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the prophet to have reasons for gladness. But if someone were to examine each of these things precisely, he would find these very things to be the causes of Daniel's distress; for when the king permitted freedom and return to all who wished it, the majority, having built houses in Babylon and being held by this bond, scorning the return, preferred the foreign land to their own; but only the lovers of piety, and the guardians of the ancestral laws, scorning their possessions in Babylon, preferred the desolation of their homeland even to the kingdom itself. This, therefore, caused the blessed Daniel the greatest grief; for seeing the truthfulness of the divine promise, and the king's gentleness and philanthropy, and the people's disobedience and stubbornness, he was exceedingly tormented in his soul, and he continued mourning and lamenting. And one might reasonably ask, why, while mourning and bewailing on account of the others, as they had been negligent and had scorned the return, did he himself not return to his homeland. And he will find the solution by examining the cause of the captivity itself. For just as God did not allow him to be taken captive on account of his own sins, but in providing for the benefit of the people, and sending with them a kind of guardian and teacher; so also at the time of the return, since the majority cherished their dwelling in Babylon, again the divine prophet is compelled to live with them, so that, being destitute of spiritual guidance, they might not drift completely into impiety. For this reason, even though the king ruling at that time honored his piety, and offered him every service, and preferred him above all others, the blessed Daniel received no comfort, but the disobedience of the people, and their forgetting of the holy city, distressed and greatly pained him. For this reason he also continued without food for three weeks; "For, he says, I ate no pleasant bread, and meat and wine did not enter my mouth, and I did not anoint myself with ointment until three weeks 81.1492 of days." For, he says, in all these days I offered no care to my body, neither ointment on the outside, nor food on the inside. And well and very appropriately he added the phrase "of desires" not to the meat, but to the bread. For bread is the necessary food of all; for the more well-off enjoy meat, but both the more well-off and the poorer enjoy bread. For this reason he called the bread "of desires," as it is both a common food, and the most desirable of all food. 4. "And on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, in the third year, I was beside the great river, which is the Tigris." One must note both the month, and the days of the fast, for the refutation of the lawlessness of the Jews. For while the divine law commands that the Passover be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month toward evening, the blessed Daniel continued without food until the twenty-fourth. But if the Jews should say that he did not eat pleasant bread because he was eating unleavened bread, first, through this they reveal their own foolishness; for both leavened and unleavened bread are called bread. Then, what follows directly shuts their shameless mouth. "For, he says, meat and wine did not enter my mouth." But if he did not partake of meat, how did he celebrate the Passover? For the Passover is nothing other than a year-old male lamb, without blemish, sacrificed toward evening and roasted. Therefore, one who did not partake of meat, how did he celebrate the Passover? Therefore, he did not celebrate the Passover, obeying the law, which expressly commands to celebrate the three feasts in the place which the Lord God shall choose. Clearly, therefore, the Jews transgress the law by daring to celebrate these in a foreign land. But let us return to the subject at hand. "On the twenty-fourth, he says, of the first month, in the third year, I was beside the great river, which is the Tigris." Again, from this we are also taught that the time is not mistaken; for here too it is in the third year, but not in the

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θυμηδίας ἔχειν ἀφορμὰς τὸν προφήτην. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ εἴ τις ἀκρι βῶς τούτων ἕκαστον ἐξετάσειεν, αὐτὰ ταῦτα εὑρήσει αἴτια τῆς τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ ἀχθηδόνος· τοῦ γὰρ βασιλέως ἐπιτρέψαντος ἅπασι τοῖς ἐθέλουσι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ τὴν ἐπάνοδον, οἱ μὲν πλείους οἰκίας ἐν Βαβυλῶνι δειμάμενοι, καὶ τούτων τῷ δεσμῷ κατεχόμενοι, τῆς ἐπανόδου καταφρονήσαντες, τὴν ξένην τῆς οἰκείας προείλοντο· μόνοι δὲ οἱ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐρασταὶ, καὶ τῶν πατρῴων νόμων φύλακες, τῶν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι κτη μάτων καταφρονήσαντες, τὴν τῆς πατρίδος ἐρημίαν καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς βασιλείας προὐτίμησαν. Τοῦτο τοίνυν τῷ μακαρίῳ ∆ανιὴλ μέγιστον εἰργάσατο πένθος· τῆς τε γὰρ θείας ἐπαγγελίας τὸ ἀψευδὲς ὁρῶν, καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως τὸ ἥμερον καὶ φιλάνθρωπον, καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ τὸ δυσπειθὲς καὶ δυσήνιον, σφόδρα τὴν ψυχὴν ἐτρύ χετο, καὶ πενθῶν καὶ θρηνῶν διετέλει. Ζητήσειεν δ' ἄν τις εἰκότως, τί δήποτε τῶν ἄλλων ἕνεκεν, ὡς ἐῤ ῥᾳθυμηκότων καὶ τῆς ἐπανόδου καταπεφρονηκότων, θρηνῶν καὶ ὀλοφυρόμενος, αὐτὸς οὐκ ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα. Εὑρήσει δὲ τὴν λύσιν, αὐτῆς τῆς αἰχμα λωσίας τὴν αἰτίαν σκοπούμενος. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐ διὰ τὰς οἰκείας πλημμελείας εἴασεν αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς δορυ άλωτον γενέσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῆς τοῦ λαοῦ προμηθούμενος ὠφελείας, καὶ οἷόν τινα κηδεμόνα καὶ διδάσκαλον αὐ τοῖς συμπέμπων· οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῷ τῆς ἐπανόδου καιρῷ, τῶν πλειόνων τὴν οἴκησιν τὴν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι στερξάντων, πάλιν ὁ θεῖος προφήτης συνδιάγειν αὐτοῖς ἀναγκάζεται, ἵνα μὴ ἔρημοι τῆς πνευματικῆς κηδεμονίας γενόμενοι εἰς ἀσέβειαν παντελῶς ἐξωκεί λωσι. Τούτου χάριν, καὶ βασιλέως τὴν εὐσέβειαν τι μῶντος τοῦ τηνικάδε κρατοῦντος, καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτῷ θεραπείαν προσφέροντος, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων προτιμῶν τος ἁπάντων, οὐδεμίαν ὁ μακάριος ∆ανιὴλ λαμ βάνει παραψυχὴν, ἀλλ' ἀνιᾷ καὶ λίαν αὐτὸν ἀλγύνει τοῦ λαοῦ τὸ δυσπειθὲς, καὶ ἡ τῆς ἁγίας πόλεως λήθη. Οὗ χάριν καὶ τρεῖς ἑβδομάδας ἄσιτος διετέ λεσεν· "Ἄρτον γὰρ, φησὶ, ἐπιθυμιῶν οὐκ ἔφαγον, καὶ κρέας καὶ οἶνος οὐκ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ στόμα μου, καὶ ἄλειμμα οὐκ ἠλειψάμην ἕως τριῶν ἡμερῶν 81.1492 ἑβδομάδων." Οὐδεμίαν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐπιμέλειαν ἐν πάσαις ταύταις ταῖς ἡμέραις τῷ σώματι προσενή νοχα, οὐκ ἀλοιφὴν ἔξωθεν, οὐ τροφὴν ἔνδοθεν. Καλῶς δὲ καὶ μάλα προσφόρως οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν κρεῶν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τοῦ ἄρτου, τὸ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν προστέθεικεν. Ὁ γὰρ ἄρτος ἀναγκαία πάντων τροφή· κρεῶν γὰρ ἀπολαύουσιν οἱ εὐπορώτεροι, ἄρτου δὲ πρὸς τοῖς εὐ πορωτέροις καὶ οἱ πενέστεροι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὸν ἄρτον ἐπιθυμιῶν προσηγόρευσεν, ὡς καὶ κοινὴν ὄντα τρο φὴν, καὶ πάσης τροφῆς ἐρασμιώτατον. δʹ. "Καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εἰκάδι καὶ τετάρτῃ τοῦ μηνὸς τοῦ πρώτου, ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ ἔτει, ἐγὼ ἤμην ἐχόμενα τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου, αὐτός ἐστι Τίγρις." Ἐπισημήνασθαι δεῖ καὶ τὸν μῆνα, καὶ τὰς τῆς νηστείας ἡμέρας, εἰς ἔλεγχον τῆς Ἰουδαίων παρανομίας. Τῇ γὰρ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ πρώτου μηνὸς πρὸς ἑσπέραν τοῦ θείου νόμου προστάττοντος ἐπιτελεῖν τὸ Πάσχα, ὁ μακάριος ∆ανιὴλ μέχρι τῆς τετάρτης εἰκάδος ἄσιτος διετέλει. Εἰ δὲ εἴποιεν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, ὅτι ἄρτον ἐπιθυμιῶν οὐκ ἔφαγεν, ἅτε δὴ ἄρτους ἀζύμους ἐσθίων· πρῶτον μὲν τὴν οἰκείαν ἄνοιαν καὶ διὰ τούτων ἐλέγχουσιν· ἄρτος γὰρ καλεῖ ται καὶ ὁ ζυμίτης, καὶ ὁ ἄζυμος. Ἔπειτα δὲ τὰ ἐπαγόμενα ἀντικρὺς αὐτῶν ἐμφράττει τὸ ἀναίσχυντον στόμα. "Κρέας γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ οἶνος οὐκ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ στόμα μου." Εἰ δὲ κρεῶν οὐ μετέλαβε, πῶς τὸ Πάσχα ἐπετέλεσεν; Τὸ γὰρ Πάσχα οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ ἀμνὸς ἄρσην ἐνιαυσιαῖος, ἄμωμος, πρὸς ἑσπέραν θυόμενος καὶ ὀπτώμενος. Ὁ τοίνυν κρεῶν μὴ μετα λαβὼν, πῶς τὸ Πάσχα ἐπετέλει; Οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἐπετέ λεσε τὸ Πάσχα τῷ νόμῳ πειθόμενος, ὃς διαῤῥήδην παρακελεύεται τὰς τρεῖς ἐπιτελεῖν ἑορτὰς εἰς τὸν τόπον, ὃν ἂν ἐκλέξηται Κύριος ὁ Θεός. Ἐναργῶς τοίνυν παρανομοῦσιν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ταύτας ἐν τῇ ξένῃ τολμῶντες ἐπιτελεῖν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ προκείμενον ἐπανέλθωμεν. "Τῇ τετάρτῃ, φησὶ, καὶ εἰκάδι τοῦ πρώτου μηνὸς, ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ ἔτει, ἐγὼ ἤμην ἐχόμενα τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου, αὐτός ἐστι Τίγρις." Πάλιν καὶ ἐντεῦθεν διδασκόμεθα, ὡς οὐκ ἔσφαλται ὁ χρόνος· καὶ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τῷ τρίτῳ ἔτει, ἀλλ' οὐ τῷ