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Fragments on Lamentations 1 Jeremiah, when the people were taken captive and were in Babylon, laments the city and the country and the people over what had happened, and he laments, composing certain sections and divisions beginning sequentially from the letters of the Hebrews. and after he has completed the Lament for each letter and over all the one beginning from Thau, which is the last letter of the Hebrews, he returns to the Aleph and laments again, and he does this four times, going through the twenty-two letters. 2 If we see the soul—the one that is by nature contemplative and able to perceive what is <and> to understand—becoming subject to the devil or even to his angels, and simply to the hostile powers, we will somehow understand the captivity and the captor. But having fled for refuge to Christ, who proclaimed according to the prophet Isaiah "release to the captives," we will be set free from the captivity, even if the captor should go so far as to bind us. For Jesus came "to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness." 3 For this reason the Hebrews say that the books of the old scripture are equal in number to the letters, so that they are an introduction to all knowledge of God, just as the letters are to all wisdom for those who learn. And for this reason it is quadrupled, perhaps because the elements of bodies are also established as four. And a little later: The edition of Aquila and Theodotion in the Lamentations is not extant, but only that of Symmachus and the Seventy. And again: One might ask how, when the title of the book is in the plural, *Lamentations*, he speaks of this *Lament* in the singular in the preface. But there are several individual parts, divided by the letters, but they all lead up to one, being related to one subject, Israel. 4 The lamentation from love is blessed; for it is of the holy one "to weep with those who weep." 5 When the Lord drew near to Jerusalem, he "wept and said: If you too had known the things that make for your peace." "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing." 6 If, therefore, "blessed are those who weep, for they shall laugh," it was necessary for Jeremiah to weep this mystical weeping and according to "blessed are those who mourn" to mourn for those worthy of being mourned. 7 The multitude of the people, as far as the literal sense goes, seems to indicate the inhabiting Israelites, and the multitude of the nations, as we have said before, the proselytes. But in the anagogical sense, since the contemplative things are more akin to the soul and unencumbered than the practical, the multitude of the people might signify the wealth of the theoretical insights of the blessed Jerusalem; and the multitude of the nations, the great number of good actions. And a little later: *She who was full of people sits alone*; because the bride has rejected the bridegroom Logos, becoming like a widow, she who once was populous with the aforesaid nations. 8 As far as the literal sense is concerned, it is fitting for Jerusalem to be understood as spoken of with wonder because of the change to a sadder state, having sat isolated, she who was once full of people, so that her isolation is her desolation, having had for a husband the protector, the living word, when she followed him present and helping, but having become a widow and been abandoned by him on account of her sins. And after other things: These things, then, relate to the literal meaning; but as to the thought, Jerusalem, thriving and abounding with people and nations and ruling over countries, is the divine soul. and it is no wonder if the perfect soul is called not only a house nor a farmstead nor a village greater than this, nor any chance city, but Jerusalem, which surpasses all cities and is honored by God, a city of considerable size, the greatest, being encompassed for her by wisdom and all virtue † of which come multiple buildings. And after

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Fragmenta in Lamentationes 1 Ὁ Ἱερεμίας αἰχμαλωτισθέντος τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ὄντος ἐν Βαβυλῶνι, θρηνεῖ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν καὶ τὸν λαὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς συμβεβηκόσι, καὶ θρηνεῖ περικοπάς τινας καὶ διαστολὰς περιγράφων ἀρχομένας ἑξῆς ἀπὸ τῶν παρ' Ἑβραίοις στοιχείων. καὶ μετὰ τὸ τε λέσαι τὸν ἐφ' ἑκάστου στοιχείου Θρῆνον καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ Θαῦ ἀρχόμενον, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τελευταῖον τῶν Ἑβραίων γράμμα, ἐπανέρχεται ἐπὶ τὸ Ἄλφ καὶ πάλιν θρηνεῖ, καὶ τοῦτο ποιεῖ τετράκις τὰ εἴκοσι καὶ δύο στοιχεῖα ἐπεξιών. 2 Ἐὰν ἴδωμεν ὑποχείριον γινομένην τὴν ψυχὴν τῷ διαβόλῳ ἢ καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς ταῖς ἐχθραῖς δυνάμεσι τὴν τῇ φύσει θεωρητικὴν καὶ συνορᾶν τὰ ὄντα <καὶ> ἐπιστῆσαι δυναμένην, νοήσομέν πως τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν καὶ τὸν αἰχμαλωτίσαντα . ἀλλὰ καταφυγόντες ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστόν, τὸν κηρύξαντα κατὰ τὸν προφήτην Ἡσαΐαν «αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν», ἐλευθερωθησόμεθα ἀπὸ τῆς αἰχμα λωσίας, κἂν μέχρι τοῦ δῆσαι φθάσῃ ὁ αἰχμαλωτεύσας. ἦλθε γὰρ Ἰησοῦς «ἐξαγαγεῖν ἐκ δεσμῶν δεδεμένους καὶ ἐξ οἴκου φυλακῆς καθη μένους ἐν σκότει». 3 ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φασιν Ἑβραῖοι τῆς παλαιᾶς γραφῆς ἰσαρίθμους τοῖς στοιχείοις εἶναι τὰς βίβλους, ὡς εἶναι πρὸς θεογνωσίαν πᾶσαν εἰσα γωγήν, καθάπερ τὰ στοιχεῖα πρὸς πᾶσαν τοῖς μανθάνουσι σοφίαν. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τετραπλασιάζεται, τάχα διότι καὶ τῶν σωμάτων τὰ στοιχεῖα καθέστηκε τέσσαρα. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Ἔκδοσις δὲ Ἀκύλα καὶ Θεοδοτίωνος ἐν τοῖς Θρήνοις οὐ φέρεται, μόνου δὲ Συμμάχου καὶ τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα. Καὶ πάλιν· Ζητήσειε δ' ἄν τις, πῶς τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς τοῦ βιβλίου πληθυντικῶς ἐχούσης Θρῆνοι , ἑνικῶς ἐν τῷ προοιμίῳ τὸν Θρῆνον τοῦτόν φησιν. ἀλλὰ μερικοὶ μὲν πλείους ὑπάρχουσι, τοῖς στοιχείοις διῃρη μένοι, εἰς ἕνα δὲ πάντες ἀνάγονται, πρὸς μίαν ὑπόθεσιν, τὸν Ἰσραήλ, ἀναγόμενοι. 4 Τὸν ἐξ ἀγάπης κλαυθμὸν μακαριζόμενον· τοῦ γὰρ ἁγίου ἐστὶ «κλαίειν μετὰ κλαιόντων». 5 Ἐγγίζων τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὁ κύριος «ἔκλαυσεν καὶ εἶπεν· εἰ ἔγνως καὶ σὺ τὰ εἰς εἰρήνην σου». «Ἱερουσαλὴμ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυνάξαι τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπι συνάγει τὰ νοσσία ἑαυτῆς ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε». 6 Εἰ τοίνυν «μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες, ὅτι γελάσονται», ἔδει Ἱερεμίαν τὸν μυστικὸν τοῦτον κλαῦσαι κλαυθμὸν καὶ κατὰ τὸ «μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες» πενθῆσαι τοὺς τοῦ πενθεῖσθαι ἀξίους. 7 Ἔοικε δὲ τὸ μὲν πλῆθος τοῦ λαοῦ , ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ λέξει, δηλοῦν τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας Ἰσραηλίτας, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῶν ἐθνῶν , ὡς προ ειρήκαμεν, τοὺς προσηλύτους. εἰς δὲ ἀναγωγὴν ἐπεὶ συγγενέστερά ἐστι τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ ἀπερίστατα τὰ θεωρητικὰ μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ πρακτικά, τὸ μὲν πλῆθος τοῦ λαοῦ σημαίνοι ἂν τῆς μακαριζομένης Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὸν πλοῦτον τῶν θεωρημάτων· τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῶν ἐθνῶν τὸν πο λὺν ἀριθμὸν τῶν καλῶν πράξεων. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Ἡ πεπληθυμμένη λαοῦ μόνη καθέζεται · τῷ τὸν νυμφίον λόγον ἡ νύμφη ἀποβεβληκέναι γινομένη ὡς χήρα ἥ ποτε τοῖς προειρημένοις ἔθνεσι πλήθουσα. 8 Ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ λέξει ἁρμόζει τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ νοεῖσθαι λέγεσθαι μετὰ θαυμασμοῦ διὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ σκυθρωπότερον μεταβολὴν μεμο νῶσθαι καθίσασαν τήν ποτε πλήθουσαν λαῷ , ἵν' ἡ μόνωσις ἡ ἐρημία ᾖ αὐτῆς, ἐσχηκυίας μὲν ἄνδρα τὸν προστάτην ἔμψυχον λόγον, ὅτε αὐτῷ εἵπετο παρόντι καὶ βοηθοῦντι, κεχηρευκυίας δὲ καὶ καταλελειμμένης ὑπ' αὐτοῦ διὰ τὰ ἡμαρτημένα. Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα· Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν πρὸς τὸ ῥητόν· πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, Ἱερουσαλὴμ εὐθηνοῦσα καὶ λαῷ καὶ ἔθνεσι πλήθουσα καὶ χωρῶν ἄρχουσα ἡ θεία ἐστὶ ψυχή. καὶ οὐ θαυμαστόν, εἰ οὐ μόνον οἰκία οὐδὲ ἔπαυλις οὐδὲ ἡ ταύτης μείζων κώμη ἂν προσαγορευθεῖσα οὐδὲ πόλις ἡ τυ χοῦσα ἀλλὰ πασῶν πόλεων διαφέρουσα καὶ παρὰ θεῷ τετιμημένη Ἱερουσαλὴμ χρηματίζει ἡ τελείᾳ ψυχή, μεγέθους ἀξιολόγου πόλει τῇ μεγίστῃ περιβαλλομένου αὐτῇ ὑπὸ τῆς σοφίας καὶ πάσης ἀρετῆς † περιγινομένου πολλαπλάσια οἰκοδομήματα. Καὶ μετ'