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sins, but your lips have spoken lawlessness, and your tongue meditates injustice. Through all these things he foretells the things plotted against the savior. For with their lips they meditated the unjust murder -for it says, "they took counsel, that they might destroy him"-, but with their hands they completed the plan- for having seized him they handed him over to Pilate. 4No one speaks righteous things, nor is there true judgment; they have trusted in vain things and speak empty things. They are destitute of both righteousness and truth, and they are confident in boldness alone and use vain words with one another. Because they conceive trouble and bring forth lawlessness. He calls their reasonings conception, and their action birth. He says they reason lawless things and lawlessly they are zealous for what they lawlessly reason. Some of the copies, however, have it thus: "Because they conceive trouble and bring forth vanity." For by plotting evil things, they devise destruction for themselves, they do not wrong the one who is plotted against. 5They have broken the eggs of asps and weave a spider's web. To the aforementioned version these things also correspond; for he compares their reasonings to the eggs of asps, and the weakness of evil to a spider's web. And he who is about to eat of their eggs, having crushed it, found a wind-egg, and in it a basilisk. For the Lord Christ, for whom they hatched this beastly plot, found the egg to be unfertilized and a wind-egg; for from it he received no harm. But nevertheless the purpose of the plotters is clear; for according to their opinion |174 b| that a most bitter beast, the basilisk, would come out of the eggs, but the power of the one plotted against both crushed the egg and showed it to be a wind-egg. This he also makes clear through the following: 6Their web will not be for a garment, nor will they cover themselves with the works of their hands. For just as spiders' webs catch the smallest of creatures, but are easily torn apart by the larger ones, so also their contrivances the one plotted against by them tore apart very easily. For their works are works of lawlessness, and a work of injustice is in their hands. 7Their feet run to wickedness, they are swift to shed innocent blood, and their thoughts are thoughts of foolish men, destruction and misery are in their ways, 8and the way of peace they do not know, there is no judgment in their ways; for their paths which they travel are crooked, and they do not know peace. He says that they transgress through all the parts of the body, through their hands, through their feet, through their tongue; but their reasoning transgresses before these, for it has fallen into foolishness, whence it did not even recognize peace when it had come. 9Because of this, judgment has departed from them, and righteousness will not overtake them. For they became destitute of divine care. When they waited for light, it became darkness for them, waiting for dawn they walked in gloom. He says that waiting for prosperity they were handed over to misfortune; for here he calls prosperity light, and names misfortune darkness. 10They will grope for the wall like blind men, and they will grope as those who have no eyes. To these things the facts also bear witness; for reading the divine scripture they do not see its truth and are like blind men who grope for a wall but do not see it. They will fall at midday as at midnight. This is the most grievous of all; for when the sun of righteousness has illuminated the whole world, they themselves stumble and fall as if in the middle of the night. They groan as if they are dying. Thus they will live a grievous life, so that even their life resembles death. 11They will go at the same time like a bear and like a dove, imitating the carnivorousness of the beast, but showing the chattering of the dove in their laments. But the word teaches both the hatred they have against us and the pain which surrounds them when they see their own evils. Then the philanthropist, calling them to confession and repentance, through the prophetic tongue shows the manner of confession: We waited for judgment, and it is not; salvation has stood far off from us. We hoped, he says, to enjoy your providence and of the hope

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ἁμαρτίαις, τὰ δὲ χείλη ὑμῶν ἐλάλησεν ἀνομίαν, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα ὑμῶν ἀδικίαν μελετᾷ. ∆ιὰ πάντων τὰ κατὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος τυρευθέντα προλέγει. Τοῖς γὰρ χείλεσιν ἐμελέτησαν τὸν ἄδικον φόνον -»συμβούλιον» γάρ φησιν «ἔλαβον, ὅπως αὐτὸν ἀπολέ σωσιν»-, ταῖς δὲ χερσὶ συνεπέραναν τὴν βουλήν- συλλαβόντες γὰρ αὐτὸν παρέδωκαν τῷ Πιλάτῳ. 4Οὐθεὶς λαλεῖ δίκαια, οὐδὲ ἔστι χρίσις ἀληθινή, πεποί θασιν ἐπὶ ματαίοις καὶ λαλοῦσι κενά. Ἔρημοι καὶ δικαιοσύ νης καὶ ἀληθείας εἰσὶ καὶ θρασύτητι μόνῃ θαρροῦσι καὶ ματαίοις πρὸς ἀλλήλους κέχρηνται λόγοις. Ὅτι κύουσι πόνον καὶ τίκτουσιν ἀνομίαν. Κύησιν καλεῖ τοὺς λογισμούς, τόκον δὲ τὴν πρᾶξιν. Παράνομά φησι λογίζονται καὶ παρανόμως σπουδάζουσιν ἃ παρανόμως λογίζονται. Ἔνια μέντοι τῶν ἀντιγράφων οὕτως ἔχει· «Ὅτι κύουσι πόνον καὶ τίκτουσι μάταια.» Κακὰ γὰρ βουλευόμενοι σοὶ ἑαυτοῖς τεκταίνουσιν ὄλεθρον, οὐκ ἀδι κοῦσι τὸν ἐπιβουλευόμενον. 5Ὠὰ ἀσπίδων ἔρρηξαν καὶ ἱστὸν ἀράχνης ὑφαίνουσιν. Τῇ εἰρημένῃ ἐκδόσει καὶ ταῦτα συμ β αίνει· ᾠοῖς γὰρ ἀσπίδων ἀπεικάζει τοὺς λογισμούς, ἱστῷ δὲ ἀράχνης τῆς κα κίας τὸ ἀ σθενές . Καὶ ὁ μέλλων τῶν ᾠῶν αὐτῶν ἐσθίειν συν τρίψας οὔριον εὗρε, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ βασιλίσκος. Ὁ γὰρ δεσπό της Χριστός, ᾧ τὴν θηριώδη ταύτην ἐπιβουλὴν ἀπεκύησαν, ἀνεμιαῖον εὗρε καὶ οὔριον τὸ ᾠόν· βλάβην γὰρ ἐκεῖθεν οὐδεμίαν ἐδέξατο. ∆ῆλος δὲ ὅμως ὁ τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων σκοπός· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν ἐκείνων γνώμην |174 b| ὅτι πικρότατον θηρίον ὁ βασιλίσκος ἐκ τῶν ᾠῶν ἐξῄει, ἡ δὲ τοῦ ἐπιβουλευομένου δύναμις καὶ τὸ ᾠὸν συνέτριψε καὶ οὔριον ἔδειξεν. Τοῦτο καὶ διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς δηλοῖ· 6Ὁ ἱστὸς αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔσται εἰς ἱμάτιον, οὐδὲ μὴ περιβάλωνται ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῶν. Καθάπερ γὰρ τὰ ἀραχναῖα ὑφάσματα τὰ μὲν σμικρότατα θηρεύει ζῳύφια, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν μειζόνων διασπᾶται ῥᾳδίως, οὕτως καὶ τὰ τούτων μηχανήματα ὁ ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἐπιβουλευθεὶς εὐπετῶς μάλα διέσπασεν. Τὰ γὰρ ἔργα αὐτῶν ἔργα ἀνομίας, καὶ ἔργον ἄδικον ἐν χερσὶν αὐτῶν. 7Οἱ πόδες αὐτῶν ἐπὶ πονηρίαν τρέχουσι ταχινοὶ ἐκχέαι αἷμα ἀναίτιον, καὶ οἱ διαλογισμοὶ αὐτῶν διαλογισμοὶ ἀφρόνων, σύντριμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν, 8καὶ ὁδὸν εἰρήνης οὐκ οἴδασιν, οὐκ ἔστι κρίσις ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν· αἱ γὰρ τρίβοι αὐτῶν διεστραμμέναι ἃς διοδεύουσι, καὶ οὐκ οἴδασιν εἰρήνην. ∆ιὰ πάντων φησὶ παρα νομοῦσι τῶν μορίων τοῦ σώματος, διὰ τῶν χειρῶν, διὰ τῶν ποδῶν, διὰ τῆς γλώττης· ὁ δὲ λογισμὸς πρὸ τούτων παρανομεῖ, ἐξέπεσε γὰρ εἰς ἀφροσύνην, ὅθεν οὐδὲ τὴν εἰρήνην παραγενομένην ἐπέγνω. 9∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἀπέστη ἡ κρίσις ἀπ' αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐ μὴ καταλάβῃ αὐτοὺς δικαιοσύνη. Ἔρημοι γὰρ τῆς θείας κηδε μονίας ἐγένοντο. Ὑπομεινάντων αὐτῶν φῶς ἐγένετο αὐτοῖς σκότος, μείναντες αὐγὴν ἐν ἀωρίᾳ περιεπάτησαν. Εὐημε ρίαν φησὶ προσμείναντες παρεδόθησαν δυσπραξίᾳ· φῶς γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τὴν εὐημερίαν καλεῖ, τὴν δὲ δυσκληρίαν σκότος ὀνομάζει. 10Ψηλαφήσουσιν ὡς τυφλοὶ τοῖχον καὶ ὡς οὐχ ὑπαρχόντων ὀφθαλμῶν ψηλαφήσουσιν. Τούτοις καὶ τὰ πράγματα μαρτυρεῖ· ἀναγινώσκοντες γὰρ τὴν θείαν γραφὴν οὐχ ὁρῶσι τὴν ταύτης ἀλήθειαν καὶ τυφλοῖς ἐοίκασι ψηλαφῶσι μὲν τοῖχον οὐχ ὁρῶσι δὲ τοῦτον. Πεσοῦνται ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ ὡς ἐν μεσονυκτίῳ. Τοῦτο πάν των ἀνιαρότατον· τοῦ γὰρ ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην φωτίσαντος αὐτοὶ προςπταίουσι καὶ καταπίπτουσιν ὡς ἐν μέσῃ νυκτί. Ὡς ἀποθνῄσκοντες στενάζουσιν. Οὕτως ἀνιαρὸν διαπορε ύσονται βίον ὡς καὶ τὴν ζωὴν αὐτῶν θανάτῳ προσεοικέναι. 11Ὡς ἄρκος καὶ ὡσεὶ περιστερὰ ἅμα πορεύσονται, τοῦ μὲν θηρίου τὸ ὠμοβόρον μιμούμενοι, τῆς δὲ περιστερᾶς τὴν ἀδολεσχίαν ἐν τοῖς θρήνοις δεικνύντες. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ ὁ λόγος καὶ ὃ καθ' ἡμῶν ἔχουσι μῖσος καὶ ἣν περίκεινται ὀδύνην τὰ οἰκεῖα θεωροῦντες κακά. Εἶτα εἰς ἐξομολόγησιν αὐτοὺς καὶ μεταμέλειαν ὁ φιλάν θρωπος ἐκκαλούμενος διὰ τῆς προφητικῆς γλώττης τὸν τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως ὑποδείκνυσι τρόπον· Ἀνεμείναμεν κρίσιν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν· σωτηρία μακρὰν ἀφέστηκεν ἀφ' ἡμῶν. Ἠλπίσαμέν φησι τῆς σῆς ἀπολαύσασθαι προμηθείας καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος