109

transparent. 38, 38 But I have joined it like a cube to a stone. And I have made the most delicate nature of heaven so solid, as if someone fitted a cube to a stone. A cube is that which from a square at the base or a circular one ends in a point, so that he may say: I have made it stable and firm. 38, 39-40 Will you hunt prey for lions, and will you fill the souls of dragons? 345 For they are afraid in their lairs, and they sit in the woods lying in ambush. Who has granted to the lion its hunting nature? Who fills the dragons with food? Who taught the wild beasts to lie in ambush and to attack in order to find food easily? And the phrase, "for they are afraid in their lairs," means either that the beasts, fearing men—the creation in the image of God—withdraw to thickets and woods and impassable places, or that the cattle, having heard a lion roaring, tremble; for they say that the lion first stuns its prey with its roar and then attacks it. 38, 41 But who has prepared food for the raven? For his young have cried to the Lord, wandering about and seeking food. But God also provides for the birds; for from the part he has signified the whole. There is a story that the raven is without natural affection and leaves its young unattended, but they, being pressed by need, use a certain natural cry to God, and the Lover of Good protects and feeds them by his own ineffable wisdom, which David also praised, saying: "and to the young of the ravens that call upon him." 39, 13 Have you known the time of birth of the wild goats of the rock, and have you watched the birth pangs of the hinds? Have you numbered their months full for birth, and have you loosed their birth pangs? Have you raised their young without fear, and will you send away their birth pangs? But you do not know, he says, even the most insignificant things, how in due season the hind and the wild goat give birth in caves with natural roofs among the rocks, 346 and especially how the wild goats leap up to the rocks, and what number of months has been given to them for gestation, and how they give birth when their pangs are loosed, how they give milk to their newborns, and they are nourished without fear. And "will you send away" means "you will make cease," so that they are not always in birth pangs. And if these things are not yours nor do you understand the knowledge of them, how do you wish to know the judgments of God? For this is what the thing signified by these things reveals. 39, 4 They will break off their children, they will be multiplied in birth, they will go forth and shall not return to them. And how, he says, do the mothers, when their young have grown, abandon them, having come to forget their natural affection? And those that have gone out and graze on the produce of the earth no longer return to their parents, but they grow and multiply, feeding on what is from the earth, having no memory of those who bore them. 39, 5-6 And who is it that has let the wild ass go free? And who has loosed his bonds? And I have made his dwelling the wilderness, and his habitations the salt land. According to the literal sense: whence, he says, does the wild ass have its independence? Whence is it that it does not obey the commands of men, but has a desolate dwelling and way of life, and encamps in salty places, that is, in fruitless and utterly desolate places? But according to the spiritual sense, the monastic life is described, which is outside worldly things and not subject to them, which also shuns the bond of marriage; for through what the Savior said: "He that is able to receive it, let him 347 receive it," he loosed the necessity of marriage, for which male and female had been made. And salt lands are the habitations of such a one, because spiritual things are without a share in corruption. For salty substances are destructive of corruption. 39, 7 He scorns the multitude of a city, and hears not the rebuke of a tax-collector. From this it is clear that the text directs us to an allegory; for not even the tame ass, this pack-animal, hears the rebuke of a tax-collector. It is therefore plain that he speaks of the spiritual man who does not tolerate the intelligible agent, who, demanding as it were a certain tribute, forces those under him to be enslaved to pleasures and passions. 39, 8 He will survey the mountains for his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing. According to the literal account, the wild ass

109

διαυγές. 38, 38 κεκόλληκα δὲ αὐτὸν ὥσπερ κύβον λίθῳ. τὴν δὲ λεπτοτάτην τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φύσιν οὕτω στερέμνιον ἀπειργασάμην, ὡσπερανεί τις λίθῳ κύβον ἐναρμόσοι. κύβος δέ ἐστιν ὁ ἐκ τετραγώνου κατὰ τὴν βάσιν ἢ κυκλοτεροῦς εἰς ὀξὺ λήγων, ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι· σταθερὸν αὐτὸν καὶ ἑδραῖον ἀπειργασάμην. 38, 3940 θηρεύσεις δὲ λέουσι βοράν, ψυχὰς δὲ δρακόντων ἐμπλήσεις; 345 δεδοίκασι γὰρ ἐν κοίταις αὐτῶν, κάθηνται δὲ ἐν ὕλαις ἐνεδρεύοντες. τίς δὲ τῷ λέοντι τὴν θηρατικὴν ἐχαρίσατο φύσιν; τίς τοὺς δράκοντας τροφῆς ἐμπίπλησιν; τίς ἐδίδαξε τὰ θηρία ἐνεδρεύειν καὶ ἐπιτίθεσθαι πρὸς τροφῆς εὐπορίαν; τὸ δὲ δεδοίκασι γὰρ ἐν κοίταις αὐτῶν ἢ ὅτι τὰ θηρία δεδοικότα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, τὴν κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ δημιουργίαν, ἐπὶ λόχμας καὶ ὕλας καὶ ἀβάτους ἀναχωροῦσι τόπους, ἢ ὅτι τὰ κτήνη βρυχομένου λέοντος ἐπακούσαντα φρίττουσιν· φασὶ γὰρ τὸν λέοντα πρότερον τῇ βοῇ καταπλήξαντα οὕτως ἐφορμᾶν τῷ θηράματι. 38, 41 τίς δὲ ἡτοίμασε κόρακι βοράν; νεοσσοὶ γὰρ αὐτοῦ πρὸς κύριον κεκράγασι πλανώμενοι τὰ σῖτα ζητοῦντες. ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν πτηνῶν ὁ θεὸς προνοεῖ· ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ μέρους τὸ πᾶν ἐσήμανεν. λόγος δὲ τὸν κόρακα ἀφιλόστοργον εἶναι καὶ ἀτημελήτους ἐᾶν τοὺς νεοττούς, τοὺς δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐνδείας πιεζομένους φυσικῇ τινι κεχρῆσθαι πρὸς θεὸν τῇ βοῇ, τὸν δὲ φιλάγαθον διαφυλάττειν καὶ τρέφειν αὐτοὺς τῇ ἀπορρήτῳ ἑαυτοῦ σοφίᾳ, ὃ καὶ ∆αυὶδ ἐξυμνῶν ἔλεγεν· καὶ τοῖς νεοσσοῖς τῶν κοράκων τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις αὐτόν. 39, 13 εἰ ἔγνως καιρὸν τοκετοῦ τραγελάφων πέτρας, ἐφύλαξας δὲ ὠδῖνας ἐλάφων; ἠρίθμησας δὲ μῆνας αὐτῶν πλήρης τοκετοῦ, ὠδῖνας δὲ αὐτῶν ἔλυσας; ἐξέθρεψας δὲ αὐτῶν τὰ παιδία ἄνευ φόβου, ὠδῖνας δὲ αὐτῶν ἐξαποστελεῖς; ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὰ εὐτελέστατα, φησίν, οἶσθα, πῶς κατὰ καιρὸν ἔλαφος καὶ τραγέλαφος ὑπὸ αὐτορόφοις σπηλαίοις ἐν πέτραις ἀποκυίσκουσιν 346 διαφερόντως δὲ οἱ τραγέλαφοι πρὸς τὰς πέτρας ἀναπηδῶσιν, καὶ τίς αὐτοῖς ἀριθμὸς μηνῶν εἰς τὴν κύησιν δέδοται, πῶς δὲ ἀποτίκτουσι λυθεισῶν τῶν ὠδίνων, πῶς τὸ γάλα τοῖς νεογνοῖς ἐνδιδόασιν, τὰ δὲ τρέφεται ἄνευ φόβου. τὸ δὲ ἐξαποστελεῖς ἀντὶ τοῦ· παύσεις, ὥστε μὴ ἀεὶ ἐν ὠδῖσιν εἶναι. εἰ δὲ μὴ ταῦτα σὰ μηδὲ τὴν τούτων γνῶσιν ἐπίστασαι, πῶς θεοῦ κρίματα γνῶναι θέλεις; τοῦτο γὰρ μηνύει τὸ ἐκ τούτων δηλούμενον. 39, 4 ἀπορρήξουσι τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν, πληθυνθήσονται ἐν γενήματι, ἐξελεύσονται καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀνακάμψουσιν αὐτοῖς. καὶ πῶς, φησίν, αἱ μητέρες ἀνδρυνθέντα τὰ τέκνα καταλιμπάνουσιν εἰς λήθην ἐλθοῦσαι τῆς φυσικῆς στοργῆς; τὰ δὲ ἐξελθόντα καὶ νεμόμενα ἐν τοῖς γενήμασι τῆς γῆς οὐκέτι αὐτοῖς τοῖς γονεῦσιν ἐπαναστρέφουσιν, ἀλλ' αὔξονται καὶ πληθύνονται τὰ ἐκ γῆς νεμόμενα, τῶν αὐτὰ τεκόντων μνείαν οὐκ ἔχοντα. 39, 56 τίς δέ ἐστιν ὁ ἀφεὶς ὄνον ἄγριον ἐλεύθερον; δεσμοὺς δὲ αὐτοῦ τίς ἔλυσεν; ἐθέμην δὲ τὴν δίαιταν αὐτοῦ ἔρημον καὶ τὰ σκηνώματα αὐτοῦ ἁλμυρίδα. κατὰ μὲν τὸ ῥητόν· πόθεν, φησίν, τῷ ὀνάγρῳ ἡ αὐτονομία; πόθεν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιτάγμασιν οὐ πείθεται, ἀλλ' οἴκησιν καὶ διατριβὴν ἔρημον ἔχει, κατασκηνοῖ δὲ ἐν ἁλμυροῖς τόποις, ἀντὶ τοῦ· ἐν ἀκάρποις καὶ παντελῶς ἐρήμοις; πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν ὁ μοναχικὸς διαγράφεται βίος, ὁ ἔξω τῶν κοσμικῶν καὶ τούτοις μὴ ὑποταττόμενος, ὁ καὶ τὸν δεσμὸν τῆς συζυγίας ἐκκλίνων· δι' ὧν γὰρ εἶπεν ὁ σωτήρ· ὁ δυνάμενος χωρεῖν χω 347 ρείτω, ἔλυσε τῆς συζυγίας τὴν ἀνάγκην, ἐφ' ᾗ ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐγεγόνει. ἁλμυρίδες δέ εἰσι τὰ σκηνώματα τοῦ τοιούτου, ὅτι πνευματικὰ πράγματα ἀμέτοχά εἰσι φθορᾶς. οἱ γὰρ ἁλμυροὶ ἅλες τῆς φθορᾶς εἰσιν ἀναιρετικοί. 39, 7 καταγελῶν πολυοχλίας πόλεως, μέμψιν δὲ φορολόγου οὐκ ἀκούων. ἐκ τούτου δῆλον, ὡς εἰς ἀλληγορίαν ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος παραπέμπει· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ ἥμερος ὄνος οὑτοσὶ ὁ κανθήλιος μέμψιν ἀκούει φορολόγου. εὔδηλον οὖν, ὅτι περὶ τοῦ πνευματικοῦ ἀνθρώπου λέγει τοῦ μὴ ἀνεχομένου τοῦ νοητοῦ πράκτορος, ὃς ὥσπερ τινὰ δασμὸν ἀπαιτῶν τοὺς ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν καταναγκάζει δουλεύειν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς καὶ τοῖς πάθεσιν. 39, 8 κατασκέψεται ὄρη νομὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ ὀπίσω παντὸς χλωροῦ ζητεῖ. κατὰ μὲν τὴν ἱστορίαν ὁ ἄγριος ὄνος