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These are accurate reproofs, and the punishments brought upon me, from prejudice, show me to be defiled and unclean; so that he who touches my garments seems to be polluted, because everyone supposes that I suffer these things on account of a multitude of sins. But he says these things because his friends adduce the things that happened to him as proof that he is a sinner. What he says is this: I am set forth as an example of impiety to all, Why then did I not die? For the wicked man should have been taken from the midst, so as not to be a teacher to others. But if I become purer than the sun, I have a stain, and not an ordinary one. But also those so very close, as a garment to the body, even they have hated me, not because of the punishment, but as one accursed and defiled, as unclean, thus they have turned away from me. 64.605 And my body has also become loathsome to me, for this is the garment. And it can also be understood this way: My garment has abhorred me, because even my clothing flees me, as if hating me, instead of, I am not even able to dress myself, on account of being so covered with sores.

CHAP. X

«That you reject the works of your hands, and you have attended to the counsel of the ungodly.» Do you see that he does not want to be judged for this reason, as one who is doing well, but because, he says, this affliction benefits me? for I fear lest it may also harm me; for it is likely for some to reason, either that you do not provide for the men whom you have formed, or that the wicked especially find favor with you, and that their counsels are especially pleasing to you. «For you know that I have not acted impiously, but who is he that can deliver out of your hands?» Of Chrysostom and Olympiodorus. And I know that I have not acted impiously, but it happens that I have acted impiously, and am ignorant of it; when you therefore punish, no one can be justified; but even if I have not acted impiously, at least in my own opinion, I know that it is not possible to escape your counsel, instead of, Even if I am not conscious of any wrong, yet let your counsel prevail, which knows our affairs better than we do. «Your hands have formed me, and made me.» Chrysost. and Olymp. I am the work, he says, of your hands, even if a sinner. Do you see how he both knows God as maker, and entreats him to spare his own creation. «After these things, changing, you have struck me. [But Aquila and Theodotion, Together round about you have overwhelmed me.]» And accordingly, knowing him to be the author and lord both of creation and of providence, he turns his discourse to prayer, beseeching him to remember the lowly and short-lived nature of man, and that from the beginning he made him in goodness, and being angered, punished him with death, and he says. «Have you not poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese? And you have clothed me with skin and flesh, and have fenced me with bones and sinews; and you have granted me life and mercy, and your visitation has preserved my spirit.» The seed from which the living being is formed, he calls poured-out milk; and just as poured-out milk becomes cheese, so also the seed, having been emitted and having coagulated, becomes a being; and this is the first state of the embryo. For the seed cast into the furrows of the womb, when it coagulates like 64.608 cheese, and solidifies, becomes a being, which is then formed, or, as Scripture says, Is shaped, and receives as it were a character; and the moist substance is compacted, and what was cast in is divided into skin, and flesh, and bones and sinews; these things are such in themselves, but when the soul is present, it has vital movement, but when it has departed, they are left inactive. Not only, he says, did you grant life to me, which signifies what is proper to creation, but you also showed mercy to me, through which providential grace is declared, and throughout my whole life I have enjoyed your providence; for this is the meaning of, Your visitation has preserved my spirit, that is, And after I came into being, by your providence the

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ἀκριβεῖς οὗτοι ἐλεγμοὶ, καὶ αἱ ἐπαχθεῖσαι τιμωρίαι, ἐκ τῆς προλήψεως, ἐῤῥυπωμένον με καὶ ἀκάθαρτον ἀποδεικνῦσιν· ὡς καὶ τὸν ἁπτόμενον τῶν ἱματίων μου, δοκεῖν μολυνέσθαι, διὰ πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν ἑκάστου ταῦτά με πάσχειν ὑπολαμβάνοντος. Ταῦτα δέ φησι διὰ τὸ τοὺς αὐτοῦ φίλους, εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν, τὰ συμβάντα αὐτῷ, προσφέρειν. Ὃ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ὑπόδειγμα κεῖμαι πᾶσιν ἀσεβείας, ∆ιατί οὖν οὐκ ἀπέθανον; τὸν γὰρ πονηρὸν ἐκ τοῦ μέσου ληφθῆναι ἐχρῆν, ὥστε μὴ εἶναι τοῖς ἄλλοις διδάσκαλον. Ἂν τοῦ ἡλίου δὲ καθαρώτερος γένωμαι, ἔχω κηλίδα, οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ οὕτως ἐγγύτατοι, ὡς ἡ στολὴ τῷ σώματι, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐμίσησάν με, οὐ διὰ τὴν τιμωρίαν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐναγῆ καὶ μιαρὸν, ὡς ἀκάθαρτον, οὕτως ἀπεστράφησάν με. 64.605 Βδελυκτὸν δέ μοι γέγονε καὶ τὸ σῶμα, τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ στολή. ∆ύναται δὲ καὶ οὕτω νοεῖσθαι τὸ Ἐβδελύξατό με ἡ στολή μου, ὅτι φεύγει με καὶ ἡ ἐσθὴς, οἱονεὶ μισήσασά με, ἀντὶ τοῦ, Οὐδὲ ἐνδύσασθαι δύναμαι, διὰ τὸ ἄγαν ἡλκῶσθαι.

ΚΕΦ. Ιʹ

«Ὅτι ἀπείπω ἔργα χειρῶν σου, βουλῇ δὲ ἀσεβῶν προσέσχες.» Ὁρᾷς, ὅτι οὐ διὰ τοῦτο βούλεται δικάσασθαι, ὡς καλῶς πράττων, ἀλλ' ὅτι ὠφελεῖ με, φησὶν, αὕτη ἡ θλίψις; δέδοικα γὰρ μὴ καὶ βλάψῃ· εἰκὸς γάρ τινας λογίσασθαι, ἢ ὅτι οὐ προνοεῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὓς ἔπλασας, ἢ ὅτι οἱ φαῦλοι μάλιστα παρὰ σοὶ εὐδοκιμοῦσι, καὶ ἀρέσκουσί σοι μάλιστα τὰ τούτων βουλεύματα. «Οἶδας γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ ἠσέβησα, ἀλλὰ τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν σου ἐξαιρούμενος.» Χρυσοστόμου καὶ Ὀλυμπιοδώρου. Καὶ ἐγὼ οἶδα, ὅτι οὐκ ἠσέβησα, ἀλλὰ συμβαίνει ἠσεβηκέναι με, καὶ ἀγνοεῖν· ὅταν οὖν σὺ κολάσῃς, οὐδεὶς δικαιωθῆναι δύναται· ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ μὴ ἠσέβησα τόγε εἰς ἐμὴν γνώμην, οἶδα ὅτι τὴν σὴν βουλὴν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀποφυγεῖν, ἀντὶ τοῦ, Κἂν μὴ ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα, ἀλλὰ ἡ σὴ κρατείτω βουλὴ, ἡ κρεῖττον ἡμῶν τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐπισταμένη. «Αἱ χεῖρές σου ἔπλασάν με, καὶ ἐποίησάν με.» Χρυσοστ. καὶ Ὀλυμπ. Ἔργον εἰμὶ, φησὶ, τῶν χειρῶν σου, κἂν ἁμαρτωλός. Ὁρᾷς ὡς καὶ ποιητὴν γινώσκει τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ παρακαλεῖ φειδὼ ποιήσασθαι τοῦ ἰδίου δημιουργήματος. «Μετὰ ταῦτα μεταβαλὼν, μὲ ἔπαισας. [Ἀκύλας δὲ καὶ Θεοδοτίων, Ἅμα κύκλῳ κατεπόντισας με.]» Ἀκολούθως δὲ, καὶ τῆς δημιουργίας, καὶ τῆς προνοίας αὐτὸν ἐπιστάμενος ἀρχηγὸν καὶ κύριον, εἰς εὐχὴν τρέπει τὸν λόγον, ἱκετεύων μνησθῆναι τοῦ τῆς φύσεως εὐτελοῦς καὶ ὀλιγοχρονίου, καὶ ὅτι ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῇ ἀγαθότητι πεποίηκε, καὶ ὀργισθεὶς θανάτῳ ἐζημίωσε, καί φησι. «Ἢ οὐχ ὥσπερ γάλα με ἤμελξας, ἐτύρωσας δέ με ἶσα τυρῷ; ∆έρμα δὲ καὶ κρέας με ἐνέδυσας, ὀστέοις δὲ καὶ νεύροις με ἔνειρας· ζωὴν δὲ καὶ ἔλεος ἔθου παρ' ἐμοὶ, ἡ δὲ ἐπισκοπή σου ἐφύλαξέ μου τὸ πνεῦμα.» Τὸ σπέρμα ἐξ οὗ συνίσταται τὸ ζῶον, γάλα ἀμελχθὲν λέγει· καὶ ὥσπερ τὸ γάλα ἀμελχθὲν τυρὸς γίνεται, οὕτω καὶ τὸ σπέρμα ἀποστάξαν, καὶ συστραφὲν, φύσις γίνεται· κατάστασις δὲ αὕτη ἐστὶ πρώτη τοῦ ἐμβρύου. Τὸ γὰρ καταβληθὲν εἰς τὰς αὔλακας τῆς ὑστέρας σπέρμα, ὅταν συστραφῇ οἷα 64.608 τυρὸς, καὶ παγῇ, γίνεται φύσις, ὅπερ λοιπὸν διαπλάττεται, ἢ, ὡς ἡ Γραφή φησιν, Ἐξεικονίζεται, καὶ δέχεται ὥσπερ χαρακτῆρα· καὶ συμπήγνυται μὲν ἡ ὑγρὰ φύσις, εἰς δὲ δέρμα, καὶ κρέας, ὀστέα τε καὶ νεῦρα μερίζεται τὸ καταβληθέν· ταῦτα μὲν τοιαῦτα καθ' ἑαυτὰ, παρούσης μὲν ψυχῆς, ζωτικὸν ἔχει κίνημα, ἀναχωρησάσης δὲ, ἀργὰ καταλείπεται. Οὐ μόνον δὲ, φησὶ, ζωὴν ἔθου παρ' ἐμοὶ, ὅπερ τὸ τῆς δημιουργίας οἰκεῖον σημαίνει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔλεον ἐποίησας μετ' ἐμοῦ, δι' οὗ ἡ προνοητικὴ χάρις δηλοῦται, καὶ παρὰ πάντα τὸν βίον προνοίας ἀπήλαυσα τῆς σῆς· τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ, Ἡ ἐπισκοπή σου ἐφύλαξέ μου τὸ πνεῦμα, τουτέστι, Καὶ μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι, τῇ σῇ προνοίᾳ τὸ