25

on the way, on the unnavigable sea, in so great a darkness of evil, he alone and first at that time cut this path of philosophy, having been shown to be supremely excellent in the chief of good things. For it is a very great thing to succeed in the lesser parts of virtue, but much greater to be the most excellent in the most excellent of all things; and that patience is the most excellent of all things, no one will dispute. Indeed, the devil himself, knowing these things, said: Skin for skin, and all that a man has, he will give for his life. But now stretch out your hand, and touch his bones and his flesh. From which it is clear that this is the most excellent of all achievements, and requires a certain youthful and iron soul. But I do not so much admire Job before the exhortation of his wife, as after that destructive counsel. And let no one think what is said to be paradoxical; for often those whom the nature of things did not trip up, a word and a corrupt exhortation have destroyed. And so the devil, being conscious of this, after the blow from the trial, also brings on the attack 64.576 through words. This he also did in the case of David; for when he saw him nobly bearing his son's rebellion and that lawless tyranny, wishing to trip up his mind and persuade him to fall into anger, he sent down that Shimei, having prepared him with bitter words to bite his soul. He also worked this evil in the case of Job; for when he saw him laughing at his arrows, and standing nobly like a tower of adamant against everything. he armed the wife, so that the counsel might be unsuspected, and hid the poison in her words, and made a tragedy of the misfortune. What then did the noble one do? You have spoken as one of the foolish women; if we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure the evil things? For if He were not a Master, he says, nor so greatly superior to us, but some peer friend, what excuse do we have, having received such benefits, and not bearing the opposite? Have you seen a man who loves God, and how he is not arrogant, nor puts on airs, for nobly bearing those blows beyond nature, nor does he think such great patience to be a matter of wisdom and magnanimity; but as if paying a necessary debt, and having suffered nothing unfitting, so from his abundance he silenced the little woman. "In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin with his lips against God." It is not possible, he says, to say that he said these things to his wife, but the secrets of his mind were full of anger and despair, but he did not even utter anything with his lips. The Hebrew does not have it, to express the meaning sufficiently. "Now when his three friends heard of all the evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own country to him." For the three friends arrive to comfort him, but they do the opposite of comforting; for their presence was friendly, but their counsel was not friendly; and even before their words, the sight alone was sufficient to cast down the just man. For we see our own terrible things more accurately, especially in the good things of others. For consider how great it was, to see himself in these circumstances, and those familiar and known to him remaining in their former prosperity. And the terrible thing was that the misfortune was carried about everywhere; for if these, being so far away, heard, how much more those who were near. But what grieved him most was not the magnitude of the terrible things, but the seeming to suffer as an impious and lawless man, as an enemy and foe of God, as one who had lived the time before in hypocrisy. He was not concerned about his body being destroyed, but about his reputation being cast down; not because he was ambitious, or lived for the glory of the many, but because he saw many being 64.577 scandalized by these things. And the writer also sets down the things of the

25

τῇ ὁδῷ, ἐν ἀπλώτῳ τῇ θαλάττῃ, ἐν ζόφῳ τοσούτῳ κακίας, μόνος καὶ πρῶτος ἐκεῖνος τότε ταύτην τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἔτεμε τὴν ὁδὸν, τῷ κεφαλαίῳ τῶν ἀγαθῶν μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς ἄκρος ἀποδειχθείς. Μέγιστον γὰρ καὶ τὸ, τὰ ἐλάττονα μέρη τῆς ἀρετῆς κατορθοῦν, πολλῷ δὲ μεῖζον, τὸ ἐν τῷ ἀκροτάτῳ πάντων ἀκρότατον εἶναι· ὅτι δὲ τὸ πάντων ἀκρότατον ὑπομονὴ, οὐδεὶς ἀντερεῖ. Ταῦτα γοῦν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος εἰδὼς, ἔλεγε· ∆έρμα ὑπὲρ δέρματος, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ὑπάρχει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ὑπὲρ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ ἐκτίσει. Οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλ' ἀποστείλας τὴν χεῖρά σου, ἅψαι τῶν ὀστῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτοῦ. Ὅθεν δῆλον, ὅτι πάντων ἀκρότατον τοῦτο τὸ κατόρθωμα, καὶ νεανικῆς τινος καὶ σιδηρᾶς δεόμενον ψυχῆς. Ἐγὼ δὲ οὐχ οὕτω θαυμάζω τὸν Ἰὼβ πρὸ τῆς παραινέσεως τῆς γυναικὸς, ὡς μετὰ τὴν ὀλεθρίαν συμβουλὴν ἐκείνην. Καὶ μή τις παράδοξον εἶναι νομιζέτω τὸ λεγόμενον· πολλάκις γὰρ οὓς ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων φύσις οὐχ ὑπεσκέλισε, ῥῆμα, καὶ παραίνεσις διεφθαρμένη κατέλυσεν. Ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ διάβολος συνειδὼς, μετὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς πείρας πληγὴν, καὶ τὴν 64.576 διὰ τῶν ῥημάτων ἐπάγει προσβολήν. Ὅπερ ἐποίησε καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ∆αβίδ· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶδεν αὐτὸν γενναίως ἐνεγκόντα τὴν ἐπανάστασιν τοῦ παιδὸς, καὶ τὴν παράνομον ἐκείνην τυραννίδα, βουλόμενος ὑποσκελίσαι τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ πεῖσαι εἰς ὀργὴν ἐκπεσεῖν, καθῆκεν ἐκεῖνον τὸν Σεμεῒ, ῥήμασι πικροῖς παρασκευάσας δακεῖν αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχήν. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰὼβ ἐκακούργησεν· ὡς γὰρ εἶδεν ἐκεῖνον καταγελάσαντα αὐτοῦ τῶν βελῶν, καὶ ὥσπερ ἀδαμάντινον πύργον πρὸς πάντα στάντα γενναίως. καθώπλισε τὴν γυναῖκα, ἵνα ἀνύποπτος ἡ συμβουλὴ γένηται, καὶ ἐνέκρυψε τὸ δηλητήριον τοῖς ἐκείνης ῥήμασι, καὶ τὴν συμφορὰν ἐτραγῴδησε. Τί οὖν ὁ γενναῖος; Ὥσπερ μία τῶν ἀφρόνων γυναικῶν ἐλάλησας· εἰ ἀγαθὰ ἐδεξάμεθα ἐκ χειρὸς Κυρίου, τὰ κακὰ οὐχ ὑποίσομεν; Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ∆εσπότης ἦν, φησὶ, μηδὲ τοσοῦτον ἡμῖν ὑπερέχων, ἀλλὰ φίλος τις ὁμότιμος, ποίαν ἔχομεν ἀπολογίαν, τοσαῦτα εὐεργετηθέντες, καὶ τὰ ἐναντία μὴ φέροντες; Εἶδες ἄνδρα φιλόθεον, καὶ πῶς οὐ μεγαλοφρονεῖ, οὐδὲ ἐναβρύνεται, ἐπὶ τῷ γενναίως ἐνεγκεῖν τὰς ὑπὲρ φύσιν ἐκείνας πληγὰς, οὔτε σοφίας εἶναι νομίζει καὶ μεγαλοψυχίας, τοσαύτην ὑπομονήν· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἀναγκαῖον ὄφλημα ἐκτιννὺς, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς παθὼν, οὕτως ἐκ περιουσίας τὸ γύναιον ἐπεστόμισεν. «Ἐν πᾶσι τούτοις συμβεβηκόσιν αὐτῷ, οὐδὲν ἥμαρτεν Ἰὼβ τοῖς χείλεσιν ἐναντίον τοῦ Θεοῦ.» Οὐκ ἔστι, φησὶν, εἰπεῖν, ὅτι πρὸς μὲν τὴν γυναῖκα ταῦτα ἔλεγε, τὰ δὲ ἀπόῤῥητα αὐτοῦ τῆς διανοίας ἔγεμε θυμοῦ καὶ ἀποδυσπετήσεως, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐν τοῖς χείλεσιν αὐτοῦ ἐφθέγξατό τι. Ὁ Ἑβραῖος αὐτὸ οὐκ ἔχει, ἀρκούντως τὴν ἔννοιαν προεκφράσαι. «Ἀκούσαντες δὲ οἱ τρεῖς φίλοι αὐτοῦ τὰ κακὰ πάντα τὰ ἐπελθόντα αὐτῷ, παρεγένοντο ἕκαστος ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας χώρας πρὸς αὐτόν.» Παραγίνονται μὲν γὰρ οἱ τρεῖς φίλοι, ὥστε παραμυθήσασθαι, τὸ δὲ ἐναντίον ποιοῦσι τῆς παραμυθίας· φιλικὴ μὲν γὰρ ἡ παρουσία, οὐ φιλικὴ δὲ ἡ παραίνεσις· καὶ πρὸ τῶν ῥημάτων δὲ αὐτῶν, ἱκανὴ μόνη ἡ ὄψις τὸν δίκαιον καταβαλεῖν. Τὰ γὰρ ἡμέτερα δεινὰ, μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθοῖς ἀκριβέστερον καθορῶμεν. Ἐννόησον γὰρ ὅσον ἦν, ἑαυτὸν ἐν τούτοις ὁρᾷν, καὶ ἐκείνους τοὺς συνήθεις, καὶ γνωρίμους, ἐπὶ τῆς προτέρας εὐπραγίας μένοντας. Καὶ τὸ δὲ δεινὸν, τὸ πανταχοῦ περιενεχθῆναι τὴν συμφοράν· εἰ γὰρ οὗτοι, τοσοῦτον ἀπέχοντες. ἤκουσαν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον οἱ πλησίον ὄντες. Μάλιστα δὲ αὐτὸν ἐλύπει, οὐ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν δεινῶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ δοκεῖν, ὡς ἀσεβῆ καὶ παράνομον πάσχειν, ὡς ἐχθρὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ πολέμιον, ὡς ἐν ὑποκρίσει τὸν ἔμπροσθεν ζήσαντα χρόνον. Οὐκ ἔμελεν αὐτῷ τοῦ σώματος διαφθειρομένου, ἀλλὰ τῆς δόξης καταβαλλομένης· οὐχ ὅτι φιλότιμος ἦν, ἣ πρὸς τὴν τῶν πολλῶν ἔζη δόξαν, ἀλλ' ὅτι πολλοὺς ἐπὶ τούτοις 64.577 σκανδαλιζομένους ἑώρα. Τίθησι δὲ ὁ συγγραφεὺς καὶ τὰ τῶν