[83] So spelt in Migne in this instance, though elsewhere with final μ. A misprint may he suspected.
TERTULLIAN (†240). In de Jejun. VII. (end) reference is made to vv. 35-39; and in IX. the story is again mentioned. In de Oratione, 29, he quotes vv. 33, 34, seemingly with full acceptance. In de Idol. XIX. he says that "Daniel nec Belum nec draconem colere."
ORIGEN (†254). Besides the question dealt with in his controversy with Julius Africanus, Origen in the Fragment of his Strom, bk. X. expounds Bel. He also quotes it in his Exhort, ad martyrium, § 33.
CYPRIAN (†258) in ad Fortunatum, 11, quotes v. 5, apparently following a translation of the Ο´, and not of Θ's, text. The same verse is again quoted by him in Ep. lviii. 5 in exactly the same words. It is curious that both passages are preceded, in the same sections, by a quotation of Dan. iii. 16-18, apparently based on Θ's version. In the case of v. 5 in Ep. lviii. there is a slight variation in the readings of some MSS. as given by Hartel. Cf. Prof. Swete's Introd. 1902, p. 47.
PSEUDO-CYPRIAN (3rd century?) gives parts of vv. 37, 38, in Oratio II. 2, following Ο´ a little more closely than Θ.
PASSING OF MARY (3rd or 4th century, see D.C.B., Mary, 1142b). In the First Latin form vv. 33-39 are clearly referred to.
ATHANASIUS (†373) in his Discourse against Arians, II. 8, quotes v. 5 as words of Daniel, which he also refers to in III. 30.
EPHREM SYRUS (†378). In the hymn de Jejunio there is, according to T.J. Lamy (Mechlin, 1886), a reference to Bel and the Dragon, "cum Daniel jejunavit."
GREGORY NAZIANZEN (†390) in his poetical Præcepta ad Virgines has the line, speaking of Daniel, ἀερίην δ᾽ ἐνὶ χρσὶν ἐδέξατο δαῖτα προφήτου.
AMBROSE (†397), in his Commentary in Ep. ad Rom. I. 23, writes, "Coluerunt et serpentem draconem quem occidit Daniel, homo dei" (Basel, 1527, IV. p. 768).