10. All shall speak and say to thee. These are taunts with which the dead jeer the tyrant who has joined them, as if they asked him what is the reason why he too is dead like other men. Struck with the singularity of the event, Isaiah pretends that they inquire with astonishment about it as something that could not be believed.
Art thou become like unto us? Tyrants are blinded by their greatness, and do not think that they are mortal, and even make themselves to be half-gods and adore themselves. On this account it is made known after their death that they shared in the condition of all mortals, to which they did not think that they were liable. It is in this sense that the dead, not without bitter scorn, reproach him for having become like unto themselves; for “death alone,” as the poet says, “acknowledges how small are the dimensions of the bodies of men.” (219) David also, speaking of princes and their high rank, says,
I have said, ye are gods; but you shall die like men, and fall like one of the common people. (Psalms 82:6.)
The bodies of princes, like those of the common people, must at length become corrupted and be devoured by worms, even though costly and splendid sepulchres be built for them.
(219) Bogus footnote