7.  Moreover, I remember hearing from a learned Hebrew, said among themselves to be the son of a wise man, and to have been specially trained to succeed his father, with whom I had intercourse on many subjects, the names of these elders, just as if he did not reject the History of Susanna, as they occur in Jeremias as follows:  “The Lord make thee like Zedekias and Achiab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, for the iniquity they did in Israel.”8    Jer. xxix. 22, 23.  How, then, could the one be sawn asunder by an angel, and the other rent in pieces?  The answer is, that these things were prophesied not of this world, but of the judgment of God, after the departure from this world.  For as the lord of that wicked servant who says, “My lord delayeth his coming,” and so gives himself up to drunkenness, eating and drinking with drunkards, and smiting his fellow-servants, shall at his coming “cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers,”9    Luke xii. 45, 46. even so the angels appointed to punish will accomplish these things (just as they will cut asunder the wicked steward of that passage) on these men, who were called indeed elders, but who administered their stewardship wickedly.  One will saw asunder him who was waxen old in wicked days, who had pronounced false judgment, condemning the innocent, and letting the guilty go free;10    Susanna 52, 53. and another will rend in pieces him of the seed of Chanaan, and not of Judah, whom beauty had deceived, and whose heart lust had perverted.11    Susanna 56.

Μέμνημαι μέν τοί γε φιλομαθεῖ Ἑβραίῳ, καὶ χρηματίζοντι παρ' αὐτοῖς σοφοῦ υἱῷ, ἀνατραφέντι ἐπὶ τὸ διαδέξασθαι τὸν πατέρα, συμμίξας περὶ πλειόνων: ἀφ' οὗ ὡς μὴ ἀθετουμένης τῆς περὶ Σωσάννης ἱστορίας ἐμάνθανον καὶ τὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ὀνόματα, ὡς παρὰ τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ κείμενα τοῦτον ἔχοντα τὸν τρόπον: »Ποιήσαι σε Κύριος, ὡς Σεδεκίαν ἐποίησε, καὶ ὡς Ἀχιὰβ, οὓς ἀπετηγάνισε βασιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος ἐν πυρὶ δι' ἣν ἐποίησαν ἀνομίαν ἐν Ἰσραήλ.« Πῶς ὁ μὲν ὑπ' ἀγγέλου πρίζεται, ὁ δὲ σχίζεται; λεκτέον, οὐ κατὰ τὸν ἐνεστῶτα αἰῶνα ταῦτα αὐτοῖς προφητεύεσθαι, ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν ὑπὸ Θεοῦ μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἔξοδον κρίσιν. Ὡς γὰρ τὸν πονηρὸν οἰκονόμον λέγοντα: »Χρονίζει ὁ κύριός μου ἔρχεσθαι:« καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μέθαις σχολάζοντα, καὶ ἐσθίοντα καὶ πίνοντα μετὰ τῶν μεθυόντων, καὶ τύπτοντα τοὺς συνδούλους, ὁ κύριος ἐλθὼν »διχοτομήσει, καὶ τὸ μέρος αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἀπίστων θήσει:« οὕτω καὶ τούτους πρεσβυτέρους μὲν χρηματίσαντας, κακῶς δὲ τὴν οἰκονομίαν οἰκονομήσαντας, ἀναλόγως τῷ ἐκεῖ διχοτομεῖσθαι τὸν μοχθηρὸν οἰκονόμον, ἄγγελοι ἐπὶ τῶν κολάσεων τεταγμένοι τινὲς ταῦτα διαθήσουσι: καὶ ὁ μὲν σχίσει »πεπαλαιωμένον ἡμερῶν κακῶν, κρίναντα κρίσεις ἀδίκους, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀθώους κατακρίναντα, ἀπολύοντα δὲ τοὺς αἰτίους:« ὁ δὲ πρίσει ὡς »σπέρμα λαναὰν ὑπάρχοντα, καὶ οὐκ Ἰούδα, τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ κάλλους ἐξηπατημένον, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας διαστραφέντα τὴν καρδίαν.«