91

the enslavement of the old men and of the young men and of the maidens, he added: 22. You have called as to a day of festival those dwelling round about me; and there was not in the day of the Lord’s wrath one who was saved or left behind. For fearing the assault of the enemies, they fled to the city as to a strong place; there, however, they were all captured; and they were accustomed to all run together there at the time of the festivals; for which reason he compared the capture to the festival. "I have nourished, and I have prevailed and I have multiplied, and the enemy has consumed all things." My labor, he says, was in vain; for I was made bereft of all my nurslings. Here he concluded the second Lamentation. CHAPTER 3. And he begins the third thus: 1. I am the man that sees poverty. For this prophet, differently from all others, prophesied the time of the calamities; he calls poverty, therefore, the lack of good things. 81.793 By the rod of his anger, (2.) He has taken me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light. He appropriates the sufferings of the city, and calls the hardship darkness. 3. Surely against me he has turned; he has changed his hand all the day. For formerly providing me with good things, now he brings chastisements. For this is what "He has changed his hand" means. 4. He has made my flesh and my skin old; he has broken my bones. For despondency does all these things. 5. He has built against me, and has compassed me. Instead of, I cannot escape the evils brought upon me; and it also indicates the outer wall, which the enemies built when they besieged. 6. My head has travailed, he has set me in dark places, as dead men of old. Through these things he alludes to the bitter slavery; for after gouging out the eyes of Zedekiah, the Babylonian handed him over to the mill; and this the following verses also indicate. 7. He has made the yoke of my neck heavy. For he forced me to serve the most cruel masters. 8. And even when I shall cry out and shout. For he does not receive the prayer of me when I entreat. 9. He has built up my ways with marble, and has made my paths disappear. For I am hemmed in by evils, which I cannot escape. 10. 11. He has become to me a lurking bear, as a lion in secret places. He pursued me when I had departed, and confounded me. He showed the justice of the chastisement; for I, he says, departed first; then he brought punishment. However, the more ancient prophets also make mention of these predictions. He has made me desolate; (12.) He has bent his bow, and set me up as a mark for the arrow. Those who shoot at a mark, and who practice this art, are accustomed to send not two and three and four, but many arrows. Through these images he has shown the succession of calamity. And he speaks of the pain of the soul; for he calls the thoughts kidneys; and that he became a cause of rejoicing to his enemies, who continued singing of the calamities brought upon her; For he stripped me, he says, of all strength. For this is what is meant: 81.796 16. He has cast out my teeth with a pebble, and has fed me with ashes. But the Syrian says, With a stone, he deprived me both of my former peace, and of all kinds of good things. 18. And I said, My victory has perished, and my hope from the Lord. I have renounced, he says, better hopes, but nevertheless by the continuous memory of grievous things I waste away my soul, and I draw the Master to pity. 22. The mercies of the Lord are many, that we have not failed, because his compassions have not been consumed. For if he had brought a punishment commensurate with the sin, not even we would have escaped the slaughter. Then the prophet for them

91

τῶν γεγηρακότων καὶ τῶν μειρακίων καὶ τῶν παρθένων τὸν ἀνδραποδισμὸν, ἐπήγαγεν· κβʹ. Ἐκάλεσας ὡς εἰς ἡμέραν ἑορτῆς παρ οικίαν μου κυκλόθεν· καὶ οὐκ ἐγένετο ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς Κυρίου ἀνασωζόμενος, καὶ καταλελειμ μένος. Τῶν γὰρ πολεμίων τὴν ἔφοδον δείσαντες, ὡς εἰς ὀχυρὰν τὴν πόλιν κατέφυγον· ἐκεῖ μέντοι πάντες ἑάλωσαν· εἰώθασι δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸν τῶν ἑορτῶν καιρὸν ἐκεῖ πάντες συντρέχειν· οὗ δὴ χάριν τὴν ἅλωσιν ἀπείκασε τῇ ἑορτῇ. "Ἐξέθρεψα, καὶ ἐπεκράτησα καὶ ἐπλήθυνα, καὶ ὁ ἐχθρὸς πάντα συνετέλεσε." Μάταιός μου, φησὶν, ὁ πόνος ἐγένετο· τῶν τροφίμων γὰρ πάντων ἔρημος ἐγενόμην. Ἐνταῦθα τὸν δεύτερον συνεπέρανε Θρῆνον. ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Γʹ. Ἄρχεται δὲ οὕτω τοῦ τρίτου· αʹ. Ἐγὼ ἀνὴρ ὁ βλέπων πτωχείαν. ∆ιαφε ρόντως γὰρ οὗτος ὁ προφήτης παρὰ πάντας τῶν συμφορῶν τὸν καιρὸν προεφήτευσε· πτωχείαν τοί νυν καλεῖ τὴν ἔνδειαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν. 81.793 Ἐν ῥάβδῳ θυμοῦ, (βʹ.) Παρέλαβέ με, καὶ ἀπ ήγαγέ με εἰς σκότος καὶ οὐ φῶς. Οἰκειοῦται τὰ κατὰ τῆς πόλεως πάθη, καὶ καλεῖ σκότος τὴν δυσκληρίαν. γʹ. Πλὴν ἐν ἐμοὶ ἐπέτρεψεν· ἤλλαξε χεῖρα αὑτοῦ ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν. Πάλαι γάρ μοι τὰ ἀγαθὰ χορηγῶν, νῦν τὰς παιδείας ἐπάγει. Τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τὸ, "Ἤλλαξε χεῖρα αὑτοῦ." δʹ. Ἐπαλαίωσε σάρκας μου, καὶ δέρμα μου· ὀστᾶ μου συνέτριψε. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα ἡ ἀθυμία ποιεῖ. εʹ. Ἀνῳκοδόμησε κατ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ ἐκύκλωσέ με. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, διαφυγεῖν οὐ δύναμαι τὰ ἐπενε χθέντα κακά· δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τὸν ἔξωθεν περίβολον, ὃν οἱ πολέμιοι πολιορκήσαντες ἐδείμαντο. ϛʹ. Κεφαλήν μου ἐμόχθησεν, ἐκάθισέ μου ἐν σκοτεινοῖς, ὡς νεκροὺς αἰῶνος. Τὴν πι κρὰν δουλείαν διὰ τούτων αἰνίττεται· καὶ γὰρ τοῦ Σεδεκίου τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁ Βαβυλώνιος ἐξορύξας, μύλωνι παρέδωκε· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐπαγόμενα δηλοῖ. ζʹ. Ἐβάρυνε τὸν ζυγὸν τοῦ τραχήλου μου. Ὠμοτάτοις γάρ με δεσπόταις δουλεύειν ἠνάγκασε. ηʹ. Καί γε ὅτι κεκράξομαι, καὶ βοήσω. Οὐ δέχεται γάρ μου δεομένου τὴν δέησιν. θʹ. Ἀνῳκοδόμησε τὰς ὁδούς μου ἐν μαρμάρῳ, καὶ τὰς τρίβους μου ἠφάνισε. Συνέχομαι γὰρ κακοῖς, ἃ διαφυγεῖν οὐ δύναμαι. ιʹ. ιαʹ. Ἄρκος ἐνεδρεύουσα ἐγένετό μοι αὐ τὸς, ὡς λέων ἐν κρυφίοις. Κατεδίωξέ με ἀφ εστηκότα, καὶ διετάραξέ με. Ἔδειξε τῆς παιδείας τὸ δίκαιον· ἐγὼ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀπέστην προτέρα· εἶθ' οὕτως αὐτὸς τιμωρίαν ἐπήνεγκε. Τούτων μέντοι τῶν προῤῥήσεων καὶ οἱ ἀρχαιότεροι μέμνηνται προ φῆται. Ἔθετό με ἠφανισμένην· (ιβʹ.) Ἐνέτεινε τὸ τόξον αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐστήλωσέ με ὡς σκοπὸν εἰς βέλος. Οἱ κατὰ σκοποῦ βάλλοντες, καὶ ταύτην μελετῶντες τὴν τέχνην, οὐ δύο καὶ τρία καὶ τέσσαρα, ἀλλὰ πολλὰ πέμπειν εἰώθασι βέλη. Τὸ ἐπάλληλον τῆς συμφορᾶς διὰ τῶν εἰκόνων δεδήλωκε. Λέγει δὲ καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ὀδύνην· νεφροὺς γὰρ τοὺς λογι σμοὺς καλεῖ· καὶ ὅτι ἐπίχαρτος ἐγένετο τοῖς ἐχθροῖς, οἳ καὶ τὰς ἐπενεχθείσας αὐτῇ συμφορὰς ᾄδοντες διετέλουν· Ἐγύμνωσε γάρ με, φησὶ, πάσης ἰσχύος. Τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τό· 81.796 ιϛʹ. Ἐξέβαλεν ἐν ψήφῳ τοὺς ὀδόντας μου, καὶ ἐψώμισέ με σποδόν. Ὁ δὲ Σύρος, Ἐν πέτρᾳ, λέγει, ἐστέρησέ με καὶ τῆς προτέρας εἰρήνης, καὶ τῶν παντοδαπῶν ἀγαθῶν. ιηʹ. Καὶ εἶπον, Ἀπώλετο νίκη μου, καὶ ἡ ἐλπίς μου ἀπὸ Κυρίου. Ἀπηγόρευσα, φησὶ, τὰς χρηστοτέρας ἐλπίδας, ἀλλ' ὅμως τῇ συνεχεῖ τῶν ἀνιαρῶν μνήμῃ τὴν ψυχὴν κατατήκω, καὶ εἰς ἔλεον τὸν ∆εσπότην ἐφέλκομαι. κβʹ. Τὰ ἐλέη Κυρίου πολλὰ ὅτι οὐκ ἐξελί πομεν, ὅτι οὐ συνετελέσθησαν οἱ οἰκτιρμοὶ αὐτοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ σύμμετρον τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ τὴν τιμω ρίαν ἐπήγαγεν, οὐκ ἂν οὐδὲ ἡμεῖς διεφύγομεν τὴν σφαγήν. Εἶτα ὁ προφήτης τὴν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν