτῶν. Ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας οὕτως· Ἐκεῖ ὄρνεα νοσσεύσουσιν.Ὡς ἀναγκαίων δὲ μετὰ τὰ κάρπιμα μνημονεύει καὶ τῶν ἀκάρπων. ∆ιὰ δὲ τοῦ Λιβάνου ἐπισήμου ὄρους καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ κέδρων τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς γῆς ὄρη καὶ δένδρα δεδήλω κε. Τὰ δένδρα δὲ ταῦτα ἀνθρώποις μὲν συνίστησιν οἴ κους, ὀρνέων δὲ δέχεται τὰς οἰκήσεις. Ἀκύλας δὲ ἐξέδω κεν· Ἐκεῖ ὄρνεα νοσσεύσουσιν· ἐρωδιῷ ἐλάται οἶκος αὐτῶν. Τῶν δὲ Πατέρων τις ἔφη· Ἐρωδιῷ πᾶς τόπος εἰς οἴκησιν ἐπιτήδειος, καὶ ὡς εἰς προετοιμασθέντα οἶκον πανταχοῦ παραγίνεται. Τουτὶ γὰρ τὸ, Ἡγεῖται αὐτῶν. Στρουθία δὲ καλεῖ τὰς παρὰ τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ τῶν αὐτῶν πραττόντων διωκομένας ψυχὰς δι' εὐσέβειαν, δυνηθείσας δὲ αὐτοῦ τὰς παγίδας φυγεῖν, περὶ ὧν ὁ ∆αυῒδ ἔλεγεν· Ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν ὡς στρουθίον ἐῤῥύσθη ἐκ τῆς παγίδος θηρευόντων. Ἐρωδιὸν δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις τὸν Πέτρον εἰπὼν, ἐπειδὴ τὸν Χριστὸν διηνεκῶς ἠκολούθει, ὥσπερ ὁ ἐρωδιὸς οὐκ ἐθέλειν χωρίζεσθαι τῶν κεκτημένων λέγε ται. Οὗτος τῶν στρουθίων ἡγεῖται· δείκνυσι γὰρ αὐτοῖς, πῶς χρὴ τὰς τῶν θηρευόντων παγίδας ὑπεράλλεσθαι, καὶ αὐτὸς τῇ ἀρνήσει παγιδευθεὶς, διὰ μετανοίας τὴν παγίδα. ἐξέφυγεν. Ὄρη τὰ ὑψηλὰ ταῖς ἐλάφοις· πέτρα καταφυγὴ τοῖς λαγωοῖς. Οὐ παρορᾷ, φησὶν, οὐδὲ τὰ σμικρὰ τῶν ζώων ἡ Πρόνοια, ἀλλὰ ταῖς μὲν ἐλάφοις ἔδωκεν ἐνδιαί τημα τὰς τῶν ὀρῶν κορυφὰς, τοῖς δὲ σμικροτέροις τῶν 55.650 ζώων τὰς τῶν πετρῶν καταδύσεις. Καὶ οὐδὲν ἄρα μάτην παρὰ σοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ γέγονε· τούτων γὰρ μὴ ὄντων, ἐν πεδιάδι ῥᾳδίως τὰ τῶν ζώων ἀσθενῆ πρὸς τῶν ἰσχυρο τέρων ἡλίσκετο, καὶ θᾶττον ἐξέλιπον ἂν κατὰ τὸν τοῦ ὕπνου καιρὸν μάλιστα θηρευόμενα. ∆ιὰ δὲ τῶν πετρῶν σπήλαιά τε σημαίνει καὶ φωλεοὺς, εἰς ἃ καταφεύγουσι λαγωοί τε καὶ χοιρογρύλλιοι. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ τῶν ἐλάφων γένος πολεμίως ἔχει πρὸς τὸ τῶν ὄφεων. Τοιοῦτοι πάν τες καὶ οἱ Χριστοῦ μαθηταὶ, τὴν κατὰ τῶν νοητῶν ὄφεων δύναμιν ἔχοντες, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ· Ἰδοὺ δέδωκα ὑμῖν τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος ἐξέδωκεν, Οἱ λαγωοὶ καὶ οἱ χοιρογρύλλιοι, οἳ ἐν τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις ζώοις τάττονται καὶ ἀσθενέσι. Μωϋσῆς τοίνυν, Τὴν κάμηλον καὶ τὸν ὗν καὶ τὸν δασύποδα, ὅπερ ἐστὶ λαγωὸς, οὐκ ἔδεσθε, φησί. ∆ιὰ τούτων οὖν ὁ ∆αυῒδ τὰ ἔθνη αἰνίττεται. Οὗτοι γὰρ καταφυγὴν τὴν νοητὴν πέτραν, τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἔχουσι, δι' ἧς δυναμοῦνται καὶ καθαίρονται. Ἔλαφοι δὲ, ἐπειδὴ καθαρὰ ζῶα κατὰ τὸν νόμον τυγχάνουσιν, ἀναγκαίως αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν δικαίων εἰσὶν, ὅσαι τὸν νόμον ἐφύλαξαν. Ἐποίησε σελήνην εἰς καιρούς. Τὰ κατὰ γῆν ἅπαντα διεξελθὼν, καὶ τῶν ἀοράτων φύσεων τὴν δημιουργίαν δεί ξας, καὶ