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their eyes. Then after this: They passed, he says, into the disposition of the heart, they devised and spoke in wickedness; which things Symmachus also interpreted thus: They transgressed the things that appeared to the heart, mocking. For they transgressed the very works of God seen by the eyes of all, and the manifest wonders of Providence, understanding and comprehending them, but mocking and scoffing through an excess of desperation. Moreover, they spoke in wickedness, and they uttered injustice against the height. They set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue went through the earth. And these things Symmachus interpreted thus: They spoke with much slander, they spoke against the height. They set their mouth against heaven; and their tongue was a walking about in the earth. For uttering blasphemous words against God, as though he neither sees nor oversees, nor indeed exists at all, they spoke injustice against the height, and they stretched their mouth up to heaven; and this, though they were lowly and had their tongue upon the earth. These were the things for which I confessed my own suffering, setting up a written accusation against myself, and that my feet were almost shaken, and my steps nearly poured out, because I was zealous against the lawless, seeing the peace of sinners. For this reason my people will return here, and full days will be found in them. The godless words of the impious and the pride that overcame them were such as has been shown. But one must not be ignorant that these very things have happened for the good of my people. For even if for a certain time my people were delivered over to those impious ones for the exacting of sins, yet the excess of the desperation of those aforementioned, having worked a fall for them and having become a cause of destruction for them, will provide relief and respite to my people. For when they have fallen and perished through their own impieties, my people will return here, that is, in the present life; and full days will be found in them, that is, among the worthy in my people. And full days are those which are filled with every good, and 23.841 fulfilling their proper time of life. Thus it is said somewhere, that he fell asleep full of days. So then my people have been helped by these things; but the aforementioned impious and godless ones were so impious, that those who saw were at a loss and said: How did God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High? For if there is knowledge in the Most High, and if he oversees these things, and watches over those on earth, how do these who do such things prosper, and have possessed wealth forever? And I, seeing these things, was troubled in my thoughts, so as to think to myself: Have I then perhaps in vain justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent, and I have been scourged all the day, and my reproof in the mornings? For if such cheerfulness is present for those who have not done these things, then I labor in vain, and have superfluously been zealous in caring for righteousness; rashly and in vain I guarded my hands and actions from unjust deeds; rashly and by fastings and hardships wearing myself down and scourging myself I continued every day; rashly and in vain I toiled, rising at dawn and confessing my own sins in prayers to God, weeping and bringing forth reproofs against myself in confessions to God. These were the things which I considered, and I was almost shaken. But instead of these, Symmachus interpreted it in this way: Perhaps then I too in vain cleansed my soul, and washed my hands in sinlessness, and I continued being mocked every day, and being reproved every morning. If I said, I will declare it thus, behold I have dealt treacherously with the generation of your sons. And I undertook to know this, it is a toil before me; until I enter into the sanctuary of God, and understand

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ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῶν. Εἶτ' ἐπὶ τούτοις· ∆ιήλθοσαν, φησὶν, εἰς διάθεσιν καρδίας, διενοήθησαν καὶ ἐλάλησαν ἐν πονηρίᾳ· ἃ καὶ αὐτὰ ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσεν οὕτω· Παρέβαινον τὰ φαινόμενα τῇ καρδίᾳ καταμωκώμενοι. Καὶ γὰρ αὐτὰ τὰ τοῖς πάντων ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρώμενα ἔργα τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὰ προφανῆ τῆς Προνοίας θαύματα παρέβαινον οὗτοι, νοοῦντες μὲν καὶ συνιέντες αὐτὰ, καταμωκώμενοι δὲ καὶ χλευάζοντες δι' ὑπερβολὴν ἀπονοίας. Ἔτι μὴν ἐλάλησαν ἐν πονηρίᾳ, καὶ ἀδικίαν εἰς τὸ ὕψος ἐφθέγγοντο. Ἔθεντό τε εἰς οὐρανὸν τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτῶν διῆλθεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Καὶ ταῦτα δὲ ὁ Σύμμαχος οὕτως ἡρμήνευσεν· Ἐλάλουν ἐν πολλῇ συκοφαντίᾳ, τοῦ ὕψους κατελάλουν. Ἔτασσον εἰς οὐρανὸν τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν· ἡ δὲ γλῶσσα αὐτῶν περιπατήματα ἐν τῇ γῇ. Βλάσφημα γὰρ προφερόμενοι ῥήματα κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς μήτε ὁρῶντος μήτε ἐπισκοποῦντος, μήτε μὴν ὅλον ὑπάρχοντος, ἀδικίαν εἰς τὸ ὕψος ἐλάλησαν, καὶ μέχρι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐξέτεινον ἑαυτῶν τὸ στόμα· καὶ ταῦτα ταπεινοὶ ὄντες καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔχοντες. Ταῦτ' ἦν δι' ἃ ὡμολόγουν τὸ ἐμαυτοῦ πάθος, κατ' ἐμαυτοῦ στηλιτεύων ἔγγραφον κατηγορίαν, καὶ ὅτι παρὰ μικρὸν ἐσαλεύθησαν οἱ πόδες μου, καὶ παρ' ὀλίγον ἐξεχύθη τὰ διαβήματά μου, ὅτι ἐζήλωσα ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνόμοις, εἰρήνην ἁμαρτωλῶν θεωρῶν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐπιστρέψει ὁ λαός μου ἐνταῦθα, καὶ ἡμέραι πλήρεις εὑρεθήσονται ἐν αὐτοῖς. Τὰ μὲν ἄθεα τῶν ἀσεβῶν ῥήματα καὶ ἡ κρατήσασα αὐτῶν ὑπερηφανία τοιαύτη τις ἦν οἵα δεδήλωται. Χρὴ δὲ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν, ὡς αὐτὰ ταῦτα πρὸς ἀγαθοῦ γεγένηται τῷ ἐμῷ λαῷ. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα πρός τινα καιρὸν αὐτοῖς ἐκείνοις τοῖς ἀσεβέσιν ὁ ἐμὸς λαὸς παρεδόθη εἰς ἔκπραξιν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἀλλ' ἡ ὑπερβολὴ τῆς τῶν προλεχθέντων ἀπονοίας, πτῶσιν αὐτοῖς ἐργασαμένη καὶ ὀλέθρου γενομένη αὐτοῖς αἰτία, ἄνεσιν καὶ ἀναπνοὴν τῷ ἐμῷ παρέξει λαῷ. Ἐκπεσόντων γὰρ ἐκείνων καὶ ἀπολομένων διὰ τὰς οἰκείας ἀσεβείας, ὁ λαός μου ἐπιστρέψει ἐνταῦθα, τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ· καὶ ἡμέραι πλήρεις εὑρεθήσονται ἐν αὐτοῖς, δηλαδὴ τοῖς ἐν τῷ ἐμῷ λαῷ ἀξίοις. Πλήρεις δὲ ἡμέραι εἰσὶν αἱ παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ πεπληρωμέναι, καὶ 23.841 τὸν οἰκεῖον χρόνον τῆς ζωῆς ἀποπληροῦσαι. Οὕτω λέλεκταί που, ὅτι Ἐκοιμήθη πλήρης ἡμερῶν. Ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐμὸς λαὸς ἐκ τούτων ὠφέληται· οἵ γε μὴν προλεχθέντες ἀσεβεῖς καὶ ἄθεοι οὕτως ἠσέβουν, ὡς τοὺς ὁρῶντας ἀμηχανεῖν καὶ λέγειν· Πῶς ἔγνω ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ εἰ ἔστι γνῶσις ἐν τῷ Ὑψίστῳ; εἰ γάρ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ Ὑψίστῳ γνῶσις, καὶ εἰ ταῦτα ἐφορᾷ, καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς ἐπισκοπεῖ, πῶς οὗτοι τοιαῦτα δρῶντες εὐθηνοῦσιν, καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατέσχον πλούτου; Κἀγὼ δὲ, ταῦτα θεωρῶν, ἐθορυβούμην τοῖς λογισμοῖς, ὡς πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ἐννοεῖν· Μήποτε ἄρα ματαίως ἐδικαίωσα τὴν καρδίαν μου, καὶ ἐνιψάμην ἐν ἀθώοις τὰς χεῖράς μου, καὶ ἐγενόμην μεμαστιγωμένος ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, καὶ ὁ ἔλεγχός μου εἰς τὰς πρωΐας; Εἰ γὰρ τοῖς μὴ ταῦτα πεποιηκόσι τοσαύτη πάρεστιν εὐθυμία, εἰς μάταιον ἄρα ἐγὼ κοπιῶ, καὶ περιττῶς ἐσπούδακα δικαιοσύνης ἐπιμελόμενος· εἰκῆ δὲ καὶ μάτην ἐφύλαξά μου τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὰς πράξεις ἐξ ἀδίκων ἔργων· εἰκῆ καὶ νηστείαις καὶ κακοπαθείαις κατατρύχων ἐμαυτὸν καὶ μαστίζων πᾶσαν ἡμέραν διετέλεσα· εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην ἐπόνουν, ἅμα τῇ ἕῳ ἀνιστάμενος καὶ ἐξαγορεύων ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν εὐχαῖς τὰς ἐμαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίας ἀποκλαόμενός τε καὶ τοὺς κατ' ἐμαυτοῦ προφέρων ἐλέγχους ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐξομολογήσεσι. Ταῦτ' ἦν ἃ ἐνθυμούμενος, παρὰ μικρὸν ἐσαλευόμην. Ἀντὶ δὲ τούτων ὁ Σύμμαχος τοῦτον ἡρμήνευσε τὸν τρόπον· Ἴσως οὖν κἀγὼ μάτην ἐκάθαρα τὴν ψυχήν μου, καὶ ἐνιπτόμην ἐν ἀναμαρτησίᾳ τὰς χεῖράς μου, καὶ διετέλεσα μυκτηριζόμενος καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, καὶ ἐλεγχόμενος καθ' ἕκαστον ὄρθρον. Εἰ ἔλεγον, ∆ιηγήσομαι οὕτως, ἰδοὺ τῇ γενεᾷ τῶν υἱῶν σου ἠσυντέθεικα. Καὶ ὑπέλαβον τοῦ γνῶναι τοῦτο, κόπος ἐστὶν ἐνώπιόν μου· ἕως οὗ εἰσέλθω εἰς τὸ ἁγιαστήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ συνῶ