20

For she knew that he was not greatly vexed by these things, but she immediately turns to nature, and reminds him of his children; for on their account she saw him, both tearing his garment, and cutting off his hair; and she did not say, "Your children are lost," but very pathetically: "For behold, your memorial is vanished from the earth; sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb, for whom I toiled in vain with sorrows." From the beginning, children were desirable, because each one left behind a memorial, and remnants of his own life. For since there were not yet hopes of a resurrection, but death reigned, and after the life here, those who died were thought to perish; God gave the consolation of children, so that living images of the departed might remain, and our race be preserved, and for those about to die, and for their friends, their offspring were the greatest consolation. And that you may learn that for this reason especially children were desirable, hear what his wife laments to Job, after the many and unspeakable plagues. Behold, she says, your memorial is perished from the earth. And again Saul to David: Swear 64.561 to me, that you will not blot out my seed, and my name after me. For if even now, when the resurrection has appeared, children are lovable for this reason, for preserving the memory of the departed, how much more so then; for this reason also a curse from this is more bitter; for not even there did he who cursed say, let his children be utterly destroyed, but, his memorial from the earth. Sons and daughters. And having said, the memorial, again with precision, she mentions each nature. No son, she says, no daughter is left, who might preserve the memory by succession; as if to say, that even if it should happen that you recover, the enjoyment of health is useless, when there are no children; for the ancients had their hope of permanence in their children, and they imitated the future promise with a mortal resurrection. She does not mention the money, nor the cattle; for she knew he was magnanimous, but she mentions what was especially powerful to touch him; what change, she says, do you expect there will be? is it possible for those who have vanished to return? barren, childless, you have been torn up by the roots, with no one left behind, through whom you will be remembered. And if you, she says, do not care about these things, at least consider my own. And see the pathos: The pangs and pains of my womb, for whom I toiled in vain with sorrows; pangs, of childbirth; pains, of upbringing. What she says is something like this: I who have borne the greater part, have been wronged because of you, and I have undergone the pains, but have been deprived of the fruits. She says these things, to show that she too shares in the calamity; for a counselor seems unpersuasive who philosophizes about another's evils. Through all her words, therefore, sending forth a dart of faintheartedness, she also intermingles her own person, so that by the memory of the children, and by her own suffering, she might more greatly provoke the just man to despair. Why, she says, do you always push away the present, and vainly encourage yourself with things to come, you who are childless, homeless, naked, utterly destroyed? "But you yourself sit in the rot of worms, spending the night in the open air." Great emphasis, he himself, that just man, that wonderful man, the sum of our goods. And see how she neither sets forth the loss of the money, nor is she silent about it and passes over it, but as it was possible, and to report it pathetically, she alludes to it in this way; for when she says, "And I, a wanderer and a servant, from place to place and from house to house," She both alludes to the loss, and shows her great attachment to them; for even these words are sufficient to heighten the calamity; For I go to the doors of others, she says. 64.564 And I do not only beg, but I also wander, and I serve a strange and new servitude, going about everywhere, and carrying the tokens of the calamity, and teaching everyone my evils, moving from one place to another, and knocking at the doors of

20

ᾔδει γὰρ οὐ σφόδρα αὐτὸν τούτοις δακνόμενον, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὴν φύσιν εὐθέως ἔρχεται, καὶ τῶν παίδων ἀναμιμνήσκει· ἐπ' αὐτοῖς γὰρ εἶδεν αὐτὸν, καὶ τὴν ἐσθῆτα διαῤῥήξαντα, καὶ τὴν κόμην ἀποκειράμενον· καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἀπώλετό σου τὰ παιδία, ἀλλὰ σφόδρα περιπαθῶς· «Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἠφάνισταί σου τὸ μνημόσυνον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς· υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες, ἐμῆς κοιλίας ὠδῖνες καὶ πόνοι, οὓς εἰς τὸ κενὸν ἐκοπίασα μετὰ μόχθων.» Παρὰ μὲν τὴν ἀρχὴν, ποθεινὸν τὸ τῶν παίδων ἦν, διὰ τὸ καταλιμπάνειν ἕκαστον μνημόσυνον, καὶ λείψανα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ζωῆς. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀναστάσεως οὐδέπω ἦσαν ἐλπίδες, ἀλλ' ὁ θάνατος ἐκράτει, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ζωὴν, ἀπόλλυσθαι ἐνομίζοντο οἱ τελευτῶντες· ἔδωκεν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν ἐκ τῶν παίδων παραμυθίαν, ὥστε τῶν ἀπελθόντων ἐμψύχους εἰκόνας μένειν, καὶ τὸ γένος ἡμῶν διατηρεῖσθαι, καὶ τοῖς μέλλουσι τελευτᾷν, καὶ τοῖς ἐπιτηδείοις τῶν ἐκείνων, μεγίστην εἶναι παραμυθίαν, τὰ ἐκείνων ἔκγονα. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα ποθεινὰ τὰ τέκνα ἦν, ἄκουσον τί πρὸς τὸν Ἰὼβ ἀποδύρεται, μετὰ τὰς πολλὰς καὶ ἀφάτους πληγὰς, ἡ γυνή. Ἰδοὺ, φησὶν, ἀπώλετό σου τὸ μνημόσυνον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ Σαοὺλ πρὸς τὸν ∆αβίδ· Ὄμο 64.561 σόν μοι, ἵνα μὴ ἀφανίσῃς τὸ σπέρμα μου, καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου μετ' ἐμέ. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ νῦν, ἀναστάσεως φανείσης, ἐντεῦθέν ἐστι τὰ παιδία ἐπέραστα, ἀπὸ τοῦ τὴν μνήμην τῶν ἀπελθόντων διατηρεῖν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τότε· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ ἀρὰ ἐντεῦθεν γίνεται πικροτέρα· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὰ παιδία ὁ ἐπαρώμενος εἶπεν, ἐξολοθρευθείη, ἀλλὰ, τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. Υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες. Εἰποῦσα δὲ, τὸ μνημόσυνον, μετὰ ἀκριβείας πάλιν, ἑκατέρας τῆς φύσεως μέμνηται. Οὐχ υἱὸς, φησὶν, οὐ θυγάτηρ περιλέλειπται, οἳ τὴν μνήμην τῇ διαδοχῇ φυλάξωσι· μονονουχὶ λέγουσα, ὅτι εἰ καὶ ὑγιάναι συμβαίη, ἀνόνητος ἡ τῆς ὑγιείας ἀπόλαυσις, παίδων οὐκ ὄντων· ἐπὶ παισὶ γὰρ εἶχον τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς διαμονῆς οἱ πάλαι, καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐπαγγελίαν, ἀναστάσει ἐμιμοῦντο θνητῇ. Οὐ μέμνηται τῶν χρημάτων, οὐδὲ τῶν θρεμμάτων· ᾔδει γὰρ μεγαλόψυχον, ἀλλ' ὃ μάλιστα καθάψασθαι αὐτοῦ ἴσχυσε· ποίαν, φησὶ, προσδοκᾷς ἔσεσθαι μεταβολήν; μὴ τοὺς ἀφανισθέντας ἐπανελθεῖν ἔνι λοιπόν; ἄγονος, ἄπαις, πρόῤῥιζος ἀνεσπάσθης, οὐ καταλειφθέντος τινὸς, δι' οὗ μνημονευθήσῃ. Εἰ δὲ σοὶ, φησὶν, οὐ μέλει τούτων, κἂν τὸ ἐμὸν σκόπει. Καὶ ὅρα τὸ περιπαθές· Τῆς ἐμῆς κοιλίας ὠδῖνες καὶ πόνοι, οὓς εἰς τὸ κενὸν ἐκοπίασα μετὰ μόχθων· ὠδῖνες μὲν, τοῦ τόκου· πόνοι δὲ, τῆς ἀνατροφῆς. Ὃ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ἡ τὸ πλέον ἐνεγκοῦσα, ἠδίκημαι διὰ σὲ, καὶ τοὺς μὲν πόνους ὑπέστην, τῶν δὲ καρπῶν ἀπεστέρημαι. Ταῦτα δέ φησιν, ἵνα δείξῃ, καὶ ἑαυτὴν κοινωνοῦσαν τῆς συμφορᾶς· ἀπίθανος γὰρ δοκεῖ σύμβουλος, ὁ ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις φιλοσοφῶν κακοῖς. ∆ιὰ πάντων οὖν τῶν ῥημάτων βέλος ὀλιγωρίας ἐξαποστέλλουσα, συμμίγνυσι καὶ τὸ ἑαυτῆς πρόσωπον, ἵνα τῇ τε τῶν παίδων μνήμῃ, τῷ τε ἑαυτῆς πάθει, μειζόνως ἐκκαλέσηται εἰς ἀποδυσπέτησιν τὸν δίκαιον. Τί, φησὶ, τὸ παρὸν αἰεὶ διωθούμενος, ἀπὸ τῶν μελλόντων σαυτὸν παραθαρσύνεις εἰκῆ, ἄπαις, ἄοικος, γυμνὸς, ἐξεφθαρμένος; «Σὺ δὲ αὐτὸς ἐν σαπρίᾳ σκωλήκων κάθησαι, διανυκτερεύων αἴθριος.» Μεγάλη ἔμφασις, αὐτὸς, ἐκεῖνος ὁ δίκαιος, ὁ θαυμάσιος, τὸ κεφάλαιον ἡμῖν τῶν ἀγαθῶν. Καὶ ὅρα πῶς οὔτε τίθησι τὴν ζημίαν τῶν χρημάτων, οὔτε σιγᾷ αὐτὴν καὶ παρατρέχει, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐνῆν, καὶ περιπαθῶς αὐτὴν ἀπαγγεῖλαι, οὕτως αἰνίττεται· ὅταν γὰρ εἴπῃ, «Κἀγὼ πλανωμένη καὶ λάτρις τόπον ἐκ τόπου καὶ οἰκίαν ἐξ οἰκίας,» Καὶ τὴν ζημίαν αἰνίττεται, καὶ πολλὴν τὴν προσπάθειαν δείκνυσι· καὶ γὰρ καὶ αἱ λέξεις αὗται ἱκαναὶ ἐπάραι τὴν συμφοράν· Ἐπὶ γὰρ τὰς ἑτέρων ἔρχομαι θύρας, φησί. 64.564 Οὐ προσαιτῶ δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλανῶμαι, καὶ δουλεύω δουλείαν ξένην καὶ καινὴν, πανταχοῦ περιϊοῦσα, καὶ τὰ σύμβολα τῆς συμφορᾶς περιφέρουσα, καὶ πάντας διδάσκουσα τὰ ἐμὰ κακὰ, ἄλλοτε ἄλλον τόπον ἀμείβουσα, καὶ θυροκοποῦσα τῆς