Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The satraps, envying Daniel his office, contrive a trap for him through the king's edict. Hence Daniel, verse 16, because he worships God, is thrown into the lions' den, but remains unharmed: hence the king, verse 24, orders Daniel's accusers to be thrown into the same den, and decrees that all should fear the God of Daniel.
Vulgate Text: Daniel 6:1-28
1. It pleased Darius, and he appointed over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be throughout his whole kingdom. 2. And over them three princes, of whom Daniel was one: that the satraps might give account to them, and the king might not suffer trouble. 3. Therefore Daniel surpassed all the princes and satraps: because a more ample spirit of God was in him. 4. Moreover the king thought to set him over the whole kingdom: wherefore the princes and satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel from the side of the king: and they could find no cause or suspicion, because he was faithful, and no fault or suspicion was found in him. 5. Those men therefore said: We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, unless perhaps in the law of his God. 6. Then the princes and satraps came stealthily to the king, and spoke thus to him: King Darius, live forever: 7. all the princes of your kingdom, the magistrates, and satraps, the senators, and judges have taken counsel, that an imperial decree and edict should go forth: That whoever shall make any petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the lions' den. 8. Now therefore, O king, confirm the sentence, and write the decree, that what has been established by the Medes and Persians may not be changed, nor may anyone be allowed to transgress it. 9. Accordingly King Darius published the edict and established it. 10. When Daniel learned this, that is that the law had been established, he went into his house: and with the windows open in his upper room toward Jerusalem, three times a day he knelt and worshipped, and gave thanks before his God, just as he had been accustomed to do before. 11. Those men therefore, inquiring more carefully, found Daniel praying and making supplication to his God. 12. And approaching, they spoke to the king about the edict: O king, did you not decree that every man who should make any request to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, should be cast into the lions' den? To whom the king, answering, said: The word is true, according to the decree of the Medes and Persians, which may not be transgressed. 13. Then answering they said before the king: Daniel, of the children of the captivity of Judah, has not regarded your law, nor the edict which you established: but three times a day he prays his prayer. 14. When the king heard this word, he was very much grieved: and he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and even to the setting of the sun he labored to rescue him. 15. But those men, understanding the king, said to him: Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians, that no decree which the king has established may be changed. 16. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the lions' den. And the king said to Daniel: Your God, whom you always worship, He Himself will deliver you. 17. And a stone was brought, and placed over the mouth of the den: which the king sealed with his own ring, and with the ring of his nobles, that nothing might be done against Daniel. 18. And the king went to his house, and went to bed without eating, and food was not brought before him, and moreover sleep departed from him. 19. Then the king, rising at the first light of dawn, went in haste to the lions' den: 20. and approaching the den, he cried out to Daniel with a tearful voice, and spoke to him: Daniel, servant of the living God, your God, whom you always serve, do you think He was able to deliver you from the lions? 21. And Daniel, answering the king, said: O king, live forever: 22. My God sent His angel, and shut the mouths of the lions, and they have not hurt me: because before Him justice was found in me; and also before you, O king, I have committed no offense. 23. Then the king was exceedingly glad over him, and commanded that Daniel be taken out of the den: and Daniel was taken out of the den, and no harm was found on him, because he trusted in his God. 24. And by the king's command, those men who had accused Daniel were brought: and they were cast into the lions' den, they, and their sons, and their wives: and they did not reach the floor of the den, before the lions seized them, and crushed all their bones. 25. Then King Darius wrote to all peoples, tribes, and tongues, dwelling in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. 26. By me a decree has been established, that in all my empire and kingdom, men tremble and fear the God of Daniel. For He is the living God, and eternal for all ages: and His kingdom shall not be destroyed, and His power shall endure forever. 27. He is the deliverer and savior, doing signs and wonders in heaven and on earth: who delivered Daniel from the lions' den. 28. Moreover Daniel continued unto the reign of Darius, and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Verse 2: And over them Three Princes
2. AND OVER THEM THREE PRINCES. — Formerly among the Medes and Babylonians, Egyptians and others, the highest after the king were the schalischim, that is tristatae, or triumvirs, namely three princes who presided over all other lesser princes: among these, one appointed by Darius the Mede was Daniel, just as he had been appointed by Belshazzar, chapter V, 29, to be the third in the kingdom.
Verse 3: A More Ample Spirit of God was in Him
3. A MORE AMPLE SPIRIT OF GOD WAS IN HIM. — "Spirit," both of wisdom, and of prudence, and of prophecy, and of prayer, and of justice, and of zeal, and of other virtues. Let kings and princes seek such men to place over provinces: for a governor and ruler without wisdom and spirit is like a sun without light, like a bird without feathers, like a helmsman of a ship without a rudder. Hence the Wise Man, chapter VI, 22: "O kings of the people," he says, "love wisdom, that you may reign forever;" and shortly after: "A wise king is the stability of the people."
Verse 4: To find occasion against Daniel from the side of the king
4. To find occasion against Daniel from the side of the king. — So the Roman editions read; but the Chaldaic has malcuta, that is of the kingdom. Now first, the Hebrews crudely say the king's side is the queen who reclines at the king's side, as if these satraps tried to make Daniel suspected by the king of adultery with the queen. "They therefore sought an occasion, whether in speech, touch, gesture, or go-between they might accuse Daniel. But they could find no cause or suspicion, because he was a eunuch; whence they could not charge him with the matter of debauchery," says St. Jerome reflecting the opinion of the Hebrews. He also adds: "For 'suspicion' Theodotion and Aquila translated ψυσμόν, which in Chaldaic is called essattha, or rather scetita: and when I asked a Hebrew what it meant, he replied that the force of the word means 'salty,' which we can call allurement, or opala, that is error."
Second, Hector Pintus expounds it thus, as if to say: They sought an occasion to remove Daniel and cast him away from the king's side. Hence some codices here read: They sought an occasion to take Daniel away from the king's side.
Third, Vatablus: From the side, he says, that is from the part of the kingdom, namely to accuse Daniel as guilty of lèse-majesté, as though he had badly administered the kingdom and violated the royal edicts, so St. Jerome; or that he had handled the royal money in bad faith, says Maldonatus.
But I say it is a Hebraism: for "to be from the side" is the same as to lie in ambush; from an ambush, as from the side, to attack and overthrow someone: for those who lie in wait for another place themselves at his side, so that they may secretly strike, seize, or trip up the one who is not aware, as if to say: These satraps sought an occasion to find ways of lying in ambush for Daniel, and of slandering him before the king, and of casting him down from this prefecture of the kingdom. See here how envy is the companion of virtue, and lightning bolts strike the highest mountains. Again how true is that saying: "All who wish to live piously will suffer persecution."
Verse 5: We Shall Not Find Any Occasion Against This Daniel
5. WE SHALL NOT FIND ANY OCCASION AGAINST THIS DANIEL, UNLESS PERHAPS IN THE LAW OF HIS GOD. — Note here the remarkable integrity of Daniel, who handled the reins of the kingdom so carefully, faithfully and perfectly, that his rivals could find nothing in him to calumniate, even in appearance. Therefore Abbot Pastor in the Lives of the Fathers, when asked by someone: "How should a man conduct himself?" replied: "We have seen Daniel, because no accusation was found against him, except regarding the service he rendered to his God." Again see here in Daniel, how rivalry reigns in courts, especially against those whom a prince exalts. We have seen many examples of this in this century, and indeed in this year 1618, among almost all kings, we observe the highest princes falling from their favor and rank. Therefore Pythagoras rightly gave his followers this instruction: "Whatever things breed envy, consider them to be avoided." So his golden verses have it, which his disciple Hierocles published and explained. Again in Daniel that saying of Publilius is true: "You may find fortune sooner than retain it."
Wise are those who fulfill that saying of St. Jerome to Heliodorus: "Nepotian," he says, "made it his first care to overcome envy by humility; among equals first in work, last in rank." That courtier, when asked how he had grown old in the court, said: "By yielding to all, and enduring every injury, indeed by giving thanks to those who injured me." Ausonius wisely advises, in his Exhortation to Modesty:
Respect fortune reverently, whoever you are who have risen suddenly from a lowly place to riches.
Therefore a certain wise man used to say that one should approach kings and princes as we approach a fire, with moderation, of course. For if you approach the fire too closely, you will be burned by it: if you stand too far away, you will not be warmed. For this reason Ptolemy, the prince of mathematicians, invited by a king to a feast, excused himself, saying: "To kings it usually happens what happens to those examining paintings, which when seen from afar are pleasing, but close up, are not delightful." So it is reported in his Life, which is found at the beginning of the Almagest.
Verse 6: They came stealthily to the king
6. They came stealthily to the king — regas in Hebrew means to tremble; but in Chaldaic, it means first, to stand by, to assemble; hence the Septuagint and Vatablus translate: They assembled before the king; the Syriac and Arabic: They approached the king; second, to make a tumult, third, to roar: hence John and James are called Boanerges, that is sons of roaring, or thunder, Mark III, 17; fourth, to persuade, especially deceitfully and insidiously, which is to steal upon. Therefore they stole upon, that is they insidiously suggested to the king. Therefore Pintus is wrong in wanting to correct surripuerunt (stole upon) to surrexerunt (rose up).
Let kings and princes learn here to carefully examine, penetrate and see through both the minds, counsels and intentions of their counselors; and also the laws and decrees which they suggest, whether they are just and useful for the good, not of the one suggesting, but of the public; nor should they believe those who, for private advantage or hatreds, suggest things that create disgrace for the king and ruin for others. Let counselors in turn learn that bad counsel is worst for the counselor. Thus these satraps, forging this plot against Daniel, forged it against themselves. Let them learn that upright and quiet men cannot be touched with impunity. "Beware of one sitting quietly in his chambers," Sforza used to say, who also bore this on his emblem: "No one provokes a quiet man with impunity." Golden is the saying of Pliny in his Panegyric of Trajan: "We learn by experience that the most faithful guard of a prince is his own innocence. This citadel is inaccessible, this impregnable fortification needs no fortification. In vain will one gird himself with terror, who has not been surrounded by love; for arms are provoked by arms." Finally, let counselors hear what Alfonso, king of Aragon, used to say: that if he had happened to be born in the times of the Romans, he would have built opposite the senate-house a temple to Jupiter the Depositor, in which, before the senators came into the senate, they would lay down hatred, love, and all private affections: for these are what overturn and ruin cities, kings and kingdoms. So Panormitanus on Alfonso.
Verse 7: That Whoever Shall Make Any Petition to Any God, etc., Except to You, O King
7. That Whoever Shall Make Any Petition to Any God, etc., Except to You, O King. — Note the flattery, to extort an unjust and impious decree from the king. For they persuade the king to arrogate to himself the name and office of Divinity, so that with every god excluded, he alone, as it were a god, may receive the prayers of suppliants, and not permit any other god to be approached or invoked. For it is a right of nature that anyone, especially the needy or afflicted, can invoke God, indeed must; and it would be barbarous, indeed diabolical, to forbid this. While therefore they prohibit any other god from being invoked here, they deem the king himself to be worshipped and invoked as god. Thus the Emperor Domitian wished to be considered a god, whom Philostratus, mocking, says: "When another man complained that he had been accused because at Tarentum, where he ruled, while sacrificing, he had not added in the public prayers that Domitian was the son of Pallas: 'But indeed,' he said, 'you perhaps suppose that Pallas never gave birth, since she was always regarded as a virgin. But he did not know (I think) that the goddess herself once bore a dragon for the Athenians. Clearly Domitian was a dragon.'" Quintilian narrates the same, book III, chapter IX; Suetonius, in his Domitian, chapter III; Martial often, and others, when they mock that customary proclamation of his: "The edict of our lord and god."
Verse 10: Toward Jerusalem
10. TOWARD JERUSALEM. — This, says St. Jerome, is God's precept, Deuteronomy XII, 11, and the counsel of Solomon, III Kings VIII, 44, who admonished that one should pray toward the temple. Thus Hezekiah, Isaiah XXXVIII, 2: "He turned his face to the wall (which was toward the temple), and prayed to the Lord." Thus David, Psalm LXII, 3: "In a desert land, pathless, and without water: thus in the holy place (as in the sanctuary and temple) I appeared before You," as if to say: I, David, a fugitive in the desert, from there contemplate You, O Lord, dwelling in the temple, and turning toward the temple I worship You present and presiding in it.
Therefore Solomon, in building the temple in Jerusalem (which was situated in the middle of the inhabited earth, as Ezekiel says, chapter V, 5), seems to have established God as the center of the worldly sphere and of all souls, so that lines and prayers would be drawn from all men, etc.
to the temple, wherever they might be; and God, showing Himself present in the temple as in a center, attended to, heard, and answered the prayers of each one, as our Pineda noted, book V On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter V, number 35. The temple therefore was like the center of the world, just as God is the center of the world, of men and angels. See here and imitate the constant piety and liberty of Daniel, who for it confidently exposed his position and life to danger. Rightly Aristotle, I Ethics X, calls the constant man a square, because against every throw and push of fortune he stands firm and solid in wisdom and virtue, while others, being light, are spun like balls.
THREE TIMES A DAY HE KNELT. — The three times at which knees are to be bent before God, the ecclesiastical tradition understands as the third, sixth, and ninth hours, and these are gathered from Acts II, 15, and chapter III, 1, and chapter X, 9. At three hours, says Pintus, the Jews prayed during the day, namely at the third, sixth, and ninth hour. At the third, because then the law was given on Sinai: and at the same hour the Church prays, because then the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost. At the sixth, because then the bronze serpent was raised in the desert: at the same hour the Church prays, because then Christ was crucified. At the ninth, because then the rock gave waters at Kadesh; just as also the side of Christ on the cross was then pierced, and gave blood and water.
Our Lorinus adds in Acts III, 1, that the Jews prayed at the sixth hour because Adam fell at that time, as is gathered from the fact that the Lord is said to have come after midday to punish Adam. The Hebrews add that at that time the noonday demon walks about, which tempts man to intemperance and anger while the sun burns, whence at noon the Jews are accustomed to recite against it Psalm XC: "He who dwells in the aid of the Most High," that they may be freed from it, namely "from the attack and the noonday demon," as is said in verse 6 of that psalm.
Moreover the third, sixth, and ninth hours are counted from sunrise: for the Hebrews, just as the Romans divided the night, divided the day into four hours, or watches as it were. The first was from sunrise to the third hour: these hours therefore lasted three of our hours. For the first began at our fifth or sixth hour (I follow here the reckoning of the Belgians and those beyond the Alps), and lasted to our ninth hour: at our ninth hour their third began, and lasted until our twelfth: for then their sixth began, which lasted until our third in the afternoon, from which their ninth began, and lasted until evening. Hence Lyranus by the three times understands morning, noon and evening.
Hear also St. Jerome: "Daniel, despising the king's commands and having trust in God, was not in a lowly place, but in a high one; and he opens the windows toward Jerusalem, where was the vision of peace. Now there are three times at which knees are to be bent before God: the ecclesiastical tradition understands the third, sixth and ninth hours. For at the third hour the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles. At the sixth, Peter, wishing to eat, went up to the upper room for prayer. At the ninth, Peter and John were going to the temple."
But of these things elsewhere. Hear also St. Augustine in the Sentences, number 203: "The vigor of the Christian faith is begun at three times: evening, morning, and noon. For the Lord was on the cross in the evening, in the resurrection in the morning, in the ascension at noon: one pertains to the patience of the One slain, another to the life of the One raised, the third pertains to the glory of His majesty sitting at the right hand of the Father." And St. Cyprian, in the treatise On the Lord's Prayer, thinks the triad of hours designates the Most Holy Trinity, whom we worship and adore at those same hours.
Verse 15: Understanding the King
15. UNDERSTANDING THE KING — the king's will and intention; in Chaldaic it is: They assembled against the king, that is as if forming a band, they all together assailed the king, and almost rioted against him: for this is regas, which I discussed at verse 6.
Morally, see here in Daniel how difficult it is to serve an earthly court and a heavenly one at the same time, to please a prince and courtiers, and not displease God and the angels: "No one," says Christ, "can serve two masters." And: "You cannot serve God and mammon," Matthew VI, 24. Aeneas Sylvius wrote, who, later created Pope, was called Pius II, a book for a certain courtier, On the Misery of Courtiers, in which he shows how great is the vanity, ambition, envy, hypocrisy, and impurity in courts: how many cares, distractions, servitudes, anxieties, and fears: how great the inconstancy, changeableness, downfalls, ruins, dangers of body and soul. And at last he concludes thus: "Since these things are so, let us leave this restless sea, and betake ourselves to another life. For if we desire peace, if we love leisure, if we wish to live for ourselves, if we seek the salvation of our soul, we must flee the halls of kings and courtly tumults, in which neither rest, nor the practice of the good arts, nor any love of virtue reigns; but only avarice, lust, cruelty, debauchery, envy and ambition hold sway. Whoever is devoted to these vices will be unable to defend himself by any argument from being convicted among learned men as wicked and foolish. Farewell, man, who unless you were one of the courtiers, would in my judgment be prudent. Year of salvation 1445."
Polybius says excellently, book V: "Just as counters are now bronze, now gold: so also courtiers at the nod of the king are now happy, now miserable." Therefore Agrippa advised a man who wished to live safely in court of two things. First, that he should take upon himself the difficulty of affairs. Second, that he should concede the glory to others. So Dionysius, book XLIX. Very well known is the saying of the man who, when asked how he had attained that rarest of things in court, old age: "By receiving injuries," he said, "and giving thanks." So Seneca, book II On Anger, chapter XXXIV. Diogenes, hearing Callisthenes called happy because he was a friend of Alexander: "On the contrary," he said, "unhappy
is he who dines and sups only when it seems good to Alexander."
The Emperor Constantine used to call eunuchs and similar courtiers "moths and silkworms of the palace," says Nicephorus, book VIII, chapter XIV. For just as flies fly to honey, so these fly to the riches and delights of courts.
Therefore wisely Horace, book II of the Odes, ode X:
Whoever loves the golden mean Is safely free from the squalor of a shabby roof, and soberly lacks an enviable palace.
And Ovid, book III of the Tristia, elegy IV:
Live for yourself, and as much as you can, flee the conspicuous life; A savage thunderbolt comes from a lofty citadel.
Seneca in the Hippolytus:
Fraud reigns in the lofty court.
And in the Thyestes:
Let whoever wishes stand powerful On the slippery summit of the court; Let sweet quiet satisfy me. Placed in an obscure spot, Let me enjoy gentle leisure.
Martial, Epigrams book IX:
No one (such is the nature of a powerful court) Has his own character, but a courtier has his master's.
Therefore Aeneas Sylvius wisely advises, book I On the Deeds of Alfonso: Those courtiers are wisest, he says, who, having received some benefit, even a moderate one, bid farewell to the court. For they show that their desire is satisfied, and they remove themselves from the danger into which courtiers frequently fall, who, like swine, when they have been fattened, are slaughtered for the master's supper.
"There is among the Indians," says Pliny, "a certain herb of exceptional fragrance, filled with tiny serpents, whose bite is immediately fatal. Thus the courts of princes have that which attracts, but they conceal a lethal poison unless you take care." Again: "Indian turtles, when the midday warmth is inviting, delight in floating on their whole backs through calm waters, until, forgetful of themselves, their shell is dried by the sun's heat so that they cannot dive, and now unwillingly swimming they become easy prey for hunters. Thus certain people, attracted by hope of great things, throw themselves into the courts of princes, and are so beguiled by the court's delights, that imprudently they are reduced to the point where they cannot, even if they wish, withdraw to their own leisure." So Pliny, book IX, chapter X.
There is an emblem of Alciati, number 86:
The vain court is said to bind the palace clients it nurtures with gilded shackles.
Thus the sport and mockery of fortune in courts were: Joab at David's court, Abner at Saul's, Haman at Artaxerxes', Sejanus at Tiberius's, Ablavius at Constantine's, Rufinus at Theodosius's, Eutropius at Arcadius's, Stilicho at Honorius's. Finally Antonius in the Melissa, sermon 59: "Just as those who are greatly feverish lose their appetite and strength: so those who inhabit the courts of princes tend to lose their mind and good character, unless they frequently recall to mind this saying: Know yourself."
Verse 16: He will Deliver You
16. HE WILL DELIVER YOU. — The king says this to Daniel, both to console him, and to excuse himself: he hoped therefore that God would be present with him, as He had been present with his three companions in the Babylonian furnace. Therefore the Rabbis in Midrash Tehillim on Psalm CXLII: "Hear, O God, my prayer, when I beseech: from the fear of the enemy deliver my soul," say about this protection of Daniel: The lion came, and delivered the lion from the mouth of the lion. For God is the lion, of whom Amos III, 8 says: "The lion shall roar, who will not fear?" He delivered the lion, that is Daniel, who descended from Judah, of whom Jacob said, Genesis XLIX: "Judah is a lion's whelp." So Galatinus reports, book V, chapter VIII.
Verse 17: Which the King Sealed with His Own Ring
17. WHICH THE KING SEALED WITH HIS OWN RING, AND WITH THE RING OF HIS NOBLES, THAT NOTHING MIGHT BE DONE AGAINST DANIEL. — The Chaldaic and Septuagint have: that the matter might not be changed regarding Daniel; Vatablus: that the will might not be changed regarding Daniel, that is, lest the king, having changed his mind, should draw Daniel out of the den. Both seem true, namely first, that the king sealed the stone with his ring, lest the nobles, having changed their will, should kill Daniel, especially if they saw the lions sparing him, which they feared would happen. So St. Jerome and Theodoret. Second, that the nobles also sealed the stone with their ring, lest the king should snatch Daniel from the den.
Verse 22: He shut the mouths of the lions
22. He shut the mouths of the lions. — Pererius notes from Aristotle, Pliny and Gellius that a lion by nature does not harm a man, first, if one covers the head or eyes of the charging lion with a cloak or garment. Second, if the lion is sated. Third, if it is tame. Fourth, if you have been generous to it. Fifth, if you lie down as a suppliant and prostrate. Add sixth, if you show it fire or flame: for by these a lion is struck with fear. Nicolaus Leonicus gives the reason, Natural Questions, Question XX: "All the strength of lions is believed to be in their eyes: wherefore even by the light toss of any cloth, with the head covered, all that ferocity immediately grows numb, and it is conquered without resisting. In which same way they say a lion was strangled by Lysimachus when he was shut in together with it by Alexander's order. Fire moreover with its brilliance, while it particularly strikes and dulls the eyes of all, does so especially of those who have hotter and drier eyes, such as lions." Finally, "lions are frightened by spinning wheels, empty chariots, and the crests and crowing of roosters," says Pliny book VIII, chapter XVI; just as, seeing a viper, a stag flees, and hearing the voice of a pig, an elephant flees, says Horus, Hieroglyphs 82 and 83, book II. Hence the Megarians let loose pigs smeared with pitch and then set aflame against Antipater's elephants, says Aelian, book XVI, chapter XXXVI. Thus great things are struck down by small, God humbling them and taming the animal imagination.
But that the lions did not harm Daniel was a miracle, because, as is said here: "The angel shut the mouths of the lions," and their jaws, says St. Jerome, and claws; namely first, by holding and pressing them with his power, so that they could not bite Daniel. Just as Raphael bound Asmodeus in the desert of Egypt, namely by impressing a certain restraining force upon him: for just as a motive force can be impressed upon a body or a demon, which thrusts and expels him from his place; so also a restraining force, which holds him in his place, and as it were fastens and fixes him there. Second, the angel shut the mouths of the lions by removing their hunger, and exciting in them a disgust for food and for Daniel. Third, by changing the lions' imagination, so that they apprehended Daniel as a friend, or as something to be feared: just as Aristotle and Pliny teach that lions are frightened by wheels and the sound of chariots, by the crests and crowing of a rooster; and especially by blazing fires. Behold, here in Daniel that saying of Hebrews XI, 33 is true: "They stopped the mouths of lions."
This miracle is ascribed to Daniel's chastity, and St. Jerome Against Jovinian, Epiphanius and Dorotheus in the Life of Daniel, and Damascene credit it to this, although St. Basil attributes it to his fasting. As I said in the Introduction, Daniel's body was so hardened by virginity that the teeth of wild beasts could not be fixed in it, says Damascene, book IV On the Faith, chapter XXV.
Thus a lioness spared St. Malchus when he entered her cave, on account of his chastity, and indeed fought for him against his mistress and her slave who were pursuing him, killing both. St. Jerome is the witness in the Life of St. Malchus, who says that since the awareness of chastity alone had been a wall protecting him, lest he be harmed by the lioness: "Let virgins and the chaste know that among swords, and among deserts and beasts, chastity is never captive; and that a Christian man can die, but cannot be conquered."
Thus a hyena preserved and licked Pachon the chaste. Palladius is the witness in the Lausiac History, chapter XXIX. Thus St. Daria, wife of St. Chrysanthus, thrust into a brothel, was defended by a lion, as her Life on October 25 records.
Thus St. Thecla, exposed to bulls, horses, and other wild beasts, remained unharmed by all, her chastity protecting her and taming the beasts. Thus very many other virgins, exposed to lions and wild beasts, escaped untouched by them. Chastity therefore tames and domesticates lions, just as much as fire.
Therefore rightly about Blessed Thecla the virgin, who overcame fires and lions, St. Gregory Nazianzen sang thus in his Praise of Virtue:
Who snatched Thecla from death and from condemned peril? Who bound the mighty claws and the fury of beasts? Her virginal — O thing admirable in every age! Her virginal power was able to soothe raging lions.
St. Ambrose, book II On Virgins: "Thecla," he says, "fleeing the nuptial bond, and condemned by the fury of her betrothed, changed even the nature of beasts by the reverence of her virginity. For prepared for the wild beasts, while she also turned away her gaze from men, and offered her very vitals to the savage lion, she caused those who had brought unchaste eyes to take them back chastened. One could see the beast licking her feet, lying on the ground testifying with mute sound that it could not violate the sacred body of the virgin." Hear greater things: "The beast therefore was worshipping its prey; and forgetful of its own nature, it had put on the nature which men had lost. You could see, by a kind of transfusion of nature, men putting on savagery, commanding cruelty against the beast: the beast kissing the feet of the virgin, teaching what men ought to do. So great is the admiration that virginity commands, that even lions admire it! They taught religion, while they worshipped the martyr; they also taught chastity, while they kissed nothing of the virgin but her feet, with their eyes cast down to the ground, as if ashamed lest any male or beast should see the virgin naked."
Finally, Daniel was thrown into the lions' den in the first year of Darius; therefore Daniel was then 98 years old. This is clear from what was said in chapter I, 1 and 4.
BECAUSE BEFORE HIM (God) JUSTICE WAS FOUND IN ME. — Note here that in Daniel there was true justice: for such is that which is before God, or in the eyes of God, which are most clear; not false and imputed, such as that of the Novatians. They respond that justice here is to be taken not in the general but in the particular sense, as if Daniel said: I defrauded nothing, but handled the king's money and affairs with the utmost fidelity. But Daniel establishes this justice not by these, but by the following words; for he says: "And also before you, O king, I have committed no offense." Ezekiel alludes to this, chapter XIV, 16, when he says that Noah, Job and Daniel in their justice will save their souls.
Verse 23: Because he trusted in his God
23. Because he trusted in his God — because he trusted in God, and committed himself entirely to His providence and omnipotence. Others say: because he was faithful to his God.
Truly St. Augustine, tractate 8 on the Epistle of St. John, volume IX: "Submit yourself," he says, "to the one who is above you, and those things over which you have been placed will be beneath you. But because through sin man deserted the one under whom he ought to have been, he was made subject to those above which he ought to have been. Attend to what I say: God, man, beasts: above you, God, beneath you, beasts. Acknowledge the one who is above you, so that those which are beneath you may acknowledge you: and therefore, when Daniel acknowledged God above him, the lions acknowledged him above them. But if you do not acknowledge the one who is above you, you despise your superior, and are subjected to your inferior. Therefore the pride of the Egyptians — by what was it tamed? By frogs and flies," Exodus VIII.
Thus St. Pontian the martyr, under the Emperor Antoninus, was exposed at Spoleto to roaring lions; praying with Christ that verse of Psalm XXI: "Save me from the mouth of the lion, that I may declare Your name," he tamed them so that they fawned upon him: and then he overcame unharmed the rack, scourges, prison, long fasting, and fire, saying: "In the Lord I trust, I shall not fear what man can do to me." So his Acts record on January 19. For this reason the pagans of old used to cry out to judges against Christians: "To the brothel, not the lion" let the Christian virgin be condemned: but they by the same hope and help of God by which they overcame lions, also overcame brothels, as Tertullian witnesses in his Apology, and the witnesses are Saints Agnes, Lucy, Dorothy, Susanna and very many others.
Verse 24: By the King's Command
24. BY THE KING'S COMMAND. — Here the king exercises the punishment of retaliation, which by the highest right is most just. For having examined the matter, the king understood that Daniel's enemies had imposed upon him, and had deceitfully extorted the edict, in order to remove Daniel, his most faithful and useful servant.
AND THEIR SONS, AND THEIR WIVES — Because those parents and those wives had incited, aided, or consented to the crime, says Pintus: for otherwise this edict of the king would have been barbarous. For only God can punish innocent children with death for the sins of their parents: hence we read that only barbarians formerly did this, and still do.
Josephus adds, X Antiquities XI, that Daniel's accusers told the king that the lions had been sated, and therefore had abstained from Daniel; and the king, when a great amount of meat had been given to the lions, ordered those men to be thrown to them, so that they might experience not with another's but with their own bodies, whether the lions had been held back by satiety, or impeded by divine power, from Daniel. But Scripture has nothing of the sort. Hence it seems that Josephus, in his usual manner, wished to embellish the history of his nation with a narrative, if not true, at least plausible, says Maldonatus.
BEFORE — that is, before they reached it. So the Chaldaic, Vatablus and others.
25. Tongues — nations: for individual nations have their own languages.
26. LET THEM FEAR THE GOD OF DANIEL. — Hence it seems Darius was truly converted to God: for he commanded more than Nebuchadnezzar had commanded, chapter III, 98. For the latter only wished that no one should blaspheme the God of the Hebrews. So Maldonatus.
Verse 27: In heaven and on earth
27. In heaven and on earth. — For He who works miracles on earth can work similar ones in heaven: for by this miracle He showed Himself to be God, and therefore the Lord of heaven and earth.
28. Daniel continued unto the reign of Darius. — In Chaldaic it is natslach, he prospered, that is he was in great honor as long as the reign of Darius and Cyrus lasted, as long as Darius and Cyrus reigned. So the Chaldaic, Septuagint, Vatablus and others. Daniel says this to bring the history to a close, and to begin the prophecy: for these first six chapters are more historical than prophetic; but what follows from chapter VII onward is properly prophetic.
See here how happy and glorious constancy in faith and in the worship of God makes men. For thus this Daniel emerged happy and glorious, and the three young men, chapter III, Eleazar, and the Maccabees, II Maccabees chapter VI and VII.
Among the athletes of Christ, St. Basil stood out. For when a certain prefect of the Emperor Valens urged him to yield to the times, and not to bring so many churches into danger over a fine point of doctrine, promising him friendship and many benefits, that divine man replied: "Such words are fitting for youths, for these and those like them gape after such things; but those who have been nourished on divine letters cannot allow any syllable of them to come into danger, and they are accustomed, if the matter demands, to refuse no kind of death for their sake; he valued the Emperor's friendship highly when joined with piety; without that, it was pernicious." The prefect took this badly, and said he was foolish. Then the Great Basil said: "Would that this foolishness of mine might be everlasting!" After this conversation the prefect met the emperor, and explained to the ruler what Basil had said, and what virtue and greatness of soul he possessed. But the Emperor was silent, and coming into the city found that divinely inflicted plagues had struck his household. So Theodoret, book IV of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter XIX.
On another occasion the prefect threatened him with death: but Basil said he was grateful to him on that account, since he longed to depart from such a state of affairs without reluctance. And when the prefect ordered him to deliberate further on the matter, Basil said: "I indeed shall be the same today and tomorrow; would that you had not changed yourself! For since I am a creature, I will not bring myself to worship a creature and profess it to be God; nor will I endure being joined to your religion. For although you are considered most dear to the king, and no small part of the world; yet it is by no means fitting for me to gratify men, and on that account to weigh my faith in God: which I will not betray, even if you threaten me with confiscation of property, exile, and whatever other heavy afflictions, and indeed death itself: for nothing of such things can bring me sorrow. If you desire my possessions, these rags, and hair shirts, and the few books that I have in the world — if these, I say, you have taken a fancy to, take them. But if you prefer that I change my country for the sake of exile, I am ready for that. But how shall I be an exile, who always wander through the earth as a pilgrim, and ardently aspire to another homeland? Moreover this body, even after the first blow, will be entirely bereft of sensation, and will be wholly beyond any tortures." Overcome by this liberty and constancy of Basil, the Emperor was quiet. So Nicephorus, book XI of the History, chapter XVIII.
The Emperor Anastasius urged Bishop Oeniandus to defect to his faction, promising that he would immediately receive whatever he asked. To whom the Bishop said: "You rather, cross over to the orthodox, lest, while you embrace the opinions of the impious men Severus, Eutyches and Dioscorus, you be consigned to eternal fire." And at the same time seizing the Emperor's cloak: "This," he said,
this vestment will by no means follow you after death, O Emperor! but only piety and the practice of virtues will accompany you. Let the Church go, which Christ redeemed with His blood. You are unlearned and ignorant of reasoning, and you do not perfectly understand any decree of the Church; you only frighten fools with impostures and scurrilous calumnies. Let it be dignity enough for you that you are Emperor: do not vex the bishops of the Church." At these words the Emperor fell silent in shame. And although that Bishop was very poor, he would not accept even a penny from the Emperor: so free was he, and having regard only for faith in God and piety, trampling upon all earthly things. So Cedrenus and Zonaras, volume III of the Annals, on Anastasius.
The Emperor Julian put Caesarius (as his brother Gregory Nazianzen recorded in his writings) in charge of those public offices in which authority and distinction resided: and he tried now with verbal allurements and enormous promises, now with terrors and threats, and with every kind of device, to draw him into his obedience and error: but the vigorous athlete of Christ always came out superior from the contest, postponing the majesty of the empire to the reproach of the Cross. For since he was not a feigned pretense of a Christian man, but a true Christian, he knew with certainty how great were the treasures of glory and praise that lay hidden under the ignominy of the Cross. So St. Gregory Nazianzen, in the Oration at the Funeral of his brother Caesarius.
Publia, the superior of a community of nuns, as Julian the Apostate was passing by, sang with her companions: "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands." And after they had recited the verses which declare that those idols are devoid of all sensation, they added this: "Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them." When Julian heard this with the greatest vexation of spirit, he ordered them to be silent while he was passing. But Publia, making little of his laws, with greater eagerness gathered the choir of virgins together, and as he was passing, commanded them to sing again: "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered," etc. And so the tyrant, greatly angered, ordered her to be brought before him as the choirmistress: and although he saw that she was an old woman, venerable on account of her advanced age; nevertheless he gave a command to one of his guards, to strike both her cheeks and bloody her face with his hands. She, counting this insult as the highest honor, returned home, and continued to sting the tyrant with spiritual songs, as she was accustomed to do. So Theodoret, book III of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter XVII, and Baronius, volume IV, year 362.
Therefore allegorically Rupert, in Daniel chapter XI, teaches that Daniel here was a type of the suffering Christ: for just as the satraps plotted against Daniel, so the Jews and scribes plotted against Christ, and that out of envy. Second, just as the satraps tried to drive Daniel to death through the edict of Darius the Mede, so the Jews drove Christ to death through the sentence of Pilate and the Romans. But just as Darius rejoiced when Daniel was freed through an angel: so when Christ was raised from the dead, and was preached throughout the whole world, the Roman world rejoiced: "the majesty of the Roman Empire changed its laws, converted its edicts," and "commanded Christ to be preached." Third, just as Daniel's accusers, thrown into the den, were immediately devoured by the lions: so the Jews, the enemies of Christ, were overthrown by Titus.
Anagogically, Daniel emerging alive from the lions' den was a type of the resurrection, and as it were a foretaste, and firstfruits of it. Therefore it was an ancient custom of Christians to carve on their tombs, among other symbols of the resurrection, Daniel standing in the den among the lions: many examples of this exist on ancient stones. The reason was, both because Daniel in chapter XII clearly described the resurrection of all; and because he himself, coming forth free from the lions' den, expressed as it were the image of a man rising from the tomb; and was therefore adopted as a hieroglyphic of the resurrection. So Baronius, in the Martyrology on July 21.