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having extended its roots, and having received much watering, it nourished these branches. And continuing in the figurative sense, 8. The cypresses, he says, did not surpass him in the paradise of God. For none, he says, of those then reigning throughout the world became more illustrious than he; for here he called the world a paradise; for for the time being he says all things figuratively. "And pine trees, he says, were not like his boughs, and fir trees were not like his shoots." Not only did he himself, he says, become more illustrious than the other kings, but also his boughs and shoots, by a great measure, have surpassed, both in height and in density, the kings of the other nations. He figuratively called the kings of lesser nations pines and firs, over whom he set satraps, who compelled them to obey. He says, therefore, that he became greater than the greatest kings; and of the lesser, not only he himself, but also his rulers have become more powerful and more illustrious. Then, concisely: No tree in the paradise of God was like him in his beauty, (9) because of the multitude of his branches. -And by beauty he means that which is seen, that concerning the body, the purple robe, the crowns, the thrones inlaid with precious stones, the spearmen, the shield-bearers, and all the other things that are known to make kings splendid in appearance; he says, therefore, that no one was equal to him of those who had then reigned on earth; and he adds that he also became an object of envy to all of them. "For all the trees of the delight of the paradise of God, he says, envied him." Then he exposes the pride of his soul; 10, 11. Therefore thus says the Lord Adonai: Because he became great in stature, and set his top among the clouds, and his heart was lifted up in his height, and I saw him when he was exalted. And I delivered him into the hands of a ruler of nations, and he wrought his destruction according to his impiety. For since, he says, he was not content with dominion over men, but also used arrogance against me, "I delivered him, he says, into the hands of a ruler of nations." And he means Cyrus; for he, being a Mede on his mother's side and a Persian on his father's side, 81.1124 and coming from two nations, overthrew the kingdom of the Assyrians and Babylonians. "And he wrought, he says, his destruction according to his impiety;" For he suffered, he says, things worthy of what he had transgressed. According to the history, then, these things happened to Nebuchadnezzar, who was afflicted with such cruelty and arrogance along with impiety. But if one should wish to consider accurately, he will find also the common destroyer of men, the hostile and inimical devil of God, indicated through these things, who, having been created well and good, and being equal to the ruling powers, but being more illustrious than those of lower rank (for he called the paradise of delight, and the trees in it, according to the laws of allegory, the incorporeal natures), raged against the one who made him and gave him such comeliness and power, and having plotted tyranny, and having dreamed of being God, he fell. And the blessed Paul also hints at this, saying, "Not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil." For not knowing how to use his honor as is fitting, he will suffer things similar to the devil, who made the honor given to him an occasion for arrogance and pride. This one, he says, "will be delivered to a ruler of nations." And who is this ruler of the nations, but the only-begotten Word of God, the Lord Christ, to whom the prophet says: "Who will not fear you, O king of the nations?" And the blessed Jacob: "A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until he comes for whom it is reserved, and he is the expectation of the nations." These things Isaiah also cries out: "For there shall be, he says, the root of Jesse, and he who arises to rule the nations, in him shall the nations hope." And the Father to him: "I have given you for a covenant of the race, for a light of the nations, that you should be for salvation to the end of the earth." And the same prophet again to him: "Egypt has labored,

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ἐκτείνας τὰς ῥίζας, καὶ πολλὴν ἀρ δείαν δεξάμενος, τοὺς κλάδους τούτους ἐξέθρεψε. Καὶ ἐπιμένων τῇ τροπῇ, ηʹ. Κυπαρίσσῳ, φησὶν, οὐχ ὑπερῆραν αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ, φησὶ, τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην τηνικαῦτα βασιλευόντων περι φανέστερος ἐκείνου ἐγένετο· παράδεισον γὰρ ἐν ταῦθα τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐκάλεσε· τροπικῶς γὰρ τέως ἅπαντα λέγει. "Καὶ πίτυες, φησὶν, οὐχ ὅμοιαι τοῖς κλάδοις αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐλάται οὐκ ἐγένοντο ὅμοιαι ταῖς παραφυάσιν αὐτοῦ." Οὐ μόνον δὲ αὐτὸς, φησὶ, περιφανέστερος τῶν ἄλλων ἐγένετο βασιλέων, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ τούτου κλάδοι καὶ παραφυάδες, πολλῷ τῷ μέτρῳ νενικήκασι, καὶ τῷ ὕψει, καὶ τῇ πυκνό τητι, τοὺς τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν βασιλέας. Πίτυς δὲ καὶ ἐλάτας τροπικῶς ἐκάλεσε τοὺς ἐλαττόνων ἐθνῶν βα σιλέας, οἷς τοὺς σατράπας ἐπέστησεν, οἳ ὑπακούειν τούτους ἠνάγκαζον. Λέγει τοίνυν, ὅτι τῶν μὲν μεγί στων βασιλέων μείζων ἐγένετο· τῶν δὲ ἐλαττόνων οὐκ αὐτὸς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ τούτου ἄρχοντες δυνα τώτεροι γεγένηνται καὶ περιφανέστεροι. Εἶτα συν τόμως· Πᾶν ξύλον ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐχ ὡμοιώθη αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ κάλλει αὐτοῦ, (θʹ.) διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν κλάδων αὐτοῦ. -Κάλλος δὲ τὸ ὁρώ μενον λέγει, τὸ περὶ τὸ σῶμα, ἁλουργίδα, στεφάνους, θρόνους λιθοκολλήτους, δορυφόρους, ἀσπιδοφόρους, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα λαμπρύνειν οἶδε κατὰ τὸ ὁρώμενον τοὺς βασιλέας· λέγει τοίνυν, ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἐξισώθη αὐτῷ τῶν τηνικάδε τῆς γῆς βεβασιλευκότων· προστίθησι δὲ ὅτι καὶ ζηλωτὸς ἐγένετο πᾶσιν ἐκείνοις. "Ἐζή λωσε γὰρ αὐτὸν, φησὶ, πάντα τὰ ξύλα τῆς τρυ φῆς τοῦ παραδείσου τοῦ Θεοῦ." Εἶτα τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ τῦφον παραγυμνοῖ· ιʹ, ιαʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· Ἀνθ' ὧν ἐγένετο μέγας τῷ μεγέθει, καὶ ἔδωκε τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτοῦ εἰς μέσον τῶν νεφε λῶν, καὶ ἐπήρθη ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἶδον ἐν τῷ ὑψωθῆναι αὐτόν. Καὶ παρέδωκα αὐτὸν εἰς χεῖρας ἄρχοντος ἐθνῶν, καὶ ἐποίησε τὴν ἀπώλειαν αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν αὐτοῦ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ, φησὶν, οὐκ ἠρκέσθη τῇ κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡγεμονίᾳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατ' ἐμοῦ τῇ ἀλαζονείᾳ ἐχρήσατο, "παρέδωκα αὐτὸν, φησὶν, εἰς χεῖρας ἄρχοντος ἐθνῶν." Λέγει δὲ τὸν Κῦρον· οὗτος γὰρ μητρόθεν μὲν Μῆδος, πατρόθεν δὲ Πέρσης 81.1124 ὑπάρχων, καὶ ἐκ δύο ἐθνῶν ὁρμώμενος, τὴν τῶν Ἀσ συρίων καὶ Βαβυλωνίων κατέλυσε βασιλείαν. "Καὶ ἐποίησε, φησὶν, τὴν ἀπώλειαν αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀσέ βειαν αὐτοῦ·" Ἄξια γὰρ, φησὶν, ὑπέμεινεν ὧν ἠνό μησε. Κατὰ μὲν οὖν τὴν ἱστορίαν, ταῦτα τῷ Να βουχοδονόσορ συνέβη, τοσαύτην ὠμότητα καὶ ἀλαζο νείαν σὺν ἀσεβείᾳ νενοσηκότι. Εἰ δέ τις ἀκριβῶς συνιδεῖν ἐθελήσειεν, εὑρήσει καὶ τὸν κοινὸν τῶν ἀν θρώπων ἀλάστορα, τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ δυσμενῆ καὶ πολέ μιον διάβολον διὰ τούτων παραδηλούμενον, ὃς καλῶς καὶ ἀγαθῶς δημιουργηθεὶς, καὶ ταῖς μὲν ἀρχικαῖς δυνάμεσιν ἐξισούμενος, τῶν δὲ ὑποδεεστέρων ὑπάρ χων περιφανέστερος (παράδεισον γὰρ τρυφῆς, καὶ τὰ ἐν τούτῳ ξύλα, κατὰ τοὺς τῆς ἀλληγορίας νόμους, τὰς ἀσωμάτους φύσεις ἐκάλεσε), κατὰ τοῦ πεποιηκότος καὶ τοσαύτην εὐπρέπειαν ὁμοῦ καὶ δύνα μιν δεδωκότος ἐλύττησε, καὶ τυραννίδα μελετήσας, καὶ Θεὸς ἔσεσθαι ὀνειροπολήσας ἐξέπεσε. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὁ μακάριος αἰνίττεται Παῦλος, "Μὴ νεόφυτον, λέ γων, ἵνα μὴ τυφωθεὶς εἰς κρῖμα ἐμπέσῃ τοῦ διαβό λου." Οὐκ εἰδὼς γὰρ εἰς δέον χρήσασθαι τῇ τιμῇ παραπλήσια πείσεται τῷ διαβόλῳ, ὃς ἀφορμὴν ἀλα ζονείας καὶ τύφου τὴν δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ τιμὴν ἐποιήσατο. Τοῦτον λέγει "παραδοθήσεσθαι ἄρχοντι ἐθνῶν." Τίς δὲ οὗτος ὁ ἄρχων τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἢ ὁ μονογενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος ὁ ∆εσπότης Χριστὸς, πρὸς ὃν ὁ προφήτης φησί· "Τίς οὐ φοβηθήσεταί σε, βασιλεῦ τῶν ἐθνῶν;" Καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ἰακώβ· Οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα, καὶ ἡγούμενος ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ ᾧ ἀπόκειται, καὶ αὐτὸς προσδοκία ἐθνῶν." Ταῦτα καὶ Ἡσαΐας βοᾷ· "Ἔσται γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ ῥίζατοῦ Ἰεσσαὶ, καὶ ὁ ἀνιστάμενος ἄρχων ἐθνῶν, ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσι." Καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ πρὸς αὐτόν· "∆έδωκά σε εἰς διαθήκην γένους, εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν, τοῦ εἶναί σε εἰς σωτηρίαν ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς." Καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς δὲ προφήτης πάλιν πρὸς αὐτόν· "Ἐκοπίασεν Αἴγυπτος,