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progressing in wisdom. These young men, therefore, begged their supervising eunuch not to feed them with the provisions supplied from the royal table, but with legumes and dates and other such things. But he said he was afraid that, being fed on such things, their bodies would become thin, and for this reason he himself would be punished by the king. But they urged him to feed them this way for ten days, and if the condition of their bodies did not change, to feed them this way in the future, but if he saw their bodies growing thin, to stick to the former diet. The supervisor of the boys was persuaded by this, and having done so, when he saw that they had suffered nothing from such foods, but rather had become even more flourishing than the others, he brought them meatless foods. And with their minds sharpened, they mastered all Chaldean and Assyrian learning. But Daniel also applied his diligence to the interpretation of dreams. Then Nebuchadnezzar, having seen an extraordinary dream, and having learned its interpretation during his sleep, forgot both the dream and its interpretation. In the morning, therefore, having sent for the Chaldeans 1.179 and the seers and magi, he demanded that they tell him both the dream and its meaning. But they wanted him to tell the dream first, and then to ask its meaning from them. At this the king was enraged and condemned all of them to death, as they said they were unable to discover the dream. As wise men, Daniel and the three boys were also summoned and condemned along with them. Daniel therefore approached the chief of the royal bodyguards and asked that the execution of the condemned be postponed for one night; "for perhaps," he said, "during it we will pray to God and learn the dream." The king yielded to the request. And Daniel, taking with him his three kinsmen, supplicated God through the night. Therefore, both the dream and the things signified by it were revealed to him by God. And after a day he went to the king and said that both the dream and its meaning had been made known to him by God, who had pitied those who were in danger of dying unjustly for this reason, "and no less also you, who wished to kill so many without cause for what you demanded of them, things impossible, which are known only to the divine nature. What you saw is as follows. You seemed to see a great statue standing, whose head was of gold, but its shoulders and arms were of silver, and its belly with its thighs were of bronze, and its shins and feet were partly of iron and partly of clay. Then a stone, broken off from a mountain, seemed to strike the statue and shatter it, and to grind the gold and the silver and the bronze and the iron and the clay so fine that they were winnowed by the wind and scat1.180tered. But the stone seemed to grow and to reach such a size as to fill the whole earth. This then is your dream; and what is signified to you through it, as you ponder about the kingdom and who will rule after you, is this. The golden head is both you and the other kings of the Babylonians, and the gold signifies the great wealth of your rule; but the two hands and the shoulders represent two kingdoms, by which your dominion will be destroyed; and the bronze belly and thighs signify a king clad in bronze, who will overthrow those who will have destroyed you; and his kingdom in turn another, more powerful, will bring to an end; for iron is stronger than gold and silver and bronze." For gold, and especially the purest, is softer than silver; and silver is harder than gold, but happens to be softer than bronze; and iron in turn is also harder than bronze. The kingdom of the Assyrians, therefore, is compared to the head, as being earlier than the others and preceding them in time. And he called that of the Medes and the Persians the second, which overthrew the rule of the Assyrians. For Cyrus, as will be related, was a Persian

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ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ προκόπτοντας. ουτοι τοίνυν οἱ νεανίαι τοῦ προεστῶτος αὐτῶν εὐνούχου ἐδέοντο μὴ τοῖς ἐκ τῆς βασιλικῆς τραπέζης χορηγουμένοις αὐτοῖς διαιτᾶν σφᾶς, ἀλλ' ὀσπρίοις καὶ φοίνιξι καὶ τοιούτοις αλλοις. ὁ δὲ δεδιέναι ελεγε μὴ τοιούτοις τρεφόμενοι λεπτυνθῶσι τὰ σώματα, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸς κακωθῇ. οἱ δὲ ἐφ' ἡμέρας δέκα ουτω διαιτῆσαι αὐτοὺς παρεκάλουν, καὶ εἰ μὲν μὴ μεταβάλοιτο ἡ τῶν σωμάτων εξις αὐτοῖς, ουτω διαιτᾶν αὐτοὺς καὶ εἰς τὸ ἑξῆς, εἰ δ' ιδοι τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν ἰσχναινόμενα, τῆς προτέρας εχεσθαι διαιτήσεως. πείθεται τούτοις ὁ τῶν παίδων προεστηκώς, καὶ ουτω ποιήσας ὡς οὐδὲν αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων τροφῶν παθόντας ειδε, μᾶλλον μὲν ουν καὶ τῶν αλλων θαλερωτέρους γεγονότας, ἀψύχους αὐτοῖς προσῆγε τροφάς. οἱ δὲ λεπτυνθέντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ νοός, πᾶσαν κατώρθωσαν παιδείαν Χαλδαϊκὴν καὶ ̓Ασσύριον. ὁ δέ γε ∆ανιὴλ καὶ περὶ κρίσεις ὀνείρων κατέτεινε τὴν σπουδήν. Ειτα ἐνύπνιον ὁ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐξαίσιον θεασάμενος, καὶ τὴν κρίσιν τούτου κατὰ τοὺς υπνους μαθών, τοῦ τε ὀνείρου καὶ τῆς κρίσεως αὐτοῦ ἐπελάθετο. εωθεν ουν μεταπεμψάμενος τοὺς Χαλδαίους 1.179 καὶ τοὺς μάντεις καὶ μάγους, ἀπῄτει τούτους τὸ οναρ τε εἰπεῖν αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν τούτου δήλωσιν. οἱ δὲ αὐτὸν ηθελον πρότερον εἰπεῖν τὸ ἐνύπνιον, καὶ ουτως αἰτεῖν ἐξ ἐκείνων τὸ σημαινόμενον. ὠργίσθη ἐπὶ τούτοις ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ θάνατον ἁπάντων κατεψηφίσατο μὴ δύνασθαι λεγόντων εὑρηκέναι τὸν ονειρον. τούτοις ὡς σοφοὶ καὶ ∆ανιὴλ καὶ οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες καὶ συνεκλήθησαν καὶ συγκατεκρίθησαν. πρόσεισι τοίνυν ὁ ∆ανιὴλ τῷ τῶν βασιλικῶν σωματοφυλάκων ἐξάρχοντι, καὶ ἠξίωσεν ἐπὶ μίαν νύκτα τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν κατακριθέντων ὑπερτεθῆναι· "ισως γάρ" εφη "δι' αὐτῆς δεηθησόμεθα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ γνωσόμεθα τὸ ἐνύπνιον." ἐνέδωκεν ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς τὴν αιτησιν. καὶ συμπαραλαβὼν ὁ ∆ανιὴλ καὶ τοὺς τρεῖς αὐτοῦ συγγενεῖς παῖδας ἱκέτευσε διὰ τῆς νυκτὸς τὸν θεόν. δηλοῦται ουν αὐτῷ θεόθεν καὶ τὸ ἐνύπνιον καὶ τὰ δι' αὐτοῦ σημαινόμενα. καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν ἀπῄει πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα καί οἱ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ εφη γνωρισθῆναι αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ οναρ καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ δήλωσιν, ἐλεήσαντος τοὺς ἀδίκως διὰ τοῦτο ἀποθανεῖν κινδυνεύοντας, "οὐδὲν δ' ηττον καὶ σὲ τὸν θέλοντα ἀναιτίως τοσούτους κτεῖναι ἐξ ων ἀπῄτεις ἀδύνατα, α μόνῃ τῇ θείᾳ φύσει γνωστά. α δ' ἐθεάσω τοιαῦτά εἰσιν. ἐδόκεις ὁρᾶν ἀνδριάντα μέγαν ἑστῶτα, ου χρυσῆ μὲν ἡ κεφαλή, οἱ δὲ ωμοι καὶ οἱ βραχίονες ἀργυροῖ, ἡ δέ γε γαστὴρ μετὰ τῶν μηρῶν ἐκ χαλκοῦ, αἱ κνῆμαι δὲ καὶ οἱ πόδες ησαν μέρος μέν τι σιδήρεοι, μέρος δέ τι ὀστράκινοι. ειτα λίθος ἐξ ορους ἀπορραγεὶς τῷ ἀνδριάντι εδοξεν ἐμπεσεῖν καὶ συντρῖψαι αὐτόν, καὶ λεπτῦναι τὸν χρυσὸν καὶ τὸν αργυρον καὶ τὸν χαλκὸν καὶ τὸν σίδηρον καὶ τὸν οστρακον ἐς τοσοῦτον ὡς ὑπ' ἀνέμου ἐκλικμηθῆναι καὶ σκεδα1.180 σθῆναι αὐτά. ὁ δὲ λίθος ἐδόκει αὐξῆσαι καὶ εἰς τοσοῦτον μέγεθος προελθεῖν ὡς πᾶσαν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πεπληρῶσθαι τὴν γῆν. ουτος μὲν ουν σοι ὁ ονειρος· α δὲ δηλοῦταί σοι δι' αὐτοῦ, φροντίζοντι περὶ τῆς βασιλείας καὶ τίς αρξει μετὰ σέ, ταῦτά εἰσιν. ἡ μὲν χρυσῆ κεφαλὴ σύ τε ει καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ βασιλεῖς τῶν Βαβυλωνίων, τὸ πολύολβον δ' ὁ χρυσὸς τῆς ἀρχῆς σου παραδηλοῖ· αἱ δὲ δύο χεῖρες καὶ οἱ ωμοι διττὰς εἰκονίζουσι βασιλείας, ὑφ' ων ἡ ὑμῶν ἡγεμονία καταλυθήσεται· ἡ χαλκῆ δὲ γαστὴρ καὶ οἱ τοιοῦτοι μηροὶ βασιλέα δηλοῦσι χαλκὸν ἐνδεδυμένον, ος τοὺς ὑμᾶς καταλύσοντας καθαιρήσει· τὴν δ' ἐκείνου βασιλείαν αυθις ἑτέρα καταπαύσει δυνατωτέρα· τοῦ τε γὰρ χρυσοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἀργύρου καὶ τοῦ χαλκοῦ ὁ σίδηρος δυνατώτερος." ὁ μὲν γὰρ χρυσός, καὶ μᾶλλον ὁ καθαρώτατος, τοῦ ἀργύρου ἐστὶ μαλακώτερος· ὁ δ' αργυρος τοῦ μὲν χρυσοῦ στεγανώτερος, τοῦ δὲ χαλκοῦ τυγχάνει χαυνότερος· ὁ δὲ σίδηρος αυθις καὶ τοῦ χαλκοῦ στερεώτερος. κεφαλῇ μὲν ουν ἡ τῶν ̓Ασσυρίων βασιλεία ἀπείκασται, ὡς προγενεστέρα τῶν αλλων καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ προάγουσα. δευτέραν δὲ τὴν τῶν Μήδων καὶ τῶν Περσῶν ἐκάλεσεν, αι τὴν τῶν ̓Ασσυρίων ἀρχὴν καθῃρήκασιν. ὁ γὰρ Κῦρος, ωσπερ ἱστορηθήσεται, Πέρσης μὲν ην