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for his sake, he was saying: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children and you were not willing? Behold, your house is left desolate.” 10.2 Therefore, knowing these things, my most God-beloved lady, labor and strive and force yourself, having the alliance from the things that have been said, to push out and to cast out with much vehemence the thoughts that trouble you and which cause so much confusion and dizziness. But that you will do this and endure our exhortation, I think no one should doubt, but you must now prepare for yourself swords and spears and bows and arrows and a breastplate and a shield and greaves, so that with some you may be defended, and with others you may strike and slaughter and make dead the thoughts of trouble that come upon you. From where then shall we prepare for you these engines and slings, so as not to allow the enemies to approach even near, but to drive them away as far as possible with much excess? From despondency itself, by philosophizing a few things about it and showing how heavy and burdensome the matter is. For despondency is a harsh torment of souls, a certain unspeakable pain, and a punishment more bitter than any penalty and chastisement. For it imitates a venomous worm, clinging not only to the flesh but also to the soul itself, and it is a moth not only of bones but also of the mind, and a perpetual executioner not carding the sides but also destroying the power of the soul, and a perpetual night and a lightless darkness and a storm and a dizziness and an unseen fever burning more fiercely than any flame, and a war having no truce, a disease that darkens many of the things that are seen. For both the sun and the nature of this transparent air seem to annoy those so disposed, and at mid-day it imitates deep night. Therefore also the wondrous prophet, declaring this, said: “The sun will set for them at noon,” not as though the star were disappearing nor as though its usual course were interrupted, but as though the despondent soul in the brightest part of the day imagines night. For the darkness of the night is not such as the night of despondency, which does not come according to the law of nature but is gathered according to the darkening of thoughts, being a certain fearful and unbearable thing, having a relentless face, more cruel than any tyrant, quickly yielding to none of those attempting to dissolve it, but often holding the captured soul more firmly than adamant, when it has not used much philosophy. 10.3 Why is it necessary to say many things, declaring about it from one's own resources, when it is possible to go to those who have been captured and from there learn all its strength? But rather, if it seems good, for now, first, we shall make the proof of it from another source. For when Adam sinned that grievous sin and condemned the common race of all men, he was then condemned to sorrow; but she who sinned more greatly, and so much more greatly that his sin, when compared to hers, is not even considered to be a sin; “For Adam,” it says, “was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, fell into transgression,” this one, therefore, who was deceived and fell into transgression, and who mixed the deadly drug for both herself and her husband, is condemned with a greater punishment, as being able to bear a greater toil; “For,” it says, “I will greatly multiply your sorrows and your groaning. In sorrows you shall bring forth children.” Nowhere labor, nowhere sweat, and nowhere toil, but despondency and groaning, and the punishment from this, being a counterbalance to labors and a myriad of deaths, or rather, even much more grievous. And yet what is worse than death? Is it not the chief of evils among men, the fearful and unbearable, and worthy of a myriad

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γε αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν, ἔλεγεν· «Ἱερουσαλήμ, Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα ὑμῶν καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε; Ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος.» 10.2 Ταῦτα οὖν εἰδυῖα, δέσποινά μου θεοφιλεστάτη, κάμνε καὶ φιλονείκει καὶ βιάζου τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν εἰρημένων ἔχουσα συμμαχίαν, ἐξωθεῖσθαι καὶ ἐκβάλλειν μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σφοδρότητος τοὺς ταράττοντάς σε λογισμοὺς καὶ θόρυβον καὶ ζάλην ἐμποιοῦντας τοσαύτην. Ἀλλ' ὅτι μὲν ἐργάσῃ τοῦτο καὶ ἀνέξῃ τῆς παραινέσεως τῆς ἡμετέρας, οὐδένα οἶμαι δεῖν ἀμφιβάλλειν, δεῖ δέ σοι κατασκευάσαι λοιπὸν ξίφη καὶ δόρατα καὶ τόξα καὶ βέλη καὶ θώρακα καὶ ἀσπίδα καὶ κνημῖδας ὥστε τοῖς μὲν φράττεσθαι, τοῖς δὲ βάλλειν καὶ κατασφάττειν καὶ νεκροὺς τιθέναι τοὺς ἐπιόντας σοι τῆς ταραχῆς λογισμούς. Πόθεν οὖν σοι τὰ μηχανήματα ταῦτα καὶ τὰς σφενδόνας κατασκευάσομεν ὥστε μηδὲ ἐγγὺς ἀφεῖναι προσιέναι τοὺς πολεμίους, ἀλλ' ὡς πορρωτάτω μετὰ πολλῆς ἀπελαύνειν τῆς ὑπερβολῆς; Ἀπὸ τῆς ἀθυμίας αὐτῆς, ὀλίγα τινὰ περὶ αὐτῆς φιλοσοφήσαντες καὶ δείξαντες ὅπως βαρὺ τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ ἐπαχθές. Ἡ γὰρ ἀθυμία ψυχῶν ἐστι βασανιστήριον χαλεπόν, ὀδύνη τις ἄρρητος καὶ δίκη δίκης ἁπάσης καὶ τιμωρίας πικροτέρα. Καὶ γὰρ σκώληκα μιμεῖται ἰοβόλον, οὐχὶ τῆς σαρκὸς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῆς καθαπτομένη τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ σής ἐστιν οὐχὶ ὀστέων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ διανοίας, καὶ δήμιος διηνεκὴς οὐ πλευρὰς καταξαίνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ δύναμιν ψυχῆς λυμαινόμενος καὶ νὺξ διηνεκὴς καὶ σκότος ἀφεγγὲς καὶ χειμὼν καὶ ζάλη καὶ πυρετὸς ἀφανὴς πάσης φλογὸς σφοδρότερον κατακαίων καὶ πόλεμος ἀνακωχὴν οὐκ ἔχων, νόσος πολλοῖς τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐπισκοτοῦσα. Ὅ τε γὰρ ἥλιος, ἥ τε τοῦ ἀέρος φύσις τούτου τοῦ διειδοῦς τοῖς οὕτω διακειμένοις παρενοχλεῖν δοκεῖ καὶ ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ μέσῃ νύκτα μιμεῖται βαθεῖαν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ θαυμάσιος προφήτης τοῦτο δηλῶν ἔλεγε· «∆ύσεται ὁ ἥλιος αὐτοῖς ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ», οὐχ ὡς ἀφανιζομένου τοῦ ἄστρου οὐδ' ὡς τοῦ συνήθους διακοπτομένου δρόμου, ἀλλ' ὡς τῆς ἀθυμούσης ψυχῆς ἐν τῷ φανοτάτῳ τῆς ἡμέρας νύκτα φανταζομένης. Οὐ γὰρ τοιοῦτο τῆς νυκτὸς τὸ σκότος, οἵα τῆς ἀθυμίας ἡ νὺξ οὐ κατὰ νόμον φύσεως παραγενομένη, ἀλλὰ κατὰ λογισμῶν σκότωσιν συναγομένη, φοβερά τις οὖσα καὶ ἀφόρητος, ἀμείλικτον ἔχουσα τὸ πρόσωπον, τυράννου παντὸς ὠμοτέρα, οὐδενὶ ταχέως εἴκουσα τῶν διαλύειν αὐτὴν ἐπιχειρούντων, ἀλλ' ἀδάμαντος στερρότερον κατέχουσα πολλάκις τὴν ἁλοῦσαν ψυχήν, ὅταν αὐτὴ μὴ πολλῇ ᾖ κεχρημένη τῇ φιλοσοφίᾳ. 10.3 Τί δεῖ πολλὰ λέγειν οἴκοθεν περὶ αὐτῆς ἀποφαινόμενον, παρὸν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἁλόντας ἐλθεῖν κἀκεῖθεν αὐτῆς τὴν ἰσχὺν ἅπασαν καταμαθεῖν; Μᾶλλον δέ, εἰ δοκεῖ, τέως πρότερον ἑτέρωθεν αὐτῆς ποιησόμεθα τὴν ἀπόδειξιν. Ὅτε γὰρ ἥμαρτεν ὁ Ἀδὰμ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκείνην τὴν χαλεπὴν καὶ τὸ κοινὸν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων κατεδίκασε γένος, λύπῃ τότε κατεδικάζετο· ἡ δὲ μεῖζον ἁμαρτοῦσα καὶ οὕτω μείζονα ὡς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τὴν τούτου πρὸς ἐκείνην συγκρινομένην μηδὲ ἁμαρ τίαν εἶναι νομίζεσθαι· «Ἀδὰμ γὰρ οὐκ ἠπατήθη, φησίν, ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ἀπατηθεῖσα ἐν παραβάσει γέγονεν», αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ ἀπατηθεῖσα καὶ ἐν παραβάσει γενομένη, καὶ τὸ δηλητήριον καὶ ἑαυτῇ καὶ τῷ ἀνδρὶ κεράσασα φάρμακον, πλείονι ταύτῃ κατακρίνεται ὡς κατατεῖναι δυναμένῃ τοῦ μόχθου μειζόνως· «Πληθύνων γάρ, φησί, πληθυνῶ τὰς λύπας σου καὶ τὸν στεναγμόν σου. Ἐν λύπαις τέξῃ τέκνα.» Οὐδαμοῦ πόνος, οὐδαμοῦ ἱδρὼς καὶ οὐδαμοῦ μόχθος, ἀλλ' ἀθυμία καὶ στεναγμὸς καὶ ἡ ἐντεῦθεν τιμωρία καὶ πόνων καὶ μυρίων θανάτων ἀντίρροπος οὖσα, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πολλῷ χαλεπωτέρα. Καίτοι τί θανάτου χεῖρον; Οὐχὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις κακῶν, τὸ φοβερὸν καὶ ἀφόρητον καὶ μυρίων ἄξιον