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he preached to the Ninevites? For from him comes the crushing, destroying those things worthy of being crushed. As he crushes Satan under the feet of the righteous and, the Lord crushing wars, and, the Lord crushes the cedars of Lebanon, the boasters and those who exalt themselves against the truth. But it is necessary for those who anticipate the Lord's crushing to crush their own proud heart, so that its humiliation may become a sacrifice. For in the face of God who punishes, every hand is weak and soul is cowardly. But of man, they say, he reasonably added. For the soul of angels is superior to cowardice, and that of irrational creatures is inferior. For it is startled, but is not cowardly. For cowardice is a lack of the principles that come from courage. He says ambassadors will be troubled, the worshippers of idols, who, as was likely, in expectation of the events concerning Cyrus, divined favorable things and brought supplications to the demons, interceding on behalf of the country. But they will be ashamed when the opposite happens, and they will lament to one another. For this is the 'they will meet with disaster,' perhaps uttering 'woe,' and words of misfortune. And from their despondency their faces will be darkened, so as to seem a remnant of withered ashes; or it also represents the flush from shame. For a time is coming, in which the inescapable wrath of God will desolate the whole land of the Chaldeans, and will destroy the sinners from it; that is, it will destroy all who are sinners. For he does not distinguish them from righteous men who are in Babylon. And at the magnitude of the calamities, he fills the human mind with darkness and mist, even if it happens to be daytime, or if the night is lit by the moon and stars; for this reason he says these things, it will be darkened, not by nature, but because those who are despondent think they see it so. And the phrase, 'I will command evils,' is either instead of, 'I will threaten'; or 'I will order them to be brought'. And by Orion, he signified the bright ones of the stars. Otherwise, this star so called among the Hebrews, the inter 2077 preters have rendered according to the prevailing custom among the Greeks. And in Job the Scripture says, Pleiades and Hesperus and Arcturus, and the chambers of the south, again so called by the Greeks. But some explain the aforementioned sayings, because evils are spoken of for the whole inhabited world, in this way. For, they say, the discourse, being about to make a specific threat against Babylon, first sets forth the universal judgment of God, narrating in general what the impious will suffer; then in this way it proceeds to the specific punishment of Babylon. But speaking for now of the general one: On a level mountain, he says, raise a standard. And the prophetic spirit utters this from the person of God the Word, and it commands the angels around him to open closed gates, and to urge those within to go forth, and to hasten to the punishment of the impious. By which it is likely is meant a region set apart for opposing powers, being as it were a prison for them. And is this not perhaps the abyss, which the phrase, 'dragons and all abysses,' shows to be filled with dragons, into which the demons besought Christ not to be sent before the time, as knowing that there would someday be a time for this? And he calls such powers giants, either as being the souls of giants; or of the angels who came down from heaven, from whom the giants were born when they mingled with the daughters of men, or also other apostate powers bound until the time of judgment. But when the tribunal of God arrives, he will send, as he himself says, his angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together his elect, from one end of heaven to the other, but he will bring the punishments upon those who are to be punished as if through executioners, that is, the opposing powers, having commanded the angels around him to release their prison, so that having gone forth they might punish the impious, they themselves also being about to await their own judgment. And a level mountain he called the terrestrial place, and every dwelling-place of men, where he exhorts them to provide the sign of the judgment of God that is about to be inflicted

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Νινευΐταις ἐκήρυττεν; παρ' αὐτοῦ γὰρ ἡ συντριβὴ, τὰ συντριβῆς ἀφανίζοντος ἄξια. Ὡς συντρίβει τὸν Σατανᾶν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας τοῦ δικαίου καὶ, Κύριος συντρίβων πολέμους, καὶ, Συντρίβει Κύριος τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Λιβάνου, τοὺς ἀλαζόνας καὶ τοὺς ὑπεραιρομένους κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας. ∆εῖ δὲ φθάνοντας τοῦ Κυρίου τὴν συντριβὴν, τὴν ἑαυτῶν μεγαλόφρονα καρδίαν συντρίβειν, ἵνα γένηται θυσία ἡ ταπείνωσις αὐτῆς. Ὡς πρὸς Θεὸν γὰρ τιμωρούμενον, πᾶσα χεὶρ ἀσθενὴς καὶ ψυχὴ δειλή. Ἀνθρώπου δὲ, φασὶν, εἰκότως προσέθηκεν. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἀγγέλων, κρείττων δειλίας, ἡ δὲ τῶν ἀλόγων ἐλάττων. Ἡ δὲ γὰρ πτοεῖται μὲν, οὐ δειλιᾷ δέ. ∆ειλία γάρ ἐστιν ἔλλειψις τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνδρείας δογμάτων. Πρέσβεις δέ φησι ταραχθήσεσθαι, τοὺς τῶν εἰδώλων θεραπευτὰς, οἳ κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς, τῶν περὶ Κῦρον προσδοκωμένων, κατεμαντεύοντο χρηστὰ καὶ λιτὰς προσῆγον τοῖς δαίμοσιν, ὑπὲρ τῆς χώρας πρεσβεύοντες. Αἰσχυνθήσονται δὲ τῶν ἐναντίων γενησομένων, καὶ ὀδυροῦνται πρὸς ἀλλήλους. Τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ συμφοράσουσιν, οὐαὶ τυχὸν, καὶ συμφορᾶς προφέροντες ῥήματα. Ἐξ ἀθυμίας δὲ αὐτῶν τὰ πρόσωπα μελανθήσεται, ὡς σποδοῦ μαρανθείσης λείψανον εἶναι δοκεῖν· ἢ καὶ τὸ ἐκ τῆς αἰσχύνης παρίστησιν ἔρευθος. Ἔρχεται γὰρ καιρὸς, καθ' ὃν ἀπαραίτητος ὀργὴ Θεοῦ τὴν τῶν Χαλδαίων ὅλην ἐρημώσει χώραν, καὶ τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀπολέσει· τοῦτ' ἔστι, πάντας ὄντας ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἀπολέσει. Οὐ γὰρ ἀντιδιαστέλλει δικαίοις οὖσιν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι. Καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν συμφορῶν, σκότου καὶ ἀχλύος τὸν ἀνθρώπινον καταπίμπλησι νοῦν, κἂν ὁ τῆς ἡμέρας τύχῃ καιρὸς, κἂν σελήνῃ καὶ ἄστροις ἡ νὺξ καταλάμπηται, τούτου χάριν ταῦτά φησι, σκοτισθήσεται, οὐ φύσει, τῶν δὲ ἀθυμούντων οὕτω δοκούντων ὁρᾷν. Τὸ δὲ, Ἐντελοῦμαι κακὰ, ἢ ἀντὶ τοῦ, ἀπειλήσω· ἢ ἀπενεχθῆναι προστάξω. ∆ι' Ὠρίωνος δὲ, τὰ λαμπρὰ τῶν ἀστέρων ἐδήλωσεν. Ἄλλως δὲ παρ' Ἑβραίοις τὸ ἄστρον τοῦτο λεγόμενον, οἱ ἑρμη 2077 νεύσαντες πρὸς τὴν κρατοῦσαν παρ' Ἕλλησι συνήθειαν ἐκδεδώκασι. Καὶ ἐν Ἰὼβ δέ φησιν ἡ Γραφὴ, Πλειάδα καὶ Ἕσπερον καὶ Ἀρκτοῦρον, καὶ ταμιείανότου πάλιν οὕτως ἐξ Ἑλλήνων λεγόμενα. Τινὲς δὲ τὰ προειρημένα ῥητὰ, διὰ τὸ λέγεσθαι τῇ οἰκουμένῃ πάσῃ κακὰ, τοῦτον ἐξηγοῦνται τὸν τρόπον. Μέλλων γὰρ, φασὶν, ὁ λόγος μερικὴν ἀπειλὴν κατὰ Βαβυλῶνος ποιήσασθαι, περὶ τῆς καθολικῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προεκτίθεται κρίσεως, καθόλου περὶ τῶν ἀσεβῶν οἷα πείσονται διηγούμενος· εἶθ' οὕτως ἐπὶ τὴν μερικὴν τῆς Βαβυλῶνος μετέρχεται κόλασιν. Περὶ δὲ τῆς γενικῆς τέως λέγων· Ἐπ' ὄρους, φησὶ, πεδινοῦ ἄρατε σημεῖον. Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου προφέρεται, κελεύει τε τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν ἀγγέλοις ἀνοῖξαι θύρας κεκλεισμένας, καὶ τοῖς ἔνδον οὖσι προϊέναι, παρακελεύσασθαι, καὶ σπεύδειν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἀσεβῶν τιμωρίαν. ∆ι' ὧν εἰκὸς δηλοῦσθαι χώραν ἀφωρισμένην δυνάμεσιν ἀντικειμέναις οἱονεὶ δεσμωτήριον τούτων ὑπάρχουσαν. Καὶ μήποτε αὐτή ἐστιν ἡ ἄβυσσος, ἣν πεπληρῶσθαι δρακόντων δηλοῖ τὸ, δράκοντες καὶ πᾶσαι ἄβυσσοι, εἰς ἣν μὴ πεμφθῆναι πρὸ καιροῦ τὸν Χριστὸν παρεκάλουν οἱ δαίμονες, ὡς εἰδότες ἔσεσθαί ποτε τούτου καιρόν; Τὰς δὲ τοιαύτας δυνάμεις γίγαντάς φησιν, ἢ ὡς γιγάντων οὔσας ψυχάς· ἢ τῶν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατελθόντων ἀγγέλων, ἐξ ὧν οἱ γίγαντες ἐγεννήθησαν ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων θυγατράσι μιγέντων, ἢ καὶ ἑτέρας ἀποστατικὰς δυνάμεις μέχρι τοῦ τῆς κρίσεως δεδεμένας καιροῦ. Ἐπειδ' ἂν δὲ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ δικαιωτήριον ἐπιστῇ, ἀποστελεῖ μὲν, ὡς αὐτός φησι, τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ μετὰ σάλπιγγος μεγάλης, καὶ ἐπισυνάξουσι τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς αὐτοῦ, ἀπ' ἄκρου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἕως ἄκρων αὐτοῦ, τὰς δὲ κολάσεις ὥσπερ διὰ δημίων τῶν ἀντικειμένων δυνάμεων τοῖς κολασθησομένοις ἐπάξει, προστάξας τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν ἀγγέλοις ἀνεῖναι τούτων τὸ δεσμωτήριον, ὡς ἂν προελθοῦσαι τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς τιμωρήσονται, μέλλουσαι καὶ αὗται τὴν οἰκείαν ἐκδέχεσθαι κρίσιν. Ὄρος δὲ πεδινὸν, τὸν περίγειον ἐκάλεσε τόπον, καὶ πᾶν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἰκητήριον, ἔνθα τὸ σημεῖον παρασχεῖν τῆς μελλούσης ἐπιτίθεσθαι τοῦ Θεοῦ κρίσεως παρακελεύεται