Letter 235

To Sabion the Magistrianus [a magistrianus, that is, an agens in rebus, an imperial courier-official]. You desired to learn the meaning of the three daughters of Job [Job 42:14, where their names in the Septuagint are Day, Cassia, and Horn of Amalthea]. Since, then, Job was released by the command of God from the night of afflictions and toils, of necessity he beheld the most radiant day of exultation, and of that rest and joy which is unceasing and eternal. For this reason he called his one, first daughter Day; and the second, Cassia [a fragrant spice akin to cinnamon]; for cassia is sweet-smelling, because, in place of the stench of the abominable suffering which he had endured before this, he acquired the sweet fragrance of the grace from on high. The third daughter, named Horn of Amalthea, is interpreted in the Greek tongue as "abundance of good things" [Greek amaltheia, suggesting unfailing plenty]. And you are by no means ignorant of the so many good things which the Lord bestowed, before the age to come, upon the steadfast and much-suffering Job: this is plain from here, namely, through his great endurance, and through his courage, his most excellent and conspicuous achievement and trophy.

Τὴν σημασίαν τῶν τριῶν τοῦ Ἰὼβ θυγατέρων ἐπεθύμησας γνῶναι. Ἐπειδὴ οὖν τῆς τῶν θλιβερῶν καὶ ἐπιπόνων νυκτὸς τῇ κελεύσει τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπήλ- λακται ὁ Ἰὼβ, ἀναγκαίως τὴν λαμπροτάτην ἡμέραν τεθέαται τῆς ἀγαλλιάσεως, καὶ τῆς ἀλήκτου καὶ αἰωνίου ἀναπαύσεως καὶ χαρᾶς. Διὰ τοῦτο τὴν μίαν πρώτην θυγατέρα Ἡμέραν ἐκάλεσεν, τὴν δὲ δευ- τέραν Κασσίαν· εὐώδης γὰρ ἡ κασσία, διότι ἀντὶ τῆς δυσωδίας τοῦ ἀπευκτέου πάθους, οὔπερ πρὸ τούτου ἀνέτλη τὴν εὐωδίαν ἐκτήσατο τῆς ἄνωθεν χάριτος. Ἡ δὲ τρίτη θυγάτηρ Ἀμαλθείας κέρας ἐπονομά- ζομένη τῇ Ἑλλάδι ἑρμηνεύεται γλώττῃ ἀγαθῶν ἀ- θηνία. Οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς δὲ πάντως τὰ τοσαῦτα ἀγαθὰ ἅπερ ὁ κύριος παρέσχεν πρὸ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος τῷ καρτερικῷ, καὶ πολυπαθεῖ Ἰὼβ, ἐντεῦθεν δῆλον, διὰ τε τῆς μεγάλης ὑπομονῆς, καὶ ἀνδρείας κρι- τιστον, καὶ περιφανὲς κατόρθωμα τε καὶ τρόπαιον.