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Visio Danielis

A discourse of our father among the saints, John Chrysostom, on the vision of Daniel.

Hear, O heaven, with precision, how the four kingdoms were joined with one another: Ethiopians, Macedonians, Greeks, and Romans. These are the four winds in which Daniel the prophet saw the great sea being stirred up. For Philip, the father of Alexander, himself married the daughter of Chouseth, king of Ethiopia, from whom Alexander the Macedonian is born. He founded Alexandria the Great and reigned in it(sic) 15 years and became master of many lands and cities and as far as the sea of the so-called Land of the Sun. And he entered as far as the land of the dawn and there he found an untraceable nation, every foul creature, snakes, cats, flies and every reptile. And they did not bury the dead, but rather ate them, and the miscarriages of women, a kind of unclean beasts. they did not bury the dead, but rather ate them. Alexander, having observed these things being done by them in the fields, fearing that they might spread over the earth and defile it with their foul practices, prayed earnestly to the Lord and gathered them, men with women and children and, simply put, all their encampments, and he led them out from the land of the dawn and pursued after them until they entered into the regions of the north. And there is no entrance from the east or the west. Therefore he again besought God and He shut them in there with bronze gates, anointing them with asyncheton.

These foul and counterfeit nations therefore use all the magical wicked arts, and in these things the nature of the asyncheton has neutralized their filthy and inhuman, or rather, God-hating sorcery. And in those times 34 according to the prophecy of Ezekiel which says: on the last day of the consummation of the world shall come forth Choth, Gog, Anes, Ageg, Achenaz, Pharphatinos, Phazenoi, Olbianoi, Sarmatians, Thyalai, and man-eaters. These are twenty-two kings established within the Caspian gates which Alexander the king constructed. Byzas, then, the king who founded Byzantium, sent Germanicus his general to Ethiopia to Phol, king of Ethiopia, to make peace with him, writing to him also concerning Chouseth his daughter, that he might take her as a wife and reign with her. The king, therefore, having received the letters from Germanicus and having seen the honors from him, rejoiced greatly, and he himself arose and gathered a multitude of the army from all the nations of Ethiopia. And taking also his daughter Chouseth, he went to Byzantium and showed great honor, having with him forty thousand Ethiopians. And king Byzas received them across the sea in Chalcedon with the greatest delight, he gave many presents to those with him, and he entered into Byzantium and showed great honor and very great gifts according to the royal custom.

And king Byzas took Chouseth the daughter of the king of Ethiopia, from whom a daughter is born to him, whom he also called Byzanteia after the name of his city. And Romulus, the king of Rome, son of Archelaus, married her, and because of her exceeding beauty he loved her greatly. And he was very rich and great-souled, wherefore he also gave Rome as part of the dowry. And when his magnates heard this, they were indignant with him. And Byzanteia also bore three sons, and the first she named after his own name

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Visio Danielis

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου λόγος ἐκ τὴν ὅρασιν τοῦ ∆ανιήλ.

Ἄκουσον, οὐρανέ, μετὰ ἀκριβᾶς, πῶς οἱ τέσσαρες βασιλεῖες μετ' ἀλλήλων

συνήχθησαν· Αἰθίωπες, Μακεδόνες, Ἕλληνες καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι. τοῦτοί εἰσιν οἱ τέσσαροι ἄνεμοι ἐν οἷς ἑώρακεν ∆ανιὴλ ὁ προφήτης σισείοντα τὴν μεγάλην θάλασσαν. Φίλιππος μὲν ὁ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου πατήρ, αὐτὸς ἔγημε τοῦ Χουσὴθ θυγατέρα βασιλέως Αἰθιωπίας, ἐξ ἧς Ἀλέξανδρος τίκτεται Μακεδών. αὐτὸς ἔκτιζε Ἀλεξανδρείαν τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν ἐν αὐτῳ(sic) χρόνους ιεʹ καὶ ἐκυρίευσεν χωρῶν πολλῶν καὶ πόλεων καὶ ἕως τῆς θαλάσσης τῆς λεγομένης Ἡλίου χώρας. καὶ εἰσῆλθεν ἕως τῆς ἑώας γῆς καὶ ἐκεῖ εὗρεν ἔθνος ἀνεξιχνίαστον, πᾶν ζωφίον μαγάρον, ὄφεις, γάτας, μύγας (=μυίγας) καὶ πᾶν ἑρπετόν. Καὶ τοὺς νεκροὺς οὐκ ἔθαπτον, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἴστιον (=ἤσθιον) καὶ ἐκτρόματα τῶν γυναικῶν εἶδος ἀκαθάρτων θηρίων. τοὺς νεκροὺς οὐκ ἔθαπτον, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἴστιον αὐτούς. ταῦτα καταθεωρήσας Ἀλέξανδρος ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἐν ἀγροῖς γινόμενα δεδοικὼς μή πως πλατυνθῶσιν ἐν τῇ γῇ καὶ ἐνοῦσιν αὐτὴν ἐκ τῶν μιαρῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἐδεήθη τοῦ Κυρίου ἐκτενῶς καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς ἄνδρας σὺν γυναιξὶν καὶ τέκνοις καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν πάσας τὰς παρεμβολὰς αὐτῶν καὶ ἐξήγαγεν αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς ἑώας γῆς καὶ κατεδίωξεν ὀπίσω αὐτῶν ἕως οὗ εἰσήλθωσαν ἐν τοῖς μέρεσιν τοῦ βοῤῥᾶ. καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν εἴσοδος ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἢ δυσμῶν. αὖθις οὖν ἐλιπάρησεν τὸν Θεὸν καὶ ἀπέκλεισεν αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖσε μετὰ χαλκῶν πυλῶν ἐπιχρίσας ἀσήγχητον.

Ταῦτα οὖν τὰ μυσαρὰ καὶ κίβδηλα ἔθνη πάσαις ταῖς μαγικαῖς κακοτεχνίαις κέχρηνται καὶ ἐν τούτοις αὐτῶν τὴν ῥυπαρὰν καὶ ἀπάνθρωπον μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ μισόθεον γοητείαν κατήργησεν ἡ φύσις τοῦ ἀσυγχήτου. Ἐν δὲ τοῖς καιροῖς 34 ἐκείνοις κατὰ τὴν (τοῦ) Ἰεζεκιὴλ προφητείαν τὴν λέγουσαν· ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς συντελείας τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελεύσεται χόθ, γώγ, ἀνῆς, ἀγήγ, ἀχενάζ, φαρβατινός, φαζενοί, ὀλβιανοί, σαρματαί, θυάλαιοι καὶ ἀνθρωποφάγοι. Οὗτοι εἴκοσι δύο βασιλεῖς καθεστήκασιν ἔνδον τῶν Κασπίων πυλῶν ὧν κατεσκεύασεν Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ βασιλεύς. Βύζας οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ κτίσας τὸ Βυζάντιον ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Αἰθιωπίαν πρὸς Φὸλ βασιλέα Αἰθιωπίας Γερμανικὸν τὸν αὐτοῦ στρατηγὸν εἰρηνεῦσαι μετ' αὐτοῦ, γράψας αὐτῷ καὶ περὶ Χουσὴθ τῆς θυγατρὸς αὐτοῦ, ὅπως λάβῃ αὐτὴν γυναῖκα καὶ βασιλεύσῃ σὺν αὐτῇ. ∆εξάμενος οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰ γράμματα παρὰ Γερμανικοῦ καὶ ἑωρακὼς τὰς παρ' αὐτοῦ φιλοτιμίας εὐ(φ)ράνθη ἄγαν, ἀνέστη δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ συνήγαγεν ἐξ ὅλων τῶν ἐθνῶν Αἰθιωπίας πλῆθος στρατιᾶς. λαβὼν δὲ καὶ τὴν θυγατέραν αὐτοῦ Χουσὴθ καὶ ἐπορεύθη εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον καὶ ἔδωκεν φιλοτιμίαν μεγάλην ἔχων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ τεσσαράκοντα χιλιάδας Αἰθιώπων. Ἐδεξιώθη δὲ αὐτοὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς Βύζας πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης ἐν Χαλκηδόνι μετὰ πλείστης θυμηδίας, δέδωκεν δώματα πολλὰ τοῖς συνοῦσιν αὐτῷ καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον καὶ δέδωκεν φιλοτιμίαν μεγάλην καὶ δῶρα μέγιστα κατὰ τὴν βασιλικὴν συνήθειαν.

Καὶ ἔλαβεν Βύζας ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν Χουσὴθ θυγατέραν βασιλέως Αἰθιωπίας ἐξ ἦς τίκτεται αὐτῷ θυγάτηρ ἣν καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ἐπὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς πόλεως αὐτοῦ Βυζαντίαν. αὐτὴν δὲ ἔγημε Ῥωμύλος ὁ βασιλεὺς Ῥώμης ὁ Ἀρχέλαος, διὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν αὐτὴν ὡραιότητα ἠγάπησεν αὐτὴν σφόδρα. Ἦν δὲ αὐτὸς λίαν πλούσιος καὶ μεγαλόψυχος ὅθεν καὶ ἐν τοῖς προικίοις ἐδωρήσατο τὴν Ῥώμην. ἀκούσαντες δὲ οἱ μεγιστᾶνες αὐτοῦ ἠγανάκτησαν κατ' αὐτοῦ. Τέτοκεν δὲ καὶ ἡ Βυζαντία τρεῖς υἱοὺς καὶ τὸν μὲν πρῶτον ὠνόμασεν κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ προσηγορίαν