The formations now spoken of must be referred to, such as, 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you'; just as Job also says, 'You formed me from clay,' indicating upon himself the clay-formation in Adam. And a petition for creation is a thanksgiving, very consistently that of the intellectual power which makes one understand the commandments. Concerning this Paul also says, 'Understand what I say; for the Lord will give you understanding in all things.' Consistent, then, is the request as to a creator, as it were: 'Care for your creation and perfect with understanding the rational creature; and what you have prepared for your own appropriation, appropriate this through your knowledge of what is willed.' Since from the beginning man needed a command, which established his mind as not needing many precepts, and indeed having strayed from that one, he needs more which fill a greater lack. 228 Ps 118,74-76 For without the training in many evils and the help of God that comes contrary to hope, it is not possible for a person to be firmly fixed in virtue. For the untested are easily shaken when a contest comes. Recognizing, then, in himself the confirmation from many hardships, he praises the confirming providence of God; then indeed he asks for rest from his toils, saying, 'Let your mercy come to comfort me, according to your word to your servant.' 229 Ps 118,83 Perhaps the righteous become more dead than alive from evils, so as to seem more like wineskins than humans, growing cold like encompassing frost, but choosing what is warm and practical, as he says elsewhere, 'They have set me in dark places, like the dead of old'; but even while being in such circumstances, he says, I did not depart from God-taught righteousness, just as Joseph guarded righteous self-control. 230 Ps 118,86.87 He calls the promises 'commandments.' Being confident, he says, in your promises and in their truth, I seek help from you, my God. 231 Ps 118,88 He asks not to be given over into the hands of those who plot against him to death, asking for life, not yet the eternal but the present one. He does not ask for this as an end, but as something that will be a joint cause of a good end, because having lived he says, 'I will keep the commandments of God,' through which it is also possible to obtain eternal life. 232 Ps 118,93 I will follow your laws, he says. For I will have life in them, just as you have also told me that 'The man who does them shall live by them.' The righteous one alone, therefore, is living, even if he seems to have died, but the unrighteous are dead, even if they appear to be alive. For the former have the substance of life in themselves, righteousness, but the latter, not having this, are like inanimate things moved not by themselves but from without, because their vital principle is from without, and they have no life in themselves. Therefore also the Lord, being himself true righteousness, both declares himself to be life, and says that those who do not partake of him have no life in themselves; and the death of the Savior is not only life but also life-giving for men, having become a release from death. 233 Ps 118,97 The unrighteous are both blind to the beauty of righteousness and do not see the majesty and comeliness of the words about it, but he who has chosen these and wished to belong to these, he alone is established in understanding, because wisdom reveals her own beauty only to her lovers, according to, 'Love her, and she will honor you; honor her, that she may embrace you.' 234 Ps 118,99.100 All good things in a person come through practice, whence also he was extended by the intensification of practice, so as through this to surpass the elder and the young, and the student his teachers. 235 Ps 118,107 Presenting himself as humble and obedient, he asks for salvation on this account from God who gives grace to the humble and has promised mercy to those who love him. 236 Ps 118,109.110 A greater proof of zeal is to not depart from the law even when going through dangers, and when in plots not to be dragged away from righteous things by anger and

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ἀναφέρεσθαι δεῖ τὰς νῦν λεγομένας πλάσεις, οἷον καὶ τὸ Πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίᾳ ἐπίσταμαί σε· καθὸ καὶ Ἰὼβ λέγει τὸ Πηλόν με ἔπλασας, τὴν ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ πηλοπλαστίαν δηλῶν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ. Αἴτησις δ' ἐπὶ τῆς ποιήσεως εὐχαριστία, μαλ' ἀκολούθως ἡ τῆς νοητικῆς δυνάμεως τῆς συνιέναι ποιούσης τὰς ἐντολάς. περὶ ταύτης καὶ ὁ Παῦλός φησι Νόει ἃ λέγω· δώσει γάρ σοι ὁ κύριος σύνεσιν ἐν πᾶσιν. ἀκόλουθον δὲ ὡς πρὸς δημιουργὸν τὸ αἴτημα οἱονεί· τοῦ σοῦ φρόντισον ποιήματος καὶ τελείωσον τῇ νοήσει τὸ ζῷον τὸ νοητικόν· καὶ ὃ πρὸς οἰκείωσιν τὴν σὴν παρεσκευάσας, τοῦτο διὰ τῆς σῆς γνώσεως τῶν βουλημάτων οἰκείωσαι. ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς προστάγματος ἄνθρωπος ἐδεήθη ὃ τῶν πολλῶν ἐπιταγμάτων αὐτῷ ἀνεπιδεῆ καθίσθη τὸν νοῦν, καὶ δὴ ἀποσφαλεὶς ἐκείνου πλειόνων δεῖται τῶν τὴν μείζονα πληρούντων ἔνδειαν. 228 Ps 118,74-76 Χωρὶς γὰρ τῆς ἐν πολλοῖς πονηροῖς γυμνασίας καὶ παρ' ἐλπίδα γινομένης θεοῦ βοηθείας οὐκ ἔστι βεβαίως ἄνθρωπον ἐν ἀρετῇ παγῆναι. εὐσάλευτοι γὰρ ἀγῶνος ἐπελθόντος οἱ ἀναγώνιστοι. τὴν οὖν ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν κακοπαθειῶν βεβαίωσιν ἐν αὐτῷ ἐπιγνούς, τὴν βεβαιωτικὴν θεοῦ πρόνοιαν ἀνυμνεῖ· εἶτα δὴ τὴν ἐκ τῶν πόνων ἀνάπαυσιν αἰτεῖ λέγων Γενηθήτω δὴ τὸ ἔλεός σου τοῦ παρακαλέσαι με κατὰ τὸ λόγιόν σου τῷ δούλῳ σου. 229 Ps 118,83 Ἴσως νεκροὶ μᾶλλον ἢ ζῶντες ὑπὸ τῶν κακώσεων γίνονται οἱ δίκαιοι ὡς ἀσκοῖς ἐοικέναι μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρώποις ἀποψυχόμενοι καθάπερ πάχνη περιπηγνυμένη, τὸ δὲ θερμὸν καὶ πρακτικὸν προαιρούμενοι, ὡς ἀλλαχοῦ λέγει Ἐκάθισάν με ἐν σκοτεινοῖς ὡσεὶ νεκροὺς αἰῶνος· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοσούτοις γινόμενος, φησί, τῆς θεοδιδάκτου δικαιοσύνης οὐκ ἀφιστάμην, ὥσπερ Ἰωσὴφ τὴν δικαίαν σωφροσύνην φυλάττων. 230 Ps 118,86.87 Ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐπαγγελίας καλεῖ. θαρρῶν, φησί, ταῖς σαῖς ἐπαγγελίαις καὶ τῇ τούτων ἀληθείᾳ ζητῶ τὴν παρὰ σοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ μου βοήθειαν. 231 Ps 118,88 Μὴ ἐκδοθῆναι ταῖς τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων χερσὶν εἰς θάνατον ἀξιοῖ, ζωὴν αἰτῶν οὔπω τὴν αἰωνίαν ἀλλὰ τὴν παροῦσαν. οὐχ ὡς τέλος ταύτην αἰτεῖ ἀλλ' ὡς ἀγαθοῦ τέλους συναίτιον ἐσομένην, ὅτι ζήσας φησὶ Φυλάξω τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ προστάγματα, δι' ὧν καὶ τὴν αἰώνιον ἔστι περιποιήσασθαι ζωήν. 232 Ps 118,93 Τοῖς σοῖς νόμοις ἕψομαι, φησίν. ἕξω γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς τὴν ζωήν, καθὰ δή μοι καὶ εἴρηκας ὅτι Ὁ ποιήσας αὐτὰ ἄνθρωπος ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς. ζῶν οὖν μόνος ὁ δίκαιος κἂν τεθνηκέναι δοκῇ, νεκροὶ δὲ οἱ ἄδικοι κἂν ζῆν φαίνωνται. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔχουσι τὴν τῆς ζωῆς σύστασιν ἐν αὐτοῖς τὴν δικαιοσύνην, οἱ δὲ ταύτην οὐκ ἔχοντες τοῖς οὐ παρ' ἑαυτῶν ἀλλ' ἔξωθεν κινουμένοις ἀψύχοις ἐοίκασιν, ὅτι δὴ τὸ ζωτικὸν αὐτῶν ἔξωθεν, καὶ οὐδὲ μίαν ζωὴν ἔχουσιν ἐν αὐτοῖς. διὸ καὶ ὁ κύριος αὐτὸς ὢν ἡ ὄντως δικαιοσύνη ἑαυτόν τε ἀποφαίνει τὴν ζωήν, καὶ τοὺς μὴ μετέχοντας αὐτοῦ ζωὴν οὐκ ἔχειν φησὶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς· καὶ ὅ γε θάνατος τοῦ σωτῆρος οὐ ζωὴ μόνον ἐστὶν ἀλλὰ καὶ ζωοποιὸς ἀνθρώπων ἐπιλύσει θανάτου γενόμενος. 233 Ps 118,97 Οἱ μὲν ἄδικοι καὶ τυφλώττουσι πρὸς τὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης κάλλος καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτῆς λόγων τὸ σεμνὸν καὶ εὐπρεπὲς οὐ καθορῶσιν, ὁ δὲ τούτους ἑλόμενος καὶ τούτων εἶναι βουληθείς, οὗτος καὶ μόνος ἐν συνέσει καθίσταται, ὅτι καὶ μόνοις τοῖς ἐρασταῖς ἑαυτῆς ἡ σοφία τὸ ἴδιον κάλλος ἀποκαλύπτει κατὰ τὸ Ἐράσθητι αὐτῆς, καὶ τιμήσει σε· τίμησον αὐτήν, ἵνα σε περιλάβῃ. 234 Ps 118,99.100 Πάντα διὰ μελέτης ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ καλὰ, ὅθεν καὶ τῇ τῆς μελέτης ἐπιτάσει συνεπεκτείνετο, ὡς διὰ ταύτης ὑπερβαίνειν τὸν πρεσβύτερον καὶ τὸν νέον καὶ τὸν μαθητὴν τοὺς διδασκάλους. 235 Ps 118,107 Ταπεινὸν καὶ ὑπήκοον ἑαυτὸν παριστὰς τὴν ἐπὶ τούτῳ σωτηρίαν αἰτεῖ παρὰ θεοῦ τοῦ ταπεινοῖς διδόντος χάριν καὶ τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτὸν ἐπαγγειλαμένου τὸν ἔλεον. 236 Ps 118,109.110 Μείζων τῆς προθυμίας ἀπόδειξις τὸ καὶ διὰ κινδύνων ἰόντα μὴ ἀφίστασθαι τοῦ νόμου καὶ ἐν ἐπιβουλαῖς ὄντα μὴ ἀφέλκεσθαι τῶν δικαίων ὀργῇ καὶ

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