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the joy of the world; "The whole earth, he says, is with gladness, and the trees of Lebanon will rejoice over you, and the cedar of Lebanon: since you have fallen asleep, no one has come up to cut us down." He says these things figuratively; and he calls the cedars of Lebanon either Israel, being distinguished and glorious, or those brilliant in rank and entrusted with ruling. And after a little, mocking his pride, and teaching the destruction of his arrogance: "How has the Morning Star, who rises in the morning, fallen from heaven? he who sends to all the nations has been shattered to the earth. But you said in your mind: 'I will ascend to heaven, and I will place my throne above the stars; I will sit on a high mountain, on the high mountains to the north, I will ascend above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High.'" Then he shows the fleeting nature of human prosperity: "But you," he says, "who dared to think these things, will go down to Hades, and to the foundations of the earth. Those who see you will marvel at you, and will say: 'This is the man who provokes the earth, who shakes kings, who made the whole earth a wilderness, and tore down its cities. He did not pity those in captivity; all the kings of the nations have fallen asleep in honor, each man in his own house; but you will be cast out on the mountains, like a loathsome corpse, with many dead, pierced with the sword, going down to Hades.'" And so that I might not, by bringing forward all the prophecies about him, grow weary by the length, having directed both those now hearing and those who will later encounter these things to those sources—those wishing to know his pride and cruelty—I will return the discourse to the subject at hand. Therefore, the God of all, wishing to guide this man to piety, often offered many saving remedies, and first, in the second year of his reign, He showed him that image in a dream, then by the forgetting of the dream He made him have need of the prophet; then through the interpretation He taught accurately the successions of the kings, showing the 81.1353 short and fleeting nature of human prosperity. And immediately he received benefit, and offered immense reverence to Daniel; for he commanded that incense and libations be offered to him as to a God. But again, not much time having passed, he set up that image, and forced all his subjects to worship it, and he handed over those who had preferred piety to the insatiably fed furnace. But again the good Master, exercising long-suffering, did not exact punishment from him for his arrogance and brutality, but He shows him His divine power, by freeing His loyal servants from that flame. And again receiving little benefit from this, he hymns the God of all, and threatens the ultimate punishment to those who utter anything blasphemous against Him; but immediately and at once, and in that very year, again consigning this greatest wonderworking to oblivion, he marches against Jerusalem, and tears down the walls of the city, and sets fire to the holy temple of God, and dares to enter its inner sanctuary, and having plundered all the votive offerings, he carried them off to Babylon with the captives. That he campaigned at this time, the blessed Jeremiah also teaches us, saying thus: "The word that came from the Lord to Jeremiah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, this was the eighteenth year for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and the force of the king of Babylon was laying siege to Jerusalem." And the blessed Daniel, writing the narrative of the image, has set this time: "In the eighteenth year Nebuchadnezzar the king made a golden image;" so that it is clear that at the beginning of the year he demanded the worship of the image; then having sent the army forth he himself also followed, and he conquered Jerusalem in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, but in the nineteenth of his own reign. Since therefore in no way from anywhere the

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τῆς οἰκουμένης εὐφροσύνην· "Πᾶσα ἡ γῆ, φησὶ, μετ' εὐφροσύ νης, καὶ τὰ ξύλα τοῦ Λιβάνου εὐφρανθήσονται ἐπὶ σοὶ, καὶ ἡ κέδρος τοῦ Λιβάνου· ἀφ' οὗ κεκοί μησαι, οὐκ ἀνέβη ὁ κόπτων ἡμᾶς." Τροπικῶς δὲ ταῦτα λέγει· καὶ κέδρους τοῦ Λιβάνου προσαγο ρεύει, ἢ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐπίσημον ὄντα, καὶ ἔνδοξον, ἢ τοὺς λαμπροὺς ἐν ἀξιώμασι, καὶ βασιλεύειν πεπι στευμένους. Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα, κωμῳδῶν αὐτοῦ τὸν τῦφον, καὶ τὴν τῆς ἀλαζονείας διδάσκων κατάλυσιν· "Πῶς ἐξέπεσε, φησὶν, ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὁ Ἑωσφόρος, ὁ πρωῒ ἀνατέλλων; συνετρίβη ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὁ ἀπο στέλλων πρὸς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη; Σὺ δὲ εἶπας ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ σου· Εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβήσομαι, καὶ ἐπάνω τῶν ἀστέρων θήσω τὸν θρόνον μου· καθιῶ ἐν ὄρει ὑψηλῷ, ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη τὰ ὑψηλὰ πρὸς βοῤῥᾶν, ἀνα βήσομαι ἐπάνω τῶν νεφελῶν, καὶ ἔσομαι ὅμοιος τῷ Ὑψίστῳ." Εἶτα δείκνυσι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης εὐη μερίας τὸ ἐπίκηρον· "Σὺ δὲ, φησὶν, ὁ ταῦτα λογί σασθαι τετολμηκὼς, εἰς ᾅδην καταβήσῃ, καὶ εἰς τὰ θεμέλια τῆς γῆς. Οἱ ἰδόντες σε θαυμάσουσιν ἐπὶ σὲ, καὶ ἐροῦσιν· Οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὁ παροξύ νων τὴν γῆν, ὁ σείων βασιλεῖς, ὁ θεὶς τὴν γῆν ὅλην ἔρημον, καὶ τὰς πόλεις αὐτῆς καθεῖλε· τοὺς ἐν ἐπαγωγῇ οὐκ ἠλέησε· πάντες οἱ βασιλεῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκοιμήθησαν ἐν τιμῇ, ἄνθρωπος ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὑτοῦ· σὺ δὲ ῥιφήσῃ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν, ὡς νε κρὸς, ἐβδελυγμένος, μετὰ πολλῶν τεθνηκότων ἐκκε κεντημένων μαχαίρᾳ, καταβαινόντων εἰς ᾅδην." Καὶ ἵνα μὴ πάσας τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητείας παραγα γὼν ἀποκνήσω τῷ μήκει, τούς τε νῦν ἀκούοντας, καὶ τοὺς εἰς ὕστερον τούτοις ἐντευξομένους εἰς ἐκεῖνα παραπέμψας, τοὺς γνῶναι τὸν τῦφον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ὠμότητα βουλομένους, ἐπὶ τὸ προκείμενον ἐπανάξω τὸν λόγον. Τοῦτον τοίνυν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς εἰς εὐσέβειαν ποδηγῆσαι θελήσας, πολλὰ πολλάκις σωτήρια προσενήνοχε φάρμακα, καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τῆς βασιλείας ἔτει, ὄναρ αὐτῷ τὴν εἰκόνα ἐκείνην ὑπέδειξεν, εἶτα τῇ λήθῃ τοῦ ἐνυπνίου εἰς χρείαν τοῦ προφήτου κατέστησεν· ἔπειτα διὰ τῆς ἑρμηνείας τὰς τῶν βασιλέων διαδοχὰς ἐδίδαξεν ἀκριβῶς, τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης εὐημερίας ὑποδεικνὺς τὸ 81.1353 βραχὺ καὶ ἐπίκηρον. Καὶ παραυτίκα μὲν ὠφέλειαν ἐδέξατο, καὶ τὸ ἄμετρον σέβας τῷ ∆ανιὴλ προσενή νοχεν· ὡς Θεῷ γὰρ λιβανωτὸν αὐτῷ καὶ σπονδὰς προσενεχθῆναι προσέταξεν. Ἀλλὰ πάλιν, οὐ πολλοῦ διελθόντος χρόνου, τὴν εἰκόνα ἐκείνην ἀνέστησε, καὶ ἅπαντας τοὺς ὑπηκόους προσκυνεῖν αὐτὴν κατ ηνάγκασε, καὶ τοὺς τὴν εὐσέβειαν προτετιμηκότας, τῇ ἀπλήστως τραφείσῃ πυρᾷ παραδέδωκεν. Ἀλλὰ πάλιν ὁ ἀγαθὸς ∆εσπότης, μακροθυμίᾳ χρησάμενος, δίκας μὲν αὐτὸν τῆς τε ἀλαζονείας καὶ τῆς θηριωδίας οὐκ εἰσεπράξατο, τὴν δὲ θείαν αὐτῷ δύναμιν ὑποδείκνυσι, τοὺς εὔνους θεράποντας τῆς φλογὸς ἐκείνης ἐλευθερώσας. Πάλιν δὲ ὀλίγην ἐκεῖθεν ὠφέ λειαν δεξάμενος, ὑμνεῖ μὲν τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν, ἀπειλεῖ τε τὴν ἐσχάτην τιμωρίαν τοῖς βλάσφημόν τι κατ' αὐτοῦ φθεγγομένοις· ἀλλ' εὐθὺς καὶ παραυ τίκα, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ, λήθῃ πάλιν τὴν μεγίστην ταύτην παραδοὺς θαυματουργίαν, ἐπιστρα τεύει τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις, καὶ καθαιρεῖ μὲν τὰ τῆς πόλεως τείχη, πυρπολεῖ τε τὸν ἅγιον τοῦ Θεοῦ νεὼν, κατατολμᾷ δὲ τῶν τούτου ἀδύτων, καὶ πάντα συλή σας τὰ ἀναθήματα εἰς τὴν Βαβυλῶνα σὺν τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις ἀπήνεγκεν. Ὅτι δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον ἐπ εστράτευσε τὸν καιρὸν, καὶ ὁ μακάριος ἡμᾶς διδά σκει Ἱερεμίας οὑτωσὶ λέγων· "Ὁ λόγος ὁ γενόμενος παρὰ Κυρίου πρὸς Ἱερεμίαν ἐν τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ τῷ δεκάτῳ Σεδεκίου βασιλέως Ἰούδα, οὗτος ἐνιαυτὸς ὀκτωκαιδέκατος τῷ Ναβουχοδονόσορ τῷ βασιλεῖ Βαβυλῶνος, καὶ δύναμις βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος ἐχα ράκωσεν ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ." Καὶ τῆς εἰκόνος δὲ τὸ διήγημα συγγράφων ὁ μακάριος ∆ανιὴλ τοῦτον τέθεικε τὸν χρόνον· "Ἔτους ὀκτωκαιδεκάτου Να βουχοδονόσορ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐποίησεν εἰκόνα χρυσῆν·" ὡς εἶναι δῆλον, ὅτι ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ ἔτους ἀπῄτησε τὴν τῆς εἰκόνος προσκύνησιν· εἶτα τὴν στρατιὰν προ πέμψας ἠκολούθησε καὶ αὐτὸς, περιεγένετό τε τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἑνδεκάτῳ μὲν ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας Σεδε κίου, ἐννεακαιδεκάτῳ δὲ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείας. Ἐπει δὴ τοίνυν οὐδεμίαν οὐδαμόθεν ὁ