Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Nebuchadnezzar sees in a dream a statue portending the four empires of the world, which was crushed by a stone cut from a mountain, that is, by Christ. Daniel alone was able to narrate and explain this dream, verse 19. Whence he is honored by the king and the Chaldeans, and is set over all Babylon, verse 46.
Vulgate Text: Daniel 2:1-49
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and his spirit was terrified, and the dream fled from him. 2. And the king commanded that the soothsayers, and the magicians, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned, that they might tell the king his dreams: and when they had come, they stood before the king. 3. And the king said to them: I have had a dream; and being troubled in mind, I do not know what I saw. 4. And the Chaldeans answered the king in Syriac: O king, live forever: tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare its interpretation. 5. And the king answering, said to the Chaldeans: The thing has gone from me: unless you tell me the dream and its meaning, you shall perish, and your houses shall be confiscated. 6. But if you tell the dream and its meaning, you shall receive from me rewards, and gifts, and great honor: therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation. 7. They answered a second time and said: Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare its interpretation. 8. The king answered and said: I know for certain that you are trying to gain time, knowing that the thing has gone from me. 9. If therefore you do not tell me the dream, there is one sentence for you, that you have prepared a lying and deceitful interpretation, to speak before me till the time passes. Therefore tell me the dream, that I may know that you also speak a true interpretation thereof. 10. Then the Chaldeans answered before the king, and said: There is no man on earth who can fulfill the king's demand: neither has any king, however great and powerful, ever asked such a thing of any soothsayer, or magician, or Chaldean. 11. For the thing which you ask, O king, is difficult: nor can anyone be found who can declare it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals. 12. Upon hearing this, the king in fury and great anger commanded that all the wise men of Babylon should perish. 13. And the decree went forth, and the wise men were being slain: and Daniel and his companions were sought, that they might perish. 14. Then Daniel inquired about the law and the sentence from Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to slay the wise men of Babylon. 15. And he asked him who had received power from the king, for what reason so cruel a sentence had gone forth from the king's presence. When therefore Arioch had told Daniel the matter, 16. Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time to declare the solution to the king.
17. And he went into his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: 18. that they should seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, and that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision by night: and Daniel blessed the God of heaven; 20. and speaking, he said: Blessed be the name of the Lord from age to age; for wisdom and power are His. 21. And He changes times and seasons: He transfers kingdoms and establishes them: He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who understand learning: 22. He reveals deep and hidden things, and knows what lies in darkness: and light is with Him. 23. To You, O God of our fathers, I give thanks and praise: because You have given me wisdom and strength: and now You have shown me what we asked of You, because You have opened to us the king's matter. 24. After this, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and spoke to him thus: Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon: bring me before the king, and I will tell the king the solution. 25. Then Arioch hastily brought Daniel before the king, and said to him: I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Judah, who will announce the solution to the king. 26. The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar: Can you truly tell me the dream that I saw, and its interpretation? 27. And Daniel answering before the king, said: The mystery which the king asks, the wise men, the magicians, the soothsayers, and the diviners cannot declare to the king. 28. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, who has shown you, King Nebuchadnezzar, what shall come to pass in the last times. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed are these:
29. You, O king, began to think in your bed what should come to pass hereafter: and He who reveals mysteries showed you what shall come. 30. To me also this mystery was revealed, not by any wisdom that is in me more than in all the living, but that the interpretation might be made manifest to the king, and that you might know the thoughts of your mind. 31. You, O king, were looking, and behold, as it were a great statue: that statue, which was great and whose height was sublime, stood before you, and the look of it was terrible. 32. The head of this statue was of fine gold, but the chest and arms were of silver; the belly and thighs of bronze; 33. and the legs were of iron, and part of the feet was iron and part was of clay. 34. You watched thus, until a stone was cut from a mountain without hands: and it struck the statue upon its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35. Then were the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and reduced as it were to the chaff of a summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away; and no place was found for them: but the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth; 36. this is the dream: We will also tell its interpretation before you, O king. 37. You are the king of kings: and the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, and strength, and power, and glory: 38. and all things wherein the children of men and the beasts of the field dwell: the birds of the air also He has given into your hand, and has placed all things under your dominion: you therefore are the head of gold. 39. And after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you, of silver: and a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40. And the fourth kingdom shall be as iron: as iron breaks into pieces and subdues all things, so shall it break and crush all these. 41. And whereas you saw the feet and the toes, part of potter's clay and part of iron: the kingdom shall be divided, which nevertheless shall spring from the stock of iron, according as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. 42. And the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay: the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. 43. And whereas you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not adhere to one another, even as iron cannot be mixed with clay. 44. But in the days of those kingdoms, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and His kingdom shall not be delivered to another people: and it shall break in pieces and shall consume all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand forever. 45. According as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain without hands, and broke in pieces the clay, the iron, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, the great God has shown the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is true, and its interpretation is faithful.
46. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel: and he commanded that sacrifices and incense be offered to him. 47. And the king speaking, said to Daniel: Truly your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries: since you have been able to open this secret. 48. Then the king raised Daniel to high honors, and gave him many great gifts: and he made him ruler over all the provinces of Babylon, and chief of the magistrates over all the wise men of Babylon. 49. And Daniel made a request of the king: and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the works of the province of Babylon: but Daniel himself was at the king's gate.
Verse 1: In the Second Year of the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar
1. In the second year. — You will object: in chapter I, verses 1, 4, and 5, it is said that in the third year of Jehoiakim, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel was a youth, and from there for three years, namely until the fourth year of Nebuchadnezzar, he was instructed in the literature of the Chaldeans; how then is it said here that Daniel prophesied in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar, and explained his dream? I answer that this second year of Nebuchadnezzar is not the second of his reign, but of his monarchy, which was the 37th of his reign; and the 29th of the transmigration of Jehoiachin. Daniel however was in the 57th year of his age. For Daniel in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, when he was brought to Babylon, was 20 years old, as I said in the Proem. Therefore this dream of the king, as also that of chapter IV, was interpreted by Daniel in the 57th year of his age, which was the year 573 before Christ.
Note: This is the chronology of the deeds of Nebuchadnezzar: In the first year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, and from there led Jehoiakim captive and bound, together with Daniel and others, to Babylon: but soon he sent Jehoiakim back to his kingdom when he promised tribute and submission. In the 8th year of his reign, he captured and killed King Jehoiakim who had rebelled, and put in his place his son Jehoiachin, whom after three months he removed, fearing that Jehoiachin might imitate his father Jehoiakim and avenge his death, and in his place he made Zedekiah king. In the 13th year of his reign, he destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple, and carried off all the Jews. In the 23rd year, he devastated Coele-Syria, the Ammonites, and the Moabites. So Josephus. In the same year, he began to besiege Tyre, and besieged it for 13 years, at the end of which he captured it in the 35th year of his reign, as I showed on Ezekiel XXIX, 17. In the same 35th year, he conquered Egypt and became monarch. In the 37th year of his reign, which was the second of his monarchy, he saw the dream of this chapter, and the dream of the tree cut down in chapter IV, portending his expulsion from the kingdom and transformation into a beast. In the 38th year of his reign, he was expelled from his kingdom and changed into a beast, and for seven years lived as a beast among beasts. In the 45th year, he was restored to himself and to his kingdom, and died shortly after.
Regarding the name, note: The long and fearsome name Nebuchadnezzar, like most other Chaldean names, is composed of three elements, namely Nabo, who was the god of the Chaldeans, Chad, and Netzar. Thus Nabopolassar is composed of Nabo, Phul, and Assar. Again, he is now called Nebuchadnezzar, now Nebuchadretsar, now Nebuchadletsar: because the Chaldeans often interchange the letters called liquids, so that instead of Letsar, they say Retsar and Netsar. Thus they sometimes call Nabonitus Labonitus. Similarly, for Belial the Greeks say Beliar. So Scaliger, in his book On the Emendation of Times.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR HAD A DREAM. — That this dream was divine and sent by God to represent future things to the king was evident both from the divine instinct that suggested this to the king and urged him to investigate the declaration of this dream, and from Daniel's own assertion in explaining the dream. Fittingly the empires of the world are here represented to the king through a dream: for what are kingdoms, and all the affairs and hopes of mortals, but the dreams of those who are awake? says Philo, drawing on Plato. Hence Theodoret also notes that this statue was shown to the king not in itself, but through an image (whence the Septuagint translates statue as 'image') and phantom, so that God might teach the proud king how great is the vanity of human arrogance, and how changeable are human affairs, and that one kingdom succeeds another, whereas God's kingdom is constant and everlasting. An image, says Theodoret, is a figure of a thing, not the thing itself: therefore the monarchies were shown to Nebuchadnezzar in dreams: because they are nothing more than playful phantoms, having no substance, apart from fictitious pomp: whence this image has a gigantic and altogether chimerical appearance.
Wherefore Philo, in his book That God is Immutable, calls man "a plaything of dreams:" such also are kingdoms, and even more so. For, as St. Basil says, "from truth to figure is a great falling away: here however the monarchies under this image of a man fall and decline from man and his vanity: they are therefore more vain than man himself; for they are like a man who is not real, but imaginary, and a giant represented in a dream, and one composed and stitched together from various figures of things as if from patchwork," as Tertullian says.
Finally, just as the metals seen in this statue of a man are formed in the bowels of the earth by God through the power of the sun: so all kingdoms are earthly, but formed, arranged, and ordered by God, as the Apostle says, Romans XIII, 1. God therefore, like a charioteer, bridles and governs kings and kingdoms. Mystically on this dream of the king, Richard of St. Victor wrote a pious and learned treatise On the Education of the Inner Man.
Verse 2: That the Soothsayers, and the Magicians, and the Sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be Summoned
2. THAT THE SOOTHSAYERS, AND THE MAGICIANS, AND THE SORCERERS, AND THE CHALDEANS BE SUMMONED. — Arias Montanus and others distinguish these differently. But St. Jerome says: "Soothsayers are those who accomplish things by words," or who divine from characters (for this is what the Hebrew chartummim implies, from the root charat; whence the Greek charatto and character), and, as the Septuagint translates, they are epaoidos, that is, enchanters. "Magicians are those who philosophize," for the root haga means to meditate and speculate. "Sorcerers are those who use blood and victims, and often handle the bodies of the dead." Sorcerers therefore divine the future from entrails and corpses, and invoke the shades and souls of the dead. Again, sorcerers in Hebrew are called mecassephim, that is, conjurers who by their incantations and tricks dazzle the eyes of men, so that they seem to change one thing into another, such as were the magicians of Pharaoh in Exodus. So Rabbi Abraham, Maldonatus, and others. "The Chaldeans were astrologers and casters of nativities, whom the common people call mathematicians, who from the inspection of the stars and of the birthday predicted the future for a person."
You ask: Why was Daniel not summoned with these, whose wisdom was then most renowned? I answer: Because the Chaldeans claimed wisdom for themselves and their own, and envied Daniel's fame, and wished to snatch from him this glory of interpreting the king's dream. So Pererius and Pintus. Add that the king had by now almost forgotten Daniel: for 34 years had already passed since Daniel's first arrival before the king. Maldonatus answers differently, namely that the king considered Daniel to be the wisest in all human wisdom, but not in divination and the art of soothsaying or interpreting dreams: for he knew that magicians, soothsayers, and those who divine through dreams had been forbidden to the Jews through Moses, Leviticus XIX, 31, and Deuteronomy XVIII, 10 and 11.
Note that all these things happened by the counsel of God, so that by this means the king might recognize the vanity of his wise men and of the demons, and the truth of Daniel and of God. For that he finally recognized this is clear from chapter III, verses 96 and 100. So St. Augustine, Tract. XI on John, St. Jerome, Rupert, and others.
In Syriac, — that is, in Chaldean, which was their native language, and which was formerly called Syriac, to distinguish it from the Hebrew language. However, this language was different from modern Syriac, and from that Syriac in which the New Testament was written, different, I say, not so much in words and expressions, as in dialect, just as Attic Greek differs from Aeolic and Doric. But why does Daniel say that they spoke in Syriac? I answer: So that no one would be surprised if he reported their words in Syriac, as they were spoken by them, which he does from this verse onward, up to the beginning of chapter VIII; wherefore there is no Chaldean paraphrase here, as there is in the other Prophets, because the text itself here is Chaldean.
Verse 4: O King, Live Forever
4. O KING, LIVE FOREVER. — From this it seems that the Chaldeans, that is, the pagans, had knowledge of the immortality of the soul and of eternal life. Hector Pintus here extensively reviews the testimonies of the pagans on this matter.
5. The thing has gone from me. — "The thing," that is, the matter that I dreamed, meaning: I know that I dreamed from a certain general shadow and appearance of the dream that remained in me, and from the disturbance of my imagination and mind; but in particular what I dreamed I have forgotten, and I want it to be refreshed in my memory and narrated to me by you.
There is a beautiful riddle about dreams, and it is this:
Coming of my own accord I show various figures, I feign various fears, with no distinction from reality. But no one sees me unless he closes his eyes.
Unless you tell me, etc., you shall perish. — In Chaldean it is haddamin teabdun, you shall be cut to pieces, you shall be hacked to bits. He threatens them with death unless they truly reveal the matter, as impostors: for thus Moses, Constantine, Theodosius, and other emperors punished magicians and diviners with death, as a deceitful and pernicious race of men. Note: This demand and decree of the king was in itself unjust: for there is no man, however clever and wise, who can reveal secret dreams, especially past ones, much less their meaning. Yet these things can be known to angels: for they see our phantasms, inasmuch as they are corporeal. On the part of the magicians and Chaldeans, however, it was not unjust: because they, as judicial astrologers and casters of nativities, professed to know hidden things and future events from the inspection of the stars and from magic, even freely contingent ones. For it is not unjust to demand from a professor that very thing which he professes. So Antonius Fernandius, Vision XXI, chapter II.
8. You are buying time, — that is, as the Scholiast says, you are seeking a delay.
Verse 9: THAT YOU HAVE PREPARED A LYING INTERPRETATION, etc.
9. THAT YOU HAVE PREPARED A LYING INTERPRETATION, etc. — that is to say: Unless you narrate to me the very dream itself, I will say that you have also concocted and fabricated the dream's interpretation (which I know from custom you will give, to protect the reputation of your wisdom), and thus deceive me with your fabrications, until the time either appointed in the dream, or interpreted by you (or rather, to be interpreted: for they had not yet interpreted the dream, since it was unknown; but they were asking the king for it, so that when they heard it, they might interpret it) should pass, and this with the purpose that, if you see your inventions which you now fashion in your minds disproved by the event, you might defend them with a new invention and false interpretation. So St. Jerome.
Verse 13: The Wise Men were Being Slain
13. THE WISE MEN WERE BEING SLAIN. — From this it is gathered that some were killed. The officers extended this sentence of the king, being general, also to Daniel and his companions, as learned men and sages, and sought them for death, even though perhaps the king was not thinking about them.
Verse 18: That they Should Seek Mercy from the God of Heaven Concerning This Mystery
18. THAT THEY SHOULD SEEK MERCY FROM THE GOD OF HEAVEN CONCERNING THIS MYSTERY. — He calls the secret of the king's dream a "sacrament": in the next verse he calls the same thing a "mystery": he calls the revelation of the dream "mercy," both because they asked that it be given to them not from their merits but from God's grace; and because their lives depended on this grace and mercy of God, meaning: They prayed to God that He would reveal to them the mystery of the dream, and thus have mercy on their lives, and free them from certain danger, indeed from the decree of death.
Verse 19: Then the Mystery was Revealed to Daniel in a Vision by Night
19. THEN THE MYSTERY WAS REVEALED TO DANIEL IN A VISION BY NIGHT. — Whether this vision was presented by God to Daniel while awake or asleep is uncertain. Maldonatus thinks that Daniel dreamed that the king had seen such a statue as he afterward says the king saw, and at the same time what each part of the dream signified, which sometimes happens to us also while dreaming. Others say that he dreamed the same thing, but afterward while awake it was revealed to him that all these things were true and certain, not dreams. But it is not necessary to say that another vision or confirmation was offered to Daniel while awake, by which he might be made more certain that this dream was sent to him by God and was the same as the king's dream. For whether the prophets received oracles from God in sleep or in waking, by that very fact they were simultaneously made certain by God that these were oracles of God, not imaginary visions or dreams. The meaning of these visions or symbols, however, they sometimes received at the same time, sometimes afterward, especially while awake. For so it happened to Daniel in chapter VII, 16, and chapter VIII, 15, and chapter X, 11, and to Zechariah in chapter IV, 5, and chapter VI, 5.
You ask: Which was the prophet here, the king who saw a dream presaging the future, or Daniel who refreshed and explained it from the Spirit of God? I answer that Daniel was a prophet properly so-called, and a perfect one, but the king was a prophet only incipiently and materially. Hear St. Augustine, Book XII of On the Literal Meaning of Genesis, chapter IX: "To those to whom signs were shown through certain likenesses of corporeal things in the spirit, unless the function of the mind was also engaged to understand them, they were not yet prophets; and he was more a prophet who interpreted what another had seen, than the one who had seen it: and so Joseph was more a prophet, who understood what the seven ears of grain and seven cows meant, Genesis XXXI, than Pharaoh who saw them in dreams. For the spirit of the latter was informed so that he might see, but the mind of the former was illuminated so that he might understand. And hence in the former there was the tongue, in the latter the prophecy: because in the former there was the imagination of things, in the latter the interpretation of the imaginations. He is therefore less a prophet, who sees in the spirit only the signs themselves of the things that are signified, through images of corporeal things; and more a prophet, who is endowed only with the understanding of them: but he is most of all a prophet, who excels in both, so that he both sees in the spirit the significative likenesses of corporeal things, and understands them with the keenness of his mind, as Daniel's excellence was tested and proven, who told the king both the dream that he had seen and what it signified: for both the corporeal images were expressed in his spirit, and the understanding of them was revealed in his mind."
So also St. Gregory, Book XI of the Moralia, chapter XII, who however seems to disagree with St. Augustine in this, that he denies that there is prophecy in the mere vision of images in the mind — understand, perfect prophecy; whereas St. Augustine calls the same thing prophecy, namely incipient, material, and unformed, which St. Gregory does not deny: in substance therefore he agrees with St. Augustine, although he differs in phrasing and manner of speaking. The symbols seen are therefore as it were the matter of prophecy; the form is the interpretation of those same symbols, and through them the foreknowledge and prediction of future things: for in this the nature and essence of prophecy consists.
20. For wisdom (by which He foresees the future) and STRENGTH (by which He disposes, governs, and changes the same things as sweetly as He does powerfully, at His pleasure) ARE HIS (God's). — Whence explaining, he adds:
Verse 21: And he Changes Times and Ages: he Transfers Kingdoms and Establishes them
21. AND HE CHANGES TIMES AND AGES: HE TRANSFERS KINGDOMS AND ESTABLISHES THEM — that is to say, God appoints for each monarchy, kingdom, and king its own time, alternation, limit, and transfer, so that, for example, the monarchy of the Assyrians should stand for so many years, and then be transferred to the Babylonians: this should stand under Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar; then be transferred to the Medes and Persians: this to the Greeks: this to the Romans: this to Christ.
Verse 22: He Reveals Deep and Hidden Things, and Knows what Lies in Darkness
22. HE REVEALS DEEP AND HIDDEN THINGS, AND KNOWS WHAT LIES IN DARKNESS. — Three kinds of things, says Pererius, are knowable by God alone: first, "deep things," that is, supernatural mysteries, such as the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Eucharist. Second, "hidden things," that is, the secret thoughts and intentions of hearts. Third, "things constituted in darkness," that is, future contingent events: for these still flee from the present and from light. AND LIGHT IS WITH HIM — that is to say, God is the very light and uncreated and immense wisdom, knowing and illuminating all things, and He is the source of all angelic and human light and knowledge. See St. Dionysius, On the Divine Names, chapters IV and VII.
Verse 23: You Have Given me Wisdom and Strength
23. YOU HAVE GIVEN ME WISDOM AND STRENGTH —
"You have given," not in reality, but mentally, that is, You have given me to know, or You have declared. For "to give" here signifies a mental act, according to Canon XXIX, meaning: You have revealed to me Your wisdom and strength, which You display in the arrangement and change of kingdoms and empires, as was said in verse 20. Whence explaining, he adds: "And now You have shown me what we asked of You, because You have opened the king's matter to us."
Verse 29: YOU BEGAN TO THINK, etc., WHAT SHOULD COME
29. YOU BEGAN TO THINK, etc., WHAT SHOULD COME TO PASS HEREAFTER — what end your kingdom, namely the kingdom of the Chaldeans, would have, whether and when and to whom it would be transferred. Note: Daniel here reveals to the king the secret thoughts of his heart, and also his past dreams, which he himself had forgotten. For the acts of prophecy broadly understood are various, namely: first, to reveal things that are absent and happening in remote places; second, to lay open the present secrets of the heart; third, to narrate past secrets of thoughts or dreams; fourth, to explain the same, if they are divine and symbolic; fifth, to predict the future; sixth, to disclose God's counsels, decrees, threats, and promises; seventh, to explain the thoughts, words, and deeds of angels. All these things Daniel accomplishes in this book.
30. To me also, not by wisdom — not through wisdom, meaning: This dream of yours, O king, cannot be known or understood through any habit or act of natural knowledge or wisdom, but only through God's revelation, and through that alone I know it. Daniel says this both to attribute the gift of prophecy to God, and to draw the king to the knowledge, faith, and worship of the one true God who reveals these things.
THE WISDOM THAT IS IN ME MORE THAN IN ALL THE LIVING — of this age and century. For Daniel was not wiser than Adam in paradise, or than Solomon: much less than Christ, the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles, etc. Moreover, Daniel said this about himself, not from a spirit of vanity, nor from himself, but moved and impelled by the Holy Spirit, whose mouthpiece and pen he was, as it were.
Morally, learn here that it is not contrary to or against humility to recognize in oneself and confess the gifts of God, but rather it is an act of humility and gratitude. For humility is truth: therefore one truly recognizes the gifts one has, but in such a way as to equally recognize that one does not have them from oneself, but from God, to whom belongs every perfect gift and all wisdom: for these descend from the Father of lights. Wherefore the saint, recognizing these gifts in himself, does not become proud on that account, but rather becomes more humble, and gives more thanks to God, and grounds himself more firmly in the fear of God. For, as St. Gregory says in Homily 9 on the Gospels: "When gifts are increased, the accounts of those gifts also grow. Therefore each one should be that much more humble and more prompt in serving God from his gift, the more he sees himself obligated in rendering account." Thus Paul says of himself in 1 Corinthians XV, 10: "By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace in me has not been void, but I have labored more abundantly than all of them: yet not I, but the grace of God with me." And St. John gives himself this title: "That disciple whom Jesus loved." And: "This is that disciple who gives testimony of these things, and has written these: and we know that his testimony is true," John, last chapter, verse 24. For the Church has approved this testimony and Gospel of his. Thus Moses says of himself: "For Moses was a very meek man above all men that dwelt upon the earth," Numbers XII, 3. Thus St. Francis recognized in himself the wonderful grace and holiness of God; but at the same time recognized that of himself he was the greatest sinner in the world. Wherefore this was his frequent prayer: "Lord, who are You? Who am I? You are the abyss of being, wisdom, holiness, and all good things; I am the abyss of nothingness, ignorance, concupiscence, sins, and all evils." Hence when he had received the sacred stigmata from the crucified Christ, and wished to conceal them, he was commanded to reveal them. For as the Angel says to Tobias in chapter XII, 7: "It is good to hide the secret of a king: but it is honorable to reveal and confess the works of God."
31. Its height was sublime — the Chaldean has: its splendor was outstanding; or, as Pagninus translates, its glory was sublime; Leo Hebraeus, its form was extraordinary, namely because of the radiant gold, silver, bronze, and iron, from which the statue was composed. For it had a golden head, a silver chest, a belly and thighs of bronze, and feet of iron and clay. Whence the Arabic translates: Its head was gold; its chest and arms silver; its belly, thighs and legs iron; and part of the feet was iron, and part potter's clay: and the Syriac: Its head of fine gold: its chest and arms of silver: its belly and thighs of bronze: its legs of iron. "Of gold," that is, made from gold, silver, etc. This statue signified the succession of the four most flourishing empires (which we commonly call monarchies, just as we call the king of Spain and the emperor of the Turks monarchs because of the extent of their kingdoms: though they do not dominate the whole world), of which one immediately succeeded another by overthrowing the preceding one, namely the empires of the Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, and Romans.
He therefore passes over here other kingdoms that were humble, narrow, and obscure, such as the kingdom of the Sicyonians, Athenians, Lydians, etc. Note: These four kingdoms are compared to one statue, not four: because one succeeded another, and was born from it, as it were, just as in a statue one part succeeds and is joined to another. Again, because with respect to the globe of the earth and the time in which they existed, they were one thing: because there is one world and one continuous time, but especially with respect to the supreme monarch, namely God, who governs the world; and with respect to Christ, in whom they ended, they were as it were one kingdom: one, I say, first, by continuous succession; second, by place; third, by end and terminus, as I have already explained.
You ask: Why does Daniel here not mention other kingdoms equally powerful, or even more powerful, such as the Assyrians, Medes, Parthians, Scythians, Tartars, Chinese, Turks? I answer: The first and principal reason is that Nebuchadnezzar was only thinking about his own kingdom, and what would happen after it, and whether, just as he himself had succeeded the Assyrians, so the Medes, Persians, Egyptians, or some others would succeed him, and transfer the empire to another nation. For that he was thinking this is clear from verse 29. To this thought of his, God responded through this dream and through this statue, namely that the Persians would succeed him and the Babylonians, the Macedonians the Persians, the Romans these, and these would end in Christ, who is the King of kings. And so He deals only with these, and passes over and omits the other kingdoms as irrelevant to Nebuchadnezzar's thought and to the matter at hand. Moreover, the Medes are here understood under the Persians: for both together overthrew the empire of the Babylonians. Again, the Assyrians can be understood under the Babylonians: for the Babylonian monarchy was a part and offshoot of the Assyrian monarchy. The second reason is that God wished to draw the king's mind away from all desire for earthly kingdoms, and raise it to the kingdom of Christ: because all those are perishable and mortal; but this one is everlasting, as verse 44 teaches. The third reason is that Daniel and the Jews knew almost only these four empires, and experienced their power and tyranny, when they were afflicted, subjugated, and led into captivity first by the Babylonians, then by the Persians, then by the Greeks, namely the Antiochuses, and finally by the Romans. Therefore Daniel here traces the series of only these, as being the only ones that pertained to himself and to the history of his nation, namely the Synagogue of God.
Verse 33: Part of the Feet was of Iron and Part of Clay
33. PART OF THE FEET WAS OF IRON AND PART OF CLAY. — The legs of this statue were entirely of iron, but the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay. Not as if one foot of the statue were iron and the other clay: or one part of the foot were purely iron and another purely clay, but rather the feet were composed of iron that was not pure but mixed with earth, as is explained in verse 43; like red ochre, from which iron is smelted. And this is proven first, because Daniel expressly says here that iron was mixed with clay in the feet. Second, because in verse 43 this mixture of iron with clay is explained by the intermarriage of various Roman families. Third, because if one part of the feet had been entirely iron and another entirely clay, it would signify not different states of the same empire, but different empires altogether: for clay differs from iron as much as iron differs from bronze, gold, and silver. So Antonius Fernandius, Vision XXI, section VI, Maldonatus and others. The Syriac also supports this when it translates: its feet, some of them iron, and some of them clay, that is, partly iron, partly clay.
35. Reduced as to chaff of a summer threshing floor. — The Chaldean: They were like the chaff of summer threshing floors which the wind carries away, when the grain is beaten out and winnowed on the threshing floors, meaning: All these things which seemed so splendid and solid, like chaff flew into the air and vanished. Such are the kingdoms of the earth: thus passes the glory of the world.
38. You are the head of gold. — Note here, first, the metonymy by which the king is put for the kingdom: "you," that is, your kingdom, is the head of gold. Whence follows: "Another kingdom shall arise." So Theodoret. Second, the kingdom of the Chaldeans is metaphorically called the head, both because it was the first and most ancient, as is clear from Genesis X, 11; and because wisdom flourished in it, as is clear from Isaiah XLVII, 13.
You ask: Why is the Babylonian empire called golden? for that of the Persians afterward seems to have been equally wealthy, or wealthier. Maldonatus answers that by gold, silver, bronze, and iron are signified not the wealth, power, or other qualities of these four kingdoms, but only the series and order of time, meaning: Just as among metals, gold is first in dignity, silver second, bronze third, iron fourth: so among these kingdoms the Babylonian will be first in time, the Persian second, the Greek third, the Roman fourth. The kingdom of the Persians was therefore less than the Chaldean, not in magnitude, nor in power, nor in riches, but in duration and antiquity. For it was the first, and from its beginning under its first king Ninus, until its destruction under Belshazzar, it stood for 1500 years, whereas the Persian empire stood for only 230 years. So also Antonius Fernandius, Vision XI, section IV; where for what our version translates: Another kingdom shall arise less than you, he says it could be translated: Another kingdom shall arise after you, or subsequent: but it is called less by allusion to silver, which is of less value than gold. Less, therefore, means less ancient and less enduring, for gold is more durable than silver, and becomes more precious by the very passage of time, says Pliny, Book XXXIII, chapter III. But the Chaldean ara does not mean subsequent, but less, humbler, inferior, as the Septuagint, our Vulgate, Vatablus, and others generally translate. Whence from ara, the floor is called in Chaldean arit, because in a house it is the lowest and bottom: and the earth is called ara, because in the world it is the lowest and its center.
Wherefore this interpretation, if taken alone, is first of all cold and jejune. Second, in it the analogy is not adequately maintained, for gold and silver are prior to bronze and iron not in time, but in value and dignity; whereas the empires of the Chaldeans and Persians, signified by gold and silver, are said to be prior to the Greek and Roman empires not in dignity, but only in time in this sense. Third, that not only the order of time, but also of quality and excellence is in view here, is clear from what Daniel says of the fourth iron Roman empire in verse 40: "As iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things, so shall it break and crush all these." Secondly, Alcazar in his commentary on Apocalypse chapter IX, verse 5, note 3, page 529, teaches that the era of the Chaldean monarchy was golden, if compared with those that followed; that of the Persians silver; the Greeks bronze; the Romans iron; because these empires gradually declined and went downhill. For in the first Chaldean monarchy, the value and esteem of wisdom flourished, as is clear both from the very ample honor and the prefecture of the empire bestowed on Daniel; from the frequency of wise Magi; and from their skill in astronomy and judicial astrology, which spread from them to other nations: whence astrologers were called Chaldeans. In the second empire of the Persians, delicacies and bodily pleasures thrived. In the third of the Greeks, wealth and riches excelled. In the fourth of the Romans, ambition dominated, that is, the desire for honor, name, and glory. However, the pursuit of wisdom flourished equally, indeed more so, among the Greeks and Romans than among the Chaldeans: conversely, the Romans and Persians excelled in wealth as much as the Greeks: nor was ambition less among the Greek Seleucids, descendants of Alexander, than among the Romans. Thirdly, the same Alcazar, in his treatise On Weights and Measures, page 63, judges that by this distinction of metals the Holy Spirit signifies not a difference in wealth (for this is of less importance in this vision), but in force and strength; namely that the violence of each succeeding monarchy would be greater: and because human affairs generally rush toward the worse, the first monarchy, if compared with the second, could be called golden and would appear more gentle and agreeable; the second however, in relation to the third, silver; the third bronze and more hostile to the human race; the fourth moreover less internally cohesive (just as iron and clay are hard to mix), but stronger than all the rest, and destined to crush all kingdoms most violently. This opinion seems apt, clear, and straightforward; yet some things must be added to it.
I say therefore that the Babylonian empire is called golden, or, as Jeremiah says in chapter LI, 7: "A golden cup," because it was not only wealthy and splendid, but also most fortunate, most glorious, most famous, and most extensive. For thus Daniel explains here saying: "You are the king of kings: and the God of heaven has given you the kingdom, and strength, and power, and glory, etc. You therefore are the head of gold." For in a very short time, having subjugated the Syrians, Jews, Ammonites, Moabites, and Egyptians, who were then the most powerful, and who from the time of Josiah had contended with the Assyrians and Babylonians for empire and supremacy, it became most extensive. Whence Jeremiah predicts that all nations, namely those then known and famous, would be subject to Nebuchadnezzar and would serve him, chapter XXVII, 7, and Habakkuk chapter I, 10: "He shall triumph over kings, and tyrants shall be his laughingstock," meaning: They shall be to him a jest and contempt. And Daniel chapter IV, 19: "You, O king, have grown great, and your greatness has grown up to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the whole earth." Wherefore Isaiah chapter XLVII, 7, calls Babylon the mistress of kingdoms, and chapter XIV, 19, glorious and illustrious among kingdoms, and Jeremiah chapter L, 21, calls her the land of rulers, and verse 23, the hammer of the whole earth, about which see more at chapter IV, 26. Indeed, almost the whole prophecy of Jeremiah and Ezekiel is about Nebuchadnezzar and his dominion over the Jews and all nations, and this by the will of God. By God therefore he seems to have been virtually created monarch.
For the name and fame which they once had, they always retain, and transmit it to posterity and to future ages. Thus in this age there are men outstanding in mathematics, theology, philosophy, and other arts and sciences who surpass the ancients, yet they do not obtain the name and fame of the ancients, since those were already long since established: for every thing grows cheap by use and abundance. So Babylon, because it was first, obtained the name of a golden kingdom, and was set up for posterity as a model of worldly glory: whence Rome also is called Babylon, Apocalypse XVIII, 2. Secondly, it is called golden because the Babylonians were most zealous for gold, and exported and accumulated it from the nations they conquered, just as from Judea they had carried off all the gold and silver vessels, even those of the temple, which were very numerous and of the greatest value. Daniel, being a Jew, has this in view here, signifying that Solomon's treasures and the gold and wealth of the Jews had been transferred to Babylon. Thirdly, because the power and glory of the Babylonians grew not so much by arms, toils, and military strength, as did that of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans (who fought against stronger nations already experienced in warfare), but by the inexperience and cowardice of their enemies in war, as well as by wealth and luxury, and it was on this account illustrious, splendid, and famous throughout the world. Hence Jeremiah, chapter LI, 7, says of the Babylonians: "Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand, making all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine, and therefore they are disturbed." To which St. John alludes, Apocalypse XIV, 8: for "the golden cup" signifies wealth and luxury, and consequently the idolatry which the Babylonians, triumphing over other nations, introduced. Wherefore this kingdom and era is called golden: because under it the nations lived quietly and happily in great peace with an abundance of wealth and all things: for peace usually follows these. Hence this kingdom in chapter IV, 17, was represented to the king himself by God through "a tree, tall and strong, whose height reached to heaven, and the sight of it to all the earth: and its branches most beautiful, and its fruit exceeding great, and food for all in it, with the beasts of the field dwelling under it and the birds of the air abiding in its branches." Truly Ovid says in Metamorphoses XIV:
No way is impassable to valor.
You object: In the time of the Babylonians, the kingdom of the Medes under Cyaxares was also wealthy and famous, whom Herodotus asserts to have ruled over the Assyrians and all Asia. Pererius responds that the kingdom of the Medes at this time was narrow and distressed: for Cyaxares began to reign in the 14th year of Nebuchadnezzar, and reigned for 40 years; but during the first 28 years of his reign, the Scythians invaded and held Asia, namely until almost the end of Nebuchadnezzar's life and reign: for he reigned 44 years. Cyaxares therefore only in the last 12 years of his reign, during which he survived Nebuchadnezzar, having craftily killed almost all the Scythians, began to extend and make illustrious his empire, as Herodotus says.
From this vision of Daniel, the pagans derived the fable of the first golden age, the second silver, the third bronze, the fourth iron, which Ovid in Book I of the Metamorphoses so graphically depicts:
The golden age was sown first, which with no avenger Of its own accord, without law, cultivated good faith and righteousness. There was no helmet, no sword; without the use of soldiers Nations in safety enjoyed soft leisure. Spring was eternal. ... Soon the earth, untilled, bore fruits. Rivers of milk, rivers of nectar now flowed, And golden honey dripped from the green holm-oak.
Then he proceeds from the golden to the silver:
After Saturn was sent to the dark underworld, The world was under Jupiter, and the silver race succeeded, Inferior to gold, more precious than tawny bronze; Then first the air was scorched with dry heats: Then first they entered houses — their houses were caves: Then first the seeds of grain in long furrows Were buried, and oxen groaned pressed under the yoke.
Then he passes to the bronze and iron:
After that came the third, the bronze race, Fiercer in disposition, and readier for dreadful arms, Yet not wicked; the last is of hard iron. Immediately every crime burst into this age of baser vein: Modesty, truth, and faith fled. In their place came fraud and deceit, Treachery and violence, and the wicked love of possessing. Wealth is dug up, incentives to evil. And now harmful iron, and gold more harmful than iron Had come forth; war comes forth, which fights with both. Men live by plunder; the guest is not safe from his host. Nor father-in-law from son-in-law; even brotherly love is rare. Astraea, last of the heavenly ones, left the earth.
THE BIRDS OF THE AIR ALSO HE HAS GIVEN INTO YOUR HAND. — This is a hyperbole, for it exaggerates the king's power: for he who rules the earth in his own way also rules over beasts and birds: because he can hunt and capture them.
39. Another kingdom inferior to you. — In Chaldean, ara minnach, that is, lower and humbler than you, which, while you reign, is already lower, but shortly afterward will grow under Cyrus and become superior and will overthrow your empire under Belshazzar. This is the kingdom of the Persians and Medes, which is therefore designated in verse 32 by two arms: because they were once two kingdoms, which were afterward united into one, whose king was Cyrus, who was born of a Median mother and a Persian father; and, as Theodoret says, by the right arm is signified the paternal lineage, by the left the maternal. Again, because by arms, that is by strength and much toil, Cyrus throughout his whole life acquired this kingdom for himself and his Persians.
You ask: Why is this kingdom compared to silver in verse 32? I answer: Because it abounded in silver and was most wealthy.
For besides the obvious and public treasures, God promises Cyrus hidden treasures, Isaiah XLV, 3. These riches are well known. For first, Pliny, Book XXXIII, chapter III, says that Cyrus extracted from conquered Asia "five hundred thousand talents of silver," that is, three hundred million. Second, they are evident from the most sumptuous banquet of Ahasuerus, the husband of Esther, in Esther chapter I. Third, from the innumerable army of Xerxes, with which he covered land and sea: for there were more than two million men in it. Fourth, because the king of Persia always had at the head of his bedchamber thirty million in gold, which was called the king's pillow; and at his feet eighteen million in silver: Athenaeus is the witness at the beginning of Book XII. Fifth, because the Persian treasury which Alexander seized amounted to 180,000 talents, according to Strabo, that is, one hundred and eight million. Nevertheless this Persian empire was inferior to the Chaldean empire in happiness and glory, as silver is inferior to and yields to gold. For this is what Daniel expressly says, verse 39: "After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you." Nebuchadnezzar therefore surpassed Cyrus and his successors in kingdom and glory. For to pass over other things, Cyrus its founder was most unhappily slain by Tomyris, queen of the Scythians. Xerxes, beaten and routed in Greece by a few, suffered an infamous defeat, so that he had to flee alone in a skiff. Darius Codomannus, most miserably routed several times by Alexander, was finally stripped of both kingdom and life.
AND A THIRD KINGDOM OF BRONZE, WHICH SHALL RULE OVER ALL THE EARTH. — This is the kingdom of Alexander and the Greeks: for Alexander dominated nearly all the known world, so that under him the earth itself, as it were bending, fell silent, as if tacitly acknowledging him as lord. I say the known world: for Alexander did not visit or conquer the Chinese, Peruvians, Mexicans, etc. So St. Jerome and others generally. Therefore Osorius, and following him Prosper in his book On Predictions and Promises, Part II, chapter XXXIII, wrongly understood by the bronze belly and thighs the Carthaginian empire.
You ask first: Why is it called bronze? St. Jerome answers, because bronze is not only strong and hard but also most resonant and sonorous. Such was the fame and glory of Alexander and the Greeks, not only on account of their power and bravely waged wars, but also on account of their wisdom and eloquence, which flourished among the Greeks. Bronze, therefore, first signifies the bronze trumpets, helmets, breastplates, and arms of Alexander, namely the blare of trumpets and the crash and din of bronze weapons, amid which he constantly moved, and in which he delighted as if in the sweetest music: for he was most warlike, breathing nothing but arms and Mars. For the ancients used bronze weapons instead of iron ones: for the use of bronze is more ancient than that of iron. Hence Hesiod:
With bronze they toiled, those ages not yet knowing iron.
So also Homer teaches that the weapons and arms of Achilles and the Greeks were of bronze: which the maiden Combe first discovered in Euboea, whence it was named Chalcis: for chalkos in Greek means bronze. So Caelius Rhodiginus teaches from Eustathius and others, Book X of Antiquities, chapter L, where he also adds that Combe was the daughter of Aesopus. Hence also Gabriel the archangel, in Daniel X, 6, had arms, thighs, and legs like the appearance of gleaming bronze: because in this form he represented the fortitude and splendor of arms of the Maccabees. So also God, about to fight against the Jews in the cherubic chariot, clothed His body in electrum, that is, orichalcum, which is the finest and most brilliant bronze, as I explained on Ezekiel I, 27. Second, resonant bronze signifies the eloquence and oratory of the Greeks. Third, sonorous bronze signifies the fame and glory of Alexander's deeds, which suddenly resounded throughout the whole world, and so struck all people that they vied with one another to submit to him or make an alliance with him. He was therefore resonant bronze and a cymbal ringing throughout the whole world; whence Lysippus also sculpted him in bronze, as I shall soon relate.
Concerning his fame, Curtius says: "So great a terror of his (Alexander's) name had invaded the whole world that all nations fawned upon him as upon a king already destined for them." Hence also in 1 Maccabees I, 3, it is said that in his presence the whole earth was silent, as if it had heard the crash of a collapsing world. Wherefore Tertullian truly said of him, in his book On the Cloak, "he alone was less than his own fame." As for wisdom and eloquence, Athens alone, which received from all the epithet of "learned," is an abundant witness. Cicero, in his Oration for Flaccus: "The Athenians are present," he says, "from whom humanity, learning, religion, crops, laws, and statutes are believed to have arisen and been distributed to all lands." Plato in the Protagoras calls Athens "the city-hall of wisdom." Remarkable indeed is what Tertullian writes in his book On the Soul, chapter XX: "It is reported," he says, "that at Thebes men are born dull and stupid; at Athens most keen in thinking and speaking, where near Colytus boys speak a month earlier with precocious tongue. Indeed Plato in the Timaeus asserts that when Minerva was founding that city, she looked to nothing other than the nature of the region, which promised such talents." A modern interpreter of Plato translates it thus: "The goddess designated a dwelling-place for you by choosing a location in which you were born, having observed the temperate climate of the seasons of the year in it, that it would produce the wisest men."
Now hear in detail about the clanging of this bronze, that is, Alexander's fame and glory. About twelve extraordinary qualities and remarkable praises shone forth in Alexander, which made his name celebrated among all nations. I have collected them from Plutarch in his Life, from Q. Curtius, Book X, and from Justin.
First, there were presages and portents of his greatness: for first, on the night before his mother Olympias conceived him, while Jupiter was thundering, her womb seemed to be touched from heaven, and a great fire was kindled from the stroke, which soon breaking out into flames was scattered far and wide. Second, Philip his father saw in a dream that his wife was sealed with a seal bearing the image of a lion, by which Aristander said it was portended that she had conceived a spirited and lion-like child. Third, a serpent was seen stretched alongside the body of sleeping Olympias. Fourth, Alexander was born on the very day when the temple of Diana at Ephesus was burned: whence the magi exclaimed that a great plague and ruin had been born that day for the destruction of Asia. But Hegesias of Magnesia declared: "Rightly did the temple of Diana burn, since she herself was occupied in acting as midwife at Alexander's birth." Fifth, Philip his father on the same day received three most auspicious messages: first, that the Illyrians had been routed by Parmenion; second, that he himself had won at the Olympics in horse racing; third, that Alexander had been born. Whence the seers declared that the child, at whose birth a triple victory had concurred, would be invincible. All these things are from Plutarch. Sixth, Justin adds, Book XII: "On the day he was born," he says, "two eagles sat all day long on the top of his father's house, an omen of a double empire: presaging Europe and Asia." Seventh, when he was marching against Darius, an eagle was seen flying above his head and directing its course toward the enemy, as Plutarch and Curtius relate. Eighth, while he was besieging Tyre, Apollo appeared to the Tyrians in dreams saying that he was going over to Alexander: for the things being done in the city were not to his liking. Ninth, at the same place a Satyr appeared to Alexander in play, and when Alexander tried to seize him, the Satyr slipped away, but finally after long chasing came into his hands. Whence the seers, dividing the name Sa-tyrus, answered: Tyre will be yours, for sa in Greek means yours.
SECOND, there was his fiery constitution and burning temperament. From this fiery temperament of body he had not only a spirit to match, but also a fragrance of scent, which he breathed forth from his mouth, skin, and whole body. For this reason, in hot regions frankincense, perfumes, and spices are produced, because the heat of the sun cooks them there so that they ignite and breathe out fiery vapors. Hence also his body on the seventh day after death was found uncorrupted by any decay or discoloration, but whole and with a lively countenance, as Curtius attests.
THIRD, there was in Alexander a remarkable swiftness: for he began in the twentieth year of his age, and conquered everything by the thirty-third year of his age, when he died. Hence Apelles painted Alexander like a thunderbolt, most swiftly pervading and striking everything.
FOURTH, there was in him a constant good fortune. For he had scarcely forty thousand soldiers, and only seventy talents for their pay, and provisions for thirty days; yet he visited no nation, enemy, or city that he did not conquer, and finally overthrew Darius himself, who had a million soldiers. Whence he inspired such confidence in his soldiers that, in his presence, they feared no enemy's weapons, even unarmed, says Justin. Curtius, Book X, writes of him thus: "It must be confessed, however, that though he owed very much to valor, he owed more to fortune, which alone of all mortals he had in his power. How often did she call him back from death? How often did she protect him with constant good fortune when he rashly rushed into dangers? She also set the same end to his life as to his glory. The fates waited for him until, having conquered the East and reached the Ocean, he had accomplished everything that mortality could grasp." Alexander himself, seeking an oracle from the prophet of Apollo at Delphi, heard from him: "You are invincible, my son."
FIFTH, there was in him the vastness of his empire. For he subjugated all of Asia, Egypt, Syria, India, and a good part of Europe. Hence Lysippus the sculptor, to signify the vastness of Alexander's empire, fashioned Alexander in bronze with upturned face gazing at the sky, with these verses inscribed beneath:
The bronze figure gazing up to heaven, hear what he says: Jupiter, I have claimed the earth for myself; you claim heaven.
Wherefore Alexander, having received the empire, ordered himself to be called king of the lands and of the world, says Justin, Book XII. Although in reality he neither visited nor subjugated many nations; indeed, hearing Democritus discoursing on the infinity of worlds, he groaned that he had not even subjugated one whole world.
SIXTH, there was in him incredible mental vigor, shrewdness of intellect, courage of spirit for any difficulty, and contempt for dangers and death. "His daring surpassed his fortune, and his valor his strength, and he considered nothing impregnable to the bold or fortified against the courageous," says Plutarch. "He attacked the most perilous situations, and wherever he saw the densest enemy fighting most fiercely, he always threw himself in, and wished the dangers to be his own, not his soldiers'," says Justin. At Malli, among the most warlike of the Indians, he was the first to scale the wall by ladders, where, poising his body, he leaped down into the midst of the enemy. The barbarians, thinking they saw some radiance or apparition from his flashing weapons, fled. But when they saw him alone with two armor-bearers, they rushed upon him and wounded him: leaning against the wall and fighting in a circle, he sustained the attack of all, and slew a barbarian who was thrusting a sword at him, until the Macedonians came to his rescue.
Seventh, was his temperance. When the finest dishes and cooks were sent to him, he replied: "He had no need of these, that better cooks had been given him by his tutor Leonidas, namely for lunch a march before daylight, and for dinner a light lunch. He himself," he said, "used to go to the wardrobe where my bedding was stored, and inspecting the clothes, would remove anything that my mother might have added for softness or luxury." Let the tutors of princes take note of this. Wherefore, being an enemy of idleness, if he was not making war, he hunted: in which pursuit he killed a great lion; seeing which, someone exclaimed: "Bravo, Alexander, that was a fight with a lion for the kingdom!" Seeing the perfume bottles, alabaster jars, beds, tables, and rooms of oils and unguents of the now-defeated Darius, and turning his eyes to his men: "So this," he said, "is what it meant to be king?"
EIGHTH, was his continence. "He considered it more kingly to master himself," says Plutarch, "than to conquer enemies: he did not touch the most beautiful daughters and wife of Darius, nor did he know a woman before marriage, except Barsine." Concerning other beautiful women he would say jokingly: "What great pains to the eyes are Persian women!" And to rival the beauty of those women, displaying himself as a conqueror of lust, he passed them by as though they were lifeless images of statues. Hearing that some women had been violated by his men, he wrote to Parmenion to punish and kill them as beasts born for the corruption of mankind: "For I," he said, "not only have not seen the wife of Darius, or thought of seeing her; but I have not even endured to hear men speaking of her beauty." He used to say: "I recognize that I am mortal from sleep and intercourse; for from the same weakness of nature come weariness and pleasure;" and that intercourse seems to be a minor form of epilepsy, as Democritus said. Surely this was admirable in Alexander above all other things.
Ninth, was his magnanimity: for he was "endowed with a greatness of soul beyond human power," says Justin. As a boy, when asked by attendants, since he was swift of foot, whether he wished to compete in running at the Olympics, he said: "Certainly, if I am to have kings for opponents." He grieved over his father Philip's victories, as though Philip were snatching from him the glory of those victories. He mounted and tamed Bucephalus, a fierce and untamed horse that would admit no rider; then his father said to him: "Seek, my son, a kingdom equal to yourself: for Macedonia does not hold you." He placed glory before kingdom and life. When water was offered to him in a helmet during extreme thirst, he refused it: "For if I alone drink," he said, pointing to his soldiers, "these will lose heart." To Darius seeking peace he wrote back: "I grant it on condition that you consent to be considered second to me, not equal. Therefore either make your surrender today, or prepare for battle tomorrow." He rejoiced to engage all of Darius's forces, fearing a long delay in the war if Darius should divide his army.
Tenth, was his justice, fairness, and generosity toward his men. During trials, while the accuser spoke, he would cover one ear with his hand, saying "that it should be kept intact for the defendant." When dying and asked whom he would make heir to his kingdom, he answered: "The most worthy. So great was the fairness of that great soul that, though he was leaving behind his son Hercules, his brother Arrhidaeus, and his pregnant wife Roxane, forgetting ties of kinship, he named the most worthy as heir: just as though it were wrong for anyone other than a brave man to succeed a brave man, or for the wealth of so great a kingdom to be left to any but the proven," says Justin. When about to go to war, he distributed estates to his men. Perdiccas said to him: "What have you left for yourself, O king?" He replied: "My hopes." Then Perdiccas: "We too who follow your auspices will share in these." When Darius's captured wife, mistaking Hephaestion for Alexander, had greeted him as king, and blushed upon realizing her error, Alexander encouraged her: "You did not err," he said, "for this man too is Alexander." He paid his soldiers' debts to their creditors from his own funds; the amount was ten thousand talents less 103. He assigned the pay of deceased parents to their children.
Eleventh, there was in him a remarkable clemency toward the conquered, and fidelity toward all, even enemies. Mazaeus, formerly Darius's governor and one who had fought for him against Alexander, after Darius's defeat was given a greater governorship by Alexander: "Once," he said, "there was one king, Darius; now you have made many Alexanders." Alexander asked Porus, the king of India, whom he had defeated and captured, "how he wished to be treated? Royally," said Porus. When Alexander added, did he wish for nothing else: Everything, he said, is contained in the word royally. Therefore he restored his kingdom to him under the title of a satrapy, and added a new region to it besides. Taxiles, likewise a king in India, fearing war from Alexander, said to him: "What need is there of wars between us? If I am richer, I will gladly share with you: if poorer, I do not refuse to accept a kindness from you with a grateful heart." Delighted by this speech, and embracing him, Alexander said: "Do you think to escape battle by this courtesy? By no means; for I will compete with you and fight it out with kindnesses, lest you surpass me in generosity." Wherefore, having received gifts and given more in return, he finally bestowed a thousand talents of silver upon him. Moreover, he treated the mother, wife, and daughters of Darius so kindly and magnificently that Darius on his deathbed gave him thanks and congratulated himself on such a successor. He married one of Darius's daughters himself, and gave another in marriage to Hephaestion, his closest friend. Wherefore, when Alexander died, all mourned his death as they would a parent's, and Darius's own mother killed herself by starvation, about which see more at chapter VIII, 8.
Twelfth, was his learning, and his love and favor toward men of letters. Among others, he had Aristotle as his teacher for five years, to whom he later wrote: "I would rather excel in the knowledge of the best things than in power." He honored Aristotle no less than a parent, "because by the latter's gift he lived, by the former's he lived nobly." He sent Xenocrates fifty talents. He always kept Homer's Iliad placed under his pillow together with his dagger; and finding among Darius's treasures a most precious casket, he placed it therein. He venerated Diogenes and said of him: "If I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes." He also honored the philosophers Anaxarchus, Dandamis, and Calanus.
Of these, Calanus placed before his eyes this mirror of his empire. He threw a dry and shrunken hide into the middle, and stepped on one edge. Pressed at one spot, the rest rose up. Then going around and pressing with his feet at every part, he showed the same thing happened, until he stood in the middle: then all the parts lay still. By this symbol he signified that the center of the kingdom should be most firmly held, and that Alexander should not wander far from it. Remarkable too was his debate with ten Gymnosophists, whom he had captured as enemies in war. He proposed obscure questions to them, threatening death to whichever answered badly: he appointed the eldest as judge. He asked the first, "whether the living or the dead were more numerous? The living, he said, for those who are dead no longer exist." He asked the second: "Whether the earth or the sea produces greater beasts? The earth, he said, since the sea is a part of it." The third: "What animal is the most cunning? That which man has not yet discovered, he said." The fourth: "Why did you incite Sabbas to rebellion against me? So that he might live nobly, he said, or perish wretchedly." The fifth: "Whether he thought day or night came first? Day, he said, by one day." When the king wondered at this, he added that of necessity the answers to entangled questions must themselves be entangled. The sixth: "By what means might one make himself most beloved? If being most powerful, he said, he were not fearsome." The seventh: "How might a mortal become a god? If he does something, he said, that is denied to man." The eighth: "Whether life or death is stronger? Life, he said, which endures so many evils." The ninth: "How long is it fitting for a man to live? As long, he said, as he considers it better to live than to die." Then turning finally to the judge, who was the tenth, he ordered him to pronounce sentence. When he said that one had answered more sluggishly than another: Then you, he said, shall die first, who judge so. By no means, O king, said the other, unless you lie, who said first that you would kill the one who answered worst. So he dismissed them honored with gifts. So Plutarch.
To these add external qualities, for first, there was in him a great terror of his name, and from that a great reverence, admiration, and submission of all people toward him, which compelled all nations, even the most remote, to send ambassadors to him for the sake of peace. Second, he corrected the customs of the barbarians and made them civilized and humane. Third, he founded Alexandria and other cities, up to seventy. Fourth, he trained and left behind him the most outstanding generals, as his own pupils: Seleucus, Antigonus, Ptolemy, Arrhidaeus, Cassander, etc., and he had very many most weighty and eloquent writers of his deeds. Alexander was therefore like a miracle and portent of nature, and God seems to have wished to show in him how far nature could extend itself: for in Alexander nature put forth, as it were, the utmost of its power. If this nature had been adorned with equal grace and directed by it, what would it not have accomplished? But the Lord did not choose these, but the weak things of the world, the ignoble, and things that are not, to confound the strong and glorious, so that no flesh should glory in His sight. Now therefore the power of divine grace is often perfected in the weakness of our nature. For through Christ, God has raised us higher, and willed that we use and rely on the powers of grace rather than of nature, so that we follow the leading of the Spirit, not of sense, not of the soul, not of natural instinct.
Wherefore we see that in Christianity tender and young virgins and boys were, through the grace of Christ, stronger than Alexander, and overcame not only kings and tyrants, but also the rack, swords, fires, lions, and whatever in the world was either attractive in appearance or terrible in harshness. Again, God willed Alexander to be set before the faithful as a mirror and whetstone of virtue. For if Alexander accomplished such things by the powers of nature alone, what ought we to do, who are equipped with the powers of grace, which far surpasses nature? If the desire for vain and perishable glory drove Alexander to such heroic deeds, how much more should we undertake and aim for difficult things, for whom the prize of a heavenly and immortal kingdom, and the eternal weight of glory, is constantly set before our eyes? This was Alexander's maxim, as Curtius attests, Books VII and VIII: "Nature has set nothing so high that valor cannot reach it." Wherefore, besieging in the region of Sogdiana an inaccessible rock held by thirty thousand armed men, and mocked by Arimazes the commander of the rock, who asked: "Can Alexander fly?" he replied: "I shall make you believe next night that the Macedonians can fly." And so he had three hundred of the bravest young men, roused by great promises, secretly climb from behind over the precipitous and pathless rocks to the summit of the rock; and so he seized the rock and crucified Arimazes. What now should the noble soldier of Christ consider difficult, impossible, or beyond reach, to whom Christ proposes this maxim: "Nature has set nothing so high that the grace of Christ cannot reach it? Be confident, do not fear: behold, I am with you," etc.; when he beholds and hears a Christian Alexander, Paul I mean: "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me;" and: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor any other creature," etc.
You ask secondly: Why is this kingdom in verse 33 compared to the belly and thighs? I answer first: Because, just as the belly lies beneath the chest and arms, so Alexander's kingdom immediately succeeded that of the Persians. Second, just as the belly draws all food to itself, but immediately distributes and divides it through the limbs: so Alexander conquered very many kingdoms, but immediately upon dying divided them among his generals. Third, the belly denotes Alexander's notable intemperance and drunkenness, about which Curtius writes in Book V, which was the cause of his death. For when Alexander, toasting Proteas, the most bibulous Macedonian, with a huge cup (holding two congii), had drained it, Proteas took it and in turn toasted Alexander with the same, who again drank it off but could not bear it: for soon the cup slipping from his hands, he sank back upon his cushion, and seized with illness, he collapsed, took to his bed, and died, his own murderer. Athenaeus is the witness, Books X and XI. Fourth, the thighs signify the lust not so much of Alexander as of his successors the Ptolemies in the kingdom of Egypt, who had the custom of marrying their own sisters. For Alexander was not given to lust, because he was given to drink: for drunkards, just as they stupify the senses with wine, so also they stupify and dull the appetite for sexual pleasure: moreover, they dilute and dissipate the generative seed with wine.
Verse 40: And the Fourth Kingdom Shall be as Iron
40. AND THE FOURTH KINGDOM SHALL BE AS IRON. — This fourth kingdom, says St. Jerome and others generally, is that of the Romans, renowned for arms and strength, which in verse 33 is likened to legs: because it was the last and firmest, and it had two legs because this empire was divided between several: first, between two Consuls; second, between the Duumvirs; third, between two emperors, one in the East, the other in the West; one at Constantinople, the other ruling at Rome or in Germany. Hence its insignia is a two-headed eagle: hence in the camps the standard-bearer was called the eagle-bearer, and in common parlance, by contracted word, alfiero. The Poet rightly says:
Remember, Roman, to rule the nations by your command. These shall be your arts: to impose the custom of peace, To spare the conquered, and to war down the proud.
Moreover, iron denotes both the military might and the hardiness of the Romans in continual labors, whether of the fields or of arms, by which they acquired an invincible strength of body and spirit.
Hear what Virgil sings of the exercises of the ancient Latins, Aeneid Book IX:
A hardy race from the stock: we bring our newborns first To the rivers, and harden them in fierce frost and waters, namely icy waters. Boys keep vigil in the hunt, and tire out the forests: Their sport is to rein horses and stretch the bow with arrows. But the youth, patient of toil and accustomed to little, Either subdues the earth with harrows, or shakes towns with war. Every age is spent in iron, and with the spear reversed We goad the backs of the oxen: nor does slow old age Weaken the powers of the spirit, or change its vigor: We press our gray hair under the helmet, and ever It is our delight to bring home fresh plunder, and to live on spoil.
Scipio Africanus, as recorded in Epitome LVII: "He expelled two thousand camp-followers from the camp: he cut off all the instruments of luxury: he kept the soldiers at work every day: he compelled them to carry thirty days' grain and seven stakes." Spartianus writes of Pescennius that he ordered that on campaign no one should drink wine, but all should be content with vinegar. He likewise forbade bakers from following the camp, ordering everyone to live on hardtack. Every soldier therefore carried both arms and at least half a month's food. Moreover, Roman soldiers were carpenters, shipwrights, etc.; and they handled swords and spears no less skillfully than axes, mattocks, and sickles. Witnesses to this are Caesar's soldiers, who, as Caesar himself says, cut timber from which they built bridges, ships, and siege engines for attacking cities. They themselves reaped grain from the fields and carried it to the camp. Their beds were of straw, whence Varro in Book IV says they were called segestria. They instituted gladiatorial games, so that having handled fights, iron, and wounds in the arena, and indeed having received them, when fighting in the battle line they would not fear the enemy nor shrink in horror from wounds and blood, says Capitolinus in the Life of Maximus. See more in Lipsius, On the Roman Military, and our Valtrinus, On the Roman Military, Book I, chapters III and IV.
IT SHALL BREAK AND CRUSH ALL THESE — through the armies which they maintained in individual provinces to keep the peoples in obedience. Whence Tertullian, Book I Against the Jews, chapter VII: "What shall I say of the Romans," he says, "who fortify their empire with the garrisons of their legions?" And so they constantly maintained thirty-two legions scattered among the nations, of which eight were in Germany, others in Spain, Asia, Africa, etc., as Cardinal Baronius and others teach. For the nations among which they were stationed, and neighboring ones, they would crush and break. These legions they maintained with tribute, which they imposed upon the provinces; and to collect it and keep the provinces in order, they sent Praetors and Proconsuls into them. Whence Cicero commends two things to his brother Quintus in the governorship of Asia, namely the care of the tax collectors for collecting tribute, and the garrisons of soldiers for keeping the provincials in line. With these two instruments the Romans crushed all kingdoms and subjected them to themselves, so that Martial magnificently but truly said:
Rome, goddess of lands and nations, To whom nothing is equal and nothing second.
And Livy, Book I: "No republic," he says, "was ever greater, or more virtuous, or richer in good examples." And Claudian:
Whose heights the air embraces nothing higher on earth, Whose extent no eye can span, whose beauty no heart, Whose praise no voice can compass; which in the gleam of metal Raises its rival pinnacles to the neighboring stars: Parent of arms and laws, who pours forth upon all Her empire.
Hence those common sayings: "The Romans lords of the world; Rome the head of the world, the wonder of the world, the epitome of the world, the citadel of nations and kings, the light of the peoples." Finally Propertius:
Let all wonders yield to the Roman land, Nature has placed here whatever existed anywhere.
And Plutarch: "The Roman empire," he says, "was like an anchor to a world tossed by waves."
Verse 41: The Kingdom Shall be Divided
41. THE KINGDOM SHALL BE DIVIDED. — The Rabbis think a fifth empire is signified here, namely that of the Turks. But they err: for Daniel here designates only four, and says of the fourth that in it iron will be mixed with clay. Again, when he says of the same: "The kingdom shall be divided," he plainly means it will be the same kingdom, but divided within itself. Third, when he says of the same in verse 42: "The kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken," he clearly indicates that he signifies not another new empire, but various states of the same empire. Away therefore with the Jews who interpret the divided Roman empire as the Romans and Turks: for the Turks are not a part but sworn enemies of the Roman empire. I say therefore that the Roman empire is here predicted to be "divided," that is, differing in strength, and also dissenting and discordant, as when the plebs rose against the senate, Sulla against Marius, Caesar against Pompey, Augustus against Antony, and others thereafter against others: many also seized the empire. Whence the toes of the feet signify the inequality of princes, when there are many, while some who are greater, that is more powerful, oppress the lesser: and these in turn envy the more powerful. Especially was this kingdom divided, and therefore weakened, when various nations withdrew from its obedience and created their own kings, as the Spaniards, Poles, English, French, etc. did. Moreover, these kingdoms were and are unequal, some larger, some smaller, just as the toes of the feet are unequal, some larger, some smaller. Again, from two legs arise ten toes, and in them the entire statue ends: because the Roman empire at the end of the world will be divided into ten kings, none of whom will be king of the Romans, just as no toe is a leg. For the extremity of the toes contains the end of an empire that is failing and, as it were, expiring.
Hence in the beginning this kingdom was iron and strong, then clay-like and "broken," that is, easily breakable, namely when the Romans wore themselves out in civil wars; and when the Goths, Alans, and Vandals attacked it so powerfully that the Romans were often forced to beg peace from them, and even to seek their help against other enemies of the empire. So St. Jerome. See Paul Orosius, Book VII of History, chapter XXII. And at the end of the world it will be entirely overthrown by ten kings.
Note: This division arose "from the stock" of iron: Vatablus translates, from the firmness, that is, from the sole of the statue's foot, which was iron. Secondly and better, translate it from the stock, that is, from the root of the iron foot; so the Greek: for phyla signifies root: and in Chaldean nitsebet signifies planting. Whence the Complutensian Bible reads here, from the planting of iron. Better the Roman, from the stock of iron: for plantaria, as Servius attests, are the plants themselves which, having sprung from seed, are transferred with their roots and native soil from one place to another, meaning: From the strength and riches, which were like iron, that is, the might of the Romans, as from a root will sprout their ambition, and thence discord, since neither Caesar could endure Pompey as superior, nor Pompey Caesar as equal, and just as Alexander replied to the envoys of Darius who offered peace and a division of the kingdom: As the world does not bear two suns, so neither two monarchs; either Caesar or nothing. Thus at Rome, from aristocracy was born tyranny. This is what Petronius Arbiter sings in the Satyricon:
The victorious Roman now held the whole world, Wherever sea, wherever land, wherever both stars run.
Then he teaches that discord tore apart the empire's strength:
For the whole palace of heaven Split apart, collapsed. Trumpets roared, and Discord with torn hair Raised her Stygian head to the gods above,
ordering Rome to be torn apart by factions. And he concludes:
On earth was done whatever Discord commanded.
Wherefore the ancients dedicated the pomegranate to Juno, who was considered the patroness of kingdoms, and which was seen in her hand at Mycenae, while in her other hand she bore a scepter. For just as in a pomegranate, under one outer rind many seeds are united within: so the unity of the state holds together many citizens, whom the diversity of families distinguishes within. The pomegranate therefore is a symbol of union and concord, which is the foundation and support, indeed the soul and life, of the republic. Hence also the Mosaic pontiff wore on his lower tunic bells mixed with pomegranates, which signified the unity of the Church, as Eucherius and St. Gregory attest on the Song of Songs IV, namely that many nations would unite in the same sound, that is, in the same profession of faith and praise of God like bells; and in the same union of hearts and charity, which the pomegranate denotes in that wonderful, and as St. Jerome says in Haggai II, quasi-geometric arrangement of seeds in different little chambers enclosed by one rind. So Prado on Ezekiel XIX, 10.
Verse 43: They Shall Mingle Themselves with the Seed of Men
43. THEY SHALL MINGLE THEMSELVES WITH THE SEED OF MEN. — Daniel notes the democracy or aristocracy of the Romans, meaning: The Romans, to settle discords, will join powerful families in marriage and make them relatives and kinsmen; but this union and affinity will be unstable and weak, like the mixture of iron with clay; for "supreme power will be impatient of a partner."
The truth of this was evident in the marriage of Pompey with Julia, Caesar's daughter, and of Mark Antony with Octavia, the sister of Octavian Augustus, and in other marriages. For these marriages could not bind together the ambitious so as to prevent them from breaking out into slaughter and wars. So also today we see that the marriages of kings do not remove the greed for wide dominion, and the quarrels and wars that arise from it: for the force of ambition is greater and more powerful than that of kinship. Some explain it thus, meaning: The Roman Empire will contain many nations, some stronger, some weaker (for he used "seed" for the variety of nations and men); but they will not hold together or be joined, just as iron cannot be mixed with clay, and therefore the whole empire will eventually be dissolved. But this division of provinces existed even when the Roman Empire was most flourishing: and this was not the cause of the empire's downfall, that in it iron was joined with clay, that is, stronger nations were combined with weaker ones. The former exposition therefore is truer.
This then is one statue, but divided into four, because of the four kingdoms: whence Zechariah chapter VI, 4, compares the same to unmatched chariots. See here again the vanity and inconstancy of kingdoms and kings: this statue has clay bases, that is, clay feet: what is cheaper, softer, more fragile than clay? The first empire of Babylon began with Nebuchadnezzar, ended with Belshazzar, was overthrown by Cyrus; it stood for only 70 years. The second monarchy of the Persians began with Cyrus; ended with Darius, was overthrown by Alexander; it stood for two hundred years. The third of the Greeks began with Alexander, and soon was divided into the kingdoms of Egypt, Syria, and Macedonia: it lasted in Egypt until Augustus Caesar, who drove Cleopatra together with Antony to voluntary death, and overthrew the kingdom of Egypt; it stood, I say, for 288 years. The fourth of the Romans, which began with Julius Caesar and Augustus, still endures; but how divided and weakened! The power of the Romans and the Roman senate was, however, far more ancient, and it began to totter under Caesar and Augustus because of discords and civil wars. Whence their discords and intermarriages are rightly compared here to the feet of the statue mixed of iron and clay. For the feet are the extremity of the statue, where it ends and terminates: so this empire began to perish and end under Augustus, and was overthrown through Christ who was then being born, as Daniel adds.
Morally, gaze upon this mirror, O children of Adam! and learn that "all power is of short life." Where now is that illustrious Nebuchadnezzar? Where is Cyrus? Where is Darius? Where is Pompey? Where is Augustus? He lived, he bade farewell, fare you well and applaud. Where is Caesar? Where is Antiochus? Where is Alexander?
One world is not enough for the youth of Pella, A sarcophagus will suffice: death alone confesses How very tiny are the bodies of men.
Yesterday the whole world could not contain Alexander, today he is contained in an urn of six feet: yesterday Alexander ruled the world, now worms rule, indeed devour Alexander. Does not man "pass as an image (like a shadow and shadowy image) and is troubled in vain? And now, O kings, understand: be instructed, you who judge the earth: serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice before Him with trembling." Alexander passed away, died, and was eaten by worms; and you too will pass away, will die, and be eaten by worms. Alexander is buried in hell: beware lest you also be buried there. Where now is Babylon? Where is Nineveh? Where is Jerusalem? Where is Rome, mistress of the world, citadel of the whole earth, house of strength, majesty of empire, terror of all, glory of triumphs? Was it not made of clay, fragile, perishable? Truly our Lipsius, Book III On Roman Greatness, chapter II: "O human hopes and affairs! What are you? Where do you go? Turn here. Behold that powerful and proud Rome, which was called the eternal city, which was to outlive the ages, which was the work and care of the gods — it has entirely perished, lies buried in its own ruins, and we struggle to dig out and to establish credibility for its greatness."
Certainly, vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. What is our life? What is a kingdom? What is glory? It is a vapor, a dream, a leaf. Homer, in Book VI of the Iliad, compares men to the leaves of trees, which now grow green, now wither; now are adorned with beauty, now are carried off by the wind. Euripides asserted that the happiness of this world lasts only one day; Demetrius Phalereus, only a single point in time. What therefore is a king? What is a monarch? He is a man. What is man? He is the dream of a shadow, says Pindar. What is man? "He is the animal than which none is weaker or more inconstant," says Menander: for there is no animal that more frequently and quickly now rises, now falls, than man. What is man? "He is fortune's plaything, the image of inconstancy, the spoil of time, the exemplar of corruption." What is man? "He is altogether vanity," says the Psalmist, Psalm XXXVIII, 6; "Therefore fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole man." Think of heaven, think of eternity.
Verse 44: In the Days of Those Kingdoms
44. IN THE DAYS OF THOSE KINGDOMS — when the four kingdoms already mentioned shall have had their time and their spans of ruling, and these shall have unfolded up to the last, that is, when the Romans are now reigning. THE GOD OF HEAVEN WILL SET UP A KINGDOM THAT SHALL NEVER BE DESTROYED. — This fifth kingdom is Christ's, which overturns all other kingdoms, not as to their temporal governance, but as to their idolatry and other vices, and subjects all things to itself and to its faith and obedience. Hence this kingdom is not temporal but spiritual and eternal, which is begun here through faith and grace, and will be consummated in heaven through glory. For although Christ, as man, on account of the grace and dignity of the hypostatic union with the Word, was also the temporal king of the world, indeed the King of kings and monarch of the world; nevertheless He Himself did not wish to use this kingdom and this royal power, but only His spiritual kingdom and power. Hence only this spiritual kingdom of His does Daniel stress, along with the other Prophets.
Wherefore Daniel says here: "In the days of those kingdoms," meaning: While the temporal kingdom of the Romans still stands, the spiritual kingdom of Christ will arise. Third, that the kingdom of the Messiah would be spiritual, not earthly and corporeal, Daniel teaches expressly in chapter IX, where, defining the time of the Messiah — namely that He would come after 70 weeks of years, that is after 490 years — he says of Him: "Seventy weeks are shortened upon your people and upon your holy city (not that the Solomonic and Jewish kingdom may be restored, but) that transgression may be consummated, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be blotted out, and everlasting justice may be brought in, and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled, and the Holy of Holies may be anointed." You see, O Jew! The kingdom of Christ will not consist in armies, pomp, and triumphs, but in the abolition of transgression and sin, so that in their place holiness and justice may be established, and these may reign among Christians throughout the whole world. Moreover, Daniel and the Prophets say that Christ's kingdom will be eternal: therefore they mean a heavenly one; for no kingdom on earth can be eternal. This is what Christ replied to Pilate when he asked whether He was a king: "My kingdom is not of this world." Therefore, although the popes now have temporal dominion, they do not have it as vicars of Christ, but as something accessory from the donation of Constantine, Charlemagne, Matilda, and other pious princes.
Fourth, because Daniel and the prophets teach that the Messiah in this life would be so far from being powerful and splendid, that they clearly signify He would be poor, abject, would suffer, die, and be crucified, so that by His cross and death He might satisfy God for our sins, and might bear and expiate them in His own body. Hear Daniel, chapter IX, 26: "And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain; and His people who shall deny Him shall not be His," as the Jews denied Him before Pilate, saying: "We have no king but Caesar." Hear Isaiah, chapter LIII, 2: "And He shall grow up as a tender plant before Him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground; there is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness, etc., we saw Him despised and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity." And verse 7: "He was offered because He Himself willed it, and He opened not His mouth." And verse 5: "But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our crimes: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed." David has similar words in Psalm XXI: "They have pierced My hands and My feet, and they have numbered all My bones," etc. And Jeremiah chapter XI, 19: "And I was as a meek lamb that is carried to be a victim, and I knew not that they had devised counsels against Me, saying: Let us put wood on His bread, and let us cut Him off from the land of the living."
Fifth, because all the prophets teach that Christ's kingdom would not be in the flesh, but in the spirit and in spiritual things. Isaiah, chapter XI, 2: "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill Him. He shall judge the poor with justice." And chapter XLII, 1: "I have given My spirit upon Him, He shall bring forth judgment to the nations. The bruised reed He shall not break, and the smoking flax He shall not quench." And verse 6: "I have given You as a covenant of the people, as a light of the nations, that You may open the eyes of the blind," etc. And chapter XLIX, 6: "Behold, I have given You as a light of the nations, that You may be My salvation even to the farthest part of the earth." And chapter LXI, 1: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me; He has sent Me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, etc., to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, and to comfort all who mourn in Zion, and to give them a crown for ashes, the oil of gladness for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of grief, and they shall be called in it the mighty ones of justice." Isaiah has such passages throughout. And Jeremiah chapter XXXI, 33: "This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, etc. I will give My law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And a man shall no longer teach his neighbor, saying: Know the Lord. For all shall know Me; because I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sin no more." And chapter XXXIII, 13: "In those days I will cause the bud of justice to spring forth for David (Christ), and He shall do judgment and justice on the earth: and this is the name that they shall call Him, The Lord our just one." And Zechariah chapter IX, 9: "Behold your king shall come to you, just and a savior; He Himself poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass," etc.
Therefore when the prophets repeatedly say that Christ's kingdom will be powerful and abounding in gold, silver, wine, oil, etc., this must be understood mystically. For they call the graces and spiritual gifts of Christ metaphorically gold, silver, wine, and oil; because the carnal Jews knew and loved only these material goods; nor could they grasp spiritual things except when mystically represented through corporeal ones. Finally, thus teach St. Augustine, Tract. CXV on John, Tertullian, Cyprian, and others in the books they wrote against the Jews, St. Bernard, Sermon 3 on the Missus, and others throughout, and all orthodox interpreters.
Moreover, this overthrow of paganism and this spiritual kingdom of Christ began soon after Christ through St. Peter, Paul, and the other Apostles; whence at that time the Emperor Claudius abolished many sacrifices and many festivals of the gods, on the pretext that great expenses and many days were consumed in them to the public's detriment: but by a higher counsel of God it was being directed toward gradually abolishing idolatry and paving the way for Christ and Christ's kingdom. Witness is Dio, Book VI, and from him Baronius, Volume I of the Annals. Gradually thereafter this kingdom of Christ grew, to such an extent that under Constantine it pervaded the entire empire, and the Roman Empire, which until then had been thoroughly pagan, together with its emperors became Christian,
The rabbis therefore wrongly abuse this passage to prove that the Messiah has not yet come. For they object: This stone is said to have crushed the gold, silver, bronze, and iron of the statue, that is, the empires of the Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, and Romans; but we see that the empire of the Romans has not yet been crushed, but still stands; therefore this stone, that is, the Messiah who will crush it, has not yet come. Theodoret responds here first, along with Tertullian in his last book Against the Jews, that Christ will destroy all the kingdoms of the world not now, but at the end of the world, namely on the day of judgment, fully and perfectly. But Daniel means something more, namely that He would do this at His first coming, soon after His birth.
I respond therefore that the Messiah crushed all these empires, not as to their temporal and earthly dominion, which is of little moment; but as to their mystical and spiritual dominion, by which through paganism and idolatry they ruled over the minds as well as the bodies of men, and consigned them to the devil, to hell, and to eternal punishments; which tyranny was most bitter, under which all nations served a harsh slavery, groaning under its yoke. Christ overthrew this tyranny, and freed men from this cruel yoke of servitude, when by subjecting them to His faith, He secured for them God's grace, liberty, and eternal salvation. Therefore the kingdom of Christ is not perishable and earthly, but stable and heavenly; for the kingdom of Christ is the Church. That this is so is clear, first, because this stone which Daniel saw, since it was small, could not physically and corporally overthrow such a great mass of a statue compacted of bronze, iron, gold, and silver: therefore it must be understood mystically and spiritually, and symbolically (for this vision is entirely symbolic), namely to signify that Christ, humble and poor, by His humility and contempt of the world, would cast down in the minds of the faithful throughout the whole world all ambition, pomp, and pride of human glory and concupiscence, which this enormous statue, by the ostentation, mass, and preciousness of its metals, represented.
Second, because the empire of the Romans will stand until the end of the world, namely until the Antichrist, who will destroy it, and soon after he himself will be destroyed by Christ the Judge, who, overturning all earthly kingdoms, will establish the blessed and glorious kingdom in heaven, as Daniel teaches, chapter VII, 13. Therefore the Jews wait in vain for a Messiah who will destroy the Roman Empire and in its place establish an earthly and long-lasting kingdom here like Solomon's: for, as Daniel says, the Roman kingdom will stand until the end of the world. Therefore the Messiah will not have His triumphant and glorious kingdom in this world, but in heaven.
For, as St. Gregory says, Epistle 60: "Constantine, the most pious emperor, calling back the republic from the perverse worship of idols, submitted himself to the almighty Lord Jesus Christ, and with his subject peoples turned his whole mind to God." Wherefore emperors are confirmed, consecrated, and crowned by the Pope. And St. Jerome to Laeta: "The Armenian, he says, has laid aside his quiver, the Huns are learning the Psalter, the cold lands of Scythia glow with the warmth of faith. The ruddy and fair-haired army of the Getae carries about the tents of churches," etc. Christ therefore, being born, was more truly Augustus than Augustus Caesar himself: for He enriched His own with august grace, salvation, and every good. So the Venerable Bede on Luke chapter I: "There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus," where he teaches that Augustus, as one needy and narrow, exacted from men a census and tribute; but Christ, as one rich and august, gave that to him, and enriched him and much more His faithful ones. Wherefore, when Christ was born, Augustus no longer wished to be called lord of the empire; indeed, as many relate, he adored Christ who had been shown to him in a vision, in the Capitol: for from this the place seems to have been called the Altar of Heaven, which even now under this name is frequented and visited by many, distinguished by the notable church which the Religious of St. Francis hold. So from Suidas, Cedrenus, and Nicephorus, Baronius in the Prolegomena of the Annals.
Verse 45: A Stone was Cut Out of the Mountain Without Hands
This kingdom of Christ is compared to a hard stone, because Christ is the rock upon which the Church is founded, which is His eternal kingdom; and because Christ, after the manner of David, struck Goliath, that is, the devil, with a stone, that is, with the humility and hardness of His passion and cross.
Note: This stone "was cut from a mountain," that is, from the demon, said Vigilantius, to whom human nature had adhered through sins and vices; but St. Jerome refutes this blasphemy of his, Epistle 75. "From the mountain" therefore, that is, from the people and the Jewish Church, which rose up among the nations like a mountain, says St. Augustine, Tract. IX on John. Or rather "from the mountain," that is, from the Blessed Virgin, who like a mountain possessed the sublimity of all virtues and graces. So the same Augustine in his sermon to the catechumens, and St. Jerome, Theodoret, Lyra, and others.
Note second: This stone "was cut without hands;" both because Christ, as God, was begotten by the Father without the hands of creation, says St. Ambrose, Sermon 70. But rather, because Christ, as man, was formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin without the agency of a man. Whence St. Jerome, Epistle to Eustochium on the preservation of virginity, chapter XXII, notes here, as also in Song of Songs VI, that "hands" is taken for the work of marriage. So also Irenaeus, Book III, chapter XXVIII, Justin, in the Dialogue against Trypho, Epiphanius, Sermon on the Praises of the Virgin, St. Augustine, Tract. IX on John, Theodoret, Rupert, and others throughout on this passage.
Moreover, Theodoret keenly observes that a birth above nature is customarily called the cutting out of a stone: for a rock cannot naturally produce or generate anything from itself. Hence in Isaiah LI, 1, it is said: "Look unto the rock whence you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence you were cut out," which he explains when he adds: "Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah who bore you." For Isaac and the Hebrews were born from the barren Sarah above nature, just as if they had been cut from a rock. So St. Jerome in the same passage. And so in His conception and birth, the stone Christ of His own accord, without any intervening hands, descended into the world, having entered the Virgin's womb and issued from it in the same manner, says Proclus of Cyzicus, Homily on the Nativity of Christ. A similar illustration is given from Dioscorides, Book V, chapter CXIV, and from St. Epiphanius, Book on the 12 Gems, by Nicholas Caussin, Parallel Histories, Book XI, chapter LIII: "Just as, he says, within the bowels of the sapphire a truly precious stone is born, more precious than the one that begot it — a bright and shining carbuncle: so from Mary, the gem of virgins, was born that cornerstone cut from the mountain without hands, more noble than His mother, and the author of His mother's entire nobility."
O illustrious Virgin, pious mother, noble seed, Whom God filled with the resource of the whole world! Dwelling in you at a radiant station, the light of the world, God flourished inwardly through your members. Now a living splendor penetrating even to the depths of the abyss, He nourishes the world, rules the stars, fills hell with light.
Moreover, that the pagans transferred these things to the superstitions of their own gods, St. Justin teaches, Against Trypho: "Now, he says, when the priests of Mithras say that their Mithras was born from a rock, and call the place where they initiate disciples a cave, is it not possible to recognize here that rock which Daniel says was cut out without hands? — namely, since they too were trying to fabricate oracles."
IT BROKE IN PIECES THE CLAY, AND THE IRON, AND THE BRASS, AND THE SILVER, AND THE GOLD. — This stone was hurled at the statue and shattered and broke it, just as a statue is usually toppled and shattered by a stone. This symbolically signified that the spiritual kingdom of Christ would overthrow all the kingdoms of the world and subject all nations to Christ and the Church.
Note: Christ's kingdom surpasses all other kingdoms in eight prerogatives, namely first, in duration: because it has stood now for 1600 years, and will stand forever. Second, in extent: because it has subjected to itself, or will subject, all regions of the world, including the Indians and the Chinese; hence it is said in verse 35: "The stone became a great mountain," that is, a great Church; for this is the mountain of the house of God, Isaiah II, 1. Third, in force and efficacy, by which it rules intimately not only bodies in the resurrection, but also the souls and minds of men, and from hardened, proud, obscene, rebellious people, it makes them gentle, humble, chaste, obedient. Fourth, in fruit: because those who subject themselves to it, it frees from the devil, from sins, and from hell, and makes them children of God and heirs of heaven.
Fifth, in the manner in which it was gained and acquired: because not by arms, but by poverty, humility, the cross, the subduing of desires, patience, martyrdoms, contempt of honors, wealth, and pleasures, and by love of heavenly things, Christ the monarch, and His Apostles and followers established and propagated it. Sixth, in the excellence of its most holy laws, which prescribe all chastity, innocence, holiness, and perfection. Seventh, in its end: because it makes its subjects and creates them kings in heaven. Eighth, because it has as its king Christ Himself, God and Lord of all. So Pererius.
Verse 46: THEN KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR FELL ON HIS FACE.
For he recognized from the dream that Daniel was not fabricating, but truly and aptly interpreting it. For when Daniel recalled to him the dream which he himself had forgotten, he immediately remembered it and said to himself: Truly I dreamed this, truly this was my dream. Whence from this he prudently concluded: If Daniel touches upon the dream itself, he will also touch upon its meaning; for neither can be known naturally, but only by the revelation of God. Therefore the God who revealed my dream to Daniel will also reveal to him the interpretation of the dream. For He revealed the dream itself to him for this purpose, namely that through it I might learn the future things it signifies: otherwise He would have revealed the dream itself in vain.
He adored Daniel — with adoration, that is, the veneration that is shown to great and holy men, with which Abraham adored the sons of Heth, Genesis XXIII, 7. So Vasquez and others. Second, and more truly, he adored properly: for this is what the Chaldean word segid signifies; whence bet sigdeta is called a house of prayer, that is, a temple in which God is adored. This will soon become clearer.
AND HE COMMANDED THAT THEY SHOULD SACRIFICE VICTIMS AND INCENSE TO HIM. — Note: It is not permitted to offer sacrifice to the Saints, nor even to the humanity of Christ, but to God alone: for sacrifice is a profession of the divinity and godhead of him to whom it is offered. So St. Augustine, Book X Against Faustus, chapter XXI.
You ask, how then did Nebuchadnezzar command that sacrifice be offered to Daniel? St. Jerome responds first that by this sacrifice the king wished to venerate and worship not so much Daniel, as God in Daniel; whence he says: "Truly your God is the God of gods." So Alexander adored Jaddo the high priest, that is, God whose priest Jaddo was. Second, the same Jerome responds that the king, disturbed and astonished by the greatness of this prophecy, ordered it thoughtlessly out of stupefaction. Third, Gabriel Vasquez, Book I On Adoration, disputation 6, chapter III, whom Cardinal Bellarmine supports, responds that for "victims" the Hebrew is mincha, that is, oblations (as the Syriac and Arabic translate) and gifts, namely of fragrances and incense. For these can be offered even to the Saints, indeed to images, as the Seventh Council defines, session VII. Whence the Septuagint also translate mincha as thysia, that is, gifts, as the Greek Scholiast renders it, namely frankincense, as Theodoret explains, kai euodias, that is, and sweet odors.
The king therefore commanded not bloody victims but frankincense and incense to be burned in honor of Daniel, just as the same are burned for Saints, indeed for kings. But these seem never to have been usurped by princes, except when in their madness they aspired to divine honors against the deity, as our Pineda rightly observed, Book on the Affairs of Solomon, chapter XIII, section 9.
Fourth, it seems more truly that the king properly adored Daniel and ordered true victims to be sacrificed to him, as to a divine Prophet having in himself the divinity and spirit of God. For thus the pagans adored their kings and men excelling in wisdom or virtue as children of the gods, and honored them with sacrifices. Hear the Lycaonians, Acts XIV, 10, speaking of Paul and Barnabas: "The gods, made like men, have come down to us, etc., the priest also of Jupiter, bringing oxen and garlands, with the people would have offered sacrifice." Furthermore, Plato, besides the one supreme God, posited other lesser gods equally to be adored: and so Nebuchadnezzar himself wished to be adored in the statue which he erected, chapter III, 5. Thus the king properly adored Daniel, as a man, indeed as some god who had fallen from heaven: especially because his own wise men had told him, verse 11, that there was no man who could narrate this dream to the king, "except the gods whose conversation is not with men." But Daniel narrated it to the king; therefore by their judgment, he ought to be regarded and worshipped as one of the gods. This meaning seems to be required first by the word "victim," which signifies properly so-called sacrificial victims; second, by the word "sacrifice," and the Chaldean lenassecha, that is, "pour a libation"; third, by the word "adored," for in Chaldaic it is segid, as I have said; fourth, by the Chaldaic word nichochin, which does not signify any odors and incense, but sacred and religious ones, namely frankincense and aromatic incense. For literally, nichochin means propitiatory offerings, namely sacrifices and incense-burning by which God is appeased: for the Hebrew and Chaldaic root noach, in Qal means to rest, and in Hiphil, to calm, appease, propitiate.
Finally, although the Hebrew mincha sometimes signifies any gift or present, yet when it is joined with incense and sacrifice, as is the case here, it signifies nothing but a victim. Nor did the Septuagint mean anything else; for they retained the Hebrew word mincha, but softening it they put manna instead of mincha. For thus they customarily soften the guttural chet, and convert it into e or a, as for pesach they translate phase, for Corach they write Core, for Tharach they write Thare, etc.; manna therefore is the same as mincha, namely a sacrifice and victim. That this is so is clear from Baruch I, 10, where it is said: "Buy holocausts and frankincense, and make manna, and offer for sin upon the altar of the Lord our God." Where it is certain that manna is the same as mincha, and signifies a sacrifice properly so called, namely a sacrificial offering.
You will say: Therefore this king committed idolatry, and Daniel consented to it: for he was silent and permitted it to be rendered to himself. Porphyry once raised this objection against Daniel, to which St. Jerome responds here. Calvin follows Porphyry when he says that Daniel had been corrupted by courtly manners. So that Aristarchus, that fault-finder. But away with you, blasphemer, who from the most holy and wisest of Prophets make a Lucifer, a rival of God, and one desirous of divine honor.
I say therefore that Daniel in no way consented, but in every way insisted and prevented the execution of the royal command, just as Paul and Barnabas resisted in Acts XIV. Although Scripture is silent about this, as about many other things here: yet it sufficiently intimates it by the very fact that it does not record that this command was carried out, or that the Chaldeans actually sacrificed to Daniel; especially since it immediately adds that Daniel was honored by the king with another honor, namely that he was set over the whole of Babylonia. So Lyra, Dionysius the Carthusian, Maldonatus, and others.
49. Over the works — over the affairs, meaning: He appointed them to the administration and government of Babylonia. DANIEL WAS AT THE KING'S GATES. — In Greek it is: Daniel was in the court of the king, that is, Daniel was in the palace as the chief prince, nearest and most intimate to the king; so that no one could approach the king without his authority. So St. Jerome.
Vatablus interprets differently: Daniel, he says, sat at the king's gate to render justice, that is, he was a judge. For judges formerly sat at the gates of cities as in a public place accessible to all. But the former sense is truer. In Daniel therefore that saying of Aristides, Volume III, Oration 1 Platonic, is verified: "The greatest things fall to the fewest." And: "The greatest advantage of the state consists in the abundance of good men."