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of the accounts of human life, he does not cease shooting arrows against them, until he should hamstring their power. For he will bend, it says, his bow, until they grow weak and become melting wax, easily formed into every type of the character of sin; and to these he still adds those lamenting voices against the wretched, saying, Fire has fallen, and they have not seen the sun. And another of the interpreters clarifies the meaning of this saying, having interpreted the untimely slipping of the abortion from the womb with these words: The miscarriage, he says, of a woman will not behold the sun. Since, therefore, at the beginning of the psalm it says that The sinners were estranged from the womb and went astray from the belly, which is the same as "they were aborted," and he says the cause of such a condition of theirs is the likeness to the snake and the asp, for this reason also now, taking up the same argument, he says that, being imperfect in the principle of nature and having become abortions through wickedness, they both slipped out and fell from that womb conceived by us, becoming fire against themselves through their material choice. For which reason they did not look up to the sun. And through the sun he indicates the true light, toward which the fruitless generation of the Jews did not look up. And the following discourse is fitting in sequence with what precedes it. For what he there called a deaf asp, this he now changes and calls an uncomprehending thorn. For from hearing comes understanding; but he who has not received hearing certainly casts off understanding along with hearing. 5.165 For this reason, just as there, having mentioned more generally the name related to the snake, he brings in the species of beast that is most bitter in its genus, calling it the asp; so also here, having set forth the name of the thorn as in a certain genus, he brings in the more troublesome species among thorns, mentioning the buckthorn, whose points are sharp, whose projections are continuous, and whose scratches are harmful and venomous to those who approach. But still, even if you were a thorn, he says, or the buckthorn among thorns, you still think you are living; for he who does not have the true life is not truly living. wrath will swallow you up. And just as the life of sinners is not truly what it is called, but is only so named (for that which is separated from true life, is not life); so also with the wrath of God, even if it both appears so to sinners and is so named by them, it is no more wrath, but as wrath to those who so name the retribution given back according to the justice of God. This then is the meaning of "As if living." And "As if in wrath he will swallow you up," you being not in true life, nor he truly being seen in wrath. Then he says: The righteous will rejoice when he sees vengeance, not as gloating over those who are perishing, but as contrasting his own things with theirs side by side, then he will count himself blessed for his good counsel, that he was not among those in whom he sees the vengeance of the sinners. For he will perceive the purity of his own hands more by comparison with the filth of the sinners. He will wash his hands, it says, in the blood of the sinner. And we know that we wash for no other reason than to wash away the dirt 5.166 with water; but the stain of blood does not cleanse away 5.166 pre-existing dirt, but itself becomes dirt. Therefore, just as the color white becomes more evident by juxtaposition with blood, so also the purity of the hands of the righteous man is rendered more brilliant through comparison with its opposite. For that which is now disbelieved, namely, what participation in the better part there is for those who willingly suffered hardship through the labors of virtue, will then be revealed through experience. For he who sees these things will say that there was, as it seems, a fruit laid up for the righteous in the just judgment of God. Do you see what mountain peaks the discourse has scaled? how much its magnitude surpasses those things previously traversed in the psalms?

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ἀνθρωπίνης εὐθύνων ζωῆς, οὐ παύεται κατ' αὐτῶν τοξαζόμενος, ἕως ἂν αὐτῶν ἐκνευρώσῃ τὴν δύναμιν. Ἐντενεῖ γάρ, φησίν, τὸ τόξον αὐτοῦ, ἕως οὗ ἀσθενήσωσι καὶ γένωνται κηρὸς τηκόμενος πρὸς πᾶν εἶδος τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν χαρακτῆρος εὐκόλως μορφούμενος· καὶ τούτοις ἔτι προστίθησι τὰς ὀδυρτικὰς ἐκείνας κατὰ τῶν δειλαίων φωνάς, Ἔπεσεν πῦρ, λέγων, καὶ οὐκ εἶδον τὸν ἥλιον. σαφηνίζει δὲ τοῦ ῥητοῦ τούτου τὴν ἔννοιαν ἕτερος τῶν ἑρμηνέων, τὴν παρὰ καιρὸν γενομένην ἀπὸ τῆς μήτρας ὀλίσθησιν τοῦ ἀμβλώματος ἑρμηνεύσας τούτοις τοῖς ῥήμασιν· Ἔκτρωμα, φησίν, γυναι κὸς οὐχ ὁραματισθήσεται ἥλιον. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ψαλμῳδίας φησὶν ὅτι Ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ μήτρας καὶ ἀπὸ γαστρὸς ἐπλανήθησαν, ὅπερ ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ ἠμβλώθησαν, αἴτιον δὲ τοῦ τοιούτου πάθους αὐτῶν λέγει τὴν πρὸς τὸν ὄφιν τε καὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα ὁμοίωσιν, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ νῦν τὸν ἴσον ἐπαναλαβὼν λόγον φησὶ ὅτι ἀτελεῖς ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς φύσεως καὶ ἀμβλωθρίδιοι διὰ κακίας γενόμενοι ἐξωλίσθησάν τε καὶ ἔπεσον αὐτοὶ ἀπὸ τῆς νοηθεί σης ἡμῖν ἐκείνης μήτρας, πῦρ καθ' ἑαυτῶν γενόμενοι διὰ τῆς ὑλικῆς προαιρέσεως· οὗ χάριν οὐκ ἀνέβλεψαν πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον. ἐνδείκνυται δὲ διὰ τοῦ ἡλίου τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς, πρὸς ὃ ἡ ἀτελεσφόρητος τῶν Ἰουδαίων γονὴ οὐκ ἀνέβλεψεν. καὶ ὁ ἐφεξῆς λόγος ἁρμόζει κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον τῷ προάγοντι. ὃ γὰρ ἐκεῖ κωφὴν ἀσπίδα ὠνόμασεν, τοῦτο νῦν μεταβαλὼν ἀσύνετον ἄκανθαν λέγει· ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι τὸ συνιέναι γίνεται· ὁ δὲ τὴν ἀκοὴν οὐ δεξάμενος συναποβάλλει πάντως μετὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς καὶ τὴν σύνεσιν. 5.165 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὥσπερ ἐκεῖ μὲν γενικώτερον μνημονεύσας τοῦ κατὰ τὸν ὄφιν ὀνόματος ἐπάγει τὸ εἶδος τοῦ θηρίου τὸ ἐν τῷ γένει πικρότατον, τὴν ἀσπίδα λέγων· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα, οἷον ἐν γένει τινὶ τὸ τῆς ἀκάνθης ὄνομα προεκθέμενος ἐπάγει τὸ χαλεπώτερον ἐν ταῖς ἀκάνθαις εἶδος, τὴν ῥάμνον εἰπών, ἧς ὀξεῖαι μὲν αἱ ἀκμαί, συνεχεῖς δὲ αἱ προβολαί, βλαπτικαὶ δὲ τῶν προσεγγιζόντων καὶ ἰώδεις αἱ ἀμυχαί. πλὴν ἀλλὰ κἂν ἄκανθα ἦτε, φησίν, κἂν ἐν ἀκάνθαις ἡ ῥάμνος, ὡς ἔτι οἴεσθε ζῆν· οὐ γὰρ ἀληθῶς ζῇ ὁ τὴν ἀληθῆ μὴ ἔχων ζωήν. ἡ ὀργὴ καταπίεται ὑμᾶς· καὶ ὥσπερ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἡ ζωὴ οὐκ ἀληθῶς ἐστιν ὃ λέγεται, ἀλλ' ὀνομάζεται μόνον (τὸ γὰρ τῆς ἀληθινῆς ζωῆς διεζευγμένον, ζωὴ οὐκ ἔστιν)· οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ ὀργή, κἂν τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς τοῦτο καὶ φαίνηται καὶ παρ' αὐτῶν ὀνομάζηται, οὐδὲν μᾶλλόν ἐστιν ὀργή, ἀλλ' ὡς ὀργὴ τοῖς οὕτω τὴν κατὰ τὸ δίκαιον τοῦ θεοῦ ἀντιδιδομένην ἀμοιβὴν ὀνομάζουσι. τοῦτο οὖν ἐστιν τὸ Ὡσεὶ ζῶντας. καὶ Ὡσεὶ ἐν ὀργῇ καταπίεται ὑμᾶς, οὐκ ἐν ἀληθινῇ ζωῇ ὄντας, οὔτε ἀληθῶς ἐκεῖνος ἐν ὀργῇ θεωρούμε νος. εἶτά φησιν· Εὐφρανθήσεται δίκαιος ὅταν ἴδῃ ἐκδίκησιν, οὐχ ὡς ἐπιχαίρων τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐκ παραλλήλου τὰ ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς τὰ ἐκείνων ἀντιτιθεὶς τότε μακαρίσει ἑαυτὸν τῆς εὐβουλίας, ὅτι μὴ ἐν ἐκείνοις ἐγένετο, ἐν οἷς ὁρᾷ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τὴν ἐκδίκησιν. τὴν γὰρ τῶν ἰδίων χει ρῶν καθαρότητα τῇ πρὸς τὸ λύθρον τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἀντ εξετάσει μᾶλλον κατόψεται. Τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ, φησίν, νίψεται ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ. οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλου τινὸς χάριν νιπτόμεθα ἢ ἵνα τῷ ὕδατι τὸν ῥύπον 5.166 ἀποκλυσώμεθα· ὁ δὲ τοῦ αἵματος μολυσμὸς οὐκ ἀποκαθαίρει 5.166 τὸν προϋπάρχοντα ῥύπον, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς γίνεται ῥύπος. οὐκοῦν ὥσπερ τὸ λευκὸν χρῶμα τῇ ἀντιπαραθέσει τοῦ αἵματος ἐκδηλότερον γίνεται, οὕτως καὶ ἡ τῶν χειρῶν τοῦ δικαίου καθαρότης διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἐναντίου συγκρίσεως λαμπροτέρα καθίσταται. τὸ γὰρ νῦν ἀπιστούμενον ὅτι τίς ἐστι τοῖς διὰ τῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς πόνων ἑκουσίως κακοπαθήσασι μετουσία τοῦ κρείττονος τότε διὰ τῆς πείρας φανερωθήσεται· ὁ γὰρ ταῦτα βλέπων ἐρεῖ ὅτι ἦν, ὡς ἔοικεν, τῷ δικαίῳ καρπὸς ἀποκείμενος ἐν τῇ δικαίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ κρίσει. ὁρᾷς οἵας ἐπιβέβη κεν ἀκρωρείας ὁ λόγος; ὅσον ὑπεραίρει τῶν προδιηνυσμένων τοῖς ψαλμοῖς τὸ μέγεθος;

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ιςʹ.