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but they attacked him when he fell into calamity, having loathed him for his cruelty. "And he ate grass like an ox, he says." For it is characteristic of those who are out of their minds, not only to speak and do irrational and disorderly things, but also to eat whatever comes their way; and one might see even now those who are troubled by demons doing and suffering this. Not only did he eat grass like an ox, but also "And his body was bathed with the dew of heaven." For suffering in the open air, and wrestling with frost and heat with his naked body, he necessarily took on a different color. "Until his hairs were grown, like lions', and his nails, like birds'." For not being shorn as was customary, nor trimming the excess from his nails, he necessarily had such hair and nails in so long a time. And through all these things, it signified that he was uncared for and unkempt. For having been bereft of divine providence, he did not enjoy the care of his own household, and this, though he had a wife, and children, and relatives; but like a wild beast he continued to roam the uninhabited places, sending the food of irrational animals to his belly; for since, "Being a man 81.1372 and being in the greatest honor, he did not understand, but was compared to the senseless beasts, and was made like them," and had used a beastly disposition against his subjects, it was fitting and very just that he was condemned to a beastly and brutish life. But the philanthropic Lord, having loosed the punishment, as he is good, and having taught him by experience that he himself is Lord of all things, brought him back again, and entrusted to him his former kingdom. 31. "For at the end, he says, of the days, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes to heaven." He has not added the 'I' simply, but to teach all men that 'He who used that arrogance, who said: "Who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?"' he who dreamed of ascending to heaven, and placing my throne above the stars, I was taught by experience what was necessary, I learned through punishment to be sober-minded, I recognized my own servitude. Therefore I also lifted my eyes to heaven, and as soon as I did this, "My senses returned." Instead of, 'I became free of my madness, and my reason was strengthened;' immediately I received back a sound mind. "And I blessed the Most High, and I praised him who lives for ever, because his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is to generation and generation." For having known by experience, what man is, and what God is, he addresses him as Most High and living, and calls him eternal king, but recognizes his own lowliness. Wherefore he says: 32. "And all who dwell on the earth were reckoned as nothing." For until the present I thought myself to be the greatest and highest, but now I have clearly understood that all human nature when compared to God is nothing. And having sought a name for lowliness, and not finding one worthy, he has put 'nothing,' which has sufficient emphasis of the fallibility and easy dissolution of nature. And he called God both Most High, and Lord, and living and eternal king, but he addressed all men as nothing. Thus also the blessed Isaiah, comparing the divine nature to idols, brought forward the race of men. "For if all the nations, he says, are as a drop from a bucket, and were reckoned as the turn of a balance, and shall be reckoned as spittle; Lebanon is not sufficient for burning, and all the four-footed beasts are not sufficient for a whole burnt offering, and all the nations are as nothing, and were reckoned to him as nothing; to whom will you liken the Lord? And with what likeness will you compare him?" Nebuchadnezzar received such great benefit from his calamities, that he both thinks and speaks prophetically concerning God; and as if from some harmony 81.1373 of creation he weaves all his hymnody. "All, he says, who dwell on the earth were reckoned as nothing, and he does according to his will in the host of heaven, and in the

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συμφορᾷ δὲ περιπεσόντι ἐπέθεντο, τῆς ὠμότητος αὐτὸν βδελυξά μενοι. "Καὶ χόρτον ὡς βοῦς, φησὶν, ἤσθιεν." Ἴδιον γὰρ τῶν παραπαιόντων, οὐ μόνον τὸ λέγειν καὶ πράττειν ἀλόγιστά τε καὶ ἄτακτα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐσθίειν ἅπαντα τὰ προσπίπτοντα· τοῦτο δ' ἄν τις ἴδοι καὶ νῦν τοὺς ὑπὸ δαιμόνων ἐνοχλουμένους ποιοῦντας καὶ πάσχοντας. Οὐ μόνον δὲ ὡς βοῦς ἤσθιε τὸν χόρτον, ἀλλὰ "Καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς δρόσου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ ἐβάφη." Ὑπαίθριος γὰρ ταλαιπωρῶν, καὶ γυμνῷ τῷ σώματι κρυμῷ τε προσπαλαίων καὶ φλογμῷ, ἀναγκαίως ἑτέραν ἐδέξατο χρόαν. "Ἕως οὗ αἱ τρίχες αὐτοῦ, ὡς λεόντων, ἐμεγαλύνθησαν, καὶ οἱ ὄνυχες αὐτοῦ, ὡς ὀρνέων." Μὴ ἀποκειρόμενος γὰρ συνήθως, μηδὲ ἀφαιρούμενος τῶν ὀνύχων τὰ περιττὰ, ἀναγκαίως ἐν τοσούτῳ χρόνῳ τοιαύτας ἔσχηκε καὶ τρίχας καὶ ὄνυχας. ∆ιὰ δὲ τούτων ἁπάντων ἐσήμαινε τὸ ἀτημέλητον αὐτὸν καὶ ἀκη δεμόνευτον εἶναι. Τῆς γὰρ θείας ἔρημος γενόμενος προμηθείας, οὐδὲ τῆς παρὰ τῶν οἰκείων ἐπιμελείας ἀπήλαυσεν, καὶ ταῦτα γυναικὸς οὔσης, καὶ παίδων, καὶ συγγενῶν· ἀλλὰ θηρίου δίκην τοὺς ἀοικήτους χώρους διετέλει περινοστῶν, τὴν τῶν ἀλόγων τροφὴν τῇ γαστρὶ παραπέμπων· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ, "Ἄνθρωπος ὢν 81.1372 καὶ ἐν τιμῇ ὢν μεγίστῃ, οὐ συνῆκεν, ἀλλὰ παρασυν εβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὡμοιώθη αὐ τοῖς," καὶ θηριώδει γνώμῃ κατὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων ἐκέχρητο, εἰκότως καὶ μάλα δικαίως τὸν κτηνώδη καὶ θηριώδη βίον κατεδικάσθη. Ἀλλ' ὁ φιλάνθρωπος ∆εσπότης, λύσας τὴν τιμωρίαν, ὡς ἀγαθὸς, καὶ τῇ πείρᾳ διδάξας, ὡς αὐτός ἐστι τῶν ἁπάντων Κύριος, πάλιν αὐτὸν ἐπανήγαγε, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτῷ τὴν προτέραν ἐπίστευσε. λαʹ. "Μετὰ γὰρ τέλος, φησὶ, τῶν ἡμερῶν, ἐγὼ Ναβουχοδονόσορ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου εἰς τὸν οὐρα νὸν ἀνέλαβον." Οὐχ ἁπλῶς δὲ προστέθεικε τὸ ἐγὼ, ἀλλὰ διδάσκων ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους, ὡς Ὁ τῇ ἀλαζο νείᾳ ἐκείνῃ χρησάμενος, ὁ εἰρηκώς· "Τίς ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, ὃς ἐξελεῖται ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν μου;" ὁ ὀνειροπολήσας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβῆναι, καὶ ἐπάνω τῶν ἀστέρων θεῖναι τὸν θρόνον μου, ἐδιδάχθην τῇ πείρᾳ τὸ δέον, ἔμαθον διὰ τῆς τιμωρίας σωφρονεῖν, τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ δουλείαν ἐπέγνων. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἀνέλαβον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ ἅμα τε τοῦτο ἐποίησα, "Καὶ αἱ φρένες μου ἐπεστράφη σαν." Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Τῆς παραφροσύνης ἐλεύθερος ἐγενόμην, καὶ τὸν λογισμὸν ἐῤῥώσθην· παραυτίκα δὲ ὑγιῆ τὸν νοῦν ἀπέλαβον. "Καὶ τῷ Ὑψίστῳ εὐλόγησα, καὶ τὸν ζῶντα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ᾔνεσα, ὅτι ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ ἐξουσία αἰώνιος, καὶ ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν." Γνοὺς γὰρ τῇ πείρᾳ, τί μὲν ἄνθρωπος, τί δὲ Θεὸς, τὸν μὲν Ὕψιστον καὶ ζῶντα προσαγορεύει, καὶ βασιλέα αἰώνιον ἀποκαλεῖ, τὴν δὲ οἰκείαν εὐτέλειαν ἐπιγινώσκει. ∆ιό φησι· λβʹ. "Καὶ πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν εἰς οὐδὲν ἐλογίσθησαν." Μέχρι μὲν γὰρ τοῦ παρόντος ᾤμην εἶναι ἐμαυτὸν μέγιστόν τε καὶ ὑψηλότατον, νῦν δὲ ἔγνων σαφῶς, ὡς πᾶσα τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ φύσις Θεῷ παραβαλλομένη οὐδέν ἐστι. Καὶ ζητήσας εὐτελείας προσηγορίαν, καὶ μὴ εὑρὼν ἀξίαν, τὸ οὐδὲν τέθεικεν, ἔμφασιν ἔχον ἱκανὴν τοῦ σφαλεροῦ καὶ εὐδιαλύτου τῆς φύσεως. Καὶ τὸν μὲν Θεὸν καὶ Ὕψιστον, καὶ ∆εσπότην, καὶ ζῶντα καὶ βασιλέα αἰώνιον ἀπεκάλεσεν, ἅπαντας δὲ ἀνθρώπους οὐδὲν προσ ηγόρευσεν. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ἡσαΐας τοῖς εἰδώλοις τὴν θείαν παραβάλλων φύσιν, τὸ τῶν ἀν θρώπων εἰς μέσον παρήγαγε γένος. "Εἰ γὰρ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, φησὶν, ὡς σταγὼν ἀπὸ κάδου, καὶ ὡς ῥοπὴ ζυγοῦ ἐλογίσθησαν, καὶ ὡς σίελος λογισθήσονται· ὁ δὲ Λίβανος οὐχ ἱκανὸς εἰς καῦσιν, καὶ πάντα τὰ τε τράποδα οὐχ ἱκανὰ εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη εἰς οὐδέν εἰσι, καὶ εἰς οὐδὲν ἐλογίσθησαν αὐτῷ· τίνι ὁμοιώσετε Κύριον; καὶ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὁμοιώ σετε αὐτόν;" Τοσαύτην ὠφέλειαν ὁ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐκ τῶν συμφορῶν ἐδέξατο, ὅτι προφητικῶς περὶ Θεοῦ καὶ φρονεῖ καὶ φθέγγεται· καὶ ὡς ἐκ συμφωνίας 81.1373 τινὸς ἀπὸ τῆς κτίσεως πᾶσαν τὴν ὑμνῳδίαν ὑφαίνει. "Πάντες, φησὶν, οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν ὡς οὐδὲν ἐλογίσθησαν, καὶ κατὰ τὸ θέλημα αὑτοῦ ποιεῖ ἐν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἐν τῇ