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being accomplished through the things previously completed. For the one who made known the inheritance also remembers the Eighth; which is the end of the present time and the beginning of the future age. It is characteristic of the Eighth no longer to give time for the preparation of good or evil things to those who are in it, but for whatever seeds one has sown for oneself through one's works, to offer the sheaves in return. For this reason he legislates that repentance be active here (since such zeal is ineffective in Hades), having been trained in the same victories. Again the word releases to other contests; again it anoints with the assault of temptations. For that same enemy Absalom, as if reborn from us ourselves, prepares the war against us, which our good counsel concerning the matter turns away from killing us, or rather the alliance from God. For attributing to God the cause of the good things accomplished for him through the words of Hushai, he has offered this thanksgiving. But it would be superfluous to set out for you the details of the story; how this Hushai, being a faithful shield-bearer of David, mixes among the friends of Absalom and becomes more persuasive to the tyrant than the counsel of Ahithophel. Whence it happened, when his proposed opinion prevailed, that the one who counseled Absalom against David was strangled by his own hand. But it would be worthwhile 5.122 to bring to the life of virtue also the riddles of the story. How the opinion that saves us becomes a noose for the adversary; and this saving opinion is inscribed partly in the history, and partly in the psalmody. But our purpose is to understand the sequence in the order of the psalms, through which we are brought to the good. Therefore let us understand the opinion here which destroys the one who plots against us. What then is it? To consider it equally wicked both to initiate an injustice and to take revenge on the one who began it. For he is assessed for himself the ultimate penalties and becomes the arbiter of his own punishment, if he should be found to have exchanged evil for evil as in a transaction, and to have given back to those who provided it first what he received; and thus after these contests he is again shown to be a victor. For an inscription "For the winepresses" follows, indicating an end. The end of the contests is victory. But it would be superfluous for the discourse to unfold again the meaning of "For the winepresses," which was sufficiently made clear in the things examined in their proper place. And just as after the first flight from Absalom he is deemed worthy of victory for distinguishing vain zeal from true deeds, so also now after similar contests, using the word "For the winepresses" as an ally against the adversary, he becomes a victor by destroying the enemy and avenger. Who for this reason is called both enemy and avenger, because his very enticements to sin are the bitterest punishment for those who perceive them; and the means by which he deceitfully draws man to communion with evil, that very thing is the most grievous form of punishment. Thus the divine apostle interprets this thought, saying 5.123 that "Receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error." For what other device for punishment could be more grievous than the impurity in indecency, which the workers of indecency work in themselves? He therefore who has destroyed in his own life the power of such a one, who punishes him who is in wickedness through his very participation in wickedness, sees the heavens and the magnificence enthroned above the heavens and the dignity of our nature, both what it rules and with what it is ordered. For by the same it both rules over the irrational beings and, being compared with the angels, is made a little lower. It is reason, therefore, through which comes both the rule over these and the kinship with the angels. Again another manner of victory awaits, when, having transcended phenomena, you enter into the unutterable things by the word (and the word is son) and have now become capable by the previous ones

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διὰ τῶν προδιηνυσμένων κατορθουμένη. ὁ γὰρ τὴν κλη ρονομίαν γνωρίσας αὐτὸς καὶ τῆς Ὀγδόης μέμνηται· ἥτις πέρας τε τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος χρόνου γίνεται καὶ ἀρχὴ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος. ἴδιον δὲ τῆς Ὀγδόης τὸ μηκέτι καιρὸν εἰς παρασκευὴν ἀγαθῶν ἢ κακῶν ἐνδιδόναι τοῖς ἐν αὐτῇ γινομένοις, ἀλλ' ὧν ἄν τις ἑαυτῷ καταβάληται διὰ τῶν ἔργων τὰ σπέρματα, τούτων ἀντιπαρέχειν τὰ δράγματα. οὗ χάριν ἐνταῦθα ἐνεργεῖν νομοθετεῖ τὴν μετάνοιαν (ὡς ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ τῆς τοιαύτης σπουδῆς ἀπρακτούσης) ταῖς αὐταῖς νίκαις ἐγγυμνασθέντα. πάλιν ἀπολύει πρὸς ἑτέρους ἀγῶνας ὁ λόγος· πάλιν ἀλείφει τῇ τῶν πειρασμῶν προσβολῇ. ὁ αὐτὸς γὰρ πολέμιος ὁ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ἐκεῖνος ὥσπερ ἀναγεννηθεὶς ἐξ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν τὸν πόλεμον τὸν καθ' ἡμῶν ἐξαρτύεται, ὃν ἀποτρέπει φονῶντα καθ' ἡμῶν ἡ ἡμετέρα περὶ τοῦ πράγματος εὐβουλία, μᾶλλον δὲ ἡ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ συμμαχία. τῶν γὰρ κατορθωθέντων αὐτῷ χρηστῶν διὰ τῶν λόγων Χουσὶ τῷ θεῷ τὴν αἰτίαν ἀνατιθεὶς ταύτην τὴν εὐχαριστίαν πεποίηται. περιττὸν δ' ἂν εἴη τὰ τῆς ἱστορίας σοι δι' ἀκριβείας ἐκτίθε σθαι· πῶς πιστὸς τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ὢν ἐν τοῖς ὑπασπισταῖς, οὗτος ὁ Χουσὶ ἐν τοῖς φίλοις τοῦ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ καταμίγνυται καὶ πιθανώτερος γίνεται τῷ τυράννῳ τῆς τοῦ Ἀχιτόφελ συμ βουλῆς. ὅθεν συνέβη τούτου κατὰ τὴν εἰσήγησιν τῆς γνώμης κατακρατήσαντος, αὐτὸν ὑφ' ἑαυτοῦ καταπνιγῆναι τὸν κατὰ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ τῷ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ συμβουλεύσαντα. ἄξιον δ' ἂν 5.122 εἴη προσαγαγεῖν τῷ κατ' ἀρετὴν βίῳ καὶ τὰ τῆς ἱστορίας αἰνίγματα. πῶς ἡ σῴζουσα ἡμᾶς γνώμη ἀγχόνη γίνεται τοῦ ἀντικειμένου· ἡ δὲ σωτήριος αὕτη γνώμη ἡ μὲν τῇ ἱστορίᾳ, ἡ δὲ τῇ ψαλμῳδίᾳ ἐγγέγραπται. ἡμῖν δὲ σκοπός ἐστι τὸν ἐν τάξει τῶν ψαλμῶν εἱρμὸν κατανοῆσαι, δι' οὗ τῷ ἀγαθῷ προσαγόμεθα. οὐκοῦν τὴν ἐνταῦθα γνώμην τὴν ἀναιρετικὴν τοῦ ἐπιβουλεύοντος ἡμῖν κατανοήσωμεν. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν αὕτη; τὸ ἴσον εἰς κακίαν ἡγεῖσθαι ἄρχειν τε ἀδικίας καὶ ἀμύνεσθαι τὸν ἀπάρξαντα. τιμᾶται γὰρ ἑαυτῷ τῶν ἐσχάτων καὶ τῆς καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τιμωρίας ὁριστὴς γίνεται, εἰ εὑρεθείη κακοῦ τὸ κακὸν ὥσπερ ἐν συναλλάγματι δια μείψας καὶ ἀντιδοὺς τοῖς προπαρασχομένοις ὃ ἔλαβεν· καὶ οὕτως μετὰ τοὺς ἀγῶνας τούτους πάλιν νικητὴς ἀναδεί κνυται. διαδέχεται γὰρ ἐπιγραφὴ τὸ Ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν προδεικνύουσα τέλος. τὸ δὲ τῶν ἀγώνων τέλος νίκη ἐστίν. πάλιν δὲ τὴν Ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν ἔννοιαν ἐξαπλοῦσθαι τῷ λόγῳ περιττὸν ἂν εἴη, ἱκανῶς ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον τόπον ἐξητασμένοις προδηλωθεῖσαν. ὥσπερ δὲ μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ἐκ τοῦ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ φυγὴν ἐν τῷ διακρῖναι τῶν ἀληθινῶν πραγμάτων τὴν ματαίαν σπουδὴν ἀξιοῦται τῆς νίκης, οὕτως καὶ νῦν μετὰ τοὺς ὁμοίους ἀγῶνας, τῷ Ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν λόγῳ συμμάχῳ πρὸς τὸν ἀντίπαλον χρώμενος, νικητὴς γίνεται διὰ τοῦ καταλῦσαι τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἅμα καὶ ἐκδικητήν. ὃς διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐχθρὸς καὶ ἐκδικητὴς ὀνομάζεται, ὅτι αὐτὰ τὰ πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν αὐτοῦ δελεάσματα τιμωρία τοῖς αἰσθανομένοις ἡ πικροτάτη ἐστί· καὶ δι' ὧν ἐφέλκεται πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ κοινωνίαν ἐν ἀπάτῃ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, αὐτὸ ἐκεῖνο τὸ χαλεπώτατον τῆς τιμωρίας εἶδός ἐστιν. οὕτως ἑρμηνεύει τὴν διάνοιαν ταύτην ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος εἰπὼν 5.123 ὅτι Τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν ἣν ἔδει τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀπολαμβάνοντες. τίς γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο πρὸς τιμωρίαν ἄλλη χαλεπωτέρα ἐπίνοια τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην ἀκαθαρσίας, ἣν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς κατεργάζονται οἱ τῆς ἀσχημοσύνης ἐργάται; ὁ οὖν καταλύσας ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ βίῳ τοῦ τοιούτου τὴν δύναμιν, ὃς τιμωρεῖται τὸν ἐν κακίᾳ γενόμενον δι' αὐτοῦ τοῦ μετασχεῖν τῆς κακίας, ὁρᾷ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν ὑπερ καθημένην μεγαλοπρέπειαν καὶ τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἀξίωμα, τίνων τε ἄρχει καὶ τίσι συντεταγμένη ἐστίν. τῷ γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ἡγεμονεύει καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις διὰ συγκρίσεως παρισουμένη μικρὸν ἐλαττοῦται. λόγος τοίνυν ἐστὶν δι' οὗ γίνεται καὶ ἡ κατὰ τούτων ἀρχὴ καὶ ἡ πρὸς τοὺς ἀγγέλους οἰκείωσις. πάλιν ἑτέρας ἐκδέχεται νίκης τρόπος, ὅταν ὑπερβὰς τὰ φαινόμενα τοῖς ἀπορρήτοις ἐμβατεύσῃς τῷ λόγῳ (υἱὸς δὲ ὁ λόγος) καὶ ἱκανὸς ἤδη γένῃ ταῖς προλαβούσαις