42

to name God instead of things that are not God, and to hymn the grace of the Holy Spirit, and to accuse the wise men of Babylon, as being unable to know the divine writing, and to entreat the prophet of God to make clear the unknown things. And he promises to give him the purple robe, and the necklace, and the third rank of the kingdom. But the blessed Daniel, laughing at the royal promises of the impious one, said to him: "Let your gifts be for yourself, and give the reward of your house to another; but I will read the writing to the king, and I will make known the interpretation to you, O king." Truly, the voice of the prophets is apostolic. For the Lord, sending them forth as preachers to all men, commanded, saying: "Freely you have received, freely give." And this blessed prophet said to the king: "Let your gifts be for yourself, and give the reward of your house to another; but I will read the writing to the king, and I will make known the interpretation to you, O king." For they did not learn to sell divine things, nor to receive a human wage for the divine mysteries; therefore, receive the knowledge of the unknown things freely. 18, 19. "God, he says, the Most High, gave the kingdom and the greatness, and the honor, and the glory to Nebuchadnezzar, your father. And because of the greatness which He gave him, all peoples, and tribes, and tongues were trembling before him, and fearing him." Do not think, he says, that your father, using his own strength, subjected the whole world, and brought the 81.1388 countless races of nations using different tongues under one kingdom. For the Master of all, the Creator of all, the one who wisely governs all things, gave him the kingdom, and through the divine decree the fear of your father lay upon his subjects. "And whom he would, he exalted, and whom he would, he humbled." So great an authority, he says, he received from God, as to be able both to show the exalted to be humble, and to make the very obscure and lowly conspicuous. 20. "And when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened to act proudly, he was brought down from the throne of his kingdom." For just as, he says, "he exalted whom he would, and humbled whom he would," not doing this by a just decree at all; so the King and Master of all gave the kingdom to your father as he wished, but seeing him possessed of immoderate pride, ruling the kingdom boastfully and arrogantly, and having received the disease of pride, He deprived him of his royal thrones, and took away the honor offered to him by all. And not only did He strip him of his kingdom, but He also drove him out from common gatherings, and delivering him over to madness and rage, He made him live with wild asses and beasts. For of those whose wildness he imitated, their life he received. And he reminds him that he even ate grass like oxen, and wandering about naked, and suffering in the open air, he cast off the former color of his body, and received another, which the frost and the heat had produced. And all these things, he says, he endured, "Until he knew that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He pleases." But he learned what was necessary by experience, and was taught by the events themselves that nothing human is stable, but the God of all, having eternal power, governs human affairs as He wills, and to whom He wishes He extends the gift of the kingdom. 22. "But you, he says, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart before God, though you knew all these things?" For you were not made wise by the evils of your father, nor did you wish to learn the might of God from what he suffered. 23. "But you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven." He rightly teaches those present not to worship visible things, but their Creator and Master; and at the same time he refutes the king's

42

Θεὸν ἀντὶ τῶν οὐκ ὄντων ὀνομάζειν Θεὸν, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος τὴν χάριν ὑμνεῖν, καὶ κατηγορεῖν μὲν τῶν σοφῶν Βαβυλῶνος, ὡς τὴν θείαν οὐ δυνηθέντων γνῶναι γραφὴν, πα ρακαλεῖν δὲ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ προφήτην δῆλα ποιῆσαι τὰ ἀγνοούμενα. Ὑπισχνεῖται δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν πορ φυρίδα δώσειν, καὶ τὸν μανιάκην, καὶ τρίτην τάξιν τῆς βασιλείας. Ἀλλ' ὁ μακάριος ∆ανιὴλ, γελά σας τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς τὰς βασιλικὰς ὑποσχέσεις, εἶπεν αὐτῷ· "Τὰ δόματά σου σοὶ ἔστω, καὶ τὴν δωρεὰν τῆς οἰκίας σου ἑτέρῳ δός· ἐγὼ δὲ γραφὴν ἀνα γνώσομαι τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ τὴν σύγκρισιν γνωρίσω σοὶ, βασιλεῦ." Ἀποστολικὴ τῷ ὄντι τῶν προφη τῶν ἡ φωνή. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνους ὁ Κύριος κήρυκας ἀποστέλλων πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, παρεκελεύσατο, λέγων· "∆ωρεὰν ἐλάβετε, δωρεὰν δότε." Καὶ ὁ μακάριος οὗτος προφήτης ἔλεγε τῷ βασιλεῖ· "Τὰ δόματά σου σοὶ ἔστω, καὶ τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ οἴκου σου ἑτέρῳ δός· ἐγὼ δὲ τὴν γραφὴν ἀναγνώσομαι τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ τὴν σύγκρισιν γνωρίσω σοι, βασιλεῦ." Οὐ γὰρ ἔμαθον τὰ θεῖα πωλεῖν, οὐδὲ μισθὸν ἀνθρώ πινον ὑπὲρ τῶν θείων μυστηρίων λαμβάνειν· προῖκα τοίνυν δέχου τῶν ἀγνοουμένων τὴν γνῶσιν. ιηʹ, ιθʹ. "Ὁ Θεὸς, φησὶν, ὁ ὕψιστος, τὴν βασι λείαν καὶ τὴν μεγαλωσύνην, καὶ τὴν τιμὴν, καὶ τὴν δόξαν ἔδωκε Ναβουχοδονόσορ, τῷ πατρί σου. Καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης, ἧς ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ, πάντες λαοὶ, καὶ φυλαὶ, καὶ γλῶσσαι ἦσαν τρέμοντες αὐτὸν, καὶ φοβούμενοι ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ." Μὴ νομίσῃς, φησὶν, ὅτι τῇ οἰκείᾳ ῥώμῃ χρησάμενος ὁ σὸς πατὴρ ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ὑπέταξε, καὶ τὰ 81.1388 μυρία τῶν ἐθνῶν γένη γλώσσαις χρώμενα διαφόροις ὑπὸ μίαν ἐποιήσατο βασιλείαν. Ὁ γὰρ τῶν ὅλων ∆εσπότης, τῶν ἁπάντων Ποιητὴς, ὁ σοφῶς ἅπαντα πρυτανεύων, αὐτῷ δέδωκε τὴν βασιλείαν, καὶ διὰ τὸν θεῖον ὅρον ὁ τοῦ πατρός σου φόβος τοῖς ὑπηκόοις ἐπέκειτο. "Καὶ οὓς ἐβούλετο αὐτὸς ὕψου, καὶ οὓς ἐβούλετο αὐτὸς ἐταπείνου." Τοσαύτην, φησὶν, ἔλαβε παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ὡς δύνασθαι καὶ τοὺς ἐν ὕψει ὄντας ταπεινοὺς ἀποφαίνειν, καὶ τοὺς ἀφανεῖς λίαν καὶ εὐτελεῖς περιβλέπτους ποιεῖν. κʹ. "Καὶ ὅτε ὑψώθη ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ ἐκραταιώθη τοῦ ὑπερηφανεύσασθαι, κατηνέχθη ἀπὸ θρόνου τῆς βασιλείας αὑτοῦ." Ὥσπερ γὰρ, φησὶν, "αὐτὸς οὓς ἐβούλετο ὕψου, καὶ οὓς ἐβούλετο ἐταπείνου," οὐ ψήφῳ πάντως δικαίᾳ τοῦτο ποιῶν· οὕτως ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων Βασιλεὺς καὶ ∆εσπό της ἔδωκε μὲν ὡς ἠθέλησε, τῷ πατρί σου τὴν βασι λείαν, θεασάμενος δὲ αὐτὸν ἀμέτρῳ φρονήματι κεχρημένον, ἀλαζονικῶς τε καὶ τετυφωμένως τὴν βασιλείαν ἰθύνοντα, καὶ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας τὴν νόσον δεξάμενον, καὶ τῶν βασιλικῶν αὐτὸν ἐστέρησε θρόνων, καὶ τὴν παρὰ πάντων αὐτῷ προσφερομένην τιμὴν ἀφείλετο. Οὐ μόνης δὲ αὐτὸν τῆς βασιλείας ἐγύ μνωσε, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν κοινῶν συλλόγων ἐξήλασε, καὶ φρενοβλαβείᾳ καὶ λύττῃ παραδοὺς, ὄνοις ἀγρίοις καὶ θηρίοις συνδιάγειν παρεσκεύασεν. Ὧν γὰρ τὸ ἄγριον ἐμιμήσατο, τούτων τὸν βίον ἐδέξατο. Ἀναμιμνήσκει δὲ αὐτὸν, ὅτι καὶ πόαν ἤσθιεν δίκην βοῶν, καὶ γυμνὸς περινοστῶν, καὶ ὑπαίθριος ταλαιπωρῶν, τὴν μὲν προτέραν τοῦ σώματος ἀπέβαλε χρόαν, ἑτέραν δὲ εἰσεδέξατο, ἣν ὁ κρυμός τε καὶ ὁ φλογμὸς ἀπειργά σατο. Καὶ ταῦτα πάντα, φησὶν, ὑπέμεινεν, "Ἕως οὗ ἔγνω, ὅτι κυριεύει ὁ Ὕψιστος τῆς βασιλείας τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ᾧ ἐὰν δόξῃ δίδωσιν αὐτήν." Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν τῇ πείρᾳ τὸ δέον μεμάθηκε, καὶ δι' αὐ τῶν ἐδιδάχθη τῶν πραγμάτων, ὡς τῶν μὲν ἀνθρω πίνων βέβαιον οὐδὲν, ὁ δὲ τῶν ἁπάντων Θεὸς, αἰώνιον ἔχων τὸ κράτος, ὡς θέλει κυβερνᾷ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, καὶ οἷς ἂν ἐθελήσῃ τῆς βασιλείας ὀρέγει τὴν δω ρεάν. κβʹ. "Σὺ δὲ, φησὶν, ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ Βαλτάσαρ, οὐκ ἐταπείνωσας τὴν καρδίαν σου κατενώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὐ ταῦτα πάντα ἔγνως;" Τοῖς γὰρ τοῦ σοῦ πατρὸς οὐκ ἐσωφρονίσθης κακοῖς, οὐδὲ μανθάνειν ἠθέλησας ἐξ ὧν ἐκεῖνος πέπονθεν, τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἰσχύν. κγʹ. "Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸν Κύριον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὑψώθης." Καλῶς διδάσκει τοὺς παρόντας, μὴ προσκυνεῖν τὰ ὁρώμενα, ἀλλὰ τὸν τούτων ∆ημιουργὸν καὶ ∆εσπότην· καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὸν καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως διελέγχει τὸν