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By subtly interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s mutation as a transformation, Gower completely
changes the tone of the passage. Unlike Jerome’s reading, he has Nebuchadnezzar look up to
heaven not because he experiences contrition but because, in accord to Christian ritual, he needs
to express his repentance openly—and as a beast, he can only do so by raising himself up “with
his feet areche.” Instead of raising his hands up to pray, Nebuchadnezzar must raise his feet up to
bray. This comical image of a praying ox turns the story into a parody of repentance. It drains the
whole episode from the moral weight that Jerome seeks to derive from it, or at best, it retains the
moral of tale in the guise of irony—at least from God’s perspective, whose hand “made
[Nebuchadnezzar] nothing strange.” God now listens “not making strange” ‘not turning askance
from’ the king which, through his might, he once “strangely” turned into a braying ox.
Nebuchadnezzar’s metamorphosis into an actual ox, which brays and not prays for
forgiveness, proves to be a key departure from Jerome’s presentation of the biblical story.
Jerome’s argument that Nebuchadnezzar’s change is not simply an Ovidean fable—and hence
needs no metaphoric interpretation—rests on the evidence of the human volition required by the
king in seeking divine grace and engaging in contrition. According to Jerome, “had
[Nebuchadnezzar] not raised his eyes towards heaven, he would not have regained his former
intelligence. Moreover, when [Daniel] says that his intelligence returned to him, he shows that
[Nebuchadnezzar] had lost not his outward appearance but only his mind [My emphasis].” 210
Jerome inserts this gloss because it proves the difference between biblical miracle and mythical
narrative: Nebuchadnezzar’s pious repentance proves that God granted salvation to a repentant
sinner and did not, like an Ovidean fable, change a man into a beast merely for entertainment.
210 Jerome Commentary on Daniel 53.
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