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These wondrous works of God are proclaimed by the word, through which faith becomes firm for those who hear. For, he says, Let them exalt him in the church of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders. and he adds the reasons for the thanksgivings 5.61, that from God some rivers come into being, and others are destroyed. For the streams of wickedness disappear; but the outlets of virtues flood the places that were previously dry. For, he says, He turned rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground. He calls the inflows of passions 'rivers,' and the consequences of evils 'outlets of water.' when men, always adding wicked things to wicked things, prolong the trail of wickedness like a stream. But also, he says, He turned a fruitful land into barrenness; for the soul that was fertile for evils, being transformed, became thirsty, having been seasoned with the divine salt of teaching, so that the wickedness of its inhabitants no longer grows, being nourished by the evil inflows of waters, and a salty and thirsty soul, having taken on that blessed thirst, becomes a lake, turning into a sea by the gathering of virtues. For, he says, He turned the wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into water-springs. This becomes a city, which those who thirst for righteousness inhabit. For no one who is nauseated and without appetite becomes a neighbor to such a lake and such waters, carrying his soul full of wickedness. and they sow the fields and plant vineyards; signifying by such riddles the divine commandments and the virtuous way of life. For the commandment is the seed of the future fruitfulness, and virtue is the vine that pours the wine into the mixing bowl of wisdom through its rational clusters. And these are nothing other than a multitude of blessings. For, he says, He blessed them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and He did not let their cattle decrease. By 'cattle' he means the subservient ministration of the soul's movements, whenever each of the things in us is useful for virtue 5.62; anger is a good beast, when it becomes a beast of burden for reason; another such beast is desire, in a way carrying on its back and bearing the soul and leading it up on high, when it is guided toward things above by the reins of the mind. And all the other things are cattle, increased by the blessing, when their service to us is for great things. Then, in the following discourse, he makes a recapitulation of all that has been said. For having in many ways gone through the passions and having brought the divine benefits into view, now briefly comprehending them again he recapitulates in his discourse, in which he says that They were diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow, by 'diminished' signifying the shortness and the contraction that came about from height and greatness to lowliness; for 'diminished' means 'very short' in its meaning; and by 'brought low,' the affinity for evil, and he everywhere calls 'oppression' and 'sorrow' the end of the fall from good things, as he explains this in another psalm, saying: The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Having called sins 'sorrows of death' and 'pains of hell,' he brings on the end in which the nature of sin terminates; which is nothing other than trouble and sorrow, just as the gospel signifies this very thing through the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then he adds consecutively, And contempt was poured out upon their princes. And through these things he teaches that to be in that which truly is, is to be truly 5.63. But if something has fallen away from that which is, it is not even in being. For to be in wickedness is not, properly speaking, to be, because wickedness itself, in and of itself, is not, but the non-existence of the good becomes wickedness. Therefore, just as he who is in that which is, is in being, so he who has come to be in nothing (and this is wickedness) is brought to nothing, as the word names it. But such a use of the word has become somewhat trite in the common usage of those who employ it. as we say that food that has become flesh is de-fleshed and wine poured into water

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τοῦ λόγου ταῦτα κηρύσσεται τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ θαυμάσια, δι' ὧν ἡ πίστις βεβαία γίνεται τοῖς ἀκούουσιν. Ὑψωσάτωσαν γάρ, φησίν, αὐτὸν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ λαοῦ καὶ ἐν καθέδρᾳ πρεσβυ τέρων αἰνεσάτωσαν αὐτόν. καὶ προστίθησι τῶν εὐχαριστιῶν 5.61 τὰς αἰτίας, ὅτι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ποταμοὶ οἱ μὲν γίνονται, οἱ δὲ ἀπόλλυνται. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ῥεύματα τῆς κακίας ἐξαφανίζεται· αἱ δὲ τῶν ἀρετῶν διέξοδοι τοὺς τέως αὐχμῶντας ἐπικλύζουσι τόπους. Ἔθετο γάρ, φησί, ποταμοὺς εἰς ἔρημον καὶ διεξόδους ὑδάτων εἰς δίψαν. ποταμοὺς δὲ λέγει τὰς τῶν παθημάτων ἐπιρροὰς καὶ διεξόδους ὑδάτων τὰς τῶν κακῶν ἀκολουθίας. ὅταν ἀεὶ πονηρὰ πονηροῖς ἐπισυνάπτοντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι, καθάπερ τι ῥεῦμα τὸν ὁλκὸν τῆς κακίας ἀπομηκύνωσιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν Γῆν, φησίν, καρποφόρον εἰς ἅλμην ἐποίησεν· ἡ γὰρ τῶν κακῶν εὔφορος ψυχὴ μεταποιηθεῖσα διψώδης ἐγένετο τῷ θείῳ ἅλατι τῆς διδασκαλίας ἐπαρτυθεῖσα, ὡς μηκέτι τὴν κακίαν τῶν κατοικούντων αὔξεσθαι ταῖς πονη ραῖς τῶν ὑδάτων ἐπιρροαῖς τρεφομένην, ἁλμῶσαν δὲ καὶ διψάδα ψυχὴν τὴν τὸ μακαριστὸν δίψος ἀναλαβοῦσαν λίμνην γενέσθαι τῇ συστροφῇ τῶν ἀρετῶν πελαγίζουσαν. Ἔθετο γάρ, φησί, ἔρημον εἰς λίμνας ὑδάτων καὶ γῆν ἄνυδρον εἰς διεξόδους ὑδάτων. τοῦτο δὲ πόλις γίνεται, ἣν οἱ διψῶντες τὴν δικαιοσύνην οἰκοῦσιν. οὐδεὶς γὰρ ναυτιώδης τε καὶ ἀνόρεκτος τῆς τοιαύτης λίμνης καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ὑδάτων πρόσοικος γίνεται πλήσμιον ἐν κακίᾳ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπαγόμενος. σπείρουσι δὲ τοὺς ἀγροὺς καὶ φυτεύουσι τοὺς ἀμπελῶνας· τὰς θείας ἐντολὰς καὶ τὴν ἐνάρετον πολιτείαν τοῖς τοιούτοις διασημαίνων αἰνίγμασι. σπέρμα γὰρ τῆς μελλούσης ἐπικαρ πίας ἐστὶν ἡ ἐντολή, ἀρετὴ δὲ ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ διὰ τῶν λογικῶν βοτρύων τῷ τῆς σοφίας κρατῆρι τὸν οἶνον ἐγχέουσα. ταῦτα δὲ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ εὐλογίας πλῆθός ἐστιν. Εὐλόγησε γάρ, φησίν, αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐπληθύνθησαν σφόδρα, καὶ τὰ κτήνη αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐσμίκρυνεν. κτήνη λέγει τὴν ὑποχείριον τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς κινημάτων ὑπηρεσίαν, ὅταν πρὸς ἀρετὴν 5.62 ἕκαστον τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν χρησιμεύῃ· ἀγαθὸν κτῆνός ἐστιν ὁ θυμός, ὅταν τοῦ λογισμοῦ ὑποζύγιον γένηται· ἕτερον τοιοῦτον κτῆνος ἡ ἐπιθυμία νωτοφοροῦσα τρόπον τινὰ καὶ βαστάζουσα τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ὕψος ἀνάγουσα, ὅταν ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω τῇ ἡνίᾳ τῆς διανοίας εὐθύνηται. καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα κτήνη ἐστὶν αὐξόμενα τῇ εὐλογίᾳ, ὅταν πρὸς τὰ μεγάλα γένηται ἡμῖν ἡ παρὰ τούτων ὑπηρεσία. εἶτα πάντων τῶν εἰρημένων ἀνακεφαλαίωσιν ἐν τῷ ἐφεξῆς ποιεῖται λόγῳ. πολυτρόπως γὰρ τά τε πάθη διελθὼν καὶ τὰς θείας εὐεργεσίας ὑπ' ὄψιν ποιήσας νυνὶ δι' ὀλίγου πάλιν ἐκπεριλαβὼν ἀνακεφα λαιοῦται τῷ λόγῳ, ἐν οἷς φησιν ὅτι Ὠλιγώθησαν καὶ ἐκακώθη σαν ἀπὸ θλίψεως κακῶν καὶ ὀδύνης, διὰ μὲν τοῦ ὀλίγου σημαίνων τὴν βραχύτητα καὶ τὴν γενομένην ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕψους τε καὶ μεγέθους εἰς τὸ ταπεινὸν συστολήν· τὸ γὰρ ὀλίγον τὸ βραχύτατον σημαίνει κατὰ τὴν ἔννοιαν· τῇ δὲ κακώσει τὴν πρὸς τὸ κακὸν οἰκειότητα, θλῖψιν δὲ καὶ ὀδύνην πανταχοῦ τὸ πέρας λέγει τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀποπτώσεως, ὡς ἐν ἑτέρῳ ψαλμῷ τὸ τοιοῦτον διέξεισι λέγων· Περιέσχον με ὠδῖνες θανάτου. κίνδυνοι ᾅδου εὕροσάν με. θλῖψιν καὶ ὀδύνην εὗρον. ὠδῖνας θανάτου καὶ κινδύνους ᾅδου τὰς ἁμαρτίας εἰπὼν ἐπάγει τὸ πέρας εἰς ὃ τελευτᾷ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡ φύσις· ὅπερ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ θλῖψίς τε καὶ ὀδύνη ἐστίν, οὕτω τοῦ εὐαγγελίου διὰ τοῦ κλαυθμοῦ καὶ βρυγμοῦ τῶν ὀδόντων τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο διασημαίνοντος. εἶτα προστίθησι δι' ἀκολούθου τὸ Καὶ ἐξεχύθη ἐξουδένωσις ἐπ' ἄρχοντας αὐτῶν. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ διὰ τούτων ὅτι τὸ μὲν ἐν τῷ ὄντι εἶναι ἀληθῶς 5.63 ἐστιν εἶναι. εἰ δέ τι τοῦ ὄντος ἐκπέπτωκεν, οὐδὲ ἐν τῷ εἶναι ἐστί. τὸ γὰρ ἐν κακίᾳ εἶναι οὐκ ἔστι κυρίως εἶναι, διότι αὐτὴ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἡ κακία οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ καλοῦ ἀνυπαρξία κακία γίνεται. ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ ἐν τῷ ὄντι ὢν ἐν τῷ εἶναί ἐστιν, οὕτως ὁ ἐν τῷ οὐδενὶ γενόμενος (τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ἡ κακία) ἐξουδένωται, καθὼς ὀνομάζει ὁ λόγος. ἡ δὲ τοιαύτη τοῦ λόγου χρῆσις τέτριπταί πως ἐν τῇ συνηθείᾳ τῶν κεχρη μένων. ὡς τὴν τροφὴν ἐν σαρκὶ γενομένην ἀποσαρκοῦσθαι λέγομεν καὶ τὸν οἶνον ἐκχεθέντα τῷ ὕδατι