Verses 24, 25. "'This is the interpretation of the sentence of the Most High which has come upon my lord the king. They shall cast thee forth from among men and thy habitation shall be with cattle and wild beasts...'" Daniel moderates the severity of the sentence by complimentary language, so that (variant: and) after he has first set forth the harsher aspects, he may moderate the king's alarm by assurances of the kindlier treatment to follow. He draws the final inference:
At this point it is possible to learn the value of the apostolic teaching, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities”; blessed Daniel, note, calls the impious king “lord” and, influenced by the norm of authority, he adopts the appropriate titles, and he gives a glimpse of the truth of the dream, distressing though it is.
Often, when resources are abundant and many things can be done for subordinates to admire, the mind prides itself in thought and fully provokes the anger of the judge, though no overt acts of iniquity take place. For the judge lies within; that which is judged lies within. When, then, in heart we transgress, what we are doing within ourselves is hidden from others. but yet in the eyes of the judge we sin. For the king of Babylon did not first stand guilty of pride when he came to utter proud words, inasmuch as even before, when he had given no utterance to his pride, he heard the sentence of reprobation from the prophet’s mouth. For he had already wiped clean the fault of the pride he had been guilty of, when he proclaimed to all the nations under him the omnipotent God whom he found himself to have offended.… For the strict judge first sees invisibly what he afterward reproves by public chastisement. Therefore the Judge turned him into an irrational animal.
[AD 420] Jerome on Daniel 4:24-25