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the fifth edition, for "the one who came forth," they translated. The word, having mentioned those who were drowned in the Red Sea, next also brings to memory the things done after these, 23.864 saying: You broke open springs and torrents. For it was not Moses, he says, who struck the rock with his rod and brought forth from it springs and torrents; but it was you, O God, who worked these wonders through Moses. And what is said next in the text, You dried up the rivers of Etham, could be referred to the Jordan, which the sons of Israel crossed on foot after it was dried up, after the death of Moses, with Jesus leading them. And the manner of speaking is comprehensive, using the plural instead of the singular. As for "Etham," Aquila translated it as 'mighty rivers,' and Symmachus as 'ancient.' And let these things be said with regard to the literal meaning. But one who approaches the passages figuratively will refer these things to unseen and invisible powers, saying that they are the dragons named here; and the sea, figuratively, as their dwelling place, and that the ruler of the evil spirits himself is signified by the many-headed dragon; concerning whom one might say the text was spoken, You crushed the heads of the dragon, you gave him as food to the Ethiopian peoples. Such a person will also seek for certain Ethiopians according to the laws of allegory, asserting them to be those who are blackened in their souls; and he will say that these eat the aforementioned dragon, analogously to those who eat the flesh of the saving Word; and following these things, he will also try to render figuratively the springs breaking forth into torrents and the rivers being dried up. But we, having rendered the meaning literally, will proceed to what follows. The prophet, having shown what wonders God the king from before the ages has worked, adds these things also, saying: Yours is the day, and yours is the night. For you alone, the almighty one, have wrought so great a change of things. For just as you changed the solid rock into a flowing substance and made from it springs and torrents, and conversely, making the currents of the rivers into the opposite, you dried them up; so also you make the day into night when you wish, and in turn you change the night into day; you yourself also placed luminaries in heaven as stars, and you ordained courses for the sun, and having legislated bounds for the universe, you divided all time as if by boundaries, breaking it into the different seasons of the whole year. For though time is one, and the cycle of the universe is one and the same, you, O God who are able to do all things, have divided the whole with different turnings, joining summer to spring, and marking out autumn after this, and bounding winter with spring; for you have formed all these things. Since, therefore, you, our king from of old and before the ages, are of such a nature as to work great and wondrous things, and to change from opposites to opposites the things that are subject to your will; we reasonably beseech you now also to assent to our supplications, and to be mindful of this (but instead of 'this,' Symmachus translated 'these things'); so that you might also make a change in our case from the evils that have befallen us. And instead of, 'You prepared the light and the sun,' Aquila translated, 'You prepared the luminary and the sun.' An enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked your name. Do not deliver to the beasts a soul that confesses to you. The works of your inexpressible power are of such a kind as have been shown. And we supplicate you to be mindful of these things 23.865 also in our case. Since now also the enemies and the adversaries reproach not us, who have been warred against and have become subject to them, but you, our God; and a foolish people that knows you not as God, but boasts in demons and polytheistic error, has provoked not us, but you and your name; for which reason we pray and beseech, not to be given up
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πέμπτη ἔκδοσις, τῷ ἐξεληλυθότι, ἡρμήνευσαν. Τῶν μὲν τῇ Ἐρυθρᾷ θαλάσσῃ καταποντωθέντων μνημονεύσας ὁ λόγος, ἑξῆς καὶ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα πεπραγμένων ἀναφέρει 23.864 τὴν μνήμην λέγων· Σὺ διέῤῥηξας πηγὰς καὶ χειμάῤῥους. Οὐ γὰρ Μωσῆς, φησὶν, ἦν ὁ τῇ ῥάβδῳ τύψας τὴν πέτραν καὶ ἐξαγαγὼν ἐξ αὐτῆς πηγὰς καὶ χειμάῤῥους· ἀλλὰ σὺ ἦσθα, ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ ταῦτα διὰ Μωσέως παραδοξοποιῶν. Καὶ τὸ ἐπιλεγόμενον δὲ ἐν τῷ, Σὺ ἐξήρανας ποταμοὺς Ἠθὰμ, ἀναφέροιτο ἂν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰορδάνην, ὃν ἀποξηρανθέντα διῆλθον ποσὶ μετὰ τὴν Μωσέως τελευτὴν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ, ἡγουμένου αὐτῶν Ἰησοῦ. Ἔστι δὲ ὁ τρόπος περιληπτικὸς, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἑνικοῦ πληθυντικῶς προενηνεγμένος. Τὸ δὲ Ἠθάμ, ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας στερεοὺς ποταμοὺς ἡρμήνευσεν, ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος ἀρχαίους. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὡς πρὸς τὴν λέξιν εἰρήσθω. Τροπικῶς δ' ἄν τις ἐπιβαλὼν τοῖς τόποις ἀνοίσει ταῦτα ἐπὶ δυνάμεις ἀφανεῖς καὶ ἀοράτους, αὐτὰς εἶναι λέγων τοὺς δράκοντας τοὺς ἐνταῦθα ὠνομασμένους· θάλασσάν τε τροπικῶς τὸ τούτων οἰκητήριον, αὐτόν τε τὸν ἄρχοντα τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων σημαίνεσθαι διὰ τοῦ πολυκεφάλου δράκοντος· περὶ οὗ φήσειέ τις εἰρῆσθαι τὸ, Σὺ συνέθλασας τὰς κεφαλὰς τοῦ δράκοντος, ἔδωκας αὐτὸν βρῶμα λαοῖς τοῖς Αἰθίοψι. Ζητήσει δὲ ὁ τοιοῦτος καὶ τινὰς Αἰθίοπας νόμοις ἀλληγορίας, τοὺς τὰς ψυχὰς μεμελανωμένους φάσκων εἶναι· οὓς δὲ καὶ ἐσθίειν ἐρεῖ τὸν προλεχθέντα δράκοντα, ἀναλόγως τοῖς ἐσθίουσι τοῦ σωτηρίου Λόγου τὰς σάρκας· ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις καὶ πηγὰς ῥηγνυμένας εἰς χειμάῤῥους καὶ ποταμοὺς ἀποξηραινομένους τροπικῶς ἀποδοῦναι πειράσεται. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς, πρὸς λέξιν τὴν διάνοιαν ἀποδεδωκότες, ἐπὶ τὰ ἑξῆς διαβησόμεθα. Παραστήσας ὁ προφήτης ὁποῖα εἴργασται θαύματα ὁ πρὸ αἰώνων βασιλεὺς Θεὸς, ἔτι καὶ ταῦτα προστίθησι λέγων· Σή ἐστιν ἡ ἡμέρα, καὶ σή ἐστιν ἡ νύξ. Τὴν γὰρ τοσαύτην τῶν πραγμάτων μεταβολὴν σὺ μόνος ὁ παντοδύναμος εἰργάσω. Ὡς γὰρ τὴν στερέμνιον πέτραν εἰς ῥευστὴν οὐσίαν μεταβαλὼν, πηγὰς καὶ χειμάῤῥους ἐξ αὐτῆς εἰργάσω, καὶ ἀνάπαλιν τὰ τῶν ποταμῶν ῥεύματα εἰς τὸ ἐναντίον καταστήσας ἐξήρανας· οὕτω καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν ὅτε θέλεις νυκτοποιεῖς, ἔμπαλίν τε τὴν νύκτα μετατρέπεις εἰς ἡμέραν· αὐτὸς καὶ φωστῆρας ἐν οὐρανῷ κατηστέρισας αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἡλίῳ διέταξας δρόμους, ὅρους τε τῷ παντὶ νομοθετήσας, ὥσπερ μεθορίους διεῖλας τὸν σύμπαντα αἰῶνα κατακερματίσας εἰς διάφορα τμήματα τοὺς τοῦ παντὸς ἐνιαυτοῦ καιρούς. Ἑνὸς γὰρ ὄντος τοῦ χρόνου, καὶ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ἀνακυκλήσεως μιᾶς καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς οὔσης, σὺ ὁ πάντα δυνατὸς Θεὸς τροπαῖς διαφόροις διεῖλας τὸ πᾶν, θέρος μὲν ἔαρι συνάψας, τούτῳ δὲ μετόπωρον περιγράψας, χειμῶνά τε περιορίσας ἔαρι· πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα σὺ ἔπλασας. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν σὺ ὁ ἐξ αἰῶνος καὶ πρὸ αἰῶνος βασιλεὺς ἡμῶν τοιαῦτα πέφυκας μεγαλουργεῖν καὶ παραδοξοποιεῖν, μεταβάλλειν τε ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων εἰς τὰ ἐναντία τὰ τῷ σῷ νεύματι παριστάμενα· εἰκότως ἀντιβολοῦμεν καὶ νῦν ταῖς ἡμετέραις ἱκετηρίαις ἐπινεῦσαι, μνησθῆναί τε ταύτης (ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, ταύτης, ταῦτα ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσεν)· ὅπως καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν μεταβολὴν ποιήσειας τῶν προκαταλαβόντων ἡμᾶς κακῶν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, Σὺ κατηρτίσω φαῦσιν καὶ ἥλιον, ὁ Ἀκύλας, Σὺ ἡτοίμασας φωστῆρα καὶ ἥλιον ἡρμήνευσεν. Ἐχθρὸς ὠνείδισε τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ λαὸς ἄφρων παρώξυνε τὸ ὄνομά σου. Μὴ παραδῷς τοῖς θηρίοις ψυχὴν ἐξομολογουμένην σοι. Τὰ μὲν τῆς σῆς ἀνεκφράστου δυνάμεως ἔργα τοιαῦτά τινα, ὁποῖα δεδήλωται τυγχάνει. Τούτων δέ σε μνησθῆναι 23.865 καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν ἱκετεύομεν. Ἐπειδὴ καὶ νῦν οἱ ἐχθροὶ καὶ οἱ πολέμιοι, οὐχ ἡμᾶς τοὺς πολεμηθέντας καὶ ὑποχειρίους αὐτοῖς γενομένους, ἀλλὰ σὲ τὸν Θεὸν ἡμῶν ὀνειδίζουσι· καὶ λαὸς ἄφρων ὁ σὲ τὸν Θεὸν μὴ εἰδὼς, ἐπὶ δαίμοσι δὲ καὶ πολυθέῳ πλάνῃ καυχώμενος, οὐχ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ σὲ καὶ τὸ σὸν ὄνομα παρώξυνεν· οὗ χάριν δεόμεθα καὶ ἀντιβολοῦμεν, μὴ ἐκδότους