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of poverty. Groaning I go without a muzzle, and I stand in the assembly crying out. Poverty overtook me, and without a physical muzzle, being pressed by pains, I am not able to speak; and at other times, with a crowd standing around, I am forced to cry out. These things are accustomed to happen to those in pain, both for the voice to be restrained by anguish and again to cry aloud when pricked by pains. But "I stand in the assembly crying out" can be understood according to what was said by the apostle, that: "We have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men." 30, 29 I have become a brother to sirens, and a companion to sparrows. Symmachus has rendered it _o_s_t_r_i_c_h_e_s. By sirens he means either songbirds or man-shaped demons. He says these things as one lying outside the city and in the open air. 30, 30 My skin has been greatly darkened. Blackened by the disease or also by the sun. 258 30, 30 and my bones from the heat. were scorched, obviously. 30, 31 But my lyre has turned to mourning, and my song to my weeping. And the things of my gladness have been turned to mourning for me. He says these things, calling upon God for pity. 31, 1 I made a covenant with my eyes and I will not look upon a virgin. He was keeping gospel precision, being before the law. For since he who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery, he was training his eye not to be unduly curious about the beauty of virgins. 31, 2 And what portion has God assigned from above, and what heritage of the Almighty from on high? Why then, he says, after such precision did the mighty and most high God assign to me such a portion and inheritance, I do not know the reasons. 31, 3 Woe, destruction to the unjust and estrangement to the one who commits lawlessness. That Job knows he is not suffering on account of sins is manifest, and his suspicion is indeed true; for it was a trial of virtue, not a recompense for evils. Nevertheless, he does not for this reason add himself to the portion of the impious, but he even pronounces them wretched, declaring woe upon them, destruction and estrangement from God. 259 31, 4 Will he not see my way, and will he not number all my steps? And yet God has been ignorant of nothing concerning me, not even to the barest movements. 31, 5 If I had walked with jesters. Note how he says it is a sin to associate with jesters. Wherefore also the divine apostle advises that jesting be removed from us. 31, 5 Or if my foot has hastened to deceit. The foot of the soul. And he says that: I was never moved to use deceit against anyone. 31, 6 For I stand in a just balance, {and} but the Lord saw my innocence. Scripture also testified these things about him, saying: "And that man was blameless, just, God-fearing." 31, 7 If my foot turned aside from his way. Of piety, obviously. 31, 7 Or if my heart followed my eye. John says that: "Everything in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life." He says therefore that: I never, by attending and praising, lusted. But this is of dispassion, to praise the things in the world worthy of praise, 260 such as the symmetry of bodies and proportions and mixtures of colors and the brilliance of stones and graces, but not to fall into lust for them. 31, 7-8 And if I have touched gifts with my hands, then may I sow and others eat, and may I become rootless upon the earth. Job is not able to say these things now, being poor and having lost his children. Either, therefore, he says this, that before the disaster he had these things, or he said it this way for our instruction, so that we, upon reading, might curse ourselves, saying: If we have taken bribes or have done this thing, we shall suffer that thing. By "hands" he means "actions", instead of: "I did nothing for the sake of a bribe." 31, 9-10 And if my heart has followed another man's wife, if I also lay in wait at her doors, then may my wife also please another, and may my infants be humbled. Since lust, when it has conceived, brings forth sin, even desire itself, he says, I was cutting out from my heart, so that sin might not find a way. And the phrase "then may my wife also please another" on behalf of justice

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πτωχείας. στένων πορεύομαι ἄνευ φιμοῦ, ἕστηκα δὲ ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ κεκραγώς. προκατέλαβέ με ἡ πτωχεία, καὶ ἄνευ φιμοῦ αἰσθητοῦ ὑπὸ τῶν ὀδυνῶν πιεζόμενος λαλεῖν οὐ δύναμαι· ποτὲ δὲ καὶ πλήθους περιεστηκότος ἀναγκάζομαι κράζειν. ταῦτα δὲ φιλεῖ συμβαίνειν τοῖς ὀδυνωμένοις, τὸ καὶ ἐπέχεσθαι τὴν φωνὴν ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνίας καὶ αὖ πάλιν ἀναβοᾶν νυττομένους ὑπὸ τῶν ἀλγηδόνων. τὸ δὲ ἕστηκα ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ κεκραγὼς δύναται νοεῖσθαι κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον τῷ ἀποστόλῳ ὅτι· θέατρον ἐγενήθημεν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀνθρώποις. 30, 29 ἀδελφὸς γέγονα σειρήνων, ἑταῖρος δὲ στρουθῶν. ὁ Σύμμαχος _σ_τ_ρ_ο_υ_θ_ο_κ_α_μ_ή_λ_ω_ν ἐκδέδωκεν. σειρῆνας δὲ λέγει ἢ ᾠδικοὺς ὄρνεις ἢ ἀνθρωπόμορφα δαιμόνια. φησὶ δὲ ταῦτα ὡς ἔξω πόλεως καὶ αἴθριος κείμενος. 30, 30 τὸ δέρμα μου ἐσκότωται μεγάλως. μελανθὲν ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου ἢ καὶ τοῦ ἡλίου. 258 30, 30 τὰ δὲ ὀστᾶ μου ἀπὸ καύματος. συνεφρύγησαν δηλονότι. 30, 31 ἀπέβη δὲ εἰς πένθος μοῦ ἡ κιθάρα, ὁ δὲ ψαλμός μου εἰς κλαυθμὸν ἐμοί. ἐστράφη δέ μοι τὰ τῆς εὐφροσύνης εἰς πένθος. ταῦτα δέ φησιν εἰς οἶκτον τὸν θεὸν ἐκκαλούμενος. 31, 1 διαθήκην δὲ διεθέμην τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου καὶ οὐ συνήσω ἐπὶ παρθένον. εὐαγγελικὴν ἀκρίβειαν ἐφύλαττε πρὸ νόμου τυγχάνων. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ ἐμβλέψας εἰς γυναῖκα πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι αὐτῆς ἤδη ἐμοίχευσεν, ἐπαιδαγώγει τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν εἰς τὸ μὴ τὰς ὥρας τῶν παρθένων περιεργάζεσθαι. 31, 2 καὶ τί ἐμέρισεν ὁ θεὸς ἐπάνωθεν καὶ κληρονομία ἱκανοῦ ἐξ ὑψίστου; διὰ τί οὖν, φησίν, μετὰ τοσαύτην ἀκρίβειαν τοιαύτην μοι μερίδα καὶ κληρονομίαν ὁ δυνατὸς καὶ ὕψιστος θεὸς ἐπεμέρισε, τοὺς λόγους ἀγνοῶ. 31, 3 οὐαί, ἀπώλεια τῷ ἀδίκῳ καὶ ἀλλοτρίωσις τῷ ποιοῦντι ἀνομίαν. ὅτι μὲν οἶδεν οὐ δι' ἁμαρτίας πάσχων ὁ Ἰώβ, πρόδηλον, καὶ ἀληθής γε ἡ ὑπόνοια· πεῖρα γὰρ ἦν ἀρετῆς, οὐ κακῶν ἀνταπόδοσις. πλὴν οὐ διὰ τοῦτο προστίθεται τῇ μερίδι τῶν ἀσεβῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταλανίζει τούτους τὸ οὐαὶ αὐτοῖς ἐπιλέγων, τὴν ἀπώλειαν καὶ τὴν ἐκ θεοῦ ἀλλοτρίωσιν. 259 31, 4 οὐχὶ αὐτὸς ὄψεται ὁδόν μου, καὶ πάντα τὰ διαβήματά μου ἐξαριθμήσεται; καίτοιγε οὐδὲν τῶν κατ' ἐμὲ θεὸς ἠγνόησεν οὐδὲ μέχρι τῶν ψιλῶν κινημάτων. 31, 5 εἰ δὲ ἤμην πεπορευμένος μετὰ γελοιαστῶν. σημείωσαι, ὡς ἁμαρτίαν λέγει εἶναι τὸ συνεῖναι γελοιασταῖς. διὸ καὶ τὴν εὐτραπελίαν αἴρεσθαι ἀφ' ἡμῶν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος παραινεῖ. 31, 5 εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐσπούδασεν ὁ πούς μου εἰς δόλον. ὁ ποὺς ὁ τῆς ψυχῆς. λέγει δὲ ὅτι· οὐκ ἐκινήθην ποτὲ εἰς τὸ δόλῳ χρήσασθαι κατά τινος. 31, 6 ἵσταμαι γὰρ ἐν ζυγῷ δικαίῳ, {καὶ} εἶδεν δὲ κύριος τὴν ἀκακίαν μου. ταῦτα καὶ ἡ γραφὴ προσεμαρτύρησεν αὐτῷ λέγουσα· καὶ ἦν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος ἄκακος δίκαιος θεοσεβής. 31, 7 εἰ ἐξέκλινεν ὁ πούς μου ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ. τῆς κατ' εὐσέβειαν δηλονότι. 31, 7 εἰ δὲ καὶ τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ μου ἐπηκολούθησεν ἡ καρδία μου. φησὶν ὁ Ἰωάννης ὅτι· πᾶν τὸ ἐν κόσμῳ, ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου. λέγει οὖν ὅτι· οὐδέποτε προσσχὼν καὶ ἐπαινέσας ἐπεθύμησα. ἀπαθείας δὲ τοῦτο, ἐπαινεῖν μὲν τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ ἐπαί 260 νου ἄξια οἷον συμμετρίαν σωμάτων καὶ ἀναλογίας καὶ μίξεις χρωμάτων καὶ λίθων αὐγὰς καὶ χάριτας, μὴ πίπτειν δὲ αὐτῶν εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν. 31, 78 εἰ δὲ καὶ ταῖς χερσί μου ἡψάμην δώρων, σπείραιμι ἄρα καὶ ἄλλοι φάγοισαν, ἄρριζος δὲ γενοίμην ἐπὶ γῆς. ταῦτα νῦν ὁ Ἰὼβ λέγειν οὐ δύναται πένης ὢν καὶ τὰ τέκνα ἀποβεβληκώς. ἢ οὖν τοῦτο λέγει, ὅτι πρὸ τῆς συμφορᾶς ταῦτα εἶχεν, ἢ πρὸς διδασκαλίαν ἡμετέραν οὕτως εἶπεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς ἀναγινώσκοντες ἑαυτοῖς ἐπαρώμεθα λέγοντες· εἰ ἐδωροδοκήσαμεν ἢ τόδε ἐποιήσαμεν, τόδε πεισόμεθα. χερσὶ δὲ ταῖς πράξεσι λέγει, ἀντὶ τοῦ· οὐδὲν διὰ δωροδοκίαν ἔπραξα. 31, 910 εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐξηκολούθησεν ἡ καρδία μου γυναικὶ ἀνδρὸς ἑτέρου, εἰ καὶ ἐγκάθετος ἐγενόμην ἐπὶ θύραις αὐτῆς, ἀρέσαι ἄρα καὶ ἡ γυνή μου ἑτέρῳ, τὰ δὲ νήπιά μου ταπεινωθείη. ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἐπιθυμία συλλαβοῦσα τίκτει τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ αὐτήν, φησίν, τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐκ τῆς καρδίας μου ἐξέκοπτον, ἐφ' ᾧ μὴ λαβεῖν ὁδὸν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. τὸ δὲ ἀρέσαι ἄρα καὶ ἡ γυνή μου ἑτέρῳ ὑπὲρ δικαιοσύνης