45.  It is said that the King91    King.  Xerxes. of Persia, on his expedition into Greece, was not only urged to immoderate threats, by elation at the numbers of every race of men which in his wrath and pride he was leading against them:  but thought to terrify them the more, by making them afraid of him, in consequence of his novel treatment of the elements.  A strange land and sea were heard of, the work of the new creator; and an army which sailed over the dry land, and marched over the ocean, while islands were carried off, and the sea was scourged, and all the other mad proceedings of that army and expedition, which, though they struck terror into the ignoble, were ridiculous in the eyes of men of brave and steadfast hearts.  There was no need of anything of this kind in the expedition against us, but what was still worse and more harmful, this was what the Emperor was reported to say and do.  He stretched forth his mouth unto heaven, speaking blasphemy against the most High, and his tongue went through the world.92    Ps. lxxiii. 9.  Excellently did the inspired David before our days thus describe him who made heaven to stoop to earth, and reckoned with the creation that supermundane nature, which the creation cannot even contain, even though in kindness to man it did to some extent come among us, in order to draw to itself us who were lying upon the ground.

Τὸν μὲν δὴ Περσῶν βασιλέα φασίν, ἐπειδή ποτε κατὰ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐστράτευε, πᾶν μὲν γένος ἀνθρώπων ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἐλαύνων, παντὶ δὲ ζέων θυμῷ καὶ φρονήματι, οὐ ταύτῃ μόνον ἐπαίρεσθαι καὶ ἄμετρον εἶναι ταῖς ἀπειλαῖς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἂν μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς καταπλήξειε, φοβερὸν ἑαυτὸν ποιεῖν, καὶ ταῖς κατὰ τῶν στοιχείων καινοτομίαις. Γῆ τις ἠκούετο ξένη καὶ θάλασσα τοῦ νέου δημιουργοῦ καὶ στρατὸς ἤπειρον πλέων καὶ πεζεύων πέλαγος νῆσοί τε ἁρπαζόμεναι καὶ θάλασσα μαστιζομένη καὶ ὅσα τῆς ἐμπλήκτου σαφῶς ἦν στρατιᾶς καὶ στρατηγίας, κατάπληξις μὲν τοῖς ἀγενεστέροις, γέλως δὲ τοῖς ἀνδρικωτέροις καὶ στερροτέροις τὸ φρόνημα. Ὁ δὲ τοιούτου μὲν οὐδενὸς ἐδεῖτο καθ' ἡμῶν στρατεύων: ὃ δὲ ἦν ἐκείνων χεῖρον καὶ βλαβερώτερον, τοῦτο ποιῶν καὶ λέγων ἠκούετο. Ἔθετο εἰς οὐρανὸν τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ, βλασφημίαν λαλῶν εἰς τὸ ὕψος, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτοῦ διῆλθεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Καλῶς γὰρ αὐτὸν ὁ θεῖος Δαβὶδ πρὸ ἡμῶν ἐστηλίτευσε, τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰς γῆν κλίναντα καὶ μετὰ τῆς κτίσεως ἀριθμοῦντα φύσιν τὴν ὑπερκόσμιον, ἣν οὐδὲ χωρεῖν ἡ κτίσις δύναται, κἂν μεθ' ἡμῶν τι γένηται λόγῳ φιλανθρωπίας, ἵν' ἡμᾶς ἑλκύσῃ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν χαμαὶ κειμένους.