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those who pursue a more rustic life, and those who are otherwise well-born and have been deemed worthy of a free upbringing; or the earth-born as those who have chosen to inhabit the wilderness, and men as the more civilized ones. But Symmachus interpreted it in this way: Both humanity and also the sons of each man; so that by the first is universally signified the whole race of men, and by the second, each individual. My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart understanding. I will incline my ear to a parable, I will open my problem on the psaltery. These things can also be said by the apostles. And he calls enigmatic sayings parables. For the Lord, speaking to the crowds in parables, would explain them to the apostles privately. Thus now the choir, bearing on its mouth the wisdom of God, Christ; for Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, it was said: My mouth shall speak wisdom. For they preached him to all men. But with their minds sharpened, they understood all of Christ’s parables even before his interpretation. Therefore after these the Savior said: Have you understood all these things? And they say to him, yes. Their heart, therefore, meditated on understandings, which they opened to those unable to follow, with the bodily instrument ministering for this purpose to the soul dwelling within. For it took this instead of a psaltery for the sounding of divine hymns through these things, with each part being moved skillfully within it. Why should I fear in the evil day? The iniquity of my heel will surround me. But if it is the person of the Lord who is speaking, you would find his heel to be Judas, the last part of the body and the one close to the earth; for the apostles are the body 23.432 of the Lord. Therefore I do not fear the betrayal of Judas at the time of the cross; just as each one does not fear the disobedience of Adam. For we have hinted that this is the heel of iniquity. For no one is condemned for the evil of another. I called the disobedience of Adam the iniquity of the heel, because the serpent had power over his heel. A brother does not redeem, shall a man redeem? he will not give to God his atonement, nor the price of the redemption of his soul. And you will understand it thus: a brother will not redeem a brother, nor a friend a friend; for each will receive his own reward, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done; and no one will give an atonement to God for himself on that day; nor will he pay a price as if buying himself out. Vain, therefore, is wealth to those who possess it; unless someone is found in the present life to be a faithful and wise steward, who will give the portion of grain to his fellow servants in due season. For this one, having already sown for himself in righteousness from here, will then reap the fruits of life. For the ransom of a man, says the Wise one, is his own wealth. But those who are boastful neither in wealth nor in bodily strength, but have acquired a laborious present life, will be deemed worthy of the life in the promise. Instead of: He has labored forever, Symmachus has, But having ceased, he says, for this age, such a one will live forever. He who toils through the practical life will live forever through knowledge. And they will leave their wealth to others, and their tombs will be their houses forever. Another said: They will leave to others both their tangible wealth and that which is in their writings. For they will gain no profit from them on the day of judgment. For their soul will be led away, bringing nothing more than its own tomb; that is, the body and the corruption, in which it was buried as in a tomb. And otherwise one will have nothing more from earthly possessions than the place of the tomb, in which having died he will lie as a corrupted corpse. But their dwellings, in which they lived while still alive, will come to other strangers, and will be passed down from generation to generation. Like sheep they are laid in Hades, death will shepherd them. Having spoken of the things of the wicked before death, now what they will suffer

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ἀγροικώτερον μετερχομένους βίον, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλως εὖ γεγονότας καὶ τροφῆς ἠξιωμένους ἐλευθερίου· ἢ γηγενεῖς μὲν τοὺς τὴν ἔρημον οἰκεῖν ᾑρημένους, τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπων τοὺς ἡμερωτέρους. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος τοῦτον ἡρμήνευσε τὸν τρόπον· Ἥ τε ἀνθρωπότης καὶ προσέτι καὶ υἱοὶ ἑκάστου ἀνδρός· ἵν' ᾖ διὰ μὲν τοῦ προτέρου καθολικῶς πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων δηλούμενον, διὰ δὲ τοῦ δευτέρου ὁ κατὰ μέρος ἕκαστος. Τὸ στόμα μου λαλήσει σοφίαν, καὶ ἡ μελέτη τῆς καρδίας μου σύνεσιν. Κλινῶ εἰς παραβολὴν τὸ οὖς μου, ἀνοίξω ἐν ψαλτηρίῳ τὸ πρόβλημά μου. Ταῦτα δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων δύναται λέγεσθαι. Παραβολὰς δὲ καλεῖ τοὺς αἰνιγματώδεις λόγους. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Κύριος, παραβολικῶς τοῖς ὄχλοις διαλεγόμενος, τοῖς ἀποστόλοις κατ' οἶκον ταύτας διέλυε. Τούτῳ νῦν ὁ χορὸς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίαν τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπὶ στόματος φέρων· Χριστὸς γὰρ Θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ Θεοῦ σοφία, ἐλέγετο· Τὸ στόμα μου λαλήσει σοφίαν. Τοῦτον γὰρ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐκήρυττον. Ἠκονημένοι δὲ τὸν νοῦν, πάσας τοῦ Χριστοῦ συνίεσαν τὰς παραβολὰς καὶ πρὸ τῆς αὐτοῦ ἑρμηνείας. ∆ιὸ μετὰ ταύτας ὁ μὲν Σωτὴρ ἔλεγε· Συνήκατε ταῦτα πάντα; Οἱ δὲ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ, ναί. Ἡ καρδία τοίνυν αὐτῶν ἐμελέτα συνέσεις, ἃς ἤνοιγον τοῖς μὴ παρακολουθεῖν δυναμένοις, τοῦ σωματικοῦ ὀργάνου τῇ ἐνοικούσῃ πρὸς τοῦτο διακονοῦντος ψυχῇ. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἀντὶ ψαλτηρίου παρέλαβε πρὸς τὴν διὰ τούτων θείων ὕμνων ἀνάκρουσιν, ἑκάστου μέρους ἐπιστημονικῶς ἐν αὐτῷ κινουμένου. Ἵνα τί φοβοῦμαι ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πονηρᾷ; ἡ ἀνομία τῆς πτέρνης μου κυκλώσει με. Εἰ δὲ πρόσωπον Κυρίου τὸ λέγον, πτέρναν αὐτοῦ εὕρῃς τὸν ἔσχατον τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῇ γῇ πλησιάζοντα Ἰούδαν· σῶμα 23.432 γὰρ Κυρίου οἱ ἀπόστολοι. Οὐ φοβοῦμαι οὖν τὴν Ἰούδα προδοσίαν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τοῦ σταυροῦ· ἐπεὶ μηδὲ ἕκαστος τὴν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ παρακοήν. Ταύτην γὰρ ὑπῃνιξάμεθα πτέρναν ἀνομίας εἶναι. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ δι' ἄλλου κακίαν καταδικάζεται. Ἀνομίαν δὲ πτέρνης τὴν παρακοὴν εἶπον Ἀδὰμ, τῷ τὸν ὄφιν ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν κατὰ τῆς πτέρνης αὐτοῦ. Ἀδελφὸς οὐ λυτροῦται, λυτρώσεται ἄνθρωπος; οὐ δώσει τῷ Θεῷ ἐξίλασμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν τιμὴν τῆς λυτρώσεως τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ. Νοήσεις δὲ καὶ οὕτως· οὐκ ἀδελφὸς ἀδελφὸν, οὐ φίλος φίλον λυτρώσεται· ἕκαστος γὰρ τὸν ἴδιον μισθὸν λήψεται, καὶ ἑκάστου τὸ ἔργον ὁποῖόν ἐστι, τὸ πῦρ δοκιμάσει· καὶ οὐ δώσει τις ἐξίλασμα τῷ Θεῷ ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ κατ' ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν· οὐδὲ τιμὴν καταθήσεται καθάπερ ἑαυτὸν ἐξωνούμενος. Μάταιος ἄρα τοῖς κεκτημένοις ὁ πλοῦτος· πλὴν εἰ μή τις κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον εὑρεθῇ πιστὸς καὶ φρόνιμος οἰκονόμος, ὃς ἐν καιρῷ δώσει τὸ σιτομέτριον τοῖς συνδούλοις. Οὗτος γὰρ, ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη σπείρας ἑαυτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην, τρυγήσει τότε καρποὺς ζωῆς. Λύτρον γὰρ ἀνδρὸς, φησὶν ὁ Σοφὸς, ὁ ἴδιος πλοῦτος. Οἱ δὲ μήτε πλούτῳ μήτε δυνάμει σώματος ἀλαζονευόμενοι, ἐπίπονον δὲ τὸν παρόντα κτησάμενοι βίον, καταξιωθήσονται τῆς ἐν ἐπαγγελίᾳ ζωῆς. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· Ἐκοπίασεν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ὁ Σύμμαχος, Ἀλλὰ παυσάμενος, φησὶ, τῷ αἰῶνι, ζῶν εἰς αἰῶνα διατελέσει ὁ τοιοῦτος. Ὁ κοπιῶν διὰ τῆς πρακτικῆς ζήσεται εἰς τέλος διὰ τῆς γνώσεως. Καὶ καταλείψουσιν ἀλλοτρίοις τὸν πλοῦτον αὐτῶν, καὶ οἱ τάφοι αὐτῶν οἰκίαι αὐτῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ἕτερος ἔφη· Καταλείψουσιν ἑτέροις τὸν αἰσθητόν τε πλοῦτον αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν ἐν συγγράμμασιν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐξ αὐτῶν αἱρήσουσι κέρδος κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς κρίσεως. Ἀπαχθήσεται γὰρ ἡ τούτων ψυχὴ, οὐδὲν πλέον ἢ τὸν ἑαυτῆς τάφον ἐπαγομένη· δηλαδὴ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν φθορὰν, ἐν ᾗ ὥσπερ ἐν τάφῳ κατώρυκτο. Καὶ ἄλλως δὲ οὐδὲν πλέον ἕξει τις ἐκ τῶν γηΐνων κτημάτων, ἢ τοῦ τάφου τὸν τόπον, ἐν ᾧ τελευτήσας κείσεται νεκρὸς ἐφθαρμένος. Τὰ δὲ σκηνώματα αὐτῶν, ἐν οἷς ἔτι ζῶντες κατῴκουν, εἰς ἑτέρους ἀλλοτρίους ἥξει, καὶ διαδοθήσεται εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν. Ὡς πρόβατα ἐν ᾅδῃ ἔθεντο, θάνατος ποιμανεῖ αὐτούς. Εἰπὼν τῶν ἀσεβῶν τὰ πρὸ τοῦ θανάτου, νῦν οἷα πείσονται