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is both natural and necessary, which accomplishes the object of its effort through a sequence. Just as, then, in the case of stone-carvers, the goal of their work is to make the stone resemble something that exists, but the work does not begin immediately from the end, but 5.116 art imposes a certain necessary order on the effort, without which the thing striven for would not come to be. For it is necessary first to break off the stone from its native rock. Then to cut away the useless projections that stick out, hindering the imitation of the intended subject, and so through the workmanship to hollow out those parts of the stone. When these have been removed, the form of the creature, about which the artisan is busy, begins to be seen in what is left; and after this, to scrape around and smooth the roughness of the stone with certain finer and smoother tools, and then to impose the likeness of the archetypal form on what has been left behind, and after this to polish and make the surface of the stone smoother, by the means which art knows for applying such adornment to the work; in the same way, since our whole nature has been, as it were, turned to stone through material passion, the Word that quarries us for the divine likeness proceeds by a certain path and sequence toward the completion of its goal, first separating us as from a certain native rock, from vice, I mean, to which we were attached by some relation; then he cuts away the superfluous parts of the material; after this, by removing the things that hinder the imitation, he begins to form what lies within toward the likeness of the goal; and so, through the finer teaching of the thoughts, by both scraping and smoothing our mind, then through the patterns of virtue he forms Christ in us; in whose image we both were from the beginning and are again becoming. What then is the order of the carving of our souls? In the first section of the psalmody we were split off from the life in vice; but in what follows, through the 5.117 subsequent sequence, the imitation was advanced toward perfection. Therefore, the order of the psalms is composed, since the Spirit's object, as has been said, is not to teach us bare history, but to form our souls through virtue according to God. As it seeks the conceptual sequence of what is written in the psalms, not as the historical sequence intends. For just as in the example of carving set forth for us, art has need of many tools for the completion of the statue (but these tools are not similar to one another in the type of their shape, but one is shaped like a spiral at the tip, others have a saw-like edge; others are made like a chisel, for others the form is rounded into a semicircle. And all these and suchlike things serve the artisan, each at its own proper time); so also the psalmodies have been prepared as certain stone-carving tools for the true master who artfully carves our souls for the divine likeness, and the need of the work brings the use of these tools into order. And the artisan does not care to be overly concerned about which of the tools was forged before another, so that what was first in its making might also be first in the cooperative work of carving. For he who pays attention to the need makes that tool first, and second, and last, which the need advises. Whether, therefore, the matters concerning Goliath and Saul are among the first things, or the matters concerning Absalom and Uriah and the words of Hushai and the encounter with Bathsheba are among the last, none of these things is a concern to the one forming our hearts through them, but how through each of these some cooperation might come to be for us toward the 5.118 good. And the sequence for salvation looks to this, and the best order becomes that of the things cooperating with us for this very purpose. For example, the first psalm separated man from his congenital attachment to evil; the second showed to whom we should cling, by foretelling the appearance of the Lord in the flesh, and by showing that this is blessed: to trust in him; the third foretells the temptation rising up against you from the enemy, as you have already been anointed for a kingdom

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φυσική τε καὶ ἀναγκαία ἡ δι' ἀκολούθου κατορθοῦσα τὸ σπουδαζό μενον. ὥσπερ τοίνυν ἐπὶ τῶν λιθογλύφων, σκοπὸς μὲν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἐργασίας ἐστὶ τὸ πρός τι τῶν ὄντων ὁμοιῶσαι τὸν λίθον, οὐκ εὐθὺς δὲ τὸ ἔργον ἀπὸ τοῦ πέρατος ἄρχεται, ἀλλ' 5.116 ἐπιτίθησιν ἀναγκαίαν τινὰ τῇ σπουδῇ τάξιν ἡ τέχνη, ἧς ἄνευ οὐκ ἂν τὸ σπουδαζόμενον γένοιτο. χρὴ γὰρ πρῶτον μὲν ἀπορρῆξαι τῆς συμφυοῦς πέτρας τὸν λίθον. εἶτα περι κόψαι τὰς προβολὰς τῶν ἀχρήστων πρὸς τὴν τοῦ προ κειμένου μίμησιν ἐξεχόντων καὶ οὕτως κοιλᾶναι διὰ τῆς ἐργασίας ἐκεῖνα τοῦ λίθου τὰ μέρη. ὧν ἐξαιρεθέντων, ἄρχεται περὶ τὸ λειπόμενον ἐνορᾶσθαι τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ ζῴου, περὶ ὃ τὴν σπουδὴν ὁ τεχνίτης ἔχει· καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο λεπτοτέ ροις τισὶ καὶ ὁμαλωτέροις ὀργάνοις περιξέειν τε καὶ ἀπο λεαίνειν τὴν τοῦ λίθου τραχύτητα, καὶ τότε τῆς ἀρχετύπου μορφῆς ἐπιβάλλειν τῷ ὑπολελειμμένῳ τὴν ὁμοιότητα, λαμπρύ νειν τε μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ λειοτέραν ποιεῖν τοῦ λίθου τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, δι' ὧν οἶδεν ἡ τέχνη τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐπιβάλλειν κόσμον τῷ ἔργῳ· κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον πάσης ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς ὑλικῆς προσπαθείας ὥσπερ ἀπολιθωθείσης τῆς φύσεως, ὁ πρὸς τὴν θείαν ὁμοίωσιν λατομῶν ἡμᾶς λόγος ὁδῷ τινι καὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ πρὸς τὸ τοῦ σκοποῦ πέρας προέρχεται, πρῶτον χωρίζων ἡμᾶς οἶόν τινος συμφυοῦς πέτρας, τῆς κακίας λέγω, ᾗ διά τινος σχέσεως ἦμεν προσπεφυκότες· εἶτα περικόπτει τῆς ὕλης τὰ περιττά· μετὰ τοῦτο τυποῦν ἄρχεται πρὸς τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ σκοποῦ τὸ ἐγκείμενον τῇ περιαιρέσει τῶν κωλυόντων τὴν μίμησιν· καὶ οὕτως διὰ τῆς λεπτοτέρας τῶν νοημάτων διδασκαλίας ἐπιξύων τε καὶ κατα λεαίνων ἡμῶν τὴν διάνοιαν, τότε διὰ τῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς τύπων ἐμμορφοῖ ἡμῖν τὸν Χριστόν· οὗ κατ' εἰκόνα ἐξ ἀρχῆς τε ἦμεν καὶ πάλιν γινόμεθα. τίς οὖν ἐστιν ἡ τῆς γλυφῆς τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν τάξις; ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τμήματι τῆς ψαλμῳδίας τῆς ἐν κακίᾳ ζωῆς ἀπεσχίσθημεν· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐφεξῆς διὰ τῆς 5.117 προσεχοῦς ἀκολουθίας ἐπὶ τὸ τέλειον προήχθη ἡ μίμησις. σύγ κειται τοίνυν τῶν ψαλμῶν ἡ τάξις, ἐπειδὴ τὸ σπουδαζόμενόν ἐστι τῷ πνεύματι, καθὼς εἴρηται, οὐχ ἱστορίαν ἡμᾶς διδάξαι ψιλήν, ἀλλὰ τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν δι' ἀρετῆς κατὰ θεὸν μορφῶσαι. ὡς ἐπιζητεῖ τὸ τῆς διανοίας τῶν ἐν τοῖς ψαλμοῖς γεγραμμένων ἀκόλουθον, οὐχ ὡς ἡ ἱστορικὴ βούλεται ἀκολουθία. καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐκτεθέντος ἡμῖν τοῦ κατὰ τὴν γλυφὴν ὑποδείγ ματος πολλῶν ἐστιν ὀργάνων πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἀγάλματος ἀπεργασίαν χρεία τῇ τέχνῃ (τὰ δὲ ὄργανα ταῦτα οὐχ ὁμοίως ἔχει πρὸς ἄλληλα κατὰ τὸν τύπον τοῦ σχήματος, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἑλικοειδῶς κατὰ τὸ ἄκρον τετύπωται, τὰ δὲ πριονώδη τὴν ἀκμὴν ἔχει· ἄλλα σμιλοειδῶς κατεσκεύασται ἑτέροις περιῆκται τὸ εἶδος εἰς ἡμικύκλιον. πάντα δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον ἕκαστον καιρὸν ὑπουργεῖ τῷ τεχνίτῃ)· οὕτως τῷ ἀληθινῷ ἐπιστάτῃ τῷ τεχνικῶς διαγλύφοντι ἡμῶν τὰς ψυχὰς πρὸς τὴν τοῦ θείου ὁμοίωσιν οἷον ὄργανά τινα λιθογλυφικὰ αἱ ψαλμῳδίαι παρεσκευάσθησαν, τὴν δὲ τῶν ὀργάνων τούτων χρῆσιν ἡ χρεία τῆς ἐργασίας εἰς τάξιν ἄγει. καὶ οὐ μέλει τῷ τεχνίτῃ πολυπραγμονεῖν, ποῖον ἐν τοῖς ὀργάνοις πρὸ τοῦ ἑτέρου κεχάλκευται, ἵνα τὸ ἐν τῇ κατασκευῇ πρῶτον καὶ ἐν τῇ συνεργίᾳ τῆς γλυφῆς γένηται πρῶτον. ὁ γὰρ τῇ χρείᾳ προσέχων πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον καὶ πολλοστὸν ἐκεῖνο ποιεῖ, ὃ συμβουλεύει ἡ χρεία. εἴτε οὖν ἐν πρώτοις τὰ κατὰ τὸν Γολιὰθ καὶ τὸν Σαούλ ἐστι πράγματα, εἴτε ἐν ἐσχάτοις τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ καὶ τὸν Οὐρίαν καὶ οἱ τοῦ Χουσὶ λόγοι καὶ ἡ κατὰ τὴν Βηρσαβεὲ συντυχία, μέλει τούτων οὐδὲν τῷ μορφοῦντι διὰ τούτων τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν, ἀλλ' ὅπως ἂν δι' ἑκάστου τούτων γένοιτό τις πρὸς τὸ 5.118 ἀγαθὸν ἡμῖν συνεργία. πρὸς τοῦτο βλέπει καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὴν σωτηρίαν ἀκολουθία, καὶ τάξις ἀρίστη γίνεται τῶν εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο συνεργούντων ἡμῖν. οἷον ὁ πρῶτος ἀπέστησεν τῆς πρὸς τὸ κακὸν συμφυΐας τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ὁ δεύτερος τίνι προσκολληθῶμεν ὑπέδειξεν τὴν διὰ σαρκὸς τοῦ κυρίου προμηνύσας ἐμφάνειαν, καὶ δείξας ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστι μακάριον τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῷ πεποιθέναι· ὁ τρίτος τὸν παρὰ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ σοι ἐπανιστάμενον πειρασμὸν προμηνύει, ὡς ἤδη σε χρισθέντα εἰς βασιλείαν