John Chrysostom, On "A decree went out"

it took its beginning to rule under Augustus, at that time indeed Christ was born. The beginning of the Romans, the beginning of the proclamation, the fourth kingdom of the ages. For it is possible to see these things mystically stored away in the prophets; for nothing lies unwritten either in the New, or in the Old; but the Old anticipated the New, and the New interpreted the Old. And many times I have said that two Covenants, and two handmaidens, and two sisters, attend the one Master. The Lord is announced by the prophets; Christ is preached in the New; the new things are not new; for the old things anticipated them; the old things were not extinguished; for they were interpreted in the New. For you might see that Daniel, younger in age, but gray-haired in prophecy, prophesying in Babylon 50.797.

Why in Babylon? For the people had been taken captive to Babylon, and had spent seventy years in the land of the Assyrians. There, then, Daniel is born, there he is brought up, harmed in no way by the foreign land. For he had the mind of his fathers; and from his youth he becomes a prophet, and the Holy Spirit took possession of his soul, and when he was eighteen years old, he began his prophecy. And many are the things he prophesies, but he also interprets four kingdoms. For Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Assyrians, saw in an image four differences, one body, but four colors. For the image had a head of gold, and it had a breast of silver, and it had a belly of bronze, and it had feet of iron, and the image was composed of four materials. And the king saw it; but there was no one to interpret it. The magi came, the Chaldeans came, the seers were put forward, those who always deceived the king were called; and what do they say? Tell us the dream, and we will interpret it. God, therefore, arranging things so that they might not deceive him as usual, removes the image of the dream from the king's memory; and the king said: Tell me my dream. And when they clearly confessed that it was impossible to relate another's dream, but only to interpret it if they heard it, Daniel is summoned, it having been announced that he was capable of these things, and he comes before King Nebuchadnezzar, having the revelation of the dream through the Holy Spirit, and says to the king: O king, you saw such and such things. And at the same time as the words of the prophet, the hearer recovered the memory of the dream; and the hearing became a recollection of the sight. The prophet, therefore, interprets it; for the interpreter was henceforth trustworthy after his declaration of the dream itself, and he says: The image which you saw are four kingdoms; for four kingdoms shall arise on the earth. Yet that image was whole; and one body stood. And you saw, O king, that a stone was cut without hands, and it shattered the image, and the stone took over and filled the whole earth. This is what you saw; you saw four kingdoms; You are the head of gold. For the Assyrians were the first to rule, extremely wealthy and most splendid and most luxurious. And he says to him: You are the head of gold; and after you shall arise a kingdom inferior to you.

For after the Assyrians, the Persians and Medes rule; and they too became most brilliant. A third kingdom will arise, the bronze one, the kingdom of the Greeks and Macedonians; where Alexander, being in Greece, yoked up and overran Persia, and overthrew Darius, and brought the empire under his own authority. It was compared to bronze, therefore, on account of the melodiousness of its speech and language. For the Greeks with Alexander, and Alexander himself, being eloquent in speech, were compared to bronze; for gold is brilliant, but not melodious; likewise also silver; but bronze, though inferior in material, is melodious in sound. He says, therefore: The third kingdom is that signified by the bronze; but the fourth, the last kingdom, is of iron. You shall rule them, therefore, with a rod of iron. See the harmony of the

ἀρχὴν ἔλαβε τοῦ κρατεῖν ἐπὶ Αὐγούστου, τότε δὴ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐτέχθη. Ἀρχὴ Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴ κηρύγματος, ἡ τετάρτη τῶν χρόνων βασιλεία. Ἔστι γὰρ ἰδεῖν μυστικῶς ταῦτα παρὰ τοῖς προφήταις τεταμιευμένα· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄγραφον κεῖται οὔτε ἐν τῇ Καινῇ, οὔτε ἐν τῇ Παλαιᾷ· ἀλλὰ προέλαβε τὴν Καινὴν ἡ Παλαιὰ, καὶ ἡρμήνευσε τὴν Παλαιὰν ἡ Καινή. Καὶ πολλάκις εἶπον, ὅτι δύο ∆ιαθῆκαι, καὶ δύο παιδίσκαι, καὶ δύο ἀδελφαὶ, τὸν ἕνα ∆εσπότην δορυφοροῦσι. Κύριος παρὰ προφήταις καταγγέλλεται· Χριστὸς ἐν Καινῇ κηρύσσεται· οὐ καινὰ τὰ καινά· προέλαβε γὰρ τὰ παλαιά· οὐκ ἐσβέσθη τὰ παλαιά· ἡρμηνεύθη γὰρ ἐν τῇ Καινῇ. Ἴδοις γὰρ ἂν τὸν ∆ανιὴλ ἐκεῖνον τὸν νεώτερον τῇ ἡλικίᾳ, πολιὸν δὲ τῇ προφητείᾳ, ἐν τῇ Βαβυλῶνι 50.797 προφητεύοντα.

∆ιὰ τί ἐν Βαβυλῶνι, Ἠχμαλώτιστο γὰρ ὁ λαὸς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα, καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη ἐν γῇ Ἀσσυρίων ἐπεποιήκει. Ἐκεῖ οὖν γεννᾶται ὁ ∆ανιὴλ, ἐκεῖ ἀνατρέφεται, οὐδὲν βλαβεὶς ἐκ τῆς ἀλλοφύλου γῆς. Εἶχε γὰρ τὸ φρόνημα τὸ πατρικόν· καὶ γίνεται ἐκ νεότητος προφήτης, καὶ κατέλαβεν αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ ὀκτωκαιδεκαέτης γενόμενος, τῆς προφητείας ἀπήρξατο. Καὶ πολλὰ μέν ἐστιν ἃ προφητεύει, ἑρμηνεύει δὲ καὶ τέσσαρας βασιλείας. Εἶδε γὰρ ὁ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ὁ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεὺς ἐν εἰκόνι τέσσαρας διαφορὰς, ἓν μὲν σῶμα, τέσσαρα δὲ χρώματα. Ἡ γὰρ εἰκὼν εἶχε μὲν τὴν κεφαλὴν χρυσῆν, εἶχε δὲ τὸ στῆθος ἀργύρεον, εἶχε δὲ τὴν κοιλίαν χαλκῆν, εἶχε δὲ τοὺς πόδας σιδηροῦς, καὶ ἀπὸ τεσσάρων ὑλῶν συνέκειτο ἡ εἰκών. Καὶ εἶδε μὲν ὁ βασιλεύς· οὐκ ἦν δὲ ὁ ἑρμηνεύων. Ἦλθον οἱ μάγοι, ἦλθον οἱ Χαλδαῖοι, οἱ μάντεις προεβλήθησαν, οἱ πλανῶντες ἀεὶ τὸν βασιλέα ἐκλήθησαν· καὶ τί φασιν; Εἰπὲ ἡμῖν τὸ ὄναρ, καὶ ἑρμηνεύομεν. Ὁ Θεὸς οὖν οἰκονομῶν, ἵνα μὴ συνήθως αὐτὸν ἀπατήσωσιν, ὑπεξαιρεῖ ἐκ τῆς μνήμης τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ ὀνείρατος τὴν εἰκόνα· καὶ ἔλεγεν ὁ βασιλεύς· Εἴπατέ μοι τὸ ἐμὸν ὄναρ. Ἐκείνων δὲ σαφῶς ὁμολογούντων, ὄναρ ἄλλου διηγήσασθαι ἀδυνάτως ἔχειν, ἑρμηνεῦσαι δὲ μόνον ἐὰν ἀκούσωσιν, παρακαλεῖται ∆ανιὴλ μηνυθεὶς ὅτι δυνατὸς εἴη πρὸς ταῦτα, καὶ εἰσέρχεται πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Ναβουχοδονόσορ, ἔχων διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος τοῦ ὀνείρατος τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν, καὶ λέγει πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα· Βασιλεῦ, τάδε καὶ τάδε εἶδες. Καὶ ἅμα τοῖς λόγοις τοῦ προφήτου ἀνελάμβανε τὴν μνήμην τοῦ ὀνείρατος ὁ ἀκούων· καὶ γέγονεν ἡ ἀκοὴ ἀνάμνησις τῆς θέας. Ἑρμηνεύει τοίνυν αὐτὸ ὁ προφήτης· ἦν γὰρ λοιπὸν ἀξιόπιστος ὁ ἑρμηνεύων μετὰ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὀνείρατος, καὶ λέγει· Ἡ εἰκὼν ἣν εἶδες, τέσσαρές εἰσι βασιλεῖαι· τέσσαρες γὰρ βασιλεῖαι ἀναστήσονται ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Ἐκείνη μέντοι ἡ εἰκὼν ὁλόκληρος ἦν· καὶ ἓν σῶμα εἱστήκει. Εἶδες δὲ, βασιλεῦ, ὅτι λίθος ἐτμήθη ἄνευ χειρῶν, καὶ συνέτριψε τὴν εἰκόνα, καὶ ὁ λίθος κατέσχε καὶ ἐπλήρωσε πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὃ εἶδες· τέσσαρας βασιλείας εἶδες· Σὺ εἶ ἡ κεφαλὴ ἡ χρυσῆ. Πρῶτοι γὰρ Ἀσσύριοι ἐβασίλευσαν, πλουσιώτατοι λίαν καὶ λαμπρότατοι καὶ τρυφερώτατοι. Καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Σὺ εἶ ἡ κεφαλὴ ἡ χρυσῆ· καὶ ὀπίσω σου ἀναστήσεται βασιλεία ἥττων σου.

Μετὰ γὰρ τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους βασιλεύουσι Πέρσαι καὶ Μῆδοι· γεγόνασι δὲ φαιδρότατοι καὶ οὗτοι. Τρίτη βασιλεία ἀναστήσεται ἡ χαλκῆ, ἡ τῶν Ἑλλήνων βασιλεία καὶ Μακεδόνων· ὅπου Ἀλέξανδρος ὢν ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι, ζεύξας ἐπέδραμε τῇ Περσίδι, καὶ κατέλυσε μὲν τὸν ∆αρεῖον, ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐξουσίαν ἤγαγε τὴν ἀρχήν. Χαλκῷ τοίνυν παρεβλήθη, διὰ τὸ εὔηχον τῆς ὁμιλίας καὶ τῆς γλώττης. Ἕλληνες γὰρ οἱ σὺν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ, καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, ὑπάρχοντες εὔγλωττοι τὴν ὁμιλίαν, χαλκῷ παρεβλήθησαν· χρυσὸς γὰρ λαμπρὸς μέν ἐστιν, οὐ μὴν εὔηχος· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ ἄργυρος χαλκὸς δὲ τῇ μὲν ὕλῃ ἐλάττων, εὔηχος δέ ἐστι κατὰ τὴν ἠχήν. Λέγει τοίνυν· Τρίτη βασιλεία ἡ διὰ τοῦ χαλκοῦ σημαινομένη· τετάρτη δὲ βασιλεία ἡ τελευταία σιδηρᾶ. Ποιμανεῖς τοίνυν αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ. Ὅρα συμφωνίαν τῆς