καὶ γέλωτα ἔθεντο καὶ ἡδονὴν λόγους τοὺς ἐμούς, τὰ σεμνὰ γελῶντες διὰ τὸ τοῖς ἀσέμνοις χαίρειν καὶ χρονίᾳ τῇ περὶ ταῦτα συνηθείᾳ τὴν αἴτησιν ἐκκεκόφθαι τὴν περὶ τὰ καλὰ καὶ ὄντως ποθεινὰ καὶ τερπνά. δεύτερον τὸ περὶ τοῦ θανάτου λέγει τὸ λυπηρὸν τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου διαλύσεως διηγούμενος ὅτι βώλου τρόπῳ διαλυομένου σκεδάννυται. Ὁ Σύμμαχος· Ἐμπέσοιεν εἰς τὰ δίκτυα ἑαυτῶν παράνομοι. εἰς αὐτούς, φησί, περισταίη μηχανήματα καὶ μὴ εἰς τοὺς ἀναιτίους ἡμᾶς. ἐκκλινῶ δέ, φησίν, ἐγὼ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πονηροὺς ἀνάμιξιν, ἕως ἂν αὐτοὺς καὶ διαφυγεῖν δυνηθῶ. αὕτη γὰρ ἀσφάλεια πρὸς τὸ μηδὲν ὑπ' αὐτῶν λυμανθῆναι τὸ μηδὲ πλησιάζειν μηδὲ συμφύρεσθαι. τοῦτο καὶ Ἱερεμίας φησὶν Ἀγαθὸν ἀνδρὶ ὅταν ἄρῃ ζυγὸν ἐν νεότητι αὐτοῦ· καθήσεται κατὰ μόνας καὶ σιωπήσεται. νῦν δὲ ἡμῖν πνευματικὸς ὁ ἐκ τῶν πονηρῶν χωρισμὸς ὅτι ἀδύνατος ὁ σωματικός, ἐπεὶ ὀφείλομεν ἄρα ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελθεῖν ὡς ὁ Παῦλος λέγει.
295 Καλὴ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἡ τῆς δυάδος ἑνότης ἐπὶ τοιούτου τιθεῖσα τὸν κύριον καὶ τὸν θεόν, γνωριστικωτέρα δὲ τοῖς τὰ τέλεια μεμαθηκόσιν ἡ τῆς δυάδος ἐν τῇ ἑνότητι κατάληψις ἣν ὁ Παῦλος παρίστησιν, ἕνα μὲν θεὸν ἕνα δὲ κύριον ἐξηγούμενος, οὓς καὶ δύο ὄντας ἑνοῖ τὸν θεὸν μὲν ἐν κυρίῳ κύριον δὲ ἐν θεῷ νοεῖσθαι· καθὸ τὰ τῆς θείας καὶ κυριευτικῆς οὐσίας ἐν ταυτότητι θεωρεῖται, ἐκ πατρὸς μὲν εἰς υἱὸν ὁρμηθέντα κατὰ τὸ θεϊκόν, ἐξ υἱοῦ δὲ εἰς θεὸν ἀναγόμενα κατὰ τὸ κυριευτικόν. Οὐ τῷ φυγεῖν δὲ τὴν ὑπ' ἐχθρῶν πολιορκίαν τίθεται τέλος, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἔτι κάλλιον τῷ θεῷ χάριν ἀνενεγκεῖν· τοῦτο γὰρ δὴ τὸ ἀκρότατον τέλος.
And they made my words a laughingstock and a pleasure, laughing at the venerable things because they rejoice in the unseemly and, through long habit in these matters, the request concerning beautiful things and things truly desirable and delightful has been cut off. Secondly, he speaks about death, narrating the painful aspect of the dissolution of a human being, that when dissolved in the manner of a clod it is scattered. Symmachus: Let the lawless fall into their own nets. Against them, he says, let their devices fall, and not against us who are blameless. But I, he says, will turn aside from mingling with the wicked, until I am able even to escape them. For this is safety against being harmed at all by them: neither to draw near nor to be confounded with them. Jeremiah also says this: It is good for a man when he bears the yoke in his youth; he shall sit alone and be silent. But now for us the separation from the wicked is spiritual, because the bodily one is impossible, since we ought then to go out of the world, as Paul says.
Beautiful indeed is also the unity of the dyad, placing the Lord and God upon such a one, but more knowable to those who have learned perfect things is the comprehension of the dyad in the unity which Paul presents, explaining one God and one Lord, whom also, being two, he unites: God in the Lord and the Lord in God to be understood; inasmuch as the things of the divine and lordly essence are contemplated in identity, having proceeded from the Father to the Son according to the divine, and from the Son being led back to God according to the lordly. Nor is the end set by fleeing the siege of enemies, but the still better thing: to bring thanks to God; for this is indeed the highest end.
297 Ἄλλοι δέ φασι μὴ εἶναι ἀνεπίγραφον τὸν ψαλμὸν ἀλλ' ἐπιγεγράφθαι Ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυίδ, ὅτε αὐτὸν ὁ υἱὸς κατεδίωκεν. οὐ διὰ πασῶν μέντοι τῶν ἑρμηνειῶν πρόσκειται τοῦτο. τὰ δὲ λεγόμενα οὐκ ἀλλότρια· οὐδὲν δὲ κωλύει περὶ τῆς ὑπὸ Σαοὺλ διώξεως εἰρῆσθαι αὐτά. Κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὅλην τῆς τῶν δικαίων ζωῆς ὑπόθεσιν ἢ τὸν τέλεον ἔλεον οὔπω νῦν ἐπιδέχεται, ἀλλὰ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐπιφάνειαν τὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ μηνύουσαν τὸ πρωΐ, ὅτε καταυγάσει δικαίους ὁ δεσπότης ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φανείς. Τὸ τῆς ἀγαθότητος ὄνομα τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σωτηρίας πρόφασιν ἑαυτῷ γίνεσθαι ἀξιοῖ κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον λέγοντα Εἰς ἔπαινον τῆς δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ.
300 Πάντα δὲ ὅμοια τὰ μὲν ἀνθρώπινα, θείας δὲ ἐνεργείας φοβερᾶς τε καὶ ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ ὀλοθρευτικῆς ἀνθρώπων ἐνδείγματα. Κατὰ μὲν τὸν νῦν βίον τοῦ κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ταῦτα ἂν εἶναι δύναιτο, ὅτι τῶν προτέρων ἀπιόντων εἰς τὴν ἐκείνων χώραν εἰσὶν οἱ διαδεχόμενοι· διὸ καὶ τῷ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ὀνόματι καλούμεθα πάντες ὡς ἐκεῖνος ὄντες αὐτοί, καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἐγώ, φησίν, ἐποίησα γῆν καὶ ἄνθρωπον ἐπ' αὐτῆς, ἕνα τοὺς πάντας λογιζόμενος. κατὰ δὲ τὴν μέλλουσαν ζωὴν καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστου ταῦτα ἀληθινὰ διηνεκῶς καὶ αἰωνίως ὑμνοῦντος θεὸν καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἐξαρκοῦντος πρὸς ὀλίγον ὑμνῆσαι προστίθεται τὸ Εἰς αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος. Ἐπεὶ πάντα ἃ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὸν Ἐκκλησιαστήν, ἑκάστη γενεὰ βλέπουσα αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα ἐπαινεῖ αὐτὰ, ὑπὲρ πάντα ἔπαινον τυγχάνοντα αὐτὰ ὁρῶσα. Καὶ ἀπαγγέλλουσι τὴν δύναμίν σου, καθ' ἣν εἰς ὕπαρξιν ἤγαγες αὐτά.
But others say that the psalm is not without a superscription, but is inscribed "A Psalm of David, when his son pursued him." This, however, is not added in all the translations. What is said is not foreign to it; and nothing prevents these things from having been spoken concerning the pursuit by Saul. But according to the whole theme of the life of the righteous, it does not yet now receive the perfect mercy, but the coming manifestation from heaven, which makes known the morning, when the Master, appearing from heaven, will shine upon the righteous. He deems the name of goodness to become for himself a pretext for the salvation of God, according to the apostle who says, "To the praise of the glory of his grace."
But all things are alike—the human things, and the indications of divine activity, fearful and strong and destructive of men. In the present life, these things could belong to one man in succession, because when the former depart to their own place, there are those who succeed them; therefore we are all called by the name of Adam, as being the same as he, and God says, "I made the earth and man upon it," reckoning all as one. But according to the life to come, these things are true for each one continually and eternally, as he hymns God and, as though it were not enough to hymn him for a little while, there is added, "For ever and for ever and ever." Since all things that God has made remain for ever, according to Ecclesiastes, each generation, seeing his works, praises them, seeing them to be beyond all praise. And they declare your power, by which you brought them into existence.
αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ σοφία καθ' ἣν πάντα πεποίηκας, δύναμις δὲ καὶ σοφία σου τὸ γέννημα τὸ μονογενές σου· Χριστὸς γὰρ θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ θεοῦ σοφία.
303 Γνωρίζουσι δὲ ὅτι τὴν ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἔχει δυναστείαν, εἰ καὶ μὴ ταύτην ἐκφαίνει οὔπω τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐχόντων δεκτικῶς. μικροὶ γὰρ οἱ ἄνθρωποι πρὸς τὸ δηλωθῆναι τὴν μεγαλειότητα τῆς θείας βασιλείας ἐν αὐτοῖς· διὸ ἐπιφέρει τὸ πρέπον θεῷ. Χειρῶν θεοῦ λέγων ἄνοιξιν τὴν τῶν δημιουργουμένων τροφῶν χορηγίαν δῆλός ἐστιν οὐ σωματικὰς χεῖρας παριστὰς ἀλλὰ τὸ δημιουργικὸν οὕτως ὁμοιῶν. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ διὰ πάντων, φησί, θεωρεῖται τὸ φιλάνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ πρόσεστι τοῖς τερπνοῖς καὶ σωτηρίοις πολλὰ καὶ ἐπίπονα καὶ φθαρτικά, οἷα δὴ καρπῶν τε ἀφορία καὶ θηρίων γενέσεις ὀλεθρίων καὶ νόσων καταβολαί· ἀλλ' οὖν οὐδὲν τούτων ἐκτὸς δικαιοσύνης καλῶς συμπεπλεγμένης τῇ ἀγαθότητι πρὸς τὸ μὴ φθαρῆναι τὴν περὶ τὸ καλὸν σπουδὴν διὰ τὴν ἐν παρανομήσασιν ἀνεπιτίμητον εὐθυμίαν. Πάλιν δ' ἐπὶ τὸ μακρὸν καὶ ἀνατείνει τὰς ὑμνήσεις καὶ οὐκ ἐφ' ἑνός τε ἴστησι καὶ τοῦ ἰδίου προσώπου, ἀλλὰ πάντας ἀνθρώπους τὸ ἴσον ποιήσειν *** εἰς τὸν ἄπειρον αἰῶνα, εἰ καὶ ὄψεταί ποτε σὺν δραμουμένοις, δηλῶν εἰς κοινωνίαν τῶν δικαίων οἳ γεγόνασιν ἀρχὴ θεῷ κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον.
This is the wisdom by which you have made all things, and your only-begotten offspring is your power and wisdom; for Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
They recognize that he has dominion over all things, even if he does not yet reveal this, since men are not yet able to receive it. For men are small compared to the greatness of the divine kingdom being made manifest in them; therefore he adds what is fitting for God. By saying "the opening of your hands" he clearly means the provision of created foods, not presenting physical hands but likening the creative power in this way. For if, he says, the love of humanity is not seen through all things, yet to the pleasant and saving things there are attached many toilsome and destructive things—such as the barrenness of fruits and the breeding of deadly beasts and the onset of diseases—nevertheless none of these is outside justice, which is well intertwined with goodness, so that zeal for the good is not corrupted by the unpunished cheerfulness among those who transgress. Again he extends his hymns to the long duration and does not stop at one person and his own face, but says that all men will do the same *** into the endless age, even if he will ever see it together with those who run, indicating a fellowship with the righteous, who have become a beginning for God, according to the apostle.
307 Ἔοικε διδάσκειν ὅτι τοῦτο τῆς ζωῆς ἔργον, τοῦτο τοῦ ὑπάρχειν ὄφελος, εἰ πρὸς τὴν ὄντως ζωὴν συναπτόμεθα καὶ πρὸς τὸν ὄντως ὄντα· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐφόδιον καὶ εἰς τὴν ὄντως ζωὴν καὶ εἰς τὸ ἀϊδίως ὑπάρξαι, ἐπείπερ ἐκ τῆς νῦν ζωῆς ἐφόδιον πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐπαγόμεθα. Οὕτω μὲν ἡ εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐλπὶς ἀθλία, ἡ δὲ εἰς θεὸν μακαρία. ἀληθὴς γὰρ βοηθός, αἰώνιος καὶ τῶν ἁπάντων κρατῶν· ἐν τούτῳ ἡ ἐξουσία ὡς ἐξ ἀφθόνου πλούτου καὶ ἀπείρου μεγάλα ῥᾳδίως εὐεργετεῖν.
309 Τοσοῦτος καὶ τηλικοῦτός ἐστιν ὡς μηδὲ τοὺς ἀναρίθμους ἀστέρας ἐκτὸς εἶναι τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ ἀλλ' ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ῥυθμισθέντας αὐτῷ δὴ καὶ ἀκριβῶς ἐγνῶσθαι τὴν ἑκάστου φύσιν καὶ δύναμιν διακρίνοντι καθάπερ ὀνόματα τῶν διορισμῶν. Ἰσχὺν μὲν οὖν καὶ σύνεσιν, εἰ καὶ ἀνθρωπίνως ἀκούομεν, μὴ ἀνθρωπίνως νοῶμεν οἵα ἐστὶν ἰσχὺς καθ' ἣν ὁ ἰσχυρὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐνεργεῖ καὶ σύνεσις καθ' ἣν ὁ σοφὸς βουλεύεται προσγινόμενόν τε καὶ ἀπογινόμενον ἔχων τὸ δυνατὸν καὶ σοφόν. ὡς θεὸς γὰρ οὐχ οὕτω δυνατὸς καὶ σοφὸς ὅς γε μηδ' ἔχει τι κάλλιον καὶ ἧττον ἐν ἑαυτῷ, οἷον τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὸ πεπληρωμένον δυνάμεως σοφίαν τε καὶ σοφίας πλῆρες, ὅλως ὢν τὸ τελεώτατον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐ
He seems to teach that this is the work of life, this is the benefit of existing—if we are joined to the true life and to the truly existing One. For this is provision both for the true life and for existing eternally, since from the present life we bring provision for the life to come. Thus the hope placed in humans is wretched, but the hope in God is blessed. For he is a true helper, eternal and ruler of all things; in him is the power, as from inexhaustible and boundless wealth, to bestow great benefits easily.
He is so great and of such magnitude that not even the innumerable stars are outside his knowledge, but having been ordered by him they are known accurately to him, who distinguishes the nature and power of each one as though they were names of his ordinances. Strength, then, and understanding—even if we hear of them in human terms, let us not understand them in human terms, such as is the strength by which a strong man acts and the understanding by which a wise man deliberates, having the possible and the wise as something that accrues and departs. For as God he is not powerful and wise in this way—he who has nothing better or lesser in himself, such as power and that which is filled with power, wisdom and that which is full of wisdom—being altogether the most perfect, and for this reason not
πληροῦσαν αὐτὸν δύναμιν καὶ σοφίαν ἔχων ἀλλὰ πλήρη προελθοῦσαν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ, καθὰ καὶ Σολομὼν γέννημα τὴν σοφίαν λέγει καὶ ἐκ θεοῦ προσεληλυθυῖαν τὴν αὐτοσοφίαν παρίστησι, τῇ δὲ σοφίᾳ γεγενῆσθαι τὰ δημιουργήματα φάσκων μεῖζόν τι τῆς αὐτουργικῆς δημιουργίας τὸν τῆς σοφίας γεννήτορα εἶναι διδάσκει, ᾧ καὶ ἡ μακρὰ προσῆκεν ὑπεροχὴ ἡ τὴν πρὸς τὰ ποιήματα συνάφειαν ὑπεραναβεβηκυῖα τῇ προσούσῃ τῷ δημιουργοῦντι, ἀδυνάτου ὄντος ἐννοηθῆναί τι μεῖζον τοῦ μεγίστου ὥστε ὅπερ νοεῖται μέγιστον τῷ πᾶσαν ἐκβεβηκέναι τὴν πρὸς τὰ ποιήματα σχέσιν τοῦτό ἐστι περὶ τὸν τῆς σοφίας καὶ δυνάμεως πατέρα· καὶ οὕτω μεγάλη ἡ ἰσχὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ σύνεσις ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ τε οὖσα καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ γέννημα καὶ καρπὸς καὶ υἱός, οὐχ ὡς ἐν αὐτῷ συμβεβηκός, περὶ ἧς εἴρηται Χριστὸς θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ θεοῦ σοφία· εἶτ' ἐπεὶ καὶ σοφία ἐστὶν ἡ δύναμις αὐτὴ συνωνύμως ἔχουσα πρὸς τὴν σύνεσιν ἐν ᾗ τὸν οὐρανὸν πεποίηκε κατὰ τὸ λεχθὲν Τῷ ποιήσαντι τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐν συνέσει, πρὸς τὸ εἶναι ἰσχὺς μεγάλη καὶ σύνεσις αὐτοῦ τυγχάνει ἀριθμὸν οὐκ ἔχουσα ἀναρίθμητος καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστος ἡ θεοῦ σύνεσις, ὅθεν γέγραπται Ὦ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως θεοῦ. βαθυτάτη γὰρ οὖσα ἡ σύνεσις αὐτοῦ δι' ἀκαταληψίαν ἀριθμὸν οὐκ ἔχει. εἰ δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ ὑπερβάλλον πλῆθος τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ θεωρημάτων μὴ ἔχειν ἀριθμὸν λέγεται, καὶ σὺ αὐτὸς ἐπιστήσεις.
Having power and wisdom that fill him, but a full power that proceeded from himself, just as Solomon also calls wisdom a offspring and presents the very Wisdom as having come from God, and saying that the creations came to be by wisdom, he teaches that the begetter of wisdom is something greater than the self-working creation, to whom also belongs the great pre-eminence that has transcended the connection to the things made by the excellence that belongs to the Creator, since it is impossible to conceive anything greater than the greatest, so that what is conceived as greatest by having surpassed every relation to the things made—this is what pertains to the father of wisdom and power; and thus great is his strength and his understanding, as being both from him and with him—offspring and fruit and son—not as an accident in him, concerning which it has been said, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God; then, since the power itself is also wisdom, having a synonymous relation to the understanding in which he made the heaven, according to what was said, To him who made the heaven in understanding, in respect of being a great strength and his understanding, it has no number—the understanding of God is numberless and unsearchable, whence it is written, O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. For being most deep, his understanding, through incomprehensibility, has no number. But if it is also said to have no number because of the exceeding multitude of the contemplations in it, you yourself also will understand.
311 Ἄγγελοι μὲν ἂν εἶεν οἱ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, δυνάμεις δὲ καὶ τούτων ὑπεράνω τοῖς ὑψίστοις προσήκουσαι, ὑπὲρ τὸ διαγγέλλειν ἀνθρώποις οὖσαι, ἐν δὲ μόνῃ τῇ παρὰ θεῷ βεβαιότητι διηνεκῇ τὸ μακάριον ἔχουσαι, ὁποῖαι καὶ αἱ καλούμεναι παρὰ ἀποστόλῳ θρόνοι ἐνδεικνυμένου τοῦ ὀνόματος τὸ ἐφιδρῦσθαι αὐταῖς τὸν θεὸν τὰς δὲ ὑποκεῖσθαι τῇ θείᾳ καὶ ὑπὲρ κτίσιν μεγαλειότητι, ἐν τούτῳ δὴ καθεστηκυίας ἀεὶ καὶ τὸ στάσιμον καὶ πεπηγὸς ἐχούσας ἐν τῇ τῆς θείας δόξης ὑποδοχῇ. 312 *** φέγγη *** οὐρανῷ μεθ' ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτωρ φωτίζοντα αὐτόν τε τὸν οὐρανὸν τὸν ἀνωτάτω, τουτέστι τὸ κατὰ Μωυσέα στερέωμα, καὶ δὴ τού του δὲ ἀνώτερον ὕδωρ ὑμνεῖν τὸν θεὸν παρακελεύεται. δῆλον ὅτι πάντα ταῦτά ἐστιν ὕμνος θεοῦ κάλλει καὶ δυνάμει καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ τῇ ἑαυτῶν τὸ πανύμνητον ἐμφανίζοντα τοῦ δημιουργήσαντος. Καὶ πᾶσι δὲ λέγων ὁσίοις τοὺς ἐξ ἅπαντος ἔθνους ὑποδείκνυσι. προφητείᾳ τὸν δὲ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπεισάγων διὰ τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς πεπλησιακέναι ἐπακολούθησιν αὐτοῦ δηλοῖ τὴν μετὰ τὰ ἔθνη. Τῶν οὖν κεκοιμημένων τὴν μετὰ τὸν θάνατον ἀνάπαυλαν καὶ τὴν ἐν τούτῳ ἀγαλλίασιν ἀναγκαίως ὁ λόγος ἐθέσπισε κατὰ τὸ Ἐν εἰρήνῃ [ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ] κοιμηθήσομαι καὶ ὑπνώσω.
Angels, then, would be those in the heavens, but powers also, above these, belonging to the highest ones, being beyond the announcing to humans, and having their blessedness in the single steadfastness beside God continuously, such as also the so-called thrones in the apostle, the name indicating that God is seated upon them, and that they are subject to the divine majesty beyond creation, established always in this and having the stable and fixed state in the reception of the divine glory. *** lights *** in heaven by day and by night illuminating both heaven itself, the highest, that is, according to Moses the firmament, and indeed the water above this he exhorts to hymn God. It is clear that all these things are a hymn of God, displaying by their own beauty and power and activity the all-praised one of the Creator. And by saying "all his holy ones" he points out those from every nation. And bringing in Israel by prophecy, because it drew near from the beginning, he shows its following after the nations. Therefore the word necessarily prophesied the rest after death of those who have fallen asleep and the exultation in this, according to "In peace I shall lie down and sleep.