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of events happening, seeing the vision impressed upon the eyes of his mind by the light of the prophetic spirit, he was disturbed, and filled with fear and cowardice and trembling because of the excess of the evils seen. Then, as if caught in the middle of those doing these things, and having no escape, nor anywhere to turn himself to get away from the evils, he prays to be lifted up high, and to escape as a winged creature through the air. Therefore he adds: "And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly away, and be at rest?" For he requested wings like an innocent dove to escape and fly away, so that he might flee the evils. Therefore, also concerning this he said above, "Give ear, O God, to my prayer," so that he might obtain the wings of a dove and fly away; for only in this way, and in no other, was he able to get far from the city of the ungodly. But according to Symmachus: "And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, to fly away and be established? I would make my retreat far away, I would lodge in the wilderness. I would suddenly make my escape from a rising wind." For I would make my retreat far away, he says, if I had obtained wings, fleeing those who dared the things mentioned before, and I would prefer the deserts more than the aforementioned city. And so, being in the desert, I would have waited for the one who saves me from the faintheartedness that came upon me, and from the tempest that overtook me. "Swallow them up, O Lord, and divide their tongues," and so on. The reason for which he prayed to obtain wings, so that he might fly away and flee, and to choose to dwell in the desert rather than the city indicated, he teaches through the preceding words, saying: "Since these and these things I saw by the foreknowledge of the prophetic spirit would be done in the city, for this reason I have now resolved to flee from here the multitude of evils." For the first impiety of those who inhabited the aforesaid city I see is that from their tongue. For all, having agreed together for evil, sharpened their tongues against the Son of God; therefore, not bearing this wicked and impious conspiracy of theirs, I pray, saying: "O Lord, swallow them up and divide their tongues." Or, according to Symmachus: "Cause them to be swallowed up, O Master, and make their tongue discordant." For discord would be much better than the wicked conspiracy, rendering malice weaker and more feeble. This, then, was their first evil. For the leaders of the nation, teachers of the law and chief priests, and the other rulers of the people, approaching him deceitfully, dared 23.480 to test him, hunting for handles, and devising plots against him. Which indeed another psalm also alluded to, saying from his own person: "Many bulls have surrounded me; fat calves have beset me round. They opened their mouth against me, as a ravening and a roaring lion." For there too he alluded to the rulers of the people; therefore again he mentioned their mouth because of the plots and schemes against him. And the Gospels relate what sort of cries the entire people of the Jews uttered against him before Pontius Pilate. This he also set forth in the 21st psalm when he said: "For many dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me." And all these things were done in the indicated city; therefore it is said in the preceding words: "Swallow them up, O Lord, and divide their tongues." Then he adds: "For I have seen iniquity and strife in the city; day and night it will go about it," and so on; instead of which Symmachus has interpreted this in this manner: "For I have beheld violent injustice and unrighteous judgment in the city, going round its walls day and night, pain and misery within it, insults within it, inseparable from its public squares are damage and assault." And the works of iniquity were those dared against the Savior, and violent

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γίγνεσθαι πραγμάτων, τὴν θεωρίαν φωτὶ τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος τοῖς τῆς διανοίας ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐντυπουμένην ὁρῶντα τεταράχθαι, καὶ φόβου καὶ δειλίας, καὶ τρόμου πεπληρῶσθαι διὰ τὴν τῶν θεωρουμένων κακῶν ὑπερβολήν. Εἶθ' ὥσπερ μέσος ἀποληφθεὶς τῶν ταῦτα δρώντων, μηδεμίαν τε ἔχων ἀποφυγὴν, μηδὲ ὅποι κλίνας ἑαυτὸν ἐκτὸς τῶν κακῶν γένοιτο, εὔχεται μετέωρος ἀρθῆναι, πτηνός τε δι' ἀέρος ἐκφυγεῖν. ∆ιὸ ἐπιλέγει· Καὶ εἶπα· Τίς δώσει μοι πτέρυγας ὡς περιστερᾶς, καὶ πετασθήσομαι, καὶ καταπαύσω; Περιστερᾶς γὰρ δίκην ἀκάκου πτέρυγας ἐκφεῦξαι καὶ πετασθῆναι, ὡς ἂν φύγοι τὰ κακὰ, ἠξίου. Οὐκοῦν καὶ περὶ τούτου ἀνωτέρω ἔλεγε τὸ, Ἐνώτισαι, ὁ Θεὸς, τὴν προσευχήν μου, ὡς ἂν τύχοι πτερύγων περιστερᾶς καὶ πετασθείη· μόνως γὰρ οὕτως, καὶ οὐδὲ ἄλλως, πόῤῥω γίνεσθαι τῆς τῶν ἀσεβῶν πόλεως οἷός τε ἦν. Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Καὶ εἶπον· Τίς δώσει μοι πτέρυγας ὡς περιστερᾶς, πετασθῆναι, καὶ ἑδρασθῆναι; Πόῤῥω ἂν ἐποίησα τὴν ἀναχώρησίν μου, ηὐλιζόμην ἂν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. Ἐξαίφνης ἂν ἐποίησα τὴν ἔκφευξίν μου ἀπὸ πνεύματος ἐπαίροντος· πόῤῥω γὰρ ἂν ἐποίησα, φησὶ, τὴν ἀναχώρησίν μου, εἰ ἔτυχον πτερύγων, φεύγων τοὺς τὰ προλεχθέντα τολμῶντας, καὶ τὰς ἐρήμους μᾶλλον τῆς εἰρημένης πόλεως προετίμων. Οὕτως τε ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ γεγονὼς, προσεδεχόμην ἂν τὸν σώζοντά με ἀπὸ τῆς γενομένης μοι ὀλιγοψυχίας, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς καταλαβούσης με καταιγίδος. Καταπόντισον, Κύριε, καὶ καταδίελε τὰς γλώσσας αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Τὴν αἰτίαν δι' ἣν ηὔξατο πτερύγων τυχεῖν, ὡς ἂν πετασθείη καὶ φύγοι, ἔρημόν τε μᾶλλον οἰκεῖν ἑλέσθαι ἢ τὴν δηλουμένην πόλιν, διὰ τῶν προκειμένων διδάσκει λέγων· Ἐπειδὴ τάδε καὶ τάδε προγνώσει τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος ἐθεασάμην πραχθησόμενα ἐν τῇ πόλει, τούτου χάριν ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη φεύγειν διανενόημαι τὴν τῶν κακῶν πληθύν. Πρῶτον γὰρ ἀσέβημα τῶν τὴν προλεχθεῖσαν πόλιν οἰκησάντων ὁρῶ τὸ ἐκ τῆς γλώττης αὐτῶν. Πάντες γὰρ ὤξυναν ἑαυτῶν ἐπὶ κακῷ συμφωνήσαντες τὰς γλώττας κατὰ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ· διὸ, μὴ φέρων αὐτῶν τὴν μοχθηρὰν ταύτην καὶ ἀσεβῆ συμφωνίαν, εὔχομαι λέγων· Ὦ Κύριε, καταπόντισον καὶ καταδίελε τὰς γλώσσας αὐτῶν. Ἢ, κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Καταποντισθῆναι ποίησον, ∆έσποτα, καὶ ἀσύμφωνον ποίησον τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτῶν. Τῆς γὰρ μοχθηρᾶς συμφωνίας πολὺ κρεῖττον γένοιτ' ἂν ἡ ἀσυμφωνία, ἀτονωτέραν καὶ ἀσθενεστέραν κακίαν ἀπεργαζομένη. Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν τὸ πρῶτον ἦν αὐτῶν κακόν. Οἵ τε γὰρ τοῦ ἔθνους προεστῶτες, νομοδιδάσκαλοι καὶ ἀρχιερεῖς, καὶ λοιποὶ ἄρχοντες τοῦ λαοῦ, δολίως αὐτῷ προσιόντες, πειράζειν αὐτὸν ἐτόλ 23.480 μων, λαβὰς θηρώμενοι, καὶ ἐπιβουλὰς κατ' αὐτοῦ συσκευαζόμενοι. Ὃ δὴ καὶ ἕτερος ᾐνίττετο ψαλμὸς ἐξ αὐτοῦ προσώπου φήσας· Περιεκύκλωσάν με ταῦροι πολλοὶ, μόσχοι πίονες περιέσχον με. Ἤνοιξαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν ὡς λέων ἁρπάζων καὶ ὠρυόμενος. Κἀκεῖ γὰρ τοὺς ἄρχοντας ᾐνίττετο τοῦ λαοῦ· διὸ πάλιν τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν ἐμνημόνευε διὰ τὰς κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐπιβουλάς τε καὶ σκέψεις. Καὶ ὁ πᾶς δὲ τῶν Ἰουδαίων λαὸς ὁποίας ἐπὶ τοῦ Ποντίου Πιλάτου κατ' αὐτοῦ προσήκατο φωνὰς, ἱστορεῖ τὰ Εὐαγγέλια. Ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸ παρίστη ἐν καʹ ψαλμῷ ὁ εἰπών· Ὅτι ἐκύκλωσάν με κύνες πολλοὶ, συναγωγὴ πονηρευομένων περιέσχον με. Καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ἐν τῇ δηλουμένῃ ἐπράττετο πόλει· διὸ λέλεκται ἐν τοῖς προκειμένοις· Καταπόντισον, Κύριε, καὶ καταδίελε τὰς γλώσσας αὐτῶν. Εἶτ' ἐπιλέγει· Ὅτι εἶδον ἀνομίαν καὶ ἀντιλογίαν ἐν τῇ πόλει· ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς κυκλώσει αὐτὴν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· ἀνθ' ὧν ὁ Σύμμαχος τοῦτον ἡρμήνευσε τὸν τρόπον· Ὅτι ἐθεώρησα βίαιον ἀδικίαν καὶ ἀδικασίαν ἐν τῇ πόλει, ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς κυκλοῦντα αὐτῆς τὰ τείχη, ὀδύνην καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν ἔνδον αὐτῆς, ἐπηρείας ἔνδον αὐτῆς, ἀχώριστον ἀπὸ τῶν πλατειῶν αὐτῆς ζημίαν καὶ ἐπίθεσιν. Ἀνομίας δὲ ἔργα ἦν τὰ κατὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος τολμώμενα, καὶ βίαιος