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It is something like this: I was toiling, I was suffering in my thoughts. For such is reasoning. Then I reasoned that I was doing a laborious thing. Investigating these things, I will be able to know nothing clearly until I receive my fatherland. Do you see how great an evil it is to entrust the matters of faith to reasoning, and not to faith? For if he had been fixed in faith, he would not have uttered these things, he would not have been disturbed, he would not have been troubled, his feet would not have been shaken, his steps would not have almost been poured out. But the Prophet was not so, but standing upon the rock he was not disturbed, he was not troubled, but seeing the affairs of the Jews disposed thus, and those of the barbarians oppositely, he preached continually about the return with a clear voice and a fully convinced mind, both in many psalms, and was very courageous, paying attention neither to the power of the barbarians, nor to the Jewish insignificance, but to the power of God who promised these things. Wherefore he says: I believed, therefore I spoke; but I was greatly humbled. Another says, I, however, was greatly afflicted. But I said in my ecstasy, Every man is a liar. Another: And I said in my distress, Every man is utterly false. From this again the splendors of faith are shown, that not even the 55.324 greatness of the calamity cast him into despair. For such is faith: it is a sacred anchor, holding up from every side the mind that possesses it, and it is most especially shown when out of impossible situations it persuades the one possessing it to await good hopes, casting out the disturbance of reasoning. Which he himself, making clear, said: But I was greatly afflicted, he says; that is, I was afflicted, but I did not despair, nor did I fall back. Then showing that he was not simply afflicted, he also adds the intensification, saying: But I said in my ecstasy, Every man is a liar. What is, In my ecstasy? In the excess of calamity, he says, in the greatness of the evils. For so great a temptation came upon us, as to induce both ecstasy and stupor. For here by ecstasy he means the insensibility that comes from evils. Since also in the case of Adam, when it says that He cast an ecstasy upon him, it means a certain insensibility. For ecstasy is said to be the state of being outside oneself. And it was cast upon him then, so that he might not feel his side being removed, nor be pained by what was happening. Thus God, stealing the sensation of pain, so that he would not hate what was coming from him, since he was pained, cast an ecstasy upon him. And elsewhere again, An ecstasy fell upon them, it says. There too it indicates a certain stupor, and being outside of sensation. And everywhere ecstasy signifies this. But it happens either by God's working, or by the excess of evils causing stupor. For calamity also knows how to produce ecstasy and stupor. Here therefore he calls ecstasy the greatness of the evils that had befallen. But what is it that he says, Every man is a liar? Is no one, then, true? How then is Job recorded as a true, righteous, God-fearing man? And what shall we say about the prophets? For if they too are liars, and they lied about what they have said, all is lost. What about Abraham? what about all the righteous, Do you see how great an evil it is to accept the word simply, and not to examine the meanings? What then is it that he says, Every man is a liar? What he says elsewhere, Man has been made like vanity. What another prophet also said: All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; that is, a most worthless thing, flowing away, like a shadow, a dream, a certain image. 4. And so that you may learn that I do not say these things simply by conjecture, another interpreter said, A complete deception, and another, Is utterly false, and another, Fails. But this differs greatly from that. For to lie belongs to the vice of the soul; but to fail and to dissolve, and to flow away, and to be a dream and a flower and a shadow, belongs to worthlessness according to nature. For he says the same thing, as when he says: But I am earth and ashes; and again, What

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τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ἐκοπούμην, ἐταλαιπωρούμην ἐν τοῖς λογισμοῖς. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ ὁ λογισμός. Εἶτα ἐλογιζόμην, ὅτι πρᾶγμα ἐπίπονον ποιῶ. Ταῦτα ἀναζητῶν, οὐδὲν δυνήσομαι σαφῶς εἰδέναι, ἕως ἂν ἀπολάβω πατρίδα. Ὁρᾷς ὅσον κακόν ἐστι λογισμοῖς ἐπιτρέπειν τὰ πράγματα τῆς πίστεως, καὶ μὴ τῇ πίστει; Εἰ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἦν πεπηγὼς ἐν τῇ πίστει, οὐκ ἂν ταῦτα ἐφθέγξατο, οὐκ ἂν ἐθορυβήθη, οὐκ ἂν ἐταράχθη, οὐκ ἂν ἐσαλεύθησαν οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ἂν παρ' ὀλίγον ἐξεχύθη τὰ διαβήματα αὐτοῦ. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁ Προφήτης οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας ἑστηκὼς οὐκ ἐθορυβεῖτο, οὐκ ἐταράττετο, ἀλλ' ὁρῶν τὰ μὲν τῶν Ἰουδαίων οὕτω διακείμενα, τὰ δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐναντίως, καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐπανόδου λαμπρᾷ τῇ φωνῇ καὶ πεπληροφορημένῃ διανοίᾳ ἐκήρυττε συνεχῶς καὶ ἐν πολλοῖς τοῖς ψαλμοῖς, καὶ σφόδρα ἐθάῤῥει, οὔτε τῇ δυνάμει τῶν βαρβάρων προσέχων, οὔτε τῇ εὐτελείᾳ τῇ Ἰουδαϊκῇ, ἀλλὰ τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ ταῦτα ἐπαγγειλαμένου Θεοῦ. ∆ιό φησιν· Ἐπίστευσα, διὸ ἐλάλησα· ἐγὼ δὲ ἐταπεινώθην σφόδρα. Ἕτερός φησιν, Ἐγὼ μέντοι ἐκακώθην σφόδρα. Ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπα ἐν τῇ ἐκστάσει μου, Πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης. Ἕτερος· Καὶ εἶπον ἀδημονῶν, Πᾶς ἄνθρωπος διαψεύδεται. Ἐντεῦθεν πάλιν τὰ τῆς πίστεως λαμπρὰ δείκνυται, ὅτι οὐδὲ τὸ 55.324 μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς εἰς ἀπόγνωσιν αὐτὸν ἐνέβαλε. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἡ πίστις· ἱερά τίς ἐστιν ἄγκυρα, πάντοθεν ἀνέχουσα τὴν ἔχουσαν αὐτὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ τότε μάλιστα διαδείκνυται, ὅταν ἐκ τῶν ἀπόρων ἀναπείθῃ τὸν ἔχοντα αὐτὴν χρηστὰς ἀναμένειν ἐλπίδας, τῶν λογισμῶν ἐκβάλλουσα τὸν θόρυβον. Ὅπερ καὶ αὐτὸς δηλῶν ἔλεγεν· Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐκακώθην σφόδρα, φησί· τουτέστιν, Ἐκακώθην, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπέγνων, οὐδὲ ἀνέπεσον. Εἶτα δεικνὺς, ὅτι οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐκακώθη, καὶ τὴν ἐπίτασιν προστίθησι λέγων· Ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπον ἐν τῇ ἐκστάσει μου, Πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης. Τί ἐστιν, Ἐν τῇ ἐκστάσει μου; Ἐν τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῆς συμφορᾶς, φησὶν, ἐν τῷ μεγέθει τῶν κακῶν. Τοσοῦτος γὰρ ἐπῆλθεν ἡμῖν πειρασμὸς, ὡς καὶ ἔκστασιν καὶ κάρον ἐνθεῖναι. Ἔκστασιν γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τὴν ἀναισθησίαν τὴν ἐκ τῶν κακῶν γινομένην λέγει. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ, ὅταν λέγῃ, ὅτι ἐπέβαλεν ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔκστασιν, ἀναισθησίαν τινὰ λέγει. Καὶ γὰρ ἔκστασις λέγεται τὸ ἔξω αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι. Ἐπεβέβλητο δὲ αὐτῷ τότε, ὥστε μὴ αἰσθάνεσθαι τῆς πλευρᾶς ἀφαιρουμένης, μηδὲ ἀλγῆσαι τῷ γενομένῳ. Οὕτω κλέπτων ὁ Θεὸς τῆς ὀδύνης τὴν αἴσθησιν, ἵνα μὴ μισήσῃ τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γινόμενον, ἅτε ἀλγήσας, ἐπέβαλεν ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔκστασιν. Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ πάλιν, Ἔπεσεν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἔκστασις, φησί. Κάρον τινὰ καὶ ἐκεῖ δηλοῖ, καὶ τὸ ἔξω αἰσθήσεως γενέσθαι. Καὶ πανταχοῦ ἡ ἔκστασις τοῦτο ἐμφαίνει. Γίνεται δὲ ἢ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐργαζομένου, ἢ τῆς ὑπερβολῆς τῶν κακῶν κάρον ἐμποιούσης. Οἶδε γὰρ καὶ συμφορὰ ποιεῖν ἔκστασιν καὶ κάρον. Ἐνταῦθα οὖν ἔκστασιν λέγει, τὸ μέγεθος τῶν κακῶν τῶν κατειληφότων. Τί δέ ἐστιν ὅ φησι, Πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης; Οὐδεὶς οὖν ἀληθής; Πῶς οὖν ὁ Ἰὼβ ἀναγέγραπται Ἄνθρωπος ἀληθινὸς, δίκαιος, θεοσεβής; Τί δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν προφητῶν ἐροῦμεν; Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐκεῖνοι ψεῦσται, καὶ ἐψεύσαντο ἃ εἰρήκασι, πάντα οἴχεται. Τί δὲ ὁ Ἀβραάμ; τί δὲ οἱ δίκαιοι πάντες, Ὁρᾷς ὅσον ἐστὶ κακὸν τὴν λέξιν ἁπλῶς ἐκδέχεσθαι, καὶ μὴ τὰ νοήματα περισκοπεῖν; Τί οὖν ἐστιν ὅ φησι, Πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης; Ὃ ἀλλαχοῦ φησιν, Ἄνθρωπος ματαιότητι ὡμοιώθη. Ὃ καὶ ἕτερος προφήτης εἶπε· Πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος, καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου· τουτέστιν, εὐτελέστατον πρᾶγμα, παραῤῥέον, σκιᾷ ἐοικὸς, ὀνείρατι, εἰκόνι τινί. δʹ. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι οὐχ ἁπλῶς εἰκάζων ταῦτα λέγω, ἕτερος ἑρμηνευτὴς εἶπε, ∆ιάψευσμα, καὶ ἄλλος, ∆ιαψεύδεται, καὶ ἕτερος, Ἐκλείπει. Πολὺ δὲ τοῦτο ἐκείνου διέστηκε. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ψεύδεσθαι κακίας ἐστὶ τῆς κατὰ ψυχήν· τὸ δὲ ἐκλείπειν καὶ διαῤῥεῖν, καὶ παραῤῥεῖν, καὶ ὄναρ εἶναι καὶ ἄνθος καὶ σκιὰν, τῆς κατὰ φύσιν εὐτελείας. Ταὐτὸν γὰρ λέγει, ὡς ὅταν εἴπῃ· Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι γῆ καὶ σποδός· καὶ πάλιν, Τί