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for me, that you are my defender, Lord. Into your hands I will commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth. From what I experienced long ago, I am convinced that even now you will deliver me from every snare prepared for me by my enemies. For as long as I am in this mortal life, I know I am at war; and until my last breath I have been in agony also on account of the plots of my enemies. But I am convinced that having hung my hope on you, I will not be put to shame forever. And he has named him God of truth, opportunely and suitably to what is being said; for it is not possible for one who has hoped in you to be disappointed, nor one who has believed in your promises. You have hated those who observe vanities for naught. But I have hoped in the Lord; I will rejoice 23.268 and be glad in your mercy; Rightly you rejoice in the lovers of truth, and these you accept; wherefore it has been said: The Lord seeks truth; but those who are concerned with vanity you rightly turn away from and hate, as those pursuing falsehood. For vanity is that which is full of falsehood; wherefore you exhort, saying: O sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? why do you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? But I, having turned away from vain things, have hoped in you alone, my Lord; wherefore I am convinced that I have not committed myself to you in vain. For the end of hope in you is joy and gladness. Because you looked upon my humiliation, you saved my soul from necessities. And you did not shut me up in the hands of enemies; you set my feet in a broad place. Already at another time you also looked upon my humiliation; and often, when my soul fell into necessities imposed upon it by enemies, and I was doing nothing more than humbling myself and afflicting myself through supplications to you, the God, you yourself, my champion and defender, not passing me by, but accepting my humiliation, saved my soul from necessities, and did not shut me up in the hands of enemies; and wondrously, when I was already inside the nets, and handed over to the hands of the enemies, you seized me and set me free, and set my feet in a wide and spacious place, allowing me to walk freely wherever I wish. And history teaches that, though often caught by Saul, and indeed even confined in the cave, he escaped his hands, and at another time, having feigned madness before the Gittites. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am afflicted; my eye is troubled with grief, my soul, and my belly. I beseech, he says, and I pray to be shown mercy, because I am afflicted; for which Aquila says: Because it is narrow for me. For I walk the narrow and afflicted way because of you, and your promises. But also the eye of my soul, the mind itself and the reasoning faculty in me, was troubled with grief; for which Aquila says: My eye was dimmed in provocation; and Symmachus: My eye was clouded because of provocation. For when I was provoked, he says, and stirred up anger in myself, daring to do things worthy of anger and wrath, then confusion and cloudiness and dimness seized the reasoning faculty of my soul. But also my soul, he says, and my belly, it too was clouded and troubled at the time of my provocation. And just as we have understood "eye of the soul" as a metaphor for the physical eye, so also you would not be wrong in calling its "belly" the faculty of memory, in which, as in a womb and belly, it is accustomed to store all nourishment from words. Wherefore it has been said somewhere: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. And the Savior too: Whoever drinks of the 23.269 water that I shall give him, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly, springing up to eternal life. And here, therefore, the Savior called the faculty of memory, or even the governing principle of the soul itself, "belly." Having been clouded, therefore, the

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μοι, ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ ὑπερασπιστής μου, Κύριε. Εἰς χεῖράς σου παραθήσομαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου· ἐλυτρώσω με, Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς τῆς ἀληθείας. Ἐξ ὧν ἐπειράθην πάλαι πρότερον, πέπεισμαι, ὅτι καὶ νῦν ἐξάξεις με ἐκ πάσης παγίδος τῆς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν μοι κατασκευαζομένης. Ἕως γὰρ ἐν τῷ βίῳ τῷ θνητῷ τυγχάνω, οἶδα πολεμούμενος· καὶ μέχρις ἐσχάτης ἀναπνοῆς ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ κατέστην καὶ διὰ τὰς τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιβουλάς. Ἀλλὰ πέπεισμαι, ὅτι ἐπὶ σοὶ ἀναρτήσας τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ἐλπίδα, οὐ καταισχυνθήσομαι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Θεὸν δὲ ἀληθείας εὐκαίρως καὶ καταλλήλως τοῖς λεγομένοις ὠνόμασεν· οὐ γὰρ ἔστι διαψευσθῆναι τὸν ἐπὶ σὲ ἠλπικότα, οὐδὲ τὸν ἐπὶ ταῖς σαῖς ἐπαγγελίαις πεπιστευκότα. Ἐμίσησας τοὺς διαφυλάσσοντας ματαιότητας διακενῆς. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἤλπισα· ἀγαλ 23.268 λιάσομαι καὶ εὐφρανθήσομαι ἐπὶ τῷ ἐλέει σου· Εἰκότως χαίρεις μὲν τοῖς τῆς ἀληθείας ἐρασταῖς, καὶ τούτους προσίεσαι· διὸ λέλεκται· Ἀληθείας ἐκζητεῖ Κύριος· τοὺς δὲ τὴν ματαιότητα περιέποντας εἰκότως ἀποτρέπῃ καὶ μισεῖς, ὡς ἂν τὸ ψεῦδος μεταδιώκοντας. Ματαιότης γὰρ τὸ ψεύδους γέμον· διὸ παραινεῖς λέγων· Υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἕως πότε βαρυκάρδιοι; ἵνα τί ἀγαπᾶτε ματαιότητα, καὶ ζητεῖσθε ψεῦδος; Ἐγὼ δὲ, ἀποστραφεὶς τὰ μάταια, ἐπὶ σὲ μόνον τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ Κύριον ἤλπισα· διὸ πέπεισμαι, οὐκ εἰκῇ σοι ἐμαυτὸν παρατεθεῖσθαι. Τὸ γὰρ τέλος τῆς εἰς σὲ ἐλπίδος χαρὰ καὶ εὐφροσύνη. Ὅτι ἐπεῖδες τὴν ταπείνωσίν μου, ἔσωσας ἐκ τῶν ἀναγκῶν τὴν ψυχήν μου. Καὶ οὐ συνέκλεισάς με εἰς χεῖρας ἐχθρῶν· ἔστησας ἐν εὐρυχώρῳ τοὺς πόδας μου. Ἤδη καὶ ἄλλοτε ἐπεῖδες τὴν ταπείνωσίν μου· πολλάκις τε περιπεσούσης τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς ἀνάγκαις ταῖς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιτεθείσαις αὐτῇ, ἐμοῦ τε μηδὲν πλέον πράττοντος ἢ ταπεινοῦντος ἐμαυτὸν καὶ κακοῦντος διὰ τῶν πρὸς σὲ τὸν Θεὸν ἱκετηρίων, σὺ αὐτὸς ὁ ἐμὸς ὑπέρμαχος καὶ ὑπερασπιστὴς, μὴ ἀντιπαρελθών με, ἀποδεξάμενος δὲ τὴν ἐμὴν ταπείνωσιν, ἔσωσας ἐκ τῶν ἀναγκῶν τὴν ψυχήν μου, καὶ οὐ συνέκλεισάς με εἰς χεῖρας ἐχθρῶν· παραδόξως δέ με εἴσω δικτύων ἤδη γενόμενον, καὶ ταῖς χερσὶ τῶν ἐχθρῶν παραδεδομένον ἁρπάσας ἐλεύθερον ἀνῆκας, καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου ἐν πλατύτητι καὶ εὐρυχωρίᾳ κατέστησας, συγχωρήσας ἄφετόν με βαδίζειν ὅποι καὶ βούλομαι. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ καὶ ἡ ἱστορία, ὅτι, πολλάκις καταληφθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Σαοὺλ, καὶ μέντοι καὶ ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ καθειρχθεὶς, τὰς ἐκείνου χεῖρας διέφυγε, καὶ ἄλλοτε τοὺς Γετθαίους παραπληξίαν σχηματισάμενος. Ἐλέησόν με, Κύριε, ὅτι θλίβομαι· ἐταράχθη ἐν θυμῷ ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου, ἡ ψυχή μου, καὶ ἡ γαστήρ μου. Ἱκετεύω, φησὶ, καὶ δέομαι ἐλεηθῆναι, ὅτι θλίβομαι· ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ Ἀκύλας φησίν· Ὅτι στενὸν ἐμοί. Τὴν γὰρ στενὴν καὶ τεθλιμμένην ὁδεύω διὰ σὲ, καὶ τὰς σὰς ἐπαγγελίας. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ τῆς ψυχῆς μου ὀφθαλμὸς, αὐτὸς ὁ νοῦς καὶ τὸ ἐν ἐμοὶ λογιστικὸν, ἐταράχθη ἐν θυμῷ· ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας φησίν· Ηὐχμώθη ἐν παροργισμῷ ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος· Ἐθολώθη διὰ παροργισμὸν ὀφθαλμός μου. Ὅτε γὰρ παρώργισα, φησὶ, καὶ θυμὸν ἐμαυτῷ ἐπήγειρα, τολμήσας διαπράξασθαι τὰ θυμοῦ καὶ ὀργῆς ἄξια, τὸ τηνικαῦτα σύγχυσις καὶ θόλωσις καὶ αὐχμὸς τὸ λογιστικὸν τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς κατείληφεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου, φησὶ, καὶ ἡ γαστήρ μου, καὶ αὐτὴ ἐθολώθη καὶ ἐταράχθη κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ παροργισμοῦ μου. Ὥσπερ δὲ ὀφθαλμὸν ψυχῆς κατὰ μεταφορὰν τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ νενοήκαμεν, οὕτω καὶ τὴν γαστέρα αὐτῆς οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις εἰπὼν τὴν δύναμιν τὴν μνημονικὴν, ἐν ᾗ ὥσπερ ἐν κοιλίᾳ καὶ γαστρὶ πάσας τὰς διὰ λόγων τροφὰς ἐναποτίθεσθαι εἴωθε. ∆ιὸ λέλεκταί που· Εὐλόγει, ἡ ψυχή μου, τὸν Κύριον, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐντός μου τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ὁ Σωτὴρ δέ· Ὃς ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ 23.269 ὕδατος, οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος, ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Κἀνταῦθα τοίνυν τὴν μνημονικὴν δύναμιν, ἢ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς, κοιλίαν ὠνόμασεν ὁ Σωτήρ. Θολωθεὶς τοίνυν τὸν