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Do we not pity them rather than demand an accounting? Or do we say they are cannibals? By no means, but we weep and lament. Keep this saying above all. *But my soul*, he says, *I will place in my hands*, that is: "I will kill myself. Just as those who kill themselves, so also I comfort myself, this is my comfort. If God does not take me, this is my comfort, to speak out." 13,15b *But no*, he says, *but I will speak and I will rebuke you before him*, 13,16a *And this shall turn out to me for salvation*; 16b *for deceit shall not enter before him*. That is: "this will be my comfort." *For deceit shall not enter before him*. "See, that I do not speak with a different mind, as you do? I know that there is nothing deceitful with him." 13,17a *Hear my words*, 17b *for I will declare it in your hearing*. 13,18a *Behold, I am near my judgment*. "I wish," he says, "to be judged, I do not refuse the court." 13,18b *I know that I shall appear righteous*. 13,19a *For who is he that will be judged with me*, 19b *that I should now be deaf and fail*? 13,20a *But I have need of two things*, 20b *then I will hide myself from your face*: 13,21a *Withdraw your hand from me*, 21b *and let not your fear terrify me*. 13,22a *Then you shall call, and I will obey you*, 22b *you will speak, and I will give you an answer*. Again he says the same thing: "Do not frighten me, do not bring forward the dignity of God against me, and I will be judged. I too have sinned, I say, but I receive much greater things," he says. 13,23a *How many are my sins, and my iniquities?* 23b *What are they, teach me*. "What is this that has been done to me?" he says. 13,24a *Why do you hide me away*, 24b *and consider me as your enemy*? 13,25a *Or will you be awed by a leaf moved by the wind,* 25b *or as grass carried by the breeze?* "For what reason," he says, "do you not make things clear? For what reason do you not say: 'For this reason I punish you'?" It is no small comfort to those being punished to learn the cause of the punishment. For this reason, he says: "Teach me my sins." But God will not have to teach, but what does he say? *Do you think I have spoken to you otherwise than that you might appear righteous?* *And you consider me*, he says, *as a leaf moved by the wind*. That is: "You make no account of me, you despise me, you spit upon me. Teach them at the present time." 13,25b *Or will you be awed as grass carried by the breeze?* *But you oppose me*, 13,26a *because you have written down evils against me* 26b *and have surrounded me with the sins of my youth*. Do you see how he knows himself a sinner and from his age wishes to obtain pardon, or even from his age to show himself a sinner? 113 13,27a *And you have put my foot in a hindrance* 27b *and have watched all my works*; 27c *and you have come to the roots of my feet*, 13,28a *which grow old like a wineskin* 28b *or like a moth-eaten garment*. *You have put*, he says, *my foot in a hindrance*. That is: "you have bound". *And you have come to the roots of my feet*. That is: "You came upon me whole and examined me and struck me from feet to head, you left not one sound part in me." Again he speaks of the greatness of the misfortune, again he ridicules the lowliness of nature. *They grow old*, he says, *like a wineskin*. For what reason did he introduce a wineskin? Because the wineskin is empty, having only air; so also is our body. This it is also the custom for many to say, that "we are a puffed-up wineskin." Do not look at my bulk nor the stretched-out skin, but consider what is inside and you will see much emptiness. Then he also comes to another example: *or like a garment*, he says, *moth-eaten*.

14,1a *For a mortal born of a woman* 1b *is short-lived and full of wrath*. Then also

from birth full of wrath, that is: of despair, not of grief. 14,2a *Or as a flower that has blossomed falls*, 2b *and it has fled like a shadow and shall not stand*. 14,3a *Shall I not make an account of this one also,* 3b *and have you made this one to enter into judgment with you?* Do you see how not from being righteous, but from the lowliness of nature he wishes

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οὐκ ἐκείνους ἐλεοῦμεν μᾶλλον ἢ εὐθύνας ἀπαιτοῦμεν; ἢ ἀνθρωποβόρους εἶναί φαμεν; οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλὰ δακρύομεν καὶ θρηνοῦμεν. τοῦτο παρὰ πάντα τήρει τὸν λόγον. ψυχὴν δέ μου, φησίν, θήσομαι ἐν χερσί μου, τουτέστιν· «ἀνελῶ ἐμαυτόν. ὥσπερ οἱ ἀναιροῦντες ἑαυτοὺς οὕτω καὶ ἐγὼ παραμυθοῦμαι, τοῦτό μοι παραμύθιόν ἐστιν. ἐὰν μή με ἀνέλῃ ὁ θεός, αὕτη μού ἐστιν ἡ παραμυθία, τὸ φθέγγεσθαι.» 13,15b οὐ μὴν δέ, φησίν, ἀλλὰ λαλήσω καὶ ἐλέγξω ὑμᾶς ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ, 13,16a καὶ τοῦτό μοι ἀποβήσεται εἰς σωτηρίαν· 16b οὐ γὰρ εἰσελεύσεται ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ δόλος. τουτέστιν· «τοῦτό μοι ἔσται παραμυθία.» οὐ γὰρ ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ εἰσελεύσεται δόλος. «ὁρᾶτε, ὅτι οὐχὶ καθάπερ ὑμεῖς ἑτέρᾳ διανοίᾳ φθέγγομαι; οἶδα, ὅτι οὐδέν ἐστιν ὕπουλον παρ' αὐτῷ.» 13,17a ἀκούσατέ μου τὰ ῥήματα, 17b ἀναγγελῶ γὰρ ὑμῶν ἀκουόντων. 13,18a ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐγγύς εἰμι τοῦ κρίματός μου. «βούλομαι», φησίν, «κριθῆναι, οὐ παραιτοῦμαι τὸ δικαστήριον.» 13,18b οἶδα ἐγώ, ὅτι δίκαιος ἀναφανοῦμαι. 13,19a τίς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ κριθησόμενός μοι, 19b ὅτι νῦν κωφεύσω καὶ ἐκλείψω; 13,20a δυεῖν δέ μοι χρεία, 20b τότε ἀπὸ τοῦ προ112 σώπου σου κρυβήσομαι· 13,21a τὴν χεῖρά σου ἀπόσχου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, 21b καὶ ὁ φόβος σου μή με καταπλησσέτω. 13,22a εἶτα καλέσεις, ἐγὼ δέ σοι ὑπακούσομαι, 22b λαλήσεις, ἐγὼ δέ σοι δώσω ἀπόκρισιν. πάλιν τὸ αὐτό φησιν· «μή με φοβήσῃς, μή μοι τὸ ἀξίωμα τοῦ θεοῦ παραγάγῃς, καὶ κρίνομαι. ἥμαρτον κἀγώ, λέγω, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μείζονα ἀπολαμβάνω», φησίν. 13,23a πόσαι εἰσὶν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι μου, καὶ αἱ ἀνομίαι μου 23b τίνες εἰσίν, δίδαξόν με. «τί τοῦτο, ὅ μοι εἴργασται;» φησίν. 13,24a διὰ τί με ἀποκρύπτῃ, 24b ἥγησαι δέ με ὥσπερ ὑπεναντίον σου; 13,25a ἢ ὡς φύλλον κινούμενον ὑπὸ ἀνέμου εὐλαβηθήσῃ 25b ἢ ὡς χόρτον φερόμενον ὑπὸ πνεύματος; «τίνος ἕνεκεν», φησίν, «οὐ ποιεῖς δῆλα τὰ πράγματα; τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐ λέγεις· "διὰ τόδε σε κολάζω";» οὐ μικρὸν εἰς παραμυθίαν τοῖς τιμωρουμένοις τὸ μαθεῖν τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς κολάσεως. διὰ τοῦτο οὗτος μέν φησιν· «δίδαξόν με τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου.» ὁ δὲ θεὸς οὐχ ἕξει διδάξαι, ἀλλὰ τί φησιν; ἄλλως με οἴει σοι κεχρηματικέναι ἢ ἵνα ἀναφανῇς δίκαιος; ἥγησαι δέ με, φησίν, ὡς φύλλον κινούμενον ὑπὸ ἀνέμου. τουτέστιν· «οὐδένα μου ποιῇ λόγον, καταφρονεῖς μου, διαπτύεις. ἐν τῷ παρόντι αὐτὰς δίδασκε.» 13,25b ἢ ὡς χόρτον φερόμενον ὑπὸ πνεύματος εὐλαβηθήσῃ; ἀντίκεισαι δέ μοι, 13,26a ὅτι κατέγραψας κατ' ἐμοῦ κακὰ 26b καὶ περιέθηκάς μοι νεότητος ἁμαρτίας. ὁρᾷς, πῶς οἶδεν ἑαυτὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἡλικίας βούλεται τυχεῖν συγγνώμης ἢ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἡλικίας δεῖξαι ἑαυτὸν ἁμαρτωλόν; 113 13,27a ἔθου δέ μου τὸν πόδα ἐν κωλύματι 27b καὶ ἐφύλαξάς μου πάντα τὰ ἔργα· 27c εἰς δὲ ῥίζας ποδῶν μου ἀφίκου, 13,28a οἳ παλαιοῦνται ἴσα ἀσκῷ 28b ἢ ὥσπερ ἱμάτιον σητόβρωτον. ἔθου, φησίν, τὸν πόδα μου ἐν κωλύματι. τουτέστιν· "ἔδησας". εἰς δὲ ῥίζας ποδῶν μου ἀφίκου. τουτέστιν· «ὅλον με ἐπῆλθες καὶ ἐξήτασας καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς ἔπληξας οὐδὲ ἓν ἐν ἐμοὶ μέρος ἐγκατέλιπες ὑγιές.» πάλιν τὸ μέγεθος λέγει τῆς συμφορᾶς, πάλιν τὸ εὐτελὲς τῆς φύσεως κωμῳδεῖ. παλαιοῦνται, φησίν, ἴσα ἀσκῷ. τίνος ἕνεκεν ἀσκὸν παρήγαγεν; ὅτι κενός ἐστιν ὁ ἀσκὸς πνεῦμα μόνον ἔχων· οὕτως ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἡμέτερον. τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἔθος λέγειν, ὅτι «ἀσκός ἐσμεν πεφυσημένος». μή μοι τὸν ὄγκον ἴδῃς μηδὲ τὸ δέρμα διαταθέν, ἀλλ' ἐννόησον τὰ ἔνδον καὶ ὄψει πολλὴν τὴν κενότητα. εἶτα καὶ ἐφ' ἕτερον ἔρχεται παράδειγμα· ἢ ὥσπερ ἱμάτιον, φησίν, σητόβρωτον.

14,1a βροτὸς γὰρ γεννητὸς γυναικὸς 1b ὀλιγόβιος καὶ πλήρης ὀργῆς. εἶτα καὶ

ἀπὸ τῆς γεννήσεως ὀργῆς πλήρης, τουτέστιν· ἀθυμίας, οὐχὶ λύπης. 14,2a ἢ ὥσπερ ἄνθος ἀνθῆσαν ἐξέπεσεν, 2b ἀπέδρα δὲ ὥσπερ σκιὰ καὶ οὐ μὴ στῇ. 14,3a οὐχὶ καὶ τούτου λόγον ἐποιήσω 3b καὶ τοῦτον ἐποίησας ἐν κρίματι εἰσελθεῖν ἐπὶ σοῦ; ὁρᾷς, πῶς οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ δίκαιος εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς εὐτελείας τῆς φύσεως βούλεται