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he threatens. But the desolation of an evil habitation and the annihilation of a confused life is a greatly desired good for those who perceive. And he threatens the desolation of Babylonia to such a degree that no Babylonian man shall dwell there any longer, but hedgehogs will be brought in instead. This is an animal fenced about with hard and very sharp spines, which draws in its head and feet when it wishes, and forms itself into the precise shape of a sphere, so that it is hard to catch, its head and feet being coiled up, and its surface covered with spines on all sides. For this animal alone defends itself against its attackers while remaining still. For whoever lays hands on it is terribly scratched, and the more one wishes to squeeze it, the more grievously he is pierced by the spines. 14.284 Perhaps, then, he hints at the characters of men who inhabit the city instead of the Babylonians: unsociable, unapproachable, delighting in a harder way of life. For that the species of animals are used metaphorically for the characters of men, we have been taught from the vision of Peter, when in the vessel let down from heaven there was every kind of animal, reptiles and birds and four-footed beasts. For the word was hinting at those who were about to be brought to the faith from various sins, that these were the ones likened either to four-footed beasts for their brutishness, or to reptiles for their venomousness, or to birds for their fickleness and instability. And so the hedgehog is also in Scripture perhaps tropologically applied to certain men, as snakes are to the Sadducees and Pharisees; and the fox to Herod; and mares-mad horses to the pleasure-lovers; sheep to the more guileless of men; goats to the unsociable and ungenerous. So it is also reasonable to compare the hedgehogs (an animal having the hope of not being harmed in its own spines) to the rich of this age, whom the Lord said are choked by their own thorns, which make the word unfruitful. And Babylon will become as nothing, and as a pit of clay. As for the perceptible, the word shows that the river Euphrates (cutting through its midst), not finding its outlet along its course, will become a lake in it, and will utterly destroy it and make it a pit, not of clean water, but of mire. For such is the end of the destruction of those who provoke the Lord. 14.285 Thus says the Lord Sabaoth: In the way I have spoken, so it shall be; and in the way I have planned, so it shall remain: to destroy the Assyrians on my land, and on my mountains. And they will be for trampling, and their yoke will be taken away from them and their glory from their shoulders. Israel according to the flesh understands the word of the Prophet to be about the land they considered to be God’s, and about these earthly mountains in the perceptible Judea, and about Assyria leading Israel captive, having placed a yoke of slavery on them. But we, who have been raised with Christ and pray to seek the things that are above, call the good heart "land," as we have been taught by the Lord himself, who says: But he who was sown on the good land, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who bears fruit and produces, one a hundredfold, another sixty, another thirty. And therefore the mountain of God can be called he who has grown in good works and has risen above others in word and knowledge; in this one the enemies will be for trampling. And the entire yoke of the Assyrians will be taken away by God. For they were greatly proud, as though treading on the shoulders of the men from God's portion and placing under their own yoke those who had been torn away from the service of God through their sins. Having, therefore, the hope according to what was said, concerning our enemies being destroyed on the land of God and being trampled on his mountains and their yoke being taken away and the glory, with which

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ἀπειλεῖ. Πονηρᾶς δὲ οἰκήσεως ἐρήμωσις καὶ συγκεχυμένου βίου ἀφανισμὸς, ἀγαθὸν περισπούδαστόν ἐστι τοῖς αἰσθανο μένοις. Ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον δὲ τὴν ἐρήμωσιν ἀπειλεῖ τῆς Βα βυλωνίας, ὥστε ἄνθρωπον μὲν Βαβυλώνιον μηκέτι κατοικεῖν, ἐχίνους δὲ ἀντεισάγεσθαι. Ἔστι δὲ τὸ ζῶον τοῦτο σκληραῖς καὶ ὀξυτάταις ἀκάνθαις περιπεφραγμένον, καὶ κεφαλὴν καὶ πόδας συνέλκον ὅτε βούλεται, καὶ εἰς ἀκριβὲς σχῆμα σφαί ρας ἑαυτὸ σχηματίζον, ὥστε δύσληπτον εἶναι, τῆς μὲν κεφαλῆς καὶ τῶν ποδῶν συνεσπειραμένων, τῆς δὲ ἐπιφα νείας πανταχόθεν ἠκανθωμένης. Μόνον γὰρ ζῶον τοῦτο ἡσυ χάζον ἀμύνεται τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας. Ὁ γὰρ ἐπιβαλὼν αὐτῷ τὰς χεῖρας ἀμύσσεται δεινῶς, καὶ ὅσῳπερ ἂν πλέον αὐτὸ βουληθῇ κατασφίγξαι, τοσούτῳ χαλεπώτερον ταῖς ἀκάνθαις περιπείρεται. 14.284 Τάχα οὖν ἤθη ἀνθρώπων αἰνίσσεται ἀντὶ τῶν Βα βυλωνίων ἐνοικήσαντα τῇ πόλει, ἀκοινώνητα, ἀπιδιαστικὰ, σκληροτέρᾳ τῇ ἀγωγῇ χαίροντα. Ὅτι γὰρ τὰ εἴδη τῶν ζώων πρὸς τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἤθη μεταλαμβάνεται, ἐδι δάχθημεν ἀπὸ τῆς ὀπτασίας Πέτρου, ὅτε ἐν τῷ σκεύει τῷ καθιεμένῳ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν πᾶν εἶδος ἦν, ζώων, ἑρπετῶν καὶ πετεινῶν καὶ τετραπόδων. Ἠνίσσετο γὰρ ὁ λόγος τοὺς μέλλοντας ἀπὸ ποικίλων ἁμαρτημάτων τῇ πίστει προσ άγεσθαι, τούτους εἶναι τοὺς ὡμοιωμένους ἢ τετραπόδοις διὰ τὸ κτηνῶδες, ἢ ἑρπετοῖς διὰ τὸ ἰοβόλον, ἢ πετεινοῖς διὰ τὸ κοῦφον καὶ ἄστατον. Καὶ ὁ ἐχῖνος οὖν ἐστι παρὰ τῇ Γραφῇ τάχα τροπολογού μενος ἐπί τινας ἀνθρώπους, ὡς οἱ ὄφεις ἐπὶ τοὺς Σαδδουκαίους καὶ Φαρισαίους· καὶ ὁ ἀλώπηξ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἡρώδην· καὶ ἵπποι θηλυμανεῖς ἐπὶ τοὺς φιληδόνους· τὰ πρόβατα ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀκακωτέρους τῶν ἀνθρώπων· τὰ ἐρίφια ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀκοινωνή τους καὶ ἀμεταδότους. Ὥστε καὶ τοὺς ἐχίνους εὔλογον παρα βαλέσθαι (ζώῳ τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῦ μὴ βλαβήσεσθαι ἐπὶ ταῖς οἰκείαις ἀκάνθαις ἔχοντι) τοὺς πλουσίους τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, οὓς ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων ἀκανθῶν συμπνίγειν τὸν λόγον καὶ ἄκαρπον ποιεῖν ὁ Κύριος εἴρηκε. Γενήσεται δὲ ἡ Βαβυλὼν εἰς οὐδὲν, καὶ ὡς πηλοῦ βάραθρον. Ὡς πρὸς τὸ αἰσθητὸν, ἐνδείκνυται ὁ λόγος, ὅτι ὁ ποταμὸς ὁ Εὐφράτης (μέσην αὐτὴν διατέμνων) μὴ τυγχάνων τῆς κατὰ ῥεῖθρα διεξόδου, ἐλλιμνάζων αὐτῇ, παντελῶς ἀφανίσει αὐτὴν καὶ ἀποδείξει βάραθρον, οὐχ ὕδατος καθαροῦ, ἀλλὰ βορβόρου. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ τὸ τέλος τῆς κα ταστροφῆς τῶν παροξυνάντων τὸν Κύριον. 14.285 Τάδε λέγει Κύριος Σαβαώθ· Ὃν τρόπον εἴρηκα, οὕ τως ἔσται· καὶ ὃν τρόπον βεβούλευμαι, οὕτως μενεῖ· τοῦ ἀπολέσαι τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τῆς ἐμῆς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων τῶν ἐμῶν. Καὶ ἔσονται εἰς καταπάτημα, καὶ ἀφαιρεθήσεται ἀπ' αὐτῶν ὁ ζυγὸς αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ κῦδος αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῶν ὤμων αὐτῶν. Ὁ μὲν κατὰ σάρκα Ἰσραὴλ, περὶ τῆς νενομισμένης αὐτοῖς γῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶναι, καὶ ὀρέων τούτων τῶν γηΐνων τῇ αἰσθητῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, τὸν λόγον ὑπολαμβάνει ὑπάρχειν τῷ Προφήτῃ, καὶ τὴν Ἀσσυρίαν αἰχμάλωτον ἀπάγειν τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, ζυγὸν δου λείας αὐτοῖς ἐπιθέντα. Ἡμεῖς δὲ, οἱ συνεγερθέντες Χριστῷ καὶ εὐχόμενοι τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖν, γῆν μὲν ὀνομάζομεν τὴν καρδίαν τὴν καλὴν, καθ' ἃ παρ' αὐτοῦ δεδιδάγμεθα τοῦ Κυρίου, λέγοντος· Ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν καλὴν σπαρεὶς, οὗτος ὁ τὸν λόγον ἀκούων καὶ συνιεὶς, καρποφορεῖ καὶ ποιεῖ ὁ μὲν ἑκατὸν, ὁ δὲ ἑξήκοντα, ὁ δὲ τριάκοντα. Καὶ ὄρος οὖν τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναται χρηματίζειν, ἐν ᾧ εἰς καταπάτημα γενήσονται οἱ Ἀσσύριοι, ὁ αὐξήσας ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ λόγῳ καὶ γνώσει ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνεστηκώς· ἐν τούτῳ καταπάτημα ἔσον ται οἱ ἐχθροί. Καὶ πᾶς ὁ ζυγὸς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἀφαιρεθήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Μέγα μὲν γὰρ ἐφρόνουν, ὡς τοῖς ὤμοις τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς μερίδος τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιβαίνοντες καὶ ὑπὸ τὸν ἴδιον ζυγὸν ποιοῦντες τοὺς τῆς δουλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀποσπασθέντας. Ἔχοντες οὖν τὴν κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον ἐλπίδα περὶ τοῦ ἀπολέσθαι μὲν τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων αὐτοῦ καταπατηθήσεσθαι καὶ τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτῶν ἀφαιρεθή σεσθαι καὶ τὸ κῦδος, ᾧ