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groans? For my loins, he says, have been loosened by the message, like a woman giving birth, which were formerly girt and youthful. But some say that it was spoken from the person of the king of the Assyrians, Touch. He who despises, despises. Whether this one, or Babylon, I have done wrong in not seeing, he says, in the manner of a confession. For I did not endure exhortation, making haste to see nothing right, that is to say, acting thus. Now she sheds a womanly tear, that is to say: I have become hard of hearing, not deigning to see who is God by nature. For I heard of the worship of the Jews when I campaigned against them, sacking the city and the temple. But Jonah also came to us preaching repentance, and after repenting, I did wrong again. But for the benefit of the hearers, it is a custom for Scripture to use personification. At which things he says: Prepare a table. The prophet says this, making clear the cause of the wrath against them, alluding to the feast of Belshazzar mentioned by Daniel, when, having acted insolently with the holy vessels, and not knowing that by the power of God he had subdued Judea, but attributing the cause to his own gods, he saw the writing on the wall signifying to him the overthrow of his kingdom. Therefore, the prophet bids them to feast in character; and what comes after this? Wars will succeed the festival, so that one must almost run from the drinking itself to arms. But some say that the prophetic spirit says the 'prepare a table' to those who are about to take Babylon, the Elamites, and Medes, and the envoys of the Persians, rousing them to war and to the feasting at leisure as if for a future victory. But the prophet, having the spirit, says: I say these things, he says, because thus said the Lord to me: Go, set a watchman for yourself; and whatever he sees, let him report it, that is, the watchman. And he saw two horsemen riders. But Symmachus has 'a chariot, 2164 a pair of horses.' And again he sees two, one mounted on a donkey and the other on a camel. Those on horses signified the battle-line of the enemies. And the ones on pack animals, the bringing up for use and the future carrying away of spoils. For elsewhere he also says: "They carried their wealth on donkeys and camels." When the watchman had seen these things, the Lord says to the prophet: Hearken diligently with much heed, and call Uriah to the watchtower. But 'Uriah,' Aquila rendered as 'lion.' And Symmachus as 'lioness.' And Theodotion as 'Ariel.' For so also has the Hebrew. But not 'Uriah,' so that the previously mentioned priest cannot be signified. Hearken therefore, he said, with much heed, and call Ariel, so that the watchman might also behold this one along with you. For as if standing with him the prophet says: I stood continually by day, watching for the coming vision of the lion. And having passed a day and a night, he says: Behold, he himself comes, a rider of a two-horse chariot. And this was either some avenging angel bringing upon Babylon the penalty of its capture, perhaps named Ariel; or that one himself, 'who roars like a lion and seeks whom he may devour.' But understanding that it is an avenging angel, he cries out: Fallen, fallen is Babylon. Therefore, the first watchman, being inferior to the prophet, saw the multitude of those about to come against Babylon; but the second, being the prophet himself, sees the angelic and more secret vision. Both the fall of Babylon, and that of its idols, which the spirit called 'much heeding'. But some say that 'Go, set a watchman for yourself' means this: that it is necessary to gather one's mind for contemplation, and to be on its lookout point. For this is the custom for prophets for the perception of the things being shown. Therefore one of them says: "I will stand on my watch and mount the rock and will watch to see what he will say in me, and what I will answer to my reproof." And they say 'much heeding' because of the paradoxical accounts of the calamities that would befall Babylon; for it became completely desolate, so that not even those hidden in caves escaped Cyrus's notice, to whom God said: "I will give you dark, hidden, unseen treasures; I will open them for you." Wherefore he says to Babylon

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στεναγμούς; Ἡ γὰρ ὀσφύς μου, φησὶν, ὑπὸ τῆς ἀγγελίας ἐκλέλυται γυναικὸς τικτούσης δίκην, ἡ πρότερον ἐσφιγμένη τε καὶ νεανική. Τινὲς δὲ ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων εἰρῆσθαί φασιν, Ἅπτου. Ὁ ἀθετῶν ἀθετεῖ. Εἴτε δὲ οὗτος, εἴτε Βαβυλὼν, Ἠδίκησα τὸ μὴ βλέπειν, φησὶν, ἐν ἐξομολογήσεως τρόπῳ. Οὐκ ἠνειχόμην γὰρ παραινέσεως σπουδὴν ποιουμένη μηδὲν βλέπειν ὀρθὸν ἤγουν ποιούμενος. Νυνὶ γυναικοπρεπὲς ἀφίησι δάκρυον, ἤγουν· ∆υσήκοος γέγονα, οὐκ ἀξιώσας βλέπειν τίς ὁ φύσει Θεός. Ἤκουσα γὰρ τὴν Ἰουδαίων λατρείαν ἐπιστρατεύσας αὐτοῖς τήν τε πόλιν πορθήσας καὶ τὸν ναόν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἰωνᾶς ἡμῖν ἦλθε κηρύττων μετάνοιαν, καὶ μετανοήσας πάλιν ἠδίκησα. Πρὸς τὸ χρήσιμον δὲ τῶν ἀκουόντων φίλον ἐστὶ προσωποποιεῖν τῇ Γραφῇ. Ἐφ' οἷς φησιν· Ἑτοιμάσατε τράπεζαν. Τοῦτό φησιν ὁ προφήτης σαφῆ τῆς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ὀργῆς τὴν αἰτίαν ποιῶν, τοῦ Βαλτάσαρ τὸ δεῖπνον τὸ παρὰ ∆ανιὴλ αἰνιττόμενος, ὅτε τοῖς σκεύεσιν ἐμπαροινήσας τοῖς ἱεροῖς, καὶ μὴ γνοὺς ὅτι Θεοῦ δυνάμει τὴν Ἰουδαίαν κεχείρωται, ἀναθεὶς δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ Θεοῖς, τὴν γραφὴν εἶδεν ἐν τῷ τοίχῳ σημαίνουσαν αὐτῷ τὴν τῆς βασιλείας καθαίρεσιν. Ἐν ἤθει τοίνυν αὐτοῖς τρυφᾷν ὁ προφήτης παρακελεύεται· καὶ τί τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο; πόλεμοι τὴν πανήγυριν διαδέξονται, ὡς μικροῦ δεῖν ἐξ αὐτοῦ δραμεῖν τοῦ ποτοῦ πρὸς ὅπλα. Τινὲς δὲ τὸ, ἑτοιμάσατε τράπεζαν, τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα λέγειν φασὶ πρὸς τοὺς μέλλοντας ἑλεῖν Βαβυλῶνα, Ἐλαμίτας, καὶ Μήδους, καὶ τοὺς πρέσβεις Περσῶν, διεγεῖρον αὐτοὺς πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον καὶ τὴν ἐπ' ἀδείας ὡς ἐπὶ νίκῃ μελλούσῃ τρυφήν. Ὁ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα προφήτης ἔχων· Ταῦτα λέγω, φησὶν, Ἐπειδήπερ οὕτως εἶπε Κύριος πρός με· Βαδίσας στῆσον σεαυτῷ σκοπόν· καὶ ὃ ἐὰν ἴδῃ ἀπαγγειλάτω, ὁ σκοπὸς δηλονότι. Καὶ εἶδεν ἀναβάτας ἱππεῖς δύο. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος ἅρμα 2164 ζεῦγος ἵππων. Καὶ πάλιν ὁρᾷ δύο, τὸν μὲν ὄνῳ τὸν δὲ καμήλῳ ὀχούμενον. Ἐδήλουν δὲ οἱ μὲν ὄντες ἐφ' ἵππων τὴν τῶν πολεμίων παράταξιν. Οἱ δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τῶν νωτοφόρων πρὸς τὴν χρείαν παραγωγὴν καὶ λαφύρων μέλλουσαν ἀποκομιδήν. Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ γάρ φησιν· "Ἔφερον ἐπ' ὄνων καὶ καμήλων τὸν πλοῦτον αὐτῶν." Τοῦ σκοποῦ ταῦτα τεθεαμένου, Κύριος τῷ προφήτῃ φησίν· Ἀκρόασαι ἀκρόασιν πολλὴν, καὶ κάλεσον Οὐρίαν εἰς τὴν σκοπιάν. Τὸ δὲ Οὐρίαν Ἀκύλας ἐξέδωκε λέοντα. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος λέαιναν. Ὁ δὲ Θεοδοτίων Ἀριήλ. Οὕτω γὰρ ἔχει καὶ τὸ Ἑβραϊκόν. Ἀλλ' οὐκ Οὐρίαν,ὡς μὴ δύνασθαι τὸν εἰρημένον πρόσθεν ἱερέα σημαίνεσθαι. Ἀκρόασαι τοίνυν ἀκρόασιν, ἔφη, πολλὴν, καὶ κάλει τὸν Ἀριὴλ, ὡς ἂν καὶ τοῦτον ὁ σκοπὸς ἅμα σοὶ θεωρήσειεν. Ὡς σὺν αὐτῷ γὰρ ἱστάμενος ὁ προφήτης φησίν· Ἔστην διὰ παντὸς ἡμέρας καραδοκῶν τὴν μέλλουσαν ὄψιν τοῦ λέοντος. Ἡμέραν δὲ διατελέσας καὶ νύκτα, φησίν· Ἰδοὺ αὐτὸς ἔρχεται ἀναβάτης ξυνωρίδος. Ἦν δὲ οὗτος ἢ τιμωρός τις ἄγγελος ἐπάγων Βαβυλῶνι τὴν τῆς ἁλώσεως δίκην, ὁ Ἀριὴλ ἴσως ὀνομαζόμενος· ἢ αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος, Ὁ ὡς λέων ὠρυόμενος καὶ ζητῶν τίνα καταπίῃ. Νοήσας δὲ ὡς τιμωρητικός ἐστιν ἄγγελος βοᾷ· Πέπτωκε, πέπτωκε Βαβυλών. Ὁ μὲν οὗν πρῶτος σκοπὸς ὑποδεέστερος ὢν τοῦ προφήτου τὸ πλῆθος ἑώρα τῶν ἐπιέναι τῇ Βαβυλῶνι μελλόντων· ὁ δὲ δεύτερος αὐτὸς ὢν ὁ προφήτης, τὴν ἀγγελικήν τε καὶ ἀποῤῥητοτέραν ὄψιν ὁρᾷ. Τήν τε Βαβυλῶνος πτῶσιν, καὶ τῶν εἰδώλων αὐτῆς, ἅπερ ἀκρόασιν πολλὴν ἐκάλει τὸ πνεῦμα. Τινὲς δὲ τὸ, Βαδίσας σεαυτῷ στῆσον σκοπὸν, οὕτω φασίν· τὸ δεῖν συνάξαι πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν τὸν νοῦν, καὶ ἐν τῇ τούτου γενέσθαι περιωπῇ. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἔθος προφήταις πρὸς τὴν τῶν δεικνυμένων ἀντίληψιν. Τοιγαροῦν τις τούτων φησίν· "Ἐπὶ τῆς φυλακῆς μου στήσομαι καὶ ἐπιβήσομαι ἐπὶ πέτραν καὶ ἀποσκοπεύσω τοῦ ἰδεῖν τί λαλήσει ἐν ἐμοὶ, καὶ τί ἀποκριθῶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἔλεγχόν μου." Ἀκρόασιν δέ φασι πολλὴν, διὰ τὰ παράδοξα τῶν ἐσομένων Βαβυλῶνι συμφορῶν διηγήματα· παντελῶς γὰρ γέγονεν ἔρημος, ὡς μηδὲ τοὺς ἐν σπηλαίοις κρυφθέντας τὸν Κύρον λαθεῖν, πρὸς ὃν ἔφη Θεός· ὅτι "∆ώσω σοι θησαυροὺς σκοτεινοὺς, ἀποκρύφους, ἀοράτους ἀνοίξω σοι." ∆ιὸ πρὸς Βαβυλῶνά φησιν