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bellies. For when a woman forces her husband to spend all his substance, or even the greater part of his possessions, on the insolence of the body (for the gold that is worn is the insolence of the body), it is necessary for his hand to be restrained from generosity in almsgiving. And it is possible to see many other kinds of sins born from this. But leaving these things to be known clearly by the experience of those who suffer them, let us take up the next things. For after presenting the image of captivity and saying that he brings this in place of adornment, he intensifies the disaster, saying: And your most handsome son, whom you love, will fall by the sword, and your strong men will fall by the sword. For this is worse than captivity. For there is a life more bitter than death. For when, along with slavery, they are forced to mourn untimely <the> griefs, consider how great the magnitude of the disaster is, with things that are bitter in themselves being joined to one another. For if it were only captivity, the terror would be unbearable; and if such griefs happened to them while living in freedom, life would be more bitter than death. But now both, he says, will be joined to one another. Or rather, one must call this disaster double and triple and quadruple, when he is a son, and most handsome, and longed for, and by barbarians, but does not end his life by the common law of nature; and with him, all those in their prime, so that there is no good hope for them, as far as human help and alliance is concerned. And the cases of your adornment shall be humbled and shall mourn, and you shall be left alone and shall be leveled to the ground. Through all things he increases the lamentation, intensifies the fear, makes the anguish acute, brings the terrors before their eyes, broadens the narrative of the disaster, running everywhere, gathering painful things from all sides because of the insensibility of the hearers. For it was desirable for them, being shaken by so many threats, to recover and to gain a sense of the painful things that were about to happen. For this reason, he also added this, which seems to be very pitiful, to see a gold case emptied, a reminder of former prosperity, preserving the pain in its acuteness through the sight of it. For disasters are accustomed to bite us most of all then, when we compare them with our former good fortunes; and the comparison makes the wound more grievous. This, at any rate, Job once said while lamenting: Who will set me month after month in the days that were before? and he recounts all his wealth and the good things flowing as if from springs, the honors, the revenues, all his prominence, so that by comparison with these things he might show the present and overtaking terrors to be much more grievous. This indeed the prophet has now done, by reminding them of the cases, and not being content with these things, but also introducing them as mourning. For this form of speech is more vivid, when it makes such personifications. Indeed, he even introduces vines as lamenting, and wine, so as to reach the hearers more and to touch upon their dullness. What does it mean, You will be left alone? Deprived of allies, he says, and of the providence of God, and stripped of all other prominence, and surrounded on all sides by enemies and captured in the midst of barbarians. Then, wishing to present the excess of the humiliation, he says: And you will be leveled to the ground. He did not say, you will fall, nor, you will be brought down, but he used another word that more clearly indicates her complete worthlessness.

4.th CHAP. IV

4.1 And seven women will take hold of one man in that day

saying: We will eat our own bread, and we will wear our own garments; only let your name be called upon us, take away our reproach. He wishes to show the depopulation that occurred from the war, and how the people were reduced to a very small number

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γαστέρας. Ὅταν γὰρ ἅπασαν τὴν οὐσίαν γυνὴ ἢ καὶ τὸ πλέον τῶν ὄντων εἰς τὴν τοῦ σώματος ὕβριν ἀναγκάζῃ τὸν ἄνδρα δαπανᾷν (ὕβρις γὰρ σώματος, τὸ περικείμενον χρυσίον), ἀνάγκη τὴν χεῖρα συστέλλεσθαι πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης φιλοτιμίαν. Καὶ πολλὰ δὲ ἕτερα ἐκ τούτου τικτόμενα ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἁμαρτημάτων εἴδη. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα ἀφέντες τῇ πείρᾳ τῶν πασχόντων εἰδέναι σαφῶς, τῶν ἐχομένων ἁπτώμεθα. Μετὰ γὰρ τὸ παραστῆσαι τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τὸ σχῆμα καὶ εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἀντὶ τοῦ καλλωπισμοῦ ταύτην ἐπάγω, ἐπιτείνει τὴν συμφοράν, λέγων· Καὶ ὁ υἱός σου ὁ κάλλιστος, ὃν ἀγαπᾷς, μαχαίρᾳ πεσεῖται καὶ οἱ ἰσχύοντες ὑμῶν μαχαίρᾳ πεσοῦνται. Τοῦτο γὰρ αἰχμαλωσίας χαλεπώτερον. Καὶ γάρ ἐστι ζωὴ θανάτου πικροτέρα. Ὅταν γὰρ μετὰ τῆς δουλείας καὶ ἄωρα <τὰ> πένθη θρηνεῖν ἀναγκάζωνται, ἐννόησον ὅσον τῆς συμφορᾶς τὸ μέγεθος, τῶν καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὰ πικρῶν ὄντων συναπτομένων ἀλλήλοις. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ αἰχμαλωσία μόνη ἦν, ἀφόρητον ἦν τὸ δεινόν· καὶ εἰ ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ ζώντων τοιαῦτα συνέβαινε πένθη, θανάτου πικροτέρα ἦν ἡ ζωή. Ἀλλὰ νῦν ἀμφότερα ἔσται, φησί, συνημμένα ἀλλήλοις. Μᾶλλον δὲ διπλῆν δεῖ ταύτην καλεῖν συμφορὰν καὶ τριπλῆν καὶ τετραπλῆν, ὅταν καὶ υἱὸς καὶ κάλλιστος καὶ ποθούμενος καὶ ὑπὸ βαρβάρων, ἀλλὰ μὴ τῷ κοινῷ τῆς φύσεως καταλύῃ νόμῳ τὸν βίον· καὶ μετὰ τούτου καὶ οἱ ἐν ἡλικίᾳ πάντες, ὥστε μηδὲ ἐλπίδα αὐτοῖς εἶναι χρηστήν, ὅσον εἰς ἀνθρωπίνην ἧκε βοήθειαν καὶ συμμαχίαν. Καὶ ταπεινωθήσονται καὶ πενθήσουσιν αἱ θῆκαι τοῦ κόσμου ὑμῶν καὶ καταλειφθήσῃ μόνη καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐδαφισθήσῃ. ∆ιὰ πάντων αὔξει τὸν θρῆνον, ἐπιτείνει τὸν φόβον, ἀκμάζουσαν τὴν ἀγωνίαν ἐργάζεται, ὑπ' ὄψιν ἄγει τὰ δεινά, εὐρύνει τῆς συμφορᾶς τὴν διήγησιν, πανταχοῦ περιτρέχων, πάντοθεν συνάγων τὰ λυπηρὰ διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀκουόντων ἀναισθησίαν. Ἀγαπητὸν γὰρ ἦν τοσαύταις κατασειομένας αὐτὰς ἀπειλαῖς ἀνενεγκεῖν καὶ λαβεῖν αἴσθησιν τῶν μελλόντων συμβήσεσθαι λυπηρῶν. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ τοῦτο ἐπήγαγεν, ὃ σφόδρα ἐλεεινὸν εἶναι δοκεῖ, τὸ χρυσίου θήκην ὁρᾶν κεκενωμένην, ὑπόμνημα τῆς παλαιᾶς εὐπραγίας, διὰ τῆς ὄψεως ἀκμάζουσαν διατηροῦν τὴν ἀλγηδόνα. Καὶ γὰρ τότε μάλιστα δάκνειν ἡμᾶς εἰώθασιν αἱ συμφοραί, ὅταν αὐτὰς ταῖς προτέραις παραβάλλωμεν εὐημερίαις· καὶ ἡ σύγκρισις χαλεπώτερον τὸ ἕλκος ἐργάζεται. Τοῦτο γοῦν ποτε καὶ ὁ Ἰὼβ θρηνῶν ἔλεγε· Τίς ἄν με θείη μῆνας μετὰ μῆνας ἡμερῶν τῶν ἔμπροσθεν; καὶ διηγεῖται τὸν πλοῦτον ἅπαντα καὶ τὰ ὥσπερ ἐκ πηγῶν ἐπιρρέοντα ἀγαθά, τὰς τιμάς, τὰς προσόδους, τὴν περιφάνειαν ἅπασαν, ὥστε τῇ συγκρίσει τούτων πολλῷ χαλεπώτερα δεῖξαι τὰ παρόντα καὶ κατειληφότα αὐτὸν δεινά. Ὃ δὴ καὶ ὁ προφήτης νῦν ἐποίησε, τῶν θηκῶν ἀναμνήσας, καὶ οὐδὲ τούτοις ἀρκεσθείς, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰσαγαγὼν αὐτὰς πενθούσας. Ἐμφαντικώτερον γὰρ τοῦτο τοῦ λόγου τὸ εἶδος, ὅταν τοιαύτας ἐργάζηται προσωποποιίας. Ἤδη γοῦν καὶ ἀμπέλους εἰσάγει θρηνούσας, καὶ οἶνον, ὥστε μᾶλλον καθικέσθαι τῶν ἀκροωμένων καὶ τῆς παχύτητος αὐτῶν καθάψασθαι. Τί δέ ἐστι, Καταλειφθήσῃ μόνη; Καὶ συμμάχων, φησί, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας ἐρημωθεῖσα καὶ τῆς ἄλλης περιφανείας γυμνωθεῖσα πάσης καὶ πανταχόθεν ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων κυκλουμένη καὶ ἐν μέσοις ἀπειλημμένη βαρβάροις. Εἶτα τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ταπεινώσεως παραστῆσαι θέλων, φησί· Καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐδαφισθήσῃ. Οὐδὲ πέσῃ εἶπεν, οὐδέ· Κατενεχθήσῃ, ἀλλ' ἑτέρᾳ λέξει σαφέστερον ἐνδεικνυμένῃ τὴν εὐτέλειαν αὐτῆς ἅπασαν ἀπεχρήσατο.

4.τ ΚΕΦΑΛ. ∆ʹ

4.1 Καὶ ἐπιλήψονται ἑπτὰ γυναῖκες ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἀνθρώπου ἑνὸς

λέγουσαι· τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν φαγόμεθα καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια ἡμῶν περιβαλούμεθα· πλὴν τὸ ὄνομά σου κεκλήσθω ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, ἄφελε τὸν ὀνειδισμὸν ἡμῶν. Τὴν ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου συμβᾶσαν ὀλιγανθρωπίαν ἐμφῆναι βούλεται καὶ πῶς εἰς ἐλάχιστον περιέστη ὁ δῆμος