[367] Vay. Rab., xxv. 1 (Wünsche, Bibliotheca Rabbinica).
[368] Ecclus. xviii. 16: "Shall not the dew assuage the heat?"
[369] Speaker's Commentary, on the Apocrypha, ii. 305-307.
[370] Jos., Antt., XII. iii. 3; Jahn, Hebr. Commonwealth, § xc.
[371] Comp. 1 Macc. i. 41, 42: "And the king [Antiochus Epiphanes] wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, and every one should leave his laws."
[372] Isa. xxvi. 9.
[373] Professor Fuller follows them in supposing that the decree is really a letter written by Daniel, as is shown by the analogy of similar documents, and the attestation (!) of the LXX. (ἀρχὴ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς). He adds, "The undertone of genuineness which makes itself so inobtrusively felt to the Assyrian scholar when reading it, is quite sufficient to decide the question of authenticity"! Such remarks are meant only for a certain circle of readers already convinced. If they were true, it would be singular that scarcely one living Assyriologist accepts the authenticity of Daniel; and Mr. Bevan calls this "a narrative which contains scarcely anything specifically Babylonian."
[374] See Jos. c. Ap., I. 20, ἐμπεσὼν εἰς ἀῤῥωστίαν, μετηλλάξατο τὸν βίον (of Nebuchadrezzar); and I. 19 of Nabopolassar.
[375] Præp. Ev., lx. 41.
[376] I follow the better readings which Mr. Bevan adopts from Von Gutschmid and Toup.