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Psalmum 50 (homilia 1) [Sp.]

HOMILY On the inscription of the 50th Psalm, and concerning the repentance of David, and concerning the wife of Uriah.

55.565

1. Painters imitate nature by their art, and mixing their colors, they paint the images of visible bodies, and they make men, and irrational animals, and trees, and wars, and battles, and torrents of blood, and spears, and breastplates, and shields, and kings, and private citizens, and a royal throne, and a king sitting, and a barbarian in subjection, and a sharpened spear point, and flowing rivers, and variegated plains, and simply imitating all visible things through their art, they provide a spectacle for those who look. So too the prophets are certain painters of virtue and vice. For they too paint with words the sinner, the just man, the penitent, the one who stands, the one who falls, the one who rises, the one who is shaken. And just as painters depict wars and slaughters, so too they depict sin sometimes attacking, sometimes being cast down, and demons again, now warring, now being warred against, and the devil sometimes plotting, sometimes also being conquered.

Since, therefore, their art is such, let us learn it with precision. For when we see the paintings of artists, we go away having gained nothing. For what benefit is it to me to see an image of a king and a consul? For I can neither become a king, nor do I wish to. What benefit then is there for me from a spectacle, for which I have no desire, for which if I should desire it, I am punished? What benefit is it for me to see a rich man? If I am poor, I envy; if I am rich, I am envied. Again suffering the same things, I also lament. Leave those images, and look upon this spectacle. If I see a consul, what is that to me? If I see a sinner who has fallen and risen again, the spectacle becomes for me a subject of instruction. If I see a just man standing, the spectacle leads me by the hand to philosophy. From the spectacle I learn the battle, and I am taught the victory. If I see a just man being tripped up, again I become wiser from the spectacle. But all these things have not been said by me simply or idly, but because the image of the psalm read today leads us to this subject of instruction. For what does the prophet say? Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy; and according to the multitude of your compassions blot out my iniquity. This is the image. For I call the psalm an image. For I see different persons in the psalm: sin attacking and being slain, repentance standing by and fighting on God's side, loving-kindness shining from above, providing philosophy, and having many fountains of tears from confession.

These are the persons of the image. But before I begin the psalm, it is necessary to relate its inscription to you more accurately. For just as images have inscriptions, 55.566 so also it is with the psalms. For the images standing above have below them purple tablets, [saying] who the king is, and of whom, and what war he has won; but upon the psalm the inscription is placed above, [saying] what the subject is, and what the teaching is, and what the root is, and for what reason the psalm was spoken. Give me your hearing for the word with precision. For our narration is not about ordinary things. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, when he went in to Bathsheba the wife of Uriah. This is the inscription. Let us learn, therefore, who Nathan is, and who Bathsheba is. Who then is the wife of Uriah? and when

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Psalmum 50 (homilia 1) [Sp.]

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Εἰς ἐπιγραφὴν τοῦ νʹ ψαλμοῦ, καὶ περὶ μετανοίας ∆αυῒδ, καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ Οὐρίου.

55.565

αʹ. Οἱ ζωγράφοι μιμοῦνται τῇ τέχνῃ τὴν φύσιν, καὶ κεραννύντες τὰ χρώματα, γράφουσι τὰς εἰκόνας τῶν ὁρωμένων σωμάτων, καὶ ποιοῦσιν ἀνθρώπους, καὶ ἄλογα, καὶ δένδρα, καὶ πολέμους, καὶ μάχας, καὶ αἱμάτων χει μάῤῥους, καὶ δόρατα, καὶ θώρακας, καὶ ἀσπίδας, καὶ βασιλεῖς, καὶ ἰδιώτας, καὶ θρόνον βασιλικὸν, καὶ βασι λέα καθήμενον, καὶ βάρβαρον ὑποκείμενον, καὶ αἰχμὴν ἠκονημένην, καὶ ποταμοὺς ῥέοντας, καὶ πεδία ποικίλα, καὶ ἁπλῶς ἅπαντα τὰ ὁρώμενα διὰ τῆς τέχνης μιμούμε νοι, παρέχουσι θεωρίαν τοῖς βλέπουσιν. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ οἱ προφῆται ζωγράφοι τινές εἰσιν ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας. Γρά φουσι γὰρ καὶ οὗτοι τῷ λόγῳ τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν, τὸν δί καιον, τὸν μετανοοῦντα, τὸν ἑστῶτα, τὸν πίπτοντα, τὸν ἐγειρόμενον, τὸν σαλευόμενον. Καὶ καθάπερ οἱ ζωγράφοι ποιοῦσι πολέμους καὶ σφαγὰς, οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι ποιοῦσιν ἁμαρτίαν ποτὲ μὲν ἐπιοῦσαν, ποτὲ δὲ καταβαλλομένην, καὶ δαίμονας πάλιν, νῦν μὲν πολεμοῦντας, νῦν δὲ πο λεμουμένους, καὶ διάβολον ποτὲ μὲν ἐπιβουλεύοντα, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ νικώμενον.

Ἐπεὶ οὖν τοιαύτη αὐτῶν ἡ τέχνη, μετὰ ἀκριβείας αὐτὴν καταμάθωμεν. Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ τῶν ζωγράφων πίνακας ὁρῶντες, οὐδὲν κερδαίνοντες ἀπερ χόμεθα. Τί γάρ μοι ὄφελος βασιλέως καὶ ὑπάτου εἰκόνα δεῖν; Βασιλεὺς γὰρ γενέσθαι οὔτε δύναμαι, οὔτε βούλο μαι. Τί μοι οὖν ὄφελος τῆς θεωρίας, ἧς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν οὐκ ἔχω, ἧς κἂν ἐπιθυμήσω, κολάζομαι; Τί μοι τὸ ὄφε λος ἄνθρωπον ἰδεῖν πλουτοῦντα; Κἂν πένης ὦ, φθονῶ· κἂν πλούσιος ὦ, βασκαίνομαι. Πάλιν τὰ αὐτὰ πάσχων, καὶ ὀδύρομαι. Ἄφες ἐκείνας τὰς εἰκόνας, καὶ βλέπε ταύτην τὴν θεωρίαν. Ἐὰν ἴδω ὕπατον, τί πρὸς ἐμέ; Ἐὰν ἴδω ἁμαρτωλὸν καταπεσόντα, καὶ πάλιν ἀνα στάντα, ἡ θεωρία διδασκαλίας ὑπόθεσίς μοι γίνεται. Ἐὰν ἴδω δίκαιον ἑστῶτα, ἡ θεωρία πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν χειραγωγεῖ με. Ἀπὸ τῆς θεωρίας μανθάνω τὴν μά χην, καὶ παιδεύομαι τὴν νίκην. Ἐὰν ἴδω δίκαιον ὑποσκε λιζόμενον, πάλιν σοφώτερος ὑπὸ τῆς θεωρίας γίνομαι. Ταῦτα δέ μοι πάντα οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ εἰκῆ εἴρηται, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ τοῦ σήμερον ἀναγνωσθέντος ἡ εἰκὼν εἰς ταύτην ἡμᾶς ἄγει τῆς διδασκαλίας τὴν ὑπόθεσιν. Τί γάρ φησιν ὁ προφήτης; Ἐλέησόν με, ὁ Θεὸς, κατὰ τὸ μέγα ἔλεός σου· καὶ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν σου ἐξάλειψον τὸ ἀνόμημά μου. Αὕτη ἡ εἰκών. Τὸν γὰρ ψαλμὸν εἰκόνα καλῶ. Βλέπω γὰρ διάφορα πρόσωπα ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ· ἁμαρτίαν ἐπιοῦσαν καὶ σφαττομένην, με τάνοιαν παρεστῶσαν καὶ συμμαχοῦσαν Θεῷ, φιλανθρω πίαν ἄνωθεν λάμπουσαν, φιλοσοφίαν παρέχουσαν, καὶ πολλὰς ἔχουσαν δακρύων πηγὰς ἐξ ὁμολογήσεως.

Ταῦτα τὰ πρόσωπα τῆς εἰκόνος. Ἀλλὰ πρὶν τοῦ ψαλμοῦ ἄρξω μαι, ἀναγκαῖον αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν ἀκριβέστερον ὑμῖν διηγήσασθαι. Ὥσπερ γὰρ αἱ εἰκόνες ἐπιγραφὰς ἔχουσιν, 55.566 οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ψαλμῶν. Καὶ γὰρ αἱ εἰκόνες ἄνω ἑστῶσαι, κάτω ἔχουσι φοινικίδας σανίδας, τίς ὁ βασι λεὺς, καὶ τίνος, καὶ ποῖον πόλεμον κατώρθωσεν· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ ἄνωθεν ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ ἔγκειται, τίς ἡ ὑπόθε σις, καὶ τίς ἡ διδασκαλία, καὶ τίς ἡ ῥίζα, καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν ὁ ψαλμὸς εἴρηται. Παρέχετέ μοι μετὰ ἀκριβείας τὴν ἀκοὴν τῷ λόγῳ. Οὖ γὰρ περὶ τῶν τυχόντων ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἡ διήγησις. Ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αυῒδ, ἐν τῷ εἰσελθεῖν πρὸς αὐτὸν Νάθαν τὸν προφήτην, ὅτε εἰσῆλθε πρὸς Βηρσαβεὲ τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ Οὐρίου. Αὕτη ἡ ἐπιγραφή. Μάθωμεν τοίνυν τίς ἐστιν ὁ Νάθαν, καὶ τίς ἡ Βηρσαβεέ. Τίς ἄρα ἐστὶν ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ Οὐρίου; καὶ πότε