Chapter
III.
For this present time is filled with all things
that are most contrary49
| 49 The text
reads ἐναντιωτήτων,
for which Codex Anglicus has ἑναντιωτάτων. |
to
each other—births and
deaths, the growth of
plants and their
uprooting,
cures and killings, the
building up and the pulling down of
houses, weeping and laughing, mourning and
dancing. At this
moment a man gathers of
earth’s products, and at another casts
them away; and at one time he ardently desireth
the beauty of
woman, and at another he hateth it. Now he seeketh something, and
again he loseth it; and now he keepeth, and again he casteth away; at
one time he slayeth, and at another he is slain; he speaketh, and again
he is
silent; he loveth, and again he hateth. For the affairs of
men are at one time in a condition of
war, and at another in a
condition of
peace; while their fortunes are so inconstant, that from
bearing the semblance of good, they change quickly into acknowledged
ills. Let us have done, therefore, with
vain labours. For
all these things, as appears to me, are set to madden men, as it were,
with their
poisoned stings. And the
ungodly observer of the times
and
seasons is agape for this
world,
50
exerting himself above measure to
destroy the image
51
of
God, as one who has chosen to
contend
against it
52
from the beginning
onward to the end.
53
| 53 The Greek
text is, καιροσκόπος
δή τις
πονηρὸς τὸν
αἰῶνα τοῦτον
περικέχηνεν,
ἀφανίσαι
ὑπερδιατεινόμενος
τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ
πλάσμα, ἐξ
ἀρχῆς αὐτῷ
μέχρι τέλους
πολεμεῖν
ᾑρημένος. It is
well to notice how widely this differs from our version of iii.
11: “He hath made everything beautiful in his time,”
etc. |
I am
persuaded, therefore, that the greatest good for man is cheerfulness
and well-doing, and that this shortlived enjoyment, which alone is
possible to us, comes from
God only, if
righteousness direct our
doings. But as to those
everlasting and
incorruptible things
which
God hath firmly established, it is not possible either to take
aught from them or to add aught to them. And to men in general,
those things, in sooth, are fearful and wonderful;
54
| 54 The text is,
ᾧ τινι οὖν,
ἀλλ᾽ ἔστιν,
ἐκεινα
φοβερά τε
ὁμοῦ καὶ
θαυμαστά. |
and those things indeed which have been,
abide so; and those which are to be, have already been, as regards His
foreknowledge. Moreover, the man who is
injured has
God as his
helper. I saw in the lower parts the
pit of
punishment which
receives the impious, but a different place allotted for the
pious. And I thought with myself, that with
God all things are
judged and determined to be equal; that the
righteous and the
unrighteous, and objects with reason and without reason, are alike in
His
judgment. For that their time is measured out equally to all,
and
death impends over them, and
in this the races of
beasts and
men are alike in the
judgment of
God, and differ from each other only
in the matter of articulate
speech; and all things else happen alike to
them, and
death receives all equally, not more so in the case of the
other kinds of creatures than in that of men. For they have all
the same
breath of life, and men have nothing more; but all are,
in one word,
vain, deriving their present condition
55
from the same
earth, and destined to
perish,
and return to the same
earth again. For it is uncertain regarding
the
souls of men, whether they shall
fly upwards; and regarding the
others which the unreasoning creatures possess, whether they shall fall
downward. And it seemed to me, that there is no other good
save
pleasure, and the enjoyment of things present. For I did not
think it possible for a man, when once he has
tasted death, to return
again to the enjoyment of these things.
56
| 56 [The key to
the interpretation of this book, as to much of the book of Job, is
found in the brief expostulation of Jeremiah (chap. xii.
1), where he confesses
his inability to comprehend the world and God’s ways therein, yet
utters a profession of unshaken confidence in His goodness. Here
Solomon, in monologue, gives vent to similar misgivings; overruling all
in the wonderful ode with which the book concludes. I say
Solomon, not unadvisedly.] |
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