84

commandments of life, give ear to know prudence. What is it, Israel, that you are in the land of your enemies? You have grown old in a foreign land; you have been defiled with the dead, you have been counted with those in Hades. What is new? he says; what is strange? My people who were called, the renowned, the much-talked-of, a slave instead of free, and living together with foreign and impious men, are like the dead because of the excess of evils. Then he teaches the causes of these things. 12, 13. You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom. If you had walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in peace for ever. You yourself, he says, have become the author of your present evils; for though you should have used as your guide the law, which the fountain of wisdom brought to you, you followed vain reasonings. 14. Learn where there is prudence, where there is strength, where there is understanding, that you may know at the same time where there is length of days and life, where there is light for the eyes, and peace. Now at least, since not before, seek and know who is the provider of these good things. 15. Who has found her place? And who has entered into her treasuries? That is, of prudence. 16-18. Where are the princes of the nations, who rule over the beasts on the earth, who make sport of the birds of the air, and who hoard up silver and gold, in which men trust, and there is no end to their acquiring, who fashion silver, and are anxious, and there is no finding of their works? He makes a comparison of piety with wealth and power, and exhorts to remember the most lawless kings, who had no satiety of wealth. These men, he says, also mastered the beasts and the birds through the art of hunting. And he also teaches their end. 19-21. They have vanished, and gone down to Hades, and others have risen in their place. Younger men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth; but the way of knowledge they have not known. Nor have they understood its paths, nor have they laid hold of it. And those men, he says, were given over to corruption, and their descendants were numbered among the living, and partook of the splendor of perceptible light; but they did not receive a ray of understanding and the knowledge of God. And he also enumerates the Canaanites, who were proud of their wisdom, and the Idumeans, and the Ishmaelites; for Teman is Idumea, and Hagar is the mother of Ishmael; these 81.772 he calls story-tellers; for they are accustomed to speak in parables. But nevertheless, not even these knew the way of wisdom; for they continued serving impiety. 24, 25. O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession! It is great and has no end, it is high and immeasurable. Do not think, he says, that this is the temple of God, which Solomon built; for the temple of God is of immense size, and immeasurable, and moreover also indestructible; for it has no end. Then having mentioned the giants, who had become much-talked-of for the size of their bodies, he added 27, 28. These God did not choose, nor did he give them the way of knowledge. And they perished because of their own lack of counsel. Yet he goes through these things, wishing to show that he preferred them above all nations, and to them alone he gave a written law, and appointed prophets, and deemed them worthy of all care, and later, however, having become man, he also came to them; for indicating this, he teaches through what follows. 29. Who has gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? That is, wisdom. 30. Who has gone over the sea, and found her, and will buy her for pure gold? It is not, he says, for sale, nor is it simply set before merchants. 31. There is no one who knows her way, nor anyone who thinks of her path. It surpasses, he says, human reasoning. 32. But he who knows all things knows her, and has found her by his understanding. He has used the word "found" in a human way;

84

ἐντολὰς ζωῆς, ἐνωτίσασθε γνῶναι φρόνησιν. Τί ἐστιν, Ἰσραὴλ, τί ὅτι ἐν τῇ γῇ τῶν ἐχθρῶν εἶ; Ἐπαλαιώθης, ἐν γῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ· συνεμιάνθης τοῖς νεκροῖς, προσ ελογίσθης μετὰ τῶν εἰς ᾅδου. Τί τὸ καινόν; φησί· τί τὸ παράδοξον; Ὁ ἐμὸς χρηματίσας λαὸς, ὁ περι φανὴς, ὁ πολυθρύλλητος, δοῦλος ἀντ' ἐλευθέρου, καὶ ἀλλοφύλοις ἀνδράσι καὶ δυσσεβέσι συμβιοτεύων, νεκροῖς ἔοικε διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν κακῶν. Εἶτα τὰ τούτων αἴτια διδάσκει. ιβʹ, ιγʹ. Ἐγκατέλιπες τὴν πηγὴν τῆς σοφίας. Τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰ ἐπορεύθης, κατῴκεις ἂν ἐν εἰρήνῃ τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον. Σαυτῷ, φησὶ, πρό ξενος ἐγένου τῶν παρόντων κακῶν· δέον γάρ σε ποδηγῷ χρήσασθαι τῷ νόμῳ, ὃν ἡ τῆς σοφίας σοι πηγὴ προσενήνοχε, ματαίοις ἠκολούθησας λογισ μοῖς. ιδʹ. Μάθε, ποῦ ἐστι φρόνησις, ποῦ ἐστιν ἰσχὺς, ποῦ ἐστι σύνεσις, τοῦ γνῶναι ἅμα ποῦ ἐστι μακροβίωσις καὶ ζωὴ, ποῦ ἐστι φῶς ὀφθαλμῶν, καὶ εἰρήνη. Νῦν γοῦν, ἐπειδήπερ οὐ πρότερον, ζήτησον καὶ γνῶθι, τίς ὁ τούτων χορηγὸς τῶν ἀγαθῶν. ιεʹ. Τίς εὗρε τόπον αὐτῆς· καὶ τίς εἰσῆλ θεν εἰς τοὺς θησαυροὺς αὐτῆς; Τουτέστι, τῆς φρονήσεως. ιϛʹ-ιηʹ. Ποῦ εἰσιν οἱ ἄρχοντες τῶν ἐθνῶν, οἱ κυριεύοντες τῶν θηρίων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, οἱ ἐν τοῖς ὀρνέοις τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐμπαίζοντες, καὶ τὸ ἀργύριον θησαυρίζοντες, καὶ τὸ χρυσίον, ᾧ ἐπεποίθεισαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι τέλος τῆς κτήσεως αὐτῶν, οἱ τὸ ἀργύριον τεκταί νοντες, καὶ μεριμνῶντες, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐξεύρεσις τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν; Σύγκρισιν εὐσεβείας ποιεῖται καὶ πλούτου καὶ δυναστείας, καὶ παρακελεύεται τῶν ἀνομωτάτων ἀναμνησθῆναι βασιλέων, οἳ κόρον οὐκ ἔσχον τοῦ πλούτου. Οὗτοι δὲ, φησὶ, καὶ τῶν θηρίων καὶ τῶν ὀρνέων διὰ τῆς θηρευτικῆς ἐκράτησαν τέχνης. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ καὶ τούτων τὸ τέλος. ιθʹ-καʹ. Ἠφανίσθησαν, καὶ εἰς ᾄδου κατ έβησαν, καὶ ἄλλοι ἀνέστησαν ἀντ' αὐτῶν. Νεώτεροι εἶδον φῶς, καὶ κατῴκησαν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· ὁδὸν δὲ ἐπιστήμης οὐκ ἔγνωσαν. Οὐδὲ συνῆκαν τρίβους αὐτῆς, οὐδὲ ἀντελάβοντο αὐτῆς. Κἀκεῖ νοι, φησὶ, φθορᾷ παρεδόθησαν, καὶ οἱ ἐξ ἐκείνων τοῖς μὲν ζῶσι συνηριθμήθησαν, καὶ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ φωτὸς τῆς αἴγλης μετέλαχον· οὐκ ἐδέξαντο δὲ συν έσεως καὶ θεογνωσίας ἀκτῖνα. Ἀπαριθμεῖται δὲ καὶ τοὺς μεγαφρονοῦντας ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ Χαναναίους, καὶ Ἰδουμαίους, καὶ Ἰσμαηλίτας· Θαιμὰν γάρ ἐστιν Ἰδουμαία, Ἄγαρ δὲ μήτηρ τοῦ Ἰσμαήλ· τού 81.772 τους καλεῖ μυθολόγους· παραβολικῶς γὰρ εἰώθασι διαλέγεσθαι. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲ οὗτοι τῆς σοφίας ἔγνω σαν τὴν ὁδόν· τῇ γὰρ ἀσεβείᾳ δουλεύοντες διετέ λεσαν. κδʹ, κεʹ. Ὦ Ἰσραὴλ, ὡς μέγας ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ εὐμήκης ὁ τόπος τῆς κτήσεως αὐ τοῦ! Μέγας, καὶ οὐκ ἔχει τελευτὴν, ὑψηλὸς καὶ ἀμέτρητος. Μὴ τοῦτον, φησὶ, νόμιζε εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν νεὼν, ὃν Σολομὼν κατεσκεύασεν· ὁ γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ ναὸς παμμεγέθης τίς ἐστι, καὶ ἀμέτρητος, καὶ μέντοι καὶ ἀνώλεθρος· οὐ γὰρ ἔχει τελευτήν. Εἶτα τῶν γιγάντων μνημονεύσας, τῶν ἐπὶ μεγέθει σώμα τος πολυθρυλλήτων γεγενημένων, ἐπήγαγεν κζʹ, κηʹ. Οὐ τούτους ἐξελέξατο ὁ Θεὸς, οὐδὲ ὁδὸν ἐπιστήμης ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς. Καὶ ἀπώλοντο διὰ τὴν ἀβουλίαν αὑτῶν. Ταῦτα μέντοι διεξέρχεται, δεῖξαι βουλόμενος, ὡς πάντων αὐτοὺς προτετίμηκε τῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ μόνοις τε νόμον ἔδωκεν ἔγγραφον, καὶ προφήτας ἐπέστησε, καὶ πάσης ἐπιμελείας ἠξίωσεν, ὕστερον μέντοι καὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐνανθρω πίσας ἀφίκετο· τοῦτο γὰρ δηλῶν διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς δι δάσκει. κθʹ. Τίς ἀνέβη εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ ἔλαβεν αὐτὴν, καὶ κατεβίβασεν αὐτὴν ἐκ τῶν νεφελῶν; Τουτέστι, τὴν σοφίαν λʹ. Τίς διέβη πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ εὗρεν αὐτὴν, καὶ οἴσει αὐτὴν χρυσίου καθαροῦ; Οὐκ ἔστι, φησὶν, ὠνητὴ, οὐδὲ ἐμπόροις ἁπλῶς προκει μένη λαʹ. Οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ γινώσκων τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτῆς, οὐδὲ ὁ ἐνθυμούμενος τὴν τρίβον αὐτῆς. Ὑπερ βαίνει, φησὶ, τὸν ἀνθρώπινον λογισμόν. λβʹ. Ἀλλ' ὁ εἰδὼς τὰ πάντα γινώσκει αὐτὴν, καὶ ἐξεῦρεν αὐτὴν τῇ συνέσει αὑτοῦ. Τὸ ἐξεῦρεν ἀνθρωπίνως τέθεικε·