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Not having said what was sent from heaven, he now interprets that it is mercy and truth that delivers his soul, which was among the enemies who trampled it; and these, on account of their wild and savage temper, are lion cubs. And mercy is not different in substance from truth; for the Savior is both. 598a Ps 56,5b Sleep often signifies rest, as in, 'In peace I will both lie down and sleep.' What he means to say, then, is this: even if I was disturbed, being trampled by enemies and terrified by the lion cubs who had taken me in their midst, yet the disturbance did not remain. For I fell asleep disturbed, I did not remain awake disturbed, but I fell asleep, casting off the disturbance. 599a Ps 56,7b A symbol of this was the woman who was bound by a spirit of infirmity, bent over and unable to straighten up at all, whom Jesus loosed from the satanic bonds, as she was a daughter of Abraham. And perhaps also everyone who minds earthly things has their soul bent down, unable to look to things above, insofar as it is of such a nature. 600a Ps 56,10 You will understand peoples as also those of the circumcision, and nations as those who repented from idols, so that they became one church. 601a Ps 57 arg Those who have loved the Lord in incorruption, having come to the end of not being corrupted, rightly erect the inscription through what they accomplish. For just as those who do the opposite, the very things they do evilly, they make a forbidden pillar, of which the law says, 'You shall not make for yourself a pillar which the Lord hated,' showing that everyone who does the forbidden things erects a wicked life like a pillar. Therefore, you would rightly say that the one who does good things sets up a pillar that is a symbol of the contests he has fought.

602a Ps 57,3 For this is the fruit of righteousness, also in Proverbs: And to understand

true righteousness and to direct judgment. And he who joins sins weaves together injustice by ceaselessly working evil. Equivalent to this is, 'Each is held fast by the ropes of his own sins.' Not in vain is 'In the earth' added to 'You work iniquity'; for even if someone commits iniquity in the heart, 'In the earth,' that is, concerning material things, he works it. 603a Ps 57,4 But those who dare to slander the scriptures have also disparaged this text, saying it is not possible to go astray from the womb and to speak a lie; for they say that sinning belongs to those who have come to the fullness of reason. To them it must be said that they have not understood the custom of scripture in these things. The newborn infant is receptive of virtue and vice in potentiality, receiving in actuality whichever of these dispositions when it acquires knowledge of good and evil; for then reason is also fulfilled when it begins to act according to virtue. It is said 'from his mother's womb' to have done good. Such is what Job says: 'If I have eaten my morsel alone, and have not shared it with the orphan; for from my mother's womb I led them and nourished them like a father.' And so these of whom the word speaks, having arrived at the fullness of reason, began to act from error. And to speak according to the text itself means to have spoken lies. And perhaps, as in the preceding verse, we might say that there is another birth: those born from wicked teaching, from the very womb that bore them, had both being led astray and having spoken lies. 604a Ps 57,5b.6 They say the asp that stops its ears is the one called 'palamnaian.' For if ever a charmer, according to his own wisdom, should utter some charm capable of lulling it to sleep, if it should hear, it stops its ears so as not to hear the voice of the charmer, which is a medicine prepared by a wise man. And these too stop, not the ears of sense, but the ears of the mind, so that they might not hear those who utter the wise prophetic and apostolic charms. For each of these is a wise man preparing a remedy, that is, preparing a rational medicine to ward off that of the asp

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οὐκ εἰρηκὼς τί τὸ ἀποσταλὲν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, νῦν ἑρμηνεύει οτι ελεός ἐστι καὶ ἀλήθεια τὸ ῥυόμενον τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ γενομένην μεταξὺ ἐχθρῶν τῶν καταπατησάντων· ουτοι δέ εἰσι διὰ τὸ αγριον καὶ ὠμόθυμον σκύμνοι. οὐχ ετερον δὲ κατ' οὐσίαν τῆς ἀληθείας τὸ ελεος· ἀμφότερα γὰρ ὁ σωτήρ. 598a Ps 56,5b ̔Η κοίμησις τὴν ἀνάπαυλαν πολλάκις σημαίνει, ὡς ἐν τῷ ̓Εν εἰρήνῃ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κοιμηθήσομαι καὶ ὑπνώσω. ο ουν βούλεται λέγειν τοῦτό ἐστιν· εἰ καὶ ἐταράχθην καταπατούμενος ὑπὸ ἐχθρῶν καὶ θαμβούμενος τῶν σκύμνων τῶν μέσον με λαβόντων, ἀλλ' οὐ παρέμεινεν ἡ ταραχή. ἐκοιμήθην γὰρ τεταραγμένος, οὐχὶ τεταραγμένος γρηγορῶν εμεινα ἀλλ' ἐκοιμήθην ἀποβαλὼν τὴν ταραχήν. 599a Ps 56,7b Τούτου σύμβολον ην ἡ συνεχομένη πνεύματι ἀσθενείας γυνή, Συγκύπτουσα καὶ μὴ δυναμένη ἀνακῦψαι εἰς τὸ παντελές, ην ελυσεν ὁ ̓Ιησοῦς ἀπὸ τῶν βρόχων τῶν σατανικῶν θυγατέρα ουσαν ̓Αβραάμ. τάχα δὲ καὶ πᾶς ὁ τὰ κάτω φρονῶν κατακεκαμμένην εχει τὴν ψυχὴν οὐ δυναμένην τὰ ανω σκοπεῖν οσον ἐστὶν τοιαύτη. 600a Ps 56,10 Λαοὺς δὲ νοήσεις καὶ τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς, εθνη δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων μετανοήσαντας ὡς μίαν γενέσθαι ἐκκλησίαν. 601a Ps 57 αργ Οἱ ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ τὸν κύριον ἀγαπήσαντες εἰς τὸ τέλος τοῦ μὴ διαφθείρειν ἐληλυθότες τὴν στηλογραφίαν δι' ων ἐνεργοῦσι καλῶς ἐγείρουσιν. ὡς γὰρ οἱ τἀναντία ποιοῦντες αὐτὰ α πράττουσι κακῶς στήλην ἀπηγορευμένην ποιοῦσιν, ῃ φησιν ὁ νόμος Οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ στήλην α ἐμίσησεν ὁ κύριος, δηλῶν οτι πᾶς ὁ τὰ ἀπηγορευμένα πράττων φαῦλον βίον στήλης δίκην ἐγείρει. διὸ καὶ τὸν τὰ ἀγαθὰ ποιοῦντα εἰκότως ἐρεῖς στήλην ἀνατιθέναι ουσαν σύμβολον ων διήθλησεν ἀγώνων.

602a Ps 57,3 Ουτος γὰρ καρπὸς δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἐν Παροιμίαις· Νοῆσαί τε

δικαιοσύνην ἀληθῆ καὶ κρίμα κατευθύνειν. συμπλέκει δὲ ἀδικίαν ὁ ἁμαρτίας συνάπτων ἐν τῷ ἀδιαστάτως ἐνεργεῖν τὸ κακόν. τούτῳ ἰσοδυναμεῖ τὸ Σειραῖς τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν εκαστος σφίγγεται. Οὐ μάτην πρόσκειται τῷ ̓Ανομίας ἐργάζεσθε τὸ ̓Εν τῇ γῇ· καν γὰρ ἐν καρδίᾳ τις ἀνομίαν ποιήσῃ, ̓Εν τῇ γῇ τουτέστι περὶ τὰ ὑλικὰ ἐνεργεῖ αὐτήν. 603a Ps 57,4 Οἱ διαβάλλειν δὲ τὰς γραφὰς ἀποτολμῶντες καὶ ταύτην τὴν λέξιν διέσυραν, λέγοντες μὴ ειναι οιόν τε ἀπὸ γαστρὸς πλανηθῆναι καὶ ψεῦδος λαλῆσαι· συμπεπληρωκότων γὰρ τὸν λόγον φασὶ τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν. πρὸς ους ῥητέον μὴ νενοηκότας τὴν συνήθειαν τῆς γραφῆς ταῦτα· τὸ ἀρτίτοκον βρέφος δεκτικὸν ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας ἐστὶ δυνάμει, τότε δεχόμενον κατ' ἐνέργειαν ὁποτέραν τούτων τῶν εξεων οταν γνῶσιν ἀγαθοῦ καὶ κακοῦ σχῇ· τότε γὰρ καὶ συμπληροῦται ὁ λόγος οταν κατ' ἀρετὴν αρξηται ἐνεργεῖν. ̓Εκ κοιλίας μητρὸς λέγεται τὸ ἀγαθὸν πεποιηκέναι. τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ο φησιν ὁ ̓Ιώβ· Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὸν ψωμόν μου εφαγον μόνος καὶ ὀρφανῷ οὐ μετέδωκα· ἐκ κοιλίας γὰρ μητρὸς ὡδήγουν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐξέτρεφον ὡς πατήρ. καὶ ουτοι ουν περὶ ων ὁ λόγος φθάσαντες ἐπὶ συμπλήρωσιν τοῦ λόγου ἀπὸ πλάνης ηρξαντο ἐνεργεῖν. Καὶ σημαίνει τὸ κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν λέξιν φθέγγεσθαι τὸ λελαληκέναι ψευδῆ. τάχα δὲ καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ προάγοντος στίχου ειποιμεν καὶ αλλην ειναι γέννησιν· οἱ τεχθέντες ἀπὸ φαύλης διδασκαλίας ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς γαστρὸς τῆς αὐτοὺς τεκούσης ειχον καὶ τὸ πεπλανῆσθαι καὶ τὸ ψευδῆ λελαληκέναι. 604a Ps 57,5b.6 ̓Ασπίδα βύουσαν τὰ ωτα αὐτῆς τὴν καλουμένην παλαμναίαν φασίν. ει ποτε γὰρ ἐπαοιδὸς κατὰ τὴν σοφίαν ἑαυτοῦ ἐπῳδήν τινα προφέροι δυναμένην κατακοιμίσαι αὐτήν, εἰ ἀκούσοι, βύει τὰ ωτα ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ ἀκοῦσαι τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ ἐπᾴδοντος ουσαν φάρμακον παρὰ σοφοῦ σκευαζόμενον. βύουσι δὲ καὶ ουτοι, οὐ τὰ τῆς αἰσθήσεως ἀλλὰ τὰ τῆς νοήσεως ωτα, οπως μὴ ἀκούσωσι τῶν τὰς σοφὰς ἐπῳδὰς προφητικὰς καὶ ἀποστολικὰς προφερόντων. τούτων γὰρ εκαστος σοφός ἐστι φαρμακεύων, τουτέστι σκευάζων φάρμακον λογικὸν ἀλεξοῦν τὴν τῆς ἀσπίδος