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to be watered down, and we say that the iron in the fire is heated red-hot, so also he who has fallen from being, having come to be in non-being, is brought to nothing; therefore the bringing to nothing is non-existence in the good. And this, having come upon those who began evil, that is, upon the first humans, was poured out like some wicked stream also upon the succession of those who came after. Since, therefore, nature was impoverished of such a possession, I mean of life, and man became poor by the thief, having been robbed of the divine blessing, for this reason it says that He helped the poor out of poverty. For by his poverty we were enriched. And the good shepherd made them, instead of beasts, the sheep of a family; and he calls a family the company of those who contribute to the divine list. As the apostle also says, From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. Then he adds: that The upright shall see and shall fear, teaching through these words that the upright man, looking upon this loving-kindness, should be afraid. For fear becomes no small guardian of good things, by the memory of what has happened before disciplining for the future the one who has fallen into passion. When this prevails and banishes all our facility toward 5.64 evil which comes through laxity, All, it says, iniquity shall stop her mouth. How blessed is that life, in which the mouth of iniquity, like some spring of mire, will be stopped up forever, no longer polluting the life of men with its stench. This is the summit of good things, the chief of hopes, the end of all blessedness, that nature is no longer troubled by wickedness, but that all iniquity is <taken away>; and this would be the inventor of iniquity. For the comprehensive voice signifies this, to stop that mouth, whose voice at the beginning became the matter of death for men. When, therefore, everything opposed to the good is taken away, that state will await us, of which no word will be found to be a messenger, which has been witnessed by the divine voice to be beyond both perception and knowledge. To these he adds, as a kind of seal, the words at the end, saying, Who is wise and will keep these things; and they shall understand the mercies of the Lord? For since the activity of wisdom is twofold, and one is investigative and searching for what is profitable, and the other is protective of what has been found, he wishes the one work of wisdom, I mean the searching, to have ceased then. For what use will we have for searching when what is sought is present? And he commands only the remaining work to be done, that the good which has been acquired may be guarded, with our wisdom cooperating for this. And what is wisdom and what is the protection of good things? Not to be without understanding of the divine loving-kindness. For he who understands what he has obtained would not let go of the good of which he has been deemed worthy. But he who is without understanding of the grace will suffer the same as the blind, who, having taken a pearl or an emerald or one of the precious 5.65 stones in their hands, cast it away like some common pebble, through ignorance of its beauty being unwillingly deprived of the possession.

CHAPTER 9

But these five divisions of the psalms, through which, as if certain steps

standing one above another in a certain sequence of order, having understood from the signs we have mentioned, we have distinguished, that the final phrase of each section has a certain pause of the word and a foundation of the thought, describing in itself the end of what has been accomplished through the doxological and eucharistic phrase that says, Blessed be the Lord forever, amen, amen. For the meaning of these is a certain thanksgiving remaining forever; since the word, not having said Amen once, established the blessing, but by the double repetition of the phrase in the thanksgiving it legislates for eternity. And in each part of those divided according to these sections,

17

ἐξυδαροῦσθαι, καὶ ἐν τῷ πυρὶ τὸν σίδηρον ἐκπυροῦσθαί φαμεν, οὕτω καὶ τὸν τοῦ ὄντος ἐκπεσόντα ἐν τῷ οὐδενὶ γενόμενον ἐξουδενοῦ σθαι· οὐκοῦν ἡ ἐξουδένωσις ἡ ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ ἀνυπαρξία ἐστίν. αὕτη δὲ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄρξαντας τῆς κακίας, τουτέστιν ἐπὶ τοὺς πρώτους ἀνθρώπους ἐλθοῦσα καθάπερ τι ῥεῦμα πονηρὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἐπιγινομένων διαδοχὴν ἐξεχέθη. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐπτώχευσεν ἡ φύσις τοῦ τοιούτου κτήματος, τῆς ζωῆς λέγω, καὶ πένης ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὑπὸ τοῦ κλέπτου ἐγένετο, τὴν θείαν συληθεὶς εὐλογίαν, διὰ τοῦτό φησιν ὅτι Ἐβοήθησε πένητι ἐκ πτωχείας. τῇ γὰρ ἐκείνου πτωχείᾳ ἡμεῖς ἐπλουτήσαμεν. καὶ ἔθετο αὐτοὺς ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς ἀντὶ θηρίων πρόβατα πατριᾶς· πατριὰν δὲ ὀνομάζει τὸ σύστημα τῶν εἰς τὸν θεῖον κατάλογον συντελούντων. ὡς καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγει Ἐξ οὗ πᾶσα πατριὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς ὀνομάζεται. εἶτα ἐπάγει· ὅτι Ὄψονται εὐθεῖς καὶ φοβηθήσονται., διδάσκων διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ὅτι πρὸς τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ταύτην βλέπων ὁ εὐθὴς φοβείσθω. οὐ γὰρ μικρὸν τῶν ἀγαθῶν φυλακτήριον ὁ φόβος γίνεται, τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν προγεγονότων πρὸς τὸ ἐφεξῆς σωφρονίζων τὸν ἐν πάθει γενόμενον. οὗ κατακρατοῦντος καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν διὰ χαυνότητος πρὸς τὸ 5.64 κακὸν γινομένην εὐκολίαν ἡμῶν ἐξορίζοντος Πᾶσα, φησίν, ἀνομία ἐμφράξει τὸ στόμα αὐτῆς. ὡς μακάριος ὁ βίος ἐκεῖνος, ἐν ᾧ τὸ τῆς ἀνομίας στόμα καθάπερ τις βορβόρου πηγὴ εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς ἐμφραγήσεται οὐκέτι τῇ δυσωδίᾳ τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον καταμολύνον. αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ τῶν ἀγαθῶν κορυφή, τὸ τῶν ἐλπίδων κεφάλαιον, τὸ πέρας πάσης μακαριότητος, τὸ μηκέτι διοχλεῖσθαι ὑπὸ κακίας τὴν φύ σιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν πᾶσαν ἀνομίαν <ἐξαιρεῖσθαι>· αὕτη δ' ἂν εἴη ὁ εὑρετὴς τῆς ἀνομίας. τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ περιληπτικὴ διασημαίνει φωνή, ἐμφράξαι τὸ στόμα ἐκεῖνο, οὗ ἡ φωνὴ τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς θανάτου ὕλη τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐγένετο. ὅταν οὖν ἐξαιρεθείη πᾶν τὸ τῷ καλῷ ἀντικείμενον, ἐκείνη ἐκδέξεται ἡμᾶς ἡ κατά στασις, ἧς οὐδεὶς λόγος μηνυτὴς εὑρεθήσεται, ἥτις ὑπὲρ αἴσθη σίν τε καὶ γνῶσιν εἶναι παρὰ τῆς θείας φωνῆς μεμαρτύρηται. τούτοις ἐπάγει καθάπερ τινὰ σφραγῖδα τὰς ἐπὶ τέλει φωνὰς λέγων Τίς σοφὸς καὶ φυλάξει ταῦτα· καὶ συνήσουσι τὰ ἐλέη τοῦ κυρίου; ἐπειδὴ γὰρ διπλῆ ἡ τῆς σοφίας ἐνέργεια, καὶ ἡ μέν ἐστιν ἐρευνητική τε καὶ ζητητικὴ τῶν συμφερόντων, ἡ δὲ φυλακτικὴ τῶν εὑρεθέντων, τὸ ἓν τῆς σοφίας ἔργον, τὸ ζητητικὸν λέγω, πεπαῦσθαι τηνικαῦτα βούλεται. εἰς τί γὰρ τῇ ζητήσει χρησόμεθα τοῦ ζητουμένου παρόντος; ἓν ἔργον δὲ μόνον κελεύει τὸ λειπόμενον γίνεσθαι, ὅπως ἂν φυλαχθείη τὸ πορισθὲν ἀγαθόν, πρὸς τοῦτο τῆς σοφίας ἡμῖν συνεργούσης. τίς δὲ ἡ σοφία καὶ τίς ἡ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐστιν φυλακή; τὸ μὴ ἀσυνέτως τῆς θείας φιλανθρωπίας ἔχειν. ὁ γὰρ συνεὶς ὧν τετύχηκεν οὐκ ἂν πρόοιτο τὸ ἀγαθὸν οὗ ἠξίωται. ὁ δὲ ἀσυνέτως ἔχων τῆς χάριτος ταὐτὸν πείσεται τοῖς τυφλοῖς, οἳ μαργαρίτην ἢ σμάραγδον ἤ τινα τῶν τιμίων 5.65 λίθων ἐν χερσὶ λαβόντες, ὡς ψηφῖδά τινα τῶν εἰκαίων ἀπορρίπτουσιν ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ κάλλους ἀκουσίως ζημιωθέντες τοῦ κτήματος.

ΚΕΦΛΛΑΙΟΝ Θʹ

Ταύτας δὲ τὰς πέντε τῶν ψαλμῶν διαιρέσεις, δι' ὧν καθάπερ τινὰς βαθμοὺς

ἀλλήλων ὑπερανεστῶτας κατά τινα τάξεως ἀκολουθίαν κατανοήσαντες ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων διεκρίναμεν σημείων, ὅτι ἑκάστου τμήματος ἡ τελευταία φωνὴ στάσιν τινὰ τοῦ λόγου καὶ βάσιν τῆς διανοίας ἔχει περιγράφουσαν ἐν ἑαυτῇ τῶν προηνυσμένων τὸ πέρας διὰ τῆς δοξολογικῆς τε καὶ εὐχαρίστου φωνῆς τῆς λεγούσης Εὐλογητὸς κύριος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, γένοιτο, γένοιτο. τὸ γὰρ νόημα τούτων εὐχαριστία τίς ἐστιν εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς παραμέ νουσα· ἐπειδὴ οὐκ εἰσάπαξ εἰπὼν ὁ λόγος Γένοιτο ἔστησε τὴν εὐλογίαν, ἀλλὰ τῇ δισσῇ ἀναλήψει τῆς φωνῆς ἐν τῇ εὐχαριστίᾳ νομοθετεῖ τὸ ἀΐδιον. ἐν ἑκάστῳ δὲ μέρει τῶν κατὰ τὰ τμήματα ταῦτα διαιρεθέντων,