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the kinsmen, having a reasonable cause in the flight of the king's son. For this she says: "And the woman said: Why was it thus reckoned against the people of the Lord, and from the king's passing over this word, restraining himself from bringing back the one banished by him, for your son is dead?" How can you, she says, free my son from slaughter without bringing back your own son? Then she comforts him concerning the dead one, that Your son is dead, and like water spilled on the ground it will not be gathered up, and a soul will not hope in him. You cannot raise that one, she says, why then do you hasten to kill this one too, so that you may live deprived of both? Thus having inserted the argument about Absalom, she again seems to speak about her own suffering, so that she might not seem to have said these things on purpose: "And now for what I have come to speak this word to the king, and the people will see me, and your servant will say, Let your servant now speak to my lord the king, if somehow the king will do the bidding of his handmaid; for the king will hear, and will deliver me from the hand of the man who seeks to destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of the Lord. And your servant will say: Let the word of my lord the king be for a sacrifice; because as an angel of the Lord, so is my lord the king, to hear the good and the bad; and the Lord your God will be with you." When these things were said by the woman, the king understood the plot of the drama, and asked the woman if she had used these words by the counsel of Joab. And she confessed that Joab had suggested each of these things; "So that," she says, "he might bring about this turn of phrase, your servant Joab has done this thing." It was not possible, she says, to beseech you directly; wherefore he suggested that I use this roundabout way of speaking, so that seeing your own situation in my feigned suffering, the remedy you were about to apply to me, you would apply to yourself; and the help 80.637 you promised to give to my child, you would give to your own. Yielding to these words, the king ordered Absalom to return, but forbade him to see him; but later he did this too, having accepted the exhortation of Joab. But after four years had passed, having prepared the way for his tyranny by the kindness of his words, he departed to Hebron on the pretext of a sacrifice; and there he seized his father's kingdom; and he even planned his father's murder. Learning this, the king left the capital, considering a timely flight to be the best strategy. A multitude of shield-bearers and spear-bearers followed him. Ittai the Gittite also followed with six hundred chosen men, having just left his own country, and having become a proselyte with his subjects. The king attempted to persuade him to turn back, so that having just settled with them he might not again become an exile; "For why," he says, "are you going with us? Turn back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner, and you have migrated from your own house; if you arrived yesterday, shall I today make you wander to go with us? But I will go wherever I may go." It is necessary for me to be an exile, he says, but it is not right for you, who have just arrived, to endure this hardship with us. And it is worthy to admire the meekness of David. For even while being pursued, and being warred against by his all-abominable child, he did not call him a parricide, nor a fratricide, but king; and needing much help, he was concerned for the safety of the proselyte; "For turn back," he says, "and take back your brothers with you, and may the Lord show mercy and truth with you." But the more care the king showed for him, the greater goodwill that man demonstrated. "For as the Lord lives," he says, "and as your soul lives, my lord king, that in the place where my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there your servant will be." Each of these things for our

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οἱ φυλέται, εὔλογον αἰτίαν ἔχοντες τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως φυγήν. Τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει· "Καὶ εἶπεν ἡ γυνή· Ἵνα τί ἐλογί σθη οὕτως ἐπὶ λαὸν Κυρίου, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ παρελθεῖν τὸν βασιλέα τὸν λόγον τοῦτον, τοῦ ἐγκρατεύσασθαι τοῦ μὴ ἀποστρέψαι τὸν βασιλέα τὸν ἀπωσμένον ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, ὅτι τέθνηκεν ὁ υἱός σου;" Πῶς δύνασαι, φησὶ, τὸν υἱόν μου τῆς σφαγῆς ἀπαλλάξαι μὴ ἐπαν άγων σου τὸν υἱόν; Εἶτα περὶ τοῦ τεθνηκότος ψυχ αγωγεῖ, ὅτι Τέθνηκεν ὁ υἱός σου, καὶ ὥσπερ τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ἐκχεόμενον ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν οὐ συναχθήσεται, καὶ οὐκ ἐλπιεῖ ἐπ' αὐτῷ ψυχή. Ἀναστῆσαι, φησὶν, ἐκεῖνον οὐ δύνασαι, τί δήποτε καὶ τοῦτον σπεύδεις ἀναιρήσειν, ἵνα ἐστερημένος τῶν δύο βιοτεύσῃς; Οὕτω τὸν περὶ τοῦ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ παρεμβαλοῦσα λόγον, πάλιν περὶ τοῦ οἰκείου δοκεῖ διαλέγεσθαι πά θους· ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ ταῦτα ἐξεπίτηδες εἰρηκέναι· "Καὶ νῦν ὑπὲρ ὧν ἥκω λαλῆσαι πρὸς τὸν βα σιλέα τὸν λόγον τοῦτον, καὶ ὄψεταί με ὁ λαὸς, καὶ ἐρεῖ ἡ δούλη σου, Λαλησάτω δὴ ἡ δούλη σου πρὸς τὸν κύριόν μου τὸν βασιλέα, εἴ πως ποιήσῃ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸ ῥῆμα τῆς παιδίσκης αὐτοῦ· ὅτι ἀκού σεται ὁ βασιλεὺς, καὶ ἐξελεῖταί με ἐκ χειρὸς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τοῦ ζητοῦντος ἐξολοθρεῦσαί με, καὶ τὸν υἱόν μου κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ, ἐκ τῆς κληρονομίας Κυρίου. Καὶ ἐρεῖ ἡ δούλη σου· Γενηθήτω δὴ ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου μου τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς θυσίαν· ὅτι καθὼς ἄγγελος Κυρίου, οὕτως καὶ ὁ κύριός μου ὁ βασιλεὺς, τοῦ εἰσακούειν τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ πονηρόν· καὶ Κύ ριος ὁ Θεός σου μετὰ σοῦ ἔσται." Τούτων παρὰ τῆς γυναικὸς εἰρημένων, συνῆκεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ δρά ματος τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, καὶ ἤρετο τὴν γυναῖκα, εἰ γνώμῃ τοῦ Ἰωὰβ τοῖσδε τοῖς λόγοις ἐχρήσατο. Ἡ δὲ συνωμολόγησε τούτων ἕκαστον τὸν Ἰωὰβ ὑποθέ σθαι· "Ὅπως, φησὶ, κυκλώσῃ τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ λόγου τούτου, ὃ ἐποίησεν Ἰωὰβ ὁ δοῦλός σου τὸν λόγον τοῦτον." Ἐξ εὐθείας, φησὶν, οὐκ ἦν ἱκε τεῦσαί σε· ὅθεν ὑπέθετο χρήσασθαί με τῷ κύκλῳ τῶν λόγων τούτων, ἵνα ἐν τῷ πεπλασμένῳ πάθει τὸ οἰκεῖον ἰδὼν, ἣν ἔμελλες ἐπιθεῖναι θεραπείαν ἐμοὶ, ταύτην ἐπιθῇς σαυτῷ· καὶ ἧς μεταδώσειν ἐπικου 80.637 ρίας ὑπέσχου τῷ ἐμῷ παιδὶ, ταύτης τῷ σῷ μετα δῷς. Τούτοις εἴξας τοῖς λόγοις ὁ βασιλεὺς, ἐπαν ελθεῖν μὲν τὸν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ παρηγγύησεν, ἰδεῖν δὲ αὐτὸν διεκώλυσεν· ὕστερον δὲ καὶ τοῦτο δέδρακε, τοῦ Ἰωὰβ δεξάμενος τὴν παράκλησιν. Ἀλλὰ τεσσάρων διεληλυθότων ἐτῶν, τῇ χρηστότητι τῶν λόγων προκατασκευάσας τὴν τυραννίδα, τῇ σκήψει μὲν τῆς θυσίας εἰς τὴν Χεβρὼν ἀπελήλυθεν· ἐκεῖ δὲ τὴν πατρικὴν ἥρπασε βασιλείαν· ἐμελέτησε δὲ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν σφαγήν. Τοῦτο μαθὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς, κατ έλιπε τὴν μητρόπολιν, ἀρίστην ἡγούμενος στρατ ηγίαν καὶ τὴν εἰς καιρὸν γενομένην φυγήν. Ἠκο λούθησε δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ τῶν ἀσπιδοφόρων καὶ δορυφό ρων πλῆθος. Ἠκολούθησε δὲ καὶ Ἰεθὶ ὁ Γετθαῖος σὺν ἑξακοσίοις λογάσιν, ἄρτι μὲν τὴν οἰ κείαν πατρίδα καταλιπὼν, προσήλυτος δὲ μετὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων γενόμενος. Τοῦτον ὁ βασιλεὺς πεῖσαι μὲν ἐπεχείρησεν ἀναστρέψαι, ἵνα μὴ εὐθὺς αὐτοῖς συνοι κήσας πάλιν γένηται μετανάστης· "Τί γὰρ, φησὶ, πορεύῃ σὺ μεθ' ἡμῶν; Ἀνάστρεφε καὶ κάθισον μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως, ὅτι ἀλλότριος σὺ, καὶ ὅτι μετῴκη σας ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου σου· εἰ ἐχθὲς παραγέγονας σὺ, καὶ σήμερον κινήσω σε τοῦ πορεύεσθαι μεθ' ἡμῶν· ἐγὼ δὲ πορεύσομαι οὗ ἐὰν πορεύωμαι." Ἐμὲ, φησὶ, ἀνάγκη μεταναστεύειν, σὲ δὲ οὐ δίκαιον ἀρ τίως ἀφιγμένον σὺν ἡμῖν ὑπομένειν τὸν πόνον. Ἄξιον δὲ θαυμάσαι τοῦ ∆αβὶδ τὴν πραότητα. Καὶ διωκόμενος γὰρ, καὶ πολεμούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ παμ μιάρου παιδὸς, οὐ πατραλοίαν, οὐκ ἀδελφοκτόνον, ἀλλὰ βασιλέα ὠνόμαζε· καὶ πολλῆς· δεόμενος βοηθείας, τῆς τοῦ προσηλύτου σωτηρίας ἐφρόντιζεν· "Ἀνάστρεφε γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ ἀπόστρεψον τοὺς ἀδελφούς σου μετὰ σοῦ, καὶ Κύριος ποιήσει μετὰ σοῦ ἔλεος καὶ ἀλήθειαν." Ἀλλ' ὅσῳ τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐδείκνυ κηδεμονίαν, τοσούτῳ ἐκεῖνος μείζονα τὴν εὔνοιαν ἀπεδείκνυτο. "Ζῇ γὰρ, φησὶ, Κύριος, καὶ ζῇ ἡ ψυχή σου, κύριέ μου βασιλεῦ, ὅτι εἰς τὸν τόπον οὗ ἐὰν ᾖ ὁ κύριός μου ὁ βασι λεὺς, ἐάν τε εἰς θάνατον, ἐάν τε εἰς ζωὴν, ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ δοῦλός σου." Τούτων ἕκαστον εἰς ἡμετέραν