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he nourished anxiety, knowing the nature of human affairs, and reflecting on their perilous nature; wherefore he also said, The fear which I had feared has come upon me. And he spoke well, "it has come upon me," as if he said, To which I always came in my thoughts; for he was always walking toward it in his mind, waiting for it, hoping for it, and expecting it. For though he lived continually in wealth, and luxury, and great splendor, yet he daily dreamt of the misfortunes of others; for this reason nothing troubled him when great and unbearable things befell. "I was not at peace, nor was I quiet, nor did I rest; but wrath came upon me." He did not say, I am not at peace, nor am I quiet; but, I was not at peace, in the past tense; for even if his past circumstances made him live in luxury, yet the expectation of sorrows did not allow him to be quiet, nor to revel in the present. For this reason, what he practiced in words, seeing these things happen in reality, he bore nobly the things long practiced, and seeing these things that had been anticipated by expectation now present, he was not surprised, nor was he troubled; but, "The expected wrath came upon me," he says, that is, the bitter and incurable punishment, which I experienced, which I was practicing even before the experience.

CHAP. IV.

"Has it not often been spoken to you in trouble? But who will endure the force of your words?" Scripture knows to call sin "trouble"; as when it says, Under his tongue is trouble and pain. So Eliphaz says, See, O Job, lest you have spoken something in sin, and for this reason you now suffer so. He did not say, Lest something has been done by you; but, Lest something has been spoken by you; for his life was illustrious, and he had many memorials of his virtue everywhere on earth. Do not say this, he says, even if 64.585 your deeds are fair and good; for it happens that sin occurs in words. "For if you have instructed many, and have comforted weak hands, and have raised up the weak with words, and have put courage into failing knees; but now trouble has come upon you, and has touched you, you have hastened." Chrys. and Poly. He did not mention his successes in matters of wealth, for it was possible to contrast them with his poverty; but if he had benefited any by his words. And what he says is this: The present circumstances, he says, conflict with your former reputation; for you who have often restored others with words, and all but raised up the fallen, instilling good hopes in them, what have you suffered? how are you not able to bear the trouble that has come upon you? But you have hastened, that is, you have been thrown into confusion. And the word is used from the fact that those who are troubled hasten. And yet you should have, remembering your own words and respecting them, acted philosophically not only in the misfortunes of others, but also in your own. But observe how, in addition to his other virtues, Eliphaz testifies to Job that he also had a gift for teaching, and offered the word of exhortation with divine grace, so as to prepare even those in misfortune to be of good cheer through his counsel. These words of Eliphaz are not yet harsh; but what follows he no longer utters in the character of one offering comfort. For listen: "Is not your fear in folly? and your hope, and the evil of your way?" But Aquila, Your endurance, and the simplicity of your ways. He weaves a vain syllogism; for since he said, "The fear which I dreaded has come upon me," he says that, "This fear was in folly, and your hope was from the evil of your heart;" for it is foolish for one who is good to expect such things; so that you have convicted yourself of living a wicked life; for if you were confident in your purity, the fear is vain. "By the command of the Lord they will perish; and by the breath of his anger they will be destroyed." And the phrase, "by the command"

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ἀγωνίαν ἔτρεφε, τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων εἰδὼς τὴν φύσιν, καὶ τὸ ἐπίκηρον αὐτῶν ἀναλογιζόμενος· διὸ καὶ ἔλεγεν, Φόβος ὃν ἐδεδοίκειν, συνήντησέ μοι. Καὶ καλῶς εἶπε, συνήντησέ μοι, ὡσανεὶ ἔλεγε, Πρὸς ὃν ἀεὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς ἠρχόμην· ἀεὶ γὰρ τῇ διανοίᾳ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐβάδιζεν, ἀναμένων αὐτὸν, ἐλπίζων, καὶ προσδοκῶν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐν πλούτῳ, καὶ τρυφῇ, καὶ περιφανείᾳ πολλῇ ζῶν διετέλεσεν, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἀλλοτρίας καθ' ἑκάστην ὠνειροπόλει συμφοράς· διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲν αὐτὸν ἐθορύβει προσπιπτόντων μεγάλων καὶ ἀφορήτων. «Οὔτε εἰρήνευσα, οὔτε ἡσύχασα, οὔτε ἀνεπαυσάμην· ἦλθε δέ μοι ὀργή.» Οὐκ εἶπεν, Οὐκ εἰρηνεύω, οὔτε ἡσυχάζω· ἀλλ', Οὐκ εἰρήνευσα, ἐν τῷ παρελθόντι χρόνῳ· εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ προγεγονότα τρυφᾷν ἐποίει, ἀλλ' ἡ προσδοκία τῶν λυπηρῶν οὐκ εἴα ἡσυχάζειν, οὐδὲ ἐντρυφᾷν τοῖς παροῦσι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο, ἅπερ ἐμελέτησε διὰ τῶν λόγων, ταῦτα ἰδὼν ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων συμβάντα, γενναίως ἤνεγκε τὰ πάλαι μελετηθέντα, καὶ τὰ τῇ προσδοκίᾳ προειλημμένα ταῦτα παρόντα βλέπων, οὐκ ἐξενίζετο, οὐδὲ ἐθορυβεῖτο· ἀλλ', Ἦλθέ μοι, φησὶν, ἡ προσδοκωμένη ὀργὴ, τουτέστιν, ἡ πικρὰ καὶ ἀνήκεστος τιμωρία, ἧς ἐπειράθην, ἣν καὶ πρὸς τῆς πείρας ἐμελέτων.

ΚΕΦ. ∆ʹ

«Μὴ πολλάκις σοι λελάληται ἐν κόπῳ; ἰσχὺν δὲ ῥημάτων σου τίς ὑποίσει;» Κόπον οἶδεν ἡ Γραφὴ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν λέγειν· ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ, Ὑπὸ τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτοῦ κόπος καὶ πόνος. Φησὶν οὖν ὁ Ἐλιφὰζ, Ὅρα, ὦ Ἰὼβ, μήποτεἐλάλησάς τι ἐν ἁμαρτίᾳ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο νῦν οὕτω πάσχεις. Οὐκ εἶπε δὲ, Μὴ πέπρακταί σοι· ἀλλὰ, Μὴ λελάληταί σοι· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔλαμπεν ὁ βίος αὐτοῦ, καὶ πολλὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑπομνήματα πανταχοῦ τῆς γῆς εἶχε. Μὴ τοῦτο, φησὶν, εἴπῃς, εἰ καὶ 64.585 πράξεις σου καλαὶ καὶ ἀγαθαί· συμβαίνει γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ῥήμασι γεγενῆσθαι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. «Εἰ γὰρ σὺ ἐνουθέτησας πολλοὺς, καὶ χεῖρας ἀσθενεῖς παρεκάλεσας, ἀσθενοῦντάς τε ἐξανέστησας ῥήμασι, γόνασί τε ἀδυνατοῦσι θάρσος περιέθηκας· νῦν δὲ ἥκει ἐπὶ σὲ πόνος, καὶ ἥψατό σου, σὺ ἐσπούδασας.» Χρυσ. καὶ Πολυ. Οὐκ εἶπε τὰ ἐν χρήμασιν αὐτῷ κατωρθωμένα, ἐνῆν γὰρ ἀντιθεῖναι τὴν πενίαν· ἀλλ' εἴ τινας ἀπὸ λόγων ὠφέλησεν. Ὃ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· Μάχεται, φησὶ, τῇ παλαιᾷ ὑπολήψει τὰ παρόντα· ὁ γὰρ πολλάκις ἄλλους ἀναῤῥώσας τοῖς λόγοις, καὶ μονονουχὶ πεπτωκότας διαναστήσας, ἀγαθὰς ἐλπίδας αὐτοῖς ὑποθέμενος, τί πέπονθας; πῶς τὸν ἐπελθόντα σοι πόνον φέρειν οὐ δύνῃ; ἀλλὰ ἐσπούδασας, τουτέστι, τεθορύβησαι. Εἴρηται δὲ ἡ λέξις ἀπὸ τοῦ τοὺς θορυβουμένους σπεύδειν. Καίτοιγε ἐχρῆν σε τῶν οἰκείων ὑπομιμνησκόμενον τῶν λόγων, καὶ τούτους αἰδούμενον, μὴ ἐν ταῖς ἑτέρων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ταῖς αὐτοῦ συμφοραῖς φιλοσοφεῖν. Ἐπιτήρει δὲ, ὡς, πρὸς ταῖς ἄλλαις ἀρεταῖς, μαρτυρεῖ τῷ Ἰὼβ ὁ Ἐλιφὰζ, ὅτι καὶ διδασκαλικὸν εἶχε χάρισμα, καὶ τὸν παρακλητικὸν μετὰ θείας χάριτος προσέφερε λόγον, ὥστε καὶ εὐθυμεῖν τοὺς ἐν συμφοραῖς παρασκευάζειν διὰ τῆς παραινέσεως. Ταῦτα μὲν οὔπω τραχέα τοῦ Ἐλιφὰζ τὰ ῥήματα· τὰ δὲ ἐφεξῆς οὐκέτι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ παραμυθουμένου προσώπου ποιότητα φθέγγεται. Ἄκουε γάρ· «Πότερον οὐχ ὁ φόβος σού ἐστιν ἐν ἀφροσύνῃ; καὶ ἡ ἐλπίς σου, καὶ ἡ κακία τῆς ὁδοῦ σου;» Ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας, Ἡ ὑπομονή σου, καὶ ἡ ἁπλότης τῶν ὁδῶν σου. Μάταιον πλέκει συλλογισμόν· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶπε, Φόβος ὃν ἐφρόντισα ἦλθέ μοι, φησὶν, ὅτι Οὗτος ὁ φόβος ἐν ἀφροσύνῃ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ἐλπίς σου ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας τῆς καρδίας σου ἦν· ἀνόητον γὰρ, ἀγαθὸν ὄντα τοιαῦτα προσδοκᾷν· ὥστε σεαυτὸν ἤλεγξας, ὅτι βίου ἦς πονηροῦ· εἰ γὰρ ἐθάῤῥεις ἐπὶ καθαρότητι, μάταιος ὁ φόβος. «Ἀπὸ προστάγματος Κυρίου ἀπολοῦνται· ἀπὸ δὲ πνεύματος ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ ἀφανισθήσονται.» Τὸ δὲ, ἀπὸ προστάγματος