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I ask for strength, nor will your refutation silence me with words; for I will not endure the utterance of your word. Except that you fall upon an orphan, and you spring upon your friend.” I do not need, he says, your help; do not condescend to me, nor, as if wishing to strengthen me, speak things to please, but refute me with boldness; for I do not fear your refutations, nor will I be silent at your speech, since my conscience is clear, but by contradicting every word, I hope to be victorious. But this I know, that you thus cast bitter reproaches at me, considering neither the calamity nor the friendship, as one truly orphaned of God’s help; and neither the calamity nor the friendship has bent you. But I, even if you place yourselves in the opposite lot, will not shrink from the contest, but will contradict, and will proceed to a defense; for I am conscious of nothing in myself.

CHAPTER 7

“Is not the life of man on earth a trial? And his life like that of a day-laborer? Or like a servant fearing his master, and having obtained a shadow? Or like a hired worker awaiting his wage?” Does it not seem to you, he says, that the life of all men is filled with trials and circumstances? And how every man is like a day-laborer, who toils all day long, to receive some small thing? Or to a servant fearing his own master, and barely ever obtaining a little rest? Or simply to a hired worker, even if not a day-laborer, so that after many toils he might receive some wage? Through these things, therefore, he wants to show the toilsome and brief nature of life; and he says, Is it therefore full of toils only, and not also of dangers? But to me it seems he speaks of a runaway slave who is continually in agony 64.597 because of his flight; for this it indicates: the phrase, *having obtained a shadow*, that is, reckoning things not present as present because of fear, and seeking darkness, by which he will be covered. But, if life is a trial, how is it possible for one who is in a place of trial not to fall into temptation? So it happens that not from injustice alone, but also from nature itself, one suffers these things which I have suffered. “And nights of pain are given to me. If I lie down, I say, When will it be day? And when I rise, again, When will it be evening? And I become full of pains from evening until morning.” You see the unbearable trial of the night, which is itself new and strange. For to all other people, even if they suffer countless things, even if they live in prison, even if they wear a chain, even if they lament misfortunes, even if they endure mutilation of the body, even if they are oppressed by poverty, even if by sickness, even if by pains and hardships, the night, when it comes, brings a medicine of comfort, releasing the body from its pains, relaxing the soul from its cares. But in Job’s case, then the harbor became a reef, and the medicine became a wound, and the comfort was an addition of more grievous pain, and the storm became more terrible, in that which provides calm to all men; and he fled the day, as from waves, because of those unbearable pains, but found triple waves, and whirlwinds, and submerged rocks, and reefs, so as to seek again the waves of the day; and having the present as grievous, he longed for what was absent, hastening through his pains for the intervals of time to pass by. For this very reason he himself, recounting this new suffering, cried out, saying, If I lie down, I say, When will it be day? If I rise, I say, When will it be evening? For what reason, tell me? For in the day you rightly seek the night, since it provides a release for all from the daily toils; but being in the night, and in calm and forgetfulness of those pains and cares, why again do you seek the

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ἰσχὺν αἰτοῦμαι, οὐδὲ ἔλεγχος ὑμῶν ῥήμασί με παύσει· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὑμῶν φθέγμα ῥήματος ἀνέξομαι. Πλὴν ὅτι ἐπ' ὀρφανῷ ἐπιπίπτετε, ἐνάλλεσθε δὲ ἐπὶ φίλῳ ὑμῶν.» Οὐ δέομαι, φησὶ, τῆς βοηθείας ὑμῶν, μὴ συγκατάβητέ μοι, μηδὲ, ὡς ἐπιῤῥῶσαι βουλόμενοι, τὰ πρὸς χάριν λαλήσητε, ἀλλ' ἐλέγξατέ με μετὰ παῤῥησίας· οὐ γὰρ δέδοικα ὑμῶν τοὺς ἐλέγχους, οὐδὲ ἐφησυχάσω τῷ λόγῳ, τοῦ συνειδότος μου καθαρεύοντος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἕκαστον ἀντιλέγων ῥῆμα, νικήσειν ἐλπίζω. Πλὴν ἐκεῖνο οἶδα, ὅτι οὕτω με βάλλετε πικροῖς τοῖς ὀνείδεσι, μὴ τὴν συμφορὰν, μὴ τὴν φιλίαν λογιζόμενοι, ὡς ὄντως ἀπορφανισθέντα τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ βοηθείας· καὶ οὔτε ἡ συμφορὰ, οὔτε ἡ φιλία ὑμᾶς κατέκαμψεν. Ἀλλ' ἐγὼ, κἂν εἰς τὴν ἐναντίαν μοῖραν ἑαυτοὺς τάξητε, οὐ παραιτήσομαι τὸν ἀγῶνα, ἀλλ' ἀντερῶ, καὶ πρὸς ἀπολογίαν χωρήσω· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ζʹ

«Οὐχὶ πειρατήριόν ἐστιν ὁ βίος ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; καὶ ὥσπερ μισθίου ἀνθημερινοῦ ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ; ἢ ὥσπερ θεράπων δεδοικὼς τὸν κύριον αὐτοῦ, καὶ τετευχὼς σκιᾶς; ἢ ὥσπερ μισθωτὸς ἀναμένων τὸν μισθὸν αὐτοῦ;» Ἆρα, φησὶν, ὑμῖν οὐ δοκεῖ πειρασμῶν ἐμπεπλῆσθαι καὶ περιστάσεων πάντων ἀνθρώπων ὁ βίος; καὶ ὡς πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἔοικεν αὐθημερινῷ μισθωτῷ, ὃς δι' ὅλης ἡμέρας κάμνει, ἵνα μικρόν τι κομίσηται; ἢ θεράποντι δεδοικότι τὸν ἑαυτοῦ δεσπότην, καὶ μόλις ποτὲ μικρᾶς ἀναπαύσεως τυγχάνοντι; ἢ ἁπλῶς μισθωτῷ, εἰ καὶ μὴ αὐθημερινῷ, ἵνα μετὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς καμάτους λάβῃ τινὰ μισθόν; ∆ιὰ τούτων οὖν βούλεται δεῖξαι τὸ ἐπίπονον τοῦ βίου καὶ βραχύ· καί φησιν, Ἆρ' οὖν πόνων γέμει μόνον, οὐχὶ δὲ καὶ κινδύνων; ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ περὶ δραπέτου λέγειν οἰκέτου ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ διαπαντὸς ὄντος 64.597 διὰ τὴν φυγήν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐμφαίνει· τὸ, τετευχὼς σκιᾶς, τουτέστι, τὰ μὴ παρόντα ὡς παρόντα λογιζόμενος διὰ τὸν φόβον, καὶ ζητῶν σκότος, ὑφ' οὗ καλυφθήσεται. Πλὴν, εἰ πειρατήριον ὁ βίος, πῶς οἷόν τέ ἐστι τὸν ἐν πειρατηρίῳ ὄντα πειρασμῷ μὴ περιπεσεῖν; Ὥστε συμβαίνει μὴ ἀπὸ ἀδικίας μόνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως ταῦτα παθεῖν, ἅπερ ἐγὼ πέπονθα. «Νύκτες δὲ ὀδυνῶν δεδομέναι μοί εἰσιν. Ἐὰν κοιμηθῶ, λέγω, Πότε ἡμέρα; ὡς δ' ἂν ἀναστῶ, πάλιν, Πότε ἑσπέρα; πλήρης δὲ γίνομαι ὀδυνῶν ἀπὸ ἑσπέρας ἕως πρωΐ.» Εἶδες καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς τὸν ἀφόρητον πειρασμὸν, τὸν καὶ αὐτὸν καινὸν ὄντα, καὶ παράδοξον. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις, κἂν μυρία πάσχωσι, κἂν δεσμωτήριον οἰκῶσι, κἂν ἅλυσιν περικέωνται, κἂν συμφορὰς θρηνῶσι, κἂν λωβὴν σώματος ὑπομένωσι, κἂν πενίᾳ πιέζωνται, κἂν νόσῳ, κἂν πόνοις καὶ ταλαιπωρίαις, ἐπελθοῦσα, ἡ νὺξ φάρμακον ἐπάγει παραμυθίας, ἀφιεῖσα τῶν πόνων τὸ σῶμα, ἀνιεῖσα τῶν φροντίδων τὴν ψυχήν. Ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Ἰὼβ τότε ὁ λιμὴν σκόπελος γέγονε, καὶ τὸ φάρμακον ἕλκος κατέστη, καὶ ἡ παραμυθία προσθήκη τις ἦν ὀδύνης χαλεπωτέρα, καὶ φοβερώτερος ὁ χειμὼν ἐγίνετο, ἐν τῇ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις παρεχούσῃ γαλήνην· καὶ ἔφευγε μὲν, ὡς ἀπὸ κυμάτων, τῆς ἡμέρας, διὰ τὰς ἀκαρτερήτους ὀδύνας ἐκείνας, εὕρισκε δὲ τρικυμίας, καὶ στροβίλους, καὶ ὑφάλους, καὶ σπιλάδας, ὡς πάλιν τὰ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ κύματα ζητεῖν· καὶ βαρὺ τὸ παρὸν ἔχων, τοῦ ἀπόντος ἐπεθύμει, ἐπισπεύδων διὰ τὰς ἀλγηδόνας τὰ διαστήματα τοῦ χρόνου παρατρέχειν. ∆ιὸ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς, τὸ καινὸν τοῦτο πάθος διηγούμενος, ἐβόα λέγων, Ἐὰν κοιμηθῶ, λέγω, Πότε ἡμέρα; Ἐὰν ἀναστῶ, λέγω, Πότε ἑσπέρα; Τίνος ἕνεκεν, εἰπέ μοι; Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ εἰκότως τὴν νύκτα ἐπιζητεῖς, ἅτε ἀτέλειαν πᾶσι παρέχουσαν τῶν μεθημερινῶν καμάτων· ἐν νυκτὶ δὲ γενόμενος, καὶ γαλήνῃ καὶ λήθῃ τῶν ὀδυνῶν ἐκείνων, καὶ τῶν φροντίδων, τί πάλιν ἐπιζητεῖς τὴν