Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
This chapter contains the letter of Nebuchadnezzar, in which he first narrates his second dream, about a great tree cut down by an angel. Second, verse 16, that Daniel interpreted it concerning Nebuchadnezzar being expelled from his kingdom and changed into a beast. Third, verse 30, he narrates that he was indeed expelled from his kingdom like a beast, but after seven years was restored to himself and to his kingdom. Whence, in the last verse, he acknowledges and glorifies God.
Vulgate Text: Daniel 4:1-34
1. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at peace in my house and flourishing in my palace. 2. I saw a dream that frightened me, and my thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. 3. And by my decree it was ordered that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, and that they should tell me the interpretation of the dream. 4. Then the soothsayers, magicians, Chaldeans, and diviners entered, and I told the dream before them, but they did not tell me its interpretation. 5. Until at last my colleague Daniel entered before me, whose name is Baltassar according to the name of my god, who has the spirit of the holy gods in himself; and I spoke the dream before him. 6. Baltassar, chief of the soothsayers, since I know that you have the spirit of the holy gods in you, and no mystery is impossible for you: tell me the visions of my dreams which I saw, and their interpretation. 7. The vision of my head upon my bed: I was looking, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was exceedingly great. 8. The tree was great and strong, and its height reached to heaven; its appearance extended to the ends of the whole earth. 9. Its leaves were most beautiful, and its fruit was abundant, and in it was food for all; under it the animals and beasts dwelt, and in its branches the birds of heaven lived, and from it all flesh was fed. 10. I was looking in the visions of my head upon my bed, and behold, a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven. 11. He cried out mightily and spoke thus: Cut down the tree and lop off its branches; strip its leaves and scatter its fruit; let the beasts that are under it flee, and the birds from its branches. 12. Nevertheless, leave the stump of its roots in the earth, and let it be bound with a band of iron and bronze among the grass that is outside, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let its portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. 13. Let his heart be changed from a human one, and let the heart of a beast be given to him; and let seven times pass over him. 14. By the decree of the watchers the matter is decided, and by the word and petition of the holy ones -- until the living know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He wills, and sets over it the lowliest of men. 15. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. You, therefore, Baltassar, tell the interpretation quickly, because all the wise men of my kingdom cannot declare the solution to me; but you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.
16. Then Daniel, whose name was Baltassar, began to think silently within himself for about one hour; and his thoughts troubled him. But the king answered and said: Baltassar, let not the dream and its interpretation trouble you. Baltassar answered and said: My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation for your enemies. 17. The tree that you saw, lofty and strong, whose height reached to heaven, and the sight of it to all the earth; 18. and its branches most beautiful, and its fruit abundant, and food for all was in it, the beasts of the field dwelling under it, and the birds of heaven abiding in its branches -- 19. It is you, O king, who have been magnified and grown strong; and your greatness has increased and reaches to heaven, and your power to the ends of all the earth. 20. And whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one descending from heaven and saying: "Cut down the tree and destroy it, yet leave the stump of its roots in the earth, and let it be bound with iron and bronze among the grass outside, and let it be sprinkled with the dew of heaven, and let its food be with the beasts, until seven times pass over him" -- 21. This is the interpretation of the sentence of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: 22. They shall cast you out from among men, and your dwelling shall be with beasts and wild animals, and you shall eat hay like an ox, and you shall be drenched with the dew of heaven; seven times also shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He wills. 23. And whereas He commanded that the stump of the roots of the tree should be left -- that is, of the tree -- your kingdom shall remain for you after you have come to know that power is from heaven. 24. Therefore, O king, let my counsel be pleasing to you: redeem your sins with alms, and your iniquities with mercy to the poor; perhaps He will forgive your offenses. 25. All these things came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. 26. After the end of twelve months, he was walking in the palace of Babylon. 27. And the king answered and said: Is not this the great Babylon, which I built as a royal residence, in the strength of my might and in the glory of my splendor? 28. And while the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven: To you it is spoken, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your kingdom shall pass from you, 29. and they shall cast you out from among men, and your dwelling shall be with beasts and wild animals; you shall eat hay like an ox, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He wills. 30. In that same hour the word was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was cast out from among men, and ate hay like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' talons. 31. Therefore, after the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and glorified Him who lives forever, because His power is an everlasting power, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. 32. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing before Him; for He acts according to His will, both among the powers of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and there is no one who can resist His hand or say to Him: Why have You done this? 33. At the same time my understanding returned to me, and I came to the honor and splendor of my kingdom; and my form returned to me; and my nobles and my magistrates sought me out, and I was restored to my kingdom; and even greater magnificence was added to me. 34. Now therefore I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and magnify and glorify the King of heaven, because all His works are true, and His ways are judgments, and those who walk in pride He is able to humble.
Verse 1: Flourishing in my Palace
1. FLOURISHING IN MY PALACE. -- Theodoret adds, which is "and he says," that is, prosperous among my people.
Verse 2: I Saw a Dream
2. I SAW A DREAM. -- You will ask: In what year did Nebuchadnezzar have this dream? I answer: in the 37th year of his reign. For in the 35th year of his reign, having conquered Egypt, he became sole monarch, and thence in the 2nd year, that is, in the 37th year of his reign, which was the year of the world 3378, he saw that four-part statue of which chapter II speaks; and soon, in the same year, swelling with pride because of his attained monarchy, he saw the dream of this chapter. And according to it, twelve months later, in the 38th year of his reign, he was cast out from his kingdom like a beast, as is clear from verse 26, in which state he remained for seven years. In the eighth year at last, having been restored to his mind and kingdom, he seems to have died shortly after in the 45th year of his reign, which was the 37th year of the captivity of Joachin. For in that year Evilmerodach his son succeeded Nebuchadnezzar in the kingdom, as is clear from IV Kings 25:27. Whence no other deeds of Nebuchadnezzar are narrated thereafter. He surely would have left many other monuments of such a great change and conversion, and would have released the Jews from captivity, since he had acknowledged their God.
You will say: Theodoret and Chrysostom read thus: In year 48, Nebuchadnezzar saw the dream. I answer: This 37th year of his reign was the 18th from the destruction of the temple and the captivity of the Jews. For in the 18th year of his reign, he destroyed the city of Jerusalem with the temple; from then to the 37th year of his reign are 18 years. Some others think these events took place in the 27th year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, so that, having been expelled from the kingdom and restored after seven years, he lived in his former royal glory for ten years, namely until the 44th year of his reign; for God does not seem to have restored him only to immediately remove him. But what I said first is more true, as is clear from what was said on Ezekiel 26:1, and chapter 29, verse 1, and especially verse 17. God willed mercifully to rescue him from the dangers of this life while he was in a good state, and to transfer him to a better life; lest, if he lived longer, he might again become proud in such great glory and perish.
Verse 5: Until my Colleague
5. UNTIL MY COLLEAGUE. -- The word "colleague" is not in the Greek texts, not even in Caraffa's; but it is in the Chaldee, and was in the translation of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, as St. Jerome attests. Erroneously in Theodoret, instead of hetairos, that is, companion, colleague, one reads heteros, that is, other. The king calls Daniel his colleague because he had made him a participant in the government and had set him over the administration of Babylon, chapter 2:20 and 48; and this on account of the interpretation of the preceding dream, and on account of the admirable wisdom and prophetic spirit which he discerned in him.
WHOSE NAME IS BALTASSAR ACCORDING TO THE NAME OF MY GOD. -- Daniel was called Baltassar, or as the Chaldee has it, Beltsasar, not because the king wished to make him co-heir with Balsasar his son, as Epiphanius maintains in On the Lives of the Prophets; nor because he had interpreted the king's dreams and other secrets, as Suidas and Josephus wish; for the boy was so named by the chief of the eunuchs in chapter 1:7. He was called Beltsasar, therefore, from Baal, or Bal, or Bel, or Bels (for all these are the same), the god of the Babylonians; and latus, that is, sharp; and otsar, that is, treasure -- as if to say: Bel's sharp treasure, that is, Bel's keen wit and wisdom: because the chief wished and portended that he, being sprung from royal seed and endowed with a noble mind, and therefore destined to attend upon the king, would be most wise. Hence the name Baltassar or Balsasar was among the Chaldeans royal and divine, as is clear from the history of this book; for the kings of the Chaldeans generally adapted the names of gods to themselves. Hence from Nebo, Bel, Mero, they were called Nabonitus, Baltassar, Merodach, Evilmerodach: for Merodach is the same as Mero-dach, that is, weak or small. Evilmerodach is the same as the prince Merodach. For Evil signifies a chief and a prince.
Moreover, just as the Chaldeans named their kings after the god Baal -- Balsasar, Baladan, Belochus -- so from the same god the Tyrians called theirs Isobaal, Abibaal, Baleazar; and the Carthaginians descending from them named their generals from the same: Hannibal, that is, lord of the camp or commander; Mathumbaal, that is, lord of the death of some; Hasdrubal, etc. So Scaliger, Book VI of De Emendatione Temporum, and our Serarius on Joshua 2, Question 25.
So the Hebrews distinguished their kings, prophets, and illustrious men with the name of God, namely Jehovah, Iah, El: Jehovah, as Jehoshua, Jehoiakim, Jehoshaphat, Jehoiada; Iah, as Abiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah; El, as Daniel, Ezekiel, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael. The matter touches upon what St. Augustine says, Question 16 on the Book of Judges, volume IV: "The Punics seem to call Baal 'Lord'; whence by Baalsamen they are understood to mean 'Lord of heaven.' For samen among them means heaven," namely from the Hebrew schamaim.
WHO HAS THE SPIRIT OF THE HOLY GODS IN HIMSELF. -- Theodotion, according to the testimony of St. Jerome, and the editor of the Roman Septuagint, have: Who has the holy Spirit of God in himself. For the Hebrew Elohim, for which the Chaldeans say Elahin, signifies both God and gods, even though it is plural, as I said on Genesis 1:4. And because it is of plural number, the equally plural epithet kaddischin is likewise added to it, which can equally well be rendered "holy" or "of the holy ones" or "of the saints." Now this spirit of God, or of the gods, is the spirit of prophecy. For divination and foreknowledge of future contingencies, as well as of the secrets of the heart, is proper to the divine nature.
Verse 6: No Mystery is Impossible for You
6. NO MYSTERY IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU. -- In Greek, pan adynatei soi, others read se, as if to say: It does not make you powerless, namely to explain it, as if to say: Nothing surpasses your ability and understanding. He calls it a "sacrament," that is, a sacred mystery -- namely, a dream sent to him by God, and its meaning.
Verse 8: A Great and Strong Tree
8. A GREAT AND STRONG TREE. -- This tree signified a man. For man is an inverted tree, says Aristotle; for the head, which is the root of sensation, understanding, and motion, is above, while the branches, that is, the feet, are below. Whence man is called by Clement of Alexandria in the Exhortation a "heavenly plant," because he has his root toward heaven. Hence also Christ says in Matthew 3:28: "Now the axe is laid to the root of the trees" -- "trees," that is, of men. And in Psalm 1:3, the just man is called "a tree planted by streams of water, whose leaf shall not wither, and who shall bring forth fruit in due season." Fittingly, a tree has its roots fixed in the earth, but man above; for a tree is nourished from the earth, but man from above, that is, from heaven. This tree therefore signifies that the empire of Nebuchadnezzar was sublime in glory, extending far and wide in breadth, and strong in power. So Ezekiel 17:23 compares the proud Zedekiah to a tall tree, and chapter 31:3, the king of the Assyrians; and the Psalmist, Psalm 36:55: "I saw the wicked man greatly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon; I passed by, and behold, he was no more." Indeed, they are raised on high so that they may fall with a heavier crash.
By a similar image of an overthrown tree, the overthrow of the African Church by the Arian King Huneric was prefigured. Victor of Utica narrates the matter, Book II of the History of the Vandals: "The venerable Bishop Paul saw, he says, a tree extending to the heavens with flourishing branches, which by its spread also shaded almost all of Africa. And when all were rejoicing at its greatness and beauty, behold, suddenly there came a violent donkey, which rubbing its neck against the strength of its roots, with its force and with a great crash struck that marvelous tree to the ground." This tree was the Catholic Church; the donkey undermining it at the roots was Huneric, laying waste through the exile and martyrdom of bishops and priests.
This tree, therefore, is a symbol of human prosperity and glory, which is soon cast down and falls. So Lyranus. In a similar way, Adam, the parent of the human race, could be compared to this tree of ours: for he was in paradise like a great tree, flourishing and abounding in all good things; but through pride and sin he was prostrated into brutish desires and miseries, and cut down to the roots -- that is, down to the Blessed Virgin, who, remaining untouched, brought forth a shoot, namely Christ, who restored this tree to its bloom, indeed repaired it more flourishingly. The fall of Adam was therefore similar to the fall of Nebuchadnezzar, just as the fall of Lucifer was similar to both; whence Isaiah, chapter 14:12, compares him to the same.
Tropologically, Lyranus understands this tree as a virtuous man: "This tree," he says, "is tall through justice, strong through constancy, leafy through eloquence, great through prudence which directs all virtues, widespread through mercy, fruitful through the abundance of devotion. All are fed from it, through fraternal edification; under it are beasts, through the restraint of the exterior senses; in its branches are the birds of heaven, through the moderation of exterior movements. If this man falls into sin, the watcher cries out against him, that is, Christ in the Gospel, or a Prelate by preaching: Cut down the tree, as regards the abandonment of charity, which is the life of the soul; lop off the branches, as regards the offering of a good will; shake off the leaves, as regards the failure of good speech; scatter the fruits, as regards the withdrawal of good works; the animals that are under it flee, as regards the failure of due subjection; let it be bound with a chain, as regards the generation of bad habit, and that an iron one, on account of the hardness of obstinacy; let it be cast out, as regards shamelessness in all evils, because then the forehead of a harlot has been given to it; let its heart be changed from a human one, as regards every manner of cruelty; let seven times pass over it, as regards the perverse opinion concerning the whole law. The sentences of this tree, kings, princes, nobles, and the rich perceive in dreams; because they frequently hear the divine sentence in sermons, but do not care, as if it were only a dream." So far Lyranus.
AND ITS HEIGHT REACHING TO HEAVEN. -- This is a hyperbole, as if to say: It was exceedingly tall. Similar is Deuteronomy 1:28: "Cities great and fortified up to heaven"; or, as the Greek has it, walled; and in the Poet: "The clamor strikes the golden stars."
ITS APPEARANCE EXTENDED TO THE ENDS OF THE WHOLE EARTH. -- The Chaldee: Its branches stretched to the end of the whole earth. The Septuagint: Its breadth to the ends of the earth. "So also Theodotion," says St. Jerome, "translates katos, that is, breadth (for erroneously in St. Jerome one reads 'height' instead of 'breadth'), which he himself explains as kyreia, that is, dominion" -- as if to say: Nebuchadnezzar's dominion extends most widely, to the ends of the earth. This is again a hyperbole: for Nebuchadnezzar occupied only Asia, not Europe and Libya.
Verse 9: The Food of All was in It
9. THE FOOD OF ALL WAS IN IT -- as if to say: in this tree there was abundant fruit, so much that it was sufficient to feed all living creatures; which, besides other things I shall presently bring forward, indicated that the power and wealth of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans were so great that nearly all men could be fed and sustained by them.
Note: The leaves of this tree, that is, of Nebuchadnezzar, were the pomp of garments, chariots, soldiers; the fruits were wealth and tribute, says Theodoret. The food of all was in it, because all merchants and farmers lived peacefully and sumptuously under him; soldiers and courtiers were splendidly maintained by him; under it dwelt the beasts, that is, barbarous men; and in its branches the birds of heaven, that is, men of milder, sharper, and loftier genius lived comfortably and fittingly under that king's rule and favor, and thus "from it all flesh was fed."
That a tree among the Indians, Persians, and Egyptians signifies an excellent man, Achmed reports in the Oneirocritica, chapter 200. So in Ezekiel chapter 31:3, the tree is the king of Assyria, and verse 18, the king of Egypt.
This mode of speaking, not only the Hebrews but also the Arabs are accustomed to use for describing the supreme height of something; see also Deuteronomy 9:1. The Greeks also are accustomed to call a very tall tree ouranomeke, reaching to heaven.
Verse 10: I was Looking in the Vision of my Head upon my Bed
10. I WAS LOOKING IN THE VISION OF MY HEAD UPON MY BED -- I seemed to myself to see in a dream.
AND BEHOLD, A WATCHER AND A HOLY ONE CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN. -- "Watcher" here means an angel, as the Septuagint translates it, who is not overcome by sleep like a man, since he lacks a body. This angel was the guardian of Babylon and the angel of vengeance, as is clear from verse 14. Note: The word "watcher" signifies, first, that angels are incorporeal and therefore never sleep, but always watch and attend to God's work. The Saints imitate this, especially Religious, who keep watch at night in prayer and the praises of God: "Whence we too," says St. Jerome, "by frequent night vigils imitate the duties of angels. And of the Lord it is said, Psalm 120: He who guards Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." Second, that they are continuous in action and indefatigable. Third, that they most keenly observe all our affairs. Fourth, that they are the most vigilant ministers and executors of divine governance and vengeance -- just as divine justice and vengeance itself is most vigilant; whence it was shown in Jeremiah 1:11 as a watching rod. Hence St. Jerome notes that the Chaldee word ir, that is, "watcher," alludes to iris (the rainbow), which is said to descend to earth through its multicolored arc, and through it angels come down, as in Apocalypse 10:1, where John says of his angel: "And the rainbow was upon his head." For the rainbow is a symbol of mercy and vengeance. Whence he thinks that from the Hebrew ir, which some interpreters retain here, the Greek and Latin word iris or irides was derived. Angels show and will show both -- mercy and vengeance -- at various times, but especially at the judgment and resurrection, when they will cause men to awake from death and rise again: some to glory, others to hell. "The life of angels, therefore, is watchfulness; the life of mortals must be watchfulness. Watch: for you know not when the lord of the house comes" (Mark 13:35).
Verse 12: Leave the Stump, etc.
12. Leave the Stump, etc.. -- Leave its stock for it, so that it may grow.
LET HIM BE BOUND (namely, he who is signified by this tree, that is, Nebuchadnezzar) WITH A BAND OF IRON AND BRONZE, AMONG THE GRASS THAT IS OUTSIDE.
That is, as Pagninus translates from the Chaldee: Bound with a band of both bronze and iron, let him be placed in the grass of the field.
Note: When Nebuchadnezzar first fell into madness, he was soon bound with chains by his own people and confined, lest he harm himself and others; but then, at Daniel's advice, he was released and sent away to the forests, and he lived with the beasts for seven years, as is clear from verse 29. Yet so that he retained some bonds, namely iron manacles on his hands, so that his hands could not be joined together, nor could he use them as a man does, but with them separated, he would crawl to the grass of the field like a beast. For this is what is said here: "Let him be bound with a band of iron, etc., among the grass." Therefore, while eating grass, he was bound.
Lyranus, whom Fernandius follows (Vision 22, Commentary II, section 2), takes these bonds to mean the unbreakable sentence and decree of God concerning Nebuchadnezzar's expulsion from his kingdom. Others take it as his most harsh punishment and affliction, which broke and tamed his pride. But these are mystical interpretations.
Verse 13: Let his Heart be Changed from a Human One
13. LET HIS HEART BE CHANGED FROM A HUMAN ONE. -- The Syriac: Let his heart pass from among men. The Arabic Antiochene: Let his heart be diverted or removed from men. The Arabic Alexandrine: Let his heart be taken away from among men, and in its place LET THE HEART OF A BEAST BE GIVEN TO HIM.
Hence Origen with his followers taught that this is not a history but a parable, in which under the name of King Nebuchadnezzar the fall of Lucifer is symbolically described. But this is a heresy: for that it is history is clear from the simple narrative of the entire chapter, and from the next chapter, verses 20 and following. So St. Jerome and others everywhere.
You will ask, therefore: Was Nebuchadnezzar truly changed into a wild animal or beast? First, some think that Josephus affirms this, but they falsely attribute it to him.
Second, Dorotheus in the Synopsis, and Epiphanius in the Life of Daniel, hold that Nebuchadnezzar internally retained the form of a man, that is, a rational soul, but was outwardly changed into the figure of an ox in the front and a lion in the rear; and consequently they seem to give him the head and horns of an ox, but the tail and mane of a lion. They prove this from the fact that here it says "let the heart" not of a "beast" (bestia) but of a "wild animal" (fera) "be given to him": now an ox is a beast (bestia), not a wild animal (fera); a lion, however, is a wild animal (fera), not a beast (bestia); therefore the king was changed rather into the form of a lion than of an ox. Again, because in verse 30 the Septuagint says his hair grew to resemble that of lions. Add that this king was cruel and proud, like a lion; whence he is also compared to a lion in chapter 7:4. But in the explanation of the dream, Daniel makes no mention of a lion, but only of an ox, in verses 29 and 30, narrating that he became like an ox. Now oxen are not only tame and domestic, but also wild and fierce, as are aurochs and bison. Nebuchadnezzar seems to have become such. Thus the poets fable about Gyges and the Minotaur, that they were partly men, partly oxen. For about Gyges, Ovid sings in Tristia, Book IV, elegy 6: "Hundred-handed Gyges and the half-bull man"; and about the Minotaur: "A half-bull man, and a half-man bull."
The allegorical language now passes, as often happens in dreams, into the literal; for bonds, the diet of wild animals, and the change of heart or mind do not apply to a tree, but to Nebuchadnezzar who is signified by it.
Third, Michael Medina, Book II On the Faith, chapter 7, thinks the king's transformation into a beast was not real but phantastic -- either through the illusions of demons, in the way our lycanthropes, though they are men and sorcerers, with the help of a demon so deceive the eyes of onlookers that they seem to be wolves, and seem to attack and kill flocks of sheep like wolves, and then after the slaughter seem to return to human form. St. Augustine mentions a similar transformation in Book XVIII of the City of God, chapter 18. Or rather, because God placed around the king's body a certain form of a beast, under which, when he was seen by others, he was thought to be a beast; for so that woman who was brought to St. Hilarion appeared through magical arts to be a pack-animal, though to Hilarion she appeared as a woman, which she truly was. The witness is St. Jerome, in his Life. But these explanations are insufficient and do not satisfy the words of Scripture.
Fourth, St. Thomas, Book II of On the Government of Princes (learned men, such as Bellarmine in the Book on Ecclesiastical Writers, deny that this book is by St. Thomas Aquinas), in the final chapter, says the king was transformed into a beast not truly, but because, with his imagination vitiated and corrupted, he seemed to himself to be transformed.
Galen relates many remarkable examples of this, and after him Levinus Lemnius, Book II On Complexion, near the end: A certain man, he says, thought his nose had grown to an immense size, so that he seemed to be carrying about an elephant's trunk. A doctor removed this disease and fantasy from him by this device: he placed a long sausage against his nostrils and, seizing a razor, gradually cut it away, and finally nicked the tip of his nose so that blood flowed; and thus he tore away the imaginary nose. And having prescribed a soporific potion and a healthy diet, he fully cured him.
Another man, a hypochondriac -- that is, one whose innards swelled with melancholic humor and flatulence -- believed that frogs and toads were boring through his insides. A doctor gave him a potion and, by means of an enema, arranged for several frogs and toads to be thrown into the basin placed beneath him; when he saw them, this delusion was taken from him.
A third man believed that his posterior parts were made of glass; whence he always stood, fearing that if he sat down, they would shatter like fragments of glass.
A fourth man recently believed, from excessive fatigue of the head, that he was dead, and did not want to eat, since he believed himself to be dead. And already the seventh day was approaching, which is usually fatal for those wasted by hunger. To rescue him from disease and death, certain people, masked and wrapped in linen sheets like the dead, entered a dark room, set a table, and began to refresh themselves generously. When the sick man saw this, he asked what they were doing and what sort of people they were. The answer was that they were dead. Then he asked: Do the dead eat, then? They replied: They certainly do; come, see and taste. He sprang from his bed, ate abundantly with the pretended dead, fell asleep after drinking a prepared potion, and when he awoke gradually came to himself and was cured. All these examples are from Lemnius.
Hence many become foolish and delirious from the mere vehement apprehension of something either lovable or hateful. Indeed, Seneca relates that Bibius Gallus the Roman, by imitating the gestures of a fool, so impressed them upon his imagination that he thereby became a fool.
To this adds Franciscus Valesius, On Sacred Philosophy, chapter 80, and Hieronymus Mercurialis, Book VI of the Various Readings, chapter 20, who hold that this metamorphosis of the king was nothing other than the disease that physicians call melancholy, by which those who are afflicted go mad and imagine themselves changed into the forms of various animals, and do and suffer everything as if it were truly so: some into dogs, and they bark; some into roosters, and they crow and flap their sides; some into wolves, and they go out from the house at night, seek out graves, and willingly spend time among corpses. Hence among the Latins it is called canine and lupine melancholy, among the Greeks Lycanthropy, among the Arabs cutulint.
So Bellerophon, to shake off the sicknesses of his spirit and the pains of his mind, sought out pathless places and solitudes; about whom Homer says in Iliad 7: "He himself eating his own heart, avoiding the footsteps of men."
Hence the pagan Rufinus, falsely supposing that the monks of the island of Capraria were suffering from the same disease, writes of them thus: "So Homer assigned the disease of excessive bile / to the cares of Bellerophon."
Similar was Timon the Athenian, who was called a misanthrope because he seemed to hate the human race. Whence on one occasion, ascending the speaker's platform and commanding silence, he said: I have a garden, and in it a fig tree from which many citizens have hanged themselves. I now wish to build on that same spot; therefore I publicly advise you that if anyone wishes to hang himself, let him hurry before the tree is cut down. His epitaph was this: "Here I am buried after a wretched and needy life; / Do not ask my name: may the gods, reader, damn you." Whence the sea, as if loathing this monster, is said to have pushed his tomb far away by its flooding.
This explanation is true, but not adequate; for it does not fully satisfy the words of Scripture and the history itself: for no natural disease can change the form of a man and so brutalize his temperament that for seven years he lives on animal food like a wild beast among wild beasts.
Finally, Pererius asserts that the king did not change his form, but only his imagination, complexion, and behavior. And Maldonatus holds that nothing was changed in the form of his body except his nails and hair, which, unless frequently cut, tend to grow in an ugly and beastly manner. But in truth:
I SAY FIRST: Nebuchadnezzar in this transformation truly remained a man. This is clear, first, from the entire narrative of verses 30 and following. Second, because otherwise his rational soul would have had to be taken from him and the soul of an ox given to him; and thus he would not have been the same person, nor would the king who had sinned have been punished, but an ox. Third, because a human soul cannot inform the body of an ox, nor the soul of an ox a human body. Therefore Nebuchadnezzar remained entirely the same -- the same body, the same soul; but only his human sense as regards its exercise, that is, human sensation (especially in taste), and the use of reason were taken from him for a time and afterwards restored.
I SAY SECOND: Nevertheless, in some sense he can be said to have been converted into a beast, namely into an aurochs or bison. And this is clear, first, because as St. Thomas says, according to his vitiated imagination he seemed to himself to have been converted into an aurochs. Second, because the temperament of his heart and body was so changed and brutalized that it was similar to that of a wild beast, as far as could happen without the loss of humanity, that is, of human nature. Third, because, deprived of the use of reason and out of his mind, he employed only imagination, and that a beastly one, such as belongs to an aurochs; and this is what is said here: "Let the heart of a beast be given to him," as if to say: Let him be deprived of human sense, let him become demented and insane, let him seem to himself to be not a man but a beast.
Note here: "Heart" in Scripture and in this passage signifies three things. First, the mind: for what the heart is in the body, the mind is in the soul and in the whole man. Now beasts do not have a mind, but in its place they have imagination; for this governs them and their actions, just as the mind governs a man's actions. The heart of a beast, therefore, is the imagination of a beast. Second, "heart" means the same as appetite and will; the heart of a beast, therefore, is a beastly appetite. Third, "heart" is taken here in its proper sense. For the complexion of his heart, and thence of his whole body, was changed in the king, from human to beastly. I would believe, however, with Maldonatus, that he had at least at intervals some sense of reason and of his former dignity; for this was properly punitive, afflictive, and distressing to him as a king and a man. This interpretation is favored by verse 22: "Until you know that the Most High rules" -- as if to say: Until from your punishment you acknowledge God as avenger, and beg pardon from Him.
Fourth, because his appearance was more beastly than human; for he went always naked, exposed like a wild animal to the dew, rain, and other inclemencies of the sky. Again, his face differed from a human one and approached that of a beast. Moreover, his hair had grown so much that it covered almost his entire body; his nails too had grown to resemble those of birds. Finally, his skin was not soft but hard and beastly, and he had very thick hairs that resembled the feathers of birds, which arose from the abundant soot of his very thick melancholy, says Valesius.
Fifth, his gait and figure were beastly; for he did not walk upright like a man on two feet, but bent and prone, crawling on hands and feet like a beast on all fours. Therefore his feet, arms, and hands became callused and hard, and the remaining limbs, together with his temperament, had assumed a beastly form, as far as God could bring about while preserving human nature. Whence the king himself, now restored, says in verse 33: "My form returned to me"; therefore it had previously been taken from him. I have sometimes seen horns of an ox painted on our king; but the painter added these by his own license. Others add a tail to him; but this is less necessary; and although perhaps some sort of horns could possibly grow on a man, there is certainly no force in nature that could add such an appendage to the human body. Some add that this king's knee joints were reversed, so that they protruded outward in the manner of quadrupeds, and this so that he could run with the same speed as oxen and leap over uneven ground; for if his knees had been folded inward in the human manner, he would have been unsuited for such movement and leaping. This opinion seems fitting and probable. For this positioning for walking in the manner of quadrupeds is natural, and almost necessary for such a gait to be continued and to last for a long time, as experience shows.
Sixth, because he lived among wild beasts like a wild beast in the forests, and ate their food, namely herbs and roots; and he sought these out of a beastly imagination and appetite (for this is what "the heart of a beast" signifies) and a bovine appetite given to him by God. Moreover, the wild animals did not harm him, because they thought he was a beast, though a new and monstrous one; and because God turned them away and miraculously guarded and preserved him in this state for seven years. Aben-Ezra relates a similar story about a certain melancholic man who withdrew to a mountain in Sardinia and lived there for a long time on grass with the deer. So the Arcadians lived on acorns, the people of Argaeus on wild pears, the Ethiopians on locusts, the Sarmatians on millet, the Persians on cardamom, hermits on herbs, and the Ophiophagi on serpents. That Mithridates had become so accustomed to poison that he could not be killed by it, the histories attest. Albertus Magnus relates that he saw a certain woman in Cologne feeding on spiders. It is therefore no wonder that our king lived so long on herbs.
Seventh, because together with the use of his mind he had also lost the use of his mouth and tongue, and gave forth not articulate and human but disorderly and bestial sounds, and bellowed like an ox. The reason is that speech follows the imagination: for as a man or animal imagines, so it also speaks, that is, gives voice. Where, therefore, the imagination is beastly, as it was in the king, there also the voice is beastly. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rupert, and Gregory, Book V of the Moralia, chapter 6; and expressly Ludovicus Molina, Part I, Question 111; and Delrio, Book II On Magic, Question 18.
The Gentiles scarcely mention this metamorphosis, especially because the ancient annals of the Chaldeans have perished. Nevertheless, Alphaeus in Eusebius, Book IX of the Preparation for the Gospel, hints at it, when he narrates that King Nebuchadnezzar, seized by madness, predicted the overthrow of the Chaldeans, and soon vanished from the company of men -- when, namely, like a beast he fled to beasts in the forests.
Morally, note here the just and fitting punishment for bestial pride, tyranny, gluttony, and vice; for on account of these things he was changed from a king into what was virtually a wild beast: "And because by the eloquence of his rank he had exalted himself above men, he lost the very human sense that he had in common with men," says St. Gregory, Book V of the Moralia, chapter 6. See how true here is that saying of Psalm 48: "Man, when he was in honor, did not understand; he was compared to senseless beasts and was made like them." Hence Homer feigned that Circe drove the companions of Ulysses mad with her enticements and converted them into pigs, oxen, and donkeys; but Ulysses, because he had rejected her songs and enticements, could not be driven mad and transformed by her. Hence again arose that doctrine of Pythagoras about the transmigration of souls into beasts, which he called metempsychosis: which, if understood literally, is false and absurd; but if taken symbolically and morally, is true and fitting. Euripides truly said: "When you see someone raised on high, glorying in splendid wealth, and haughty with birth and pride beyond his station, expect his swift punishment from God." And Herodotus, Book I: "You see how God strikes with lightning the most outstanding creatures and does not let them indulge their pride; but small ones he easily endures. You see also how the heavenly bolts always fall upon the greatest buildings and the tallest trees. For God is accustomed to chastise whatever is eminent, and therefore great and proud armies are often conquered by a few. For God does not allow anyone besides Himself to think highly." Another: "Ambition is the element of evils." Finally, Socrates wisely admonishes: "Though you were born a king, listen nevertheless as a mortal. What does it matter that you spit far? You abound in much phlegm. You wear an elegant garment? A sheep had it first. You carry gold? This is the inconstant power of fortune. You abound in wealth? This is the unjust force of time. You are proud? This is the boasting, or neighing, of folly. But if you pursue temperance, it is a divine gift. And temperance comes about if you measure yourself."
Finally, Seneca wisely says in the Thyestes: "Let whoever will stand powerful / upon the slippery summit of the court; / let sweet quiet satisfy me. / Set in an obscure place, / let me enjoy gentle leisure." Namely, "far from Jupiter and his thunderbolt." Therefore the humble man who is far from Jupiter is far from the thunderbolt.
AND LET SEVEN TIMES PASS OVER HIM. -- By "seven times" Rabbi Abraham understands seven weeks; others, seven months; others, seven seasons: for a year is divided into four seasons, namely spring, summer, autumn, and winter; so seven seasons would make nearly two years. Others, whom Theodoret favors, say that the two seasons of a year are summer and winter: seven seasons, therefore, are three and a half years. But commonly the Latins, Greeks, and Hebrews interpret "seven times" as seven years: for a year is the most common and widespread measure of time, especially in the chronicles of kings. So "times" are taken for years in chapter 12:7. Whence the Alexandrine Arabic translates: And let seven years pass.
Verse 14: By the Decree of the Watchers It Is Decided
14. BY THE DECREE OF THE WATCHERS IT IS DECIDED, AND (this is) THE WORD AND PETITION OF THE HOLY ONES -- as if to say: So the watchers decree, that is, the angels, at God's command in response to the word and petition of the saints. So St. Jerome. The Arabic translates: This is what was decreed in the command of the holy angel. In Chaldee it reads: and in the word of the holy ones is the question -- as if to say: The lesser angels ask: Why has God done this? And the answer will be given to them: So that the living may know that the Most High rules.
AND HE SHALL SET OVER IT THE LOWLIEST OF MEN. -- Namely, over Nebuchadnezzar; or rather "over it," that is, over the kingdom itself, as the Chaldee, the Greek, Vatablus, and others have it. Moreover, I have listed examples of the many whom God raised from a lowly condition to kingship at Genesis 38, at the end.
Verse 16: He Began, etc.., to Think Silently
16. He Began, etc.., to Think Silently. -- In Greek apeneôthê, that is, he was stunned, he remained astonished: so Vatablus. Others: he hesitated. Polychronius translates kateplagê, that is, he was struck with dismay at the marvelous novelty of the things shown, and became absorbed in thought. For, as Ptolemy says at the beginning of the Almagest: "Meditation is the key to truth." Wherefore, when wise men are asked about a chance event or a difficult matter, they do not answer immediately, but ask for time to think.
HIS THOUGHTS TROUBLED HIM -- because Daniel grieved that such dreadful things were portended by this dream for the king who was so dear to him.
Symbolically, Rupert in Daniel chapter 8 teaches that by Nebuchadnezzar converted into a beast is signified, first, that God, choosing the foolish things of the world, made foolish the wisdom of this world through the Gospel of Christ. Second, the victory of the kingdom of God, whose power the king, having recovered his senses, confessed. "The madness of the proud king," he says, "presented the proper image of the wisdom of this world that is to be rejected, especially in that he ate grass like an ox. For what is the grass, the food of this ox, if not the multitude of carnal men, green in the morning, quickly flowering, and just as quickly -- their bloom lost -- withering? For all flesh is as grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass. Therefore, when the holy one and watcher descended, at his cry Nebuchadnezzar was cast out from among men and ate grass like an ox: because when the power and wisdom of God, Christ, descended into this world, at His preaching the wisdom of this world was made foolish and was cast out from among men who received the divine reason; it could only devour grass, that is, superfluous men and those sprouting beyond number from the vice of the flesh."
Verse 24: O King, let my Counsel be Pleasing to You
24. O KING, LET MY COUNSEL BE PLEASING TO YOU. -- In Chaldee, malca milki, that is, king, my king, or my kingdom, be pleasing to you -- where king or kingdom is called "counsel"; and this elegantly, says Marinus of Brescia in his Lexicon, because counsel is like a king, and a king is the ruler of deliberation and judgment; and because kings ought to govern and be governed by counsel, so that counsel is the king of the king. Whence Pagninus in the Appendix of Chaldee words in his Lexicon derives milki, that is, counsel, as well as malka, that is, king, from malach, which means the same thing, that is, to counsel. The same is taught and confirmed with many examples in the Chaldee and Syriac lexicons. Thus the Chaldeans and Hebrews called the king from "counsel," so that king and counselor are the same, and to reign is the same as to counsel and to be powerful in counsel, according to Plato's saying: "Blessed are the republics which philosophers and wise men govern, or where kings philosophize." Hence Proverbs 31:3: "Do not give your substance to women, nor your riches to destroy kings." The Septuagint according to the Roman edition translates: And your life to a late change of counsel; Theodotion: to repentance. And shortly after: Do not give wine to kings, O Lamuel, do not give wine to kings. The Septuagint, reading el (that is, to, with) instead of al (that is, not), translates: Do everything with counsel, drink wine with counsel -- as if counsel is the same as kings, or rather that the same word melachim signifies both kings and counsel. For our Vulgate translates "kings"; the Septuagint, "counsel."
Hence Isaiah, chapter 9:6, assigns to our King Emmanuel, "whose government is upon His shoulder," the title "Counselor"; indeed Homer also calls King Agamemnon boulêphoron, that is, powerful in counsel -- namely, a prince who must take counsel for many. Hear him in Iliad 1: "Let there be one ruler, a man of counsel." Cicero says excellently: "What makes a good leader is labor in business, diligence in action, counsel in foresight, and speed in execution."
REDEEM YOUR SINS WITH ALMS. -- For "redeem" the Chaldee has peruc, that is, "break off" -- as if to say: Come to your senses, begin a new life by changing cruelty into clemency and mercy, says Calvin; and he adds: Therefore the Papists wrongly prove from this passage their acts of penance and satisfaction. But St. Jerome, Theodotion, Vatablus, and all others translate "redeem," and the Chaldee peruc signifies not only to break off but also to redeem; for from it comes peric, meaning redeemer, and purkan, redemption. See the Royal Lexicon. And this is clear from the course of Daniel's speech. For he wants the king's past sins, not future ones, to be thus broken, shattered (for parac is the same in letters and meaning as the Latin frago and frango, "I break"), destroyed, and redeemed, so that for them the king may appease God through penance and almsgiving. Whence Calvin, overcome by the truth, finally concedes that it can be so translated: "Redeem your sins with alms"; but he objects that this redemption is to be understood before men, not before God -- as if to say: Restore to the poor what you seized from them by force and injustice, so that you may make amends and restitution. But this is an act of justice; Daniel, however, urges an act of mercy, for he adds: "And your iniquities with mercy to the poor." Again, Daniel wishes the king to make satisfaction not to men but to God. For he taught that the Most High had inflicted this plague upon him, and therefore that He was to be feared and appeased, in verse 22, saying: "Until you know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men."
WITH ALMS. -- In Chaldee it is betsidka, that is, justice. Note: Mercy and almsgiving are here and elsewhere called justice, because they are the cause, the part, and the illustrious sign of justice and holiness, as I said on II Corinthians 9:9.
Morally, Daniel here teaches counselors, confessors, and preachers of princes how truly and sincerely they ought to censure their vices and suggest sound counsel and remedies against them. For we see many who flatter them, excuse their crimes, and thereby destroy both themselves and the princes. Seneca says excellently, Book VI of On Benefits, chapter 30: "I will show you," he says, "what great heights lack, what is wanting to those who possess everything: namely, someone who speaks the truth, and rescues a man who is stunned among liars (flatterers) -- who by the very habit of hearing pleasant things instead of right things has been led to ignorance of the truth -- from the agreement and conspiracy of the false. Do you not see how the extinguished freedom of speech drives them headlong, and loyalty reduced to slavish obsequiousness; while no one advises or dissuades according to his own judgment, but there is a contest of flattery, and the one duty and the one rivalry of all friends is who can deceive most charmingly?" And shortly after: Hence "they believe to be permanent what, when brought to the summit, most greatly totters. Kingdoms about to crash down upon themselves have been shattered; nor did they understand, in that scene glittering with vain and quickly vanishing goods, that from the moment they could no longer hear any truth, they should have expected nothing but adversity." He adds the example of Xerxes, whom everyone flattered as he was about to invade Greece, as if he would soon crush them with such great forces. Only Demaratus said: "That very multitude in which he took pleasure, unorganized and unwieldy, was to be feared by its own commander; for it had not strength but only weight; what is excessive can never be governed, and what cannot be governed does not long endure." A few Greeks would seize the narrows of Thermopylae and would resist all the Persians. And so it happened: "And Xerxes, laid low throughout all of Greece, understood how different an army is from a mob; more wretched from shame than from loss, he gave thanks to Demaratus because he alone had told him the truth, and permitted him to ask for whatever he wished. He asked that he might enter Sardis, the greatest city of Asia, riding in a chariot and wearing the tiara upright upon his head."
And the example of Augustus Caesar, who, indignant, publicly disclosed the adulteries of his daughter Julia; thence, overcome with shame and groaning: "None of these things," he said, "would have happened to me if either Agrippa or Maecenas had lived." He concludes: "Let a true voice sometimes enter ears filled with flattery. Give useful counsel. You ask what you can provide for a fortunate man? Make him not trust in his own happiness; let him know that it must be held by many faithful hands; that the things which chance has given are unstable and flee faster than they come; that often between the greatest fortune and the worst there is no distance."
REDEEM. -- The Arabic Antiochene translates: Wrap or cover your sins with alms. The Arabic word is properly said of the shroud in which the dead are wrapped, so that sins are compared to a corpse and alms to the shroud. The Alexandrine Arabic translates: Seek remission for your sins through alms, and cover them, and through compassion toward the infirm for your iniquities.
Hence St. Augustine, Book XI of the City of God, chapter 38, says that some cannot be saved without almsgiving, because they are so entangled in their sins or desires that unless through the prayers of the poor they obtain a greater and more powerful grace than ordinary, they cannot free themselves from them.
In a similar manner, the Emperor Zeno escaped the punishment of God through almsgiving. Hear John Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 185: "One of the Fathers narrated to us," he says, "concerning the Emperor Zeno, that he had treated a certain woman unjustly in the matter of her daughter. She spent her time in the temple of Our Lady, the Holy Mother of God, praying and beseeching, and saying with tears: Avenge me against the Emperor Zeno. When she had done this for many days, the Holy Mother of God appeared to her, saying: Believe me, woman, I have often wished to take your vengeance, but his hand prevents me. For he was very merciful and gave alms."
Rightly, therefore, does Sirach 3:33 say: "Water extinguishes a blazing fire, and almsgiving resists sins." Writing on this passage, St. Ambrose compares almsgiving to the water of baptism: "Almsgiving," he says, "is in a certain way another washing of souls, so that if someone has perhaps sinned after baptism through human frailty, it remains for him to be cleansed again through almsgiving." Therefore a preacher, like another Daniel, should frequently urge and impress upon sinners the importance of almsgiving. For, as St. Augustine says, homily 29 among the 50: "The sacrifice of Christians is almsgiving to the poor; for through this God becomes propitious toward sins." See what I noted about almsgiving on Deuteronomy 26, near the end of the chapter.
Hear the testament of Peter, Lord of Sora and Arpino, and of his wife Doda, in the year of the Lord 1030, from Baronius: "We began," he says, "to think within ourselves how we were conceived and born in sins, and how from our infancy, day and night, at every hour and moment, we committed innumerable sins, and how at that terrible judgment we will render an account to God for all our deeds and thoughts, and how from that most just Judge each one will receive according to his works; and again, when we began to think how the impious and sinners, who neglect to redeem their sins here, will be condemned to that fearful eternal punishment with the devil, and how the just and the elect of God will glory in that eternal blessedness with the Lord; suddenly divine mercy looked upon us, and our heart was pierced with trembling and burning of heart; and we began to think and to seek counsel from priests and religious men, as to how we might redeem our innumerable sins and escape the wrath of the eternal Judge and eternal punishment. We received counsel from them: that besides renouncing the world, nothing is better than the power of almsgiving, and to build a monastery from our own goods and substance, and to gather there a community of monks serving God, and there according to the rule and norm of blessed Benedict to resound praise to God, and to fulfill vows, and at all times to pray unceasingly for our souls. This counsel we received from them gladly and with the most ardent love; therefore we built a church in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary, and we entrusted it into the hands of the venerable Lord Dominic, priest and Abbot, and there we established him as Abbot where he built the monastery and called together a community of monks serving God, etc.
Note: Almsgiving redeems sins. First, because it disposes the sinner to grace and to the remission of sin, and like prayer it merits and obtains this from God.
Second, because once the guilt has been remitted, it merits from condign merit the remission of the remaining punishment.
Third, even if it does not always merit the remission of guilt and eternal punishment, it generally merits the remission of temporal punishment, so that God does not send His temporal plagues in this life; and this is also the point here. For St. Jerome and others think that Nebuchadnezzar did give alms, and therefore the sentence of God against him was delayed for twelve months, until he again lost the good of clemency through the evil of pride, verse 27. Whence, for what our version has: "Perhaps He will forgive your offenses," the Chaldee has: "Perhaps there will be a prolongation of your peace and prosperity."
Verse 26: After the End of Twelve Months
26. AFTER THE END OF TWELVE MONTHS. -- God delayed the execution of the sentence He had pronounced against the king for twelve months, to give him space for repentance. So Theodoret.
Verse 27: He Said: is not This Babylon?
27. HE SAID: IS NOT THIS BABYLON? -- The king spoke this with enormous pride, forgetful of and contemptuous toward God, whence he says: "Which I built," not God. He seems, therefore, to have forgotten the dream and its interpretation, or to have made light of it, and to have fallen back into his natural character and arrogance. Note: The Tower of Babel and the city of Babylon were founded by Nimrod, or Belus, who was the father of Ninus; it was enlarged by Semiramis, but later destroyed and restored by Nebuchadnezzar and adorned with the most magnificent works. For Babylon, according to the testimony of Herodotus, Book I, had a circuit of walls measuring 480 stadia; the walls were 50 cubits thick and 200 cubits high; in them were one hundred bronze gates. Diodorus adds, Book III, that the walls of the city of Babylon were so wide that six chariots could proceed along them at the same time; and Aristotle, Book III of the Politics, chapter 2, says that Babylon was so vast that when the city was captured by enemies, for three days the inhabitants of the other part of the city did not realize it had been taken. Babylon was therefore considered the wonder of the world and one of the seven wonders of the world, about which Martial says in the Amphitheater, epigram 1: "Let barbarous Memphis be silent about the wonders of its pyramids, / nor let unceasing toil boast of Babylon."
Verse 28: And While the Word was Still in the King's Mouth, a Voice Fell from Heaven
28. AND WHILE THE WORD WAS STILL IN THE KING'S MOUTH, A VOICE FELL FROM HEAVEN. -- See here how God detests pride, and how suddenly He strikes down and thunders against the proud from heaven. So Saul, puffed up and raging against Christians, was struck and shaken by the heavenly voice: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad"; overcome, he surrendered to God (Acts 9). So to the proud Jews about to be struck down by God, Isaiah says in chapter 66:6: "A voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord rendering recompense to His enemies." And concerning the proud Sennacherib, chapter 30:31: "At the voice of the Lord, Assyria shall be terrified, struck with the rod." And chapter 33:3: "At the voice of the angel the peoples fled." And Joel 2:11: "God has uttered His voice before the face of His army; for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who shall endure it?" -- when, namely, on the day of judgment He shall drive the proud into hell with His voice: "Depart, you cursed, into everlasting fire." For, as David says in II Kings 22:14: "The Lord shall thunder from heaven, and the Most High shall give His voice." So John, in Apocalypse 8, heard the voice of an angel, like "an eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a great voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth!"
Verse 30: He was Cast Out from Among Men
30. HE WAS CAST OUT FROM AMONG MEN. -- When Nebuchadnezzar was expelled as demented and insane, then his son Evilmerodach, or the nobles, administered the kingdom of the Chaldeans for seven years; they, according to the prophecy of Daniel, waited through the seven years to receive Nebuchadnezzar back when he was restored to his mind, as is indicated in verse 33.
UNTIL HIS HAIR GREW LIKE EAGLES. -- For "eagles" the Septuagint has leonôn, that is, lions; whence Epiphanius and Dorotheus drew their opinion about the king being transformed into a lion, as I said on verse 13. But the Chaldee and the Latin have "eagles," not "lions."
You will ask how his hair grew "like" not an ox but eagles. First, Maldonatus holds that nothing in the king was changed except his nails and hair, but that these alone grew in a beastly fashion. But the opposite is more true, as I said on verse 15.
Second, Lyranus explains "like eagles" as meaning: to the length of an eagle's wings.
But there is no change of wings here, nor are the hairs of a man rightly compared to wings, but to the feathers of an eagle.
Third, Vatablus better explains and translates it thus: So that in the abundance of hair he became like eagles, and in his nails like birds. For the Chaldee literally has: Until his hairs were multiplied like those of eagles. His hairs are therefore compared rather to those of an eagle than of an ox (which he resembled in gait and form), first, because of their abundance and thickness: for the eagle's whole body is thick with plumage and as it were wrapped in it, like a lion in its mane -- especially the species called the Ossifraga (bone-breaker): so it was with the king. Second, because of color: for just as an eagle's feathers are very dark, so were the king's hairs, and this came about from the abundance of melancholy, which exhales a very thick soot from which these hairs were generated, as I said from Valesius on verse 13. Third, because of length and shape. For just as the feathers on an eagle's head, namely its crest, are long, erect, curled, rough, and menacing, so were the king's hairs, always growing and never cut.
Moreover, it was fitting that he had the hair of a rapacious eagle and the claws of rapacious birds, because this was the punishment and symbol of his rapacity, by which he plundered all nations and their kingdoms and wealth. Hence he is called by Jeremiah, chapter 4:7, "the plunderer of nations," and by Ezekiel, chapter 17:3, "a great eagle with great wings," etc. This rapacity is signified in the feathers. For Ulysses Aldrovandus, Book 1 of the Ornithology, chapter On the Eagle, page 24, teaches that the feathers and plumes of the eagle are rapacious and voracious, where he writes thus about the eagle: "It has feathers of remarkable firmness and hardness, which (as I have learned from the experience and authority of many) consume the feathers of other birds when mixed with them, especially those of geese and doves, and this perhaps because of a certain hidden power with which they are endowed. For the bird itself while alive is hostile to all other birds, and therefore it is not to be disapproved that this vital force is transmitted also into its lifeless remains, through the contagion of sympathy; as the outcome of the matter has also shown in those who have been slain, over whom the perpetrator of the crime has been brought, either by chance or to test his conscience." For in the presence of the murderer, the body slain by him emits blood, about which I spoke on Deuteronomy 21:1 and following.
Verse 31: I Praised Him who Lives Forever
31. I PRAISED HIM WHO LIVES FOREVER. -- The Chaldee: the Living One of the ages, whom the Syrians call the Giant of the ages, as I said on Isaiah 57:15. St. John alludes to this in Apocalypse 10:6, and elsewhere, where he calls God the One who lives unto the ages of ages.
Verse 32: Among the Powers of Heaven
32. AMONG THE POWERS OF HEAVEN. -- In Chaldee bechel, that is, in the army or strength, namely of the stars and angels of heaven.
Verse 33: At the Same Time my Understanding Returned to Me
33. AT THE SAME TIME MY UNDERSTANDING RETURNED TO ME. -- Dorotheus in the Synopsis and Epiphanius in the Life of Daniel hand down that the seven years appointed by God for the king's punishment were contracted by Daniel's prayers to seven months: therefore, that he lived as a beast for seven months, and for the remaining six years and five months he was restored to his mind, but not yet to his kingdom; rather he performed penance, and by this merited being restored to the kingdom.
But from this verse it is clear that this is a fable; for here it is said that at the same time the king was simultaneously restored to his mind and to his kingdom, namely after he had spent seven years with the beasts. The same had been threatened to him by God in verse 22.
Morally, Tertullian, in his book On Penance, at the end, from this passage exhorts sinners to repentance, saying: "Dumb creatures recognize the remedies divinely assigned to them. A deer pierced by an arrow, to expel the iron and its irremovable barb from its wound, knows it must be healed by dittany. The swallow, if it has blinded its chicks, knows how to restore their sight with its own chelidonia herb. Shall the sinner, knowing the exomologesis (public confession) established by the Lord for his restoration, pass over that which restored the Babylonian king to his kingdoms? For he had long offered penance to the Lord, working out his public confession in seven years of squalor, with the savagery of his nails growing in the manner of eagles, and the neglect of his hair presenting a lion-like horror. Oh, harsh treatment! The one whom men shuddered at, God received." Again, learn here that prosperity snatches away the minds of men, especially of princes, while adversity restores them. Hence Zeno used to say "that he had sailed prosperously after he had suffered shipwreck"; for falls and calamities teach caution and wisdom. So we see men, flowing with wealth and luxury, return to frugality if God snatches away their wealth and reduces them to beggary. Wisely Artabanus, urging moderation on Xerxes: "God rejoices," he said, "to bring down whatever is most eminent; because He does not allow anyone other than Himself to think grandly of himself." So God, says Claudian in the Epigrams: "He strikes with lightning the mighty oaks, the golden ash-trees."
And Seneca in the Agamemnon: "The tower is beaten by the rainy south wind; / whatever Fortune has raised on high, / she lifts that it may fall."
So the eagle lifts a tortoise on high, so that by dashing it upon a rock from a greater height, it may more fully break and disembowel it. In Nebuchadnezzar, those three golden axioms of Ptolemy came true, which are found in his Life at the beginning of the Almagest. First: "He is foolish who does not know his own measure." For this king esteemed himself far greater than he truly was. Second: "When someone is pleased with himself, he has been brought to the point where the wrath of God is upon him." Third: "He who is greatly exalted in his dignity is greatly cast down in the loss of it."
Beautifully and truly the author of the Sermon to the Brothers in the Desert, sermon 12, in St. Augustine, volume X, says: "O holy humility, how unlike you are to pride! Pride itself, my brothers, cast Lucifer from heaven; but humility caused the Son of God to become incarnate. Pride itself expelled Adam from paradise; but humility introduced the thief into paradise. The pride of the giants divided and confused their tongues; but humility gathered together all that were scattered. The pride of Nebuchadnezzar changed him into a beast; but the humility of Joseph made him prince of Egypt. The pride of Pharaoh drowned him; but humility exalted Moses."
And the Wise Man, Proverbs 11:2: "Where there has been pride, there will also be disgrace." And Christ: "He who exalts himself shall be humbled; and he who humbles himself shall be exalted." It is narrated of St. Francis in the Chronicle of the Friars Minor, Part I, Book VII, chapter 5, that when St. Giles was narrating the fall of Brother Elias -- who, a learned man, had been Minister General of his Order, and now was an apostate and excommunicated because he had adhered to Frederick II, Emperor and enemy of the Church -- he threw himself upon the ground, and clinging tightly to it said: "I wish to descend as far as I can, because Elias fell for the reason that he wished to ascend higher than was right."
Verse 34
34. NOW THEREFORE I, NEBUCHADNEZZAR, PRAISE, etc., THE KING OF HEAVEN. -- Hence it is probable that Nebuchadnezzar was seriously converted to the true God by this seven-year punishment, and was contrite and humbled with his whole heart, and therefore justified; and since he died shortly after, he seems to have been saved. So Josephus, Dorotheus in the Synopsis, Epiphanius in the Life of Daniel, Lyranus, the Carthusian; and Theodoret and St. Augustine (letter 122) favor this. Hear Dorotheus in the Life of Daniel: "When Nebuchadnezzar," he says, "had obtained remission of his sins, he gave his kingdom to the Prophet, and ate neither bread nor meat, nor drank wine, having confessed to the Lord. For Daniel had commanded him this, that by eating vegetables and herbs he should appease the Lord." And he adds: "He wished to make him (Daniel) co-heir with his sons. But the holy man said: Be merciful to me, Lord, that I may not abandon the inheritance of my fathers and cling to the inheritance of the uncircumcised." Epiphanius says the same in his passage on Daniel, namely that after his penance, pardon, and restoration to the kingdom, he abstained from meat and wine and lived on vegetables. It was otherwise with Pharaoh, who through the plagues and miracles of God became more hardened, and died in his hardness of heart, and was drowned in the Red Sea, and therefore was damned. These are the disparate judgments of God: for, as St. Paul says, God has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens."
Again, behold King Nebuchadnezzar, who had lived most impiously his whole life, is converted and saved at the end of his life; on the contrary, Solomon, who had lived piously and religiously from boyhood, in his old age was corrupted by women and worshipped idols, and therefore many think he is damned.
You will say: Of the king of Babylon it is said, Isaiah 14:11: "Your pride has been dragged down to hell"; therefore Nebuchadnezzar is damned in hell. I answer first that Isaiah is speaking about the destruction of Babylon, and therefore speaks not so much of Nebuchadnezzar as of Belshazzar (for under him and with him Babylon was destroyed), and this under the figure and type of Lucifer: for to Lucifer, who wished to ascend into heaven, the words properly apply: "Your pride has been dragged down to hell." Pererius answers second that these things are said of Nebuchadnezzar not absolutely and prophetically, but as a threat; or if someone wishes them to be said absolutely, which seems more true, they should be taken symbolically, and mean only the king's utmost abasement and misery; just as by his ascent into heaven is signified not properly an ascent, but symbolically his supreme glory and pride.
You will say second: Here in verse 5, Nebuchadnezzar, now converted, still calls Bel his god; therefore he does not seem to have fully rejected Bel, nor to have been fully converted. I answer: The king there merely narrates that he once gave the boy Daniel the name Baltassar according to the name of his god, that is, that from Baal or Bel, whom he then worshipped, he called him Baltassar; but he does not say that he still worships Bel. Similarly, when he there asserts that Daniel has the spirit of the holy gods, he is merely recounting his own words with which he addressed Daniel before his conversion, namely before the interpretation of the dream. I confess, however, that these arguments make the conversion and salvation of Nebuchadnezzar doubtful, especially since we do not read that he rejected his idols, released the Jews from captivity, restored what he had tyrannically seized, and performed other signs of true repentance. We read only this: that Evilmerodach, as soon as he succeeded to the kingdom, exalted Joachin, king of Judah, who was captive in Babylon -- and this perhaps because his father on his deathbed commended this and other things to him.
Finally, do you want a similar dream? Here it is. The Emperor Constans, grandson of the Emperor Heraclius, a Monothelite, who treacherously captured Pope Martin the Roman Pontiff through Calliopas at Rome and wore him out with hardships in exile -- with God's vengeance pursuing him -- in the year of Christ 654, about to fight a naval battle with Muawiyah, prince of the Saracens, saw a vision at night. For while he was in Lycia, he seemed to himself to be at Thessalonica. Awakened, he narrated the dream to a certain interpreter, who said: O Emperor, would that you had neither slept nor seen this dream! For to be at Thessalonica -- thes allô nikên -- implies, which is interpreted: "yield the victory to another"; that is, the victory turns to your enemy. And so it happened: for when battle was joined, Constans was defeated, and barely escaped by changing his clothes, says Theophanes, in the 13th year of the Emperor Constans.
The same Constans, joining crime to crime, killed his own brother Theodosius. The slain man frequently appeared to Constans in his sleep, in the garb of a deacon, offering a cup full of blood and saying: "Drink, brother" -- as if to say: Be drunk on the fraternal blood you shed. Wherefore, like another Cain, Constans thought to flee to Sicily. He fled, and at Syracuse was killed in the bath by a certain Andrew, son of Troilus, as Baronius narrates from Anastasius, Paul the Deacon, and Theophanes, in the year of Christ 660.