On the Psalms (from the catena, attributed to Eusebius of Caesarea)

the spiritual one seeking out the earthy in the womb, and always living, [visiting] him who died through disobedience; the heavenly [One] calling the earthly to things above; the noble [One] desiring to grant freedom to the slave through His own obedience; Who turned the man who was decaying into dust and had become food for the serpent, into adamant, and having declared this [man] to be Lord, hanging upon the wood, against the one who had conquered, and thus is found to be conqueror through the wood. ^A

Of the same, from the same discourse: For those who do not recognize the Son of God now in the flesh, will recognize Him as Judge when He arrives in glory, Whom they now treat insolently in a body without glory.

Of the same, from the same discourse: For the apostles, having come to the monument on the third day, did not find the body of Jesus, in the same way that the children of Israel, ascending the mountain, sought the burial place of Moses and did not find it. ^B

On Psalm LXXVII

45: He sent among them the dog-fly, and it devoured them; and the frog, and it destroyed them. 46: And He gave their fruits to the mildew, and their labors to the locust. 47: He slew their vine with hail, and their sycamores with frost.

Just as, through an intemperate diet, a certain destructive and bilious humor collects in the vital parts, which a physician, by his art, draws out through vomiting—he himself, of course, is not the cause for such a morbid humor being produced in the body, which intemperance of food has produced, though medical art has brought it to light: so too, even if it is said that the painful retribution by which those who are perverse of their own will are punished comes from God, it would be reasonable for us to trace back the origins and causes of receiving such evils to ourselves. For to him who has lived without sin, there is no darkness, no worm, no Gehenna, no fire, nor any other of the things and punishments that are to be feared; ^C just as even the Egyptian plagues were not a detriment to the Hebrews: not those tiny gnats inflicting pain with invisible bites, not the dog-fly clinging with a biting, sharp sting, not the storms rushing down from above with stones of hail, not the countryside consumed by locusts, not the air covered in darkness, and other things of this kind. But it is within the power of God to cultivate the true vine and to destroy the Egyptian, while also sparing those who are about to eat the grape of gall and drink the incurable poison of asps.* The Egyptian fig tree is likewise uprooted, but not that one which Zacchaeus climbed, that he might be able to see my Lord. And the fruits of the Egyptians are corrupted, which are the works of the flesh; but not the fruit of the Spirit, ^D love, joy, peace.**

* Deut. XXXII, 33. ** Gal. V, 22.

48. ^A *And He gave up their cattle to the hail, and their possessions to the fire.* ^B Symmachus renders it: *Who gave up their cattle to famine, and their possessions to the birds.* For when they had experienced massive devastation, they provided food for carnivorous birds. But according to the Seventy, it does not say this—that the cattle were destroyed by hail separately, and the fire consumed the other property individually—but that hail, descending miraculously with fire, first of all struck down the vine and the sycamores, as they were utterly unable to withstand the first assault. Then, all the cattle that were grazing in the fields, and afterwards every herb and every plant, were consumed by the fire that was in the hail; and the phenomenon was a wonder, with the fire running through the water and being interwoven with it. For he says the fire was running through the hail; and there was hail and fire flaming within the hail. By "possessions," or wealth, David calls the cattle and the fruit of the trees. ^B It must be noted that, even if the hail is recorded to have destroyed every herb and every tree, nevertheless some things remained, which the locust, coming upon them after the fire-entwined hail, ate; regarding which it is said that it devoured every herb and all the fruit of the trees, which the hail had left behind. According to the allegorical interpretation, there are certain cattle of Christ, and certain cattle of the Egyptians. However, things that were once someone else's property can become His, just as Laban's cattle became Jacob's, and conversely, because Jacob gave to Esau whatever he disapproved of. Be careful, therefore, lest, being found in the sheepfold of Jesus when gifts are sent to Esau, you are chosen, and as a reprobate and unworthy of the spiritual Jacob, you are sent off to Esau. The cattle of Christ are the simpler ones, whom God saves, according to that text: *You will save both men and cattle, O Lord.* The cattle of the Egyptians are those who, deprived of reason, adhere to the impious doctrine of atheism, and who are so struck by the hail. ^C And the Egyptians, indeed, have everything they possess delivered to the fire, but Abraham gave his possessions to Isaac.

49. *He sent upon them the anger of His fury, anger, and wrath, and tribulation, a mission through evil angels.* ^D He called the bitter punishments anger, wrath, and tribulation; for God is without passion. And by "anger" you shall understand the lesser punishments; by "wrath," the greater ones; and by "tribulation," the greatest. As for the "evil angels"—those who are the administrators of wrath—they are neither evil by nature nor by choice, but because they serve in carrying out such things, and inflict hardships and pains, they are called "evil" in relation to the disposition of those who suffer, just as the day of judgment is called a "wicked day," because it is full of constraints and pains for the sinners. Such also is the passage in Isaiah: *I...*

that it is full of calamities and labors against sinners. Similar is that of Isaiah: *I am the Lord, making peace and creating evils* (Isa. XLV, 7); just as if He said, both fostering peace and permitting wars.

ON THE PROVERBS

(Mai, *Bibliotheca nova Patrum*, VII, II, 71, Rome 1851, in 4°, from the Vatican MS Catena)

PROVERBS, therefore, are exhortatory sayings that contribute to the regulation of the entire life; for to those who set out on the path to God, they become certain guides and signposts, which refresh those who are weary from the length of the journey. ^B Now these Proverbs are Solomon’s—that is, the "Peaceful One"—namely, of Christ the Savior. But since we know flawlessly that these are the Lord’s sayings, because they are the Lord’s, so that no one may perhaps deceive us by the similarity of names, he adds who wrote these things, and of what nation he was king; so that the authority of the speaker may make the discourse more acceptable and the hearers more attentive. For these are the words of that Solomon to whom the Lord said: *I will give thee a heart wise and understanding; there hath been none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee* (III Reg. III, 12); and the rest written concerning him. ^C Now he was wise, born of a wise man; wherefore the name of David is appended, from whom Solomon was born, being trained in the sacred scriptures from childhood, and obtaining the kingdom not by lot or by any force, but by the judgment of the Spirit and the decree of God.

*To understand wisdom and instruction.* He who knows the wisdom of God receives instruction from Him as well, so that he may understand the mysteries of the words. Now those who possess true and heavenly wisdom will easily perceive the sense of the mysteries. Therefore he says: *To receive the subtleties of words.* For those things which were spoken by the Holy Spirit, as it were in inverted words, are made known promptly to those who are endowed with a heart faithful toward God.

^D This he understands concerning the people of the Jews, and the slaughter of Christ; for they thought that He had His conduct on earth only.

*They will not only receive, but they will also inherit.* But the impious, even if they are exalted, it but results in their own greater dishonor. Just as if one should place a deformed and distorted man on a high throne, he does not honor but rather dishonors him, making his ugliness manifest to more people; so also God exalts the impious, that He may make their disgrace public. Pharaoh was also exalted, but only so that he might have the world as his accuser.

It is to be noted that he here calls the gift a good one

on account of him who accepts bribes into his bosom unjustly. He deserts the law, he who transgresses it; the law, moreover, is what he either explicitly names or what he himself has observed.

^A What is "circumcyclethe" [surround/fence in]? Surround it with holy thoughts. For you have great need of a fortification, since many things lie in wait for such a possession. But if it is in our power to surround it, the fortifications will be for us the virtues that exalt the knowledge of God—for instance, asceticism, meditation, and the rest of the choir of virtues; he who holds these honors wisdom; the reward, however, is to be exalted to her and to take delight with her in the heavenly bridal chamber.

The impious are the heterodox, but the sinners are the transgressors of the law; he says that one should not walk in their ways or their actions.

^B He sees rightly who has thoughts free from perturbation and true dogmas, he who is not struck by external phantasies. When he says, "Let your eyes see uprightness," he speaks of the vision of the soul. And when he exhorts, "Eat honey, my son, that your throat may be sweetened," he speaks of honey tropically as divine doctrine, which completes the spiritual knowledge of the soul. But wisdom also touches the soul; for "love her," he says, "that she may embrace you." Now the soul, joined to virtue through an embrace, is filled with holiness and purity. Moreover, the soul also reaches for the scent of Christ's ointments.

^C Virtue holds the middle ground; therefore, he also says that fortitude is midway between audacity and cowardice. Now, however, he calls them "the right," not because they are right by nature—as the virtues are—but because they seem right to you on account of pleasures; and pleasures are not only those of Venus, but also wealth and luxury. The "left," however, are envy, rapine, and things like these. For the north wind, he says, is a harsh wind, yet it is called "the right" in name; for he calls the evil one, that is, the devil, the north wind symbolically, from whom all evils are kindled upon the earth. And this name is "the right," because he is called an angel by a right, that is, a favorable, name. — Do you, he says, turn away from evil, and God will take care of your end; for He will go before you, destroying your enemies, so that you may walk in peace.

^D For he shows, also through the animal [the doe], the innocence of pleasure in marriage; and through the foal, he expresses the alacrity and lovableness of a woman. And because he perceives many things that incite to vice, he counsels cautiously and imposes an indissoluble bond of friendship upon them, securing constancy for them. Otherwise, wisdom, like a doe, is naturally able to drive away and extinguish the serpentine doctrines of the heterodox. Let this, therefore, he says, be with you as a foal, so that it may renew every virtue; and because wisdom is not like a woman, let this rather be your leader. For so shall you beget good thoughts.

Lest you say: "Why is there any harm to the eyes, since there is not necessarily any need for one who sees to be perverted?" he shows you that lust is fire; and the flesh, a garment;

the former is easily captured, the latter is tyrannical. ^A Yet when it is not merely placed there, but also bound fast, it will not go out until it has made an exit for itself; for the one who has looked upon a woman, even if he has escaped, still does not depart pure from desire. But what need is there for affairs, when it is possible to live chastely without involvement? Observe what Job says: I have made a covenant with my eyes, that I should not think upon a strange woman (Job XXXI, 1). He recognized the power of this deception. For this reason also, Paul kept under his body, and brought it into subjection (1 Cor. IX, 27). In a spiritual sense, he who allows an impure thought to linger in his heart is binding fire to his bosom; and he who destroys his own soul by committing sin walks upon coals.

^B The cemphus is a species of gull, which is so unrestrained in its lust that at the time of mating its eyes seem to be filled with blood; and being incautious, it often falls into traps or into the hands of men. To this, therefore, he compares the man addicted to a harlot because of his lechery; or perhaps because of the stupidity of the bird, for it likewise chases after everyone like a fool. They also say that the cemphus takes such delight in foam that if a person sailing should hold foam in his hand, it will alight upon his hand. It also gives birth in pain.

^C You have known its damage; beware, therefore, lest you admit desire; for its end is immortal. Otherwise, it wounds with words, that is, with thoughts, but it kills those who indulge themselves with sins. For many kinds of wickedness lead the foolish to hell. The chambers of death, or the depth, or its riches. Who, then, shall escape?

He calls the New Jerusalem the holy flesh. By the seven columns, he indicated the sevenfold gift of the holy Spirit resting upon it; just as Isaiah witnesses, saying: He has slaughtered his own sacrifices (Isa. XXVIII, 14).

Mark that it is necessary for a wise man to be useful to many; for he who is useful only to himself would not be wise. For there is a great reproach to wisdom if it restricts its power to the one who possesses it. Just as poison is not harmful to another body, but only to the one receiving it; so he who becomes wicked harms himself, not another. For no one endowed with virtue is harmed by the wicked.

^D The fruit of righteousness and the tree of life is Christ; who, insofar as he was a man, fulfilled all righteousness; and as self-life, he put forth the fruits of knowledge and virtue like a tree, from which those who eat shall receive eternal life, and will enjoy the tree of life of paradise, with Adam and all the righteous; but the souls of the lawless are snatched away prematurely from the face of God, because He is to abandon them in the fire of torment.

He should find grace not from men, but from God.

This man inquires after wisdom, he who seeks to know what the

^A truth is. Showing himself ignorant of the thing he came to learn, he will appear prudent. If someone inquires about wisdom, wishing to know a portion of it, but another keeps silent, not only wishing to learn nothing from wisdom but also deterring others from the study of it; without doubt, the former will be esteemed more prudent than the latter.

^B "To the leech." There were three daughters dearly beloved by sin: fornication, murder, and idolatry. Yet these three do not satisfy it, for it is insatiable. For by these acts, sin always destroys man, never being altered, but perpetually increasing. For the fourth, it says, never said: "It is enough"; signifying by the fourth, universal concupiscence. For just as one is the body, but it has many members; so also sin, being one, has within itself many and various concupiscences, through which it lays snares for man. Wishing to demonstrate this, it uses the examples of Hades, and the love of women, and Tartarus, and the earth never filled with rain. And water, and fire, will never say: "It is enough." For in no way does Hades cease receiving the souls of lawless men. Nor does the love of sin, as that of a woman, cease from committing fornication, having become a traitor to his own soul. And just as Tartarus, being always in a mournful and dark place, is not reached by a ray of light, so also is everyone who serves sin in any passion of the flesh. Like the earth ^C never filled with waters, he is never able to come to confession and the laver of regeneration, as water and fire, without saying: "It is enough."

"For in the same way that a serpent cannot leave a track upon a rock, so also the devil could not find sin in the body of Christ." For the Lord says: "Behold, the prince of this world is coming, and he will find nothing in me." For just as a ship sailing through the sea leaves no tracks or paths behind it, so neither does the Church, living in the world as in a sea, leave her hope behind on the earth, having her life laid up in the heavens; passing briefly through it, she does not leave footprints of her passage on the way. The Church not abandoning her hope in the world—the incarnation of Christ, which bears all things—makes no path of death in Hades. Of whom, if not of him who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin? Who, renewing the perfect man in the world, performed signs, taking his beginning from the baptism of John, as the evangelist also testifies. "And Jesus was beginning as of thirty years." Therefore, in this young and flourishing age, traversing cities and regions, he was healing the diseases and infirmities of men.

^D "The eye that mocks his father, and despises the old age of his mother." Truly, the eye that blasphemes God, and disdains the mother of Christ, the Wisdom of God, let it be plucked out.

FRAGMENTA IN PROVERBIA

^A and let the ravens from the valleys pluck it out, that is, the impure and evil spirits, the eye that is the observer of joy; and let the young of eagles devour it, and it shall be trodden under the feet of the saints.

There are three things I cannot understand, and the fourth I do not know at all: the track of an eagle flying, that is, the ascension of Christ. And the paths of a serpent upon a rock; for the devil found no footprint of sin in the body of Christ. And the tracks of a ship sailing the sea, that is, the Church fluctuating in the ocean of this world, and for the sake of her hope in Christ, steered by the cross as if by a rudder. And the ways of a man in his youth, that is, of Him who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin; for behold, says the Scripture, a man, whose name is the Orient.

Such is the way of an adulterous woman, who when she has committed the act, wiping herself, says she has done no evil. Clearly, the Church acted in this way; having once committed fornication with idols, she renounced them and the devil, and having washed away her sins and obtained forgiveness, she declares herself no longer subject to any wickedness. ^B

The earth is moved by three: that is, by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And the fourth it cannot sustain, that is, the final coming of Christ. — *If a servant should reign.* Israel, who was a servant in Egypt, and reigned in the promised land. — *And a fool filled with food.* One who, having easily acquired land, and having eaten and been filled, has kicked away. — *And if a handmaid should cast out her mistress.* The synagogue, the slayer of the Lord, which fastened the flesh of Christ to the cross.

There are four things that are least on earth, and these are wiser than the wise: the ants, a weak race, that prepare their food in the harvest. In like manner, the nations, through faith in Christ, prepare for themselves eternal life by good works. And the rock badgers, a people equally weak, who make their homes in the rocks. The nations have been built upon the spiritual rock, Christ, who has become the head of the corner. The lizard, which is supported by its hands and is easily captured, yet dwells in the fortresses of kings. The thief, leaning on the cross with hands extended and resting upon Christ, dwells in paradise, which is the fortress of the three kings, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ^C

The locust has no king, and yet it proceeds in orderly fashion as if by the command of one. The nations were without a king, because they were subjected to sin; but now, believing in God, they exercise a heavenly warfare. — There are three that move well, and the fourth that proceeds prosperously. The angels in the heavens, the saints on the earth, the souls of the righteous under the earth. The fourth, namely, the Word of God incarnate, passed successfully through the womb of the Virgin; and having reformed Adam, He passed through the gate of heaven, having become the first-fruits of resurrection and likewise of ascension. ^D

The lion's whelp, mightiest of beasts. Christ in

^A Jude, foretold by Jacob. — A cock walking briskly among the hens. Paul in the Churches fearlessly preaching the doctrine of Christ, the God of all. — A goat leading the flock. The same Christ, sacrificed for the sins of the world. — And a king haranguing in the midst of the people. Christ, reigning over the nations, proclaims through prophets and apostles the doctrine of the truth.

^B Established in iniquity. But says the Apostle, "Them that sin rebuke before all." Or, easily led astray. — Who are the conies, if not we, who once were like swine, and wallowed in all the filth of this world? But now, after we have believed in Christ, we build our houses upon the holy flesh of Christ, as upon a rock.

^C An earthquake signifies a change of things in the world. Sin, therefore, which is by nature servile, reigned in the mortal body of men, once indeed at the time of the flood; a second time among the Sodomites, who, not content with the fertility of the earth, also offered violence to their guests; thirdly, in hateful Egypt, which, having obtained Joseph as a man to distribute grain to all that they might not perish of hunger, did not bear its good fortune wisely, but afflicted the sons of Israel with injury. — And a maidservant casting out her mistress: the Church from the Gentiles is that which, when she was a maidservant and a stranger to the promises, cast out the noble and mistress Synagogue, and became the mistress and bride of Christ. — The whole earth is shaken by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It cannot bear the fourth, for the first came through the lawgivers; the second, through the prophets; the third, through the Gospel, showing Himself openly. The fourth will come as judge of the living and the dead, whose glory the whole creation shall not be able to endure.

Another fragment.

^D

Of St. Hippolytus, Pope of Rome, on that text "Wisdom hath built herself a house."

the Spirit of God[69]. Others say that the seven columns are the seven divine orders by which the creature is sustained through His holy and divinely inspired teaching, that is, the prophets, apostles, martyrs, hierarchs or priests, ascetics, saints, and the just. And as for the expression, "she has immolated her victims," it denotes the prophets and martyrs, whom the unbelievers in every city and region slaughter daily like sheep for the sake of the truth, and who cry out: "For Your sake we are being killed all the day long; we were accounted as sheep for the slaughter"[70]. And "she mixed her wine in a cup": by uniting His own divinity with flesh in the Virgin as pure and unmixed wine, the Savior was born of her as God and man without confusion. And "she prepared her own table": that is, the promised knowledge of the holy Trinity, and His own precious and immaculate Body and Blood, which are performed and sacrificed daily at the mystical and divine table in memory of that never-to-be-forgotten and first divine and secret supper. Furthermore, as to the expression, "Wisdom sent out her servants," it refers to Christ, summoning with a loud proclamation: "Whoever is foolish, let him turn aside to me," she cries—referring clearly to the holy apostles, who traversed the whole world and called the nations to the knowledge of Him by their own sublime and divine preaching. And by addressing those who are "lacking in understanding"—those, that is, who have not yet attained the grace of the Holy Spirit—saying, "Come, eat of my bread and drink the wine which I have mixed for you," He says that He has given us His divine flesh and precious blood to eat and drink for the remission of sins.

ON THE CANTICLE OF CANTICLES

I.

Simon de Magistris, *Acta mart. Ostiens.*, p. 274, from a Vatican parchment codex, provides the following fragment in Syriac and Latin, with these introductory remarks: "Hippolytus wrote on the Canticle of Solomon, and he shows that the Word of God sought His delights long ago in the Church gathered from the Gentiles, but especially in His own mother, the most holy Virgin; and therefore the Syrians, boasting of the Virgin as born among them, translated Hippolytus's commentary from Greek into their native tongue in ancient times, of which some parts still survive, as in the passage: 'Arise, O North wind, and come, O South; blow upon my garden, and let its aromatics flow.' When Joseph was delighted with these aromatics, he is designated as the Son of the King by God. When the Virgin Mary was anointed with these, she conceived the Word in her womb; then she demonstrates new mysteries, new truth, and a new kingdom, and also great and inexplicable secrets."

II.

From Galland, out of Anastasius Sinaita, *Quaest.* 41, p. 320. Hippolytus on the Canticle of Canticles. ^D And where is that most copious knowledge? And where are those mysteries? And where are the books? There exist only the Proverbs ^A seven spirits of God. Others say ^B there are seven columns, the seven divine orders that sustain the creature through His holy and divinely inspired teaching, namely, the prophets, the apostles, the martyrs, the hierarchs, the ascetics, the holy, and the just. And as for "she has immolated her victims," he means the prophets and martyrs who in every city and region are slain by the unbelievers like sheep for the sake of the truth, and who cry out: "For Your sake we are being killed all the day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter." And "she mixed her wine in a cup," by uniting to the Virgin His own divinity with the flesh like pure wine, the Savior was born of her without confusion as God and man. And "she prepared her own table," that is, the knowledge of the holy Trinity promised [by Him]; and His precious and immaculate Body and Blood, which are performed in the mystical and divine table daily, being sacrificed in memory of that ever-memorable and first table of the mystical divine supper. ^C And as for "Wisdom sent her servants," it is Christ, obviously, calling together with a loud proclamation. "Whoever is foolish, let him turn aside to me," He says, meaning the holy apostles, who ran through the whole world and called the nations to the knowledge of Him, truly by their sublime and divine preaching. And what He said to those lacking in understanding—to those not yet possessing the power of the Holy Spirit, that is—"Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you," He says that He has given us His divine flesh and His precious blood to eat and drink for the remission of sins. Hippolytus, from the [work] on the Canticle of Canticles (26). And where is all this rich knowledge? And where are these mysteries? And where are the books? They are referred to the Canticle of Canticles.

rum; and Wisdom, and Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. What then? Does Scripture speak falsely? Far from it. But there was indeed a great abundance and diversity in the matter of what he wrote; and this is what he indicates by saying “the Song of songs”: for he signifies that he has comprised in this one [book] that which was contained in three thousand odes or canticles. Yet in the days of Hezekiah, some books were selected, while others were overlooked. Whence Scripture says: “These are the proverbs of Solomon, the ones not before divided, which the friends of king Hezekiah wrote down.” Whence could they have selected them, if not from the books that were there among the three thousand proverbs and five thousand odes or canticles? From these very ones, therefore, the friends of Hezekiah, being wise men, selected those things which pertained to the edification of the Church. But the books of Solomon on the Parables and [the] Songs, in which he had written concerning the nature of plants and every kind of animal—land animals, birds, and water creatures—and concerning the healing of diseases, these Hezekiah caused to disappear, because the people were thence seeking remedies for diseases, and were neglecting to seek their healings from God.

ON THE PROPHET ISAIAH.

I. Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome, on Hezekiah. ^C While Hezekiah, king of Judea, was still sick and weeping, an angel came and said to him: “I have seen your tears and have heard your voice. Behold, I add fifteen years to your lifespan. And let this be your sign from the Lord: Behold, I turn back the shadow of the degrees ^D of your father’s house which the sun has gone down, the ten degrees which the shadow has descended, so that that day might become thirty-two hours long.” For when the sun had already run to the tenth hour, it retreated again. Just as when Joshua the son of Nun was warring against the Amorites, with the sun already leaning toward its setting and the war pressing on heavily, Joshua, fearing lest the foreigners should escape under the cover of night, cried out, saying: “Let the sun stand over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Ajalon, until I have vanquished this people.” And the sun and the moon stood in their station, so that that day became twenty-four hours long. And under Hezekiah, the moon also receded with the sun, so that the two elements of heaven would not collide, clashing against each other in disorder. And then Marodachon the Chaldean, king of Babylon, was struck with awe, because he cultivated the art of astrology and measured the course of the stars accurately, and when the cause was known, [he sent] an epistle

and sent gifts to Hezekiah; just as the Magi from the East did for Christ. ^A

II. Theodoret in *'Atrepton* [or] *Immutabilis*, dialog. I.

From the sermon of Saint Hippolytus on the beginning of Isaiah:

III.

We find in the commentaries that were edited by the elders ^B that that day lasted thirty-two hours. For when the sun had completed its course and reached the tenth hour, and the shadow had descended ten steps in the house of the temple, the sun turned back again ten steps according to the word of the Lord, and there were twenty hours. And then, once the sun had finished its proper course in the customary manner, it departed into the sunset. There were, therefore, thirty-two hours.

ON JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL.

That Hippolytus wrote on Jeremiah is not recorded by any of the ancients, so far as I know. For the things of his that are referred to in the *Catena of the Greek Fathers* on Jer. xvii, 11, are taken from the book *On the Antichrist*, c. 55. Rufinus, in his translation of Eusebius' *Ecclesiastical History* (vi, 22), records that Hippolytus wrote on a certain part of the prophet Ezekiel, namely on those chapters which contain the description of the Jerusalem temple, and from that commentary these things have been preserved (DE MAG. supra, ap. Anastas. Sinait., quæst. 41, al. 44, from Bodleian manuscripts).

What was the size of Solomon's temple? ^C The length was forty cubits, the height twenty. Moreover, it was not turned toward the east, so that those praying might not worship the rising sun, but the Lord of the sun. Let no one be surprised if, when Scripture said the length was forty cubits, I said sixty; for a little later it mentions another twenty, describing the Holy of Holies, which it also names *Dabir*. Therefore, the length of the temple was indeed forty cubits, and the Holy of Holies was another twenty. Josephus says that the temple was of two stories, and that the total height was one hundred and twenty cubits. Thus also the book of Chronicles indicated, saying: *And Solomon began to build the house of the God.* The length in cubits, the first measurement [is] sixty, and... ^D

of twenty cubits, and a height of one hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold. Solomon [was] to build the house of God. The length [was] sixty cubits [in] its first dimension, and the width [was] twenty cubits, and the height [was] one hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

ON DANIEL

(Cf. De Magistris, *Daniel according to the Septuagint* from the Chisian codex, Rome 1772, in-folio, p. 95; Mai, *Script. vet. collectio nova*, 1, III, ed. 1851, p. 29-56, passim.)

NOTICE

(Hamel, *On Hippolytus the Bishop*, Göttingen, 1858, p. 30.)

I. A not insignificant fragment of a commentary on Daniel, ascribed to Hippolytus, in which chapters VII–XII and II, 34 sqq. are explained, was published by Simon de Magistris from the Chisian codex. Angelo Mai published another excellent fragment of the same commentary, who proposed to himself to edit from that commentary only those things which lay unpublished. Since he knew the fragment that De Magistris had published, it appears that the Roman codex contains many more things than those which he himself had edited from that codex; however, one may not conclude that everything which is read in the Chisian codex is found in the cited Catena. Therefore, it seems difficult to judge how one codex compares to the other, and to prove whether one or the other should be held to be the true one. Having compared both codices, we understand that they do not stand in such a relation that one can be completed by the other. This is easily understood. For chapter VII, 4 is explained more broadly in Angelo Mai than in Simon; for there is added in Mai what is taught by history, that those promises were truly fulfilled. Yet such an explanation cannot be joined with those things which are presented in the Chisian codex; for the same sentiment, that Nebuchadnezzar was deprived of glory and driven from the kingdom, occurs in both codices, so that if you were to join what both possess into one, the same things would be read in a double manner, which cannot happen at all. The same applies to verse 5, to which in Angelo Mai the same interpretation is briefly added, which we find more broadly illustrated in the Chisian codex; but in Angelo Mai it is added why the Persians are compared to a bear. The things noted on verse 6 in the Chisian codex are contracted in Angelo Mai, but it is added why the interpreter thinks the Greek kingdom and its king Alexander are compared to the leopard. In the same way, the things read in both codices regarding verse 7 are different. The same holds entirely for the first four chapters read in Simon. If, therefore, we are forced to say that not everything that is found in both codices can certainly be part of the same book, it does not follow from that that one fragment is genuine and the other not, and even less because the thoughts expressed therein agree, and only the form in which they are clothed is diverse. But in other places, the things which Angelo Mai presents agree with those which are read in the Chisian codex; so that if we had inserted what Angelo Mai edited into those things which are cited in this codex, the commentary would appear to be perfect. Thus, the things found annotated in Angelo Mai regarding chapter IX, 21 square with those presented in the Chisian codex at the beginning of chapter II; the things regarding X, 12 [square] with those at the end of chapter XXVIII; the things regarding X, 16, and 18 and 20 can hold a place before the words "and now he says" at the end of chapter XXVIII; the things regarding XII, 1–3 can be read before chapter XLI. The things noted regarding X, 6 in Angelo Mai agree word for word with those which are read in chapter XXVI; in the same way, the things noted regarding X, 7 are found in chapter XLIII; and you have the same things, which are explained regarding X, 13, in chapter XXV.

Since, therefore, no small similarity is recognized between the two codices, it seems likely that those commentaries on Daniel were composed by the same author. Nevertheless, it would seem strange if the same man had composed two commentaries on the same book. In order to solve this enigma, we must look to Hippolytus’ book *On Antichrist*, in which (chapters 22–26) the same things are read, which are exhibited in Simon, chapters 1–3, with only a few things omitted. But because it seemed strange to us that the same author is said to have written the same things in two different books, we fall into the opinion that this passage was transferred from one to the other. But if the things that are read in Simon, chapters 1–3, have been taken from the book *On Antichrist*, it surely could not happen that the things read in that place in Simon agree with those which we find noted regarding the same place in Daniel in the codex which Angelo Mai edited. But since, because the things which are read in Simon must in large part be completed by those which are exhibited in the Vatican codex, it must be conceded that the commentary read in Simon was excerpted in its entirety from the commentary on Daniel:

it seems probable that he who excerpted the commentary edited by Simon took chapters 1-3 from Hippolytus’s book ^A *On Antichrist* (chapters 22-26), because they are read more briefly in this place, concerning which Hippolytus discoursed more widely in the commentary on Daniel itself. Those things which are preserved in the Chisian codex seem to have been collated not long after Hippolytus, for Apollinarius (39) relates that our author, along with the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, explained the vision of Daniel himself (40). Since that fragment seems to have been composed in such an ancient time, it is doubtful whether Photius read those excerpts, or the commentary itself. But I think that, had he read them, he would have reported that Hippolytus interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar only in connection with Daniel’s vision. Since, therefore, we have parts of the same book, which Angelo Mai published, and those which are read in the Chisian codex from chapter 4 to the end, but not those which are contained in the same [codex] in the first four chapters, in this place, where we must demonstrate which parts of Hippolytus’s commentary on Daniel are present today, we are not regarding those things which are to be considered part of the book *On Antichrist*.

Since the fragment edited by Simon from Hippolytus’s book *On Antichrist* and the entire commentary on Daniel had already been collated around the middle of the 4th century (41), it is necessary that there be no small similarity between Hippolytus’s true book *On Antichrist* and his entire commentary on Daniel. If, therefore, we find a similarity between a certain book ascribed to Hippolytus, in which Antichrist is discussed, and a certain commentary on Daniel, which is said to have the same author, we judge that both were composed by Hippolytus, unless certain reasons for doubting are present. Indeed, similar things are read in the cited fragments and in the book *On Antichrist* edited by M. Gudius (cf. § 42). Thus, those things which are taught concerning the time when the world will be consumed, regarding Antichrist, in chapters 42 and 43, are proven more extensively in the commentary on Daniel, in Simon, chapters 4-7; those things which are read concerning Enoch and Elijah, the precursors of Christ, and concerning the weeks of years and the Babylonian captivity, in chapters 43 and 64, are also exhibited in Dan. 22 and 40; concerning Antichrist, in chapter 25, it is contended that what Daniel prophesied truly happened, which is proven by history in Dan. chapters VIII and IX. Concerning Antiochus, the grandson of Alexander the Great, mention of whom is made in *On Antichrist* chapter 49, it is discoursed more widely in Dan. chapter X; the same things which are related concerning the Ammonites and Moabites in *On Antichr.* chapter 51, you will find in Dan. chapter XI. The passage in the book *On Antichrist*, chapter 26, which is missing in that part of the Chisian codex (chapters 1-3), which we have proven was taken from that book, we read word for word in Angelo Mai at chapter 7, 15 (l. l. p. 205). Moreover, the interpreter uses the same method of interpretation—which they call "Messianic"—which we find employed in other writings of Hippolytus (42). The fact that in the commentary under discussion now, the number of years that elapsed from the creation of the world down to Christ is established, and the time is shown during which the Jews were held in Babylon, fits well with our author, who fostered the mathematical art. Finally, what is of the greatest importance, Jerome and Photius (43) themselves testify that they read the fragments of the commentary on Daniel cited. For one of them (44) ascribes to our author a certain opinion which seems to be constructed from those things which are read in the Chisian codex in chapters 13, 15, and 39. The other relates (45) that Hippolytus placed the end of the world in the year 500 after the birth of Christ, because the world remains for only 6,000 years, and 5,500 had already passed from the creation of the world to Christ. This is explained more widely in the Chisian codex, chapter 4.

Since these things are so, it is clearer than light that both fragments were composed by Hippolytus. Since Photius relates (l. l.) that our author explained not single words, but the connection and tenor of the sentences, I believe that the codex which Angelo Mai read contains the entire and perfect commentary of our author on Daniel. Therefore, it would be of the greatest importance if that most celebrated man had published the whole codex.

II. On the fragment concerning the history of Susanna (46).

Hippolytus relates the history of Susanna in an allegorical manner to the Church, which is harassed by the Gentiles. Susanna is a type of the Church, and her husband Joacim is Christ; he refers Babylon to the world; the garden in which Susanna bathed signifies to him the vocation of the saints, who are planted as fruitful trees in the Church. The two elders signify to him two peoples, the one Hebrews, the other pagans, who, incited by the devil, persecute the Church in concert. That we may more accurately perceive the reasoning with which it is discussed in the booklet, let us bring forward a few other points from it. In verse 15, the "opportune day" on which Susanna went to bathe in the garden, he refers to the feast of Passover, on which a bath is prepared for all. He says that Susanna was bathed because she was a pure bride of God. The maidens who accompany her are faith in Christ and charity toward God. In verse 21, he argues that a certain young man was with Susanna in the bath, but not one who would commit sin with her, but rather one who would be a witness to her innocence. In verse 22, he refers what is narrated concerning the falsely accused Susanna to the state of the Church, when Christians in the age of Hippolytus, unless they worshipped the idols of the pagans, were led to the tribunal and sentenced to death. Verse 23 he transfers to those who suffer for Christ. Verse 35, "Susanna was vexed and wept," so that by her tears she might call out the Word, who would also have recalled the dead Lazarus to life with tears.

That these were written before the Emperor Constantine is evident from the fact that the words in verse 22, *ἀνεστέναξε Σωσάννα*, are referred to the Christian martyrs who, unless submissively worshipping pagan idols, would be led to the tribunal. In verse 5 it is proven that these were written at a time when Jews and pagans had joined together to destroy Christian things, which is what happened in our own time (47). The method of interpretation fits the genius of Hippolytus beautifully. Sentences are found which seem similar to others brought forward by our author in his genuine books; for example, in verse 12 he says that in the same way the elders came to Susanna, so pagans come into the Church.

and Jews, so that they present themselves as false witnesses against Christians. Similarly, the author of the book *On the Antichrist* (ch. 1) admonishes Theophilus to take care that this book does not fall into the sight of profane men. In verse 33, we find the same opinion concerning the Word, which is explained more extensively *On the Antichrist* (ch. 2 and 4; cf. Hippolytus’ book *Against the Jews*). In the same allegorical manner, our author has interpreted the blessing of Jacob and Isaac. Since therefore the book *On Susanna and Daniel* is ascribed to Hippolytus by Syncellus (48), we have no reason to disavow this book, which has its place in the same Roman codex from which Angelus Maius published his commentary on Daniel. Combefisius (49) thinks that Jerome and Photius spoke only of this book. But we have already proven that they read not only this book, but also the entire commentary on the book of Daniel, which included this book as well as what he wrote on the *Canticle of the Three Children*.

III. *On the Canticle of the Three Children.* That Hippolytus read this canticle in the middle of chapter 3 of the canonical book of Daniel is apparent from the fact that verses of that chapter (50) are cited by the same number as they are referred to by the Greek interpreters. Since, therefore, it is clear that the commentary on the canonical book of Daniel includes this canticle of the Three Children, the items which are found in the *Catena Patrum* on the Psalms and Canticles of Holy Scripture (Corderian edition, vol. III, p. 951 to 3, 37 (51)), must be read in the annotations to chapter 3 of the canonical book. Since, therefore, the commentary on the canticle of the Three Children is interwoven with the commentary on the canonical book of Daniel, there is no reason to doubt that it is ascribed to him with the best of rights.

IV. *On the proemium of Hippolytus to his commentary on Daniel.* The fragment in Fabricius (vol. I, p. 278) appears to be the proemium of his commentary on Daniel. First, he explains why he wrote this booklet, then, at what time Daniel lived and spent his time as a captive in Babylon; finally, he illustrates in a few words the history of the Jews from king Josias up to the time when they were led into exile to Babylon. Having settled these things, he seems in this manner to move on to explain the history of Susanna: "When the whole people had been led away (into Babylon) . . . we find the blessed Daniel prophesying in Babylon, and becoming the vindicator of Susanna." We would not be able to see what the addition meant, that Daniel existed in Babylon as the vindicator of Susanna, were it not permitted to conjecture that with these words he wished to pass on to the commentary on the history of Susanna. And it has been handed down to us that the history of Susanna held a place in the codex which Hippolytus used, before the canonical book of Daniel (52). Since such was the codex of our author, it seems likely that that proemium was truly composed by Hippolytus (53). Which opinion is confirmed by Syncellus (54). For he says that it was related by Hippolytus in his writing on Susanna and Daniel that Joacim, or by another name Jechonias, when he had reigned for three years, was led to Babylon with the people, among whom were Daniel and his three friends; and that the wife of the king was Susanna. Since in Hippolytus’ book on Daniel and Susanna nothing is found about Daniel being led away, nor about the time during which Joacim reigned, which is what is read in the proemium, we ascribe that genuine text to Hippolytus. Furthermore, you will not find things which are abhorrent to our author’s genius, but there are indeed some things which fit him beautifully, for example, that the time during which individual kings reigned is indicated so accurately. Moreover, that this proemium was not written after the emperor Constantine is evident from the fact that Daniel is called a prophet and a martyr of Christ, and the epithet *faithful martyrs* is attributed to his three friends.

PROEMIUM.

^A Having resolved to demonstrate the accuracy of the times of the captivity which occurred to the sons of Israel in Babylon, and the prophecies of the visions of the blessed Daniel, and his life and deportment from childhood in Babylon, I also approach to bear witness to a holy and righteous man, a prophet and one who has become a martyr of Christ. For he not only revealed the visions of king Nabuchodonosor to the people of that time, but by instructing youths similar to himself, he produced faithful witnesses in the world. This person, therefore, appears during the times of the prophecy of the blessed Jeremias, and of the reign of Joacim, son of Eliacim; who, having been taken with the rest of the captives, is led away with them to Babylon. For these five are the sons of Josias: Joachas, Eliacim, and Joannan; Sedecias, who is also Jechonias...

and Sadum. And Joachas, after the death of his father, is anointed by the people as king, being twenty-three years of age. ^A Against him comes up Pharao Nechao in the third month of his reign; and taking him prisoner, he leads him into Egypt; and he imposes a tribute upon the land, one hundred talents of silver, and ten talents of gold. And he establishes in his stead Eliacim, his brother, as king over the land, whose name he changed to Joacim, for eleven years. Against him came up Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, and taking him prisoner, leads him to Babylon, and a portion of the vessels of the house of the Lord that were in Jerusalem. He, being kept in prison, as one who had been a friend to Pharao and had been established as king by him, is brought out in the thirty-seventh year by Evilat-Marodach, king of Babylon; and he shaved his head, and he was his counselor, and he ate at his table until the day that he died. ^B When he had been taken away, his son Joacim reigned for three years. And against him came up Nabuchodonosor, and he transports both him and ten thousand men of the people to Babylon; and he establishes in his stead his father’s brother, whom he also renamed Sedecias; with whom having made oaths and covenants, he departs to Babylon. He, after reigning eleven years, revolted from him, and gave himself to Pharao, king of Egypt. In the tenth year, Nabuchodonosor came against him from the land of the Chaldeans, and he fenced the city, besieged it round about, and constrained it on every side. Wherefore the greater part of them perished by famine; others perished by the sword; some of them were taken captive, and the city was set on fire; and the temple and the wall were torn down. ^C And all the treasures found in the house of the Lord the army of the Chaldeans took, and all the vessels, both gold and silver; and Nabuzardan, the chief of the cooks, broke up all the bronze, and brought them to Babylon. But Sedecias himself, fleeing by the silence of night with seven hundred men, the army of the Chaldeans pursued, and they overtook him in Jericho, and led him to the king of Babylon in Reblatha. And the king judged him in anger, because he had violated the oath of the Lord, and the covenant which he had made unto him, and his sons he slaughtered before him, and he blinded the eyes of Sedecias. ^D And he put him in iron fetters, and led him to Babylon; and he was grinding in the mill until the day that he died. And upon his dying, they took his body and cast it behind the walls of Nineveh. In this is fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah, saying: *As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias, son of Joacim, king of Juda, were a seal upon my right hand, I would pluck thee thence, and I will give thee into the hands of those who seek thy

soul. ^A If you fear before his face, into the hands of the Chaldeans. And I will cast thee and thy mother who bore thee into a land where you were not born, and there you shall die. But into the land to which they pray in their own souls, I will by no means return you. Jechonias was disgraced as a useless vessel, for which there is no need, because he was cast off and thrown into a land he knew not. Earth, hear the word of the Lord. Write this man as a man disowned, because none of his seed shall prosper to sit on the throne of David as ruler anymore in Juda. Thus the captivity for them in Babylon has come about after the exodus from Egypt. Now the whole people having been transported, and the city having been laid waste, and the sanctuary having been destroyed until the word of the Lord was fulfilled, which He spoke through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah, saying: “That the sanctuary shall be desolate for seventy years,” we find blessed Daniel prophesying in Babylon, and having become the vindicator of Susanna.

SOLUTIONS BY HIPPOLYTUS, BISHOP OF ROME, TO THE VISIONS OF DANIEL AND NABUCHODONOSOR, BOTH AT ONCE.

I. When he said “of the sea,” he signified the kingdom of the Babylonians that had come to be, and that this was the golden head of the statue. ^B And by saying “its wings were like an eagle’s,” he meant that King Nabuchodonosor was exalted, and his glory was lifted up against God. Then he says, “its wings were plucked,” because his glory was cast down; for he was driven out from his kingdom. But by saying, “a man’s heart was given to it, and it stood upon the feet of a man,” he indicates that he repented when he recognized himself as a man, and gave glory to God. After the lion, you see a second animal like a bear, which were the Persians; for after the Babylonians, the Persians held sway. And by saying “three ribs were in its mouth,” he showed three nations: Persians, Medes, [and] Babylonians; just as silver was shown after the gold in the statue. Then the third animal, a panther, which were ^C the Greeks; for after the Persians, Alexander ... ^D [alt-version omitted]

FOOTNOTE EXPLANATION OMITTED

^A Macedo, after removing Darius, gained possession of the empire; which he indicated by the bronze in the image. And as for what he says, "four wings of a bird, and four heads of the beast," he lucently showed how the dominion of Alexander was divided into four parts; for in saying "four heads," he signified the four kings who arose from it; for Alexander, on approaching his final day, divided his kingdom into four parts. Afterward, he says, "a fourth beast, terrible and stupendous, his teeth were of iron, and his claws of bronze." Who, then, are these, if not the Romans? Whose kingdom, existing in the present, is compared to iron (in the image); for its legs, he says, are of iron.

^B II. After these things, therefore, what remains, beloved? Unless it be the traces of the feet of the image, in which part will be iron, and part earthenware, mixed together. He mystically signified by the toes of the feet the ten kings to be raised up from it: which Daniel says: "I was considering the beast, and behold ten horns behind it, in which shall spring up another (small one) that has grown; by which no one else is signified than the Antichrist rising up; and he shall restore the kingdom of Judah. And saying three horns were plucked out by him, he designates the three kings of Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia, whom he shall slay in the line of battle. Who, having subdued all, being an immitigable and cruel tyrant, will inflict tribulation and persecution upon the saints, being exalted against them. After whom it remains that the stone should come from heaven, which struck the image, and crushed it, and transferred all kingdoms, and gave the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. This became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

III. Since these things, therefore, are to be, and the digits of the image shall have passed into democracies, and the ten horns of the beast shall have been divided into ten ^C kingdoms; let us look more attentively at what has been proposed, and let us survey them in a certain manner with our very eyes. The golden head of the image is the lioness, by which the Babylonians were represented; the shoulders and silver arms are the bear, by which the Persians and Medes were designated; the belly and bronze thighs are the leopard, by which the Greeks who ruled from Alexander were signified; the iron legs, the stupendous and terrible beast, were the Romans, who now hold the empire; the traces of the feet, earthenware and iron, are the ten horns which are to be; the other small horn, which grows up among them, is the Antichrist; the stone striking the image and crushing it, which filled the earth, is Christ coming from heaven and bringing judgment to the world.

IV. But lest in this part I leave the proposed argument ^D without proof, beloved, who are lovers of Christ, since the time now demands it: for the rest, nothing; of the fourth beast:

^A but omitting demonstration, we are compelled to speak of the times, because since they are a lamp to man, it is not permitted to recount them hastily. For when the times from the foundation of the world and numbered from Adam are stated, they clearly present to us the things sought. For the first coming of our Lord, His incarnation, occurred in Bethlehem under Augustus, in the five thousand five hundredth year; and He suffered in the thirty-third year. It is necessary, therefore, that the six thousand years be completed, ^B that the Sabbath may come, the rest, the holy day on which God rested from all His works. The Sabbath is a type and image of the future kingdom of the saints, when they shall reign with Christ, when He arrives from the heavens, as John relates in his Apocalypse: "For a day of the Lord is as a thousand years." Since, therefore, God made all things in six days, the six thousand years must be completed; for they are not yet completed, as John says: "The five have fallen, one remains," that is, the sixth; "the other has not yet come."

^C V. But in saying "the other," he describes the seventh, in which is the rest. But someone will certainly say: "How will you demonstrate to me that the Savior was born in the five thousand five hundredth year?" Learn easily, O man; for the things that happened long ago in the wilderness under Moses concerning the tabernacle were types and images of spiritual mysteries, so that when the truth arrived in the last times in Christ, you might be able to understand that these things were fulfilled. For it says to him: "And you shall make the ark of incorruptible woods, and you shall overlay it with pure gold inside and outside; and you shall make its length two cubits and a half, and its width a cubit and a half, and its height a cubit and a half," which when added up makes five cubits and a half, ^D so that the five thousand five hundred years may be shown.

VI. At the time when the Savior approached from the Virgin, ^A (an ark gilded with pure gold, within by the Word, without by the Holy Spirit), He brought forth His own body to the world; so that the truth was demonstrated, and the ark revealed. From the generation of Christ, therefore, one must count the remaining five hundred years, so that the number of six thousand years may be filled, and thus will be the end. But that the Savior was in the world at the fifth and a half time, bearing the incorruptible ark—that is, His own body—John says: "And it was the sixth hour," ^B so as to show the half of the day; and the day of the Lord is a thousand years; the half of these, therefore, becomes five hundred. For it was not possible for Him to be present sooner, for the weight of the Law still endured, and the sixth hour had not been fulfilled (for the laver is renewed), but rather at the fifth and a half, so that in the remaining half time, the Gospel might be preached to the whole world, and upon the fulfillment of the sixth day, the present life might cease.

VII. Since, indeed, the Persians held the kingdom for three hundred and thirty years, and after them the Greeks themselves—who were even more glorious—for three hundred years, of necessity the fourth beast, as stronger and greater than all that were before it, will reign for five hundred years. When the times have been fulfilled, and the ten horns have risen up from it ^C at the last, the Antichrist will appear among them. This one warring against and persecuting the saints, then it is necessary to await from the heavens the manifestation of the Lord.

VIII. After the prophet had accurately instructed us regarding the truth of the things that were to come, ceasing from his proposed subject, he returned to the empire of the Persians and Greeks, recounting to us another vision, which occurred and was fulfilled in its own times; so that, having established us as faithful in this, he might be able to show us more faithful to God even in things that were to be. ^D Those things, therefore, which he had recounted in the first vision, he unfolds again from the beginning for the edification of the faithful; for by the ram pushing with its horn towards the sea, and the north, and the south, he meant Darius the king of the Persians, who brought all nations under his power; for these beasts, he says, will not stand before him. And the he-goat of the goats coming from the wind of Libya, he calls Alexander the Macedonian, the king of the Greeks; and that he approached the ram himself, and being enraged, struck...

him in the face, and shattered him, and cast him to the ground, and trampled him, this signifies that which has also come to pass. ^A

IX. For when Alexander had engaged in war against Darius, he prevailed against him, and having destroyed and routed his entire army, he gained the empire of the whole realm; then after the he-goat of the goats was exalted, his great horn was broken, and four horns grew up beneath it toward the four winds of heaven. For Alexander, having taken possession of the whole land of the Persians and having brought them into subjection, afterward died, having divided his kingdom into four principalities, as has been shown above; from which one horn was exalted and grew great even unto the power of heaven; and because of it, he says, the sacrifice was disturbed, and justice was cast to the ground. ^B

X. For there arose Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, who was of the lineage of Alexander, and having reigned over Syria, and having brought all of Egypt under his own power, he at length ascended to Jerusalem, and entered into the sanctuary, and took all the treasures that were in the house of the Lord, and the golden lampstand, and the table, and the altar, and he performed a great slaughter in the land; as it says: "And the sanctuary shall be trampled until the evening and until the morning, thirteen hundred days." For it happened during that time, that the sanctuary remained desolate for three and a half years, so that the thirteen hundred days were fulfilled, until Judas Maccabaeus, rising up after the death of Mattathias his father, withstood him, and having destroyed the camps of Antiochus, and having liberated the city, he recovered the Holy places, and renovated them, doing everything according to the law. ^C

XI. Since, therefore, the angel Gabriel also, according as it has been understood by us, narrated these things to the prophet in this way, just as they occurred, and as everything has been plainly recorded in the books of the Maccabees, let us see what he says regarding the other weeks. For he, when he had read the book of Jeremiah the prophet, in which it was written that the sanctuary would be desolate for seventy years, in fasts and supplications made confession and entreated that the people might return more quickly from the captivity to the city of Jerusalem; thus, therefore, narrating, he says: "In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus of the seed of the Medes, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans; I, Daniel, understood in the books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the fulfillment of the desolation of Jerusalem, seventy years; and what follows." ^D

XII. After his confession and supplication, the angel says to him: "You are a man of desires; for these things which you desire to know, which through me will be made known to you, shall be fulfilled in their own time," and he added, saying: "Seventy weeks are shortened."

UPON YOUR PEOPLE, AND UPON THE HOLY CITY, ^A TO FINISH TRANSGRESSION, AND TO SEAL UP SINS, AND TO WIPE AWAY INIQUITIES, AND TO SEAL UP VISION AND PROPHET, AND TO ANOINT THE MOST HOLY. AND YOU SHALL KNOW AND UNDERSTAND FROM THE GOING FORTH OF THE WORD, TO ANSWER, AND TO BUILD JERUSALEM, UNTO CHRIST THE LEADER, SEVEN WEEKS AND SIXTY-TWO WEEKS.

XIII. Since therefore (the angel Gabriel) had named seventy weeks, and had divided them into two parts, so that what was spoken by him to the prophet might be better understood, he proceeded thus: "Unto Christ the leader, seven weeks," which make forty-nine years. Daniel sees these in Babylon in the twenty-first year; therefore, when the forty-nine years are added to the twenty-first year, the seventy years are completed which the blessed Jeremiah foretold: "Seventy years shall the sanctuary be desolate after the captivity made by Nebuchadnezzar, and after this the people shall return, and sacrifice and oblation shall be offered, Christ being their leader."

XIV. Of what Christ, however, does he speak, if not of Jesus the son of Josedec, who at that time returned together with the people, and, the sanctuary being built ^B in the seventieth year, they offered sacrifice according to the Law? For all kings and priests were called Christs, because they were anointed with the holy oil which Moses formerly prepared. These, therefore, bore the name of the Lord with them, showing forth the pattern in themselves and presenting the image, until the perfect King and Priest from heaven should appear, who alone did the will of the Father, as it is also written in the Books of Kings: "And I will raise up to myself a faithful priest, who shall do all things according to my heart."

XV. Therefore, in order to show the time when he, whom the blessed Daniel desired to see, ^C was about to appear, he says: "And after seven weeks, another sixty-two weeks," which contain a period of four hundred and thirty-four years. For after the people returned from Babylon, with Jesus the son of Josedec, and Ezra the scribe, and Zorobabel the son of Salathiel from the tribe of David, as their leaders, there were four hundred and thirty-four years until the advent of Christ, so that the Priest of priests might appear in the world, and He who takes away the sins of the world might be clearly shown, as John says concerning Him: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Similarly, Gabriel says: "To wipe away iniquities, and to make propitiation for sins." Who indeed wiped away our iniquities? Paul the apostle teaches you, saying: "He is our peace, who has made both one," and afterwards, "Wiping out the handwriting of sins that was against us, which was contrary to us."

XVI. That iniquities are therefore wiped away ^D and sins expiated, this he shows. But who are they for whom their iniquities are expiated, unless those who believe in his name, and through good works seek to appease his...

face? That four hundred and thirty-four years passed from the time the people returned from Babylon until the birth of Christ, it is easy to understand. For since the first testament was given to the children of Israel after four hundred and thirty-four years, it was necessary that the second also should be defined by the same period of time, so that it might be expected by the people, and easily recognized by those who believe. ^B XVII. And for this reason Gabriel says: “And to anoint the most holy.” And there is no holy of holies, except only the Son of God; who, when he was present and revealing himself, said to them: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me,” and the rest. Whoever, therefore, believed in the heavenly priest, were cleansed by that very priest, and their sins were blotted out. But whoever did not believe him, despising him as a man, the sins of these were sealed as if they could not be blotted out. Whence the Angel, foreseeing that not all were going to believe in him, said: “To make an end of sins, and to seal sins.” For as many as disobeyed him until the end, for them their sins were not finished, but were sealed to be reserved for judgment; but as many as are to believe in him as having the power to forgive sins, for them they were blotted out. Therefore he says: “And to seal the vision and the prophet.” ^C XVIII. For since he himself, who is the fullness of the Law and the prophets, was present (for the law and the prophets were until John), it was necessary that what had been spoken by them should be sealed, in order that at the coming of the Lord all things which had been bound might be illumined and, being now loosed by him, might be set free, even as the Lord himself said to the rulers of the people, who were indignant at the healing done on the Sabbath: “Hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed on the day of the Sabbath?” As many, therefore, as Satan had bound in chains, these the Lord, coming, loosed from the bonds of death, having bound the strong one who was against us, and having vindicated humanity into liberty, just as Isaiah also says: “Then he will say to those who are in bonds, 'Go forth,' and to those who are in darkness, ^D 'Be enlightened.'” XIX. That all the ancient things spoken through the law and the prophets were sealed, and existed as something unknown to men, Isaiah says: “And they will give the sealed book to a man who knows letters, and they will say to him, 'Read this,' and he will say, 'I cannot read, for it is sealed.'” It was necessary that the ancient things pronounced by the prophets should remain sealed to the unbelieving Pharisees, who thought they understood the scripture of the law, but be open to those who believe. Therefore those things which were once sealed

^A are now, by the grace of the Lord, all open to the saints.

XX. For he himself was the perfect seal, and the Church is the key: *He who opens, and no one shuts, and shuts, and no one opens*, as John says; and the same one says again: *And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a book, written within and without, sealed with seven seals; and I saw an angel crying with a great voice: Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose its seals?* and the rest. *And I saw in the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, a Lamb standing (as though) slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth; and he came and took the book from the right hand of him who was seated upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having harps, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song, saying: Worthy art thou to take the book, and to open its seals, because thou wast slain, and didst ransome us to God in thy blood.* ^B Therefore he took the book and loosed it, so that those things which had been spoken secretly of him in time past might now be freely preached upon the housetops.

XXI. And for this reason the angel says indeed to Daniel: *Seal the words, for the vision is for the end of time*; but to Christ it was not said, seal, but rather loose those things which were formerly bound, so that by his grace we might know the will of the Father, and believe in him whom he sent for the salvation of men, Jesus our Lord. He says, therefore: *It shall return, and the street and the wall shall be built*, which has been entirely fulfilled. For when the people had returned, they rebuilt the city and the temple, and the walls round about. Then he says: *After sixty-two weeks the times shall be fulfilled; and he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, and in the middle of the week the sacrifice and the drink offering shall be taken away, and (there shall be) in the temple the abomination of desolation.*

XXII. For when the sixty-two weeks have been completed, and Christ has arrived, and the Gospel has been preached in every place, ^C the times being fulfilled, one last week will remain, in which Elijah and Enoch shall be present, and in the middle of which the abomination of desolation shall appear, (namely) the Antichrist, announcing desolation to the world. But when he arrives, the sacrifice and the drink offering, which is now offered to God by the nations in every place, shall be taken away. When these things had been thus spoken, the prophet relates another vision to us; for he was solicitous for nothing else than that he might be diligently instructed concerning all future events, so that through his teaching they might be made manifest to us.

^A

XXIII. It says then: In the third year of Cyrus king of the Persians, a word was revealed to Daniel, whose name was Baltasar, and the word was true, and great power and understanding were given to him in the vision. In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks of days; I ate no bread of desires, and meat and wine did not enter my mouth, and I was not anointed with oil until the completion of three weeks. In the fourth day of the first month, I humbled myself, he says, for twenty-one days, praying to the living God, demanding from Him the revelation of the mystery. And indeed, the Father, having heard, sent His own Word, showing what was to happen through Him; and it came to pass by the great river; for it was necessary that the Boy be shown there, where He was also to forgive sins. ^B

XXIV. And I lifted up, he says, my eyes; and behold, a man clothed in *baddin*. In the first vision, he says, "Behold, the angel Gabriel sent"; but here it is not so, but he sees the Lord, not indeed perfectly as a man, yet appearing in the form of a man, as he says: "And behold a man clothed in *baddin*." For he was clothed in a multi-colored tunic of mysteries, representing the diversity of the calling of the gifts; for the priestly tunic was fashioned from various colors, since diverse nations were expecting the advent of Christ, so that we might be fashioned from many colors. ^C

XXV. Now *ophaz* signifies pure gold, being translated from the Hebrew into the Greek. He was, then, girdled with a pure belt about his loins; for the Word was to carry all of us, binding us around His own body with His own love like a belt; His body was perfect, and we are the members united in His body, and carried by the Word Himself. And his body was as *Tharsis*; and *Tharsis* being interpreted means Ethiopians; for the prophet had already heralded the difficulty of knowing Him, namely that, after having assumed humanity and appearing in the world, He would be difficult for many to know. And his face was as lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire; for it was necessary that the fiery and judicial power of the Word be foreshadowed, so that by justly bringing fire upon the impious, He might burn them up. ^D

XXVI. And he added, saying: And his arms and his feet are like to polished brass; in order to signify both the first calling of men and the second from the nations as like to the first; for "the last things will be as the first: for I will set thy princes as from the beginning, and thy rulers as formerly." And his voice is as the voice of a great multitude. For all we today who believe in Him speak the oracles, as if speaking through His mouth the things commanded by Him.

^A XXVII. And after a little while he says to him: "Do you know why I have come to you? And now I will return to fight with the prince of the Persians; but I will announce to you what is inscribed in the Scripture of truth, and there is no one who assists me concerning these things, but Michael your prince, and I left him there. For from the day that you gave your face to afflict yourself in the sight of the Lord your God, your prayer was heard, and I was sent to fight against the prince of the Persians (for a certain counsel had been formed, that the people should not be sent away); and so, that your request might quickly be granted, I stood against him, and I left Michael there."

XXVIII. And who was it who spoke, if not the angel to whose care the people had been entrusted, as he says in the law of Moses: "I will not go with you, because the people is stiff-necked; but my angel shall go before you." This one stood against Moses in the inn, when he was carrying the uncircumcised boy into Egypt; for it was not right that Moses, who was the legate and mediator of the law, and who was announcing the covenant of the fathers, should bring along an uncircumcised child, lest he be taken by the people for a false prophet and a seducer. And now, he says, "I will announce the truth to you." Could the Truth announce something other than the truth? ^B

XXIX. He says, therefore, to him: "Behold, three kings shall rise in Persia, and the fourth shall be enriched with great wealth above all, and when he has grown strong with his riches, he shall invade all the kingdoms of the Greeks. But a strong king shall arise, and he shall rule with great power, and shall do what he pleases, and when his kingdom has stood, it shall be broken, and shall be divided into the four winds of the heaven." These things we have already explained above, when we were speaking about the four beasts; but since the Scripture now sets forth the word distinctly again, it is necessary that we also discuss them again, so that we may not leave the Scripture idle and without explanation. ^C

XXX. "Still three kings, he says, shall arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be enriched with great wealth; which has come to pass; for after Cyrus, Darius arose; then Artaxerxes. These three have been kings; the Scripture is fulfilled. And the fourth shall be enriched with great wealth: who is this, unless it be Darius, who reigned, and attained glory, and abounded in wealth, and rose up against all the kingdoms of the Greeks? Alexander the Macedonian occurred against him, and destroyed his kingdom. But after he had subjugated the Persians, his own kingdom was divided into the four winds of the heaven; for Alexander, departing from the living, distributed his kingdom into four principalities. And a king shall rise, and shall enter into the fortresses of the king of Egypt." ^D

XXXI. For Antiochus was king of Syria; this one reigned in the hundred and seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.

And at those times he engaged in battle against Ptolemy, the king of Egypt; and prevailing over him, he took power. Returning from Egypt, he ascended to Jerusalem in ^A the one hundred and third year; and having taken all the treasures of the house of the Lord, he went toward Antioch. And after two years of days, the king sent his own tax collector into the cities of Judea to compel the Jews to depart from their ancestral laws and to submit to the king's decrees. When he arrived, he compelled them, saying: "Come out, and perform the king's command, and you shall live."

XXXII. But they said: "We will not come out, nor will we perform the king's command; we will die in our simplicity." And he killed of them a thousand souls of men. Thus, that which was spoken to the blessed Daniel is fulfilled: "That they shall be afflicted, and my servants shall be weakened in famine, and in sword, and in ^B captivity." But Daniel says: "And they shall be helped with a little help." For at that time Mattathias, and Judas Maccabeus, rose up, and helped them, and delivered them from the hand of the Greeks.

XXXIII. The saying in the Scripture was fulfilled; it says thus: "And the daughter of the South shall enter in to the king of the North, to make treaties with him; and the arms of him who leads her shall not stand; and she shall be crushed, and she and he who leads her shall fall." For there was a certain Ptolemaic queen of Egypt at that time; she goes forth with her two sons, Ptolemy and Philometor, to make treaties with Antiochus, king of Syria. And when she had arrived at Scythopolis, she is killed there; for he who led her betrayed her. Then ^C indeed the two brothers wage war against each other, and Philometor is killed, and Ptolemy takes power.

XXXIV. A battle therefore again takes place between Ptolemy and Antiochus; Antiochus attacks him, for the Scripture says thus: "And the king of the South shall rise up against the king of the North, and the seed from her shall rise up." And what seed, if not Ptolemy, who joined battle with Antiochus? Antiochus, attacking him and not prevailing over him, having taken flight, returned again to Antioch, intending to prepare a larger army. Ptolemy therefore takes all his armaments and leads them into Egypt. The Scripture is fulfilled as Daniel says: "And he shall bring their gods, ^D and their molten images, and all their desirable gold into Egypt."

XXXV. And after these things Antiochus goes forth a second time, stirring up war against him, and he was victorious over Ptolemy. And these things having come to pass, Antiochus rises up again against the sons of Israel, and sends out a certain Nicanor with a great force, so that

he might make war against the Jews, at the time when Judas, after the death of Matthias, was leader of the people, and so forth, as it is written in the book of Maccabees. When these things had happened, the Scripture says again: *And another king shall arise, and he shall prevail over the earth; and there shall arise a king of the South, and he shall take his daughter for a wife.* For it comes to pass that a certain Alexander, son of Philip, arises; he in his time rises up against Antiochus, and having engaged in battle, destroys him, and gains possession of the kingdom. Then he sends to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, saying: "Give me your daughter Cleopatra for a wife"; and he gives her to Alexander for a wife. ^B The Scripture is fulfilled as it says: *And he shall take his daughter for a wife*; and it says: *And he shall corrupt her, and she shall not be his wife.* And this also has truly been fulfilled; for when Ptolemy had given his own daughter to him, he returned and saw the kingdom of Alexander, marvelous and glorious; becoming infatuated with it, he spoke to Alexander deceitfully, just as the Scripture says: *And at the table the two kings shall speak lies.* And indeed, having returned to Egypt, Ptolemy, having gathered a great army, invaded the city at the time when Alexander had set out for Cilicia. ^C Wherefore, when Ptolemy was invading the region, he set garrisons throughout the cities, and having occupied Judaea, he went to his daughter, and sent letters to Demetrius in the islands, saying: "Come out and come here, and I will give you my daughter Cleopatra for a wife, for Alexander sought to kill me." Demetrius therefore comes, and when Ptolemy had received him, he gives to him the daughter who was Alexander's wife. That which was said is fulfilled: *And he shall corrupt her, and she shall not be his.* Alexander is killed; Ptolemy places the two royal diadems upon his head, namely that of Syria and of Egypt, which having put upon himself, on the third day he dies. ^D There is fulfilled what was set forth in the Scripture: *And they shall not give to him the glory of the kingdom*; for he died, and did not receive glory from all as a king. [XXXVIII.] Since the prophet had therefore narrated what has already happened and was accomplished in times past, he proclaims to us again another mystery, indicating the last times; for he speaks thus: *And another impudent king shall rise, and he shall be exalted against every god, and he shall be magnified, and shall speak great things; and he shall prosper, until the indignation be accomplished*, and so forth; *and these shall be delivered from his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the beginning of the children of Ammon.*

FRAGMENTS ON DANIEL.

^A ...and the land of Egypt shall not be for salvation. And he shall have power over the hidden treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt, and of the Libyans, and of the Ethiopians, in their strongholds.

XXXIX. The prophet thus relates these things concerning the Antichrist, who shall be shameless, a lover of war, and a tyrant, who shall exalt himself above all kings and every god; he shall rebuild the city of Jerusalem, and shall raise up the temple. The disobedient shall worship him as God, and shall bow the knee to him, believing him to be the Christ. He shall remove the two witnesses and forerunners of Christ who proclaim his glorious kingdom from the heavens, as it says: "And I will give to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth"; even as he ^B has also said to Daniel: "And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, and in the middle of the week my sacrifice and drink offering shall be taken away," so that the one week is shown to be divided into two. For the two witnesses shall prophesy for three years and a half, but in the remaining part of the week the Antichrist shall persecute the saints in war and shall desolate the world, so that what is said may be fulfilled: "And they shall give the abomination of desolation for a thousand two hundred and ninety days."

XL. Daniel has therefore spoken of two abominations, one of destruction and the other of desolation. What is the one of destruction, if not that which Antiochus set up there at that time? And what is the one of desolation, if not that which shall be universal when the Antichrist is present? "And these shall be saved from his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon." For these are they who associate themselves with him on account of kinship, and are the first to proclaim him king. The Idumeans, indeed, are the sons of Esau who dwell in Mount Seir; but the Moabites and Ammonites are those who were begotten of his two daughters, as Isaiah also says: "And they shall fly in the ships of the foreigners, they shall plunder the sea together, and those from the sunrising, and those from the west, and from the north, shall give glory," but the children of Ammon shall be the first to obey. He, having been proclaimed king by them, and glorified by all, and having become an abomination of desolation to the world, shall reign for a thousand two hundred and ninety days. "Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the days of a thousand three hundred and thirty-five." For the abomination having arrived and persecuting the saints, whoever survives his days and approaches the forty-five days, another fifty ^C approaching, the kingdom of the heavens has arrived. The Antichrist indeed comes even into a part of the fiftieth, but the saints shall inherit the kingdom together with Christ.

XLI. These things having been thus related, Daniel says: "And behold, two men stood, one on one side of the river's bank, and the other on the other side, and they answered the man who stood upon the water of the river, and said to him: How long shall the end of the words—

of the wonders which you have spoken? And I heard the man who was clothed in linen, who was above the water of the river, and he lifted up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever, that in a time, and times, and half a time, when the dispersion shall be completed, all these things shall be known. ^A

XLII. Who then were the two men who stood by the bank of the river, if not the Law and the Prophets? And who was he who stood upon the water, if not this very one concerning whom they had long since prophesied—he who was to be manifested in the last times at the Jordan, to receive testimony from the Father and to be shown openly to the people by John; he who wore the *kasty* of the scribe about his loins, and was clothed in the *baddin*, the tunic of varied colors? They, therefore, ask him, knowing that to him had been given all authority and power, so that they might learn accurately from him when he was about to bring judgment upon the world, and at what time the things spoken by him should be fulfilled. But he, wishing to make them entirely certain, lifted up his right hand and his left ^B to heaven and swore by him who lives forever. Who, by whom did he swear? Obviously the Son by the Father, saying: As the Father lives forever, so in a time, and times, and half a time, when the dispersion shall be completed, these things shall all be known.

XLIII. Now that he extended both his hands, by this he demonstrated his passion; and that he said, "in a time, and times, and half a time, when the dispersion shall be completed," he signified the three years and a half of Antichrist. For by "time" he means a year, and by "times" two years, and by "half a time" he means half a year. These are the one thousand two hundred and ninety days which Daniel foretold, when the passion shall be fulfilled and the dispersion shall have occurred, with Antichrist present; ^C in those days these things shall be known. And from the time when the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, the one thousand two hundred and ninety days are to be reckoned; iniquity shall abound, just as the Lord also says: "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold."

XLIV. For that dissensions are excited when transgression occurs, there is no doubt, but once dissensions have arisen, love grows cold. And that saying: "Blessed is he who shall persevere and reach the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days," must be noted, just as the Lord said: "But he who shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved." Wherefore, let us by no means wait for a universal transgression, lest iniquity abound and the abomination of desolation, ^D that is, the adversary, overtake us. And he said to him, "until evening," that is, until the consummation; and "morning": what is morning? The day of the resurrection. For it is the beginning of another age, as the morning is the beginning of the day. And the one thousand four hundred days are the light of the world; for when the light has appeared in the world,

whose light appeared in the world, (as he said: "I am the light of the world"), the sanctuary shall be cleansed, as the adversary has said; for the sanctuary is by no means cleansed unless he is overthrown.

SCHOLIA ON DANIEL

CHAP. I

V. 1. — *In the third year of the reign of Joakim.* Hippolytus. For the Scripture relates these things to indicate the second captivity of the people, when Joakim went into a foreign land and with him the three children, along with Daniel, were taken by the enemies.

V. 2. — *And the Lord gave [him] into his hand, etc.* To ensure that no one reading the beginning of the book should attribute the conquest to the strength of the attackers and the exhausted spirit of those who defended it, the Scripture subjoins these words, "and the Lord gave." It is well said, too, that it was only in part: for the transmigration was decreed for the sake of correction, not for the ruin of the entire nation, so that there would not be a change in the cause.

V. 8. — *But Daniel proposed in his heart.* Hippolytus. O blessed are those who have kept the covenant of their fathers and have not transgressed the law given by Moses, but fear the God announced by him. These captives in a foreign land were not led astray by various foods, nor did they serve the pleasures of wine, nor were they enticed by royal glory, nor did they fall into a snare; but they kept their own mouth chaste and pure, so that pure speech might go forth from pure mouths, and through them it might praise the heavenly Father. ^A

V. 12. — *Test us, I beseech you, your servants.* Hippolytus. They teach that it is not earthly foods that provide beauty and strength to men, but the grace of God, granted through the Word. And a little later: You saw the unconquerable faith of the children, and their unchangeable fear of God. They asked for a delay of ten days' time, that in this they might show that it is not possible for a man to obtain grace from God in any other way, except if he believes the Word announced through the Lord. ^B

V. 19. — *And of all of them there were none found like Daniel.* Hippolytus. The Word led these men in all wisdom, showing them to be faithful witnesses in Babylon, so that through them the idols of the Babylonians might be put to shame, and that Nabuchodonosor might be overcome by the three children, ^C and ^D

by their faith the fire in the furnace might be warded off, and the unlawful desire of the corrupt elders might be exposed ^A in vain.

CHAPTER II.

V. 3. — *I have dreamed a dream.* ^B Of Hippolytus. The dream which was seen by the king was not earthly, so that it might be interpreted by the wise men of the world; but it was heavenly, fulfilled at the proper time according to the will and providence of God. And therefore it was hidden from men who think about earthly things, so that to those seeking heavenly things, heavenly mysteries might be revealed. For in Egypt in the time of Pharaoh and Joseph, similar things occurred.

V. 5. — *The word has gone from me.* Of Hippolytus. For this reason the vision was hidden from the king, that Daniel, chosen by God, might be shown to be a prophet; for whatever is hidden from others, but revealed by another, necessarily proves the one revealing it to be a prophet.

V. 10. — *The Chaldeans therefore answering before the king, said: There is no man upon the earth, etc.* Of Hippolytus. Because they said it was impossible for this to be told by a man—which the king was asking—God showed them that what is impossible among men is possible with God. ^C

V. 14. — *From Arioch the chief cook* (Vulgate, prince of the army). Of Hippolytus. For just as a cook kills and cooks all animals, so he in the same manner; and so the princes of the world kill men, cooking them like irrational animals.

V. 23. — *Because thou hast given me wisdom and strength.* Of Hippolytus. We ought, therefore, to be mindful of God’s mercy, how He immediately reveals and manifests Himself to those who are good and fear Him, fulfilling their prayers and petitions, as the prophet says: *Who is wise, and will understand these things? Understanding, and he shall know these things?* (Ose. XIV, 10.)

V. 27. — *The wise men, magicians, soothsayers cannot, etc.* Of Hippolytus. He teaches the king not to investigate heavenly mysteries through earthly men, which were to be accomplished by God at the proper times.

V. 29. — *Thou, O king, began to think.* ^D Of Hippolytus. For that king, lord of the land of Egypt, conqueror of the Judean region, and captor of its people, was thinking while he was on his bed about what was to come to pass after these things; but He who knows all hidden things and searches the thoughts of hearts, manifested to him through an image what is to come: but He hid the vision from him, so that the counsels of God might not be explained by the wise men of Babylon, but that they might be manifested by the blessed Daniel, as a prophet of God, which were hidden from all.

V. 31. — *Behold... a great image.* Of Hippolytus. How then shall we not perceive the things prophesied of old by Daniel in Babylon, and even now being fulfilled in the world? For the image shown at that time to Nabuchodonosor contained a type of the whole world; in which times the Babylonians then ruled over all,

^A as the golden head of the image; since after them the Persians ruled for 245 years; he indicates these by silver; the Greeks also ruled, beginning from Alexander of Macedon, for 300 years; so that these were the bronze. After these, the Romans, the iron legs of the image, being strong like iron. Then the ^B toes of the feet, of clay and iron, so that the democracies that were to come might be shown, divided into the ten toes of the image, in which there shall be iron mixed with clay.

V. 31. *Videbas*, etc. Of Apollinaris. (Not indeed of Hippolytus. Mention of him is merely made here.) *He was looking, and behold as it were a single statue*; for it was not something lying before him to the viewer, but an appearing image; and it has a unity of many things in itself, so that it is not in reality one, but that statue is manifold. For it held the sum of all kingdoms: its beauty was too comely on account of the glory of the kings; and its appearance was terrible, on account of the power. Eusebius Pamphili and Hippolytus, the most holy bishop of Rome, compared Nabuchodonosor’s dream to the vision of the prophet Daniel. Since those who interpreted this vision did so differently in their Commentaries, I judged it necessary to transcribe the words of Eusebius of Caesarea, surnamed Pamphili, which are in the fifteenth book of the *Evangelical Demonstration*. For he, explaining the whole vision, speaks thus: ^C "I consider these things (scil. the vision of Nabuchodonosor) not to differ from the vision of the prophet (Daniel). For as the prophet saw a great sea, so the king saw a manifold statue: and again, just as the prophet saw four beasts, which, interpreting, he transformed into four kingdoms; so the king, by gold, and silver, and bronze, and iron, allegorically signifies four kingdoms. And again, as the prophet saw the division of the ten horns of the last beast, and three horns crushed by one; so the king in the same way saw a part of iron and a part of clay in the lower limbs of the statue. And afterwards, as the prophet after the vision of the four kingdoms saw the Son of man possessing sovereignty and power and a kingdom over all; so too it seemed to the king that he saw a stone crushing the whole statue and becoming a great mountain, filling the sea. And rightly so; ^D for it was fitting for the king, who thought wrongly about the spectacle of life, and who was an admirer of things perceived by the senses—such as the beauty of colors in a painting presented before the eyes of the viewer—to liken the life of all men to a great statue; but it was fitting for the prophet to liken the many and great tumults of life to a great sea. The king, indeed, admiring the metals of great value to man—gold, silver, bronze, iron—had to liken the most powerful kingdoms of various times in the life of men to metals; we know that there was an adherent of Eusebius. Finally, not even Chrysostom seems to have been ignorant of this passage of Eusebius. [alt-version omitted] As for the rest, I took care to omit those scholia of Eusebius occurring in this catena which were already set forth in printed editions. MAI.

^A to liken these to the materials; ^B but the prophet was bound to describe these same kingdoms in the forms of beasts ^C no differently from the beginning of the narrative. And again, to the king, thinking great things of himself as is likely and boasting of the kingdom of his ancestors, the mutation of affairs is shown, and the end of earthly kingdoms, so that he might lay aside his pride and believe nothing human is durable, but only that which is the end of all things, the kingdom of God. ^D For there will be, after the first empire of the Assyrians, which gold signified, a second, that of the Persians, which was indicated by silver; then a third, that of the Macedonians, which bronze signaled; after which a fourth is to succeed, that of the Romans, being stronger than those before it; wherefore it was compared to iron. For it had been said also concerning it, And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; in the manner that iron grinds and tames all things, so shall it grind and tame all things. And after all these mentioned, the kingdom of God is represented through the stone that shatters the whole statue; and the prophet, in accordance with these things, does not behold the kingdom of the God of all at the end before he has delineated the four mentioned dynasties through the four beasts. And I think that the visions have been manifested to the king and to the prophet concerning these four kingdoms only, and not others, because the nation of the Jews was to be enslaved to these four empires from the time of the prophet.

V. 33. — *Certain feet, etc.* Hippolytus. ^C The ten horns in the vision of the prophet signify what is to come.

V. 34. — *You were watching until a stone was cut.* Hippolytus. You were watching, as it were, a stone cut without hands, and striking the statue upon its feet; for the human kingdom has been inseparably divided from the divine kingdom, wherefore it is said to be "as it were cut"; but the blow happens against the lowest parts, and in them it shatters the whole kingdom which is upon the earth.

V. 45. — *And the dream is true.* Hippolytus. Therefore, so that no one may doubt whether his words are true or not, the prophet confirms them, saying: *And the dream is true, and the interpretation of it is faithful* (Dan. 2:45): I have not erred in the interpretation of the vision.

V. 46. — *Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face.* Hippolytus. Hearing these things, Nebuchadnezzar, having remembered the dream, recognized that the things spoken by Daniel were the truth. ^D How much the grace of God avails, dearly beloved, that the king should worship as God, and not as a man, him who a little before was about to perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon! He commanded that *Manaa* (which is in Chaldaic, hostias/sacrifices) and incense be sacrificed to him (2:46). And long ago the Lord had announced a similar thing to Moses, saying: *Behold, I have made you a god to Pharaoh* (Exod. 7:1), so that through the signs performed by him in the land of Egypt, Moses might no longer be thought a man, but might be worshipped as a god by the Egyptians.

V. 48. — *Then the king exalted Daniel.* ^A Hippolytus: Since he humbled himself and appeared as the least among all men, God exalted him, and the king appointed him ruler over all the provinces of Babylon (Dan. 2:48), just as Pharaoh had appointed Joseph ruler over all Egypt.

V. 49. — *Daniel then petitioned.* Hippolytus: Since they (that is, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) had joined Daniel in prayer to God that the vision might be revealed to him, Daniel, having received fitting honor from the king, remembered them. He told the king of the service they had performed, so that they too might be deemed worthy of some honor, as fellow-mystics and men who worship God. For having petitioned the Lord for heavenly things, they received earthly things from the king.

CHAPTER III.

V. 1. — *In the eighteenth year.* (These words are missing in the Vulgate.) Hippolytus: Sufficient time having passed, and the eighteenth year being current, the king, mindful of his dream, made a golden statue, sixty cubits in height and six cubits in width (Dan. 3:1). Since blessed Daniel, when interpreting the dream, had answered the king saying, "You are the head of gold..." (Dan. 2:38) of the statue, the king, having heard this word, swelled with pride and was lifted up in his heart, and made a statue resembling this one, so that he might be worshipped by all as a god.

V. 7. — *All the peoples falling down.* ^B Hippolytus: Some out of fear of the king, but most out of an affection for idolatry, obeyed the decree issued by the king.

V. 16. — *Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered.* Hippolytus: The three youths are a model for all faithful men, for they did not fear the throng of satraps, nor did they tremble upon hearing the king's edicts, nor were they seized with terror upon seeing the fire of the burning furnace. Rather, they despised all men and the whole world, having only the fear of God before their eyes. Daniel, standing at a distance and keeping silence, exhorted these youths to be brave, smiling at them. ^C He himself also rejoiced over their martyrdom, seeing the three youths about to receive a crown against the devil.

V. 19. — *And he ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more.* Hippolytus: He commanded a furnace of immense appearance to be heated seven times more, as one already utterly defeated by them. In earthly matters, the king was more powerful, but in faith toward God, the three youths had greater strength. Tell me, Nebuchadnezzar, with what intent do you order them to be cast into the fire bound? Is it so they might not flee, if, being loose, they were to extinguish the fire with their feet? But you are not the one doing these things; rather, another within you is working them through you.

V. 47. — *And the flame was pouring out.* ^D Hippolytus: For he relates that the fire was driven from the inner part by the angel and erupted in a circle. See how the fire itself is intelligent; it recognizes and punishes the guilty.

^A And it touched not the servants of God, but consumed the unbelieving and impious of the Chaldeans; and those who were inside the furnace were cooled by the angel, but those who seemed to stand outside the furnace without concern, these were destroyed by the fire; the flame burned the men who were casting the children in, having, I suppose, found its way around to those who had gathered to bind the children.

V. 92. — *And the appearance of the fourth is like to the Son of God.* Hippolytus. Tell me, O Nebuchadnezzar, have you ever seen the Son of God, that you should acknowledge this one as the Son of God? Who is it that pricked your heart, that you should utter such a word? With what eyes were you able to behold this light? And why was it manifested to you alone, and to none of the other satraps? But since it is written, *The heart of a king is in the hand of God*, this is that hand of God, by which the Word pricked his heart, so that, recognizing Him in the furnace, he might glorify Him. And this interpretation of ours is not without reason; for since the sons of Israel, when they saw the Son of God in the world, were not going to believe, the Scripture showed beforehand that the nations would, in the future, recognize Him as incarnate, whom Nebuchadnezzar, seeing Him long ago incorporeal, recognized in the furnace and confessed to be the Son of God.

V. 93. — *And he said, Sidrach, Misach, Abdenago.* Hippolytus. He called the names of the three children, but the name of the fourth he could not find to speak; for Jesus was not yet born of the Virgin. ^{B C} V. 97. — *Then the king promoted.* Hippolytus. For just as they glorified God Himself while delivering themselves to death, so in turn were they themselves glorified not only by God, but also by the king; and the foreign and barbarian nations learned to worship God.

CHAPTER VII

V. 1. — *And writing the dream.* Hippolytus. Whatever, therefore, was revealed by the Spirit through visions to the blessed prophet, this he also bountifully explained to others, so that he might not only seem to be prophesying the future to himself, but that he might also be presented as a prophet to others who wished to search the divine Scriptures.

V. 2. — *And behold the four winds.* Hippolytus. He indicates the creation comprehended under the four climates of heaven.

V. 3. — *And four great beasts.* Hippolytus. Since, therefore, various beasts were shown to the blessed Daniel, and these differing among themselves, we must understand that the truth of the discourse is not concerned with any beasts in reality, but by type and image it shows the kingdoms that have risen up in this world, different as beasts, over the human race; for by the great sea he means the whole world. ^D

V. 4. — *Until its wings were plucked.* Hippolytus. For this actually happened to Nebuchadnezzar, according to what was announced in the preceding book; and he testifies that this happened to him immediately in his own person, namely, that he was driven from his kingdom and his glory was taken from him, and also the height of power that he had previously held. And a little further on: *These words, Upon the feet as a man*

stood, and a *man's heart was given to him*, signify that Nebuchadnezzar judged himself humbly and recognized that he was a man placed under the power of God. For when he had besought the Lord, he found mercy and was restored again to his kingdom and glory.

V. 5. — *And behold another beast, like to a bear.* Hippolytus: So that in this he might signify the empire of the Persians. ^B Ibid. — *And three ribs.* Hippolytus: He calls three nations the three ribs; he says, therefore, that this beast commanded. They were the Medes, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians.

Ibid. — *And thus they said to it: Arise, devour much flesh.* Hippolytus: For the Persians, rising up in those days, laid waste the whole land and, reducing many of the people into slavery, destroyed them; for just as the bear is a filthy beast and carnivorous, rending with its claws and teeth, so too was the kingdom of the Persians, who held power for two hundred and thirty years.

V. 6. — *And behold another (beast) as a leopard.* Hippolytus: By naming the leopard, he indicates the kingdom of the Greeks, which Alexander the Macedonian ruled. And he compares them to the leopard because they are swift and most deceitful in mind, having a heart full of bitterness, just as that animal is of varied appearance, but swift in doing evil and drinking human blood.

Ibid. — *Four heads were upon the beast.* Hippolytus: For after the kingdom of Alexander had been exalted and had increased and obtained a name throughout the whole world, his kingdom was divided into four powers; for Alexander, when dying, divided his kingdom to his fellow soldiers who were of his own race, to four men, namely: Seleucus, Demetrius, Ptolemy, and Philip; and all of these assumed diadems, just as Daniel had foretold this, and it is written in the first book of Maccabees.

V. 7. — *And behold a fourth beast.* Hippolytus: Since indeed no other empire has arisen after the empire of the Greeks, except the one that stands and prevails now, and this is conspicuous to all; it indeed has iron teeth, because it subdues and breaks everything by its own strength, like iron; but the rest it tramples under its feet, because there will be no other empire after it, but out of it ten horns will grow.

Ibid. — *And it had ten horns.* Hippolytus: For just as the prophet said concerning the leopard that the beast had four heads—and it came to pass, and the kingdom of Alexander was divided into four powers—so too now we must wait until ten horns arise out of this same beast, when the time of the beast is completed, and the little horn, which is the Antichrist, suddenly appears among those horns, and justice is taken away from the earth, and the consummation of the whole world draws near. So that we should not anticipate God’s providence, but possess patience and fear lest we fall into those times, and not be incredulous as if these things were not to come to pass; for if the first things which the prophets predicted,

^A did not come to pass, neither would we expect these; but if those were fulfilled in their own times, as was foretold, then these too will certainly be fulfilled.

V. 8. — *I was considering the horns.* Hippolytus. That is, I was looking fixedly at the beast, and I wondered, along with all the rest, at the number of the horns; for the appearance of this one was distinct from the nature of the other beasts.

V. 13. — *And until the Ancient of days he arrived.* Hippolytus. By the Ancient of days he means none other than the Lord and God and Master of all, of Christ himself as well, who makes the days old, and is not himself made old by the days of time. ^B

V. 14. — *His power is an eternal power.* Hippolytus. The Father, having subjected all things to his own Son, both those in the heavens and those upon the earth, manifested him through all things as the firstborn from God, so that he might be manifested as the Son of God with the Father before the angels, that he might appear as Lord of the angels; as the firstborn from the Virgin, so that in re-forming the first-formed Adam in himself, he might be shown as the firstborn from the dead, that he himself might become the first-fruits of our resurrection.

*Which shall not be taken away.* Hippolytus. He makes known all the power given by the Father to the Son, who has been manifested as king and judge of all in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: of the heavenly, because he is the Word born from the heart of the Father before all things; of the earthly, because he was born as a man, re-forming Adam through himself; and of the infernal, because he was also numbered among the dead, proclaiming blessedness to the souls of the saints, himself victor over death by death. ^C

V. 17. — *Which shall rise up.* Hippolytus. For when the three beasts have completed their course and have passed away, and the one that is now still thriving has also been removed, then the earthly things will cease and the heavenly things will begin, so that the indissoluble and eternal kingdom of the saints may be shown; and the heavenly King will be manifested openly to all, no longer seen through types, as if in a vision, nor hidden in a pillar of cloud upon the summit of a mountain, but coming from the heavens as judge of the world, God and man incarnate, Son of God and son of man, with the angelic powers and hosts. ^D

V. 19. — *After this I wished to learn diligently about the fourth beast.* Hippolytus. He speaks of the fourth empire, as we said above, indicating that one than which no greater has arisen; from which ten horns are to sprout, and they will be divided into ten diadems. Among those horns another small horn will arise, which is that of the Antichrist; and it will eradicate three of the horns before it, that is, it will destroy the three kingdoms of Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia, wishing to claim for itself the entire dominion. When it has overcome the remaining seven horns, it will at last begin, swelling with a foreign and evil spirit, to stir up war against

^A the saints, and it will persecute everyone everywhere, wishing to be glorified and adored by all as God.

V. 22. — *Until the Ancient of Days came.* Hippolytus. At last the Judge of judges and King of kings comes down from heaven, who shall destroy all the rule and power of the Enemy, and shall burn all with eternal fire, punishing them; but to his servants, and prophets, and martyrs, and to all who fear him, he shall give the eternal kingdom; this means they shall have an endless enjoyment of good things. — V. 25. — *Until a time, and times, and half a time.* Hippolytus. Which signifies three years and a half.

CAP. IX.

V. 21. — *And behold, the man Gabriel... flying swiftly... etc.* Hippolytus. You see how the prophet likens the swiftness of the angels ^B to a winged bird, because of the lightness and speed with which these spirits quickly obey what is commanded.

CAP. X.

V. 6. — *And the voice of his words.* Hippolytus. For all of us today who believe in him proclaim the oracles of Christ, as if speaking through his mouth the things commanded by him.

V. 7. — *And I saw.* Hippolytus. For he reveals himself only to the saints who fear him; for if anyone appears to live even in the Church, but does not have the fear of God, the fellowship of the saints profits him nothing.

V. 12. — *Your words have been heard.* Hippolytus. See how much the prayer of a just man avails, so that things not yet to be made manifest in the world may be revealed to him alone as a holy man.

V. 13. — *And behold, Michael.* Hippolytus. Who is Michael, if not the angel given to the people as a guardian? As he said ^C to Moses: “I will not go with you in the way, because this people is stiff-necked; but my angel shall go with you.”

V. 16. — *My joints were loosened.* Hippolytus. For it was necessary at the coming of the Lord that things above should become below, so that things below might be able to go above. — Time, he says, is needed for me to collect myself, and to be able to sustain the words, and to answer what has been spoken. — But in these things, he says, when I was thus, I was strengthened beyond hope: for the invisible (God) touched me, and immediately my weakness was taken away, and I was restored to my former strength. For as often as all the strength and glory of our life passes away, then we are made powerful through ^D Christ who extends his hand, and who raises from the dead those who are living, and as if from Hades into the resurrection of life.

V. 18. — *And he strengthened me.* Hippolytus. For as often as the Word has filled us with hope for future things, we are able to listen to his voice easily.

V. 20. — *To fight against the prince of the Persians.* Hippolytus. From the day that you gave your face to be humiliated before the Lord your God, your prayer has been heard.

and I was sent to fight alongside the prince of the Persians; for a certain council had arisen not to let the people go; in order, therefore, that your petition might be quickly fulfilled, I stood against him.

CHAPTER XII

V. 1. — *And there shall come a time such as there has not been* (in the Greek text, *a time of affliction*). Hippolytus. For then there shall be a great affliction, such as has not been since the foundation of the world, with those sent into every city and region to destroy the faithful; and while the saints pass from the West to the East, and those from the East are driven toward the South, others still are hiding in mountains and caves; ^B and the abomination pursues them everywhere, killing them by cruel decrees through sea and land, and crushing them in every way from this world; they being unable either to sell their own possessions or to buy from strangers, unless one should possess and bear the name of the beast, or carry its mark upon his forehead; for all at that time shall be driven from every place, and shall be dragged from their own homes, and shall be hauled into public spaces, and shall be punished with every torment, and shall be cast out from the whole world.

V. 2. — *Some shall awake to eternal life.* Hippolytus. Those who believe in the true life and are inscribed in the book of life. *Ibid.*: *And others to reproach.* Hippolytus. Those who consent to the Antichrist and are cast with him into eternal punishments.

V. 3. — *But those who are learned shall shine.* Hippolytus. For the Lord also said the same thing in the Gospel: *Then the righteous shall shine as the sun* (Matt. xiii, 43).

*For a time, and times, and half a time.* Hippolytus. He predicted the three years and a half of the Antichrist; he indicates by "a time" one year; by "times," two years; by "half a time," half a year: these are the 1290 days which Daniel foretold (xii, 11).

V. 9. — *The words are shut up and sealed.* Hippolytus. Since what God has prepared for the saints, man cannot understand; for neither has the eye seen these things, nor has the ear heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man, ^D which the saints shall then desire to contemplate; thus He said to him (Daniel), that these words are shut up and sealed until the appointed time, until many are chosen and tested by fire; and those who are chosen are not those who are simply chosen, but those who have believed in the word of truth, that they might be whitened by it, and, being cleansed from the filth of sin, might put on the heavenly, pure, and radiant Holy Spirit, so that, when the Bridegroom arrives, they may immediately enter in with Him.

V. 11. — *The abomination of desolation shall be set up.* Hippolytus. Daniel therefore speaks of two abominations: one, indeed, of extermination, which Antiochus set up at the time, which is referred to the abomination of desolation; the other, however, universal, when the Antichrist shall arrive; for, as Daniel says, he too shall be established for the ruin of many.

FRAGMENTS ON DANIEL. HIPPOLYTUS BISHOP OF ROME ON SUSANNA.

^AThis history, in fact, happened later, but was written down before the first book. For it was a custom among the scribes to place many things in the Scriptures in inverted order. We find, in fact, that certain visions in the prophets are also written as if they were first, and were fulfilled in the last times; and conversely, things spoken of as being in the last times, and which had occurred as the first. This, however, happened by the economy of the Spirit, lest the devil should understand those things spoken by the prophets in parables, and, laying snares a second time, might kill man again.

And his name was Joakim. This Joakim, having become a sojourner in Babylon, took Susanna as his wife. And she was the daughter of Helcias the priest, the one who found the book of the Law in the house of the Lord, when King Josiah commanded him to cleanse the Holy of Holies. His brother is Jeremiah the prophet, who, along with the remnant, after the migration of the people to Babylon, was taken to Egypt and dwelt in Taphnis; and prophesying there, he was stoned by them and perished.

Very beautiful and fearing the Lord. For from the fruit of their progeny, the tree is also easily recognized. For having become religious men and zealots of the Law, they brought forth children in this world worthy of God: the one, a prophet and martyr who had become Christ's; the other, chaste and found faithful in Babylon; whose modesty and purity were the reason that the blessed prophet Daniel was revealed.

And Joakim was very rich. It is therefore necessary to inquire into the reason: for how, being captives and enslaved to the Babylonians, were they able to gather together as if they were their own masters? In this, one must consider that after Nabuchodonosor had deported them, he treated them humanely, and permitted them, by gathering together, to perform everything according to the law.

And in the middle of the day Susanna would enter. ^B Susanna prefigured the Church; but Joakim, her husband, prefigured Christ; and the garden, the calling of the saints, who are as fruit-bearing trees planted in the Church. And Babylon is the world; and the two elders are known to represent the two peoples, who plot against the Church: ^C on the one hand, the one from the circumcision...

and on the other, the one from the Gentiles. ^A For to represent them as being "appointed rulers of the people and judges" means that in this present age they exercise authority and rule, judging the righteous unjustly.

V. 8: *And they were watching her, the two elders.* These things the leaders of the Jews now wish to excise from the book, asserting that these events did not take place in Babylon, being ashamed of that which was done by the elders at that time.

V. 9: *And they turned away their mind.* For those who have become plotters and destroyers of the Church, how can they judge justly, or with a pure heart look up to heaven, being enslaved to the prince of this age?

V. 10: *And both were aroused against her by stings.* For it can be truly accepted that this is said: for the two peoples, always incited by the stings of Satan, by whose breath they are driven, endeavor to stir up storms of persecutions and troubles against the Church, seeking by what means they may corrupt her, while not even agreeing among themselves. ^B

V. 12: *And they were watching carefully.* It is worth our while to note this: that even until now they watch and pry into what is done in the Church, both the Gentiles and the Jews of the circumcision, wishing to bring forward false witnesses against us, even as the Apostle says: "But because of false brethren secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus." It is a species of sin to seek to direct one's mind toward women.

V. 13: *And they went out and separated from one another.* The fact, therefore, that they separated from one another at the hour of lunch signifies that, while the Jews and the Gentiles do not agree in earthly foods, yet as to opinions and all matters pertaining to the use of this world, they come together and communicate.

V. 14: *And questioning one another as to the cause, they confessed their concupiscence.* They prophesy to themselves, for they are about to give an account to God for every sin they have committed when examined by their own thoughts, as Solomon says: "Examination will destroy the impious." For they are taken by examination. ^C

V. 15: *While they were watching for a suitable day.* What day is fitting, if not the day of the Pascha, through which the laver is prepared in the orchard for those who are burning with heat, and Susanna, washing, is presented as a clean bride to God?

*With only two maidens.* For whenever the Church desires to receive the laver according to custom, she necessarily has two handmaids as companions; for through faith in Christ and through love toward God, the Church, confessing, receives the laver.

V. 18: *And she said to the maidens: Bring me oil.* Accordingly, faith and love prepare the oil and the unguents for those who wash. But what were the unguents, if not the commandments of the holy Word

And what was the oil, if not the power of the holy Spirit? With these, after the bath, the faithful are anointed as if with perfume. All these things were typified through the blessed Susanna for our ^A sake, so that today we, who believe in God, might not think what is happening in the Church is something new and alien, but rather believe that all these things were figured long ago through the patriarchs, just as the Apostle also says: *These things occurred as types for them; but they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.* (1 Cor. x, 11)

And they went out through the side doors. Prefiguring that he who wishes to partake of the water in paradise must renounce the wide gate and enter through the narrow and confined one.

And they did not see the elders. For just as back then in paradise the devil hid himself in the serpent, so too now, lurking in the elders, he inflamed his own desire, so as to corrupt Eve a second time.

V. 19: Behold the doors of the garden are shut. O wicked judges, full of diabolical inspiration! Did Moses deliver these things to you? Do you, reading the law, teach others? You who preach not to commit murder, do you yourself commit murder? You who say not to covet, do you yourself desire to corrupt your neighbor’s wife? ^B And we are in your desire. Why, you wicked men, do you lead a chaste and innocent soul away from its mental focus with lying words, so as to establish your own lust?

But if not, we will bear witness against you. These are your wicked attempts, stemming from a castaway mind, due to the deceiver who has been lurking in you from the beginning. For there was truly with her, from the heavens, a young man sent to you, not to have intercourse with her, but as a witness to the truth.

V. 22: And Susanna groaned. Having heard these words, the blessed Susanna felt the sting of grief in her heart and stopped her mouth, not wishing to be defiled by the ^C wicked elders. But it is also possible to understand truly what happened in the case of Susanna. For you may find this being fulfilled today in the Church as well. For when the two peoples conspire to destroy some of the saints, they observe a suitable day and, entering into the house of God—while everyone there is praying and praising God—they seize some and drag them off, holding them, saying: "Come, agree with us and worship the gods; but if not, we will bear witness against you." And those who will not consent, they bring before the tribunals and accuse them as acting against the decree of Caesar, and they condemn them to death. ^D

I am in distress on every side. Behold the words of a chaste woman, one who has a care for God. I am in distress, she says, on every side; for the Church is afflicted and oppressed not only by the Jews, but also by the nations, and

even by those who are called Christians, but are not; for as if beholding her chastity and happiness, they strive to corrupt her.

For if I do this, it is death to me. For to disobey God and to obey men brings forth eternal death and punishment. But if I do not do it, I shall not escape your hands. This also she spoke truly. For those who are brought to trial for the sake of the name of God—if they do what is commanded by men, they die to God, though they live in the world; but if they do not do what is commanded by men, they do not escape the hands of the judges, being condemned by those very persons. ^B It is preferable for me not to do it; for this is far more excellent: to die at the hands of unjust men, in order to live with God, rather than, by consenting to them and being released by them, to fall into the hands of God.

V. 23: *And she cried out with a loud voice.* To whom, I ask, did Susanna cry out, if not to God? Just as Isaiah says: "Then you shall call, and God will hear you; while you are still speaking, He will say: Behold, I am here."

The two elders cried out against her. For the wicked and the corrupt do not cease to cry out against us and to say: "Take such as these from the earth; for it is not fitting for them to live."

In an evangelical sense, Susanna despised those who kill the body, that she might save her soul from death. For sin is the death of the soul, and especially adultery. For since the soul that is united to Christ, by withdrawing from the faith, is handed over to perpetual death, that is, to eternal punishment; in confirmation of this, even in the case of corporal unions, for those who violate the marriage bond and [pervert] the marriage bed, the law has prescribed death as the penalty. ^C

V. 25: *And one ran and opened the doors.* Surely showing the broad and wide way, by walking in which those who comply with them perish.

V. 30: *Moreover, Susanna was very delicate.* Not that she had harlot-like cosmetics sprinkled on her body, as Jezabel had, or eyes painted with various pigments, white lead, and vermilion; but she thrived in the beauty of faith, chastity, and holiness.

V. 34: *And they placed their hands upon her head.* That even in touching her, they might satisfy their own lust.

V. 35: *But she was weeping.* For by her tears and weeping she drew down the Word from heaven, He who, by tears, was about to raise the dead Lazarus. ^D

V. 41: *And the multitude believed them.* It is therefore worthwhile that in every serious matter we should not attend to liars, nor allow ourselves to be easily persuaded by the persons of judges, knowing that we have an account to render to God; but by pursuing the truth, and seeking the accurate standard of faith, we shall be pleasing to God.

V. 44: *And God heard her voice.* For as many as call upon Him from a pure heart, He hears them.

to those who are sincere, God listens; but from those who are in deceit and hypocrisy, God turns away His face.

^A “You who have grown old in the days of evil.” Since we have already explained in the introduction that the two elders are taken as a type of two peoples—namely, the one from the circumcision and the one from the nations, who are always plotting against the Church—let us look at the very words of Daniel and learn that the Scripture deceives us in nothing. For, addressing the first elder, He rebukes him as a man learned in the law; but to the other He speaks as to a Gentile, calling him the "seed of Canaan," even though he was in circumcision and a Jew.

^B “For the angel of God is already.” He shows that at the time when Susanna prayed to God and was heard, the angel was then sent to help her, just as happened in the case of Tobit and Sarah. For as they were praying, on the same day and at the same hour, the petition of both was heard, and the angel Raphael was sent to heal them both.

“And they rose up against the two elders.” So that what is written might be fulfilled: “He who digs a pit for his neighbor shall fall into it.”

We must therefore be attentive in all things, beloved, fearing lest anyone, being caught in some transgression, becomes guilty against his own soul, knowing that God becomes the avenger of all things; for the Word Himself is the eye, whom nothing of what happens in the world escapes. Therefore, being always vigilant in heart ^C and living chastely, let us imitate Susanna.

Of the most holy Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome

OTHER FRAGMENTS

1. From Anastasius the Sinaite, Question XLVIII, p. 327.

Hippolytus on Daniel

For when the iron legs which now hold dominion advance to the footprints of the feet and the toes, in accordance with the manifestation of the terrible beast, as was signified in former times, the stone will come from the heavens, which, having struck the statue and crushed it, shall transfer all kingdoms and give the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. This is He who became a great mountain and filled the earth, regarding Whom it is said: “I was looking in the vision of the night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven coming as the Son of Man; and He reached as far as the Ancient of Days; and to Him was given dominion and honor and kingdom.”

and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him: His power is an eternal power which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed. ^A

II.

On the Canticle of the Three Children. From the Catena Patrum on the Psalms and Holy Canticles of Scripture, vol. III, Corderius edition, p. 951, ad v. 87.

Bless the Lord, Ananias, Azarias, Misael: bless the Lord, ye apostles, prophets, and martyrs of the Lord: praise and highly exalt Him forever.

Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome: Marvelous are the things, O beloved, which were spoken by the three children in the furnace; for how they omitted nothing of created things, so that absolutely nothing might be thought of as free or autonomous. But when they had encompassed and named all things—celestial, terrestrial, and subterranean—they showed that all things were subject to God, who created all things through the Word, so that no one might boast that any creature was uncreated or without beginning. ^B

ON MATTHEW.

In Matthew ch. vi, 11.—He expounds his opinion on the "daily" or "substantial" bread.

We are commanded to seek, therefore, that which suffices for the preservation of our bodily substance: not delicacies, but nourishment that restores what the body lacks, preventing death from starvation; not tables sumptuously prepared and poured out into pleasures, nor whatever makes the body rebel against the soul, but bread—and this not for a number of many years, but that which suffices us for today. ^C

ON LUKE.

CHAP. II. Verse 7.—Hippolytus.—If you wish, the Word of God was the Firstborn, descending from the heavens to the blessed Mary, and a man firstborn formed in the womb, so that the Firstborn of God might be manifested united to the firstborn man. ^D

Verse 22.—Hippolytus.—When they brought Him (Jesus) into the temple to present Him to the Lord, they paid the purification offerings; for if the purification gifts according to the law

were offered in his stead, and in this way he was made under the law; yet the Word was not subject to the law, as the slanderers imagine, for he himself is the Law; nor did God have need of purifying sacrifices, He who in a single moment purifies and sanctifies all things. But although he took up and wore the human instrument from the Virgin, and was made under the law, being purified according to the standing of the first-born, he did not himself require the provision of these rites; rather, he endured them so that he might redeem from the servitude of the law those who had been sold into the judgment of the curse. ^B

CHAPTER XXIII.

ON THE GOSPEL AND APOCALYPSE OF JOHN.

FRAGMENTA DUBIA ON THE PENTATEUCH.

PREFACE.

he explained to them its profound mysteries and obscurities; and he expounded those things which were less easy, just as God permitted him; and he concealed from them those arcana of the Law, just as God forbade him. Nor was there anyone among them who was more skilled in its judgments and decrees, and who could more clearly impart the hidden senses of its doctrine, until God transferred him to Himself, after he had rendered him perfect in the desert for the whole forty years.

And these are the names of the doctors (from the Hebrew *haber*, associate) who in continuous succession handed down the Law after the prophet Moses until the advent of the Messiah. ^A Know therefore, O brother, may God grant you favor, that God handed down the most excellent Law into the hands of the prophet Moses, son of Amran.

And Moses handed it down to Joshua, son of Nun. Joshua son of Nun handed it down to Anathal. Anathal handed it down to Jehud. Jehud handed it down to Samgar. Samgar handed it down to Baruk. Baruk handed it down to Gideon. Gideon handed it down to Abimelech. Abimelech handed it down to Taleg. Taleg handed it down to Babin the Gileadite. Babin handed it down to Jiphtach. Jiphtach handed it down to Ephran. Ephran handed it down to Elul from the tribe of Zebulon. Elul handed it down to Abdan. Abdan handed it down to the strong Shimshon. Shimshon handed it down to Helkanah, son of Jerachmu, son of Jehud. ^B But he was the father of the prophet Samuel. Of whom mention is made of Helkanah at the beginning of the first book of Kings.

Helkanah handed it down to Eli the priest. Eli handed it down to the prophet Samuel. Samuel handed it down to the prophet Nathan. Nathan handed it down to the prophet Gad. ^C Gad the prophet handed it down to the doctor (associate) Shemaiah. Shemaiah handed it down to the doctor Iddo. Iddo handed it down to Achia. Achia handed it down to Abihu. Abihu handed it down to the prophet Elijah. Elijah handed it down to his disciple Elisha. Elisha handed it down to the prophet Malachi. Malachi handed it down to Abdiahu. Abdiahu handed it down to Jehuda. Jehuda handed it down to the doctor Zechariah.

In those days came Bachthansar, king of Babel, and devastated the house of the sanctuary, and led the sons of Israel into captivity in Babel. And after the captivity of Babel, Zechariah the doctor handed it down to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amos. Isaiah handed it down to the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah the prophet handed it down to Ezekiel. Ezekiel the prophet handed it down to the prophet Hosea, son of Bazi. Hosea handed it down to the prophet Joel. Joel handed it down to the prophet Amos. Amos handed it down to Obadiah. Obadiah handed it down to the prophet Jonah, son of Mathi, son of Armelah, who was the brother of the prophet Elijah. Jonah handed it down to Micah the Morasthite, who handed it down to Nahum the Elkoshite. Nahum handed it down to the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk handed it down to the prophet Zephaniah. Zephaniah handed it down to Haggai the prophet. Haggai handed it down to Zechariah the prophet, son of Bershia. ^B Zechariah handed it down to the captive Malachi. Malachi handed it down to the doctor Ezra. Jadua handed it down to Samean; Samean handed it down to Antigonus. Antigonus handed it down to Joseph son of Jobezris (and) to Joseph son of Gjuchanan. Joseph handed it down to Joshua son of Barachia. Joshua handed it down to Nathan the Arbelite. Nathan handed it down to Simeon, the elder son of Shetach. He is the one who carried the Messiah in his arms. Simeon handed it down to Jehuda. Jehuda handed it down to Zechariah the priest. Zechariah the priest, father of John the Baptist, handed it down to Joseph the doctor from his own tribe. ^C Joseph handed it down to Hanan and Caiaphas. From these, however, the priesthood, and the kingdom, and the prophecy were taken away.

These were the doctors until the advent of the Messiah; both were priests of the sons of Israel. Therefore, the total number of the venerable and honorable high priests of this most excellent Law was fifty-six priests, excluding Hanan and Caiaphas. These are they who handed it down in the last days of the commonwealth of the sons of Israel, nor did priests exist any longer after them. This is their history, which occurred regarding the most excellent Law.

Armius, the author of the book of *Chronicles*, says: In the nineteenth year of the reign of King Ptolemy, he ordered that the elders of the sons of Israel should be gathered together, so that they might present into his hands the book of the Law, and that each of them should be ready to explain its meanings. The elders stood by, therefore, having the most excellent Law with them. Then he ordered that each one of them should interpret the book of the Law for him. But he fought against (dissented from the exposition) the exposition which the elders had translated. And he ordered the elders to be thrust into prisons and chains. ^D

And having seized the book of the Law, he threw it into a deep pit, and cast upon it fire and hot ashes for seven days. Then afterwards he commanded that they throw the city's mud into that pit, in which the book of the Law was. And the pit was filled to the brim. The Law remained under the muck in that pit for seventy years, and it did not perish, nor was even a single leaf from it corrupted. ^A In the twenty-first year of the reign of King Apianutus, they removed the book of the Law from the pit, and not even one leaf of it was corrupted. And, after the ascension of Christ into heaven, King Titus, son of Aspasianus, King of Rome, came to Jerusalem, and besieged and took it. And he destroyed the building of the second house, which the sons of Israel had built. King Titus destroyed the house of the sanctuary; he killed all who were in it from the Jews, and he built Zion (sic) in their blood. And after that deportation (captivity), the Jews were dispersed into slavery. Nor were they ever gathered together again into the city of Jerusalem, nor is there any hope of returning anywhere.

After Jerusalem was therefore devastated, Shemaia and Antalia (Abtalion) surrendered it (the Law)—[or: they surrendered it]—the kings of the city of Baalbec, which had once been built by Soliman (Solomon), son of King David, and which was once again restored in the days of King Manasseh, who sawed the prophet Isaiah in half with a saw.

King Adrianus from the sons of Edom besieged Baalbec, and took it, and killed all who were in it from the Jews; as many as were of the lineage of David, he reduced to slavery. ^B And the Jews were dispersed throughout the entire world, just as the most high God had foretold: *And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will dissipate you among the peoples.* And these are the things which have reached us concerning the history of this most excellent book.

*Explicit preface.*

In the name of the eternal, everlasting, greatest, merciful, compassionate God. We begin with the help of God to describe the book of the Law, and its exposition just as the pure (holy), learned, and good Fathers have expounded it.

Fragmentary Dubia - Arab. Pentateuch

Thus this is the exposition of the first book. Which is, indeed, the book of creation, of the created beings.

SECTION ONE.

Exposition on that which God said. And indeed the blessed prophet, that great Moses, wrote this book, and called it, and honored it with the title, the book of the Being, that is, the Creator of beings, etc.

SECTION II-III.

Hippolytus the interpreter, the Targumist, said: The names of the wives of the sons of Noah are these: the name of the wife of Shem is Nahalath Mahnuk, and the name of the wife of Ham is Zedkat Nabu, and the name of the wife of Japheth is Arathka. ^C These, however, are their names in the Syriac Targum (which follow were expressed thus as I suppose in Syriac in some Syriac version): The wife of Shem, the name Nahalath Mahnuk. The wife of Ham, the name Zedkat Nabu. The wife of Japheth, the name Arathka.

And so God indicated to Noah, and made him sure concerning the coming of the flood and the destruction of the wasters (the impious). And the most high God commanded that he should descend from the holy mountain, he and his sons and the wives of his sons, and that he should fabricate a ship (an ark) of three stories (or decks).

The lower story was for the rapacious, wild, noxious beasts. Between them were boards or wooden beams, which separated them from one another, so that they would not mate with each other. The middle story was for the birds and their various kinds. ^D The upper story, finally, was for Noah himself, and his sons, for his own spouse, and the wives of his sons. Noah also made a door for the ship on the eastern side. He also fabricated storerooms for water and granaries for food.

After, therefore, he placed an end to the fabricating of the ship, Noah entered with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth into the cavern of treasures. And indeed, at the first entry they fortunately found...

the bodies of the Patriarchs, of Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech. Those eight bodies were in the storehouse of treasures—namely, those of Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech.

Noah took the body of Adam, and his sons took the offerings. Shem carried gold, Ham myrrh, and Japheth incense. Then, departing from the cavern of treasures, they carried the offerings and the body of Adam to the holy mountain. When they were seated beside the body of Adam over against Paradise, they began to lament and weep for the loss of Paradise. Then, descending from the holy mountain and lifting their eyes toward Paradise, they renewed their weeping and wailing, and bade an eternal farewell with these words: "Farewell ^A (peace be to you), O Paradise of God. Farewell, O dwelling of religion and purity. Farewell, O seat of pleasure and delights." Then they embraced the rocks of the holy mountain and the trees, and wept and said: "Farewell, O dwelling of the good. Farewell, O mansion of the bodies of the saints."

Then, three days being completed, Noah descended with his sons and the wives of his sons from the holy mountain to the roots of the holy mountain, to the place of the ship. For the ark was under the projection of the holy mountain. And Noah entered into the ship; he deposited the body of Adam and the offerings in the middle of the ship upon a wooden bier, which he had prepared to receive the body.

And God warned Noah, saying: "Make for yourself clappers from boxwood (or cypress)." Now *Sagh* is a wood called by that name, i.e., Indian plane tree. Fashion also a mallet (bell) for it from the same wood. The length of the clapper shall be three full cubits, and its breadth one cubit and a half. And God commanded him to strike the clappers three times each day—namely, the first time at the break of dawn, the second time at midday, and the third time at the setting of the sun.

^B It happened, however, that as soon as Noah had struck the clappers, the sons of Cain and the sons of Vahim immediately ran to him; he warned them and terrified them by telling them of the imminent approach of the flood, and of the destruction that was already hastening and impending. Yet such was the mercy of God toward them, that they might have converted and repented; but the sons of Cain did not follow Noah regarding what he preached to them. And Noah gathered pairs of males and females of all kinds of birds from all the animals; and likewise also of all the beasts, as well tame as wild, pairs by pairs.

SECTION IV. To Gen. chap. VII, v. 6.

Furthermore, God said to Moses: "Provide food for yourself and for your children. And let it be from wheat, ground, kneaded with water, and dried." And He immediately commanded Noah and his wife and the wives of his sons that they should strenuously apply themselves to kneading the dough and store it in the oven. They kneaded the dough, therefore, and baked almost as much as would suffice them, so that there remained only a very little.

And God warned Noah, saying to him: "Whoever shall first announce to you the coming of the flood, you shall lose that person at that very moment." Meanwhile, however, the wife of Ham was standing to put the bread of immense size into the oven. And suddenly water flowed out from the oven according to the word of the Lord, and it penetrated and dissolved the bread with the gushing of water. Therefore, the wife of Ham exclaimed to Noah, saying to him: "O master, the word of God has come; that which God promised (foretold) has come. Execute, therefore, that which the Lord has commanded."

And when Noah had heard the words of the wife of Ham, he said to her: "Has the flood come, then?" The wife of Ham said to him: "You have said this." But the Lord warned him suddenly, saying to Noah: "Do not lose the wife of Ham; for from your own mouth the destruction began (you were the first to say: 'The flood has come')." At the voice of Noah the flood came, and suddenly the gushing water dissolved that bread.

And the windows of heaven were opened, and the rains of heaven burst forth upon the earth. Indeed, that same voice which once had said, "Let the waters be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear" (Gen. 1, 9), that same voice permitted that the spring of waters and the flow of the seas should erupt of their own accord, and He brought forth the waters ^D. Reflect on what God said concerning the world: "Let all its high places be humbled," and they were humbled; "and let its lowly things be raised from its depths."

And the earth was made void and private of its beings, just as it was in the beginning. And indeed, rain descended from above, and the earth erupted from below. And the composition of the world perished; that primitive order was broken. And the world was made just as it was from the beginning, desolate of the waters which flooded it. And nothing of its beings was left in its integrity. The former structure was ruined, and the earth was deformed by the flow of the waters surging over it, by the magnitude of its inundations, and the multitude of the rains, and the eruption of its abysses, with the waters perpetually erupting. Finally, it was left as it was before.

DOUBTFUL FRAGMENTS. SECTION V. On Genesis, ch. VIII, v. 1.

^A Hippolytus, the expositor of the Targum, and my lord Jacob of Roha have said: On the twenty-seventh day of the month Jiar, which is the second Hebrew month, the Ark was raised from the entrance (from the roots) of the holy mountain, and the waters were already carrying it, and upon them it was turned about in a circle towards the four corners of the world. Therefore, the Ark went from the holy mountain towards the east, then turned back to the west, then was turned towards the south, and finally, directing itself towards the east, it landed at Mount Kardu on the first day of the tenth month. And this is the month Kanun the Second.

And Noah went out of the Ark on the twenty-seventh day of the month Jiar in the second year; for the Ark, remaining for five whole months floating by swimming upon the waters, and in the space of fifty-one days reached land. And it did not float any more after this. But it was only successively turned towards the four corners of the earth, and at last stood still again towards the east. We say, moreover, that this was a sign of the Cross. But the Ark was like Christ, who was awaited. For that Ark was the cause of salvation for Noah and his sons; and likewise for the beasts, the wild animals, and the birds. But Christ, when He suffered on the Cross, delivered us from crimes and sins, and washed us in His most pure blood.

And just as the Ark was turned to the east and landed at Mount Kardu; so also Christ, with the perfect and completed work which He had proposed for Himself, returned to heaven into the bosom of His Father, and sat upon the throne of His glory at the right hand of the Father.

As for Mount Kardu, it is in the east in the region of the sons of Rabaa, and the Orientals call it Mount Godash (Gordyæum), ^B but the Arabs and Persians call it Ararat. And there is a city named Kardu, and this mountain is so called from it, which is indeed most high and inaccessible, to whose summit no one has ever been able to ascend on account of the force of the winds and the storms of air which reign there perpetually. But if anyone should attempt to ascend, demons rush upon him and cast him down headlong from the ridge of the mountain to the plain, and he dies. No one knows what is on the surface of the mountain, except that certain remains of the wood of the Ark still lie on the surface of the mountain's summit.

SECTION X. On Deuteronomy, ch. XXXIV, v. 1.

Hippolytus, the expositor of the Targum, has said that Moses, when he had finished this prophecy, also blessed all the children of Israel, tribe by single tribe separately, and prayed for them.

Then God admonished Moses, saying to him: Ascend into Mount Nebo, which is indeed known by the name of the mountain of the Hebrews, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho. And He said to him: Behold the land of Canaan, which I am about to give to the children of Israel as an inheritance. But you shall by no means enter into it; therefore, behold it from afar. When, therefore, Moses contemplated it, he saw that land, a green land, abundant with every plenty and fertility, planted with frequent trees, and Moses was amazed and wept.

And when Moses had descended from Mount Nebo, he called Joshua the son of Nun and said to him before the children of Israel: Be comforted and be robust. For you are about to bring the children of Israel into the land which God promised to their fathers that He would give them as an inheritance. Therefore, do not fear the peoples, nor be terrified by the nations; for God will be with you.

And Moses wrote that Senna (the secondary law, or Deuteronomy) and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, ^C and commanded them, saying: Until seven years, hide this Senna, nor manifest it in the whole course of seven years. (And then) at the feast of Tabernacles the priests, the sons of Levi, shall read this law before the children of Israel, that all the people, as well men as women, may observe the words of God. Command that they keep the word of God which is in that law. But whoever shall have violated one of these precepts, let him be accursed.

After, therefore, Moses had finished the writing of the law, he delivered it to Joshua the son of Nun, and commanded that he should hand it over to the priests, the sons of Levi. Moses also commanded them and ordered that they should store the book of the law inside the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, so that it might remain there as a testimony forever.

And when Moses had finished commanding, God ordered him to ascend into Mount Nebo, which is over against Jericho. The Lord showed him the entire land of promise from its four corners, from the desert to the sea, and from the sea to the sea. And God said to him: You indeed have seen it with your eyes, but you shall by no means enter into it. Moses, the servant of God, therefore died there by the command of God. And the angels buried him on Mount Nebo, which is over against Beth Phegor. And no one knows his sepulcher until this day. ^D For God hid his sepulcher.

Moses lived one hundred and twenty years; and his sight had not grown dim, nor was the skin of his face wrinkled. Moses died on a certain day at the third hour of the day, on the seventh day of the second month, which is the month Jiar. And the children of Israel lamented over him in the plains of Moab for three days.

And Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him. And all the children of Israel obeyed him. And God admonished Joshua the son of Nun on a certain day, namely the seventh day of the month of Nisan. ^A Joshua the son of Nun lived one hundred and ten years, and died on the fourth day, which was the first day of the month of Elul. And they buried him in the city of Thamnatserah on Mount Ephraim. Praise to God for the completion (of the work) (15). (15) The time when the Huntington codex, number 84, from which I have especially described these things, was written, is noted thus: "The end of the writing of this book of the law, and of its exposition, was on the last day of the first Tishrin, on the day of Preparation (Friday) at the ninth hour. And it was the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine. By the hand of the contemptible servant of God, Kas Marpha Nam." At the end of the page, the following is found in Arabic letters: "We worked on this most excellent blessed book (writing it), by the name (command) of Schamas Ibn Kas Ibrahim from the most famous city of Kathor. Amen." It contains 240 folios. Another codex among the Bodleian manuscripts, numbered NE. c. 3. 5, has it thus: "The end of the copy of this most excellent blessed book, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one of the Greeks, from the years (or era) of Alexander the Greek, son of Philip. And this by the hand of a contemptible man, a sinner... who is not worthy that his name should be inscribed in a spiritual book, such as this is." And in the margin the same year is noted in numerical letters. "He was writing in the year of the Greeks in the city of Beroea." It contains 254 folios.

IN PSALMOS

MARKER ^B HIPPOLYTI EPISCOPI ROMÆ ARGUMENTUM ENARRATIONIS IN PSALMOS / ΙΠΠΟΛΥΤΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΡΩΜΗΣ ΥΠΟΘΕΣΙΣ ΔΙΗΓΗΣΕΩΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΨΑΛΜΟΥΣ I. The book of the Psalms contains a new teaching after the legislation of Moses; and it is found that it is a second instructional book after the Scripture of Moses. For after the death of Moses and Joshua, and after the Judges, David arose, and being judged worthy to be called by divine oracle the father of the Savior, he first delivered to the Hebrews a new manner of psalmody. Thereby he eliminates the things legislated by Moses regarding sacrifices, and introduces a new manner of divine worship through hymns and acclamations, and teaches throughout the whole of his work many other things that surpass the law of Moses. And this, indeed, is the sanctity and usefulness of the book; but the reason for its inscription [title] appears to be this: because many of the brethren who have believed in Christ think that this book belongs to David, and inscribe it as "The Psalms of David," we must explain what has come down to us concerning it. The Hebrews titled this volume *Sephra Thelim*, and therefore it is called the "book of Psalms" in the Acts of the Apostles (the passage stands thus: "As it is written in the book of Psalms"); but the name of the author is missing there, for this reason: that the discourses of not one person alone were published in this volume, but were those of many, as has been handed down by the ancients, collected by Ezra, who after the captivity gathered into one the psalms or even discourses of many, since they are not precisely all psalms. ^C Therefore, the name of David is prefixed to some; to others that of Solomon; and to others that of Asaph. There are also some of Idithum, and besides these, others of the sons of Core, as also of Moses. Thus, discourses of so many gathered into one body would not be said by one who knows to be solely of David.

II. But concerning those which lack a title, one must inquire to whom they ought to be ascribed: for why, even if the simplest

^A inscription is placed before them, conceived in this manner, "A Psalm of David," or "Of David," without any addition? And wherever this inscription occurs alone, we have suspected that it is neither a psalm nor a song, but a certain discourse recorded [by] the Holy Spirit for the benefit of the one who can understand. Now, a tradition regarding the latter ones reached me from a certain Hebrew: for since there were many without a title, and one before these untitled ones has the inscription "Of David," he said that those also must be referred to David himself by a common understanding. And if this is so, it is consistent that those which lack a title belong to the same men whom the authors of the preceding are rightly considered to be, according to the inscription. The Prophet named this present book of Psalms a "Psalter" (Psalterion), because, as they say, it alone among musical instruments resonates when the brass is struck from the upper part, and not from below as is the case with others. In order, therefore, that those who have been taught might strive to preserve the rationale of such a naming, and might look to the things above, whence it resounded, for this reason he called it a Psalterion. For it is entirely the resonance and utterance of the most holy Spirit.

III. But let us examine why there are one hundred and fifty Psalms. That the number fifty is holy is manifest from the days of the most celebrated Pentecost, which signifies the end of labors and joy. Therefore, it is neither decreed to fast during these days, nor to bend the knee. For these are symbols of a great festival reserved for the future, the shadow of which on earth among Israel was the year called by the Hebrews *Jobel* [Jubilee], which happens to be the fiftieth year, bringing freedom to slaves, and cancellation of debts, and whatever else. The Holy Gospel knows the remission of the fiftieth, and the number five hundred related and adjacent to it: for it is not without cause that remission of fifty denarii and of five hundred is granted. Thus, therefore, it was fitting that the hymns to God, for the overthrow of enemies and in thanksgiving for the benefits received from God, should contain not one fifty, but three, for the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

IV. ^D The fifty contains seven weeks, sabbaths of sabbaths, and an initiation beyond the perfect sabbaths, into an octad of a truly new rest. And he who is able may find this in the Psalms, a task greater than human, namely, to find the reasons in all things as we shall propose. Such as that, for instance, the eighth psalm was not inscribed "for the presses" by chance, since it contains the completion of fruits in an octad; for the time of the enjoyment of the fruits of the true vine could not yet be in those which precede the eighth. And that the second [one] "for the presses" is the eightieth, containing another octad, that which is in decades; and the eighty-third, wherein two holy numbers are intertwined, the eighth in decades and the third in units; and

^A rising up in the remainder of its units. But the fiftieth psalm, too, both as it prays for the remission of sins and contains confession, is ^B such: for just as the fiftieth, according to the Gospel, obtained remission, confirming by this testimony the understanding of the Jubilee, so he who prays for a like confession trusts that he will obtain forgiveness in none other than the fiftieth number. There are, moreover, fifteen odes of degrees, as many as there were steps of the temple; which perhaps show that the degrees are contained in the seventh and eighth number. And those which are called of the degrees take their beginning from the hundred and twentieth, which is called the simple psalm, as the more corrected copies have it. And this is the number of the completeness of human life. And the hundredth, whose beginning is: *I will sing of mercy and judgment to thee, O Lord*, embraces the life of a saint gathered by God into His fellowship; while the hundred and fiftieth ends with the words: *Let every spirit praise the Lord*. ^C

V. But since, as we have said before, to do this for every single psalm and to discover the causes is most difficult and exceeds human nature, we shall be content with these certain outlines, as it were. One thing we shall add: the psalms which seem to depend on history are not inscribed in the same order in which the history was written; and we have no cause for this, except for the numbers in which the psalms are arranged in the series. For the history of the fifty-first is prior to the history of the fiftieth; since no one would deny that those things which concern Doeg the Idumean, who slandered David before Saul, are prior to the sin with the wife of Uriah. Yet it is not without reason that what is later in history precedes what is earlier in the same; since, as we said just before, the place of indulgence is akin to the fiftieth number. Whoever, therefore, was unworthy of forgiveness, he exceeded the fiftieth number, as did Doeg the Idumean; ^D for the fifty-first is the psalm in which the things pertaining to him are told. And indeed the third likewise has the same observation: for the time when David fled from the face of his son Absalom is declared, as those who have read the books of Kings know well, to be after the fifty-first and the fiftieth. And if anyone, by pursuing such matters further, gives them more attention, he will discover the causes of the history and the inscriptions no less accurately than the reasons for the order of the Psalms.

VI. It is also reasonable that there should be a similar consideration, namely that David alone of the prophets uttered oracles with the musical instrument which is called by the Greeks the *psalterium*, but by the Hebrews *nabla*, which is the most upright among musical instruments, having nothing bent. Nor does anything contribute to the sound from the lower part, as happens in the cithara and certain others, but from the upper part. For in the cithara and the lyre, the brass resonates from below against the plectrum; but this psalterium has the causes of its harmonic numbers from above, so that we also may study to seek things above, and not by the pleasure of the

^A music be carried away to the passions of the flesh. Moreover, I believe that the prophetic word has shown us deeply and wisely, through the construction of the instrument, that those who have a well-tempered and well-constituted soul have an easy access to heavenly things. And again, an instrument taking the cause of its sounding in rhythm from above—what would it be but the body of Christ and His saints? An instrument that has kept only uprightness; for "He committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth." A harmonious, musical, well-tuned instrument, which has received no human discord, nor done anything out of rhythm, but has kept harmony entirely toward the Father; for as He Himself says: "He who is of the earth is of the earth, and speaks of the earth; he who comes from heaven testifies to what he has seen and heard."

^B VII. Since, however, there are psalms and odes, and psalm-odes and ode-psalms, it remains for us to address the difference between them. We therefore consider psalms to be those which are played on the instrument alone, without the accompaniment of the voice, so that through the instrument itself, by the musical harmony of the instrument, as it were, they are proclaimed. Odes, however, are those which are said to be uttered harmoniously by the voice receiving the musical message into the mouth. And psalm-odes are when the voice takes the lead, but the related sound of the instruments hangs upon it, rendered rhythmically through the ^C instruments. And ode-psalms are when the instrument takes the lead, and the voice receives the second place, following the music of the strings. These things, then, are as concerns the literal meaning of what is signified. But according to the principles of anagogy, a psalm would be when, striking the instrument—the body—with virtuous deeds, we accomplish good action, even if we are not advancing greatly in contemplation; an ode, when, having considered the mysteries of truth apart from the practical, and consenting to them, we think the most excellent things about God and His oracles, with knowledge illuminating and wisdom becoming clear in our souls. A psalm-ode, when (after good action has taken the lead, according to the aforementioned: "Having desired wisdom, ^D keep the commandments, and the Lord will grant it to you"), we understand that wisdom, being judged worthy by God of the truth that was hitherto hidden from us. And an ode-psalm, when, having contemplated the knowledge which clarifies some of the hidden moral truths, we proceed first to acting, understanding both what is to be done, when it is to be done, and how it is to be done. And perhaps this is why the first inscriptions in no way contain the odes associated with them, but only "psalm" or "psalms" alone; for the saint does not begin from contemplation, but having believed more simply according to the orthodox faith, he gives himself over to the actions being practiced. For this reason, there are many odes at the end, and wherever there are ascents, there is nowhere "psalm," neither by itself nor with any combination, but all are odes in themselves. For in the ascents, to no one

who will be entangled in any business, except for contemplation alone. And let these things be said by us generally, in accordance with what is indicated in the interpretation of the Seventy. ^B

VIII. But since we find in the Seventy, and in Theodotion, and in Symmachus, in some psalms—and these not a few—that the "diapsalma" is placed in the midst, we have surmised whether, perhaps, those who appended it signaled a change in the rhythm or the melody according to the places, or a change of the mode of instruction to another mode, or a change of the thought, or of the power of the word. But this is found neither in Aquila, nor in the Hebrew; rather, "aei" is written instead of "diapsalma." And let this not escape you, O lover of knowledge, that the Hebrews divided the Psalter into five books, so that it might be another Pentateuch. For from the first psalm unto the fortieth, they reckoned one book; from the forty-first unto the seventy-first, they led out a second; from the seventy-second unto the eighty-eighth, they made a third book; from the eighty-ninth unto the one-hundred-fifth, they composed a fourth; from the one-hundred-sixth unto the one-hundred-fiftieth, they composed the fifth; for they deemed that every psalm which at the end had, "Blessed be the Lord, fiat, fiat," was the end of a book. Prayer, moreover, is a supplication offered to God for some useful thing; a vow is indeed a promise; a hymn is a favorable acclamation shown to God for the good things we possess; praise, or laudation, is a commendation of the wonderful works of God. For commendation is nothing other than an amplification of praise. ^C

IX. As to the time when, and the manner in which, the divine David devised this order of the Psalms, he seems to be the first and only one from the beginning, when he commanded the psalter to be played with the fingers. For if any other showed the use of the psalter and the cithara before him, he clearly did so in a different way, having devised something inert and common, whether in the very apparatus of the instrument, neither singing it to a melody nor to reason, but delighting in some rustic amusement. But he, after such things, was the first to recall the work to number, order, and art; and furthermore, he mingled song with the poem, and, what is most excellent, in singing to God or of God Himself, he, being seized by the most divine inspiration, when he was a shepherd and a boy, began with something private and lowly, but after he advanced into a man and a king, he undertook something more illustrious and worthy of a multitude of men. Whatever this may have been, it is said to have received its greatest increase then, when the ark was received by him into the city; before which, leading dances many times, and likewise offering thanks many times, and celebrating the favorable reception, he employed song. Soon he cast the whole tribe of the Levites by lot, and he chose four princes to lead the choruses: Asaph, Heman, Ethan, and Idithum, since there are four principles of all things that fall under our sight; then he constituted choirs from men selected from the number of others; and these—seventy-two in number—he numbered, I think, according to the languages which were confounded, or rather distinguished, at the building of the tower. What is the type of this, if not to declare that all languages would later be ^D

and that they were destined to confess collectively, because the Word also should have embraced the whole world. ^A What does this demonstrate, if not that all languages were once joined together in the same form of praise, when, indeed, the Word had occupied the entire world?

OTHER FRAGMENTS ON THE PSALMS

I. *On Psalm XXX, 22. — Concerning the triumph of the Christian faith.* It is not as worthy of wonder when the mercy of God appears in the humbler cities, as it is worthy of wonder when it occurs in a fortified city, and for this reason God is to be praised.

II. *On Psalm LIV, 16.* Someone among the elders related that only those who have been instructed in divine teachings descend living into the underworld; for he who has not tasted the words of life is dead.

III. *On Psalm LVII, 12.* He addresses his scribe, a man, as it seems, who is not unlearned. For when Hippolytus had dictated: "But since there is a certain time in which the just man shall rejoice, but sinners shall have the end predicted for them, it is deservedly and altogether to be confessed and declared that there is a God, an observer and overseer of human actions, who judges all who dwell upon the earth. Furthermore, it must be inquired whether this prophecy which is at hand, since it is utterly consistent and connected with what precedes, describes such ends for sinners." These things being dictated by Hippolytus, the grammarian asked him why he hesitated regarding that prophecy, just as if he doubted divine aid in that calamity of exile. ^C The grammarian insists, why the verb "describe" was used by me in the subjunctive mood, as if it insinuated doubt. Hippolytus therefore replied: You know, indeed, that such formations refer to a subjunctive reproof of those who meditate upon the prophecies concerning Christ, and speak justice with their mouths, but do not receive Him when He comes, nor hear the voice of Him crying out to them and saying: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear;" ^D who have likened themselves to a serpent, and have made their ears like those of a deaf adder, and that which follows. Truly, therefore, God is the One who cares for the just, and He renders justice to those who have suffered wrong on the earth; but He presses upon those who presume to do them injury.

IV. *On Psalm LVIII, 27. — Against the Jews.* Therefore, even to this day, seeing the limits of the region and going around them, they stand at a distance. No longer, therefore, is there a king, or a high priest, or a prophet, nor are there even Scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees among them. However, he does not ask that they be killed; wherefore their race subsists, and the succession of their children

^A multiplies. For they have not been killed, nor have they perished from among men, but they exist and remain; yet they are as those cast down and brought low, deprived of the honor they formerly possessed before God. But also, "Disperse them," he says, "in thy power": which indeed has come to pass. For they are scattered over the whole earth, serving everywhere, and pursuing all the meanest and most servile arts, and all indecent crafts for the sake of hunger. For if they had been destroyed from among men, so that they were nowhere in any way alive, he says, they would not have known my people, nor would they have known my Church to be flourishing. "Disperse them, therefore," he says, "everywhere in the world, wherever my Church is also established; that when they see the Church founded by me, they may be incited to an emulation of divine worship." Thus, the Savior even prayed for them.

V. In Psalm 61:7. ^B Profugi (fugitives) are properly called those who have been overturned by certain enemies or foes, and have then become exiles; which we also formerly endured from the demons. But since the time that Christ took us up through faith in him, we no longer exil from our true, heavenly fatherland, Jerusalem, nor do we endure to be transferred from the truth to error.

VI. In Psalm 67:19. — On the amplification of the Church. Moreover, he sometimes draws even the unbelievers through sicknesses and afflictions. Nay, many have even come through visions to dwell with Jesus.

VII. In Psalm 88:4. — Against the Gentiles. ^C In our circuit are the wise men of the pagans, scouting and mocking us, as though we believe without investigation and foolishly.

VIII. In that verse of the Psalm 95:11: "Let the sea be moved, and the fullness thereof." By these words, the discourse signifies that the evangelical preaching is to pass through both the seas and the islands of the sea, and the men dwelling in them, whom it calls "its fullness"; which indeed has been fulfilled by the fact itself. For the Churches of Christ fill all the islands, and increase daily, and the saving doctrine receives growth.

IX. In Psalm 118:30-32. A lover of truth, and one who never brings forth a false word through his mouth, could say: "I have chosen the way of truth." But also he who always sets the judgments of God before his eyes, and remembers them in every action, will say: ^D "I have not forgotten thy judgments." And how is our heart dilated through temptations and tribulations? For these indeed [cut away] the thorns within us of the

cunning thoughts, and dilates our heart for the reception of the divine laws. "In tribulation," he says, "you have dilated for me." Then we walk in the way of God’s commandments, girded by the endurance of temptations. ^A

X. On the Psalm [Ps. CXVII, 20]: "Over the wrath of my enemies," etc., to his scribe. Did you see on every side the great power of God? For you could both save me, being in the midst of dangers, and restrain those who are raging and foaming and breathing fire. ^B

XI. On the Psalm CXXXVIII, 15: "My bone was not hidden from you which you made in secret." It is stated also by those who treat of the nature and generation of animals that the change of blood into bone is invisible and incomprehensible, even though the generation of the other parts—I mean of the flesh and nerves—is seen as it happens. And the Scripture of Ecclesiastes also shows this, saying: "As are the bones in the womb of one with child, so will you not know the works of God." But my substance was not hidden from you, even when it was in the lowest parts of the earth.

OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS BISHOP OF PORTUS PART II OF HIS WORKS — DOGMATIC AND HISTORICAL.

DEMONSTRATION CONCERNING CHRIST AND ANTICHRIST

By Francis Combefis, translator (Galland, *Bibliotheca veterum Patrum*, Venice 1765, in-folio, vol. II, p. 417.)

I. Since you desired to learn with precision the heads set before you by me, my beloved brother Theophile, I thought it reasonable, drawing forth abundantly...