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for the Red Sea it would be a good day, but for the Egyptians a bad one; for "they sank like lead in the mighty waters." "Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which they said, ‘Behold, a male child.’ Let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord seek it from above, nor let light come upon it, but let darkness and the shadow of death take it." It is worthwhile to consider whether, according to the most wise Job and his manliness, it is possible to curse both the day on which he was born and the night in which they said, 'Behold, a male child,' and how it might be darkness, although every night is so—for it says, "He called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night"—and what it is that he prays for, that the day not be sought from above by the Lord, nor light come upon it, but that darkness and the shadow of death take it. Some of these things are not even of a nature to happen; for to utter such curses optatively about a day that has passed and no longer has existence would not be the act of a wise man. But if the lovers of literal interpretation should persist in the 56 rendering of the text, they undermine the manliness of the saint, which the devil was not able to undermine, supposing him to have such little regard, which if he had, not even so would the devil have been put to shame at his manliness, nor would the Lord have said to him: "Do you think that I have dealt with you in any other way than that you might be shown to be righteous?" Therefore, since the literal meaning has no reasonable place, nor one befitting the saint, the matters at hand must be considered according to the laws of allegory. But before beginning this, it is fitting to say in advance certain things that contribute to the matter at hand: the soul of man, being immortal and not only of a different substance from the body, but also more divine, was joined with it for various reasons, either because its own worthiness, through its own inclination and desire for bodies, produced a fellowship with them, or because it was joined to this for the benefit of those in need of help. For it was not sown together with the body, according to those who are ignorant of its greatness, because it is not possible for an incorporeal substance to arise from corporeal seed; nor again is it fashioned after 57 the body, being in fact pre-existent; for not after "God rested from all His works" does He bring anything into existence from non-being; for "what," it says, "is that which has been? The very thing that will be. And what is that which has been done? The very thing that will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun. He who will speak and say, 'See, this is new,' it has already been in the ages that have come before us." And testimony that one is both brought into life and joined to bodies through one's own evil and for the benefit of others is both Jeremiah hearing: "'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations'," and Jacob and Esau, about whom God says, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated," while they were still in the womb, and John "leaping and rejoicing" in his mother's womb. For these things do not prove the souls to be contemporaneous with the bodies; for one rejoicing in his mother's womb and partaking of the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, and one being hated before he is born and another loved, do not undergo these 58 things without cause. But it is laborious and most toilsome not only to be joined to a body because of one's own faults, but also for the benefit of others; for just as it is not proper to praise the cause of a war on account of those who are victorious in it, since it is an occasion for many unpleasant things, so it is not fitting to praise the entrance into this life on account of those who succeed, but to be persuaded that some, being tried beyond themselves, have come to the utmost evil and have become a cause of toils for those who came for the benefit of others. Therefore, the evils that happen for this reason Job, considering a painful day and one worthy of a curse, says: "Let the day perish on which I was born." And he says this on behalf of the whole race. For since the saint knew that there is much turmoil for those

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ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν καλὴ ἡμέρα εἴη, τοῖς δὲ Αἰγυπτίοις κακή· "ἔδυσαν" γὰρ "ὡσεὶ μόλιβος ἐν ὕδατι σφοδρῶι". "ἀπόλοιτο ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν ἧι ἐγεννήθην καὶ ἡ νὺξ ἐν ᾗ εἶπαν· ἰδοὺ ἄρσεν. ἡ νὺξ ἐκείνη εἴη σκότος καὶ μὴ ἀναζητήσαι αὐτὴν ὁ κύριος ἄνωθεν μηδὲ ἔλθοι εἰς αὐτὴν φέγγος, ἐκλάβοι δὲ αὐτὴν σκότος καὶ σκιὰ θανάτου." ἄξιον θεωρῆσαι εἰ κατὰ τὸν σοφώτατον Ἰὼβ καὶ τὴν τούτου ἀνδρείαν ὑπάρχει καταρᾶσθαί τε τῇ ἡμέραι ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθη καὶ νυκτὶ ἐν ᾗ εἶπαν· ἰδοὺ ἄρσεν, ὅπως τε αὐτὴ σκότος ᾖ καίτοι πάσης νυκτὸς οὕτως οὔσης-"ἐκάλεσεν" γάρ φησιν "τὸ φῶς ἡμέραν καὶ τὸ σκότος ἐκάλεσεν νύκτα"-, τί τέ ἐστιν ὃ εὔχεται μὴ ἀναζητηθῆναι ἄνωθεν τὴν ἡμέραν ὑπὸ κυρίου μηδὲ ἐλθεῖν εἰς ταύτην φθέγγος, ἐκλαβεῖν τε αὐτὴν σκότος καὶ σκιὰν θανάτου. τούτων ἔνια οὐδὲ πέφυκεν γίνεσθαι· περὶ γὰρ τῆς παρελθούσης ἡμέρας καὶ μηκέτι ὑπόστασιν ἐχούσης τοιαῦτα ἀρᾶσθαι εὐκτικῶς οὐκ ἂν εἴη σοφοῦ. εἰ δὲ καὶ οἱ φιλίστορες ἐμμένοιεν τῇ 56 τοῦ ῥητοῦ ἀποδόσει, ὑπεκλύουσι τὴν ἀνδρείαν τοῦ ἁγίου, ἣν ὁ διάβολος ὑπεκλῦσαι οὐ δεδύνηται, το σαύτην αὐτὸν ἔχειν ὀλιγωρίαν ὑποτιθέμενοι, ἣν εἴπερ εἶχεν οὐδ' ἂν οὐδ' οὕτως καταισχυνθεὶς ὁ διάβολος ἐπὶ τῆι ἀνδρείᾳ αὐτοῦ ἐτύγχανεν οὐδ' ὁ κύριος ἔλεγεν πρὸς αὐτόν· "οἴει δέ με ἄλλως σοι κεχρηματικέναι ἢ ἵνα ἀναφανῇς δίκαιος;" οὐκοῦν, ἐπειδὴ τὰ τοῦ ῥητοῦ χώραν εὔλογον οὐκ ἔχει καὶ πρέπουσαν τῶι ἁγίωι, κατὰ νόμους ἀλληγορίας θεωρητέον τὰ προκείμενα. πρὶν δὲ ταύτης ἄρξασθαι, ἀκόλουθον προειπεῖν τινα συντελοῦντα πρὸς τὸ προκείμενον· ἡ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴ ἀθάνατος ὑπάρχουσα καὶ οὐ μόνον ἑτέρας οὐσίας παρὰ τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλὰ καὶ θειοτέρας, τούτωι συνεπλάκη κατὰ διαφόρους λόγους, ἢ τῆς ἀξίας αὐτῆς τῆς κατὰ ῥοπὴν ἰδίαν καὶ πόθον πρὸς τὰ σώματα κοινωνίαν πρὸς αὐτὰ ἐργασαμένης, ἢ διὰ τὸ χρήσιμον τῶν ὠφελίας δεομένων τούτῳ συναφθείσης. οὐδὲ γὰρ συνεσπάρη τῷ σώματι κατὰ τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας αὐτῆς τὸ μέγεθος τῷ μὴ οἷόν τε εἶναι ἐκ σωματικοῦ σπέρματος ἀσώματον οὐσίαν ὑποστῆναι· οὐδ' αὖ ὑστέ57 ρα τοῦ σώματος πλάττεται προηγουμένη τυγχάνουσα· οὐδὲ γὰρ μετὰ τὸ "καταπαῦσαι τὸν θεὸν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ" ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος τινὰ ὑφίστησιν· "τί" γάρ φησιν "τὸ γεγονός, αὐτὸ τὸ γενησόμενον, καὶ τί τὸ πεποιημένον, αὐτὸ τὸ ποιηθησόμενον, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν πᾶν πρόσφατον ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον. ὃς λαλήσει καὶ ἐρεῖ· ἰδὲ τοῦτο καινόν ἐστιν, ἤδη γέγονεν ἐν τοῖς αἰῶσιν τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις ἀπὸ ἔμπροσθεν ἡμῶν". μαρτυρία δὲ τοῦ τε δι' ἰδίαν κακίαν καὶ διὰ τὸ τῶν ἄλλων χρήσιμον εἰς τὸν βίον εἰσάγεσθαί τε καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν συνπλέκεσθαι ὅ τε Ἰερεμίας ἀκούων· "πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίαι ἐπίσταμαί σε καὶ πρὸ τοῦ σε ἐξελθεῖν ἐκ μήτρας ἡγίακά σε, προφήτην εἰς ἔθνη τέθεικά σε", Ἰακώβ τε καὶ Ἠσαύ, περὶ ὧν ὁ θεὸς λέγει· "τὸν Ἰακὼβ ἠγάπησα, τὸν δὲ Ἠσαὺ ἐμίσησα", ἔτι ἐν γαστρὶ τυγχανόντων, καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐν γαστρὶ τῆς μητρὸς "σκιρτῶν καὶ ἀγαλλιώμενος". ταῦτα γὰρ οὐ συνχρόνους τοῖς σώμασιν ἀποδείκνυσιν τὰς ψυχάς· ὁ γὰρ ἀγαλλιαζόμενος ἐν κοιλίᾳ μητρὸς καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου μετέχων ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ μισούμενος πρὶν γεννηθῇ καὶ ἄλλος ἀγαπώμενος οὐκ ἀναιτίως ταῦ58 τα ὑφίσταται. ἐπίπονον δὲ οὐ μόνον τὸ δι' οἰκεῖα σφάλματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' ἑτέρων ὠφελίας συνάπτεσθαι σώματι καὶ μοχθηρότατον· ὡς γὰρ οὐ διὰ τοὺς νικῶντας ἐν πολέμωι τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ πολέμου ἐπαινεῖν προσήκει πρόφασιν οὖσαν ἀηδῶν πολλῶν, οὕ τως οὐ διὰ τοὺς κατορθοῦντας ἐπαινεῖν ἀκόλουθον τὴν εἰς τὸν βίον εἴσοδον, ἀλλὰ πεπεῖσθαι, ὅτι καὶ παρ' ἑαυτοὺς ἔνιοι πειραθέντες εἰς ἔσχατον κακὸν ἐληλύθασιν καὶ τοῖς διὰ τὴν τῶν ἄλλων ὠφελίαν ἥκουσιν αἴτιοι κατέστησαν πόνων. τὰ τοίνυν διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν συμβαίνοντα κακὰ ἡμέραν ὀδυνηρὰν καὶ ἀξίαν κατάρας ὁ Ἰὼβ ἡγούμενός φησιν· "ἀπόλοιτο ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν ἧι ἐγεννήθην." τοῦτο δὲ ὑπὲρ παντὸς τοῦ γένους λέγει. ἐπεὶ γὰρ ᾔδειν̣ ὁ ἅγιος ὅτι πολλή τις ταραχὴ τοῖς