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2. Such is virtue, goads and a sharpened sword; but all the wicked are worse and more irrational than wild beasts. Therefore, when they attack the good, they pierce themselves more grievously, often harming the latter in their possessions or bodies, but themselves being injured in their soul, which is the real harm. For if the loss of possessions harmed our own virtue, Paul would not have commanded us to be wronged, and not to do wrong. If to be wronged were an evil, the lawgiver of good things would not have enjoined evils. Nevertheless, even with things being so, one must not leap upon the wicked, nor close with them, but flee and avoid their company; but when they attack, to receive them with courage. For this reason we are commanded to pray not to enter into temptation. Wherefore he also, having said, Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man, adds, From the unjust man rescue me; again positing a general name for wickedness. For he does not mean simply the one who is unjust in matters of money, but the one who is so in all things. And he asks to be rescued, so as neither to fall into their hands, nor to become like them. And he does not ask simply, but after having contributed his own part. For this very reason, at the end of the previous psalm, having fled them and their company, here he asks for the inclination from God. For there he contributed his own part, saying, You men of blood, depart from me, for you are contentious in your reasonings; but here he beseeches God to be rescued from their wickedness. For it is no small thing for safety, and security, and freedom, and all pleasure, to be rescued from such gatherings, and to encamp as far as possible from the company of the wicked, but this is the greatest prosperity. Then, describing their wickedness, he adds and says: Who have devised injustice in their heart; all the day they arrayed themselves for wars. Do you see how hard the beasts are to guard against, devising evils in their mind, and hiding their plots in secret places. For they devised, he says, in their heart; that is, they did not bring it forth for a time, but they turned it over within, travailing with wickedness, and what is more grievous, not being carried away, nor being overthrown, but doing the thing with practice. For this is the meaning of, They were devising, with diligence, with all zeal. All the day they arrayed themselves for wars. By this he indicates their whole life. By wars here he alludes not to those in battle lines and with weapons, but to those through plots, which men wage in marketplaces and in homes, not putting on a breastplate, nor holding forth a shield, 55.422 but using wickedness for every weapon, and sharpening words more bitter than arrows. And the greatest of their evil is not only that they are deceitful, nor that they are treacherous, nor that they are ready for wars and battles, but that it is also for their whole life, and they never had a truce from this grievous battle array. And yet, if they wanted to make war, they had another just cause. For they ought to have stood against sins, and to have been arrayed against the devil, and to have fought against the diseases of the soul, and to have sharpened their swords against the demons. But they do not even show up for that battle array, but they shoot their arrows against one another. They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent's; the venom of asps is under their lips always. Do you see the ignobility of evil? It makes wild beasts out of men, asps and serpents, and it brings the rational tongue down to that brutishness. And what he accused above, this he also charges here. What is that? The venom of asps is under their lips, he says, always, that is, continually. For just as he said above, All the day they arrayed themselves for wars; so also here, They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent's; the venom of asps is under their lips always. For the Diapsalma indicates this everywhere. And in Hebrew the diapsalma is called Sel, which is, always. And yet, even for a short time wickedness is burdensome, but when

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βʹ. Τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ἡ ἀρετὴ, κέντρα καὶ ξίφος ἠκονημένα· οἱ δὲ πονηροὶ πάντες τῶν θηρίων χείρους καὶ ἀλογώτεροι. Ὅταν τοίνυν ἐπίωσι τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς, ἑαυτοὺς χαλεπώτερον περιπείρουσι, τοὺς μὲν εἰς χρήματα πολλάκις ἢ σώματα ζημιοῦντες, αὐτοὶ δὲ εἰς ψυχὴν παραβλαπτόμενοι τὴν ὄντως ζημίαν. Εἰ γὰρ ἔβλαπτεν ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ἀρετὴν ἡ τῶν χρημάτων ζημία, οὐκ ἂν ἐκέλευσεν ὁ Παῦλος ἀδικεῖσθαι, καὶ μὴ ἀδικεῖν. Εἰ κακὸν τὸ ἀδικεῖσθαι ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ὁ τῶν ἀγαθῶν νομοθέτης κακὰ ἐπέταξε. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ οὕτω τῶν πραγμάτων ἐχόντων, οὐ δεῖ τοῖς πονηροῖς ἐπιπηδᾷν, οὐδὲ ὁμόσε χωρεῖν, ἀλλὰ φεύγειν καὶ ἐκκλίνειν αὐτῶν τὰς συνουσίας· ἐπιόντας δὲ μετὰ ἀνδρείας δέχεσθαι. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο κελευόμεθα εὔχεσθαι, μὴ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς πειρασμόν. ∆ιὸ καὶ οὗτος εἰπὼν, Ἐξελοῦ με, Κύριε, ἐξ ἀνθρώπου πονηροῦ, ἐπάγει τὸ, Ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀδίκου ῥῦσαί με· πάλιν γενικὸν ὄνομα τῆς κακίας τιθείς. Οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς τὸν περὶ τὰ χρήματα ἄδικον, ἀλλὰ τὸν περὶ πάντα ἐνταῦθα λέγει. Ἀξιοῖ δὲ ῥυσθῆναι, ὥστε μήτε περιπεσεῖν, μήτε κατ' ἐκεῖνον γενέσθαι. Καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς αἰτεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ συνεισενεγκών. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο ἐν τῷ τέλει τοῦ προτέρου ψαλμοῦ φυγὼν αὐτοὺς καὶ τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς συνουσίαν, ἐνταῦθα τὴν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ῥοπὴν αἰτεῖ. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ εἰσήνεγκε λέγων, Ἄνδρες αἱμάτων, ἐκκλίνατε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ὅτι ἐρισταί ἐστε εἰς διαλογισμούς· ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὸν Θεὸν παρακαλεῖ ῥυσθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς πονηρίας αὐτῶν. Οὐ γὰρ τὸ τυχὸν εἰς ἀσφαλείας λόγον, καὶ ἀδείας, καὶ ἐλευθερίας, καὶ ἡδονῆς ἁπάσης, τὸ τῶν τοιούτων ῥύεσθαι συλλόγων, καὶ ὡς ποῤῥωτάτω κατασκηνοῦν τῆς τῶν πονηρῶν συνουσίας, ἀλλ' ἡ μεγίστη τοῦτο εὐημερία. Εἶτα ὑπογράφων αὐτῶν τὴν πονηρίαν, ἐπάγει καὶ λέγει· Οἵτινες ἐλογίσαντο ἀδικίαν ἐν καρδίᾳ· ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν παρετάσσοντο πολέμους. Εἶδες πῶς δυσφύλακτα τὰ θηρία, κατὰ διάνοιαν τυρεύοντες τὰ κακὰ, καὶ κατακρύπτοντες ἐν τοῖς ἀποῤῥήτοις τὰς ἐπιβουλάς. Ἐλογίσαντο γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ· τουτέστιν, οὐκ ἔξω προήνεγκαν τέως, ἀλλ' ἔστρεφον ἔνδον ὠδίνοντες τὴν πονηρίαν, καὶ τὸ δὴ χαλεπώτερον, οὐχὶ συναρπασθέντες, οὐδὲ περιτραπέντες, ἀλλὰ μελέτῃ τὸ πρᾶγμα ποιούμενοι. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ, Ἐλογίζοντο, μετὰ σπουδῆς, μετὰ προθυμίας ἁπάσης. Ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν παρετάσσοντο πολέμους. Τὸν βίον ἅπαντα διὰ τούτου δηλοῖ. Πολέμους δὲ ἐνταῦθα οὐ τούτους τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν παρατάξεων καὶ διὰ τῶν ὅπλων, ἀλλὰ τοὺς διὰ τῶν ἐπιβουλῶν αἰνίττεται, οὓς καὶ ἐν ἀγοραῖς καὶ ἐν οἰκίαις πολεμοῦσιν ἄνθρωποι, οὐ θώρακα ἐνδυόμενοι, οὐδὲ ἀσπίδα προ 55.422 βαλλόμενοι, ἀλλ' ἀντὶ παντὸς ὅπλου τῇ πονηρίᾳ κεχρημένοι, καὶ ῥήματα βελῶν πικρότερα ἀκονῶντες. Τὸ μέγιστον δὲ αὐτῶν τῆς κακίας, οὐχ ὅτι δολεροὶ μόνον, οὐδ' ὅτι ὕπουλοι, οὐδ' ὅτι πρὸς πολέμους ἕτοιμοι καὶ μάχας, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου, καὶ οὐδέποτε ἀνακωχὴν ἔσχον τῆς χαλεπῆς ταύτης παρατάξεως. Καίτοι γε εἴ γε ἐβούλοντο πολεμεῖν, ἑτέραν εἶχον δικαίαν ὑπόθεσιν. Κατὰ γὰρ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἵστασθαι ἔδει, καὶ πρὸς τὸν διάβολον παρατάττεσθαι, καὶ πρὸς τὰ νοσήματα τῆς ψυχῆς μάχεσθαι, καὶ κατὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀκονᾷν τὰ ξίφη. Οἱ δὲ ἐκείνῃ μὲν οὐδὲ προκύπτουσι τῇ παρατάξει, κατὰ δὲ ἀλλήλων βάλλουσι τὰ βέλη. Ἠκόνησαν γλῶσσαν αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ ὄφεως· ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν ἀεί. Εἶδες τῆς κακίας τὴν δυσγένειαν; Ἐξ ἀνθρώπων θηρία ποιεῖ, ἀσπίδας καὶ ὄφεις, καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν τὴν λογικὴν πρὸς ἐκείνην καταφέρει τὴν θηριωδίαν. Ὅπερ δὲ ἀνωτέρω ᾐτιάσατο, τοῦτο πάλιν καὶ ἐνταῦθα κατηγορεῖ. Ποῖον δὴ τοῦτο; Ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν, φησὶν, ἀεὶ, τουτέστι, διηνεκῶς. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀνωτέρω εἶπεν, Ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν παρετάσσοντο πολέμους· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα, Ἠκόνησαν γλῶτταν αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ ὄφεως· ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν ἀεί. Τὸ γὰρ ∆ιάψαλμα τοῦτο δηλοῖ πανταχοῦ. Καὶ Ἑβραϊστὶ Σὲλ εἴρηται τὸ διάψαλμα, ὅπερ ἐστὶν, ἀεί. Καίτοι γε καὶ ἐν βραχεῖ καιρῷ φορτικὸν ἡ κακία, ὅταν δὲ