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CHAPTER 28. “He has set an order for darkness, and he himself examines every limit.” He said well: He has set an order

for darkness, showing that it knows to yield and to withdraw. Who drives away that gloom? whence comes such good order in such a matter? Then he recounts His power, then His wisdom, persuading not to want to demand an account from Him. For of all things, he says, God wisely examines the limits and the outcomes, comprehending all things in his incomprehensible providence; therefore neither does He put off the punishments against the impious in vain, nor does he bring them on for no reason, He who has arranged all things by measure, and order, and harmony. “But he said to man, Behold, piety is wisdom, and to abstain from evil is understanding.” This is the greatest wisdom, to be pious, not to be overly curious and to demand an account for what happens; nothing is equal to this art, nothing is more powerful than this wisdom, nothing is better than piety.

CHAPTER 29. “For I delivered the poor from the hand of the mighty, and the orphan, who had no helper,

I helped.” But first having ascribed his oversight and protection to God, then he boasts in the Lord. But see him, not being proud about his abstention from evil, not about sacrifices, like the Jews, but about that which God wills. For “judge,” he says, “the orphan, and do justice for the widow;” and on the doing of good things, “For I delivered,” he says, “the poor, and I helped the orphan.” “The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me. [But Symmachus, came.] And the mouth of the widow blessed me.” But you know that the class of widows is somehow ungrateful, not because of their own nature, nor their will, but because of the necessity of poverty; for it is a furnace of poverty; and it is a difficult thing to praise one who does good; but even these blessed Job. And his heroic deeds are recorded, so that we may emulate them. “But I had put on righteousness, and I clothed myself with judgment like a double-folded robe.” And fittingly, after saying, “I delivered the poor from the hand of the mighty,” he added this: “I had put on 64.629 righteousness;” for there are those who preside over others, but they themselves often do wrong; but this man was not so; but “I clothed myself,” he says, “with judgment,” thus I adorned myself. And yet others are vexed by the matter, are indignant, consider it burdensome and heavy, but not I, he says; but just as someone might adorn himself with a double-folded robe, so I with just judgment; not today, and tomorrow no longer, but just as it is necessary to have garments always, so also the vindication of the powerless. And yet who appointed him a judge? He became a self-appointed judge by virtue itself, just like Moses; such ought rulers to be. You saw this man in his trials, as much as it was possible for you to see (for not even speech itself had the strength to represent the precision; for the pain, and the torments, and the tyranny of despondency, and the confusion arising from so many snowflakes of woes, no power of speech is able to interpret to those who have heard, as the experience of the events itself). Come, let me show him to you again; for this is not a small thing, but requires a most philosophical soul, to display great philosophy in wealth and in prosperity. What then was he, being rich? A common harbor for all, a common father for all, a common physician, or rather even greater than a physician. Hear him then saying. “I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame.” You see how he was greater than a physician; he became a substitute for nature to the maimed, and what they could not by

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ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΗʹ «Τάξιν ἔθετο σκότει, καὶ πᾶν πέρας αὐτὸς ἐξακριβάζεται.» Καλῶς εἶπε· Τάξιν

ἔθετο σκότει, δεικνὺς ὅτι οἶδε παραχωρεῖν καὶ ὑπεξίστασθαι. Τίς ἀπελαύνει τὸν ζόφον ἐκεῖνον; πόθεν εὐταξία τοσαύτη ἐν πράγματι τοιούτῳ; Εἶτα τὴν δύναμιν, εἶτα τὴν σοφίαν αὐτοῦ διηγεῖται, πείθων μὴ θέλειν ἀπαιτεῖν αὐτὸν εὐθύνας. Πάντων γὰρ, φησὶ, τὰ πέρατα καὶ τὰς ἐκβάσεις σοφῶς ὁ Θεὸς ἐξακριβάζεται, τῇ ἀπεριλήπτῳ προνοίᾳ τὰ πάντα συμπεριλαμβάνων· οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ τὰς τιμωρίας, τὰς κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν, ἢ διακενῆς ὑπερτίθεται, ἢ μάτην ἐπάγει, ὁ πάντα μέτρῳ, καὶ τάξει, καὶ ἁρμονίᾳ διαταξάμενος. «Εἶπε δὲ ἀνθρώπῳ, Ἰδοὺ ἡ θεοσέβειά ἐστι σοφία, τὸ δὲ ἀπέχεσθαι ἀπὸ κακῶν ἐστὶν ἐπιστήμη.» Τοῦτο μεγίστη σοφία, τὸ θεοσεβεῖν, οὐ τὸ περιεργάζεσθαι καὶ εὐθύνας ἀπαιτεῖν τῶν γινομένων· οὐδὲν ταύτης τῆς τέχνης ἴσον, οὐδὲν ταύτης τῆς σοφίας δυνατώτερον, οὐδὲν θεοσεβείας ἄμεινον.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΘʹ «∆ιέσωσα γὰρ πτωχὸν ἐκ χειρὸς δυνάστου, καὶ ὀρφανῷ, ᾧ οὐκ ἦν βοηθὸς,

ἐβοήθησα.» Ἀλλὰ πρῶτον ἀναθεὶς τῷ Θεῷ τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν καὶ τὴν φυλακὴν αὐτοῦ, τότε καυχᾶται ἐν Κυρίῳ. Ὅρα δὲ αὐτὸν, οὐκ ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν κακῶν ἀποχῇ μέγα φρονοῦντα, οὐκ ἐπὶ ταῖς θυσίαις, καθάπερ Ἰουδαῖοι, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τούτῳ ᾧ βούλεται ὁ Θεός. Κρίνατε γὰρ, φησὶν, ὀρφανῷ, καὶ δικαιώσατε χήραν· καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ πράξει τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ∆ιέσωσα γὰρ, φησὶ, πτωχὸν, καὶ ἐβοήθησα ὀρφανῷ. «Εὐλογία ἀπολλυμένου ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἔλθοι. [Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος, κατήντα.] Στόμα δὲ χήρας με εὐλόγησεν.» Ἴστε δὲ ὅτι ἀχάριστόν πως τὸ γένος ἐστὶ τῶν χηρῶν, οὐ παρὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν, οὐδὲ προαίρεσιν, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν ἀνάγκην τῆς πενίας· κάμινος γὰρ πτωχείας ἐστίν· καὶ πρᾶγμα δύσκολον ἐπαινέσαι τὸν εὖ ποιοῦντα· ἀλλὰ τὸν Ἰὼβ καὶ αὗται εὐλόγουν. Ἀναγράφεται δὲ τὰ τούτου ἀνδραγαθήματα, ἵνα ζηλώσωμεν. «∆ικαιοσύνην δὲ ἐνεδεδύκειν, ἠμφιασάμην δὲ κρῖμα ἴσα διπλοΐδι.» Εἰκότως δὲ, μετὰ τὸ εἰπεῖν· ∆ιέσωσα πτωχὸν ἐκ χειρὸς δυνάστου, ἐπήγαγε, τό· Ἐνεδεδύκειν δι 64.629 καιοσύνην· εἰσὶ γὰρ οἳ ἑτέρων μὲν προΐστανται, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἀδικοῦσι πολλάκις· οὗτος δὲ οὐχ οὕτως· ἀλλ' Ἠμφιασάμην, φησὶ, κρῖμα, οὕτως ἐνεκαλλοπιζόμην. Καίτοι ἕτεροι τὸ πρᾶγμα δυσχεραίνουσιν, ἀγανακτοῦσι, φορτικὸν εἶναι καὶ βαρὺ νομίζουσιν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐγὼ, φησίν· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐπὶ διπλοΐδι τις καλλωπίζοιτο, οὕτως ἐγὼ ἐπὶ τῇ δικαιοκρισίᾳ οὐχὶ σήμερον μὲν, αὔριον δὲ οὐκέτι, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἀνάγκη τὰ ἱμάτια διαπαντὸς ἔχειν, οὕτω καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀδυνάτων ἐκδίκησιν. Καίτοι τίς αὐτὸν κατέστησε δικαστήν; Αὐτοχειροτόνητος κριτὴς παρὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς γέγονεν αὐτῆς, καθάπερ Μωϋσῆς· τοιούτους ἐχρῆν εἶναι τοὺς ἄρχοντας. Εἶδες τοῦτον ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς, ὅσον ἰδεῖν σοι δυνατὸν ἦν (τὴν γὰρ ἀκρίβειαν οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος παραστῆσαι ἴσχυσεν· ὀδύνην γὰρ, καὶ βασάνους, καὶ ἀθυμίας τυραννίδα, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῶν τοσούτων νιφάδων ἐγγινομένην ταραχὴν, οὐδεμία λόγου δύναμις ἑρμηνεῦσαι δύναται τοῖς ἀκηκοόσιν, ὡς αὐτὴ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ πεῖρα). Φέρε, σοὶ δείξω πάλιν αὐτόν· οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦτο μικρὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα φιλοσοφωτάτης δεόμενον ψυχῆς, ἐν πλούτῳ καὶ ἐν εὐημερίᾳ πολλὴν ἐπιδεικνύμενον φιλοσοφίαν. Τίς οὖν ἦν, πλούσιος ὤν; Κοινὸς ἁπάντων λιμὴν, κοινὸς ἁπάντων πατὴρ, κοινὸς ἰατρὸς, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἰατροῦ μείζων. Ἄκουσον οὖν αὐτοῦ λέγοντος. «Ὀφθαλμὸς ἤμην τυφλῶν, ποὺς δὲ χωλῶν.» Ὁρᾷς πῶς ἰατροῦ μείζων· ἀντὶ τῆς φύσεως τοῖς πεπηρωμένοις ἐγίνετο, καὶ ἅπερ οὐκ ἴσχυσαν τῇ