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Death upon them and let them go down to Hades alive. And having shown through his discourse all the grim things concerning them, he brings on that sweet voice, in which he also has conquered the city 5.144 with its whole population, saying, But I will hope in you. And by 'population' of this city he means men of blood and deceit, who do not halve any kind of evil day nor display an incomplete wickedness, but possess perfection in evil, of all of whom he becomes the conqueror by this one voice, in which he reveals his disposition toward God, saying, I will hope in you.

CHAPTER 14 Having gone through these thoughts, let the diligent reader himself read the

inspired words of the psalm, so that a multitude may not be introduced by us into the text by setting forth everything word for word and lengthening the contemplation on each thought. And just as those who are ascending a steep and difficult road, when they find some seat along the way and rest from their great and intense labor, again, when their strength has recovered, they rouse themselves for the ascent of what lies above; so also the wayfarer of virtue, whose steps are victories against his adversaries, as the inscription of the preceding psalm testifies, having strengthened himself with the victory he has achieved, again strives for what lies above; for great was also this struggle, which he overcame in the aforementioned psalm, of grief and idle talk and confusion, and of enmity and hearing; for this is the voice [the] of the enemy; and of the affliction from the sinners and of the wrath of those who bear a grudge, through which come confusion of mind and fear of death and fear and trembling and darkness and 5.145 such things. He, therefore, who has overcome such and so many adversaries on the wing of the one who appeared to his life like a dove, and has migrated from those raging in malice to the desert void of the evil growth of weeds, in which rest is found, by conquering a whole city of adversaries with its population of inhabitants, whose dwellers are lawlessness and toil and contradiction, usury and deceit and death and life's descent into Hades, and the worst sort of all, the hypocrisy of those ever dwelling within, which works its plot by a display of unanimity; over which he becomes superior who throughout the whole time of his own life extends his trust in the divine; for by saying 'evening and morning and at noon,' he encompasses the whole measure of the day, in which he says these things which God deigns to hear; redeeming his life in peace from those who approach him in such a great company, whom he names men of blood and deceit and perfect in malice. Having therefore overcome so many and such things by hoping in God, again as if forgetting the labors he had completed, he rouses himself for the stronger and greater antagonists. For behold what sort of labor he adds to himself through the contests: 'For the people,' he says, 'that is far removed from the holy things.' And this people is the entire fullness of humanity, which separation from the holy commandments has walled off from God by some great and infinite interval between; this he calls back through the victory against the adversary, making the salvation of the lost the prize of his contests, for whose sake also the achievement is inscribed on a 5.146 pillar in indelible writing, the memory of the events lasting for ever. The victory, therefore, becomes for David an inscription on a pillar, 'When,' it says, 'the foreigners seized him in Gath.' But lest the meaning woven into the discourse through the enigmas of the story escape us, I will briefly summarize the story. Envy grew in the tyrannical Saul against David at the victory over Goliath in the praise of those through dances

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θάνατος ἐπ' αὐτοὺς καὶ καταβήτωσαν εἰς ᾅδου ζῶντες. καὶ πάντα περὶ αὐτῶν τὰ σκυθρωπὰ διὰ τοῦ λόγου παραδείξας ἐπάγει τὴν γλυκεῖαν ἐκείνην φωνήν, ἐν ᾗ καὶ νενίκηκε τὴν πόλιν 5.144 αὐτῷ πληρώματι, λέγων Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐλπιῶ ἐπὶ σέ. πλήρωμα δὲ λέγει τῆς πόλεως ταύτης ἄνδρας αἱμάτων καὶ δολιότητος τοὺς οὐδὲν εἶδος πονηρᾶς ἡμέρας ἡμισεύοντας οὐδὲ ἀτελῆ τὴν πονηρίαν ἐπιδεικνυμένους, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ κακῷ τὸ τέλειον ἔχοντας, ὧν πάντων νικητὴς γίνεται τῇ μιᾷ ταύτῃ φωνῇ, ᾗ τὴν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καταμηνύει διάθεσιν λέγων Ἐγὼ ἐλπιῶ ἐπὶ σέ.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ι∆ʹ Τούτοις ἐπελθὼν τοῖς νοήμασιν ὁ φιλόπονος αὐτὸς ἀναγνώτω τὰ

θεόπνευστα τῆς ψαλμῳδίας ῥήματα, ὡς ἂν μὴ δι' ἡμῶν ὄχλος ἐπεισαχθείη τῷ γράμματι πάντα κατὰ λέξιν ἐκτιθεμένων καὶ μηκυνόντων τὴν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ νοήματι θεωρίαν. ὥσπερ δὲ οἱ τὴν ἀνωφερῆ καὶ δυσπόρευτον ὁδὸν ἀνιόντες, ὅταν μεταξὺ καθέδρας τινὸς ἐπιτυχόντες τὸ πολύ τε καὶ σύντονον τοῦ κόπου διαναπαύσωσι, πάλιν τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῖς ἀναρρωσθείσης πρὸς τὴν ἄνοδον τῶν ὑπερκειμένων ἑαυτοὺς ἐπεγείρουσιν· οὕτως καὶ ὁ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὁδοιπόρος, οὗ τὰ διαβήματα νῖκαι κατὰ τῶν ἀντιπάλων εἰσίν, ὡς ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ τοῦ παρελθόντος μαρτύρεται, τῇ κατορθωθείσῃ νίκῃ ἑαυτὸν τονώσας πάλιν πρὸς τὴν ὑπερκειμένην συντείνε· μεγάλης γὰρ οὔσης καὶ ταύτης τῆς ἀγωνίας, ἧς ἐν τῷ μνημονευθέντι ψαλμῷ κατεκράτησεν, λύπης καὶ ἀδολεσχίας καὶ ταραχῆς, ἔχθρας τε καὶ ἀκοῆς· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ἡ φωνὴ [ἡ] τοῦ ἐχθροῦ· καὶ τῆς ἐκ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν θλίψεως καὶ τῆς τῶν ἐγκοτούντων ὀργῆς, δι' ὧν γίνεται ταραχή τε διανοίας καὶ δειλία θανάτου καὶ φόβος καὶ τρόμος καὶ σκότος καὶ τὰ 5.145 τοιαῦτα. ὁ τοίνυν τοιούτων τε καὶ τοσούτων ὑπερσχὼν ἀντιπάλων ἐν τῷ πτερῷ τῆς ὡς περιστερᾶς ἐπιφανείσης τῷ βίῳ, καὶ μεταναστὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ κακίᾳ ὑλομανούντων ἐπὶ τὴν ἔρημον τῆς πονηρᾶς τῶν ζιζανίων βλάστης, ἐν ᾧ γίνεται ἡ κατάπαυσις, τῷ πόλιν ὅλην τῶν ἀντικειμένων αὐτῷ πληρώματι τῶν ἐνοικούντων νικῆσαι, ἧς οἰκήτορες ἀνομία καὶ κόπος καὶ ἀντιλογία τόκος τε καὶ δόλος καὶ θάνατος καὶ ζωῆς εἰς ᾅδου κατάβασις καὶ τὸ πάντων κάκιστον γένος, τῶν ἀεὶ κατοικούντων ἡ ὑπόκρισις, ἡ τῇ ἐνδείξει τῆς ὁμοψυχίας τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν ἐνεργοῦσα· ἧς κρείττων γίνεται ὁ παντὶ τῷ τῆς ἰδίας ζωῆς χρόνῳ συμπαρατείνων τὴν εἰς τὸ θεῖον πεποίθησιν· ἑσπέραν γὰρ καὶ πρωΐαν καὶ μεσημ βρίαν εἰπὼν ὅλον περιλαμβάνει τὸ ἡμερήσιον μέτρον, ἐν ᾧ ταῦτα λέγει ὧν ὁ θεὸς ἐπακούειν ἀνέχεται· λυτρούμενος διὰ εἰρήνης τὴν ζωὴν ἀπὸ τῶν οὕτω προσεγγιζόντων αὐτῷ ἐν πολλῷ τῷ συστήματι, οὓς ἄνδρας αἱμάτων ὀνομάζει καὶ δολιότητος καὶ ἐν κακίᾳ τελείους. τοσούτων τοίνυν καὶ τοιούτων διὰ τοῦ ἐλπίζειν ἐπὶ τὸν θεὸν κατακρατήσας, πάλιν ὥσπερ τινὰ λήθην τῶν διηνυσμένων ποιησάμενος πόνων τοῖς ἰσχυροτέροις τε καὶ μείζοσιν τῶν ἀνταγωνιστῶν ἐπεγείρεται. ἰδοὺ γὰρ οἷον πόνον ἑαυτῷ διὰ τῶν ἀγώνων προστίθησιν· Ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ, φησίν, τοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁγίων μεμακρυμμένου. ὁ δὲ λαὸς οὗτος ἅπαν ἐστὶν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον πλήρωμα, ὅπερ ὁ χωρισμὸς τῶν ἁγίων ἐντολῶν πολλῷ τινι καὶ ἀπείρῳ τῷ μεταξὺ διαστήματι τοῦ θεοῦ διετείχισεν· τοῦτον ἀνακαλεῖται διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸν ἀντίπαλον νίκης, ἔπαθλον τῶν ἀγώνων τὴν τῶν ἀπολωλότων σωτηρίαν ποιού μενος, οὗ χάριν καὶ ἐνστηλιτεύεται τὸ κατόρθωμα ἐν 5.146 ἀνεξαλείπτῳ γραφῇ διαιωνιζούσης τῶν γεγονότων τῆς μνήμης. γίνεται οὖν ἡ νίκη τῷ ∆αβὶδ εἰς στηλογραφίαν, Ὁπότε, φησίν, ἐκράτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι ἐν Γέθ. ὡς δ' ἂν μὴ παραδράμῃ ἡμᾶς ἡ διὰ τῶν αἰνιγμάτων τῆς ἱστορίας ὑφαινομένη διάνοια τῷ λόγῳ, συντέμνων δι' ὀλίγου ἐπιδρα μοῦμαι τὴν ἱστορίαν. φθόνος ἐνεφύη κατὰ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ τῷ τυραννικῷ Σαοὺλ ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ τοῦ Γολιὰθ ἐν τῇ εὐφημίᾳ τῶν διὰ χορείας