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it was thought, but later the tyranny exercised through the summons was detected. For when all had gathered, "The herald," it says, "cried with might (that is, using the greatest voice): To you it is spoken, O nations, peoples, tribes, and tongues; (5, 6) At whatever hour you hear the sound of the trumpet, pipe and harp, sambuca and psaltery, and symphony, and every kind of music, falling down, you are to worship the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship, at that very hour will be cast into the furnace of burning fire." Thus the wretched one seized, as he thought, the divine honor, and it was not enough for him to be worshiped by his subjects, but he even legislated that this worship be offered to the image, and on the one hand he astounds all by the material, and the art, and the size of the image; and on the other hand he charms and bewitches with the sound of all kinds of musical instruments; but those who were neither astounded by the size of the image, nor bewitched by the song and pleasure of the instruments, he frightens with the threat of the furnace. And in the case of all the others he did not miss his aim; for he saw everyone doing what was commanded, and accustomed to serve through fear and pleasure; but only those thrice-blessed youths, who kept their ancestral nobility incorrupt even in servitude, Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael, refused the worship, but they did not escape the notice of the Chaldeans who lived in impiety, who wished to have all as partners in their impiety. Immediately, therefore, they approached the king, and reminded him of the law that had been established, which expressly commanded all subjects to worship the image, and which threatened the furnace to those who refused to do so; and they accused those holy men, saying that 12. "There are certain Jewish men, whom you have set over the works of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; those men have not obeyed your decree, O king." And through these words they revealed their own envy, and they kindled the anger of the king, hinting through these words, and all but saying: See whom you have honored above us, to which of the Babylonians you have entrusted leadership; they were not willing to take into consideration the magnitude of the honor, and to be grateful toward the one who honored them, but they made the magnitude of the honor an occasion for dishonor, openly contradicting your laws, and not enduring to fulfill your decrees. It is not only from this that one may see what is tyrannical and ungrateful; but it is also possible to learn from another point, that they do nothing befitting subjects; for whom you consider gods, they do not consider, and the fitting 81.1320 worship they do not offer to the gods worshiped by you; and the worship of the image, which all the subjects have offered, they have openly refused. When that mad king heard these things, and forgetting what had been said by him to Daniel, "Truly your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings," he brought the men into the midst; and he asks if they truly are unwilling to share with him in the worship of the gods, and if they flee the worship of the image. Then he exhorts and counsels them to do this, frightening them with the threat of the fire. "For if you do not worship, at that very hour you will be cast into the furnace of burning fire." Then he dares that unspeakable and beastly blasphemy: "And what god is there who will deliver you out of my hands?" Thus he quickly blasphemed the one whom he had confessed; and the one whom he had called God of gods, he also supposed to be weaker than a man; the one whom he addressed as Lord of kings, the wretched one boasted he could conquer. Such acts of daring were ancestral to him; for that Sennacherib, having used a very great army against Jerusalem, writing to Hezekiah, uttered such things: "Let not your God deceive you, in whom you trust, that he will deliver Jerusalem from my hands. Have the gods of the nations delivered, each his own land from the hand

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ἐνομίζετο, ὕστερον δὲ τὸ διὰ τῆς κλήσεως τυραν νευόμενον ἐφωράθη. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ συνῆλθον ἅπαν τες, "Ὁ κήρυξ, φησὶν, ἐβόα ἐν ἰσχύϊ (τουτέστι, με γίστῃ χρώμενος τῇ φωνῇ)· Ὑμῖν λέγεται, ἔθνη, λαοὶ, φυλαὶ, γλῶσσαι· (εʹ, ϛʹ.) Ἧ ἂν ὥρᾳ ἀκούσητε τῆς φωνῆς τῆς σάλπιγγος, σύριγγός τε καὶ κιθάρας, σαμβύκης τε καὶ ψαλτηρίου, καὶ συμφωνίας, καὶ παντὸς γένους μουσικῶν, πίπτοντες προσκυνεῖτε τῇ εἰκόνι τῇ χρυσῇ ᾗ ἔστησε Ναβουχοδονόσορ ὁ βασιλεύς. Καὶ ὃς ἂν μὴ πεσὼν προσκυνήσῃ, αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐμβληθήσεται εἰς τὴν κάμινον τοῦ πυρὸς τὴν καιομένην." Οὕτως ἥρπασεν ὁ δείλαιος, ὡς ἐνόμισε, τὴν θείαν τιμὴν, καὶ οὐκ ἀπέχρησεν αὐτῷ τὸ προσκυνεῖσθαι παρὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ εἰκόνι προσφέρεσθαι τὴν προσκύνησιν ταύτην ἐνο μοθέτησε, καὶ καταπλήττει μὲν ἅπαντας τῇ τε ὕλῃ, καὶ τῇ τέχνῃ, καὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς εἰκόνος· κατακη λεῖ δὲ καὶ καταθέλγει τῇ παντοδαπῇ τῶν μουσικῶν ὀργάνων ἠχῇ· τοὺς δὲ μηδὲ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς εἰκόνος ἐκπληττομένους, μηδὲ ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν ὀργάνων ᾠδῆς τε καὶ ἡδονῆς καταθελγομένους, τῇ ἀπειλῇ τοῦ καμί νου δεδίττεται. Καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων οὐ διήμαρτε τοῦ σκοποῦ· ἑώρα γὰρ ἅπαντας τὸ κε λευόμενον ποιοῦντας, καὶ φόβῳ καὶ ἡδονῇ δουλεύειν εἰθισμένους· μόνοι δὲ οἱ τρισμακάριοι παῖδες ἐκεῖνοι τὴν πατρῴαν εὐγένειαν ἀκήρατον καὶ ἐν δουλείᾳ φυλά ξαντες, Ἀνανίας, καὶ Ἀζαρίας, καὶ Μισαὴλ, ἠρνήθησαν μὲν τὴν προσκύνησιν, οὐκ ἔλαθον δὲ τοὺς δυσσεβείᾳ συζῶντας Χαλδαίους, οἳ κοινωνοὺς ἅπαν τας ἔχειν τῆς ἀσεβείας ἠβούλοντο. Αὐτίκα τοίνυν προσίασι μὲν τῷ βασιλεῖ, ἀναμιμνήσκουσι δὲ αὐτὸν τοῦ τεθέντος νόμου διαῤῥήδην διαγορεύοντος ἅπασι τοῖς ὑπηκόοις προσκυνεῖν τὴν εἰκόνα, καὶ τοῖς τοῦτο ποιεῖν παραιτουμένοις ἀπειλοῦντος τὴν κάμινον· εἰσαγγέλλουσι δὲ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἄνδρας ἐκείνους λέ γοντες, ὅτι ιβʹ. "Εἰσὶν ἄνδρες Ἰουδαῖοι, οὓς κατέστησας ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα τῆς χώρας Βαβυλῶνος, Σιδρὰχ, Μισὰχ, καὶ Ἀβδεναγώ· οἱ ἄνδρες ἐκεῖνοι οὐχ ὑπήκουσαν τῷ δόγματί σου, βασιλεῦ." Καὶ τόν τε οἰκεῖον φθό νον διὰ τούτων παραδηλοῦσι, τοῦ τε βασιλέως ἐξ άπτουσι τὴν ὀργὴν, αἰνιττόμενοι διὰ τούτων, καὶ μονονουχὶ λέγοντες· Ὅρα τίνας ἡμῶν προτετίμη κας, τίσι τῶν Βαβυλωνίων ἡγεμονίαν ἐπίστευ σας· οὐδὲ τῆς τιμῆς τὸ μέγεθος εἰς νοῦν λαβεῖν ἠβουλήθησαν, καὶ εὐγνώμονες περὶ τὸν τετιμηκότα γενέσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῆς τιμῆς τὸ μέγεθος ἀτιμίας ἀφορ μὴν ἐποιήσαντο, ἀντικρὺς τοῖς σοῖς ἀντιλέγοντες νόμοις, καὶ τὰ σὰ πληροῦν οὐκ ἀνεχόμενοι δόγματα. Οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν δὲ μόνον ἔστι θεωρῆσαι τὸ τυραννι κόν τε καὶ ἄγνωμον· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέρωθεν καταμα θεῖν δυνατὸν, ὡς οὐδὲν δρῶσιν ὑπηκόοις ἁρμόττον· οὓς γὰρ νομίζεις θεοὺς, οὐ νομίζουσι, καὶ τὴν προσ 81.1320 ήκουσαν λατρείαν τοῖς ὑπὸ σοῦ προσκυνουμένοις θεοῖς οὐ προσφέρουσι· καὶ τῆς εἰκόνος δὲ τὴν προσ κύνησιν, ἣν ἅπαντες οἱ ἀρχόμενοι προσενηνόχασιν, ἠρνήθησαν προφανῶς. Τούτων ἀκούσας ὁ φρενοβλα βὴς ἐκεῖνος βασιλεὺς, καὶ ἐπιλαθόμενος τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν ∆ανιὴλ εἰρημένων, "Ἐπ' ἀληθείας ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῶν οὗτός ἐστι Θεὸς τῶν θεῶν, καὶ Κύριος τῶν βασιλέων," ἄγει τοὺς ἄνδρας εἰς μέσον· πυν θάνεται δὲ, εἰ τῷ ὄντι κοινωνεῖν αὐτῷ τῆς τῶν θεῶν οὐκ ἐθέλουσι θεραπείας, καὶ τῆς εἰκόνος φεύγουσι τὴν προσκύνησιν. Εἶτα παραινεῖ καὶ συμβουλεύει τοῦτο ποιεῖν, τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπειλῇ δεδιττόμενος. "Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ προσκυνήσητε, αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐμβληθήσεσθε εἰς τὴν κάμινον τοῦ πυρὸς τὴν καιο μένην." Ἔπειτα τὴν ἄῤῥητον ἐκείνην καὶ θηριώδη βλασφημίαν τολμᾷ· "Καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, ὃς ἐξ ελεῖται ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν μου;" Οὕτω ταχέως ὃν ὡμολόγησεν ἐβλασφήμησε· καὶ ὃν Θεὸν θεῶν ἀπεκάλεσε, καὶ ἀνθρώπου ἀσθενέστερον ὑπέλαβεν εἶναι· ὃν Κύριον βασιλέων προσηγόρευσε, νικᾷν ὁ δείλαιος ἐνεανιεύσατο. Προγονικὰ δὲ αὐτῷ τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμήματα· καὶ γὰρ ὁ Σενναχηρεὶμ ἐκεῖνος στρατείᾳ μεγίστῃ κατὰ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ χρησάμε νος, ἐπιστέλλων τῷ Ἐζεκίᾳ τοιαῦτα ἐφθέγξατο· "Μή σε ἀπατάτω ὁ Θεός σου, ἐφ' ᾧ σὺ πέποιθας ἐπ' αὐτῷ, ὅτι ῥύσεται Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν μου. Μὴ ἐῤῥύσαντο θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἕκαστος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χώραν ἐκ χειρός