OTHER FRAGMENTS OF DIDYMUS ON THE PSALMS, FROM THE NANIAN CODEX XXIII
(Greek manuscripts preserved by the Patrician Nani family of Venice, ed. Mingarelli, Bologna 1784, in 4°.)
A parchment codex, in quarto, consisting of 86 leaves, written in the tenth century, mutilated at the end. Furthermore, since the traces of letters have perished entirely on many pages, it cannot be of great use. It contains a collection, or chain, on the Psalms, namely from the first psalm up to the hundred and fourth; for the rest have perished. Who the author may be, I do not know. On the first page scarcely another word remains, besides this title: on the middle pages the psalms are written, while in the margins there is a chain, or commentaries, or scholia. The first words of the chain that survive begin on the second page of the first leaf thus: [*ε′*] (that is, verse 5): *Not so the ungodly*, etc. The Fathers, whose words are cited here and there in this chain, are Chrysostom, Basil, Hesychius, Theodoret, Origen, Athanasius, Arethas the archbishop, Eusebius, Didymus, Diodorus, Aquila, Maximus, Theologus (namely Gregory Nazianzen), Isidore, Theodotion, Gregory of Nyssa, Theodotius (for on leaf 52 b and 61 a and 62 b one reads *Cyrillus* and *Symmachus*). I have decided now to exhibit some specimens of this chain. And first indeed, I shall write out all the passages of Didymus the Alexandrian that exist there, choosing this author above others because I formerly edited his books *On the Trinity*.
1. Fol. 14 a. On verse 15 of the ninth psalm: *Break the arm of the sinner, etc.*, the following is read: Didymus — When mentioned with the article, "the sinner" denotes the devil, whose arm is broken by the Lord, and his sin, when sought, is not found, having its being in the act of being performed and then ceasing; for evil is a quality, not a substance.
II. Fol. 27 b. On the fourth verse of the twentieth psalm: *For thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness; thou hast set upon his head a crown of precious stone*, the following is read: Didymus — A man is crowned for those things which he practices; for the just man, having pursued justice, shall receive the crown of righteousness, and he who glorifies the Trinity aright shall obtain the unfading crown of glory, having delighted in the Lord; and he who is saved by grace receives the crown of graces. B
III. Fol. 28 a. On the ninth verse of the same psalm: *May thy hand be found by all thy enemies; may thy right hand find all who hate thee*, the following is read: Didymus — This signifies either the hand that punishes or the one that wars against those arrayed against the divine law, according to the passage: *The Lord wages war with a hidden hand against Amalek*; and he would mean by enemies both these and the godless, so that through what they suffer they may know Him who presides over all things.
*Another*. — It alludes to the punishments of the Jews after the cross. For the enemies of God find Him, but those who hate Him are found by Him; and through the Law we find God, but through the Gospels we are found by Him; or through the practical life we find Him, but through contemplation we are found by Him, being formerly enemies and strangers to the covenants of God, having no hope and being without God in the world.
IV. Fol. 28 b. On verse 12 of the same psalm: *For they have turned aside evil against thee; they have devised schemes which they shall not be able to establish*. — *For they have turned aside evil against thee* — because they moved the tongue against Thee and used blasphemous words. — Didymus. — Because evil is performed by deviation and not by rectitude, as is the case with good things. And in all things the base are perverted; and they attempt impossible things; for they devise treachery against the One who does not endure harm.
V. Fol. 47 b. On the second verse of the fifty-sixth psalm: *And I will hope in the shadow of thy wings, until iniquity pass away*, the following is read: Didymus — He distinguishes "shadow" from "truth," saying this: that being in this life, I hope in the shadow of the wings, and have been winged by virtue to come upon the wings themselves, and by spiritual understanding; for the wings of God are the powers of God, and the sublime thoughts concerning Him. And after a little: but when iniquity shall have passed, and the treachery against me, and the one named as the slanderer, then no longer in the shadow; but in thy very wings, as one who has progressed and has been liberated from every iniquitous deed, I shall hope. C
VI. Fol. 49 b. On the tenth verse of the psalm fifty-seven, at the words: *As living, as in wrath he shall swallow them up*, the following is read: *As living . . . as* — Didymus — For not as living, but as living in semblance, shall they be overtaken by wrath; for to "swallow up" signifies to overpower, as he who has been swallowed is already overpowered and conquered.
VII. Fol. 50 b. On the third and tenth verses of the fifty-ninth psalm: *And thou, O Lord, shall laugh them to scorn; you shall annihilate all the nations. My power I will keep toward…*
A you; for you, O God, are my helper*, the following is read: *And you, O Lord, shall laugh them to scorn.* Those men, then, dare such things, but you hear and see and laugh at their folly. By Chrysostom: By "nations" here he means the tribes of the demons. *My power I will keep toward you:* The Son says to the Father, "toward you," that is, with you. By Didymus: I do not choose to usurp the kingdom, but I await receiving it from you; and I have confidence in the trial, having learned many times that you are both God and my helper. For even if I am not worthy by my own power to receive the right to reign, yet your mercy, having anticipated me, will show it to me in the face of my enemies, so that while they shall be punished, I shall receive the kingdom from you.
VIII. Fol. 52 a. On the third verse of the fifty-ninth psalm: *O God, you have cast us off, and destroyed us; you have been angry and pitied us,* the following is read: *O God, you have cast us off, and destroyed us.* Here he predicts the captivity; then, the justice and philanthropy of God: *you have been angry and pitied [us].* A. (that is to say, Athanasius, I think): Being angered, you have turned us away. S.: You were angry and you brought us round. For on account of transgressions he was angry; but after the punishment he showed mercy. By Didymus: One must refute those who think the Creator is vengeful; for God is angry not in order to destroy, but in order to pity. This agrees with: *I will praise you, O Lord; for you were angry with me, unto salvation.* For if he is angry unto salvation, anger is no passion, but it is taken up usefully.
IX. Fol. 52 b. On the tenth verse of the same psalm, on the words: *Moab is the pot of my hope,* the following is read: By Didymus: *Moab is the pot of...* He joins together the severed parts through concord; for Moab is a pot of washing or a pot of freedom from care; for the cast-out Moab, through the bath of baptism, which has forgiveness and becomes a cause of freedom from care—and all the Gentiles have been subjected, having bowed down to the yoke of Christ.
X. Fol. 53 a. On the third verse of the sixtieth psalm: *From the ends of the earth I have cried out toward you,* the following is held: *From the ends of the earth;* By Didymus: He says "earth" is the body; the ends of the earth are the senses, from which it is good to cry out to God and pray, so that we may have no rebellious perception. By Origen: "Earth" is wickedness, from which he who has departed cries out to God.
XI. Fol. 59 a. On the sixth verse of the sixty-fifth psalm: *There we shall rejoice in him,* the following is read: *There we shall rejoice.* By Didymus: "There," instead of "in such wonders we rejoiced in God." For the tense has been changed, as also in: *he who turns,* for instead of "he who turned."
XII. Fol. 65 a. On the fifth verse of the sixty-eighth psalm, on the words: *For what I did not plunder, then I paid,* the following is held: By Didymus: Even if B he paid back what he did not plunder, yet he redeemed us. And this is to pay back, by blotting out the handwriting against us, which we were forced to pay off, and being imposed against us, these things have been blotted out and taken out of the way, forgiveness of sins having been given.
XIII. Fol. 66 a. On the fourteenth verse of the same psalm: *But as for me, my prayer is toward you, O Lord; a time of good pleasure, O God, in the multitude of your mercy hear me,* etc., the following is held: *A time of good pleasure;* Symmachus thus: A time of reconciliation, O God. He says it is sufficient... the punishment brought upon me [a time]... to be loosed, and your philanthropy to appear; for he calls the good will "good pleasure." By Didymus: So that when I am made alive, those who are dead through sin may be made alive with me.
XIV. Ibidem, on the fifteenth verse of the same psalm, on the words: *Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep of the waters,* the following is read: *Let me be delivered from... deep of the waters...* he called the punishment. By Didymus: The deep of the waters is... C ...he writes "deep of the waters," and not "from the depths of the waters."
XV. Fol. 67 a. On the twenty-second and twenty-third verses of the same psalm: *And they gave me gall for my food; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them,* etc., the following is read: *And they gave me gall for my food...* And this, he says, the very food, they prepared bitter and grievous. For satisfying food is joyless to those who eat with pain. *Let their table become...* By Chrysostom: That is, the luxury; all good things shall be transformed and shall perish, and they shall become exposed to all. And showing that they suffer these things paying the penalty for sins, he added: *and for a recompense.* He calls the punishments "snares," and *they were darkened,* not having received the sun of righteousness. By Didymus: The table is the divinely inspired D Scripture, whose contemplation and intellection contains food for rational souls, but the letter occupies the place of a table.
XVI. Fol. 69 a. On the fourteenth verse of the seventieth psalm: *But I will hope continually in you; and will add to all your praise,* the following is read: *But I will hope continually;* for seeing these things happening, I shall be strengthened in the hope in you, and I shall offer up praise many times over. By Didymus: The Son made an addition to the praises of the Father, having delivered the New Testament alongside the Old; for he did not do away with the first things by introducing the second, but he made an addition.
XVII. Fol. 80 b. On the fourteenth verse of the seventy-ninth psalm: *The boar out of the wood has laid it waste, and the solitary*