The history of Susanna and the two elders. This history of Susanna, in all the ancient Greek and Latin Bibles, was placed in the beginning of the book of Daniel: till St. Jerome, in his translation, detached it from thence; because he did not find it in the Hebrew: which is also the case of the history of Bel and the Dragon. But both the one and the other are received by the Catholic Church: and were from the very beginning a part of the Christian Bible.
Two old iudges ouercomen with carnal concupiscence, tempt chaste Susanna: 22. who constantly resisting, 27. is by them falsly accused, 41. & condemned of adultrie. 45. Daniel conuinceth them of false testimonie, 60. and they are punished with death.
1Now there was a man that dwelt in Babylon, and his name was Joakim:Era un uomo dimorante in Babilonia per nome Joachim.AND there was a man dwelling in Babylon, and this name Ioakim:Et erat vir habitans in Babylone, et nomen ejus Joakim: 2And he took a wife, whose name was Susanna, the daughter of Helcias, a very beautiful woman, and one that feared God.E prese per moglie una donna chiamata Susanna, figlia di Helcia, grandemente bella, e timorata di Dio;& he tooke a wife named Susanna, the daughter of Helcias exceding fayre, and fearing God.et accepit uxorem nomine Susannam, filiam Helciæ, pulchram nimis, et timentem Deum: 3For her parents being just, had instructed their daughter according to the law of Moses.Imperocché i genitori di lei, che erano giusti, avevano istruita la figliuola secondo la legge di Mosè.For her parents being iust, instructed their daughter according to the law of Moyses.parentes enim illius, cum essent justi, erudierunt filiam suam secundum legem Moysi. 4Now Joakim was very rich, and had an orchard near his house: and the Jews resorted to him, because he was the most honourable of them all.E Joachim era uomo assai ricco, ed aveva un giardino presso alla sua casa, e da lui andavano in gran numero i Giudei, perchè egli era il più ragguardevole di tutti.And Ioakim was very rich, and he had an orchard nere vnto his house: and to him the Iewes resorted together, because he was the more honorable of al.Erat autem Joakim dives valde, et erat ei pomarium vicinum domui suæ: et ad ipsum confluebant Judæi, eo quod esset honorabilior omnium. 5And there were two of the ancients of the people appointed judges that year, of whom the Lord said: That iniquity came out from Babylon, from the ancient judges, that seemed to govern the people.E furono in quell'anno eletti giudici del popolo due seniori di quelli, de' quali disse il Signore, che in Babilonia era venuta l'iniquità dai vecchi giudici, i quali sembravano rettori del popolo.And there were b two ancients appointed iudges in that yeare, of whom our Lord spake: That iniquities came out of Babylon from the seniour iudges, that semed to rule the people.Et constituti sunt de populo duo senes judices in illo anno, de quibus locutus est Dominus: Quia egressa est iniquitas de Babylone a senioribus judicibus, qui videbantur regere populum. 6These men frequented the house of Joakim, and all that had any matters of judgment came to them.Questi frequentava la casa di Joachim, e vi andavano a trovarli tutti quelli, che avevano liti.These frequented the house of Ioakim, and al that had iudgements came to them.Isti frequentabant domum Joakim, et veniebant ad eos omnes qui habebant judicia.
7And when the people departed away at noon, Susanna went in, and walked in her husband’s orchard.E quando il popolo sul mezzogiorno se ne andava, andava Susanna a passeggiare nel giardino di suo marito.And when the people returned at noone, Susanna went in, and walked in her husbands orchard.Cum autem populus revertisset per meridiem, ingrediebatur Susanna, et deambulabat in pomario viri sui. 8And the old men saw her going in every day, and walking: and they were inflamed with lust towards her:E i vecchioni la vedevano ogni di andare a passeggiare, e arsero di cattivo desiderio verso di lei:and the ancients saw her dayly going in, and walking: and they were inflamed to the concupiscence of her:Et videbant eam senes quotidie ingredientem et deambulantem, et exarserunt in concupiscentiam ejus: 9And they perverted their own mind, and turned away their eyes, that they might not look unto heaven, nor remember just judgments.E perderono il lume dell'intelletto, e gli occhi chiusero per non vedere il ciclo, e per non ricordarsi de' suoi se veri giudizj.and they subuerted their sense, and declined their eyes that they would not see heauen, nor remember iust iudgements.et everterunt sensum suum, et declinaverunt oculos suos ut non viderent cælum, neque recordarentur judiciorum justorum. 10So they were both wounded with the love of her, yet they did not make known their grief one to the other.Erano adunque tutti due presi dall'amore di lei, né si comunicarono l'uno all'altro la loro pena;They were both therfore wounded with the loue of her, neither did they shew their griefe one to the other:Erant ergo ambo vulnerati amore ejus, nec indicaverunt sibi vicissim dolorem suum: 11For they were ashamed to declare to one another their lust, being desirous to have to do with her:Imperocché si vergognavano di svelarsi la propria passione, cui bramavano di sfogare.for they were ashamed to shew one an other their concupiscence, being desirous to lie with her:erubescebant enim indicare sibi concupiscentiam suam, volentes concumbere cum ea. 12And they watched carefully every day to see her. And one said to the other:E con maggior sollecitudine si studiavano ogni dì di vederla. E uno di essi disse all'altro:and they watched euerie day carefully to see her. And one sayd to the other:Et observabant quotidie sollicitius videre eam. Dixitque alter ad alterum: 13Let us now go home, for it is dinner time. So going out, they departed one from another.Andiamo a casa, che è ora di desinare. E se n'andarono, e si separarono,Let vs goe home, because it is the houre of dinner. And going forth they departed one from an other.Eamus domum, quia hora prandii est. Et egressi, recesserunt a se.
14And turning back again, they came both to the same place: and asking one another the cause, they acknowledged their lust: and then they agreed together upon a time, when they might find her alone.E ritornarono, e si trovarono insieme, e domandatosi l'uno all'altro il motivo, confessarono la propria passione, e allora convennero del tempo, in cui potesser trovarla sola.And when they were returned, they came into one place: and asking of each other the cause, they confessed their concupiscence: and then in commune they appoynted a time, when they might fynd her alone.Cumque revertissent, venerunt in unum: et sciscitantes ab invicem causam, confessi sunt concupiscentiam suam: et tunc in communi statuerunt tempus quando eam possent invenire solam. 15And it fell out, as they watched a fit day, she went in on a time, as yesterday and the day before, with two maids only, and was desirous to wash herself in the orchard: for it was hot weather.E mentre stavano aspettando il giorno a proposito, entrò una volta Susanna nel giardino, come sempre soleva, con due sole fanciulle, e volle lavarsi nel giardino, perché era caldo.And it came to passe, when they obserued a fitte day, she went in on a time as yesterday and the day before, with two maydes onlie, & would be washed in the orchard: for it was an hote season.Factum est autem, cum observarent diem aptum, ingressa est aliquando sicut heri et nudiustertius, cum duabus solis puellis, voluitque lavari in pomario: æstus quippe erat: 16And there was nobody there, but the two old men that had hid themselves, and were beholding her.E non eravi alcuno, eccetto i due vecchioni nascosti, i quali la contemplavano.And there was none there, but the two ancients hid, & beholding her.et non erat ibi quisquam, præter duos senes absconditos, et contemplantes eam. 17So she said to the maids: Bring me oil, and washing balls, and shut the doors of the orchard, that I may wash me.Disse ella adunque alle fanciulle: portatemi l'unguento, e i profumi, e chiudete le porte del giardino, affinché io possa bagnarmi.She therfore sayd to the maydes: Fetch me oile, and washing balles, and shut the doores of the orchard, that I may be washed.Dixit ergo puellis: Afferte mihi oleum, et smigmata, et ostia pomarii claudite, ut laver. 18And they did as she bade them: and they shut the doors of the orchard, and went out by a back door to fetch what she had commanded them, and they knew not that the elders were hid within.E quelle fecero com ella avea comandato, e chiuser le porte del giardino, ed usciron per una porta di dietro per portarle quello, ch'ella avea chiesto, ed elle ignoravano, che i vecchioni fosser dentro nascosi.And they did as she had commanded: and they shut the doores of the orchard, and went out by a backe doore to fetch the thing that she had commanded. and they knew not that the ancients were hid within.Et fecerunt sicut præceperat: clauseruntque ostia pomarii, et egressæ sunt per posticum ut afferrent quæ jusserat; nesciebantque senes intus esse absconditos.
19Now when the maids were gone forth, the two elders arose, and ran to her, and said:E partite, che furono le fanciulle, si levarono i due vecchioni, e corsero a lei, e dissero:But when the maydes were gone forth, the two ancients arose, and ranne to her, and sayd:Cum autem egressæ essent puellæ, surrexerunt duo senes, et accurrerunt ad eam, et dixerunt: 20Behold the doors of the orchard are shut, and nobody seeth us, and we are in love with thee: wherefore consent to us, and lie with us.Ecco chiuse le porte del giardino, e nissun ci vede, e noi siamo accesi di te: fa adunque a modo nostro, e cedi a' nostri desiderj;Loe the doores of the orchard be shut, and no bodie seeth vs, and we are in the concupiscence of thee: wherfore consent to vs, and lie with vs.Ecce ostia pomarii clausa sunt, et nemo nos videt, et nos in concupiscentia tui sumus: quam ob rem assentire nobis, et commiscere nobiscum. 21But if thou wilt not, we will bear witness against thee, that a young man was with thee, and therefore thou didst send away thy maids from thee.Che se negherai, noi renderemo testimonianza contro di te, e diremo, che era ecco un giovinetto, e che per questo hai fatto andar via le fanciulle.and if thou wilt not, we wil geue testimonie against thee, that there was a yong man with thee, and for this cause thou didst send out thy maydes from thee.Quod si nolueris, dicemus contra te testimonium, quod fuerit tecum juvenis, et ob hanc causam emiseris puellas a te. 22Susanna sighed, and said: I am straitened on every side: for if I do this thing, it is death to me: and if I do it not, I shall not escape your hands.Sospirò Susanna, e disse: io mi trovo in istrettezze per ogni parte: imperocché s'io fo questo, è morte per me, e se noi fo, non iscamperò dalle vostre mani.Susanna sighed, and sayd: Perplexities are to me on euerie side: for if I shal doe this, it is death to me: and if I doe it not, I shal not escape your handes.Ingemuit Susanna, et ait: Angustiæ sunt mihi undique: si enim hoc egero, mors mihi est: si autem non egero, non effugiam manus vestras. 23But it is better for me to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord.Ma è meglio per me il cader nelle mani vostre senza aver fatta tal cosa, che peccare nel cospetto del Signore.But it is better for me without the act to fal into your handes, then to sinne in the sight of our Lord.Sed melius est mihi absque opere incidere in manus vestras, quam peccare in conspectu Domini. 24With that Susanna cried out with a loud voice: and the elders also cried out against her.E Susanna gettò un forte strido: ed alzaron la voce anche i vecchioni contro di lei.And Susanna cried out with a lowd voice: but the ancients also cried out against her.Et exclamavit voce magna Susanna: exclamaverunt autem et senes adversus eam.
25And one of them ran to the door of the orchard, and opened it.E un di loro corse alle porte del giardino, e le aperse.And one ranne to the doore of the orchard, and opened it.Et cucurrit unus ad ostia pomarii, et aperuit. 26So when the servants of the house heard the cry in the orchard, they rushed in by the back door, to see what was the matter.Ed avendo i servitori di casa sentito rumore nel giardino, vi accorsero per la porta di dietro per veder quello, che fosse,when the seruants therfore of the house had heard the crie in the orchard, they rushed in by the backe doore, to see what it was.Cum ergo audissent clamorem famuli domus in pomario, irruerunt per posticum ut viderent quidnam esset. 27But after the old men had spoken, the servants were greatly ashamed: for never had there been any such word said of Susanna. And on the next day,Ed avendo parlato i vecchioni, ne restarono i servi grandemente confusi, perché mai cosa tale non era stata detta di Susanna. E venuto il dì seguente,And after the ancients spake, the seruants were ashamed excedingly: because neuer had there bene such a word sayd of Susanna. And the morow came.Postquam autem senes locuti sunt, erubuerunt servi vehementer, quia numquam dictus fuerat sermo hujuscemodi de Susanna. Et facta est dies crastina. 28When the people were come to Joakim, her husband, the two elders also came full of wicked device against Susanna, to put her to death.Ed essendo concorso il popolo alla casa del marito di lei, vi andarono anche i due vecchioni pieni di iniqui disegni contro Susanna per ucciderla.And when the people was come to Ioakim her husband, the two ancients also came ful of vniust cogitation against Susanna, to put her to death.Cumque venisset populus ad Joakim virum ejus, venerunt et duo presbyteri, pleni iniqua cogitatione adversus Susannam ut interficerent eam. 29And they said before the people: Send to Susanna, daughter of Helcias, the wife of Joakim. And presently they sent.E dissero alla presenza del popolo: mandate a chiamare Susanna figliuola di Helcia, moglie di Joachim: e tosto mandarono,And they sayd before the people: Send to Susanna daughter of Helcias the wife of Ioakim. And forth with they sent.Et dixerunt coram populo: Mittite ad Susannam filiam Helciæ uxorem Joakim. Et statim miserunt. 30And she came with her parents, and children and all her kindred.Ed ella venne insieme co' suoi genitori, e co' figliuoli, e con tutti i suoi parenti.And she came with her parents, and children, and al her kinne.Et venit cum parentibus, et filiis, et universis cognatis suis. 31Now Susanna was exceeding delicate, and beautiful to behold.Or Susanna era molto delicata, e molto bella.Moreouer Susanna was exceding delicate, and beautiful of face.Porro Susanna erat delicata nimis, et pulchra specie.
32But those wicked men commanded that her face should be uncovered, (for she was covered) that so at least they might be satisfied with her beauty.Ma quelli iniqui ordinarono, che si scoprisse (imperocché ella aveva il suo velo) per così almeno saziarsi di sua bellezza.But those wicked men commanded that she should be vncouered (for she whas couered) that so at least they might be satisfied with her beautie.At iniqui illi jusserunt ut discooperiretur (erat enim cooperta), ut vel sic satiarentur decore ejus. 33Therefore her friends, and all her acquaintance wept.E piangevano i suoi, e tutti que', che la conoscevano.Her frendes therfore wept, & al that had knowne her.Flebant igitur sui, et omnes qui noverant eam. 34But the two elders rising up in the midst of the people, laid their hands upon her head.E alzatisi i due vecchioni in mezzo al popolo, posero le loro mani sul capo di lei.But the two ancients rysing vp in the middes of the people, layd their handes vpon her head.Consurgentes autem duo presbyteri in medio populi, posuerunt manus suas super caput ejus. 35And she weeping, looked up to heaven, for her heart had confidence in the Lord.Ed ella piangendo alzò al cielo gli occhi; imperocché il suo cuore avea fiducia nel Signore.Who weeping looked vp to heauen, for her hart had confidence in our Lord.Quæ flens suspexit ad cælum: erat enim cor ejus fiduciam habens in Domino. 36And the elders said: As we walked in the orchard alone, this woman came in with two maids, and shut the doors of the orchard, and sent away the maids from her.E dissero i vecchioni: mentre noi passeggiavamo soli pel giardino, venne costei con due fanciulle, e chiuse le porte del giardino, e licenziò le fanciulle.And the ancients sayd: When we walked alone in the orchard, this woman came in with two maydes, & shut the doores of the orchard: and she sent away the maydes from her.Et dixerunt presbyteri: Cum deambularemus in pomario soli, ingressa est hæc cum duabus puellis: et clausit ostia pomarii, et dimisit a se puellas. 37Then a young man that was there hid came to her, and lay with her.E si accostò a lei un giovinetto, che vi era ascoso, e peccò con lei.And a yongman that was hid came to her, and lay with her.Venitque ad eam adolescens, qui erat absconditus, et concubuit cum ea. 38But we that were in a corner of the orchard, seeing this wickedness, ran up to them, and we saw them lie together.E noi essendo in un angolo del giardino, e veggendo l'opera rea, corremmo verso di loro, e li vedemmo peccare.But we being in a corner of the orchard, seeing the iniquitie, ranne to them, and saw them lie together.Porro nos cum essemus in angulo pomarii, videntes iniquitatem, cucurrimus ad eos, et vidimus eos pariter commisceri.
39And him indeed we could not take, because he was stronger than us, and opening the doors, he leaped out:Ma colui non potemmo noi pigliare, perché egli ne poteva più di noi, e aperte le porte saltò fuora:And him in deed we could not take, because he was stronger then we, and opening the doores he lept out:Et illum quidem non quivimus comprehendere, quia fortior nobis erat, et apertis ostiis exilivit: 40But having taken this woman, we asked who the young man was, but she would not tell us: of this thing we are witnesses.Ma avendo presa costei, la interrogammo chi fosse il giovanotto, e non volle manifestarcelo. Di ciò siam noi testimoni.but her when we apprehended, we asked what yongman it was, and she would not tel vs, of this thing we are witnesses.hanc autem cum apprehendissemus, interrogavimus, quisnam esset adolescens, et noluit indicare nobis: hujus rei testes sumus. 41The multitude believed them, as being the elders, and the judges of the people, and they condemned her to death.La moltitudine diede retta a costoro, come vecchi, e giudici del popolo, e la condannarono alla morte.The multitude beleued them as the ancients and the iudges of the people, and they condemned her to death.Credidit eis multitudo quasi senibus et judicibus populi, et condemnaverunt eam ad mortem. 42Then Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and said: O eternal God, who knowest hidden things, who knowest all things before they come to pass,E Susanna ad alta voce esclamò, e disse: Dio eterno, che le occulte cose conosci, che sai tutte le cose, prima che siano avvenute,But Susanna cried out with a lowd voice, and sayd: Eternal God, which art the knower of hidden things before they come to passe,Exclamavit autem voce magna Susanna, et dixit: Deus æterne, qui absconditorum es cognitor, qui nosti omnia antequam fiant, 43Thou knowest that they have borne false witness against me: and behold I must die, whereas I have done none of these things, which these men have maliciously forged against me.Tu sai, come costoro hanno detto falso testimonio contro di me: ed ecco che io muoio, mentre non ho fatta alcuna di quelle cose, che costoro hanno inventate contro di me.thou knowest that they haue borne false witnes against me: and loe I dye, wheras I haue done none of these thinges, which these men haue maliciousely forged against me.tu scis quoniam falsum testimonium tulerunt contra me: et ecce morior, cum nihil horum fecerim, quæ isti malitiose composuerunt adversum me.
44And the Lord heard her voice.E il Signore esaudì la sua voce.And our Lord heard her voice.Exaudivit autem Dominus vocem ejus. 45And when she was led to be put to death, the Lord raised up the holy spirit of a young boy, whose name was Daniel:E mentre era condotta a morire, il Signore suscitò lo Spirito santo di un tenero giovinetto chiamato Daniele;and when she was led to death, our Lord raysed vp the holie spirit of a yong boy, whose name was Daniel:Cumque duceretur ad mortem, suscitavit Dominus spiritum sanctum pueri junioris, cujus nomen Daniel: 46And he cried out with a loud voice: I am clear from the blood of this woman.Ed ei gridò ad alta voce: Io son puro dal sangue di lei.and he cried out with alowd voice: I am cleane from the bloud of this woman.et exclamavit voce magna: Mundus ego sum a sanguine hujus. 47Then all the people turning themselves towards him, said: What meaneth this word that thou hast spoken?E rivoltosi a lui tutto il popolo, disse: Che è quello, che tu hai detto?And al the people turning to him, sayd: What is this word, that thou hast spoken?Et conversus omnis populus ad eum, dixit: Quis est iste sermo, quem tu locutus es ? 48But he standing in the midst of them, said: Are ye so foolish, ye children of Israel, that without examination or knowledge of the truth, you have condemned a daughter of Israel?Ed egli stando in mezzo ad essi, disse: Così voi stolti figliuoli d'Israele senza matura giudizio, e senza conoscere la verità, condannata avete una figliuola d'Israele?Who when he stood in the middes of them, sayd: So folish ye children of Israel, not iudgeing, nor discerning that which is the truth, haue you condemned the daughter of Israel?Qui cum staret in medio eorum, ait: Sic fatui filii Israël, non judicantes, neque quod verum est cognoscentes, condemnastis filiam Israël ? 49Return to judgment, for they have borne false witness against her.Tornate in giudizio; perocché costoro han detto testimonio falso contro di lei.Returne ye to iudgement, because they haue spoken false testimonie against her.revertimini ad judicium, quia falsum testimonium locuti sunt adversus eam. 50So all the people turned again in haste, and the old men said to him: Come, and sit thou down among us, and shew it us: seeing God hath given thee the honour of old age.Tornò adunque indietro il popolo in fretta, e i vecchioni dissero a lui: vieni, e siedi in mezzo tra noi, e insegna a noi, dappoiché Dio ha dato a te l'onore della vecchiezza.The people therfore returned with speede, and the ancients sayd to him: Come, and sitte in the middes of vs, and tel vs: because God hath geuen thee the honour of old age.Reversus est ergo populus cum festinatione, et dixerunt ei senes: Veni, et sede in medio nostrum, et indica nobis: quia tibi Deus dedit honorem senectutis.
51And Daniel said to the people: Separate these two far from one another, and I will examine them.E Daniele disse al popolo: separate costoro l'uno lontan dall'altro, ed io gli esaminerò.And Daniel sayd to the people: Separate them far one from an other, and I wil discouer them.Et dixit ad eos Daniel: Separate illos ab invicem procul, et dijudicabo eos. 52So when they were put asunder one from the other, he called one of them, and said to him: O thou that art grown old in evil days, now are thy sins come out, which thou hast committed before:E separati, che furono l'un dall'altro, chiamò uno di loro, e gli disse: vecchio di giorni rei, ora son venuti al palio i tuoi peccati fatti per l'addietro,When they were therfore diuided one from the other, he called one of them, and said to him: O thou inueterated of euil dayes, now are thy sinnes come, which thou didst committe before:Cum ergo divisi essent alter ab altero, vocavit unum de eis, et dixit ad eum: Inveterate dierum malorum, nunc venerunt peccata tua, quæ operabaris prius: 53In judging unjust judgments, oppressing the innocent, and letting the guilty to go free, whereas the Lord saith: The innocent and the just thou shalt not kill.Dando sentenze ingiuste, opprimendo gli innocenti, e liberando i malvagi, mentre il Signore ha detto: non ucciderai l'innocente, ed il giusto.iudging vniust iudgements, oppressing innocents, and dismissing offenders, our Lord saying: The innocent and the iust thou shalt not kil.judicans judicia injusta, innocentes opprimens, et dimittens noxios, dicente Domino: Innocentem et justum non interficies. 54Now then if thou sawest her, tell me under what tree thou sawest them conversing together: He said: Under a mastic tree.Or adunque se tu la hai veduta, di' tu sotto qual pianta gli abbi veduti confabular tra loro? E quegli disse: sotto un lentisco.Now then if thou sawest her, tel vnder what tree thou sawest them talking together. Who sayd: Vnder a schine tree.Nunc ergo, si vidisti eam, dic sub qua arbore videris eos colloquentes sibi. Qui ait: Sub schino. 55And Daniel said: Well hast thou lied against thy own head: for behold the angel of God having received the sentence of him, shall cut thee in two.E Daniele disse: certamente a spese della tua testata hai detto bugia: imperocché ecco, che l'Angelo di Dio per sentenza di lui ti dividerà pel mezzo.And Daniel sayd: Wel hast thou lyed agaynst thine owne head: for behold the Angel of God taking the sentence of him, shal cut thee in the middes.Dixit autem Daniel: Recte mentitus es in caput tuum: ecce enim angelus Dei, accepta sententia ab eo, scindet te medium.
56And having put him aside, he commanded that the other should come, and he said to him: O thou seed of Chanaan, and not of Juda, beauty hath deceived thee, and lust hath perverted thy heart:E rimandato questo, comandò, che venisse l'altro, e gli disse: stirpe di Canaan, e non di Giuda, la bellezza ti affascinò, e la passione sovverti il cuor tuo;And remouing him away, he commanded that the other should come, and he sayd to him: Seede of Chanaan, and not of Iuda, beautie hath deceiued thee, and concupiscence hath subuerted thy hart:Et, amoto eo, jussit venire alium, et dixit ei: Semen Chanaan, et non Juda, species decepit te, et concupiscentia subvertit cor tuum: 57Thus did you do to the daughters of Israel, and they for fear conversed with you: but a daughter of Juda would not abide your wickedness.Così voi facevate alle figliuole di Israele, e queste avendo paura parlavan con voi; ma una figliuola di Giuda non ha sofferta la vostra iniquità.so did you to the daughters of Israel, and they fearing spake to you: but the daughter of Iuda did not abide your iniquitie.sic faciebatis filiabus Israël, et illæ timentes loquebantur vobis: sed filia Juda non sustinuit iniquitatem vestram. 58Now, therefore, tell me, under what tree didst thou take them conversing together. And he answered: Under a holm tree.Or adunque di' a me sotto qual albero li trovasti a discorrer insieme? E quegli disse: sotto un'elce.Now therfore tel me, vnder what tree thou tookest them speaking one to an other. Who said: Vnder a prine tree.Nunc ergo, dic mihi sub qua arbore comprehenderis eos loquentes sibi. Qui ait: Sub prino. 59And Daniel said to him: Well hast thou also lied against thy own head: for the angel of the Lord waiteth with a sword to cut thee in two, and to destroy you.E disse Daniele a lui: veramente tu pure a spese della tua testa hai detto menzogna: imperocché ti aspetta l'Angelo del Signore con in mano la spada per fenderti pel mezzo, e farti morire.And Daniel said to him: Wel hast thou also lyed against thine owne head: for the Angel of our Lord tarieth, hauing a sword, that he may cut thee in the middes, and kil you.Dixit autem ei Daniel: Recte mentitus es et tu in caput tuum: manet enim angelus Domini, gladium habens, ut secet te medium, et interficiat vos. 60With that all the assembly cried out with a loud voice, and they blessed God, who saveth them that trust in him.Sclamò allora tutta l'adunanza ad alta voce, e benedissero Dio, il qual salva quegli, che in lui sperano.Therfore al the assemblie cried out with a lowd voice, and they blessed God, which saueth them that hope in him.Exclamavit itaque omnis cœtus voce magna, et benedixerunt Deum, qui salvat sperantes in se.
61And they rose up against the two elders, (for Daniel had convicted them of false witness by their own mouth) and they did to them as they had maliciously dealt against their neighbour,E si levaron su contro i due vecchi, i quali Daniele avea di propria lo bocca convinti di aver detto falso testimonio, e fecero ad essi quello, che egli no avean malamente fatto contro il prossimo loro;And they rose vp against the two elders (for Daniel had conuinced them by their owne mouth to haue geuen false testimonie) and they did to them as they had dealt naughtely against their neighbour,Et consurrexerunt adversus duos presbyteros (convicerat enim eos Daniel ex ore suo falsum dixisse testimonium), feceruntque eis sicut male egerant adversus proximum, 62To fulfil the law of Moses: and they put them to death, and innocent blood was saved in that day.Mettendo in esecuzione la legge di Mosè, e gli uccisero: e fu salvato il sangue innocente in quel giorno.to doe according to the law of Moyses: & they killed them, and innocent bloud was saued in that day.ut facerent secundum legem Moysi. Et interfecerunt eos, et salvatus est sanguis innoxius in die illa. 63But Helcias, and his wife, praised God, for their daughter, Susanna, with Joakim, her husband, and all her kindred, because there was no dishonesty found in her.Ed Helcia, e la sua moglie diedero lode a Dio per la figliuola loro Susanna insieme con Joachim suo marito, e con tutti i parenti, perché non fu trovato in lei nulla di men, che onesto.But Helcias, and his wyfe praysed God, for their daughter Susanna, with Ioakim her husband, and al her kinne, because there was no vnhonest thing found in her.Helcias autem et uxor ejus laudaverunt Deum pro filia sua Susanna cum Joakim marito ejus, et cognatis omnibus, quia non esset inventa in ea res turpis. 64And Daniel became great in the sight of the people from that day, and thence forward.E Daniele da quel di in poi divenne grande nel cospetto del popolo.And Daniel became great in the sight of the people from that day, & thence forward.Daniel autem factus est magnus in conspectu populi a die illa, et deinceps. 65And king Astyages was gathered to his fathers; and Cyrus, the Persian, received his kingdom.E il re Astiage andò dietro a' padri suoi, e Ciro Persiano gli succedette nel regno.And king Astyages was layd to his fathers, & Cyrus the Persian receiued his kingdom.Et rex Astyages appositus est ad patres suos, et suscepit Cyrus Perses regnum ejus.
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Year of the World 3398, Year before Christ 606.
Challoner
This history of Susanna, in all the ancient Greek and Latin Bibles, was placed in the beginning of the Book of Daniel, till St. Jerome, in his translation, detached it from thence, because he did not find it in the Hebrew; which is also the case of the history of Bel and the dragon. But both the one and the other are received by the Catholic Church, and were from the very beginning a part of the Christian Bible. (Challoner)
Cornelius a Lapide
Daniel seems not to have written the history of Susanna, at least in the volume which contains his prophecies, though it be unquestionably canonical. (Cornelius a Lapide)
Calmet
It has been doubted whether it was ever in Hebrew. (Calmet)
Haydock
But Origen solves the difficulties of Africanus. (Haydock)
Calmet
Susanna means "lily," and is proposed as a pattern of conjugal chastity. (Calmet)
Worthington
Daniel was about twelve years old when he disclosed the malice of her accusers. (St. Augustine, ser. 242. de temp.) (Worthington)
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Calmet
Judges. The Jews say they were Achab and Sedecias, (Origen) as this text seems to allude to Jeremias 29:21. or 33:14. But how were they burnt? since the Jews appear to have stoned them, unless they were delivered up to the king's officers, ver. 61. (Calmet)
Worthington
The captives under Joakim, were better treated than those who were taken nineteen years afterwards, when all fell into a heavier bondage. (Worthington)
Calmet
The might enjoy possessions, (Haydock) and have judges of their nation. (Calmet)
Houbigant
Cappel. urges this difficulty, and many others, to shew that this account is fabulous. But as the Jews were allowed to follow their religion, the Chaldeans would strive to keep them in good order. It is not said that Joakim was one of the captives. He might have settled long before at Babylon, where Helcias probably brought up his daughter in the fear of God, ver. 3. The judges might also have had authority before over the Israelites, in Assyria, who were now all under the same government, ver. 57. (Houbigant.; Pref.)
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Calmet
Noon, at which time the Jews dined, (ver. 13.; Jos.[Josephus?] vita) and the streets were as little frequented as they are at night among us. Hence the judges thought this a fit opportunity. (Calmet)
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Mind. They were distracted by love, (Haydock) and rendered foolish.
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Calmet
Back door, leading from the house. Strangers came by the other gates. (Calmet)
Houbigant
Susanna had not perhaps at first intended to bathe. Cappel. accuses her of imprudence, without reason. He cannot believe that the old judges would be so sottish as they appear to have been. (Houbigant.)
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Calmet
Death of the soul, (St. Jerome) and also of the body, if the adultery were detected. How much does Susanna surpass the famed Lucretia, who slew herself to shew that she had not consented to her violation! Si adultera cur laudata? Si pudica cur occisa? (St. Augustine, de Civ. Dei. 1:19.; St. Ambrose, de Sp. 3:3.) (Calmet)
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Haydock
Out. So the law ordained, when a woman was assaulted. (Haydock)
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Worthington
People, for greater shew of justice. (Worthington)
We here behold the forms.
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Calmet
Uncovered, pretending that respect for the company required it, or perhaps that they might detect her guilt by her blushes. (Calmet)
Haydock
But their real motive is here disclosed. (Haydock)
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Lyran
Head, saying, "Thy malice brings on this chastisement, and not we." (Lyran.)
Calmet
They appear to discharge their conscience, (Leviticus 1:4.;Leviticus 24:14.) not as judges but as accusers. The people pass sentence, ver. 41. Adulteresses were stoned, Leviticus 20:10. (Calmet)
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Worthington
Death. The multitude approved of this sentence, which the judges pronounced, pretending to act agreeably to the law, Deuteronomy xxii. (Worthington)
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St. Ignatius
Boy. He was about twelve years old. (St. Ignatius, ad Magn.; Sulpit. ii.; Theod.)
Houbigant
He might walk out, though he lodged at court. (Houbigant.)
Worthington
God enabled him to declare that Susanna was innocent. The people had consented to her death, but he stands up in her defence. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Truth. They had taken no precautions to ascertain it; which they ought to have done the more, as Susanna had always been highly esteemed. (Calmet)
Houbigant
As the witnesses were positive, she must die, except their falsehood could be manifested, which none suspected. (Houbigant.)
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Old men. They speak sarcastically; or rather other senators, who had not been in the plot, address Daniel.
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Calmet
Two. This punishment was not unusual: yet it is probable that the two old men were stoned to death by the law of retaliation, ver. 61., and Exodus 19:4.) There is an allusion, in Greek, between schinon and schisei, and also between Prinos and prisei; (ver. 58, 59) and hence it is concluded that this work was originally in that language. But there might be a similar allusion in Hebrew or Chaldean or the translator might think it lawful to put one tree for another. (Calmet)
Menochius
We find a tree called shinar, in Persia. (Tavern. 4:6.) It would be easy to produce similar allusions in the Latin ilex; thus ilicò peribis, etc. (Menochius)
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Haydock
Israel, when you were judges in Assyria, ver. 5. (Haydock)
Conversed. No one could be alone with women, in the East, without suspicion.
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Calmet
Neighbour; stoning or strangling them, unless they gave them up to Nabuchodonosor's officers, ver. 5. (Calmet)
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Maldonatus
Forward. By this first prophetical act Daniel acquired fame, (Worthington) which he retained till the death of Astyages. (Maldonatus; Menochius)
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Worthington
Astyages, or Darius, Daniel 5:31. This belongs to the following chapter (Calmet) or to the 9th. (Worthington)
Calmet
Cyrus. Little is known about his birth or death. Yet all agree that he conquered the Chaldeans. (Calmet)
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a S. Athanasius in Synopsi, reciteth this historie in the beginning of Daniel. And S. Aug. ser. 242. de tem. supposeth that Daniel about the age of tvvelue yeares indued vvith the spirit of prophecie discouered the malicious falshood of them, that accused Susanna.
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b In the transmigration vvhich vvas made in the third yeare of Ioakim king of Iuda, the Iewes were better entreated, and had their ovvne iudicial tribunal, & other priuilegies, vntil the captiuitie, vvhich happened about 19 yeares after, in the eleuenth yeare of Sedecias. At which time they were brought into much more bondage.
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For more colour of iust proceding, these vvicked men gaue their false testimonie, & sentence before the people.
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The people gaue their opinions that she deserued death, but the false Iudges gaue sentence. For so the forme of the lavv required. vvhich they prerended to fulfil. Leu. 20. Deut. 22.
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Daniel by the gift of prophecie savv & declared that she vvas innocent.
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VVheras therfore the people had consented to her death, he denied his consent, & vndertooke to conuince the false vvitnesses: as he did. v. 54. & 58.
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Concordance Iere. 22. v. 3.
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Concordance Exo. 23. v. 7.
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Concordance Deut. 19. v. 19.
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By this first prophetical act, Daniel begane vvorthely to be esteemed.
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This last verse, of Astyages otherwise called Darius, and of Cyrus succeeding him, perteyneth to the ninth chapter. And here mention is made of them to signifie that Daniel beginning to prophecie in his childhood, continued euen to old age. For betvven this historie of Susanna & the death of Darius vvere about nintie yeares.
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Chaplet, or De Corona 4
… Let virgins alone be veiled, and this when they are coming to be married, and not till they have recognised their destined husband. If Susanna also, who was subjected to unveiling on her trial,
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 36.10
… Dost thou wish to have a good cause? Have two or three witnesses,—the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In short, when Susanna, the chaste woman and faithful wife, was pressed by two false witnesses, the Trinity supported her in her conscience and in secret: that Trinity raised up from secrecy one witness, Daniel, and convicted the two.
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are on all sides for me: for if I do this, death is my lot; but if I do it not, I shall not escape your hands. 23. But it is better for me to fall into your hands without doing this, than to sin in the sight of the Lord. 24. And Susanna cried out with a loud voice: and the elders also cried out against her. 25. And one ran to the doors of the garden, and opened them. 26. When therefore the servants of the house heard the cry in the garden, they ran in by the back door to see what was the matter. 27. But after the elders had spoken, the servants were greatly ashamed: for never had such a word been said of Susanna. And the next day came. 28. And when the people came to Joakim her husband, the two elders also came, full of wicked design against Susanna, to put her to death. 29. And they said before the people: Send for Susanna, the daughter of Helcias, the wife of Joakim. And they sent immediately. 30. And she came with her parents, and her children, and all her relations. 31. Now Susanna was exceeding delicate, and beautiful in countenance. 32. But those wicked men commanded that she should be uncovered (for she was covered), that so at least they might be satisfied with her beauty. 33. Therefore they that loved her wept, and all that knew her. 34. But the two elders rose up in the midst of the people, and laid their hands upon her head. 35. And she weeping looked up to heaven: for her heart had confidence in the Lord. 36. And the elders said: As we walked in the garden alone, this woman came in with two maids: and shut the doors of the garden, and sent away the maids from her. 37. And a young man, who was hidden there, came to her, and lay with her. 38. But we being in a corner of the garden, saw this wickedness, and we ran to them, and saw them together. 39. And him indeed we could not apprehend, because he was stronger than us, and opening the doors, he got away: 40. but this woman we took, and asked her who the young man was, and she would not tell us: of this we are witnesses. 41. The multitude believed them, as being elders and judges of the people, and they condemned her to death. 42. Then Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and said: O eternal God, who knowest hidden things, who knowest all things before they come to pass, 43. thou knowest that they have borne false witness against me: and behold I die, whereas I have done none of these things which these men have maliciously laid to my charge. 44. And the Lord heard her voice. 45. And as she was being led to death, the Lord raised up the holy spirit of a young boy, whose name was Daniel; 46. and he cried out with a loud voice: I am clear from the blood of this woman. 47. And all the people turning towards him, said: What is this word that thou hast spoken? 48. And he standing in the midst of them, said: Are you so foolish, ye children of Israel, as without examination or knowledge of the truth to condemn a daughter of Israel? 49. Return to judgment, for they have borne false witness against her. 50. So the people returned in haste, and the elders said to him: Come, and sit down among us, and shew us: for God hath given thee the honour of old age. 51. And Daniel said to them: Separate these two far from one another, and I will examine them. 52. So when they were separated one from the other, he called one of them, and said to him: O thou that art grown old in evil days, now thy sins which thou hast committed before are come upon thee; 53. pronouncing unjust judgments, oppressing the innocent, and letting the guilty go free, whereas the Lord saith: The innocent and the just thou shalt not kill. 54. Now then if thou sawest her, tell me under what tree thou sawest them speaking together. He answered: Under a mastic tree. 55. And Daniel said: Well hast thou lied against thine own head: for behold the angel of God, having received the sentence from God, shall cut thee in two. 56. And removing him, he commanded the other to come, and said to him: O seed of Chanaan, and not of Juda, beauty hath deceived thee, and lust hath perverted thy heart: 57. thus you dealt with the daughters of Israel, and they for fear spoke with you: but a daughter of Juda would not abide your wickedness. 58. Now therefore tell me, under what tree didst thou take them speaking together. He answered: Under a holm tree. 59. And Daniel said to him: Well hast thou also lied against thine own head: for the angel of the Lord waiteth with a sword to cut thee in two, and to slay you both. 60. Then all the assembly cried out with a loud voice, and blessed God, who saveth them that trust in him. 61. And they rose up against the two elders (for Daniel had convicted them out of their own mouth of bearing false witness testimony), and they did to them as they had wickedly done to their neighbor, 62. that they might do according to the law of Moses: and they put them to death, and innocent blood was saved in that day. 63. And Helcias and his wife praised God for their daughter Susanna, with Joakim her husband, and all her kindred, because there was found no shameful thing in her. 64. And Daniel was made great in the sight of the people, from that day, and afterwards. 65. And king Astyages was laid with his fathers, and Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom. 1. AND THERE WAS A MAN. — Note that this chapter and the following are not now found in the Hebrew, but St. Jerome affirms that they were transferred from the translation of Theodotion. That they formerly existed in the Hebrew is evident from Theodotion and the Septuagint, who placed the history of Susanna and Bel in their translation three hundred years before Christ. The Syrian interpreter does the same, and both the Arabic versions, the Antiochene and the Alexandrian. Therefore Africanus wrongly attacked this history (our Novations follow him), whose eight arguments or rather conjectures were well refuted by Origen in an epistle written to him; Leo Castrius published both epistles translated from the Greek into Latin, and prefixed them to his Commentaries on Isaiah. Wherefore this history is not only true, but also canonical Scripture, as I have shown in the Proem. Note secondly: This history is to be preferred to the other histories and chapters of Daniel, and placed immediately after the first chapter; indeed in the Greek codices, and in St. Athanasius in the Synopsis, and in the Arabic version itself it is chapter 1 of Daniel, and in many it is inscribed Daniel, in some Susanna, in some Διάκρισις Δανιέλ, the Judgment of Daniel: because what it narrates happened in Babylon, Daniel being a boy, verse 45. Whence this seems to have been the first prophecy of Daniel, for from it Daniel began to be made great by the people, verse 64. Of the Syrians, and in St. Athanasius in the Synopsis, and in the Arabic version itself it is chapter 1 of Daniel, and in many it is inscribed Daniel, in some Susanna, in some Διάκρισις Δανιέλ, the Judgment of Daniel: because what it narrates happened in Babylon, Daniel being a boy, verse 45. Whence this seems to have been the first prophecy of Daniel, for from it Daniel began to be made great by the people, verse 64. The Hebrews relate, and from them Origen and St. Jerome, that these two elders were Sedekias and Achab, adulterers, and on that account put to death, of whom Jeremiah treats in chapter xxix, 22. Pererius, however, Maldonatus and others deny this same thing; concerning which I have spoken on Jeremiah chapter xxix. See here how sticky lust is and clings to a man even to old age and death: "Lust," says St. Thomas, I II, Question LXXV, article 5, "is of the greatest adhesiveness, and a man can scarcely be torn from it: for the appetite for pleasure is insatiable." Let those therefore who have fallen rise up immediately, lest, if they fall again and again, they cannot free themselves from this glue. Indeed here is true that saying of St. Ambrose: "I have more easily found those who have preserved innocence than those who have done true penance." Again the Poet truly said: It is shameful for an old man to be a soldier, shameful for an old man to love. Wherefore such frivolous and wanton old men are deservedly compared to the down of thistles, concerning which there is this riddle of Eubulus: I know one who is grave as a young man, but when he becomes old, he flies away featherless, and troubles the earth. Peter Damian aptly applies the crime of these two elders, in his epistle to Cadiloum the Antipope, to the Bishops of Piacenza and Vercelli, who created Cadiloum Antipope, and delivered to him the Roman Church, as it were Susanna, to be invaded and violated. But Daniel, that is the judgment and vengeance of God, pursued and condemned them. THE LORD SPOKE: BECAUSE, etc. — Where, and how, whether in writing or by the living voice of some Prophet, the Lord spoke these things, is not clear. WHO SEEMED, — who were in reputation, in authority of governing the people. For this among other things δοκεῖν signifies: whence δοκοῦντες are called honored and illustrious men, Galatians II, 2 and 6. 6. WHO HAD JUDGMENTS, — οἱ κρινόμενοι, who were judged, that is, litigants.
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8. AND THEY SAW HER. — The sight was the cause of concupiscence; for the eyes are leaders in love. And: "Where the eye is, there is love; where the hand is, there is pain." Hence wisely Job, chapter xxxi, 1: "I made," he says, "a covenant with my eyes that I would not so much as think upon a virgin." I heard a grave and chaste matron admonishing confessors to beware of the sight and long conversations with women: For I am certain, she said, that there is no man so wise, so holy, so steadfast, whom I would not bend to my will, if I should converse with him for a quarter of an hour, and he should gaze upon my eyes. The eyes, therefore, the faces, the bodies and conversations of women are serpentine. Most excellently St. Jerome, in his epistle 2 to Nepotian: "Let your little dwelling," he says, "be trodden by the feet of women rarely or never. All the girls and virgins of Christ either know equally not at all, or love equally: lest you dwell under the same roof, nor trust in your past chastity. Nor
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Note thirdly: This history does not appear to have been written by Daniel himself, at least in this work of his; but by some Hebrew who, during the Babylonian captivity, or rather shortly after it, wrote chronicles or diaries of the kings of the Medes and Persians, and especially of Cyrus, who freed the Jews from Babylon, and at the same time recorded memorable deeds which befell his own people at that time, namely the Hebrews. This is evident from verse 66, where it is indicated that the history of Susanna or of Bel occurred before Cyrus, under Astyages king of the Medes, who was the grandfather of Cyrus. From those diaries therefore it was transferred into this book of Daniel, and added to it as an appendix, because it was done and accomplished by Daniel: and this is the reason why it was relegated to the end of Daniel: indeed the Septuagint even ascribed the history of Bel to the prophet Habakkuk, as I shall say at chapter xiv, 32. 5. And two elders were appointed. — From this place Africanus impugned this history. For how, he says, could the Jews have had their own judges in Babylon, when they were captives and altogether subject to the Babylonians? I answer that this was done by the indulgence of the Chaldeans: for they permitted the Jews themselves to judge those cases which pertained to their own law. The Romans permitted the same to them, as is evident from John chapter xviii, 31. Thus we see at Antwerp the Portuguese and Italian merchants to have their own magistrates and judges of their own people.
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Stronger than Samson, nor holier than David, nor can you be wiser than Solomon. Always remember that woman cast the inhabitant of paradise from his possession." In the same author, volume IX, in the Rule of Nuns, which is inscribed to Eustochium under the false name of Jerome, chapter xviii: "Nothing is more dangerous to a man than a woman, nor to a woman than a man; each is straw, each is fire." St. Bernard, sermon 65 on the Canticles: "To be always with a woman, he says, and not to know a woman, is this not more than raising the dead? What is less, you cannot do; and what is greater, do you wish me to believe you?" See the sayings at Genesis xxxiv, 2, and Numbers xxv, at the end. Hear therefore the sound counsel of the Christian Poet, who plays prudently and equally elegantly thus: What will you do, what will you do when you come before Venus? Do not sit, but go, lest you perish through her. For, as Ovid sings, XIII Metamorphoses: O! what great power of dominion Is Venus kind to you! And through your eyes he himself perishes, and his own. 9. THEY PERVERTED THEIR MIND. — For love is blind and blinds reason. A Gentile said: "To love and to be wise is scarcely granted even to God."
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THAT THEY MIGHT NOT SEE HEAVEN. — The Syrian: That they might not gaze upon heaven; the Arabic: That they might not look up to heaven, and consequently that they might not revere God the ruler of heaven. Indeed Maldonatus understands by heaven God himself. For thus it seems to be taken in Matthew xxi, 25: "The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven?" that is, from God? Whence the Angel Caninius in the Hebrew Names teaches that God is called scamaim, that is, heaven: for he himself is, as the world, so also uncreated heaven. Hence the Atlantides, peoples of Africa, gloried that God κοσμον, that is, heaven, first reigned among them. Thus in Luke xv, 21, the Prodigal says: "Father, I have sinned against heaven." Thus the Poet: "Most pleasing to heaven the river:" "to heaven," that is, to the gods, who are contained in heaven. I Maccabees III, 18: "There is no difference in the sight of God of heaven (in Greek ἐνώπιον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, that is, before heaven, that is, before God the king of heaven) to deliver by many, or by few." And cap. IV, 10: "And now let us cry to heaven, and he will have mercy upon us." For the word Lord, which is added in the Latin, is not in the Greek. Thus the Rabbis often say: "All things are in the hand of heaven," that is, of God; likewise: "Let the fear of heaven be upon you;" and: "Let the name of heaven be frequent in your mouth." Thus "the fear of men excludes the fear of heaven." Thus in Jeremiah xvii, 12, it is said: "The throne of glory, high from the beginning," as if to say, God is dwelling in the heavenly throne, who will punish Sedecias and other impious men. Nay, Pliny thus begins his work: "The world, and this which it pleased to call by another name heaven, by whose circumflex all things are covered, it is fitting to believe is divine." And Ovid, in the VIII Metamorphoses: Immense is, and the power of heaven has no end. It is a metonymy. It is similar when a house is put for the offspring dwelling in the house; as, When the house of Assaracus shall rule over conquered Argos. Thus the house of David, of Solomon, of Hezekiah, of Josiah, etc., is called their very stock and royal family. Thus again concerning Susanna it is said in verse 35: "Who weeping looked up to heaven," namely to God. Whence also follows here: NOR WOULD THEY REMEMBER THE JUST JUDGMENTS, — by which God from heaven is accustomed to avenge hidden adulteries and crimes. This is what the Wise man says, Ecclesiasticus xxiii, 27: "The blind adulterer does not understand that all things are seen by his eye (of God), because he casts the fear of God from himself." And verse 26, the adulterer says: "Who sees me? darkness surrounds me, and walls cover me, and no one looks around me: whom do I fear? the Most High will not remember my offences." The foolish man asks: "Who sees me? whom do I fear?" St. Bernard answers him, sermon to the Clergy, cap. xvi: "Even if no one sees you, yet not no one. The evil angel sees you, the good angel sees you: and God, greater than both good and evil angels, sees you; the accuser sees you; a multitude of witnesses sees you; and the judge himself sees you, before whose tribunal you must stand; under whose eyes indeed to wish to offend is as insane as it is dreadful to fall into the hands of the living God." The impious therefore say that of Psalm xliii, 7: "The Lord will not see, neither will God understand Jacob." And that of Job xxii, 13: "For what does God know? and as it were through darkness he judges, clouds are his hiding place, and he does not consider our affairs, and he walks about the hinges of heaven." And that of Psalm lxxii, 11: "How does God know? and if there is knowledge in the highest?" And that of Isaiah xxix, 15: "Whose works are in darkness, and they say: Who sees us? and who knows us?" For, as the Psalmist says in Psalm ix, 26: "God is not in his sight;" hence, because he lacks the fear and shame of God, "his ways are defiled at all times." But the pious say that of Ecclesiasticus xxiii, 28: "The eyes of the Lord are much brighter than the sun, looking upon all the ways of men, and the depth of the abyss, and the hearts of men, looking into the hidden parts." Thus Moses "endured, seeing the invisible (God)," Hebrews xi, 27. Thus David in Psalm cxviii, 168: "I have kept," he says, "thy commandments and thy testimonies; because all my ways are in thy sight." Thus Elias: "The Lord lives," he says, "in whose sight I stand," III Kings xvii, 1. "Blessed is the man," says Ecclesiasticus cap. xiv, 22, "who shall dwell in wisdom, and who shall meditate in his justice, and in understanding (ἐν συνέσει, that is, in intellect) shall think upon the circumspection of God." See, o man! what you do; God looks upon you from head to heel, God looks into your mind and the depths of your heart, God will judge and condemn you if you sin. 10. WOUNDED WITH LOVE. — The Septuagint, ᾐτιμωρημέναι περὶ αὐτῆς, stricken for her; the Scholiast, κεκεντημένοι τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ σφοδρῶς, pierced with desire vehemently.
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13. And they went out. — When they had pretended to go home, so that they might conceal from each other the hidden wound of concupiscence, and had departed, they returned again by another way to the same place, so that they might lay snares for Susanna: and then, seeing that they thought the same thing, and were striving toward the same end, they confessed to each other their concupiscence. Thus often one adulterer discovers another adulterer, one thief discovers a thief, and, as is commonly said: "One snare catches another snare."
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15. AND SHE DESIRED TO WASH HERSELF IN THE GARDEN. — Let those who love chastity learn here how great are the dangers of baths, and how sparingly and cautiously they should be approached; for in them the flesh, the world, and the demon lie in wait. Behold, Susanna, as you go to bathe, you go at the same time into danger to your chastity, your reputation, and your life. We read in ancient histories that virgins have often been seized and possessed by demons while going to bathe. To pass over other instances, memorable was that virgin who, going to bathe, was seized by a demon, and at Rome at the Waters of Salvation was freed and healed by the invocation of St. Anastasius the martyr buried there, as the public Acts record, which Cardinal Baronius relates, vol. VIII, in the year of the Lord 713. For this reason St. Jerome, epistle 7 to Læta, says: "To me, baths are altogether displeasing in an adult virgin, who ought to blush at herself, and cannot bear to see herself naked." And to Rusticus, epistle 4: "Let him not seek the warmth of baths, who desires to extinguish the heat of his body with the cold of fasting." Hence he himself praises St. Paula in the Epitaph, because, living with other nuns, she never used baths except when in danger and compelled by necessity. For just as theaters (as Tertullian says, in the book On Spectacles) used to be places in which the wicked demon reigned, so also are baths. In the Synod of Poitiers, in the year of the Lord 593, Chrodieldis, a nun of royal blood, pretended that the reason for her flight from the monastery was that baths were permitted in the monastery. To which the abbess replied that she did not approve what she said, and did not know if it had happened: if she herself had seen it, why had she not reported it to the abbess? St. Theodore of Syceon, in the year of the Lord 608, reproved the custom of those who went to bathe after the Holy Synaxis, saying: "Know that God has revealed to me that those sin greatly who go to bathe after holy communion, to wash and care for their body. For who, anointed with unguent and perfumes, washes away their sweetness? Who, having dined with the emperor, runs to the bath?" Thus Eleusius relates in his Life. Palladius writes in the Lausiac History, chapter viii, in the Life of Ammon, a disciple of St. Anthony, that he was so modest that when about to cross the river Lycos,
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he was unwilling to undress, lest he see himself naked, and therefore was suddenly transported by an angel to the opposite bank. 22. FOR IF I DO THIS, IT IS DEATH TO ME, — I shall be guilty of death, that is, bodily death: for adulteresses were stoned according to the law. Thus St. Jerome and others. Secondly and better, you should understand death of the soul here, as if to say: I am hemmed in on all sides, because I must necessarily fall into death either of body or of soul: for you threaten me with bodily death if I do not do this; but God threatens me with death of the soul if I do this, if namely I consent to your lust, and willingly and knowingly mingle with you as you demand. For otherwise in this force and fear of infamy and death, Susanna could say: I do not consent to the act, but I shall suffer and be silent, lest you defame me and drive me to death, as she says in verse 23; although perhaps Susanna either did not know this or did not think of it. For thus do honest and chaste virgins think themselves guilty, and that they have consented to the seducers, if they do not resist and oppose them with cries, with hands, and with all their strength. For they place all their honor in virginity, which they esteem as an incomparable gem.
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23. BUT IT IS BETTER FOR ME TO FALL INTO YOUR HANDS WITHOUT DOING IT, THAN TO SIN IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD, — as if to say: It is better for me to die in body than in soul: it is more important to fear God than to fear the presence and displeasure of men. For, as Christ says, and from Him St. Bernard, sermon 3 On the Annunciation: "When men have killed the body, they have nothing more they can do to the soul; but He is to be feared who has power to cast both body and soul into hell." Let virgins hear this, let Christians hear this and imitate it, when they are urged by companions to obscene and illicit things. Rightly does Chrysostom say, in the homily On Susanna: "Susanna despised what she heard, because she feared Him from whom nothing is hidden; for false witnesses can harm reputation, not kill conscience. But God can do both. Note here how we ought to revere the most clear eyes of God, who sees all things, even the most hidden. For this reason I said at Genesis v, 24, and Genesis xvii, 1."
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Hence Susanna was aptly called in Hebrew, that is, lily (for lily in Hebrew is called שושן san, from שש ses, that is six, because it is hexaphyllous: for it has six leaves) on account of her chastity; just as also Daniel, that is, judge of God: because he convicted these two elders, judges of the devil, and punished them with death. On these words of Susanna, Dionysius the Carthusian writes thus: "Sin is of infinite fugibility, because God is of infinite honorability, that is to say: Man ought to flee sin with infinite effort and infinite flight; because God, whom sin offends, is to be honored infinitely; every punishment, in order that guilt be avoided, is to be endured; infinite flight, lest sin overtake us, is to be undertaken. To this Susanna, similar in chastity and virtue, was St. Susanna, a virgin, niece of Caius the Pontiff, and equally of Diocletian the Emperor, who preferred to die rather than to be violated. For when she refused marriage with Maximian the Emperor, to whom Diocletian wished to betroth her, and preferred to him her virginity promised to God by vow, she was slain by him, and achieved a noble martyrdom in the struggle of faith and virginity, in the year of the Lord 295, whose memory the Church celebrates annually on the eleventh day of August. Hence also allegorically Susanna bears the type of the Church, as St. Jerome says in chapter II of Sophonias, whose chastity the heretics strive to corrupt, but Daniel, that is, the Pontiff, convicts and condemns them. Note: The chastity of Susanna was far purer, stronger and more excellent than that of Lucretia the Roman. For she failed in three respects, and showed a small spirit. First, because she admitted the lust of Tarquin, lest she be stained with the infamy which Tarquin threatened to her: for she consented to adultery, which she afterwards expiated by voluntary death; for she took her own life, so that by this means she might as it were expiate the crime: learn, Lucretia: "Before crime, death ought to have been endured by the chaste." Second, because she valued reputation more than chastity and the testimony of conscience. Third, because she killed herself: for by this means she did not expiate the crime, but added crime to crime. Thus St. Augustine, book I of The City of God, chapters xviii and xix: "That Lucretia," he says, "because she endured adultery, killed herself, although not an adulteress; this is not love of chastity, but weakness of shame. Whence to the eyes of men, to whom she could not demonstrate her conscience, she thought that punishment ought to be applied as a witness of her mind; for she blushed to be believed a partner in the deed; if what another had done shamefully in her, she would bear patiently. Christian women did not do this, who, having suffered similar things, live; nor did they avenge on themselves the crime of another, lest they add their own to the crimes of others; if, because enemies in them had committed rape by lusting, they should commit shameful homicides in themselves. For they have within them the glory of chastity, the testimony of conscience; and they have it before the eyes of their God; nor do they require more, lest they deviate from the authority of divine law, when they rightly avoid the offense of human suspicion." He then adds, and teaches that the sanctity of the soul is not lost, if the body be violated by force; just as the sanctity of the body and of the whole man is lost, if the sanctity of the soul be violated, even with the body untouched. For the proper seat of sanctity is the soul, not the body. Whence the same, in epistle 112, teaches that this "violence is to be reckoned not for the shame of corruption, but for the wound of suffering." Lucretia was surpassed in chastity and wisdom by virgins, both pagan and Christian, who not after vice, as Lucretia, but lest they be vitiated, killed themselves, when they saw no other means of escape, or offered themselves to death. Thus the Lacaena, when she was being sold, when the auctioneer asked her what she knew: I know, she said, to be free. And when the buyer imposed on her certain things unbecoming a free woman, she said: You will weep that you envy yourself such a possession; and she took her own life. Thus Roman virgins delivered to Porsenna the king, under the leadership of Cloelia, swam across a vast river, and one dangerous with deep whirlpools, with great effort, holding each other mutually, and at last reached their own people on the other bank, manifestly undergoing the danger of death willingly for the sake of chastity. Thus Micca, daughter of Philodemus, when sought by the leader Leucius for rape, said she preferred to be slain rather than violated; and at last, resisting, she was beaten by Leucius, and slain in her father's bosom, as Plutarch testifies in his On the Virtues of Women. Among Christian women, Pithomena of Alexandria, a slave of a Roman citizen, when she was in vain solicited by him to wickedness, accused by him of being Christian, immersed in boiling pitch, preferred to lose her life rather than violate her chastity. St. Dympna was beheaded by her father, the King of Ireland (because she refused to marry him, to be his wife as well as his daughter) in Geela, a town of Brabant, where I once venerated her relics. Her feast day is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology and is celebrated annually on the 15th of May. Similarly among the Greeks, St. Thomais was cut to pieces by her father-in-law, who likewise sought her in marriage, because she preferred to be a martyr rather than an adulteress and incestuous woman; concerning her our Raderus writes in the Viridarium of Saints on the 14th of April. Maxelendis, a virgin of Cambrai, when she refused marriage to her betrothed Harduin on account of her vow of virginity, was put to death: but to him, after three years had passed, his sight was restored, in the year of the Lord 670. Thus Sigebert. Platina in the Gift, and others. Moreover, St. Euphrasias of Antioch was memorable, who, when caught by a soldier who was her lover, since she could not escape, said she would teach him an art by which an unarmed man could not be harmed, if he would spare her, and that he should make trial of it upon her. She therefore anointed her neck, and when he struck it, he immediately cut it off. Thus by pious deceit she redeemed her chastity through her death. Thus Cedrenus and Nicephorus, book VII, chapter xiii. Also notable was Sophronia, a Roman matron, who, when sought by the Emperor Maxentius through messengers, entered her chamber and inflicted death upon herself with a sword, signifying to the tyrant through messengers: "Such things," she said, "please Christian women more than a tyrant." Thus Eusebius, book VIII of the History, chapter xvii. Equally illustrious was Digna, who, captured at Aquileia by Attila, was seized by the barbarian for rape; as if desiring privacy, she ascended a platform overhanging the river Natisone. Then, turning to the Hun who followed: "Follow me," she said, "if you wish to possess me," and immediately threw herself into the river. Thus Olaus in the Life of Attila, and others. St. Ambrose, in the book On Virgins, writes that St. Pelagia with her mother and sisters threw herself headlong into a river, lest she be violated by a pursuing soldier, and that she is venerated by the Church as a martyr. This is entirely consistent with what Nicephorus Callistus, book XIII of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter xxxv, writes: In the first plundering of the city of Rome by Alaric, king of the Goths, which took place in the year of Christ 412, a certain woman exhibited the greatest example of chastity. For since she excelled both in the flower of age and in the beauty of form, a young man from among Alaric's soldiers, captivated by her beauty when he saw her, solicited her for intercourse. But when she calmly refused this, the soldier, drawing his sword, threatened her with death, as if contending with love, and through mercy wounded only the top of her neck: she, flowing with blood, applied the sword to her throat, thinking it better for her to meet death with a chaste mind than to lie with another man. And when the fierce barbarian attacked her more violently and accomplished nothing in his assault upon her, struck with amazement at her chastity, he led her to the Apostolic temple of St. Peter, and entrusted her to the guardians of the Church, giving them six gold coins, so that they would preserve the girl for her husband. Bernardus Scardeonius, book III of the History of Padua, writes that Blanca Rubea of Padua, wife of Baptist a Porta, set out with her husband to the garrison of Bassiano, a town of Padua, in the year of Christ 1233, when Azzo d'Este the tyrant, having lost Padua, turned all the force of war against Bassiano, and also captured it by treachery, and cut down Baptist at the very gates: Blanca also, armed and fighting bravely, was surrounded by soldiers and led captive to the tyrant. He, moved by her form (which was enhanced by her armor), first attempted to corrupt her with blandishments, then also by force: she, since she could not escape by any other means, threw herself headlong from a window. Scarcely alive from the fall, she was finally healed with difficulty. The tyrant attacked her again when healed, and because she refused to consent, by the work of his servants, bound, he violated her. She, concealing her grief, obtained from friends that, to relieve her sorrow and longing, she might be able to look upon the foul corpse of her husband once only with the sepulcher opened. They granted her wish. The sepulcher being opened where he lay, she, uttering a great wail, threw herself into the sepulcher, and at the same time pushed the stone with such violence that it fell together and broke Blanca's neck. Thus avenging her chastity, by her vow she obtained a common sepulcher with her husband. Sophronius relates in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter clxxxix, something wonderful about a woman who, tempted by an adulterer, kept faith with her husband, and for this reason was enriched by the adulterer. TO SIN. — For Susanna would have sinned by consenting and cooperating, namely by mingling with the elders, which they themselves demanded in verse 20; she could have, however, in such great danger of infamy and death, conducted herself negatively and permitted their lust upon her, provided she had not consented to it by an internal act, but had detested and cursed it, because greater good is reputation and life than chastity: hence it is permitted to expose this for that. Therefore she was not bound to cry out, as Dominicus Soto teaches, lib. V De Just. Quæst. I, art. 5, and Navarrus, Manual. cap. xvi, num. 1. That therefore she cried out, and in no way permitted their lust upon her, was an act of remarkable and heroic chastity: for such is to prefer to die rather than to be defiled. He properly says "to sin": for to sin was originally said, as it were to play the harlot, that is to act as a harlot, or to consort with a harlot. 24. She cried out (imploring help against the lustful elders): and they also cried out — namely, being already exposed by Susanna's cry, so that they might accuse her; lest they appear to be guilty, but rather avengers of the crime. Let virgins learn from Susanna, when tempted by the lustful, to oppose them generously, to cry out, to struggle with hands and feet: for those who do this rarely suffer violence: for it is difficult to violate one who struggles completely. Ambrose teaches this to a fallen virgin, cap. IV: "But you will say: I did not wish this evil, I suffered violence. That most brave Susanna, whose name you falsely bear, will answer you: For I indeed, placed between two presbyters, between two judges of the people, alone in the midst of the woods of paradise, could not be overcome, because I did not wish it. You, by one most foolish youth, and in the midst of the city, how could you endure violence, unless because you willingly wished to be violated? Who indeed heard your cries? Who perceived your struggles?"
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25. AND ONE RAN TO THE DOORS OF THE GARDEN, — so that they might appear to have entered by that way, or so that they might say that the youth, whom they were about to claim had been there, had escaped by it, as they themselves say in verse 39. Thus Maldonatus.
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27. THE ELDERS SPOKE. — εἶπον τοὺς λόγους αὐτῶν, that is they set forth their reasons, namely the accusation of Susanna with their proofs and evidence.
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27 and 28. AND THE NEXT DAY CAME, AND WHEN HE CAME, etc., — as if to say: When on the following day the people had assembled to the husband of Joakim. Thus from the Greek Vatablus and others. 34. THEY LAID THEIR HANDS UPON HER HEAD. — It was the custom of the Hebrews that the accuser and witnesses laid hands upon the head of the accused, to signify that they accused this head and demanded it for death. See the words at Levit. xxiv, 14. Behold the elders, who before were robbers of chastity, now become robbers of life: on the other hand Susanna twice victorious, and escaped both lust and death: indeed she even saw the vengeance of her enemies, as Cyprian says, lib. De Bono pudicitiæ.
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35. And she, weeping, looked up to heaven. — Most excellently St. Ambrose, lib. De Joseph, cap. v: "Susanna," he says, "while silent in judgment, spoke better than an oracle; and therefore she merited the defense of a Prophet, she who did not seek the aid of her own voice." For in silence and hope was her strength. "She looked up therefore to heaven," speaking with face and eyes, and saying: "Behold my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high," Job xvi, 20. And: "To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul: in thee, O my God, I put my trust, let me not be ashamed. My eyes are ever towards the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the snare," Psalm. xxiv. We do not read that Susanna ever sent forth such burning prayers to God, nor looked up to heaven so vehemently, as when she saw herself
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in these extreme straits. Thus tribulation teaches to pray efficaciously: efficacious prayer obtains God's help, even through a miracle. Again note here that God permits his own to be brought into straits, so that they may learn to hope in him and to invoke him: for in their straits God is most present, and is very near to them, so that he may help them. 41. THEY CONDEMNED HER, — both the people and the judges, namely so that she should be stoned: for the penalty of stoning was appointed for adulterers among the Jews, as I have shown at Levit. xx, 10.
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Note here the ancient law concerning the penalty of death established for adulterers. The Emperor Aurelian punished a soldier who had committed adultery with the wife of his host in such a manner that he bent the branches of two trees, which he tied to the feet of the soldier, and then suddenly released them, so that the soldier, torn asunder, hung suspended on both sides. Thus Nauclerus and others, in the year 276. The Emperor Constantine, writing in response to Catullinus, established this law against adulterers: "It would have been fitting for you, out of respect for public order, to punish those detected by confession with the severity of the laws, and not to admit in vain the dilatory appeals of those prolonging their lives, but to condemn the crime of adultery that has been reported and confirmed by interrogation with equal savagery of wickedness. What henceforth ought to be observed in such crimes is that when adultery is proven by manifest proofs, frivolous appeal shall in no way be admitted; since by equal and similar reasoning it is fitting that those who are sacrilegious toward the marriage bond, as manifest parricides, be sewn into a sack alive, or burned, as the judge determines." Thus it is found in law 4 Of those appealing, Cod. Theodos. In Germany, Otto Count, a most shameless adulterer, and on account of adultery excommunicated by the Bishop of Constance, is most shamefully beheaded by the judgment of God by the soldiers of Louis Count, whose wife he had most wickedly joined to himself in public nuptials while he was still living. He, buried at a monastery constructed on his own estate by his men, is cast out by order of the Bishop of Constance, and (as it is written) is assigned to the burial of an ass, in the year of the Lord 1089, as Baronius says. In the year of the Lord 993, an Empress named Maria, daughter of the King of Aragon, wife of Otto III, is publicly burned by fire on account of adultery, as Crantzius says, lib. IV Hist. Saxon. cap. xxvi. I have recounted more examples in Genesis xxxviii, 24, and Numbers v, at the end of the chapter. 42. BEFORE THEY COME TO PASS. — How much more so after it has come to pass.
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44. And the Lord heard her voice. — Learn here how efficacious are the prayers of the condemned who are sentenced to death, especially unjustly, and how much God, the Father of orphans and the afflicted, has compassion on them and comes to their aid. For this reason, those condemned to death unjustly have not rarely summoned their judges to the tribunal of God, and those judges, taken from life within the time appointed to the dying, ought to have presented themselves there. I have brought forward more examples in Jeremiah xvii, 12.
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45. The Lord raised up the Holy Spirit, — namely first, the spirit of prophecy, by which Daniel, being illuminated, knew that the elders were falsely accusing Susanna. Second, the spirit of boldness and resourcefulness, to refute these elders and to free Susanna. For this Spirit suggested to Daniel the manner of detecting the false accusation, namely by separating the elders and examining them separately, so that they would speak things contrary to one another, and thus they would refute themselves. The Syriac version renders it: God sent suddenly His holy Spirit upon a small boy, whose name was Daniel; the Arabic: God moved the Holy Spirit in a young man named Daniel. From the word "raised up" Origen, as cited by St. Jerome, gathers that the Holy Spirit had already occupied the mind of Daniel before, but here only stirred him up to undertake this heroic deed: for this is what the word "raised up" signifies. From this deliverance of Susanna and similar instances, Nyssenus, lib. VIII De Provident. cap. 1, teaches that there is a Divine Power and the providence of God, which governs the world, protects the pious, and detects and punishes the impious.
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Young boy, — παιδαρίου νεωτέρου, that is, a little boy. But it is certain that Daniel was not a little boy at this time: παιδάριον therefore is taken as a diminutive for the simple παῖς, that is, boy, that is, a young man. For the Hebrews lack diminutives. Whence Daniel, cap. 1, 3, is called ילד ieled, that is, as the Septuagint translates it, νεανίσκος, that is, a young man. For he was already learned in all wisdom; it was therefore easy that he was 24 years old: for these things appear to have happened not 1, but 4, or 5 years after Daniel came to Babylon, namely under the 7th year of the reign of Joakim, which was the 4th year of Nebuchadnezzar. It is confirmed: for after 10 years, Daniel was most celebrated in wisdom and holiness, so that he is compared by God with Noah and Job, as is evident from Ezech. xiv, 14. Therefore he was then easily 34 years old, not 24, as others wish. For what young man of 24 years would be compared in holiness with Noah and Job? It is therefore remarkable that St. Ignatius, in his epistle to the Magnesians, and from him Theodoret in cap. 1 Ezech., and Torniellus say that Daniel at this time was twelve years old: for it was not fitting that a twelve-year-old boy be a judge, nor would the people have listened to a twelve-year-old boy objecting, and elders recalling them to his judgment. Such also is that which St. Ignatius says in the same place, that Solomon was twelve years old, when he performed the judgment of the two harlots in childbirth. For it is certain that Solomon was then king, and therefore easily 20 years old: for he had already begotten Rehoboam, as is evident from the fact that when Solomon died, in the 40th year of his reign, Rehoboam his son succeeded him, being 41 years old, as is evident from III Reg. xi, 42, and cap. xiv, 21. Do you wish a marvelous power through boys, indeed infants, to exhibit indications of truth, and judgments and testimonies of innocence? Take Gregory of Tours, lib. II Hist. Franc. cap. 1; he narrates that St. Brixius, Bishop of Tours, when he was falsely accused of fornication, as if he were the father of an infant, whom a washerwoman of his clothes had borne, said: "Bring the infant to me." And when it had been brought (for the infant was thirty days old), the Bishop said to him: "I adjure you by Jesus Christ, the Son of Almighty God, that if I begot you, you speak before all." And he said: "You are not, he said, my father." But when the people asked that he inquire who was the father, the priest said: "This is not my concern; what pertained to me, I was careful about; if anything is available to you, seek it through yourselves." Sophronius in Prato spirit. cap. cxiv, narrates that Daniel the abbot, when a husband asked him praying over his wife, had obtained offspring for him, when the wicked detracted from him, as if he himself were the father of the offspring, asked a little boy: "Who is your father, infant?" to which the infant: "This one," pointing with his finger to the true father. But the infant was 25 days old. Similar is in the Life of St. Brigid, virgin of Scotland, who died in the 7th year of the Emperor Justin the Elder, that is, in the year 521 from the birth of Christ. A certain woman no less impiously than shamelessly was lying that she had conceived a son from the Bishop Broon, who was a disciple of St. Patrick. When St. Brigid had her summoned, and impressed upon her mouth the saving sign of the holy cross, immediately the head with the tongue of the impudent woman was swollen with great tumidity. Then in a similar manner signing the tongue of the infant: "Tell us, she said, little infant, who is your father?" A marvelous thing, he opens the mouth of the infant, to whom once God gave the faculty of speech to Balaam's ass, and the little one says: "By no means Bishop Broon, but that deformed and vile little man, who sits in the lowest place in the people, is my parent." And so all praised God, and the woman did penance. Tropologically and symbolically St. Augustine, serm. 343 De Tempore: "In the holy woman, he says, (Susanna) with her tongue silent, chastity speaks for her. For chastity was present in Susanna's judgment, which was lacking in Eve in paradise. For there it consulted her modesty, here her salvation. There lest her modesty be stained, here lest her innocence be condemned. For the chastity of Susanna convicted the impudent presbyters in paradise, and in the judgment obtained against false accusers, and twice victorious makes guilty those whom it makes guilty of testimony, whom it makes guilty of adultery. And finally chastity merits Daniel as judge, a boy younger, not yet of pubescent age; therefore much does chastity obtain from God, since it merits a virgin judge. For chastity is secure of victory, to which virginity is judgment." 46. I am clean. — I do not consent to the unjust death of Susanna.
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48. NOR KNOWING WHAT IS TRUE. — οὐδὲ τὸ σαφὲς ἐπιγνόντες, that is, not sufficiently known, discussed and examined cause.
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50. COME AND SIT. — The elders say these things to Daniel either by sarcasm, or by flattery, so that they might win him over to themselves, lest he reveal their crime.
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THE HONOR OF OLD AGE, — the office and dignity of judging of the old: for it is the part of the old to judge. For in them are prudence, experience and apathy, which three are required for sincere judgment. Hence Eccli. xlii, 4: "Speak, he says, you who are older (old man), for it is fitting for you." 51. I will judge them, — ἀνακρινῶ, I will examine.
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52. Grown old in evil days, — full of evil days, which days you have spent from childhood to old age, in luxury and crimes, as if to say, Grown old in age, as much as in malice, an old man.
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NOW YOUR SINS HAVE COME — to their fullness and maturity, so that in this crime they may be brought forth and punished. 54. Under a mastic tree. — The mastic tree, or lentisk, is a tree of the size of an oak, with the odor of terebinth, with berries that are reddish while ripening, and black when ripe: it sweats a resin, which on the island of Chios they call mastic. Whence the lentisk is so named, because it becomes viscous with this liquid or resin. It is three-bearing: for it produces fruit three times each year. Whence Cicero, in De Divinatione, from an ancient poet:
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Now indeed always green, and always laden, The lentisk, accustomed to grow with threefold offspring: Bearing fruits thrice, it shows three seasons for plowing. Furthermore Hippocrates calls the fruit of the lentisk schinida, and the tree schinos. Thus Ruellius, book I, chapter xx. Some codices read, under a cypress, and therefore James Constantius contends it should be read thus, saying that cypress is a species of laurel. But that it should be read under a mastic tree, not under a cypress, is taught by St. Jerome, Africanus, Origen, the Roman Bible and others throughout. For cypress is a fictitious tree, and unknown to Theophrastus, Pliny, Columella and other ancients. The passages of Pliny and Ovid, which Constantine cites for cypress, are shown to be corrupted by Anthony Nebrissa in the Quinquagena, chapter XI. 55. He shall cut you in two. — The Greek σχίσει beautifully alludes to σχίνος, as if to say: An angel impends over you, and threatens to cut you in two, and will do so in act, unless God prevents it, or the people prevent it by stoning you, as indeed they did prevent it: for it is clear that the angel intended death for them from verse 59.
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56. SEED OF CANAAN, — O man of Canaan rather than of the Hebrews, if you consider morals and vices. Thus says Ezekiel chapter xvi, 45: "Your mother was a Cethite, and your father an Amorite."
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57. THUS YOU DID TO THE DAUGHTERS OF ISRAEL. — Daniel contrasts the daughters of Israel with the daughters of Judah, such as Susanna was, as if they were more timid and more easily led to consent, with those stronger and more steadfast: for the Israelites, abandoning God and declining to idolatry, became more prone to lust and other crimes. Note: Not only the tribe of Judah, but also many from the other tribes were carried away with it into Babylon, and there they preserved the distinction of tribes, as is clear from this.
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58. Under a holm oak. Holm oak is not a plum tree, as St. Augustine thought, sermon 242 On the Seasons, but a species of ilex: for there are various species of ilex, and one from which cochineal is produced, concerning which Pliny, book XVI, chapters vi and viii.
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59. WELL HAVE YOU ALSO LIED AGAINST YOUR OWN HEAD. — See here how falsehood destroys the liar, and deceit the deceiver, by the just judgment of God. This is what Christ says: "Out of your own mouth I judge you, wicked servant."
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Wherefore the judgment of Alexander de' Medici, first Duke of Florence, was equally just and wise. For when a certain man had lost a purse in which there were sixty gold coins, and he had ordered it to be proclaimed by a herald, promising ten gold coins to whoever should return it to him; the finder, a poor man, brought it back and demanded the ten gold coins; but he, having recovered his property, began to equivocate, and said that there had been seventy gold coins in the purse, that the finder had taken ten, and had paid them to himself. The Duke rendered judgment: This purse of sixty gold coins is not his who says he lost a purse of seventy gold coins: therefore let the finder keep it until the true owner is found. Thus he was justly deprived of his purse, he who maliciously by lying had calumniated the finder and accused him of theft. See here again how aptly the sentence corresponds to the crime, and the punishment to the fault. The old man was devising calumny and death against Susanna in the prino, which in Greek signifies cutting; hence fittingly he hears from Daniel: "There remaineth an angel of the Lord with a sword to cut thee in two." Thus God punished through talkative frogs the murmuring and blasphemies of Pharaoh, through gnats his pride, through the blood of the Nile the blood of the Hebrew infants shed by him, as I said on Exodus vii and following. Assuredly, by that by which anyone sins, by that also is he punished, says the Wise Man. Finally, in these two perverse old men these two sayings of Ptolemy are true, at the beginning of the Almagest, the first: "He who wishes to hide his evil deeds is sufficiently exposed;" the second: "He who trusts in a lie will quickly fail; for it will abandon him." And the ancient saying of the Hebrews: "Falsehood has weak feet, truth has solid feet." And of the Arabs: "Falsehood is weakness, truth is stability." TO CUT THEE IN TWO. — In the Greek again there is an elegant paronomasia: for from πρίνος is said πρίσαι, that is, to cut; it is just as if you should say to another: I saw you under a prinos; and he should answer: You shall therefore go to the saw; or: I saw you under a cedar; and he should answer: May the executioner therefore cut you. And this was the reason for Africanus and others to suspect these things to be fabricated; because the Hebrews or Chaldeans in their own language could not use these allusions. But to Africanus Origen and others respond that in Hebrew there were otherwise trees called schino and prino, in which Daniel in Hebrew by annomination could have alluded to the voice of cutting and sawing. But this seems to derogate from simple truth and historical narrative, and from the integrity and fidelity of the Interpreter, and therefore it is said more freely than is fitting; otherwise indeed our Interpreter would have played better with the same trees in this manner: I saw you under a lentisk; not slowly therefore, but suddenly shall you perish. I saw you under a holm-oak, therefore immediately shall you be slain. With this liberty in translating, however, the Syriac and Arabic versions appear to have used. For in place of under the schino, the Arabic renders it under the terebinth tree; the Syriac, under the pistachio. The pistachio is a kind of nut like a hazelnut, concerning which Pliny, book XIII, chapter v: "Among the kinds of nuts the pistachio is noted;" the common people of apothecaries call it phisticos. Again, in place of under the prino, the Syriac renders it under the pomegranate; the Antiochene Arabic, under the apple tree; the Alexandrine Arabic, under the almond tree. I say therefore that in the Hebrew of that time there could have been a similar paronomasia in the same trees, such as now exists in the Greek. For then there were more Hebrew words than there are now: for now we have no others except those which exist in the Scriptures. Secondly, even if these allusions were not in the Hebrew, as they are not in the Latin interpreter; yet the Greek interpreter, translating faithfully and word for word, could have found such a paronomasia in the Greek, which was not in the Hebrew. We see the same thing often happen in other translations, when a history or matter is transferred from one language to another. For what Daniel adds: "Thou hast lied against thy own head," to recte is the same as truly, not however the same as aptly, or allusively. 61. THEY DID TO THEM AS THEY HAD WICKEDLY DEALT — the old men were punished with the penalty of retaliation, according to the law of Deuteronomy xix, 16.
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62. They put them to death, — with stones. For an adulteress in the old law was stoned, as is evident from Ezech. xvi, 40. See what is said Levit. xx, 10 and 27.
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Learn here how God, like a rhinoceros, is both the judge and avenger of chastity and innocence. Thus He declared, exalted, and through Moses celebrated throughout the whole world and all ages the chastity of Joseph, tempted by his mistress and falsely defamed, Gen. xlix and seq. Thus a woman falsely accused and condemned of adultery could not be killed by the executioner, God turning back the blow, and therefore was struck by him in vain many times, even seven times: St. Jerome bears witness, epistle to Innocent. Thus St. Agnes, Lucy, Theophila and very many other virgins, unjustly condemned to lions or to brothels, remained unharmed by them, an angel protecting them. Thus St. Cunegundis, wife of the Emperor Henry, falsely accused of adultery, walked unharmed with bare feet over burning iron. Thus three perjured witnesses falsely accused Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem, of a base and infamous crime: and when the first cursed upon himself a fire, the second the royal disease, the third blindness, if he did not speak the truth; each of these things befell each one as they had wished, God punishing, as Eusebius relates in lib. VI of his History, cap. vii. Thus St. Marina, when living in changed habit as a man among monks, was falsely accused by the daughter of her host, as if she had violated her, was cast out of the monastery, and condemned to perpetual penance until death; when after death she appeared not to be a man but a woman, and therefore could not have committed violation; the girl who had accused her was seized by a demon and ran about, confessing the crime of falsehood, and was not freed until the seventh day at her tomb, all celebrating St. Marina's chastity equally with her patience. celebrating, as her Life in the Lives of the Fathers has it. Thus Fausta, wife of Constantine the Great, seized with love for Crispus her stepson, when she had often provoked him to lust, reported him to her husband when he refused, that he had wished to use force upon her. Constantine believed her and ordered Crispus to be killed. But after some years, when the truth was discovered, he punished Fausta with death, and restored to his son his name and reputation, though late: Eutropius, Nicephorus and others bear witness. But more illustrious and more apt than all these is what we read in the Life of St. Elizabeth, queen of Portugal, who when she was falsely accused before King Dionysius of loving a certain servant; the credulous king destined the servant for death, namely by fire, so that he would be cast into a burning lime kiln. He therefore secretly ordered the prefects of the kiln that the servant whom he would send there the next morning, when he asked whether they had done what the king had ordered, they should immediately cast into the kiln. And so in the morning he sends the servant: he hears the bell struck for the Sacred rite in a nearby church on the way; he turns aside there, hears one Mass, a second and a third. Meanwhile the king, thinking him already cast into the kiln, sends another servant, a rival of the first, who had equally falsely accused him and the queen. He comes, asks whether what the king had ordered has been done: the prefects, from the instruction given by the king, thinking this is the one whom the king had destined for the kiln, suddenly seize him and thrust him into the kiln. Then the first servant, whom the king had destined for death, comes after the sacrifices of the Mass are finished, asks the keepers of the kiln whether the king's orders have been carried out; they affirm it: the servant returns to the king and reports this. The king is astounded, and investigating the matter finds that another whom he had sent has been burned. He therefore asks the messenger where he had spent so long a time. He answers that he had attended the sacred rite because his dying father had given him this instruction, that he should attend all sacrifices which he saw being begun, until they were finished. From this the king understood the innocence of the queen and the servant, and the calumny of the rival, and the just judgment of God, who turned back upon the head of the guilty man himself the death which he had contrived for the innocent. That lime kiln is still preserved in memory of the matter, as I have heard from our Portuguese eyewitnesses. The same is related in the Chron. of St. Francis, part II, lib. VIII, cap. xxviii. 65. AND KING ASTYAGES. — Pererius thinks these words should be transposed and referred to the end of cap. ix. Theodoret however to the end of cap. xii; for this chapter in the Greek immediately precedes here. But this transposition is violent and produces confusion, and is contrary to the Latin text.
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Second, others think the history of Susanna happened at the time of the Babylonian captivity, namely at the time of Astyages and Cyrus. But it is objected that Daniel was a boy when he freed Susanna; therefore shortly after the year 5 of Joakim (for in that year Daniel was carried off as a boy to Babylon) this history occurred; therefore before the Babylonian captivity, which lasted 70 years, and was ended by Cyrus at the end of his life and reign, namely in the 27th year of his reign when he captured Babylon, and made himself monarch from king of the Persians. (Less probably therefore does Pererius hold that Cyrus conquered Babylon in the 1st year of his reign. For from this among other things it would follow that Daniel lived 138 years, as I showed in the Proem.) For Astyages reigned before Cyrus for 38 years. Add to these 27 years of Cyrus, you will have only 65, so that still 5 years are lacking to complete the 70 years of captivity. Whence it follows that in the 5th and 6th year of the Babylonian captivity, or of the transmigration of Jeconiah, Astyages began to reign, when Daniel was already 34 years old, and therefore was a man, not a boy, as is said here; especially since this must be said to have happened not at the beginning, but at the end of the reign of Astyages, if we follow this interpretation. For it follows: "And Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom." I say therefore with Lyran, Hugh, Dionysius the Carthusian, Torniellus and others, that these words are to be referred to the beginning of the following history of Bel and the dragon. That this is so is most clearly taught even by the most correct Greek texts of Carafa, which begin from these words at cap. xiv. The same is done by both Arabic versions, namely the Antiochene and Egyptian, or Alexandrian. This is therefore here like a chronological title of the following history, so that we may know at what time it happened, namely after the death of Astyages under Cyrus. A similar title is prefixed to chapter iv, at cap. iii, vers. 98, as I said there. Moreover, this title seems to be taken from the diaries of the Persian kings, and transferred here, just as the whole following history is. For indeed King Astyages is inserted here almost abruptly, and has no connection with the preceding matters. For it seems that some Jew, when Cyrus and the Persians were already completely dominating after the overthrow of Babylon, wrote in favor of Cyrus, so benevolent to the Jews, and of the Persians, their chronicles or diaries, and recorded deeds done in Persia as well as in Babylon and elsewhere under their era. This title therefore is not to be connected with the first words of the following chapter, as will be clear there, but is to be prefixed to them as a title. For it was transferred here from the aforesaid diaries; in which it closed the preceding histories there, and at the same time was the beginning of the following history, which is placed here. Note: Astyages here is not Darius the Mede, son of Astyages and uncle of Cyrus, as some wish: for Cyrus did not succeed him except after Babylon was overthrown: but these deeds were done while the kingdom and king of Babylon stood, as will be clear in the following chapter, vers. 1. Astyages therefore here was the grandfather of Cyrus, to whom Darius his son succeeded in the kingdom of the Medes; but in the kingdom of the Persians Cyrus succeeded him, his grandson through his daughter. For although Darius, as the son, ought to have succeeded to both kingdoms, namely both of the Persians and of the Medes, by the law of nations; yet he yielded the Persian kingdom to Cyrus his nephew, either because he himself was only an adopted son of Astyages, as Torniellus wishes, or because he was born of a concubine of his, as others wish; or because, being a lover of peace, he granted Persia to Cyrus his nephew, spirited and warlike, intending to grant Media to him after his death. I proved this same thing at greater length on Ezra 1, 1. Note secondly: "He was gathered to his fathers, etc.," signifies that Astyages was not conquered and slain by Cyrus, as Herodotus and Justinus relate, but died a natural death, so that Cyrus as it were his grandson succeeded him by hereditary right, not by war. Again from this it is clear that this phrase: "He was gathered to his fathers," is not said only of the saved and blessed: for it is not likely that Astyages was faithful and was saved. Thus in Genesis xxv, 17, Ishmael is said to be "gathered to his people:" yet the salvation of Ishmael is doubtful. Furthermore, the death of Astyages, and the reign of Cyrus in Persia, and of Darius in Media, happened many years before the destruction of Babylon. For that was accomplished by Cyrus in Persia, and Darius already reigning in Media; thus the Hebrews in the Seder olam, Lyran in cap. ix of Daniel, Vatablus in cap. 1 of Daniel, Torniellus and others. Indeed this very thing is expressly asserted by III Ezra, cap. v, vers. ult., and by Josephus, XI Antiq. II, where he says that Cyrus, after Babylon was captured and the captivity of the Jews was loosened, soon perished in war with the Massagetae. Daniel uncovers the deceit of the priests of Bel, and overthrows Bel. Second, vers. 22, he kills the dragon, and therefore is cast into the lake of lions, but is freed by God.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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… It is well known, moreover, that the members of the Sanhedrin were ordained with the laying on of hands (cf. J. Z. Lauterbach, Ordination, in The Jewish encyclopedia, IX, pp. 428-29). d) As a rite of oath, it is indicated in Dan. 13:34, where it is said that before pronouncing their accusations against Susanna, the two judges "posuerunt manus suas super caput eius".
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… series of praises proclaimed by Sacred Scripture either to the virtue itself (Tob. 3, 16; Wis. 3, 13; Sir. 42, 9-10; Is. 56, 4-5) or to the persons who distinguished themselves in it (Joseph [Gen. 39, 6-12]; Judith [Jud. 16, 26]; Susanna [Dan. 13, 63]); d) chastity was commonly called in patristics and ascetics the "angelic virtue," because it makes man like the angel. …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.