53

to believe his own salvation is in the destruction of his adversaries, but also, while those who plot against him are still alive, to have his safety as if no one were troubling him. Rather, the account teaches this through the story, that he who excels in virtue acts bravely not against his fellow men, but against the passions. Therefore, through such a noble deed of David, the anger in both is destroyed; that of the one, who through reason destroyed his own wrath and extinguished the impulse for revenge, and that of Saul, who through the kindness shown to him, deadened his malice against David. For what things he utters after this to the victor, sinking under the shame of what he had dared, and showing by lamentation and tears his inner turning away from malice, it is possible to learn from the story itself. Therefore, the subject of the fifty-sixth psalmody, as far as it is shown from what the history indicates, is this. And the very words of the inscription, through which the encounter in the cave is indicated, are as follows: To the end, do not destroy, for David for an inscription on a pillar, when he was fleeing from the face of Saul into the cave. And how the meanings of the psalmody might be fitted to what is inscribed, it would be the right time, after first going through the divinely-inspired words, to understand in a few words the contemplation in them as well. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for my soul has trusted in you, and in the shadow of your wings I will hope, until iniquity passes by. The psalmodist, for his trust in God and his firm hope in him, asks for the divine mercy to be given in return, Until, he says, iniquity passes by. And that 5.155 the meaning might become clearer to us, we will take up the argument thus: the nature of sin is unstable and transient, neither co-existing with creation in the beginning from him who established and gave being to all things, nor continuing forever with existing things. For things that are from the one who is, remain in being forever; but if something is outside of being, whose essence has its substance not in being, but in not being good, this is the grass on the housetops, something rootless and unsown and unplowed, and even if for the present it should be troublesome with its insubstantial growth, yet in due time, in the restoration of all things to the good, it passes by and disappears, so that not even a trace of the evil now prevailing over us is left behind in the life that lies before us in hope. For yet a little while, he says, and the sinner will not be, and you will seek his place and will not find it. Therefore, in the introduction of the psalmody, the text philosophizes, discoursing on the nature of evil with lofty doctrines. For it teaches that we need the alliance of mercy until that iniquity which has unfortunately visited our life passes from our life. And such an alliance is granted to us by trusting in the power of the ally and by being armed with the shadow of the wings of God. And one will not err in understanding the shadow of divine wings, which becomes a covering for us, as the virtues. For the divine itself, whatever it is by nature, remains unattainable and incomprehensible to human nature, flying high somewhere beyond the ineffable reasoning of men. But a certain character of the ineffable nature is engendered through 5.156 the sketch of the virtues in those who look to it, so that all wisdom and prudence and knowledge and every approach of the apprehensive faculty are not the divine wings themselves, but the shadow of the divine wings. And this benefit to us is great, even if it is a shadow. For I will cry, he says, to God the Most High, to God who has benefited me, through this shadow, which he sent from on high to the life below. For he saved me through the spirit that overshadowed in the cloud, and those who trampled upon me in the former psalmodies he has now brought around to the rank of the reproached. For God has sent forth his mercy and his truth and has delivered my soul from the midst of lions’ cubs. And sins were indeed lions’ cubs to me before,

53

ἀπωλείᾳ τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων πιστεύειν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σωτηρίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περιόντων τῶν ἐπιβουλευόν των ὡς οὐδενὸς λυποῦντος τὸ ἀσφαλὲς ἔχειν. μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦτο διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας παιδεύει ὁ λόγος, ὅτι ὁ κατ' ἀρετὴν προέχων οὐ κατὰ τῶν ὁμοφύλων, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τῶν παθῶν ἀνδρίζεται. ἀναιρεῖται οὖν διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ἀριστείας ὁ ἐν ἀμφοτέροις θυμός· τοῦ μὲν διὰ τοῦ λογισμοῦ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀνελόντος ὀργὴν καὶ τὴν ἀμυντικὴν ὁρμὴν κατασβέσαντος, τοῦ δὲ Σαοὺλ διὰ τῆς γενομένης αὐτῷ φιλανθρωπίας τὴν κατὰ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ κακίαν ἀπονεκρώσαντος. οἷα γὰρ μετὰ ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν νικητὴν ἀποφθέγγεται ὑπ' αἰσχύνης τῶν τετολμημένων καταδυόμενος καὶ θρήνῳ καὶ δάκρυσι τὴν ἐνδιάθετον αὐτοῦ τῆς κακίας ἀποστροφὴν ἐνδεικνύμενος, ἔξεστιν ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς ἱστορίας μαθεῖν. Ἡ μὲν οὖν ὑπόθεσις τῆς ἕκτης καὶ πεντηκοστῆς ψαλμῳ δίας, ὅσον ἐκ τῶν ὑπὸ τῆς ἱστορίας δηλουμένων, ἐστὶν αὕτη. αὐτὰ δὲ τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς τὰ ῥήματα, δι' ὧν ἡ κατὰ τὸ σπήλαιον συντυχία δηλοῦται, τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον· Εἰς τὸ τέλος μὴ διαφθείρῃς, τῷ ∆αβὶδ εἰς στηλογραφίαν, ἐν τῷ αὐτὸν ἀποδιδράσκειν ἀπὸ προσώπου Σαοὺλ εἰς τὸ σπήλαιον. ὡς δ' ἂν ἐφαρμοσθείη τοῖς ἐπιγεγραμμένοις τὰ τῆς ψαλμῳ δίας νοήματα, καιρὸς ἂν εἴη δι' ὀλίγων καὶ τὴν ἐν τούτοις θεωρίαν κατανοῆσαι προδιεξελθόντας τὰ θεόπνευστα ῥήματα. Ἐλέησόν με, ὁ θεός, ἐλέησόν με, ὅτι ἐπὶ σοὶ πέποιθεν ἡ ψυχή μου, καὶ ἐν τῇ σκιᾷ τῶν πτερύγων σου ἐλπιῶ, ἕως οὗ παρέλθῃ ἡ ἀνομία. τῆς εἰς τὸν θεὸν πεποιθήσεως ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς καὶ τῆς βεβαίας εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλπίδος τὸν θεῖον ἔλεον ἀντιδοθῆναι παρακαλεῖ, Ἕως οὗ, φησίν, ἡ ἀνομία παρέλθῃ. ὡς δ' ἂν 5.155 φανερώτερον ἡμῖν τὸ νόημα γένοιτο, οὑτωσὶ τὸν λόγον διαληψόμεθα· ἄστατός ἐστι καὶ παροδικὴ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡ φύσις, οὔτε κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον συνυποστᾶσα τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τοῦ τὸ πᾶν ὑποστησαμένου καὶ οὐσιώσαντος οὔτε πρὸς τὸ διηνεκὲς τοῖς οὖσι συνδιαμένουσα. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ ὄντος ὄντα καὶ ἐν τῷ εἶναι διὰ παντὸς διαμένει· εἰ δέ τι ἔξω τοῦ ὄντος ἐστίν, οὗ ἡ οὐσία οὐκ ἐν τῷ εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ ἀγαθὸν μὴ εἶναι τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει, τοῦτό ἐστιν ὁ ἐπιδωμάτιος χόρτος, ἄρριζός τις καὶ ἄσπαρτος καὶ ἀνήροτος, κἂν πρὸς τὸ παρὸν διοχλήσῃ τῇ ἀνυποστάτῳ βλάστῃ, τοῖς μέντοι καθήκουσι χρόνοις, ἐν τῇ τοῦ παντὸς πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀποκαταστάσει, παρέρχεταί τε καὶ ἀφανίζεται, ὡς μηδὲν ἴχνος τοῦ νῦν ἐπιπολάζοντος ἡμῖν κακοῦ ἐν τῇ κατ' ἐλπίδα προκειμένῃ ζωῇ ὑπολείπεσθαι. Ἔτι γὰρ ὀλίγον, φησίν, καὶ οὐ μὴ ὑπάρξῃ ὁ ἁμαρτωλός, καὶ ζητήσεις τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ μὴ εὑρεθῇ. Φιλοσοφεῖ τοίνυν ἐν προοιμίοις τῆς ψαλμῳδίας ὁ λόγος ἐν ὑψηλοῖς δόγμασι φυσιολογῶν τὴν κακίαν. διδάσκει γὰρ ὅτι μέχρις ἐκείνου τῆς τοῦ ἐλέους συμμαχίας δεόμεθα, ἕως ἂν παρέλθῃ τὸν βίον ἡμῶν ἡ κακῶς τῷ βίῳ ἐπιδημήσασα ἀνομία. τὴν δὲ τοιαύτην ἡμῖν συμμαχίαν χαρίζεται τὸ πεποιθέναι τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ συμμαχοῦντος καὶ τῇ σκιᾷ τῶν πτερύγων τοῦ θεοῦ καθοπλίζεσθαι. σκιὰν δὲ θείων πτερύγων ἀντὶ περιβολῆς ἡμῖν γινομένην τὰς ἀρετάς τις νοῶν οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεται. αὐτὸ μὲν γὰρ τὸ θεῖον ὅ τί ποτε τῇ φύσει ἐστίν, ἀνέφικτον μένει τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει καὶ ἄληπτον, ἄνω που κατὰ τὸ ἄφραστον τοῦ λογισμοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπερπετόμενον. χαρακτὴρ δέ τις τῆς ἀφράστου φύσεως διὰ 5.156 τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν σκιαγραφίας τοῖς πρὸς αὐτὴν ὁρῶσιν ἐγγίνε, ὡς πᾶσαν σοφίαν καὶ φρόνησιν καὶ ἐπιστήμην καὶ πᾶσαν ἔφοδον τῆς καταληπτικῆς ἐπινοίας οὐκ αὐτὰς εἶναι τὰς θείας πτέρυγας, ἀλλὰ τὴν τῶν θείων πτερύγων σκιάν. μεγάλη δὲ αὕτη ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἡ εὐεργεσία κἂν σκιὰ ᾖ. Κεκράξο μαι γάρ, φησίν, πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὸν ὕψιστον, τὸν θεὸν τὸν εὐεργετήσαντά με, διὰ τῆς σκιᾶς ταύτης, ἣν ἐξ ὕψους ἀπέ στειλεν τῷ κάτω βίῳ. ἔσωσεν γάρ με διὰ τοῦ ἐπισκιάσαντος ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ πνεύματος, καὶ τοὺς ἐν ταῖς προτέραις ψαλμῳ δίαις καταπατήσαντας νῦν εἰς τὴν τῶν ὀνειδιζομένων ἀντιπερι ήγαγεν τάξιν. Ἐξαπέστειλεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐρρύσατο τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ μέσου σκύμνων. σκύμνοι δὲ ὄντως μοι ἦσαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι τὸ πρότερον,