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asking God. By whom they were certainly persuaded. And He showed the equal honor of the Spirit. For as He said, "not through Me," so also, "not through My Spirit." But "Pharaoh" is a common designation for the kings in Egypt, just as "Caesar" is for the Romans. For the proper name was also added to this, such as Pharaoh Nechao. And the wonders through Moses, as David says, happened in the plain of Tanis. And above, the prophet, speaking about Egypt, said, "The rulers of Tanis have ceased;" reasonably so. Since he was speaking about the coming of the Savior; but now, speaking about the times of Jeremiah, he does not say they have ceased, but that there are certain evil ruling angels, speaking of the same ones as the aforementioned rulers of Tanis. Showing certain demons, who were at work in the things that happened in Tanis. For there at that time was Pharaoh's palace. And besides being unable to help you, they will become a shame and a reproach. For the Egyptians were captured along with the Jews. But some say that the things up to "those who go down into Egypt" were spoken about those who rose up against Christ. But devising evil things, how did they take counsel with God, with whom only one who is pious and just takes counsel? For it is written, "The thoughts of the righteous are judgments." But they said concerning the Savior: "What are we doing, for this man performs many signs? If we let Him go on like this, the Romans will come and take away both our city and our country." Another said that it is expedient that one man should die, and that the whole nation should not perish. And according to the parable, they said, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him." And in addition to the servants the prophets, they also killed the heir. To which he fittingly said, "Those who add sins upon sins." That their disposition from the beginning was toward apostasy [the] from God, the ancient descent into Egypt, done against the will of God, also makes clear. And the saying: For in Tanis there are rulers, evil angels, since they thought the influence of the kings there would be sufficient for them. But some came announcing unbearable things to the rulers of the land; for having taken Tyre, the Babylonian marched against the Egyptians. Therefore those who hoped in these were put to shame, along with whom they were slaughtered, not having learned from David that, 2261 "It is better to hope in the Lord than to hope in man." A VISION OF THE FOUR-FOOTED BEASTS IN THE DESERT. 17. 9In affliction and in distress, lion and lion's cub from thence, and asps, and the offspring of flying asps, who were carrying their wealth on donkeys and camels to a nation which will not profit them for help, but for shame, and for reproach9, etc. Instead of "the vision," Symmachus says "the burden." And instead of "the four-footed beasts in the desert," all have rendered it "beasts of the south." He speaks allegorically of the four-footed beasts, animals deified by the Egyptians, and Egypt is situated in the southern region of Judea, being a desert of God, with all irrationality being honored in it, and of the demons working among them, whom they proclaimed as gods, their souls being narrow and afflicted. For in affliction and distress asps and lions and such evils had their place, of which the animals deified among them were images. For whom indeed they founded eponymous cities, that of the lions, and that of the dogs, and another of crocodiles, and other such cities, to which the Jews carried their wealth. For they were handing over the storehouses of their soul to the error of the Egyptians, carrying it on donkeys and camels, which shows their irrationality and folly. For no Egyptian, whether perceptible or intelligible, could help them. But some say that here he calls Jerusalem a desert, just as he called it Ariel, reproaching its inhabitants, because they lived like beasts grazing in a desert, not considering the honor given to them by God, on whose account the city was exalted, and had a temple of God, and a Holy of holies, and was lit like a lamp for the whole world; but they turned to irrational pleasures, imitating the habits of irrational creatures, for which reason he calls them four-footed beasts, and says the vision is not brought as if to men. But some