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For he calls the eagerness of the soul a cry. For thus also, when Moses was silent, God said, "Why do you cry to me?" -"Attend to the voice of my supplication, when I cry to you." Graciously, he says, O Master, receive my supplication. 2. "Let my prayer be set forth as incense before you; the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice." To prayer he joined the practice of virtue. For the lifting up of the hands signifies this; for the hands were entrusted with work. And he beseeches that his prayer be sent up similarly to the smoke of incense, and imitate its fragrance. Likewise also that the stretching out of his hands might appear similar to an evening sacrifice. He mentioned, however, an evening, and not a morning sacrifice, because he was in calamities and sorrows; for calamity is like darkness and night. 3. "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; and a door of enclosure about my lips." The Creator gave two walls to the tongue, that of the teeth, and that of the lips, restraining its irrational impulses. But nevertheless the Prophet exhorts to enjoy another guard as well, fearing lest in his distress he might utter something unseemly. For that, not even when persecuted by Saul did he ever endure to say anything blasphemous, the history testifies. But when they tried to kill him, he himself named him the Lord's Christ. And conversing with him, he calls himself a servant, and he killed the one who reported his slaughter, having done this as a rash deed, saying: "Your blood be upon your head, for you said that you had killed the Lord's Christ." 4. "Incline not my heart to evil words, to make excuses for sins." He exhorts 80.1949 not only that the tongue be guarded, but also the very movements of the mind, so that not even in those might be found any thought contrary to the divine laws. Instead of, "to make excuses for sins," Symmachus said, in unlawful thoughts. And according to the Seventy it should be understood thus: The blessed David was able to reason that Saul was an enemy and an adversary, and desirous of my slaughter; it is not unjust, therefore, to kill such a one, as the law prescribes, "You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy." But foreseeing the evangelical way of life, he wished to live according to it; and he prays to receive no pretext for sin. "With men who work iniquity, and I will not associate with their chosen ones." For these things, he says, the workers of lawlessness do; but may there be no fellowship for me with them, even if they have the highest good fortune. For here he calls the prosperous among the wicked the chosen. 5. "A righteous man will chasten me with mercy, and he will reprove me; but let not the oil of a sinner anoint my head." More preferable to me, he says, are the painful things that come from the righteous for the sake of discipline and benefit, than the pleasant things offered by sinners, even if like oil that makes the head shine, these things provide me a more pleasant life. For I choose to be disciplined by the righteous, rather than to be served by sinners. "For still my prayer also is in their good pleasures." But Symmachus thus: Yet also my prayer is within their evils. For I am so far from envying their prosperity, that I even pray for them to be changed, so that when their good fortune is changed they may receive a change from wickedness. 2. "Their judges were swallowed up near the rock." Not long from now, he says, they will be gone, and those who have attained the highest power will be similarly submerged by sunken rocks covered by waters, instead of, they will be given over to oblivion. "They shall hear my words, for they are sweet." And having learned by experience the truth of my words, they will also perceive their sweetness and benefit. 7. "As a lump of earth is broken up upon the ground, their bones were scattered beside hades." He calls the solid part of the earth a "lump of earth," which, being cut by the plow, is divided into clods. Similarly to these clods, he says, those now standing will be broken up

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Κραυγὴν γὰρ καλεῖ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς προθυμίαν. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ Μωσοῦ σιγῶντος ὁ Θεὸς ἔφη, "Τί βοᾷς πρός με;" -"Πρόσχες τῇ φωνῇ τῆς δεήσεώς μου ἐν τῷ κεκραγέναι με πρὸς σέ." Εὐμενῶς, φησὶ, ∆έσποτα, δέξαι τὴν ἐμὴν ἱκετείαν. βʹ. "Κατευθυνθήτω ἡ προσευχή μου, ὡς θυμίαμα ἐνώπιόν σου· ἔπαρσις τῶν χειρῶν μου θυσία ἑσπε ρινή." Τῇ προσευχῇ συνέζευξε τὴν πρᾶξιν τῆς ἀρετῆς. Ἡ γὰρ ἔπαρσις τῶν χειρῶν ταύτην παρα δηλοῖ· τὴν ἐργασίαν γὰρ αἱ χεῖρες ἐνεχειρίσθησαν. Ἱκετεύει δὲ τῷ τοῦ θυμιάματος ἀτμῷ παραπλη σίως ἀναπεμφθῆναι τὴν προσευχὴν, καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου εὐοσμίαν μιμήσασθαι. Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τῶν χειρῶν τὴν ἔκτασιν ἑσπερινῇ θυσίᾳ φανῆναι παραπλησίαν. Ἑσπερινῆς μέντοι, καὶ οὐχ ἑωθινῆς ἐμνημόνευσεν, ἐπειδὴ ἐν συμφοραῖς ἦν καὶ λύπαις· σκότῳ δὲ ἔοικεν ἡ συμφορὰ καὶ νυκτί. γʹ. "Θοῦ, Κύριε, φυλακὴν τῷ στόματί μου, καὶ θύραν περιοχῆς περὶ τὰ χείλη μου." ∆ύο μὲν ὁ ∆ημιουργὸς ἔδωκε τῇ γλώττῃ τείχεα, τὸ τῶν ὀδόντων, καὶ τὸ τῶν χειλέων, τὰς ἀλόγους αὐτῆς ὑπέχων ὁρμάς. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ὁ Προφήτης καὶ ἑτέ ρας ἀπολαῦσαι παρακαλεῖ φυλακῆς, δεδιὼς μή τι φθέγξηται σχετλιάζων οὐκ εὐπρεπές. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐδ' ὑπὸ τοῦ Σαοὺλ διωκόμενος εἰπεῖν τι βλάσφημον ἠνέσχετο πώποτε, μαρτυρεῖ ἡ ἱστορία. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἀναιρεῖν αὐτὸν πειραθέντων, αὐτὸς Χριστὸν ὠνόμα σε Κυρίου. Καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν διαλεγόμενος, δοῦλον ἑαυτὸν ἀποκαλεῖ, καὶ τὸν μηνύσαντα τὴν σφαγὴν αὐτοῦ, ταύτην πεποιηκέναι νεανιευσάμενον, ἀνεῖλεν, εἰρηκώς· "Τὸ αἷμά σου ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλήν σου, ὅτι σὲ εἶπας ἀνῃρηκέναι τὸν Χριστὸν Κυρίου." δʹ. "Μὴ ἐκκλίνῃς τὴν καρδίαν μου εἰς λόγους πονηρίας, τοῦ προφασίζεσθαι προφάσεις ἐν ἁμαρ τίαις." Οὐ μόνον γλῶτταν φρουρηθῆναι παρα 80.1949 καλεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὰ τῆς διανοίας κινήματα, ἵνα μηδὲ ἐν ἐκείνοις ἕτερός τις παρὰ τοὺς θείους νόμους εὑρεθῇ λογισμός. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, "Προφασίζεσθαι προ φάσεις ἐν ἁμαρτίαις," ὁ Σύμμαχος εἴρηκεν, ἐν νοίας παρανόμους. Καὶ κατὰ τοὺς Ἑβδομήκοντα δὲ οὕτω νοητέον· Ἠδύνατο λογίσασθαι ὁ μακάριος ∆αβὶδ, ὅτι Ἐχθρὸς καὶ πολέμιος ὁ Σαοὺλ, καὶ τῆς σφαγῆς ἐφιέμενος τῆς ἐμῆς· οὐκ ἄδικον τοίνυν ἀνελεῖν τὸν τοιοῦτον, τοῦ νόμου διαγορεύοντος, "Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου, καὶ μισήσεις τὸν ἐχθρόν σου." Ἀλλὰ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν προθεωρῶν πολιτείαν, κατ' ἐκείνην ἤθελε βιοῦν· καὶ εὔχεται μηδεμίαν πρόφασιν εἰς ἁμαρτίαν λαβεῖν. "Σὺν ἀνθρώποις ἐργαζομένοις τὴν ἀνομίαν, καὶ οὐ μὴ συνδυάσω μετὰ τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν αὐτῶν." Ταῦτα γὰρ, φησὶ, δρῶσιν οἱ τῆς παρανομίας ἐργάται· ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ εἴη τις πρὸς αὐτοὺς κοινωνία, κἂν τὴν ἄκραν ἔχωσιν εὐκληρίαν. Ἐκλεκτοὺς γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τῶν πονηρῶν τοὺς εὐημεροῦντας καλεῖ. εʹ. "Παιδεύσει με δίκαιος ἐν ἐλέει, καὶ ἐλέγξει με· ἔλαιον δὲ ἁμαρτωλοῦ μὴ λιπανάτω τὴν κεφα λήν μου." Αἱρετώτερά μοι, φησὶ, τὰ παρὰ τῶν δικαίων παιδείας χάριν γινόμενα καὶ ὠφε λείας λυπηρὰ, τῶν παρὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν προσφε ρομένων ἡδέων, κἂν δίκην ἐλαίου λαμπρύναντος κεφαλὴν, θυμηρεστέραν μοι ταῦτα παρέχει ζωήν. Αἱροῦμαι γὰρ παρὰ τῶν δικαίων παιδεύεσθαι, ἢ παρὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν θεραπεύεσθαι. "Ὅτι ἔτι καὶ ἡ προσευχή μου ἐν ταῖς εὐδοκίαις αὐτῶν." Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος οὕτως· Ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡ προσευχή μου ἐντὸς τῶν κακιῶν αὐτῶν. Τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἀπ έχω τοῦ τὴν ἐκείνων εὐημερίαν ζηλῶσαι, ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὺς εὔχομαι μεταβληθῆναι, ἵνα μεταβληθείσης τῆς εὐπραξίας λάβωσι κακίας μεταβολήν. ʹ. "Κατεπόθησαν ἐχόμενα πέτρας οἱ κριταὶ αὐτῶν." Οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν, φησὶ, φροῦδοι γενήσονται, καὶ οἱ τῆς ἄκρας δυναστείας ἐπειλημμένοι, πέ τραις ὑφάλοις ὑπὸ ὑδάτων καλυπτομέναις ὑπο βρύχιοι παραπλησίως ἔσονται, ἀντὶ τοῦ, λήθῃ παρα δοθήσονται. "Ἀκούσονται τὰ ῥήματά μου, ὅτι ἡ δύνθησαν." Τῇ πείρᾳ δὲ μαθόντες τῶν ἐμῶν ῥημά των τὸ ἀληθὲς, καὶ τῆς τούτων ἡδονῆς καὶ ὠφελείας αἰσθήσονται. ζʹ. "Ὡσεὶ πάχος γῆς ἐῤῥάγη ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, διεσκορπίσθη τὰ ὀστᾶ αὐτῶν παρὰ τὸν ᾅδην." Πάχος γῆς τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς γῆς καλεῖ, ὃ τῷ ἀρότρῳ τεμνόμενον εἰς βώλους διαιρεῖται. Τούτοις, φησὶ, τοῖς βώλοις παραπλησίως οἱ νῦν ἑστῶτες διαλυ θήσονται