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captive souls, having snatched them away from the knowledge and piety of the God of all, to subdue and depose from their tyranny; and then thus to deliver to all men the Gospel of the kingdom of God. Wherefore, indeed, before any of his recorded actions, he was led up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil; and he was with the wild beasts, as the evangelist says, calling the savage and bestial evil powers "beasts." Therefore, these very things the present psalm necessarily proclaims beforehand by the prophetic Spirit. For it is necessary that we, having been taught through the preceding things about the coming among men of the one prophesied, and about his birth in the flesh, and about his death, and how it was proclaimed beforehand that he would come forth from the seed of David, should consequently also learn of the struggle which he undertook against the opposing powers. The present prophecy, therefore, presents these things, foretelling what he endured in the wilderness for forty whole days and as many nights, being tempted by the devil. For invisible powers were hunters around him, setting snares for him. And some trying to disturb him with tumultuous words, others to frighten him during the nights, and again others sending intelligible arrows against him by day; and again others, which cannot be named by us, nor spoken to mortal ears, were working the temptation against him; which indeed the word signifies, saying, "From the thing that walketh in darkness;" Instead of which Aquila translated, "From the word that walks on the new moon;" but Symmachus, "Nor the pestilence that travels in the gloom." And now even the most shameless and ruling of the demons, those daring to appear at midday itself and at the height of the sun's light, approached him. For while the others pursue their own darkness, and are accustomed to create phantasms only at night, the most shameless dare to appear even by day, and in the midst of the sun's rays. Such were the things that came upon the Savior; by day, then, certain such things approached him, and by night, others. Wherefore it is said next: "You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the thing that walketh in darkness." But seeing his unassailable and invincible power, multitudes of opposing powers, gathering again together in bands, approached him. And it seems to me that the gods of old, believed in among men, and the opposing spirits, beholding a certain strange nature and a power destructive of them all in the man of our Savior, gathered together from all directions, and came in a crowd, and wished to dash against him. And at 23.1156 first the devil attempts to tempt him through other particular spirits; wherefore it is said: "And he was with the wild beasts." But of what beasts? The word that follows shortly presents this, proceeding next and saying: "You shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the dragon." For being fashioned, as is likely, into certain such forms and shapes, certain evil powers flying through the airy region, principalities and authorities, and world-rulers of this darkness, and spiritual things of wickedness, named allegorically asps and basilisks and dragons and lions, or even being compared to these because of the similarity of their evil, they stirred up every temptation against him. But at the end of all, when the devil saw that he had trodden upon the asp and the basilisk and had trampled underfoot all the energies under him, he himself now finally approached by himself, humble and somewhat afraid, and he brought to him the questions recorded in the Gospels, tempting him and saying, "If you are the Son of God, say this, and do that." The present prophecy therefore presents the sudden assault of the evil spirits and their defeat; teaching that they gathered together, but were not able to do anything nor had they any strength; but in approaching

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ψυχὰς αἰχμαλώτους, ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ τῶν ὅλων Θεοῦ γνώσεώς τε καὶ εὐσεβείας ἀφαρπάσαντας, καθυποτάξαι καὶ τῆς τυραννίδος καθελεῖν· εἶθ' οὕτως ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλείας παραδοῦναι. ∆ιὸ δὴ πρὸ πάσης ἱστορουμένης αὐτοῦ πράξεως ἀνήγετο εἰς τὴν ἔρημον πειρασθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου· καὶ ἦν μετὰ τῶν θηρίων, ὥς φησιν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς, θηρία προσειπὼν τὰς ἀπηγριωμένας καὶ θηριώδεις πονηρὰς δυνάμεις. Αὐτὰ δὴ οὖν ταῦτα καὶ ὁ παρὼν ψαλμὸς προαναφωνεῖ προφητικῷ Πνεύματι ἀναγκαίως. Χρὴ γὰρ, διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν διδαχθέντας τὰ περὶ τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους παρουσίας τοῦ προφητευομένου, καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς ἐνσάρκου γεννήσεως αὐτοῦ, τά τε περὶ τοῦ θανάτου, ὅπως τε ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αυῒδ προελεύσεσθαι προκεκήρυκτο, ἀκολούθως καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα μαθεῖν ἡμᾶς ὃν ἤρατο κατὰ τῶν ἀντικειμένων δυνάμεων. Ταῦτα οὖν ἡ παροῦσα παρίστησι προφητεία προλέγουσα, ὅσα κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον ὑπέμεινεν ἐφ' ὅλαις ἡμέραις μʹ καὶ νυξὶ ταῖς ἴσαις πειραζόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου. Θηρευταὶ γὰρ ἦσαν περὶ αὐτὸν ἀόρατοι δυνάμεις, παγίδας αὐτῷ κατασκευάζουσαι. Καὶ αἱ μὲν λόγοις ταραχώδεσιν αὐτὸν θορυβεῖν πειρώμεναι, αἱ δὲ φοβεῖν κατὰ τὰς νύκτας, καὶ πάλιν ἄλλα δι' ἡμέρας βέλη νοητὰ πέμπουσαι κατ' αὐτοῦ· καὶ αὖθις ἕτεραι οὐκ ὠνομάσθαι ἡμῖν, οὐδὲ λεχθῆναι δυνάμεναι θνηταῖς ἀκοαῖς, τὸν κατ' αὐτοῦ πειρασμὸν πραγματευόμεναι· ὃ δὴ σημαίνει φάσκων ὁ λόγος, Ἀπὸ πράγματος ἐν σκότει διαπορευομένου· Ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας ἡρμήνευσεν, Ἀπὸ ῥήματος ἐν σκοτομήνῃ περιπατοῦντος· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος, Οὐδὲ λοιμὸν ζόφῳ ὁδεύοντα. Ἤδη δὲ καὶ τὰ ἀναιδέστατα καὶ ἀρχοντικὰ τῶν δαιμονίων, τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ μεσημβρίᾳ καὶ τῇ τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ φωτὸς ἀκμῇ τολμῶντα παραφαίνεσθαι, προσῄεσαν αὐτῷ. Τῶν γὰρ ἄλλων τὸ οἰκεῖον σκότος μεταδιωκόντων, καὶ ἐν μόνῃ νυκτὶ φαντασιοῦν εἰωθότων, τὰ ἀναιδέστατα καὶ δι' ἡμέρας τολμᾷ φαίνεσθαι, καὶ ἐν μέσαις αὐγαῖς ἡλίου. Τοιαῦτα δὲ ἦν τὰ καὶ τῷ Σωτῆρι ἐπιόντα· μεθ' ἡμέραν μὲν οὖν τοιαῦτά τινα αὐτῷ προσῄει, κατὰ δὲ τὰς νύκτας ἕτερα. ∆ιὸ εἴρηται ἑξῆς· Οὐ φοβηθήσῃ ἀπὸ φόβου νυκτερινοῦ, καὶ ἀπὸ πράγματος ἐν σκότει διαπορευομένου. Ὁρῶντα δὲ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἄμαχον καὶ ἀήττητον δύναμιν, ὁμοῦ πάλιν ἀθροιζόμενα κατὰ στίφη προσίεσαν αὐτῷ πλήθη δυνάμεων ἀντικειμένων. Καί μοι δοκοῦσιν οἱ πάλαι παρ' ἀνθρώποις νομιζόμενοι θεοὶ, καὶ τὰ ἀντικείμενα πνεύματα, ξένην τινὰ φύσιν καὶ δύναμιν πάντων αὐτῶν καθαιρετικὴν θεώμενα ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, ὁμοῦ συνῆχθαι ἁπανταχόθεν, ἀθρόα τε προσιέναι καὶ προσρήσσειν ἐθέλειν αὐτῷ. Καὶ τὰ 23.1156 μὲν πρῶτα δι' ἑτέρων μερικῶν πνευμάτων πειράζειν αὐτὸν ἐπιχειρεῖν τὸν διάβολον· διὸ λέλεκται· Καὶ ἦν μετὰ τῶν θηρίων. Ποίων δὲ θηρίων; ὁ μετὰ χεῖρας παρίστησι λόγος προϊὼν ἑξῆς καὶ λέγων· Ἐπ' ἀσπίδα καὶ βασιλίσκον ἐπιβήσῃ, καὶ καταπατήσεις λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα. Τοιούτοις γάρ τισιν, ὡς εἰκὸς, εἴδεσί τε καὶ μορφαῖς σχηματιζόμεναι, τὸν ἀέριον τόπον διιπτάμεναί τινες δυνάμεις πονηραὶ, ἀρχαί τε καὶ ἐξουσίαι, καὶ κοσμοκράτορες τοῦ σκότους τούτου, καὶ πνευματικὰ πονηρίας, τρόποις ἀλληγορίας ἀσπίδες καὶ βασιλίσκοι καὶ δράκοντες καὶ λέοντες ὀνομαζόμεναι, ἢ καὶ διὰ τὸ ἐμφερὲς τῆς κακίας τούτοις παραβαλλόμεναι, πάντα πειρασμὸν ἐκίνουν κατ' αὐτοῦ. Ἐπὶ τέλει δὲ πάντων, ὡς εἶδεν ὁ διάβολος ἐπ' ἀσπίδα καὶ βασιλίσκον ἐπιβεβηκότα αὐτὸν καὶ καταπεπατηκότα πάσας τὰς ὑπ' αὐτὸν ἐνεργείας, αὐτὸς ἤδη λοιπὸν δι' ἑαυτοῦ προσῄει ταπεινὸς καὶ ὑποδεδοικὼς, προσέφερέ τε αὐτῷ τὰς ἐρωτήσεις τὰς ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις ἀναγεγραμμένας, πειράζων αὐτὸν καὶ λέγων, Εἰ Υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰπὲ τάδε, καὶ ποίησον τάδε. Τὴν οὖν ἀθρόαν ὁρμὴν τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων καὶ τὴν ἧτταν αὐτῶν ἡ παροῦσα παρίστησι προφητεία· ὁμοῦ μὲν συνῆχθαι διδάσκουσα, μὴ μὴν δεδυνῆσθαί τι μηδ' ἰσχυκέναι· ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ πλησιάζειν