326

For they do not simply lament, but they make this their work. For this reason, he said at the beginning, We sat down and wept, that is, for this reason we assembled, 55.406 so as to stir up lamentations and wailings. But for what reason was it not permitted to sing in a foreign land? Because it was not right for profane ears to hear those mysteries. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? That is, it is not permitted for us to sing. For even if we have been cast out of our fatherland, yet we remain keeping the law, and preserving its exactness. So that even if you have power over our bodies, you will not overcome our will. Have you seen a soul become philosophical from affliction, and loftier than terrible things? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning. Let my tongue cleave to my palate. See from this also the great change. For those who heard every day that they would be cast out of the city, and did not care, now curse themselves, if they should forget her. And what is, Let my right hand forget its cunning? My strength, he says, my power forget me, and may I become speechless from the magnitude of the evils, If I do not remember you; if I do not set Jerusalem before me as the beginning of my joy. What is, If I do not set Jerusalem before me? I will not simply remember you, he says, among other things, but also in hymns, and in songs. And, I will set before, is I will play as a prelude; uttering a word of those who strongly desire, or rather of those who love, and are inflamed for her. Let us all hear these things, and be instructed. For just as these, having been cast out, then seek her; so also will many of us suffer this on that day, being cast out from the Jerusalem which is above. But these, having been cast out, had hopes of return, but for us who are cast out, it is not possible to return again. For their worm shall not die, he says, and their fire shall not be quenched. Therefore, we must attend more accurately to ourselves, and so manage the present life, as not to become captives nor aliens, nor strangers from that mother-city. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to its foundations. Another, To the sons of Edom. And this is the word of those who are inflamed concerning the city. And what they say is this: Demand justice on those who were not willing to stop until the capture, nor were satisfied with the razing, but standing over it and saying: Raze it until there is not a foundation in it. For they desired that not even the very pedestals of the city remain, but that even its foundations be torn up. 2. And these were Arabs, who attacked the Jews at that time with the Babylonians, whom the prophet also continually mentions, and strongly accuses them, because, although they had just kinship with them, they became more bitter than their enemies. O wretched daughter of Babylon. Another, You who are to be plundered. Another, You who will be ravaged. Here, showing the power of God, not in the deliverance from evils 55.407, but also in the plot of those who made war 55.407, the prophet foretells the evils that will happen to Babylon, and calls her wretched on account of the evils that will befall her, and in this he instructs the Jews, and shows the power of God extended throughout all the earth. Blessed is he who shall repay you your recompense, which you have repaid us. Another, What you have done to us beforehand. Blessed is he who shall take and dash your little ones against the rock. Although these things are full of much wrath and much chastisement and punishment, nevertheless they are the words of the suffering of the captives, demanding great vengeance, and some strange and extraordinary punishment. For the prophets often do not speak from themselves, but narrate the sufferings of others, and bring them forth. For if you seek his own opinion, you will hear him saying, If

326

Καὶ γὰρ οὐχ ἁπλῶς θρηνοῦσιν, ἀλλ' ἔργον τοῦτο ποιοῦνται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἀρχόμενος ἔλεγεν, Ἐκαθίσαμεν, καὶ ἐκλαύσαμεν, δηλονότι, διὰ τοῦτο συνηδρεύσαμεν, 55.406 ὥστε κινῆσαι θρήνους καὶ ὀλολυγάς. Τίνος δὲ ἕνεκεν οὐκ ἐφεῖτο ᾄδειν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀλλοτρίας; Ὅτι οὐκ ἔδει βέβηλα ὦτα ἀκούειν τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων ἐκείνων. Πῶς ᾄσομεν τὴν ᾠδὴν Κυρίου ἐπὶ γῆς ἀλλοτρίας, Τουτέστιν, οὐκ ἐφεῖται ἡμῖν ᾄδειν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἐξεπέσομεν, ἀλλὰ τὸν νόμον μένομεν διατηροῦντες, καὶ τὴν ἀκρίβειαν αὐτοῦ διαφυλάττοντες. Ὥστε κἂν τῶν σωμάτων κρατῆτε, τῆς γνώμης οὐ περιέσεσθε. Εἶδες φιλόσοφον ψυχὴν γινομένην ἀπὸ τῆς θλίψεως, καὶ ὑψηλοτέραν τῶν δεινῶν; Ἐὰν ἐπιλάθωμαί σου, Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἐπιλησθείη ἡ δεξιά μου. Κολληθείη ἡ γλῶσσά μου τῷ λάρυγγί μου. Ὅρα κἀντεῦθεν πολλὴν τὴν μεταβολήν. Καὶ γὰρ οἱ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἀκούοντες, ὅτι τῆς πόλεως ἐκπεσοῦνται, καὶ οὐ φροντίζοντες, ἑαυτοῖς ἐπαρῶνται νῦν, εἰ ἐπιλάθωνται αὐτῆς. Τί δέ ἐστιν, Ἐπιλησθείη ἡ δεξιά μου; Ἡ ἰσχύς μου, φησὶν, ἡ δύναμίς μου ἐπιλάθοιτό μου, καὶ γενοίμην ἄφωνος ἀπὸ τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν κακῶν, Ἐὰν μή σου μνησθῶ· ἐὰν μὴ προανατάξωμαι τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὡς ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς εὐφροσύνης μου. Τί ἐστιν, Ἐὰν μὴ προανατάξωμαι τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ; Οὐχ ἁπλῶς σου μνημονεύσω, φησὶν, ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὕμνοις, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ᾠδαῖς. Τὸ δὲ, Προανατάξωμαι, προανακρούσωμαί ἐστι· σφόδρα ποθούντων ῥῆμα φθεγγόμενοι, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐρώντων, καὶ ἐκκαιομένων περὶ αὐτήν. Ἀκούωμεν πάντες ταῦτα, καὶ παιδευώμεθα. Καθάπερ γὰρ οὗτοι ἐκπεσόντες, τότε ζητοῦσιν αὐτήν· οὕτω καὶ ἡμῶν πολλοὶ τοῦτο πείσονται ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐκπίπτοντες. Ἀλλ' οὗτοι μὲν ἐκπεσόντες ἐλπίδας ἔσχον ἐπανόδου, ἡμᾶς δὲ ἐκπεσόντας οὐκ ἔνι πάλιν ἐπανελθεῖν. Ὁ γὰρ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτήσει, φησὶ, καὶ τὸ πῦρ αὐτῶν οὐ σβεσθήσεται. ∆ιὸ δὴ ἀκριβέστερον δεῖ τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς προσέχειν, καὶ τὸν παρόντα βίον οὕτως οἰκονομεῖν, ὥστε μὴ γενέσθαι αἰχμαλώτους μηδὲ ἀλλοτρίους, μηδὲ ξένους τῆς μητροπόλεως ἐκείνης. Μνήσθητι, Κύριε, τῶν υἱῶν Ἐδὼμ τὴν ἡμέραν Ἱερουσαλήμ· τῶν λεγόντων, Ἐκκενοῦτε, ἐκκενοῦτε ἕως τῶν θεμελίων αὐτῆς. Ἕτερος, Τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἐδώμ. Καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ῥῆμα ἐκκαιομένων περὶ τὴν πόλιν. Ὃ δὲ λέγουσι, τοῦτό ἐστιν· Ἀπαίτησον δίκην τοὺς οὐ βουληθέντας στῆναι μέχρι τῆς ἁλώσεως, μηδὲ κορεσθέντας τῇ κατασκαφῇ, ἀλλ' ἐφισταμένους καὶ λέγοντας· Κατασκάπτετε ἕως ἂν ᾖ θεμέλιος ἐν αὐτῇ. Ἐπεθύμουν γὰρ μηδὲ τὰ βάθρα αὐτὰ μεῖναι τῆς πόλεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς θεμελίους αὐτῆς ἀνασπασθῆναι. βʹ. Οὗτοι δὲ ἦσαν Ἀράβιοι, οἱ συνεπιθέμενοι τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις τότε μετὰ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων, ὧν καὶ συνεχῶς μέμνηται ὁ προφήτης, καὶ σφόδρα αὐτῶν κατηγορεῖ, ὅτι καὶ δικαίας συγγενείας ἔχοντες πρὸς αὐτοὺς, τῶν πολεμίων ἐγένοντο πικρότεροι. Θυγάτηρ Βαβυλῶνος ἡ ταλαίπωρος. Ἕτερος, Ἡ προνενομευμένη. Ἕτερος, Ἡ διαρπασθησομένη. Ἐνταῦθαδεικνὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἰσχὺν, οὐκ ἐν τῇ τῶν κακῶν 55.407 ἀπαλλαγῇ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν πολεμησάντων ἐπι55.407 βουλῇ, προλέγει τὰ συμβησόμενα τῇ Βαβυλῶνι κακὰ ὁ προφήτης, καὶ ἀθλίαν αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τῶν καταληψομένων κακῶν καλεῖ, κἀν τούτῳ παιδεύων τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, καὶ δεικνὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἰσχὺν πανταχοῦ τῆς γῆς ἐκτεταμένην. Μακάριος ὃς ἀνταποδώσει σοι τὸ ἀνταπόδομά σου, ὃ ἀνταπέδωκας ἡμῖν. Ἄλλος, Ὃ προεποίησας ἡμῖν. Μακάριος ὃς κρατήσει, καὶ ἐδαφιεῖ τὰ νήπιά σου πρὸς τὴν πέτραν. Ταῦτα εἰ καὶ πολλοῦ γέμει θυμοῦ καὶ πολλῆς κολάσεως καὶ τιμωρίας, ὅμως τοῦ πάθους τῶν αἰχμαλωτισθέντων ἐστι τὰ ῥήματα, πολλὴν ἀπαιτούντων τὴν τιμωρίαν, καὶ ξένην τινὰ καὶ παράδοξον κόλασιν. Πολλὰ γὰρ οἱ προφῆται οὐκ οἴκοθεν φθέγγονται, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἑτέρων πάθη διηγούμενοι, καὶ εἰς μέσον φέροντες. Ἂν μὲν γὰρ τὴν αὐτοῦ γνώμην ζητῇς, ἀκούσῃ λέγοντος, Εἰ