John Chrysostom, Interpretation of Daniel the Prophet

he will give it. And that he said: Leave the stump of the roots of the tree; your kingdom will remain yours, from when you know the heavenly authority. What then does it say? How will there be a release from the terrible thing? Therefore, O king, let my counsel be pleasing to you, and redeem your sins by almsgiving, and your iniquities by compassion for the poor. Perhaps there will be long-suffering for your transgressions. What do you say, 'Perhaps there will be'? And do you place the power of the remedy under some doubt? I did not say, 'Perhaps,' for this reason, not because I was doubting, far from it, but wishing to intensify his fear, as one who had sinned beyond all healing and all pardon. For if even after this was said he persisted in his madness, how much more if it had not been spoken with doubt. For elsewhere too he intends this, saying through the prophet: 'Though you wash yourself with lye, you are stained before me, says the Lord.' And again: 'Can an Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard its spots?' Therefore, just as there he shuts out repentance, not in order to shut it out, but rather to frighten; so also here, wishing to show the greatness of the sins committed, he said, 'Perhaps.' For what reason did he not say: 'Be humble, acknowledge God'? For if he suffers these things for this reason, as he himself says, for what reason do you advise other things? He said, 'that they may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men.' What then? So that others may be brought to their senses, am I punished? No, but in the dream, as not wishing to show what was clear, he said, 56.218 'so that the living may know'; but Daniel says, 'until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he pleases.' Do you see how here he discoursed on humility? But in the dream, he says, this is the remedy; but I say another as well. Just as when a ruler is angry, he himself would say nothing, but one of his household, approaching the one responsible, would say: 'Do this, and that; give money,' and often, 'we are able to snatch you from the impending evils.' While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven: 'To you it is said, King Nebuchadnezzar: your kingdom has passed from you, and they will drive you from men, and your dwelling will be with the wild beasts, and they will feed you grass like an ox; and seven times will pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he pleases.' In that very hour the word was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew like that of lions, and his nails like those of a bird. See the decision brought from above upon Nebuchadnezzar himself. And in the end the matter came to pass. You have ignored, he says, human nobility, you have fallen to the dishonor of beasts. Nothing could become more dishonorable than this, not if he had made him a poor man, nor a master, nor anything else of that sort. In no way would he have cast him out from the nobility according to nature, not by changing his body to the nature of a beast, but by changing that which distinguishes him from the irrational to a bestial state. How then? So that the rest might learn from his food, from his appearance. And what are we taught from these things? That we are disposed no better than these, even if the same things do not happen to us, when we slip into pride or the bestial passion. How many now have the mind of a beast like that Nebuchadnezzar? Listen then to John saying: 'Vipers, brood of vipers'; and again to another prophet saying: 'They have become lust-mad horses; each neighed after his neighbor's wife'; and another again: 'Dumb dogs, unable to bark'; and elsewhere again calling them foxes, and another, serpents and basilisks. It is much worse to become bestial in this life than to suffer the things of Nebuchad 56.219 nezzar. For he suffered nothing terrible in his soul; but we, thus collecting countless sins, how much worse are we already, as has been said. But those from without changed men

δώσει αὐτήν. Καὶ ὅτι εἶπεν· Ἐάσατε τὴν φυὴν τῶν ῥιζῶν τοῦ δένδρου· ἡ βασιλεία σου σοὶ μενεῖ, ἀφ' ἧς ἂν γνῷς τὴν ἐξουσίαν τὴν οὐράνιον. Τί οὖν φησι; πῶς ἔσται ἡ λύσις τοῦ δεινοῦ; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο, βασιλεῦ, ἡ βουλή μου ἀρεσάτω σοι, καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου ἐν ἐλεημοσύναις λύτρωσαι, καὶ τὰς ἀδικίας σου ἐν οἰκτιρμοῖς πενήτων. Ἴσως ἔσται μακροθυμία τοῖς παραπτώμασί σου. Τί λέγεις, Ἴσως ἔσται; καὶ τοῦ φαρμάκου τὴν ἰσχὺν ὑπό τινα ἀμφιβολίαν καθιστᾷς; Οὐ διὰ τοῦτο εἶπον, Ἴσως, οὐκ ἀμφιβάλ λων, μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλ' ἐκείνῳ τὸν φόβον ἐπιτεῖναι βουλόμενος, ὡς πάσης θεραπείας καὶ πάσης συγγνώ μης ἀνώτερα αὐτοῦ ἡμαρτηκότος. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μετὰ τὸ οὕτω λεχθῆναι ἐπέμεινε τῇ μανίᾳ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον εἰ μὴ μετὰ ἀμφιβολίας ἐῤῥέθη. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ τοῦτο βούλεται, διὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγων· Ἐὰν ἀπο πλύνῃς ἐν νίτρῳ, κεκηλίδωσαι ἐναντίον μου, λέγει Κύριος. Καὶ πάλιν· Εἰ ἀλλάξει Αἰθίοψ τὸ δέρμα, καὶ πάρδαλις τὰ ποικίλματα αὐτῆς. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐκεῖ ἀποκλείει τὴν μετάνοιαν, οὐχ ἵνα ἀποκλείσῃ, ἀλλ' ἵνα μᾶλλον φοβήσῃ· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα βουλόμε νος δεῖξαι τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἡμαρτημένων, εἶπεν, Ἴσως. Τίνος δὲ ἕνεκεν οὐκ εἶπε· Ταπεινοφρόνησον, ἐπίγνωθι τὸν Θεόν; Εἰ γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο ταῦτα πάσχει, καθὼς καὶ αὐτός φησι, τίνος ἕνεκεν ἕτερα παραινεῖς; Εἶπεν, Ἵνα γνῶσιν ὅτι κυριεύει ὁ Ὕψιστος τῆςβασιλείας τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Τί οὖν; ἵνα ἕτεροι σω φρονισθῶσιν, ἐγὼ κολάζομαι; Οὐχὶ, ἀλλ' ἐν μὲν τῷ ὀνείρῳ, ἅτε μὴ βουλόμενος ἐμφῆναι τὸ σαφὲς, εἶπεν, 56.218 Ἵνα γνῶσιν οἱ ζῶντες· ὁ δὲ ∆ανιήλ φησι, Ἕως οὗ σὺ γνῷς, ὅτι κυριεύει ὁ Ὕψιστος τῆς βασιλείας τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ᾧ ἐὰν δόξῃ δώσει αὐτήν. Εἶδες πῶς ἐνταῦθα περὶ ταπεινοφροσύνης διελέχθη; Ἀλλ' ἐν μὲν τῷ ὀνείρῳ, φησὶ, τοῦτο τὸ φάρμακον· ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ ἕτερον λέγω. Καθάπερ ἐπὶ ἄρχοντος ὀργιζομένου, αὐτὸς μὲν οὐδὲν ἂν εἴποι, τῶν δὲ οἰκείων τις τῶν ἐκείνου προσελθὼν τῷ ὑπευθύνῳ λέγοι· Τὸ ποίησον, καὶ τό· δὸς χρήματα, καὶ πολλά κις, δυνάμεθα ἐξαρπάσαι σε τῶν ἐπικειμένων κακῶν. Ἔτι τοῦ λόγου ἐν στόματι βασιλέως ὄντος, φωνὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐγένετο· Σοὶ λέγεται, Ναβουχο δονόσορ βασιλεῦ· ἡ βασιλεία σου παρῆλθεν ἀπὸ σοῦ, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκδιώξουσί σε, καὶ μετὰ θηρίων ἀγρίων ἡ κατοικία σου, καὶ χόρ τον ὡς βοῦν ψωμιοῦσί σε· καὶ ἑπτὰ καιροὶ ἀλλα γήσονται ἐπὶ σοὶ, ἕως οὗ γνῷς ὅτι κυριεύει ὁ Ὕψιστος τῆς βασιλείας τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ᾧ ἂν δόξῃ δώσει αὐτήν. Αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ συνετελέσθη ὁ λόγος ἐπὶ Ναβουχοδονόσορ, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώ πων ἐξεδιώχθη, καὶ χόρτον ὡς βοῦς ἤσθιεν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς δρόσου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ ἐβάφη, ἕως οὗ αἱ τρίχες αὐτοῦ ὡς λεόντων ἐμε γαλύνθησαν, καὶ οἱ ὄνυχες αὐτοῦ ὡς ὀρνέου. Ὅρα τὴν ἀπόφασιν ἄνωθεν φερομένην πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν Ναβουχοδονόσορ. Καὶ εἰς τέλος ἐξέβη τὰ πράγμα τα. Ἠγνόησας, φησὶ, τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην εὐγένειαν, κατέπεσας πρὸς θηρίων ἀτιμίαν. Οὐδὲν ἀτιμότερον γένοιτ' ἂν τούτου, οὔτε εἰ πένητα, οὔτε εἰ δεσπότην, οὔτε εἰ ἄλλο τι τοιοῦτον εἰργάσατο αὐτόν. Οὐδαμῶς ἂν αὐτὸν τῆς κατὰ τὴν φύσιν εὐγενείας ἐξέβαλεν, οὐ τὸ σῶμα πρὸς θηρίου φύσιν μεταβαλὼν, ἀλλ' ὃ τῶν ἀλόγων διέστηκε, τοῦτο πρὸς θηριωδίαν μεταστήσας. Πῶς οὖν; Ἵνα καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ μάθωσιν ἀπὸ τῆς τροφῆς, ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως. Τί δὲ παιδευόμεθα ἐκ τούτων; Ὅτι τούτων οὐδὲν ἄμεινον διακείμεθα, κἂν μὴ τὰ αὐτὰ γένηται ἐφ' ἡμῶν, ὅταν εἰς ὑπερηφανίαν ἢ τὸ θηριῶδες ἐξολισθήσωμεν πάθος. Πόσοι νῦν κατὰ τὸν Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐκεῖνον θηρίου διάνοιαν ἔχουσι; Ἄκουσον γοῦν τοῦ Ἰωάννου λέγοντος· Ὄφεις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν· καὶ πάλιν ἑτέρου προφήτου λέγοντος· Ἵπποι θηλυμανεῖς ἐγένοντο· ἕκαστος ἐπὶ τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον ἐχρεμέτιζον· καὶ ἑτέρου πάλιν· Κύνες ἐνεοὶ οὐ δυνάμενοι ὑλακτεῖν· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ πάλιν ἀλώπεκας καλοῦντος, καὶ ἄλλου δράκοντας καὶ βασιλίσκους. Πολλῷ δὲ χεῖρον ἐν ταύτῃ ὄντας τῇ ζωῇ ἐκθηριοῦσθαι, ἢ τὰ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονό 56.219 σορ παθεῖν. Ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἔπασχε δεινὸν εἰς ψυχήν· ἡμεῖς δὲ οὕτω μυρία ἁμαρτήματα συλλέ γοντες, πόσῳ χείρους ἐσμὲν ἤδη, καθὰ λέλεκται. Μετέβαλον δὲ οἱ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἀνθρώπους