64.  Passing by the elders in the book of Daniel;198    Hist. Susann., 5. for it is better to pass them by, together with the Lord’s righteous sentence and declaration concerning them, that wickedness came from Babylon from ancient judges, who seemed to govern the people; how are we affected by Ezekiel, the beholder and expositor of the mighty mysteries and visions?  By his injunction to the watchmen199    Ezek. xxxiii. 2. not to keep silence concerning vice and the sword impending over it, a course which would profit neither themselves nor the sinners; but rather to keep watch and forewarn, and thus benefit, at any rate those who gave warning, if not both those who spoke and those who heard?

ΞΔʹ. Ἵνα δὲ τοὺς ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ παραδράμωμεν πρεσβυτέρους: καὶ γὰρ παραδράμοιμεν, καὶ τὸ τῷ δεσπότῃ περὶ αὐτῶν καλῶς εἰρημένον καὶ προηγορευμένον, ὅτι ἐξῆλθεν ἀνομία ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος ἐκ πρεσβυτέρων κριτῶν, οἳ ἐδόκουν κυβερνᾷν τὸν λαόν: πῶς οἴσομεν Ἰεζεκιὴλ, τὸν τῶν μεγάλων ἐπόπτην καὶ ἐξηγητὴν μυστηρίων καὶ θεαμάτων; Πῶς μὲν ἃ τοῖς σκοποῖς διακελεύεται, μὴ κατασιωπᾷν τὴν κακίαν, καὶ τὴν ἐπερχομένην ταύτῃ ῥομφαίαν; ὡς οὔτε αὐτοῖς τοῦτο λυσιτελοῦν, οὔτε τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι: τοῦ δὲ προϊδέσθαι καὶ προκηρῦξαι ἀμφοτέρους ὀνήσοντος, εἰ οἱ μὲν εἴποιεν, οἱ δὲ ἀκούσαιεν, ἢ πάντως γε τοὺς μηνύσαντας.