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of the pursuits of virtue having fallen down. But the chief point of virtue is the alliance of God, which 5.149 he is deemed worthy of, who makes the divine mercy his own through his life. Just as if, when some robber or murderer suddenly attacked, someone not sufficient for himself to escape the dangers would call upon some of his friends for help, so also here, being in a struggle through the entanglement with man (and I mean by man, all the passions of nature that the comprehensive term indicates) he calls upon help from above, saying that he is trodden down by the one who wars against him and that he is growing weary and afflicted by the all-day battle. For not only is the one who wrestles with him through the contests one, but the one man is a multitude of enemies. For my enemies, he says, have trodden me down all the day long, casting from on high, because they have become superior to the one trodden down. And what is happening is not in the day nor in the light, for I would not have been afraid, being allied with the light. For this reason he says: In the day I will not be afraid, indicating by what is unsaid that fear is brought upon him by his enemies through the darkness. But such a one makes day for himself by hoping in the light, through which the darkness vanishes; For in the day I will not be afraid; but I will hope in you. Perhaps one might better grasp the meaning of what is written by looking at the riddle of the inscription. For as long as the people of men were separated from the holy angels, he was trodden down by the passions of nature, growing weary in the persistence of the war and being hard pressed and being struck from those above and having fear in the night; but when he hoped in God, having shaken off the hope that had wandered into vain things like some 5.150 burden, then he praised his own words, which are the confession of faith. For in God, he says, I will praise my words. But these praiseworthy words, he says, my enemies detest, inventing thoughts against me for evil and contriving a secret and hidden plot in their sojourning. They, making this their own pursuit, do not cease from always watching my heel. For this is the work of the murderer from the beginning, to watch man's heel. But even if the attack of the enemies is heavy, through your alliance they will be driven back, salvation being granted freely to men by you, not from works of righteousness, but from your grace alone. For for nothing you will save them. And the whole sequence of the psalm in order interprets the restoration of human nature. of which the main point of the victory over the adversary is indelible, like a memorial of a pillar of the philanthropy of God set before all creation as a subject for doxology. Therefore he says in the last parts of the psalm, looking at this pillar, In God I will praise a saying, in the Lord I will praise a word, in God I have hoped. For which reason I no longer fear the fear of the flesh. And In me, he says, are vows, which I will render through praise, because you have delivered my soul from death and my feet from stumbling. And by stumbling he means the turning aside from the path of the commandments, from which the fall occurred. Having been freed, therefore, from death and raised up 5.151 from the fall, he comes into the presence of God, from which he first departed after eating of the things forbidden by the commandment, hiding himself from shame under the shadow of the fig tree. Therefore, having received boldness again, he is restored to the living light. For I will be well-pleasing, he says, to the Lord in the light of the living, from whence he was first alienated through sin. And concerning these things, so much. For I do not think it necessary, by examining each point more laboriously, to extend the discourse to an immoderate length. And while there are many victory psalms in the sacred hymns, which the inscription of the end indicates and the victory over the adversaries being contemplated in these in many ways, the victory over the one who wrestles, signified through the riddles of the history, seems to have a certain special meaning; I speak of this history, to which the things

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ἀρετῆς ἐπιτηδευμάτων καταπε σούσης. ἀρετῆς δὲ κεφάλαιον ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ συμμαχία, ἧς 5.149 ἀξιοῦται ὁ τὸν θεῖον ἔλεον ἑαυτῷ διὰ τῆς ζωῆς οἰκειούμενος. ὥσπερ δὲ εἴ τις λῃστοῦ τινος ἐπελθόντος ἢ ἀνδροφόνου κατὰ τὸ ἀθρόον ἐπικαλοῖτο τῶν φίλων τινὰς εἰς βοήθειαν οὐκ ἀρκῶν ἑαυτῷ πρὸς τὴν τῶν κινδύνων ἀποφυγήν, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐναγώνιος ὢν διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον συμπλοκῆς (ἄνθρωπον δὲ λέγω, ὅσα τῇ περιληπτικῇ φωνῇ τὰ τῆς φύσεως ἐνδείκνυται πάθη) ἐπικαλεῖται τὴν ἄνωθεν βοήθειαν, πατεῖσθαι λέγων παρὰ τοῦ πολεμοῦντος καὶ τῷ πανημερίῳ τῆς μάχης ἀπαγορεύειν τε καὶ ἐκθλίβεσθαι. μηδὲ γὰρ μόνον τυγχάνειν τὸν διὰ τῶν ἀγώνων αὐτῷ συμπλεκόμενον, ἀλλὰ δῆμον ἐχθρῶν εἶναι τὸν ἕνα ἄνθρωπον. Κατεπάτησαν γάρ με, φησίν, οἱ ἐχθροί μου ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἀπὸ ὕψους βάλλοντες διὰ τὸ γενέσθαι τοῦ πατουμένου ὑπέρτεροι. καὶ οὐκ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐστὶν οὐδὲ ἐν φωτὶ τὸ γινόμενον, οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐφοβήθην ἀπὸ τοῦ φωτὸς συμμαχούμενος. διὰ τοῦτό φησιν· Ἡμέρας οὐ φοβηθήσομαι, δηλῶν κατὰ τὸ σιω πώμενον τὸ διὰ τοῦ σκότους αὐτῷ παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν τὸν φόβον ἐπάγεσθαι. ἀλλ' ἑαυτῷ ἡμέραν ὁ τοιοῦτος ποιεῖ διὰ τοῦ ἐλπίζειν ἐπὶ τὸ φῶς, δι' οὗ τὸ σκότος ἐξαφανίζεται· Ἡμέρας γὰρ οὐ φοβηθήσομαι· ἐγὼ δὲ ἐλπιῶ ἐπὶ σέ. τάχα δὲ ἄν τις μᾶλλον καθίκοιτο τῆς τῶν γεγραμμένων διανοίας τὸ τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς αἴνιγμα βλέπων. ἕως γὰρ ἦν ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώ πων λαὸς τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων μεμακρυμμένος, κατεπατεῖτο ὑπὸ τῶν παθημάτων τῆς φύσεως, ἐν τῷ διαρκεῖ τοῦ πολέμου ἀπαγορεύων καὶ συνθλιβόμενος καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὑπερκειμένων βαλλόμενος καὶ ἐν νυκτὶ τὸν φόβον ἔχων· ὅτε δὲ ἤλπισεν ἐπὶ τὸν θεόν, τὴν περὶ τὰ μάταια πεπλανημένην ἐλπίδα οἷόν τι 5.150 ἄχθος ἀποσεισάμενος, τότε ἐπῄνεσεν τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ λόγους, οἵτινές εἰσιν ἡ ὁμολογία τῆς πίστεως. Ἐπὶ τῷ θεῷ γάρ, φησίν, ἐπαινέσω τοὺς λόγους μου. ἀλλὰ τούτους, φησίν, τοὺς ἐπαινετοὺς λόγους οἱ ἐχθροί μου βδελύσσονται, τοὺς κατ' ἐμοῦ λογισμοὺς εἰς κακὸν ἐφευρίσκοντες καὶ λανθάνουσαν καὶ κεκρυμμένην ἐν τῷ παροικεῖν τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν διασκευά ζοντες. οἳ τὸ ἴδιον ἑαυτῶν ἐπιτήδευμα ποιοῦντες οὐ παύονται ἀεί μου τὴν πτέρναν ἐπιφυλάσσοντες. τοῦτο γὰρ τοῦ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀνθρωποκτόνου τὸ ἔργον, τὸ ἐπιτηρεῖν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὴν πτέρναν. ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ βαρεῖα τῶν πολεμίων ἡ προσβολή, διὰ τῆς συμμαχίας τῆς σῆς ἀπωσθήσονται, προῖκα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις παρὰ σοῦ γινομένης τῆς σωτηρίας, οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων τῶν ἐκ δικαιοσύνης, ἀλλ' ἐκ μόνης τῆς σῆς χάριτος. Ὑπὲρ γὰρ τοῦ μηδενὸς σώσεις αὐτούς. καὶ πᾶσα καθεξῆς ἡ τῆς ψαλμῳδίας ἀκολουθία τὴν ἀνάκλησιν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἑρμηνεύει. ἧς τὸ κεφάλαιον τῆς κατὰ τοῦ ἀντιπάλου νίκης ἐστὶν ἀνεξάλειπτον, ὥσπερ στήλης τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας μνημόσυνον πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει πρὸς ὑπόθεσιν δοξολογίας προκείμενον. διό φησι τοῖς τελευταίοις τῆς ψαλμῳδίας πρὸς ταύτην τὴν στήλην βλέπων, Ἐπὶ τῷ θεῷ αἰνέσω ῥῆμα, ἐπὶ τῷ κυρίῳ αἰνέσω λόγον, ἐπὶ τῷ θεῷ ἤλπισα. δι' ὃν τὸν τῆς σαρκὸς φόβον οὐκέτι δέδοικα. καὶ Ἐν ἐμοί, φησίν, εὐχαί, ἃς ἀποδώσω δι' αἰνέσεως, ὅτι ἐρρύσω τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ θανάτου καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου ἀπὸ ὀλισθήματος. ὀλίσθημα δὲ λέγει τὴν παρατροπὴν τῆς διὰ τῶν ἐντολῶν πορείας, ἀφ' ἧς τὸ πτῶμα ἐγένετο. ἐλευθερωθεὶς οὖν τοῦ θανάτου καὶ ἀνορθωθεὶς 5.151 ἐκ τοῦ πτώματος, ἐν προσώπῳ γίνεται τοῦ θεοῦ, οὗ τὸ πρῶτον τῶν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἀπηγορευμένων ἐμφαγὼν ἀπεφοίτησε, τῇ σκιᾷ τῆς συκῆς ἑαυτὸν ὑπ' αἰσχύνης ἐγκρύψας. ἀπολαβὼν οὖν πάλιν τὴν παρρησίαν ἀποκαθίσταται τῷ φωτὶ τῷ ζῶντι. Εὐαρεστήσω γάρ, φησί, κυρίῳ ἐν φωτὶ ζώντων, ὅθεν καταρχὰς διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀπεξενώθη. καὶ περὶ μὲν τούτων τοσαῦτα. οὐ γὰρ οἶμαι δεῖν τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον φιλοπονώτερον ἐξετάζοντα εἰς ἀμετρίαν παρατείνειν τὸν λόγον. πολλῶν δὲ ὄντων ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς ὑμνῳδίαις τῶν ἐπινικίων ψαλμῶν, οὓς ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ τοῦ τέλους ἐνδείκνυται καὶ πολυτρό πως τῆς κατὰ τῶν ἀντιπάλων νίκης ἐν τούτοις θεωρουμένης, ἴδιόν τινα λόγον ἔοικεν ἔχειν ἡ διὰ τῶν τῆς ἱστορίας αἰνιγ μάτων σημαινομένη κατὰ τοῦ προσπαλαίοντος νίκη· ταύτης λέγω τῆς ἱστορίας, ᾗ τὰ